There are more people who believe in "conspiracy theories" than you may think. Question everything you're told. If it doesn't make sense, then something is wrong. Do some research and investigate!
Cause of detainee death was HOMICIDE according to Army CID investigation autopsy!
An autopsy was performed as part of what seems to be part of an Army CID investigation of a detainee. The medical examiner said the cause of death was HOMICIDE!
''This 47-year-old White male, [redacted], died of blunt force injuries and asphyxia. The autopsy disclosed multiple blunt force injuries, including deep contusions of the chest wall, numerous displaced rib fractures, lung contusions, and hemorrhage into the mesentery of the small and large intestine. An examination of the neck structures revealed hemorrhage into the strap muscles and fractures of the thyroid cartilage and hyoid bone. According to the investigative report provided by U.S. Army CID, the decedent was shackled to the top of a doorframe with a gag in his mouth at the time he lost consciousness and became pulseless.
''The severe blunt force injuries, the hanging position, and the obstruction of the oral cavity with a gag contributed to this individual's death. The manner of death is homicide.''
This autopsy report by its self is very disturbing. And on top of that autopsy report, we have George W. Bush admitting he not only knew WHAT WAS GOING ON, but that key administration officials discussed specific torture techniques.
President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News Friday.
"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people." Bush told ABC New's White House correspondent Martha Raddatz. "And, yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
What makes me the most angry about this whole mess...
So... The REAL Terrorists attacked on 9/11. George W. Bush used these attacks to ILLEGALLY invade a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Then George W. Bush captures the people who tried to protect their country from his illegal invasion.
Then... George W. Bush imprisons these INNOCENT people with no charges, no access to an attorney, no Habeas Corpus.
All of this torture, George W. Bush says, is to ''protect'' the American people from the al Qaeda threat that didn't even exist before Bush invaded Iraq!
This is very important information that you should know!
From the article:
"(Benazir Bhutto) said two things that sealed her fate. She said that if elected PM, she would allow US forces to hunt for bin Laden on Pakistani soil, and that she would allow the Vienna-based IAEA to interrogate the rogue nuclear scientist, AQ Khan about his nuclear smugglings to North Korea, Iran, Libya, etc. After those statements, she had no chance of surviving." -- UPI's Richard Sale
What Benazir Bhutto said in the following video is that she was going to expose the people who are financing Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organazations. The U.S. Government helped create Al-Qaeda!
Please click "read more" to read the rest of this excellent article! There are many references linked within the text. CLICK THEM AND LEARN!!!
One VERY IMPORTANT question that remains... is this the reason that Pat Tillman was murdered? Because he found out that Osama bin Laden was DEAD and was going to tell people about it?
I'm sure that something in that Newsweek article is true. However, I can tell you some of the things that aren't true. I think the best example might be this:
What the article says: Capturing bin Laden "continues to be a huge priority," says Frances Fragos Townsend, President George W. Bush's chief counterterror adviser.
What Bush said: (Watch this video and listen to Bush''s very (un)aggressive plans for capturing Osama bin Laden!)
The article mentions Tora Bora. This is closely related to the Pat Tillman fratricide incident. Here is PROOF that there is PROPAGANDA in this article. Listen to the words coming from Bush's mouth:
''Most revealing of the official nature of the "whitewash" was the fact that the heads of the Senate and House Intelligence Oversight Committee, responsible for the 9-11 investigation, on the actual morning of September 11, 2001, were HAVING BREAKFAST with Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad, the head of Pakistani Intelligence who HELPED the U.S. and the Saudis to CREATE the Al Qaeda Network. Ahmad was also identified to be responsible for having $100,000 sent to Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker in the World Trade Center attacks (according to the FBI).'' -- from deceptiondollar.com
QUESTION: Where were the 9/11 hijackers from? Pakistan, Afganistan or Iraq?
Did you happen to catch the part where it says that ''General Mahmoud Ahmad the head of Pakistani Intelligence who helped the U.S. and the SAUDIS to create the Al Qaeda Network'' ???
Shouldn't this have been a KEY EVENT in the investigation of the events surrounding the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks?!?!?!
Once you get used to spotting propaganda, it gets easier and easier to see. All you have to do is OPEN YOUR EYES!
I'm bringing this up today because, once again, they are banging the drums of war. There is a giant headline on the Drudge Report today ( Sunday, July 15th, 2007 ) which says, "Bin Laden Appears in New al-Qaida Video."
This seems very similar to the video they "found" with the FAKE Osama Bin Laden look-a-like. Remember that video? They had it plastered all over the major news media for weeks!
The guy looked similar to Osama Bin Laden. However, upon close inspection and comparison with other known videos of Osama Bin Laden, even a CAVEMAN can tell it wasn't really Osama Bin Laden!
There is also an article from the Jerusalem Post titled, "Iranian missiles aimed at US base found in Iraq". I'm sorry but, whether this is real or not, when I read anything about this type of thing from an Israel news source the word "PROPAGANDA!!!" just comes screaming into my head because, aside from the US Government, the government of Israel is about the biggest bunch of warmongers there is and the history of these two countries proves it!
This story, from an Australian newspaper, is ABSENT from the U.S. Main Stream Media! The question is WHY dosen't the MSM want the American people to know about this MAJOR STORY?!
But WAIT! There's a LOT more about this story along with a PHOTO of the plane, here:
Also, Dick Cheney, in contradiction with the US Constitution, says the Office of the Vice President (Cheney's office) is NOT part of the Executive Branch!
54 PERCENT of Americans APPROVE of impeaching Cheney!!!
These English men seemed to think that the Government should be beholden to its citizens and not the other way around. These days, we cannot even imagine a government whose number one priority is its citizens. Apparently, those English men felt so strongly about this issue that they decided to commit treason! Can you believe that? Surely they considered the consequences of their actions. In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation.
Here's an excerpt from their letter of intent to commit treason:
"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
President Thomas Jefferson said, "When the government fears the people, you have liberty. When the people fear the government, you have tyranny."
Today, some people think it is a good idea to trade Liberty for Security! Do these misguided people remember what Benjamin Franklin said? "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
"There ought to be limits to freedom." -- George W. Bush, May 21, 1999
Pastor "believes a new 9/11 crisis could be the catalyst to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada."
"The memoirs of Jean Monnet, regarded as the architect of European unity, finally disclosed he had used a strategy of deceit, knowing his plan to form a European Union would never succeed if it were openly disclosed."
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." -- James Madison (1751-1836)
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe (1749-1832)
"What a curious phenomenon it is that you can get men to die for the liberty of the world who will not make the little sacrifice that is needed to free themselves from their own individual bondage." -- Bruce Barton (1886-1967)
"The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do." -- Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)
The question really shouldn't be whether or not Bush would try to become a dictator. The question should be whether or not he can. Can Bush, using the laws and directives which are already in place, become a dictator? It is very difficult to find evidence supporting the statement, "No he can't become a dictator." It is relatively easy to find evidence supporting the statement, "Yes, he CAN become a dictator."
Technicality applies to all 385 inmates, colonel rules
Canadian and Bin Laden's driver see cases dismissed
The Bush administration's plans to bring detainees at Guantánamo Bay to trial were thrown into chaos yesterday when military judges threw out all charges against a detainee held there since he was 15 and dismissed charges against another detainee who chauffeured Osama bin Laden.
In back-to-back arraignments for the Canadian Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national, the US military's cases against the alleged al-Qaida figures were dismissed because, the judges said, the government had failed to establish jurisdiction.
Instead of having a helpful attitude, the high ranking person from the Army seemed to be angered by questions about these issues. You could tell these questions were upsetting him just by watching his body language and listening to his terse remarks.
The Department of Defense Inspector General wasn't very helpful, either. As a matter of fact, I was apalled that this guy was allowed to have that job! Where does George Bush come up with these people?!?!
In part of this hearing, the congressional committee was trying to uncover more facts about Pat Tillmans death.
There is some very relevant info about Pat Tillman in this movie, titled "911 Truth and the Neo-Angst-Order".
The website for that video is AWESOME! Check it out.
About 5 minutes into the video, it starts talking about Pat Tillman. It says basically that Pat Tillman knew the U.S. Military let bin Laden get away at Tora Bora and was going to make an issue about it.
I think I have seen similar info about bin Laden getting away in other movies, (Loose Change possibly?) Pat Tillman was obviously there during this time. However, this is the first movie that I remember seeing which specifically links Pat Tillman to the incident.
In the hearing I mentioned, U.S. Army Specialist Bryan O'Neal, who was right with Pat Tillman when he died testified that the air support person in their unit heard an unmanned predator aircraft. From what I was hearing in the hearing, these aircraft were being controlled by the CIA. Predators have weapons.
I believe it is very plausible that Pat Tillman was killed on purpose so he wouldn't be able to let people know the U.S. Military let bin Laden get away. Pat Tillman was a high-profile figure in the media, making his story much more credible. People would probably have listened to him with much more interest than an unknown person.
From the info in this video (and others), the U.S. Military didn't just let bin Laden get away, they were complicit with his escape into Pakistan. Just imagine the stink this would have made at the time if Pat Tillman had publicly spoken about this!
Also, the guy who gave the speech about Pat Tillman in the video also testified. He spat out some lines that sounded just like Alberto Gonzales' testimony just the other day. Things like, "I can't recall... but I believe that..." That may not be an exact quote, but it's pretty close. The particular part I am referencing is where he was talking about how he got the information for his speech from an unknown source.
I can't prove anything of course, but it wouldn't be the first time someone was killed because they knew to much and were going to talk about what they knew.
There is so much scandal in the Bush administration, it is completely incomprehensible!
I would love to hear your opinion about this. Do you think I'm way off in left field somewhere or do you think this is possible. Please let me know. My e-mail address is at the very bottom of this page.
WHOO! HOO!!! This might be the last crack in the dam before the flood of information about 9/11!
"U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to submit 'proper disclosures' to the Court and Judicial Watch by December 15, 2006 concerning the U.S. government's evacuation of Saudi royals and members of the bin Laden family from the United States immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks,"
These are all streaming video's. It is possible to download most of them.
Oil, Smoke and Mirrors - MUST SEE!!! -- Not only does this documentary provide clear evidence, but clear motive. The oil grab in the Middle East is an obvious motive for the neocons to initiate 911. This is a very well produced doc, with high level government officials and authoritative experts. Motive is very important aspect for people new to the 911 issue. That is covered well in this movie. Length: 00:49:42 More Info
911 Mysteries - MUST SEE!!! -- Demolitions -- The 9/11 picture is not one of politics or nationalism or loyalty, but one of strict and simple physics. How do you get a 10-second 110-story pancake collapse? A movie that might actually reach our complacent mainstream. No agenda. No finger-pointing. Just the facts and the "mysteries." Length 1:30:41 More Info
911 The Road to Tyranny -- The Road to Tyranny exposes: * Why the USA Patriot Act is unconstitutional and un-american * How dozens of FBI and defense intelligence agents were threatened with arrest by the federal government if they got in the way of al-qaeda operations * How the CIA trained, funded and protected Bin Laden * Why the Government leaves our borders wide-open but tells us to give up our liberties for security and that more terrorist attacks are imminent * FBI training manuals that are being given to police departments that state that christians, gun owners, and "those who make frequent references to the us constitution" are terrorists The Government needed a crisis to convince the people to willingly give up their liberty in exchange for safety. This is one film you cannot afford to ignore. The future of free people everywhere is at stake. Length: 2:24:29 More Info
TerrorStorm - MUST SEE!!! -- Alex Jones' new movie exposing London's 7/7 bombing and 9/11 as self inflicted wounds. Length 1:52:21 More Info
Iraq For Sale - MUST SEE!!! -- The explosive documentary that reveals how corporations are getting in close with government officials in order to siphon billions of dollars from tax payers! More Info
American Blackout - MUST SEE!!! -- This is what the GOP REALLY doesn't want you to see!!! This covers how the GOP disenfranchised voters across the country to manipulate the results of the elections!!! WOW!!! You HAVE to watch this!!!
Loose Change 2nd Edition -- www.seeloosechange.com -- It is your duty to watch this film! Translated into 13 languages!!! (Spanish Unavailable) Length 1:21:50
TAKE BACK THE CAPITOL - A vibrant hip hop beat throbs to flash cuts of angry citizens voicing their dissent to the party in power. The camerawork is deft and the look sleek, with jolts of animation punctuating sound bites of disaffected voters speaking their minds. Dozens of man-in-the-street interviews build with increasing intensity toward an anthem-like crescendo.
Eminem's Mosh Continues - the New Ending - This is a very moving video by Eminem that was originally shown before the 2004 elections. This video is an updated version of the original, which greatly influenced the younger generation to get out and vote in 2004.
911: Press For Truth -- Share this film with everyone you know. This is the one of the best films available to expose 911 as an inside job. Length 1:24:15 More Info
Martial Law 911: Rise of the Police State -- Out of the ashes of the September 11th tragedy, a dark empire of war and tyranny has risen. The Constitution has been shredded and America is now a Police State. This film exposes not just who was behind the 9-11 attacks, but the roots and history of its orchestrator's. Shows how top Bush Administration officials have direct links to Hitler! Video footage of Skull and Bones ceremonies. This is a very sobering video and well worth watching!!! Length 2:35:42 More Info
911 EyeWitness -- Learn the truth about what happened at the World Trade Center on 911 from eyewitness testimony and scientific analysis. Length 1:44:04 More Info
As Bush and Clinton officials continue to publicly feud over who is to blame for the failure to capture Osama bin Laden, a newly released Gallup poll gives the American public their say in the matter. Bush gets hit hardest, with 53% saying he is to blame, as opposed to the 36% who fault Clinton. While results fell along predictably partisan lines, independent voters joined Democrats in finding Bush more at fault (58%) than Clinton (31%).
Bill Clinton was interviewed (more like attacked) on FOX.
This is great!!! This interview seemed to backfire on FOX.
If you actually listen to what Bill Clinton is saying during this interview, you will see (in case you don't already know) that he actually did in fact try to have Osama Bin Laden captured or killed.
Notice, while Bill Clinton tries to answer questions, he keeps being rudely interrupted when he hits on key issues that FOX doesn't want you to hear!
Also notice how the caption on the video says, "Bill Clinton Blames Others For 911." Watch the video and you will see how the title is worded this way to give you a false pretense of what happens during the video.
Don't you just love how the FOX propaganda machine never seems to stop pumping out more and more propaganda! The more propaganda you hear, the easier it is to see it for what it actually is!
Judging by the title of the video, you know the GOP NeoCon crooks are going to try to use this interview with the sole effort to make George W. Bush and his criminal administration look good.
We beleive that George W. Bush already has one foot in prison. We think that George W. Bush probably thinks this as well. We believe this is why he and his supporters are trying to do everything they can to keep Bush out of prison. We think this is just one more ploy to try to influence the American people that what he did isn't a crime, even though most of the rest of the world thinks he is a criminal.
The Cold War-mindset endorsed proxy wars, leading the United States to train and equip mujahideen like Osama Bin Laden in its fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. The Cold War-mindset promoted arming regimes with questionable human rights records for ``strategic" reasons, resulting in US forces eventually having to face enemies armed with US-made weapons in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, and Iraq.
What has become clear is that in order to advance global security, nations must unite to prevent the transfer of arms to dictators and human rights abusers. This is not done by looking to the false security of military buildup, but by strengthening the safeguards of international law.
The CIA learned in 2002 from a high-level member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle that Iraq had no past or present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi leader considered bin Laden an enemy. This despite President Bush and his Administration's efforts to link them.
June 6, 2006 -- This past weekend, a thought provoking e-mail circulated through Internet news groups, and was sent to the Muckraker Report by Mr. Paul V. Sheridan (Winner of the 2005 Civil Justice Foundation Award), bringing attention to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist web page for Usama Bin Laden. In the e-mail, the question is asked, "Why doesn't Usama Bin Laden's Most Wanted poster make any direct connection with the events of September 11, 2001?" The FBI says on its Bin Laden web page that Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the FBI, these attacks killed over 200 people. The FBI concludes its reason for "wanting" Bin Laden by saying, "In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorists attacks throughout the world."
Editors note:
Not only can't the Bush administration link the 9/11 attacks to Iraq, they can't even seem to link them to Bin Laden! Bin Laden is supposed to be the mastermind behind the attacks, right? So, why don't they have any evidence? Simply because he didn't do it! Think about it! The FBI says "NO EVIDENCE" ... After FIVE years, still "NO HARD EVIDENCE"??? Trust your gut feelings, you know who is REALLY responsible!!!
The New World Order we see today is based more and more upon a belligerent and bullying Anglo-Saxon Alliance forged between the axis Canberra-London-Washington and its foundations stand upon one simple precept: to have an "us" you need a "them." While it is true that not all those chosen to belong to "us" remain so forever (for instance, the funding of the Madrassah and the Mujaheddin movement in Afghanistan -- one of whose leaders was Usama bin Laden - to destabilise the progressive government of Dr. Najibullah by the USA).
Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it.
The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Read that again: "The intelligence and facts were being fixed...."
For years, after each damning report on BBC TV, viewers inevitably ask me, "Isn't this grounds for impeachment?" -- vote rigging, a blind eye to terror and the bin Ladens before 9-11, and so on. Evil, stupidity and self-dealing are shameful but not impeachable. What's needed is a "high crime or misdemeanor."
And if this ain't it, nothing is.
The memo uncovered this week by the Times, goes on to describe an elaborate plan by George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to hoodwink the planet into supporting an attack on Iraq knowing full well the evidence for war was a phony.
A conspiracy to commit serial fraud is, under federal law, racketeering. However, the Mob's schemes never cost so many lives.
Here's more. "Bush had made up his mind to take military action. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran."
Really? But Mr. Bush told us, "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
A month ago, the Silberman-Robb Commission issued its report on WMD intelligence before the war, dismissing claims that Bush fixed the facts with this snooty, condescending conclusion written directly to the President, "After a thorough review, the Commission found no indication that the Intelligence Community distorted the evidence regarding Iraq's weapons."
We now know the report was a bogus 618 pages of thick whitewash aimed to let Bush off the hook for his murderous mendacity.
Read on: The invasion build-up was then set, says the memo, "beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections." Mission accomplished.
You should parse the entire memo -- reprinted below -- and see if you can make it through its three pages without losing your lunch.
Now sharp readers may note they didn't see this memo, in fact, printed in the New York Times. It wasn't. Rather, it was splashed across the front pages of the Times of LONDON on Monday.
It has effectively finished the last, sorry remnants of Tony Blair's political career. (While his Labor Party will most assuredly win the elections Thursday, Prime Minister Blair is expected, possibly within months, to be shoved overboard in favor of his Chancellor of the Exchequer, a political execution which requires only a vote of the Labour party's members in Parliament.)
But in the US, barely a word. The New York Times covers this hard evidence of Bush's fabrication of a casus belli as some "British" elections story. Apparently, our President's fraud isn't "news fit to print."
My colleagues in the UK press have skewered Blair, digging out more incriminating memos, challenging the official government factoids and fibs. But in the US press ... nada, bubkes, zilch. Bush fixed the facts and somehow that's a story for "over there."
The Republicans impeached Bill Clinton over his cigar and Monica's affections. And the US media could print nothing else.
Now, we have the stone, cold evidence of bending intelligence to sell us on death by the thousands, and neither a Republican Congress nor what is laughably called US journalism thought it worth a second look.
My friend Daniel Ellsberg once said that what's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about Americans is that it's so easy to do.
Greg Palast, former columnist for Britain's Guardian papers, is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Subscribe to his columns atwww.GregPalast.com Media requests to contact(at)gregpalast.com Permission to reprint with attribution granted.
[Here it is - the secret smoking gun memo - discovered by the Times of London. - GP]
Search Google for more locations of this memo! You will find all sorts of cool websites with more information about this!
Here is the original copy of the memo printed in The Sunday Times - Britain, on May 01, 2005
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY DAVID MANNING From: Matthew Rycroft Date: 23 July 2002 S 195 /02
cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
IRAQ: PRIME MINISTER'S MEETING, 23 JULY
Copy addressees and you met the Prime Minister on 23 July to discuss Iraq.
This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.
John Scarlett summarised the intelligence and latest JIC assessment. Saddam's regime was tough and based on extreme fear. The only way to overthrow it was likely to be by massive military action. Saddam was worried and expected an attack, probably by air and land, but he was not convinced that it would be immediate or overwhelming. His regime expected their neighbours to line up with the US. Saddam knew that regular army morale was poor. Real support for Saddam among the public was probably narrowly based.
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.
CDS said that military planners would brief CENTCOM on 1-2 August, Rumsfeld on 3 August and Bush on 4 August.
The two broad US options were:
(a) Generated Start. A slow build-up of 250,000 US troops, a short (72 hour) air campaign, then a move up to Baghdad from the south. Lead time of 90 days (30 days preparation plus 60 days deployment to Kuwait).
(b) Running Start. Use forces already in theatre (3 x 6,000), continuous air campaign, initiated by an Iraqi casus belli. Total lead time of 60 days with the air campaign beginning even earlier. A hazardous option.
The US saw the UK (and Kuwait) as essential, with basing in Diego Garcia and Cyprus critical for either option. Turkey and other Gulf states were also important, but less vital. The three main options for UK involvement were:
(i) Basing in Diego Garcia and Cyprus, plus three SF squadrons.
(ii) As above, with maritime and air assets in addition.
(iii) As above, plus a land contribution of up to 40,000, perhaps with a discrete role in Northern Iraq entering from Turkey, tying down two Iraqi divisions.
The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.
The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.
The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult. The situation might of course change.
The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors. Regime change and WMD were linked in the sense that it was the regime that was producing the WMD. There were different strategies for dealing with Libya and Iran. If the political context were right, people would support regime change. The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work.
On the first, CDS said that we did not know yet if the US battleplan was workable. The military were continuing to ask lots of questions.
For instance, what were the consequences, if Saddam used WMD on day one, or if Baghdad did not collapse and urban warfighting began? You said that Saddam could also use his WMD on Kuwait. Or on Israel, added the Defence Secretary.
The Foreign Secretary thought the US would not go ahead with a military plan unless convinced that it was a winning strategy. On this, US and UK interests converged. But on the political strategy, there could be US/UK differences. Despite US resistance, we should explore discreetly the ultimatum. Saddam would continue to play hard-ball with the UN.
John Scarlett assessed that Saddam would allow the inspectors back in only when he thought the threat of military action was real.
The Defence Secretary said that if the Prime Minister wanted UK military involvement, he would need to decide this early. He cautioned that many in the US did not think it worth going down the ultimatum route. It would be important for the Prime Minister to set out the political context to Bush.
Conclusions:
(a) We should work on the assumption that the UK would take part in any military action. But we needed a fuller picture of US planning before we could take any firm decisions. CDS should tell the US military that we were considering a range of options.
(b) The Prime Minister would revert on the question of whether funds could be spent in preparation for this operation.
(c) CDS would send the Prime Minister full details of the proposed military campaign and possible UK contributions by the end of the week.
(d) The Foreign Secretary would send the Prime Minister the background on the UN inspectors, and discreetly work up the ultimatum to Saddam.
He would also send the Prime Minister advice on the positions of countries in the region especially Turkey, and of the key EU member states.
(e) John Scarlett would send the Prime Minister a full intelligence update.
(f) We must not ignore the legal issues: the Attorney-General would consider legal advice with FCO/MOD legal advisers.
(I have written separately to commission this follow-up work.)
MATTHEW RYCROFT
(Rycroft was a Downing Street foreign policy aide)
The U.S. Senate's senior Constitutional scholar has correctly equated Bush with Hitler, and the usual attack dogs are howling. But they are wrong, and Americans must now face the harsh realities of an increasingly fascist and totalitarian GOP.
Octogenarian Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia made the equation in the context of Bush's attack on Senate procedures which might slow or halt his on-going attempt to pack the courts with extreme right-wing fanatics. Byrd said Bush's moves to destroy time-honored Senate rules parallel Hitler's ramming fascist legislation through his gutted Reichstag. "Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality," said Byrd. "He recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal."
Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman has played the holocaust card for the Republicans, saying "It is hideous, outrageous and offensive for Senator Byrd to suggest that the Republican Party's tactics could in any way resemble those of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party.
GOP Chair Ken Mehlman has labeled Byrd's remarks "reprehensible and beyond the pale," remarks joined by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Santorum is best known for equating sexuality between consenting gays with bestiality between humans and dogs.
But Byrd is one of the few in either house of Congress to truly understand the Constitution and to advocate for the Bill of Rights. He points out that like Hitler, Bush is pursuing a strategy designed to win absolute rule by one party and one leader. Hitler's central slogan "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" -- one people, one government, one dictator -- accurately describes the current GOP strategy of Karl Rove, Bush's Joseph Goebbels.
Now the Republicans have renominated extreme right-wing judges to high courts from which they were barred prior to the 2004 election. With enhanced majorities in Congress, the GOP is moving to gut rules put in place to protect the rights of minorities within the government. For the GOP, as for Hitler, such safeguards are annoying barriers to absolute power.
These judges are consistent in their eagerness to protect the power and privilege of private corporations at the public expense, while simultaneously promoting the invasion of individual rights by the government. Masquerading as "free market/small government" advocates, GOP conservatives -- like Hitler's Nazis -- promote an all-powerful central government run by and for the corporations that sponsor them while crushing individual rights and liberties.
While Bush advocates for "democracy" overseas, the GOP is crushing it at home. These judicial nominees mean to further solidify Republican control of the court system, which they have added to their grip on the Executive, both houses of Congress and the media. The GOP is also gutting safeguards within the FBI and CIA, turning them into a personal police force that could parallel Hitler's Gestapo.
Because the regime wraps itself in the rhetoric of our democratic roots, it's emotionally difficult for Americans to equate Bush with Hitler. He is not, after all, running death camps like the ones Hitler used to exterminate millions of Jews, Gypsies, gays, unionists, Jehovah Witnesses, the elderly and infirm, birth defected and handicapped. But the distinction may be lost on the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have died in the wholesale slaughter there, and whose land has been carpeted with radioactive depleted uranium which will kill for centuries.
Bush is now operating a classic concentration camp in Guantanamo. This infamous holding center operates entirely outside the rule of law, with prisoners held without charge, without evidence, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world.
At Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere -- including the US "civilian" prison system -- the door has been opened onto the Nazi world of officially sanctioned torture and systematic human degradation. The new Attorney General of the United States has explicitly endorsed their use. Despite some phony genuflections to the contrary, Bush has renounced the Geneva Accords and has clearly stamped this most notorious Nazi trademark on a party also in love with the death penalty.
Bush now holds some 2.2 million prisoners in the US gulag, the world's biggest prison population since the Nazis both by absolute number and by percentage of population. At least 800,000 Americans are held for victimless "drug" crimes, including marijuana. Thousands die each year from torture, rape, suicide and treatable disease. The system is designed to remove from the political process and, in many cases, exterminate people of color, alternative life style and political dissidence.
Is this worthy of the Nazi label?
Fascism has long been clearly and simply defined as corporate control of the state, with strong totalitarian, militaristic, anti-feminist and anti-gay characteristics.
Both Mussolini's Fascists and Hitler's Nazis used acts of terror and alleged terror to grab absolute power. Ranting at Bolshevism as the GOP now does against Islam, the Nazis used the burning of the Reichstag much as the GOP has capitalized on the terror attacks of September 11.
George W. Bush does not spellbind huge Goebbels-massed rallies as Hitler did. But he does not tolerate groups that might ask embarrassing questions, and has packed the nation's bloviator corps with servile panderers. Rove uses the mass media to manipulate and deceive in ways suited to the trappings of American culture as surely as Goebbels shaped Hitler's speeches to the German volksgeist.
Bush has courted both people of color and Jews. But his far right fundamentalist backers see all non-believers as children of Satan who must ultimately perish in a "cleansing" Armageddon that will allow only the chosen few into Heaven. Amidst the psychotic twists of the Book of Revelations, these are people who love Israel but hate Jews and all the other "un-saved." At its core, there is little to distinguish today's far-right Christian fundamentalism from Hitler's Aryan master racism.
The Bush/Rove view of science parallels that of Stalin. The Soviets slaughtered researchers whose data failed to confirm their theories. Today's GOP demands scientists fit their findings to the Bush/Rove gospel. The Bush EPA, Fish & Wildlife Service and other agencies routinely assault those who challenge corporate destruction of the earth. Despite the long-standing consensus on global warming, Bush's faith-based corporate-sponsored climatology insists CO2 emissions are no problem, the scientific equivalent of claiming the Nazi Holocaust never happened.
Like Hitler, Bush believes he talks to and for God. He has said at least twice in public that he does not oppose dictatorship as long as he can be the dictator. His family has long, well-documented financial and political ties to the Nazi regime, as well as to Osama bin Laden and a long list of oil-rich Islamic fundamentalists.
Senator Byrd's invocation of the Nazis to describe the Bush regime may be considered impolitic. But it's folly to ignore the important parallels.
By all accounts American democracy is hanging by a thin thread which Bush/Rove is laboring mightily to cut.
Sen. Robert Byrd is a conservative, uniquely learned man. When he equates Bush with Hitler, he speaks with great sadness and scholarship -- and must be heeded.
As those "W" bumper stickers morph into swastikas in the killing fields of Guantanamo, Iraq, and the American prison system, we must, at Sen. Byrd's urging, revive recent history's most vital vow: "Never Again."
-- Many of Harvey Wasserman's relatives perished in the Nazi holocaust. His HISTORY OF THE US is at http://www.harveywasserman.com.
Are you brainwashed? What about some of your neighbours, are they brainwashed? Before you answer that, let us ask you a few preliminary questions: Do you believe that the United States was struck by a terrorist attack on Sept. 11? Do think that the people behind that attack were "Arabs" and that its "mastermind" was this fellow Osama bin Laden, operating from a cave in Afghanistan? Do you believe that the way to stop terrorism is to hit them hard, to hit them at their "bases" in such places as Afghanistan, and to hit the nations who might sponsor them, like, say Iraq?
A searing account of the CIA's 50-year long association with drug lords across the world, from Marseilles and Sicily, to Burma, Laos and Vietnam, to Latin America and Afghanistan. Read how the CIA's backing of the opium lords in Afghanistan helped give rise to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." --Harry S. Truman
Is History Repeating Itself?
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."