Meet the U.S.

[Stormig]

My apologies.

[Sip]

Oh I know exactly what would have happened ... the French would have surrendered immediately. http://zr2.cs.ucla.edu/Sip/zr2/roflmao.gif

[Stormig]

PM under siege after committing Australian troops to Iraq war

Tuesday, 18-Mar-2003 6:00PM PST

Story from AFP

 

Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CANBERRA, March 19 (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard was forced to leave home by a back door Wednesday as anti-war protesters blocked the front gates of his official residence here.

 

Up to 15 Greenpeace activists protesting the government's decision on Tuesday to commit troops to a US-led invasion of Iraq moved in around dawn, chaining themselves to the gates and to four-wheel drive vehicles blocking the entrances of the residence.

 

They carried banners proclaiming "Howard's war -- a bloody outrage" and "John Howard -- war criminal" in a peak-hour protest that caused major traffic congestion on one of Canberra's major arterial roads.

 

Howard, dogged in recent days by protestors wherever he goes, came face to face with the demonstrators as he left for his early morning walk.

 

He challenged them when he returned, telling one: "I'm entitled to my opinion, you're entitled to yours."

 

Later the protesters prevented Howard leaving for nearby Parliament House by car, forcing him instead to use a pedestrian gate to reach a waiting car outside.

 

Police persuaded the protesters to end their protest two and a half hours later and said they would not be arrested.

 

Wearing blue UN berets, 10 of the protesters used bicycle locks to chain themselves underneath four-wheel drives mocked up to look like UN vehicles, and to security gates.

 

Greenpeace spokesman Shane Rattenbury said the protesters were symbolically placing Howard under house arrest.

 

"The prime minister said yesterday not to have an argument with the Australian troops and to bring the beef to him," Rattenbury said.

 

"That's what we have done here, we've brought it here to the PM's house to deliver the message that Australians don't want this war in Iraq.

 

"It's not our war. It's immoral, illegal, and Australians shouldn't be there."

 

The protesters said they faced no opposition as they began their action. But soon afterwards at least 20 police as well as official security guards and plain clothes security officers arrived to guard the compound, about 500 metres (1,650 feet) from Parliament House.

 

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/...803_aus_pm.html

[564312]

noo problemo Stormy

 

Seaphan.. but ofkohgss

[Stormig]

Aznar - top gun or top clown?

That ought to have been a title for a new thread!

 

Spain: No combat role in Iraq war

By CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Posted: 1:38 PM EST (1838 GMT)

 

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Ending weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar told Parliament Tuesday that Spain would not send combat troops to fight alongside the United States and Britain in the expected war on Iraq.

 

"Spain will not participate in missions of attack or offense. There will not be Spanish troops in offensive attacks," Aznar said.

 

But he said Spain would contribute 900 troops -- for roles such as medical support and anti-mine capabilities -- and three ships.

 

This includes the ship Galicia, which is equipped as a field hospital and has troops trained in dealing with nuclear, chemical or biological contamination.

 

The Galicia would be escorted by a frigate carrying other troops, and the flotilla would be accompanied by the oil tanker supply vessel the Marques de la Ensenada.

 

Spain also would contribute Army engineers who could defuse land mines, Aznar said.

 

The announcement that Spain would not send combat troops was met by applause in Parliament in a stormy session that started with sharp antiwar protests against Aznar. A leftist party unveiled a banner reading, "No War. Aznar Resign."

 

Aznar has aligned his conservative government closely with U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in taking a hard line toward Iraq despite overwhelming public opposition to war.

 

For weeks there had been speculation, fueled by government leaks to the media, that Spain might send its sole aircraft carrier, which has Harrier fighter jets, to the Gulf region.

 

But Aznar ruled that out on Tuesday.

 

In addition to sending support troops and ships, Aznar said Spain would supply military aid, under its NATO commitment, to help protect fellow NATO member Turkey from possible attack by Iraq.

 

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said this NATO aid would include Spanish personnel to staff an AWACs plane, Spanish F-18 fighter jets -- which reports have said would total six jets -- and a Spanish refueling plane.

 

Spain also has allowed the United States to move troops and equipment for the war through two southern Spanish bases, Rota and Moron, where about 3,000 U.S. troops are typically stationed.

 

Aznar's conservative Popular Party has an absolute majority in Parliament, and he has not faced any defections from his own ranks.

 

But all of the Spanish opposition parties in Parliament -- from the Socialists to the Catalan nationalists -- have closed ranks to oppose Aznar's stance on Iraq.

 

Aznar said the task of disarming Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is the biggest international crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

"It's about living in a world with rules, or a world without rules," Aznar told Parliament, to howls from the opposition.

 

"Disarming Iraq is legal under a series of U.N. resolutions," Aznar said. "Iraq is in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions."

 

The United States, Britain and Spain co-sponsored a draft U.N. resolution that would have paved the way for war. On Monday, they abandoned efforts to seek a Security Council vote.

 

"We saw there was no consensus in the U.N. Security Council. It was impossible, due to the threatened veto by some," Aznar said.

 

France had vowed to veto the new resolution, and Russia indicated it was prepared to do so.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/18/...pain/index.html

[Stormig]

History of revision of definition of "self-defense":

 

(...)

 

"We give this act of the citizens of Arizona most hearty and

unqualified endorsement. We congratulate them on the fact that

permanent peace negotiations have been made with so many, and we

only regret that the number was not double. Camp Grant is the last

of those victories for civilization which have made Sand Creek,

Washita…and other similar occurrences famous in western history. It

is just and right and fully demanded by the circumstances of the

times."

 

 

 

A Tucson paper noted, "The California papers quite generally approve

of the Camp Grant massacres." A San Francisco newspaper went to

lengths to justify such "self-defense." A Sacramento

newspaper "heartily endorsed the slaughter," and the San Diego

newspapers called it "joyful news."[61]

 

(...)

 

http://home1.gte.net/res0k62m/lies.htm

[Stormig]

An Open Letter to Paul Wolfowitz

To My Former Dean and Other "Court Jews"

by JOSH RUEBNER

 

Dear Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz,

 

I doubt it if you remember me. That's okay though. I don't think that I did anything to merit drawing the attention of the dean as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). I was pretty bookish at SAIS and spent more than my share of time toiling over economic models in the library. As the dean of SAIS, I am sure that you had fleeting contact with hundreds of students like myself. I think that we shared a few coffees together during your weekly breakfast meetings with students. I thought that custom was classy and demonstrated the importance that you placed on being in touch with us. I liked the fact that you invariably showed up at our Friday afternoon Happy Hour ritual in the courtyard when we all unwound after an intense week of studies.

 

The comfortable, accessible relationship that you had with your students at SAIS makes it difficult for me to address you as the Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States of America. It sounds so formal and removed, doesn't it? Yet I wouldn't have the audacity to call you by your first name either. Perhaps, for the sake of this letter, I can simply call you "brother." I hope that you do not take offense at this intimate appellation. But, you see, I am not writing this letter as a secular American critic of a unilateralist U.S. foreign policy that has run amok. Instead, I decided to write to you as one fellow Jew to another. And as Jews, we do share that intimate connection and shared sense of destiny even if we do not really know each other. Perhaps in Hebrew school you learned the dictum kol yisrael arevim zeh la'zeh-that all Jews are responsible for and to each other. It is in this spirit of mutual responsibility that I write to you.

 

Brother, I am concerned about you. I am concerned that you are being exploited and that you do not realize it. Before you discard my pro-peace, anti-imperialism views about the war in Iraq as the ranting of an aberrant SAIS student who somehow escaped from the school's neo-conservative straitjacket, I plead with you to engage in chesbon nefesh-that powerful, beautiful Jewish tradition of "soul accounting" in which we engage during the High Holidays. Before the bombs start falling on the long-suffering, innocent civilians of Baghdad, please look into your heart and ask yourself honestly whose interests you are serving by being such a visible symbol of this policy.

 

Lately I have come to the disturbing conclusion that the Bush Administration is using you as its "court Jew" par excellence. Rest assured, this is not a term that I learned during my studies at SAIS. Rather I picked it up in the course of my involvement with the Jewish peace movement which is calling simultaneously for an end to Israel's self-destructive military occupation of Palestine and is helping to mobilize the millions of good-hearted Americans who have taken to the streets to protest the war of aggression that the Bush Administration is pedaling.

 

"Court Jew" is a term that originates in the context of anti-Semitism in "enlightened" Europe. On that blood-soaked continent, the reigning monarchs and other despotic rulers thought up an ingenious system to perpetuate their oppressive systems of government. These shrewd, Machiavellian rulers made a psychologically brilliant pact with an elite, assimilationist group of Jewish subjects who craved nothing more than acceptance by the power structure of society. Often, these ambitious Jews were so eager to serve the interests of the rulers so that they could ease their feelings of internalized self-hatred. They viewed serving the power structure as a way to overcome the marginality and stigmas associated with being Jewish which were built into the very fabric of society by the power structure to begin with. The rulers understood this yearning to enter the halls of power and took advantage of it by dangling a carrot of illusional power before the hungry eyes of this wayward Jewish elite. These "court Jews" were given politically unimportant, yet highly visible positions within the regime. Why? So that when the subjected masses rose up from time to time in justified outrage at the oppressive nature of the regime under which they lived, there was a convenient, ready-made scapegoat in place. The "court Jew," as a highly visible symbol of the regime, served as the lighting rod to bear the brunt of the blame and deflect criticism from where it belonged rightfully. Brother, need I remind you how disastrous it was for our people to be the target of this rage? I think that you would agree that, in retrospect, it would have been better not to have played the fool for those European monarchs.

 

But, alas, the tragic mistakes of history do tend to repeat themselves. (Brother, it makes we wonder sometimes if the global community of human beings is making "progress" toward anything worth progressing to.) Maybe you don't see it coming, but I do. Your job is to interact in the high-brow world of intelligence briefings and diplomacy. My job is to interact with the people and mobilize them against the very steps that you're taking. With all due respect, I think that I am in a better position to hear what the people are saying. Do you know what they're saying already? That the war in Iraq is being planned by a cabal of extremist Jews. That it is the first part of a Zionist conspiracy to redraw the map of the Middle East. That Israel stands to be the prime beneficiary of this war. And it's not just the marginalized skinheads who are saying this either. It's also mainstream folks who would swear up and down that they don't have an anti-Semitic bone in their bodies. I'm sure that you, like me, recoiled in horror when you heard Congressman Jim Moran assert that it is the Jews who are advocating for this war and that only the Jews have the power to stop it.

 

It pains me that so many of my fellow citizens are falling into this age-old trap of blaming the powerless Jews who seem so powerful because of the existence of a handful of "court Jews" who front for the power structure. This doesn't mean that the "court Jews" of the unelected Jewish Establishment haven't been hawking for this war. They have been. There is no denying that Israel sent Benjamin Netanyahu to Capitol Hill to testify for the war in Iraq and "convince" Members of Congress that it was in the interests of the United States to let loose the dogs of war (as if they needed much convincing anyway). All of this is true. This is the beauty of how the system works. Take a few "court Jews" and give them unimpeded access to the mainstream media and, voila, you create the impression among the masses that "the Jews" are spoiling for a war. Do you see brother how you are misrepresenting us? I wish that we in the Jewish peace movement could have as much access as you do to the mainstream media so that we could shatter the monolithic view of the Jewish community which the "court Jew" by definition is set up to propagate. Of course, we are denied that access by the same power structure which has an interest in making sure that yours is the only "Jewish" voice heard.

 

I'm really afraid that we are heading for a calamity. If the people are this incensed now my brother, how do you think they will feel when American men and women start returning from the sands of Kuwait in body bags? Who is going to be blamed if, God forbid, we are subjected to another terrorist attack? Do these thoughts keep you awake at night? Are you scared like I am that this imperialistic war in Iraq threatens the existence of the Jewish people?

 

My brother, I don't blame you for accepting the starring role of "court Jew." It must be a pretty amazing feeling to convince yourself that you have as much power as everybody says that you do. I hope that I never get close enough to the power structure of this crumbling, decrepit empire to get a taste of it. In my humble opinion, there is only one honorable thing that you can do to undo the shameful damage that you have caused already: resign. For the sake of your own dignity, you must refuse to be exploited as the "court Jew." Step down and deprive the power structure of its "court Jew" and you will expose to the world the actors who really motivate the Bush Administration. Please, before it is too late, tell the world that it is not the powerless Jews who are pushing for this war, but the greedy, venal barons of corporate America who stand to profit while cowering behind the myth of the all-powerful Jew. Tell everybody what you and I both know. That the real interests hawking for this war are the defense contractors and the oil industry who will make billions of dollars to first destroy Iraq and then "rebuild" it under the protective wing of American "democracy." And, while you're at it, please tell the world that the $100 billion the Bush Administration will require to pay the military-industrial complex to finance this war of aggression will be sucked from the wallets of the impoverished American working class which is systematically being stripped of government services by this rapacious regime.

 

I am not the type of Jew who generally bases his opinions on whether a particular action "is good for the Jews." I would like to believe that I have a more embracing, holistic view of humanity. Maybe it even seems self-centered to worry about what will happen to the Jews because of this war when thousands of innocent Iraqis stand to die in order for the United States to "liberate" their country. I confess though that I'm worried and I don't know what else to do with my fear except express it. Brother, it seems to me to be so painfully obvious that this war will benefit no one but the corporate interests I mentioned above. Not Jews, not Americans, not Israelis, not Iraqis, and not Palestinians.

 

If I've sparked even a sliver of doubt in your mind as to the wisdom of the course you are pursuing, please call me and we can get together for a cup of coffee over breakfast. It will be just like the good old days at SAIS.

 

With love,

 

Josh Ruebner

 

http://www.counterpunch.org/ruebner03142003.html

[Stormig]

Something is Terribly Wrong in America

by CYNTHIA McKINNEY

 

(Remarks at March 15 Anti-War Rally San Francisco, California.)

 

We stand here together. Shoulder to shoulder. Refusing to be denied the right to say no to George Bush's war!

 

This Iraq war is about oil and regional interests.

 

If it was about ending tyranny, destroying weapons of mass destruction, and restoring democracy to Iraq then George Bush's father could have done that in 1991. But he didn't. Saddam Hussein and his murderous regime were kept in power.

 

And if we care about civilians suffering under the heel of brutal regimes, and if we really want to defend human rights worldwide, why are we starting and stopping at Iraq?

 

Why not do something about the suffering in Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Burma, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, Afghanistan, just to name a few?

 

But as we all know nothing will be done.

 

In fact our military forces and intelligence agencies may actually even worsen the suffering in those countries because it suits our interests to do so. Just like when the American government killed Salvadore Allende and replaced him with Augusto Pinochet.

 

American style regime change is nothing new.

 

But when we dare to stand up and tell the truth about how unjust this war is and question the motivations of its protagonists we are called unpatriotic and accused of hating our flag.

 

I don't hate my country and I certainly don't hate my flag. In fact I love them so much I refuse to be quiet!

 

No more should we allow special interests to lead yet another generation of young Americans off to war.

 

Our Founding Father, George Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796, warned us about the false patriots who would wrap themselves in the American flag and at the same time sell our precious American values to special interests.

 

George Washington didn't know it then, but we know it now, that he was talking about people like George W. Bush who would betray our values and our country in pursuit of an unnecessary war.

 

You, gathered here today, are the true patriots.

 

The day our streets are free from protestors like you will be the day our democracy is dead.

 

Those of us who oppose Bush's war span the spectrum.

 

We are conservative, radical â¤" Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Reform, and we are Green.

 

We come from all walks of life.

 

We are the thinkers and the workers that make America strong.

 

We are all religions and we are all races joined together today.

 

That's why George W. Bush proposes to spend $200 million on a public relations campaign to convince you and the world that war in Iraq is justified. Telling the truth shouldn't be so expensive.

 

If war in Iraq is truly justified and is about restoring freedoms to the people of Iraq then why doesn't the Bush Administration restore our freedoms here at home?

 

Why does the San Francisco Police Department need to collect, in violation of their own department rules, dossiers on peaceful anti-war protesters?

 

What does our government fear from us?

 

The Bush Administration has even failed to convince our most important opinion leaders when it comes to war and peace: the veterans.

 

Veterans increasingly are being counted among the ranks of anti-war protesters. Why? Because more than anyone else, our veterans know the horror of war.

 

They know it's easy to talk about war if you've never been to war.

 

They know the horror of coming back to face the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs for help with post-traumatic stress syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, exposure to Agent Orange and depleted uranium, cancer, birth defects, Lou Gehrig's disease, infertility, memory loss, and homelessness.

 

In fact, 25% of all our homeless are veterans. And they sleep on the streets of America every night. Many even living across the street from the White House.

 

While our military spend billions of dollars on aircraft, ships, tanks, and laser guided missilesâ¤"$25 billion already just to get the troops in position for this war-- our government can't give a warm meal and shelter to the veterans who have served our country and who are now in need.

 

Something is terribly wrong; and that's the thanks of a grateful nation.

 

Now President Bush would have you believe that he cares about our young service men and women.

 

But he doesn't.

 

Just like he doesn't care about the veterans.

 

And let us remember . . .

 

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, where were you when America needed you?

 

Part of that $200 million in public relations money the Administration is spending is to make us think that George Bush follows in the footsteps of the world's greatest wartime leaders.

 

But while Saddam Hussein can be counted among the world's tyrants, George W. Bush is no Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Tony Blair is no Winston Churchill.

 

Because now the entire world knows that Bush Daddy and the Carlyle Group are doing big business in weapons systems, recently purchasing a British weapons lab.

 

Dick Cheney's Halliburton Company which, by the way, just announced that it had a radioactive device stolen in Africa, not only has an unprecedented 10-year, unlimited contract to feed and supply US troops, but it also has a $33 million contract to build the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

 

And now we learn that Halliburton will also repair Iraqi oil fields in case of damage in the war.

 

In addition, The Guardian newspaper informs us that Halliburton still pays the Vice President up to $1 million each year in deferred salary payments.

 

Meanwhile, back on the Chickenhawk farm, we learn from the most recent New Yorker magazine that Richard Perle incorporated the Trireme Partners company after September 11 and now stands to gain financially from a war in Iraq.

 

Now, sadly, this is the same gang that just succeeded in denying women access to emergency contraceptives, even in the event of sexual assault.

 

And that soon will start drilling in Alaska.

 

Sadly, with faked documents, plagiarized material, and unconvincing evidence, George Bush wants to rush us into a war that America's poor will be fighting.

 

And in the process, the poor of the world are being asked to give up their resources, for little or nothing.

 

It is a stick-up of global proportions.

 

And we are being asked to go along with it.

 

America used to be loved around the world. Now we are feared.

 

And so, in the absence of an America that stands up for justice, and dignity; we are the ones who must stand up for peace.

 

In my election, 47,000 Republicans crossed over and hijacked the Democratic Primary becuse they were afraid of the truth. Sometimes telling the truth comes at a high personal price.

 

Let us leave here today and make the change this country needs to be loved and respected around the world once again.

 

Cynthia McKinney is a former Democratic Congresswoman from Georgia.

 

http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney03182003.html

[Stormig]

If I were a rich girl - I mean, a dictator.

- George W. ABush

 

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/10/...9_Dictator.html

 

[ March 20, 2003, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: Stormy ]

[Accelerated]

LMAO - Long Live the leader of the Free(dom Loving) World - Sadaam Hussain

[Stormig]

News from your country, Jug.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/ausp....sas/index.html

[Stormig]

Around the world in one link:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/20...reax/index.html

[Stormig]

Not much the U.S. can do about democratic countries' leaders - some are going to get much backing and might perhaps benefit from U.S. chest thumping:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/20/...reax/index.html

[Sasun]

Wow! I didn't know this. Or is it an exaggeration?

[Stormig]

Now that's another thing to do research on.

[Sasun]

I think the worst part about this war is that the majority of Americans sincerely support it, which speaks about how far the brainwashing has gone even in a democracy, and how the true American values have been distorted and perverted.

[Stormig]

Sasun, you should find Gore Vidal's interview interesting.

 

http://www.counterpunch.org/vidal03142003.html

[Sasun]

Stormy, thanks for the link. It was interesting. I mostly agree with him but on some points he seems to be extreme.

But overall I am not sure about this country (whether it is "good" or "bad" summing up all negatives and positives), there are so many good things that it is really hard to tell. I guess I need more information which may or may not be available.

[joseph parikian]

Very interesting Stormy please klick on this-

http://www.addictedtowar.com

http://www.addictedtowar.com/Shocked.and.H...d_9.15.2001.htm

it will open every ones eyes.

[joseph parikian]

One more thing the Britons ocupied Iraq after world war 2 untill 1958 why they did not establish a democratic government then , all this talk about democracy can any one name me one country that the Britons rulled and established a democratic government that is a show model .

[Stormig]

“highway of death” - would that be the "Mile of Death"?

 

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/pt04.html

 

BTW, thanks for this one:

 

the World Court declared the US government a war criminal in 1984

 

I was looking for the case and the year. I had read it and then lost the account. This is supposed to be the only case in the world - the U.S. being the only country indicted as such - when taken to court by Nicaragua. Even if not, it's been the first.

 

Shock and horror - or "Shock and Awe"? LOL...

[Stormig]

Indeed, that article makes for a comprehensive listing - one of the best if not the best so far.

 

And - an Iranian says:

 

Curious justice

And so goes a faulty case for war

 

March 20, 2003

The Iranian

 

It is a curious irony that after all his crimes, including unprovoked attacks against his neighbors, gassing the innocent Kurds, using chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers, rocketing defenseless civilians in large population centers such as Tehran, Isfahan, Tel Aviv and elsewhere, Saddam Hussein will finally face his final punishment for something he didn't do!

 

A further ironic twist is that the country that will bring him the punishment is the power that ignored -- and in some cases even aided -- and supported Saddam Hussein in his most horrendous crimes, most notably his unprovoked aggression against Iran, using chemical warfare in battlefields and Scud missiles against Iranian cities.

 

In the final weeks, leading to Bush's March 17 ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, a gradual but steady stream of official rhetoric, supported by the American media's complete towing of the White House spin line, the average American became convinced that Saddam was directly responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

 

Aided by an influential and loud network of conservative radio and television talk shows and evangelical Christian propaganda outlets across America, President Bush managed to convince the mostly uninformed American populace that kicking Saddam's ass will be a just revenge for the 9/11 victims.

 

An interesting detail in this process is that early in this campaign, a wide range of media outlets from all the Country Western radio stations to CNN's business and financial program hosted by none other than Lou Dobbs, played the heck out of a redneck song that repeats the line "have you forgotten ...." implying that opposing the war against Saddam is a betrayal of 9/11 victims' cause.

 

And so goes a faulty case for a war that ushers in the era of the United States of America as an occupying colonial power!

 

A fascinating side note to watching Bush's spin machine in the past month is the propaganda network used by the Bush White House and the pro-Israel factions to push the war agenda in the US public opinion offers a weird resemblance to the propaganda network of mosques, clergy and other undesirables used by Ayatollah Khomeini in his campaign of 1979 to topple the Shah of Iran. We all remember the fake blood in the street side creeks, don't we?

 

In the final analysis, history will record that George W. Bush lied to the American people and the world about Saddam Hussein's ties to al Qaeda, his involvement in the 9/11 attacks and the real motives behind his invasion of Iraq! And the sad reality is that, as it was the case in Vietnam, even if this war goes completely wrong in every possible way, there will never be an official admission of wrong-doing.

 

May God bless, guide and save America and the world!

 

http://www.iranian.com/FarhadRadmehrian/20.../War/index.html

[Stormig]

However, I find it kind of saddening that an article that can relate that it was Israeli allies (Christian Phallangists) who carried out the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla (instead of committing the common mistake of putting the blame on the khoz called Sharon only) happens to call the International Court of Justice as the "World Court."

 

Here is the Nicaragua vs. U.S.:

 

http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/icases/inus/...inuscontent.htm

[Accelerated]

Yes, nothing I didnt know. Our SAS is the BEST 'special operations' unit, better than your crappy Green Berets, Marines, Seals etc.

 

And btw. you might consider moving to New Zealand (if you hate the US so much), coz they almost have no army, a small navy and just scrapped their 'jurassic' air force (yes, guys sitting on flying dinosours). And they are strongly anti-US to boot - Heaven.

[Stormig]

Just when you were wondering how pathetic people could get, you're surprised yet another time. Que a paz prevaleça no mundo.

 

From no-one in particular

James Hamilton

17 - 3 - 2003

 

An open letter to Paulo Coelho

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Paulo Coelho, best-selling and revered author:

 

I am grateful for the hours of pleasure your fine fiction has given me, and of course I read with interest your open letter, Thank you, President Bush. The chord you strike here, no doubt, resonates across the globe.

 

Yet, Mr Coelho, I wish to suggest that your latest effusion represents a serious missed opportunity, one that – given your influence and eminence – poses a risk to your tens of millions of readers.

 

For your letter struck me, Mr Coelho, as wildly discordant. Indeed, the very impulse of your misguided missive – your blind condemnation of the US president – called to mind another letter, one written just over a century ago in defense of another wrongly condemned man.

 

Who was it, Mr Coelho, who said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce?

 

With this in mind, I feel bound to remind you, Mr Coelho, of some significant realities behind the current world tragedy.

 

11 September 2001 did much more than incinerate 3,000 people of over 60 nationalities in New York and Washington (including several Brazilians).

 

A profound change occurred in the entire world that day, Mr Coelho. It started in Washington itself, where it was realised that new threats, long predicted by foreign policy experts had finally broken through to the top of ‘risk assessment’ and security agendas in the US and around the world.

 

What was the result, Mr Coelho? In essence, Washington no longer felt that it could depend on its long-term ally, the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, one of the keys to maintaining oil security in the world economy. The latter’s involvement in the export of the extreme Wahhabi form of Islam, with its toxic consequences across the Muslim world and beyond, persuaded the US government that it should look elsewhere for a major Gulf oil exporter with whom to make a strategic partnership.

 

And yes, Mr Coelho, oil security does matter – not just to Texan drivers of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs). A sustainable low-carbon economy (wind turbines, nuclear fusion technologies, hydrogen combustion/fuel cell engines) that could power the world economy is still decades away. In the interim, the US and its partners need a stable and secure source of oil.

 

Mr Coelho, I need not remind a writer of your great learning of the 1930s, another decade when desperate economic circumstances provoked extreme and terrible political solutions. But would those in whose name you claim to speak – the excluded, impoverished and marginalised majority of the world – benefit one iota from a repeat?

 

With all this in mind, Mr Coelho, I would like to invoke the example of a predecessor whose literary eminence is almost as stellar as your own, the author of that century-old letter of accusation: Emile Zola.

 

J’accuse! The American people, from their Republican party, the State of Florida electoral officials, to their US Supreme Court, of irresponsibility in allowing the flawed and inexperienced George W. Bush to hold the most important office in the world.

 

By permitting this very average man to hold high office, you have lost the chance to convince a sceptical world that regime change in Iraq will benefit everyone not blinded by hatred and prejudice. You have turned the United States of America from the indispensable to the unbearable nation.

 

J’accuse! Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder of wrecking any hope for a multilateral solution to the Iraq crisis. Your populist anti-war stance comforts those wishing to turn back American global domination; but it offers no credible insight whatsoever into the clear and urgent challenges that the post-9/11 world faces.

 

Moreover, by ignoring completely the 20 million Iraqi people who pray every night for their long nightmare to end, you betray yourselves as visionless and morally bankrupt. The world will not forget your attempt to build a common European foreign policy, on the back of the Iraqi people’s endless suffering.

 

J’accuse! You, Mr Paulo Coelho, of touting cheap emotion and unthinking prejudice as reasoned analysis. Your self-satisfied pandering to the worst anti-American prejudices leaves your readers with a weaker understanding of the world we all must shape. Your letter is therefore, an act of gross irresponsibility.

 

There are many, reasonable reasons to support regime change in Iraq. They remain ignored in your cosmically indulgent letter. If George W. Bush is maligned for trying where others dare not, his failure to convince is more than matched by your utter refusal to listen.

 

Mr Coelho, your masterpiece The Alchemist tells the story of a lone boy’s long journey, full of pitfalls and difficult decisions, to discover his destiny. Is there not the merest trace of awareness in your cavernous mind, Mr Coelho, that this describes too the target of your scorn?

 

War is terrible, Mr Coelho, and it is also a sign of humanity that President Bush’s decision to wage war in Iraq feels bad to everyone. But as another literary giant who stands almost as tall as you, Mark Twain, once remarked: “We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking”.

 

To confuse your fine feelings with thinking, Mr Coelho, is doing your deep mind a great disservice.

 

Yours respectfully,

James Hamilton

 

 

 

http://www.opendemocracy.net/other_content...047&type=satire

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you I get "Open Democracy" newsletters, too. Here's what they said about their own writing:

 

His writing reaches millions. Hence, jerk the knee. Look at their "logic."