tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-215287942024-02-28T03:28:54.083-08:00The Anti PressDedicated to the defence of the truth in an age of media control.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-43080648121755802992010-04-08T12:51:00.000-07:002010-04-19T10:47:50.712-07:00The media waits: four months on and still no official Nato press release on the existence of Special Forces Death Squads<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040216.ece" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459814907921748146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmBEs8P1zqrs1FIf0w1pNI8oOoddqQNzRGJ_i4GtDIHnv_KhDQ4Ld7Dkzcd-438DP0GEW-H64VWzW2Q-4MC7CDfoVpSMb4I6wx6gl_sZZjEm2CeFAxJ7zQqdA8kR-UKc-uky22/s320/Ghazi+Khan+1.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 256px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">This past week's Wikileaks release of footage showing the deaths of more than a dozen Iraqis in the summer of 2007 has generated a great deal of desperately needed public dialogue in regard to the reality of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as opposed to the perception of the wars </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">presented to us by the corporate media. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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For more than three months, another story has been unravelling, the implications of which are far more startling than the information uncovered by Wikileaks. True to form - the corporate media's coverage of this event has an inverse relationship to its apparent gravity, meaning the coverage has been about zero.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Since the last days of December, the details of this event have been coming into focus - and the emerging image strongly suggests that coalition death-squads have been operating in Afghanistan.<br />
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Specific to this case, a group of Special Operations Forces landed outside a village in the middle of the night after receiving reports from informants that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were being manufactured there. After finding what appeared to be two groups of unarmed fighting age males sleeping in two rooms - the reports indicate that the force summarily executed all of them using silenced weapons. Unfortunately, it appears that the Special Ops team had not entered the sleeping quarters of an IED cell, but the dormitory of a private school for boys.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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On December 27, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6900673/Foreign-forces-kill-schoolchildren-and-adults-in-Afghanistan.html">media reports</a> began filtering out of Afghanistan's Kunar province regarding the deaths of 10 civilians, including eight schoolchildren, as a result of "Western military operations". Initially, </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) "had no information on any operations or casualties in Kunar". However, a unnamed "senior Western military official" stated "that US special forces have been conducting operations against militants in the border regions of Kunar". These units had been operating "independently of NATO and coalition forces" and "killing a lot of Taliban and capturing a lot of Taliban".</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">After receiving word of the incident, Afghan President Karzai immediately dispatched a team of government investigators to Ghazi Kahn village, the site of the alleged events. The findings of the investigators were posted on <a href="http://president.gov.af/Contents/91/Documents/1124/phone_talks_kunar_eng.html">President Karzai's website</a>: "</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took ten people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead". </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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In response</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">, the ISAF declared that "</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article6971638.ece">the dead were</a> all part of an Afghan terrorist cell responsible for manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians."</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> According to a senior Nato insider “[t]his was a joint operation that was conducted against an IED cell that Afghan and US officials had been developing information against for some time.”</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Another early report from the </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/foreign-forces-deny-killing-afghan-civilians-20091231-lk2m.html" style="font-family: verdana;">Sydney Morning Herald</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> included more reactions by NATO officials in response to the reports of the Afghan investigators: "The evidence we have is that there were no civilian casualties... all the people who are claimed to be dead were all fighting-age males." The same senior officer noted that </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">the international units involved in the incident were with US Special Forces... and did not involve NATO troops</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">.<br />
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ISAF spokesman US Colonel Wayne Shanks indicated that <span style="font-style: italic;">the military operation involved had been a "joint operation" between Afghan and foreign forces - </span>which, <a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/press-releases/isaf-questions-claims-of-civilian-casualties-calls-for-joint-investigation-of-kunar-incident.html">according to NATO</a>, came under fire as they approached the village<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span></span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Capt Joe Sanfilippo, a US soldier in Asadabad, Kunar's capital "<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6912858/Hamid-Karzai-accuses-foreign-forces-of-killing-Afghan-children.html">said</a> none of the dead were 'innocents' but were armed and had been shooting at the troops - US and Afghan commandos - as they entered the district."</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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"These people were shooting back at us and we had to shoot back otherwise ... we would have been injured."</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Both Sanfilippo and </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/press-releases/isaf-questions-claims-of-civilian-casualties-calls-for-joint-investigation-of-kunar-incident.html" style="font-family: verdana;">ISAF noted</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> that "several assault rifles, ammunition, and ammonium nitrate used in bomb-making" were found in the village. It is notable that no mention of bomb making components has ever been mentioned. AK-47s are </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=8&ReportId=34289&Country=Yes" style="font-family: verdana;">commonly owned by Afghans</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">, and ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, would not be uncommon in a remote farming community. In fact, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-01-23/news/17835194_1_oklahoma-city-bombing-ammonium-nitrate-homemade-bombs" style="font-family: verdana;">a bill</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> to outlaw ammonium nitrate was only passed by the Afghan government at the end of January.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Early reports out of the remote mountain village were predictably sparse in the days following the incident - but most statements relayed from village witnesses echoed <a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/hamid-karzai-demands-us-hand-over-gunmen-who-killed-children">the report</a> from President Karzai's Security Council: “International forces entered the area and killed ten youths, eight of them school students inside two rooms in a house, without encountering any armed resistance."</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Jerome Starkey of the Times of London</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">spoke to a number of village residents</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> days after the incident, including the school's headmaster, Rahman Jan Ehsas:<br />
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“A student and one guest were in another room, a guest room, and a farmer was asleep with his wife in a third building." </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">“First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the seven students. Then they killed them. Abdul Khaliq [the farmer] heard shooting and came outside. When they saw him they shot him as well."</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"A local elder, Jan Mohammed, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 100%;">said</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> that three boys were killed in one room and five were handcuffed before they were shot."</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Responding to President Karzai's statements, Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the director of communication for NATO and United States forces in Afghanistan </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/world/asia/31afghan.html?_r=1" style="font-family: verdana;">stated that</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> "we’ve already talked to President Karzai and he’s agreed to a joint investigation” </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">by an impartial panel.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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After the New Year, these were virtually the final words on the incident at Ghazi Khan by NATO and the corporate media. No additional information regarding the details of the investigation, nor whether or not an investigation was even underway were released by military authorities. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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The silence was broken on February 25 when two reports were released by Jerome Starkey:</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">"</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040166.ece" style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">Western sources</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"> close to the case now agree that the victims were all aged 12 to 18 and were not involved in insurgent activity."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">Nato sources say that the raid should never have been authorised. "Knowing what we know now, it would probably not have been a justifiable attack," an official in Kabul told </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">The Times</i></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">. "We don’t now believe that we busted a major ring."</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">Nato’s statement, issued four days after the event, said that troops were attacked “from several buildings” as they entered the village. Yesterday it said that “ultimately, we did determine this to be a civilian casualty incident”. </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
Starkey also reported on the results of his effort to bring two village elders to Kabul for interviews.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Taleb Abdul Ajan, 50, was present in the Village at the time of the raid: he "woke to the sound of dogs barking. Then he heard boots crunching on gravel and men’s voices outside his bedroom. 'Their guns killed without a sound,' he said."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040216.ece">On the night of the raid,</a> Taleb came to the door of his room and was immediately ordered back inside by soldiers wearing night-vision goggles. "It was dark. I couldn’t see them, but they could see me."</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
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Taleb's brother, Farooq, 48, relayed to Starkey that his son, Sefatullah, 19, has reported that he "was handcuffed, searched and marched around the family’s mountain compound by men he believes were Americans".</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">“They took Sefatullah to each room and asked him who was sleeping inside... but they didn’t show him inside. He didn’t know they were dead. He told them, ‘My brothers, my cousins, they are students’. The Americans were writing down the names and their classes.” </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">As soon as the troops left, Sefatullah ran to his mother’s room and she cut the plastic cuffs that had bound his hands behind his back. “Then they went into one of the rooms, where six people had been sleeping,” Farooq said. “It was dark and my wife walked on her son’s dead body. Then they brought a hurricane lamp.” </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><br />
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They found Taleb’s son, Rahimullah, 17, and a boy called Samar Gul, 12, dead in a guest room. Taleb said that Samar Gul was staying overnight because he needed some wheat milled and Taleb’s family own the local mill.<br />
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“He was afraid to stay on his own so Rahimullah slept in the room with him.” </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><br />
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Next, Taleb said, the soldiers burst into the room of his half-brother, Najibullah, 18. According to his widow, Hassina, they dragged him out of bed and searched his belongings. “All they found were books,” Taleb said. The family discovered Najibullah’s body slumped together with Farooq’s son Sebhanullah, 17, and two of Taleb’s sons, Matiullah, 16, and Attahullah, 15, in a room that led on to a second bedroom. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><br />
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In the second room they found Farooq and Taleb’s half-brother Samiullah, 12, Farooq’s son Atiqullah, 15, and a nephew, Ismael, 12. All of them had been shot. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><br />
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The tenth victim was a farmer, Abdul Khaliq, 18, who was shot when he ran out of a nearby house, Taleb said.</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">After the soldiers shot the boys they took photographs of their bloodied faces. Farooq said his daughter heard a man curse their informant in the local language, using an expression that implied that the soldiers realised they had been fed bad information.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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It is notable that NATO, now retracting their earlier identification of the victims as members of a bomb making cell, also appears to be distancing itself from the event - despite the level of information it was providing about the incident in December: <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040216.ece">“incidents</a> such as this do not reflect any conduct that Isaf [regular Nato troops] would condone and it is not the way Isaf trains any of our Afghan partners.” </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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And while NATO is now willing to deny their involvement, as well as apparently willing to condemn the actions of the units as inconsistent with their rules of conduct - nobody is currently willing to identify which organization or units actually carried out the actions, despite the level of detail previously provided by military information officers: "US forces based in Kunar have denied any knowledge of the raid.. [o]fficials in Kabul confirmed that 'US forces' were present but refused to say if they were military or civilian."<br />
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It is difficult to reconcile the testimony of the villagers, all of which has been remarkably consistent, and none of which provides an account of any gunfire, with that of nameless, faceless personnel that the coalition refuses to identify, much less bring forward for the purpose of clarifying the events that took place that morning.<br />
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Most of the information uncovered regarding this story, and the direct witness statements of the villagers has come as a result of the work of Jerome Starkey. His work is inspirational for many reasons, including the fact that</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> he manages to be a real investigative-journalist at a time when it seemed all but certain that every last one of them was extinct. On top of that, he works on behalf of the Times of London - a publication that is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp. In this case, credit needs to be given where it's due - and the Times is publishing serious and valuable journalism in Starkey's work.<br />
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Subsequent to the events at Ghazi Khan, Starkey is primarily responsible for uncovering a similar incident that occurred in the village of </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Khataba in eastern Afghanistan on February 12. While this particular incident has received a relatively higher level of coverage, it has still largely been ignored in the headlines and news feeds of the corporate media. An examination of these events as they unfolded can also prove to be of assistance to those who are attempting to determine the level of credibility that should be accorded to the various military information offices working in Afghanistan.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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The Khataba incident unfolded as follows:</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />
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On February 12, ISAF issued a press release entitled: Joint Force Operating in Gardez Makes Gruesome Discovery (</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a class="l" href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.isaf.nato.int%2Fen%2Farticle%2Fisaf-releases%2Fjoint-force-operating-in-gardez-makes-gruesome-discovery.html&ei=bv3DS8vAFojMsgOL_OjYDA&usg=AFQjCNGSu5lMKGBSc4-r1ymBkY_WQ-sg4w&sig2=fulseds355m82obo-KCOmw" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','res','1','AFQjCNGSu5lMKGBSc4-r1ymBkY_WQ-sg4w','&sig2=fulseds355m82obo-KCOmw','0CAYQFjAA')" style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i></a><a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/isaf-releases/joint-force-operating-in-gardez-makes-gruesome-discovery.html" style="font-family: verdana;">now rescinded</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">). Based on the ISAF release, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/12/afghanistan.bodies/index.html" style="font-family: verdana;">CNN reported</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> that the bodies of two men and two women were discovered at a compound by a joint operation of Afghan and Nato led forces. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"The bodies of the two women were </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">bound and gagged</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">, and the U.S. official said the people were shot "execution-style".</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"The U.S. official said it isn't clear whether the dishonor in this case stemmed from accusations of acts such as adultery or even cooperating with NATO forces."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> </span> <br />
<div style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">"It has the earmarks of a traditional honor killing," said the official, who added the Taliban could be responsible.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">"The operation unfolded when Afghan and international forces went to the compound, which was thought to be a site of militant activity. A firefight ensued and several insurgents died, several people left the compound, and eight others were detained."</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">One month later, on March 13, after contacting "[m]ore than a dozen survivors, officials, police chiefs and a religious leader... at and around the scene of the attack", Starkey and the Times published an article which gave a <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7060395.ece">very different version</a> of the events that occurred that evening.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">According to Starkey, coalition special forces entered the compound of a residence that was owned by a policeman, Commander Dawood, 43. He was "a long-serving, popular and highly-trained policeman who had recently been promoted to head of intelligence in one of Paktia’s most volatile districts."</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"></div><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"His brother, Saranwal Zahir, was a prosecutor in Ahmadabad district."</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"That particular evening, Dawood was hosting a gathering to celebrate the naming of a newborn baby. One of the musicians went outside to use the facilities, when somebody shone a light in his face - he ran back inside yelling "Taliban".</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Commander Dawood was the first to go outside, his 15 year old son was at his side. They were shot from a rooftop as they ran across the courtyard - Dawood was killed, his son survived. Shortly afterwards, Dawoods brother Zahir is reported to have stepped forward, yelling in English "don’t fire, we work for the Government", and at the same moment, he was shot. As he fell to the ground, two pregnant women, and a teenage girl standing behind him were hit - all four were killed.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">Based on information obtained by individuals who were attending the gathering, and who were subsequently detained for questioning - the coalition force was looking for an individual by the name of Shamsuddin. Shamsuddin was at the compound that evening - but the coalition forces failed to apprehend him. He turned himself in days later - and was released without charge.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">While it's not clear from the Times' articles if witnesses reported whether or not Dawood or Zahir were armed (ISAF claims that they were), they did report that no shots were fired beyond those of the coalition forces - contradicting ISAF's assertions of a </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">firefight</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">On March 13, ISAF issued a news release entitled </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">ISAF Rejects Coverup Allegation</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> (<a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/isaf-releases/isaf-rejects-cover-up-allegation.html">now rescinded</a>). <a href="http://www.khabaryal.com/fullstory.php?id=8380&CatID=16">In the release</a>, ISAF rejects Starkey's report of a coverup - although they fail to back this up in any coherent way, and they go on to accuse Starkey of inaccuracies. <a href="http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00440">ISAF first claimed</a> to have a recording of Starkey's interview with one of their officers to back up their claim of a misquote. Later, when Starkey requested to listen to the recording - they ignored him. When he pressed them - they informed him that there had been a </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">misunderstanding</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">, there was no recording - they had taken notes.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">ISAF now claimed that, as a result of their investigation that had "taken weeks" to conduct, they had determined that the women had not been victims of an honour killing, but that their bodies had simply been prepared for burial - however, they <a href="http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00440">still claimed</a> that the women had been killed before the </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">firefight.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">On April 5, Starkey <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7087637.ece">detailed information</a> he had received from Afghan investigators and witnesses at the scene who reported that </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">"</span><span style="font-size: 100%;">US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened."</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">A day earlier, ISAF had issued <a href="http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/isaf-releases/gardez-investigation-concludes.html">a release</a> outlining the results of their </span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;">investigation</span> into the incident which had determined that: </div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">"[I]nternational forces were responsible for the deaths of three women".</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The two men "were shot and killed by the joint patrol after they showed what appeared to be hostile intent by being armed."</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">"[T]he releases issued shortly after the operation were based on a lack of cultural understanding by the joint force and the chain of command. The statement noted the women had been bound and gagged, but this information was taken from an initial report by the international members of the joint force who were not familiar with Islamic burial customs."</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">The release failed to provide any information that would explain how the "members of the joint force" would confuse the bodies of women they killed, as well as those of two men they killed, with bodies that had been murdered in a separate honour killing. Also missing from the release was any explanation regarding the origin of the initial statements regarding the "several insurgents" that died in the "firefight" - as well as any reference to the allegations of evidence tampering that was made by Afghan investigators.</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">On April 7, </span><span class="texto1" style="font-size: 100%;">Mirza Mohammad Yarmand of the </span><span class="texto1" style="font-size: 100%;">Afghan Ministry of Interior investigation <a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50944">reiterated their findings</a> of </span><span class="texto1" style="font-size: 100%;">"evidence of tampering at the scene by the patrol members" and added that </span><span class="texto1" style="font-size: 100%;">"[i]n the end, NATO accepted our findings, and Gen. McChrystal agreed with the conclusions of our team." McChrystal's spokesperson, </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">Lt. Col. Todd <i>Breasseale has stated that McChrystal had been briefed by Afghan officials in "late march" - prior to the conclusion of the ISAF investigation announced on April 4.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div face="verdana"><span class="texto1" style="font-size: 100%;"></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Breasseale has indicated that McChrystal has now "ordered [a] subsequent investigation in order to reconcile certain aspects between the two investigations." As is the case with the promised joint investigation of the events at Ghazi Khan - it is not clear when, or even if the results of this investigation will be revealed.</span></span></div><div face="verdana"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">A UK based organization, <a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/10/100317_natos_fire_sale.php">Media-Lens</a> has provided some excellent reports on the media's lack of coverage of the Ghazi Khan incident. A BBC response to criticism by Media-Lens and its readers regarding the Corporations nearly non-existent coverage of the events at Ghazi-Khan included the following:</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/10/100317_natos_fire_sale.php">"It's worth noting</a> that the circumstances of the incident are disputed, unlike some previous examples of civilians killed by coalition forces. The Afghan government and the UN believe that civilians were killed as the result of the US operation in Kunar. NATO still does not accept this and strongly argues that US forces killed insurgents." (Email from BBC complaints to Media Lens reader, February 19, 2010)</span></div><div style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">This statement was made by BBC on February 19, six days prior to NATO's admission that the boys it killed were not insurgents. To date - no significant coverage has been produced by the BBC or any other network news outlets for the purpose of uncovering the events that occurred in Ghazi Khan on December 27.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">And so the BBC, and virtually all other major news organizations wait. Although it is clear that the military information officers are now providing completely unreliable, and almost certainly fabricated information as a matter of course, these organizations no longer see it as their job to challenge them. No attempts to contact witnesses, no pressing Afghan officials, no stories designed to embarrass military and political officials into action.<br />
<br />
One wonders if those who work in these organizations can even see the reality of who they have become in relation to the myth of the fourth estate: simple administrators of information, waiting for the next <span style="font-style: italic;">scoop</span> to be served to them in the air conditioned briefing rooms of Washington, London, Baghdad or Kabul.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-69929289193629808322010-01-22T21:34:00.000-08:002010-01-23T10:46:18.944-08:00Truth over delusion: Hugo Chavez did not accuse the U.S. of causing the Haitian earthquake<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6gpDTjWfgElDyhYyWeMFptZUwxxiZues9CelLA2NbeRcBfRuWqfg-w2YhmYgiIMQ7CsK9CuwxTpplJW-hxyTPQCHCOrwKVquITX2W1vac7wkaX9KAHsbBAZKbmchDADwBmRm/s1600-h/ABC+Chavez+Hit.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429884204274278386" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6gpDTjWfgElDyhYyWeMFptZUwxxiZues9CelLA2NbeRcBfRuWqfg-w2YhmYgiIMQ7CsK9CuwxTpplJW-hxyTPQCHCOrwKVquITX2W1vac7wkaX9KAHsbBAZKbmchDADwBmRm/s320/ABC+Chavez+Hit.png" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">On January 19, Spanish newspaper ABC, a </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >newspaper of record </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">in Spain, published </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.abc.es/20100119/internacional-/chavez-acusa-provocar-seismo-201001191332.html&ei=vZlaS5y6BIXssQOX2_2ZAw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA8Q7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DChavez%2Bacusa%2Ba%2Bee.%2Buu.%2Bde%2Bprovocar%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26hs%3D2WF">a story</a> <span style="font-size:100%;">entitled</span></span> <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Chavez accuses US of causing earthquake in Haiti</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The story was quickly picked up by </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9QtZkT8OBQ"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">websites</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> around the globe - most quoting Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez as saying the U.S. used a new </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >tectonic weapon </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">to induce the Haitian earthquake. This was, <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">according to Chavez</span> - "only a drill, and the final target is destroying and taking over Iran"</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Within the actual story, ABC noted that the information came from an obscure </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.vive.gob.ve/inf_art.php?id_not=15464&id_s=3"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">opinion</span> post</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on the website of a Venezuelan </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >state television </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">channel, VIVE Television. The post referenced a supposed Russian military report </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">on American seismic weapons</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />All quotes subsequently attributed to Chavez regarding Haiti and earthquake weapons were in fact direct quotes from this web posting - none of which was ever uttered by Chavez.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Spurred on by the international attention being received by its first story, ABC posted a second article on January 20 under the banner </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.es%2Fhemeroteca%2Fhistorico-20-01-2010%2Fabc%2FInternacional%2Fel-arma-secreta-para-provocar-terremotos_1133182612243.html&sl=es&tl=en">The Secret Weapon to Cause Earthquakes<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> </span></a></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">in which it cites Chavez as having<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"> blamed</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"></span></span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" > the US for razing Haiti.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><br /><br /></span>By the time the story had run its course, it had been covered with varying degrees of accuracy by </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583588,00.html">corporate news channels</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116688&sectionid=351020704">foreign outlets</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> eager to accuse the U.S. of another evil deed, and </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/chavez-says-us-weapon-caused-haiti-quake.html">conspiracy websites</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> happy to have their ideas officially validated.</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the end, it serves as one more reminder to those who prefer truth over ideological delusion: there are </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d51_1262598681">some subjects</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> for which the myths of journalistic standard</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:verdana;" >s </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">will still be displayed - stories about the government of Venezuela are not one of those subjects</span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-21461209570378207922010-01-15T20:35:00.001-08:002010-01-15T22:26:45.973-08:00Danny Glover did not say that the Haitian earthquake was caused by global warming.<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">It's quite likely that Danny Glover is currently having one of those moments that has you wishing life had a reset button.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For those that aren't aware, on January 13, Glover was being interviewed by an online news program when he attempted to make a connection between the earthquake and climate change, apparently attempting to point out that if we continue to do nothing about climate change, as was pretty much the case at Copenhagen - then we'll have to deal with <span style="font-style: italic;">natural disasters</span> on a more frequent basis.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Unfortunately for Glover, he flubbed his lines - and even more unfortunately for him, those </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/pact_with_gaia/">"news" outlets</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that can never get enough of having a good guffaw about anything that ridicules the "global warming hoax" ran with it. They of course were helped along by the internetz fair and balanced purveyor of climate news, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22global+warming%22+site%3Awww.drudgereportarchives.com&aq=f&oq=&aqi=">Matt Drudge</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. In the end, they've use his in-articulated words, the actual meaning of which can likely be placed into context by most eleven year-olds, to imply that Danny Glover believes that earthquakes are caused by global-warming.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So - for those of you who are inclined towards truth, as opposed to bending reality to fit your political blinders, I have included a transcript of the relevant statements as they were conveyed by Glover's fumbling tongue (after the video).</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param value="http://youtube.com/v/a2ft5JkNWJA" name="movie"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://youtube.com/v/a2ft5JkNWJA" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p></div><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Danny Glover on GRITtv – January 13, 2009</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">... This is a great moment for another type of internationalism – y'know? And I, and I hope we seize this particular moment, because the threat of what happened to Haiti is a threat that can happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations, y'know? They're all in peril because of global warming. They're all in peril because of climate change, and all this – we need to (inaudible), this, this, when we back, when we did what we did at the climate summit, in Copenhagen – this is the respon..., this is what happens, y'know what I'm saying? We have to act now... (bumper music begins</span> – end of time slot)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-61480254736773799292009-01-15T21:46:00.000-08:002009-01-18T03:00:07.001-08:00Israeli denials and explanations can no longer stand on their ownRubbish.<br /><br />This is now the only description that should be afforded to Israeli denials and explanations of the reported atrocities committed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) - now practically a daily occurrence in Gaza. It should no longer be acceptable for any member of the news media to include the statements of Israeli public relations personnel without including a qualifier as to the level of credibility that the statements should be afforded.<br /><br />"The Israeli forces were attacked from there, and their response was severe." This was the <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5521925.ece">statement</a> made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki Moon in response to Israel's shelling of the main UN compound in Gaza.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">IDF forces had come under fire from forces inside the school.</span> This was the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814054.stm">original explanation</a> given for Israel's shelling of a UN school that had been sheltering refugees - forty three people were killed. The <a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/119374/independent_groups_debunk_israeli_war_propaganda/">explanation changed</a> after the UN's relief director in Gaza denied the initial charge: now, the Israelis were returning fire on a target "in the vicinity of the school". It is not <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424929302&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">currently clear</a> which of the two versions the Israelis will settle on.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7828536.stm">Reports</a> by the BBC and human rights group B'tselem describing a Palestinian woman being shot in the head while waiving a white flag: "without foundation", according to the IDF. <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5470047.ece">Multiple reports</a> that prove Israel is using white phosphorus in civilian areas in contravention of the Geneva Convention: Israel insists "we're not using any weapons that are banned under international law.”<br /><br />It should now be clear to anyone who allows themselves honest and logical reflection that Israel has one automatic communications response that is to be employed when the IDF engages in activities that result in the death of civilians or non-combatants, denial. This denial can take any number of forms, usually blaming the events on "the enemy", questioning the innocence of the victims, or denying the incident outright. Should the first statement of denial fall apart under scrutiny, then a new sequence of events shall be introduced to counter the statements of the other witnesses.<br /><br />Some of these events would require intricate conspiracies between seemingly unrelated parties in order for the IDF's versions to be plausible. In recent reports, it would appear that both the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95NL3M80">United Nations</a> and the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4209550/Gaza-bombing-witnesses-describe-horror-of-Israeli-strike.html">International Committee of the Red Cross</a> (ICRC) are working alongside Hamas in order to foil Israel.<br /><br />For those still in denial about Israel's policy of denial - allow me to introduce you to Lasse Schmidt, a journalist, and a human rights worker with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who was working in the West Bank in 2003. On April 4th of that year, Schmidt was acting as an observer to a group of Palestinian youth who were throwing stones at Israeli armour. At one point, an Israeli armoured personnel carrier (APC) unleashed a short burst of heavy machine gun rounds at a wall three meters to Schmidt's right. The resulting pieces of stone and shrapnel caused very minor wounds to his back and legs - he required no medical attention.<br /><br />The following day, Schmidt ran into a reporter for the French news agency APF, and during the course of their conversation, he related the details of the previous day's incident. About an hour after that conversation, he was shocked to hear of an APF story concerning a Danish peace activist who had been injured by Israeli fire that very morning, April 5th.<br /><br />A few hours later, and Schmidt was reading an Israeli press release in response to the APF story. The Israelis confirmed that, indeed a Danish citizen had been injured earlier that very day, "but it maintained that he had been caught in crossfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers and most likely was hit by a Palestinian bullet."<br /><br />In the same article, Schmidt goes on to describe the shooting of three other peace activists and / or journalists who all, the Israelis initially insisted, were caught in a crossfire and likely hit by a Palestinian bullet. In each of these cases, the Israeli denials were later shown to be questionable to the extreme (in one case), or completely false (in the other two). <a href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14634">Schmidt's record of the events</a> is highly recommended material for reading.<br /><br />Israel's policy of denial has been in play for one reason - because it worked. By and large, the corporate media was willing to accept the offerings from Israel's spin machine with few questioning the obvious deficiencies. Now, there are <a href="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=19799">hopeful signs</a> that a public, served by alternative sources of news, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfFMZ7Y-s_c">a new generation</a> of news outlets soured by Israel's increasingly heavy hand, may be coming together to form a true conspiracy against the Israeli PR machine.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-34160212806086025182009-01-06T02:40:00.000-08:002009-01-08T13:26:38.568-08:00More Rockets Please. Examining Israel's Ceasefire Violation<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >At the time of this writing, the people of Gaza are nearing the end of the second day of the Israeli ground operations. The current death toll of more than 500 Palestinians and the 2600 wounded during the previous week of bombing is sure to increase. When the inevitable objections to Israel's violence are raised, then of course we will hear about the rockets and mortars that are falling on Israel's southern border - yet very few of us will ever hear that those rockets had virtually stopped falling months before this violence erupted. We will also not hear that Israel's actions clearly indicated that they were not interested in ending the rocket attacks against their citizens in Sderot and the other towns of the Western Negev if it meant losing their ability to fully dominate a Hamas controlled Gaza.</span><span style=";font-family:webdings;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >When the ceasefire agreement was signed in June – the Israeli leadership <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1062797.html">knew very well</a> that Hamas would not be able to end the rocket and mortar attacks with the wave of a hand. Hamas is not solely responsible for the attacks, the rockets are also being fired by rival groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and even <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7501000/7501025.stm">Hamas’s arch rival Fatah</a>.<br /><br />So when Hamas succeeded in reducing the number of attacks after the June agreement, from 518 in April and 355 in May, to 12 in July and 11 in August, Israel should have seen this for what it was, a sign that Hamas was acting effectively, and in good faith. Instead, the Israeli government used the remaining attacks as an excuse for maintaining only sporadic shipments of humanitarian goods, never coming anywhere close to allowing for the commercial goods that the agreement called for, nor moving toward permitting the European border observers to travel to the Egypt-Gaza border to facilitate its opening.<br /><br />It would appear that Israel was aiming to maintain the steady tightening of the economic stranglehold on the residents of Gaza for the purpose of achieving their stated objective of eroding support for Hamas. The ceasefire, like their well publicized border openings, only appears to have been serving the purpose of improving Israel’s image through their <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/28/israel-gaza-hamas">public relations campaigns</a> – while they pursued their policy of <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95CIHVO0&show_article=1">crushing Hamas in Gaza</a>.<br /><br />The trend, as it appeared at the end of October, was unmistakable to anybody qualified to assess it - including Israeli policy analysts - Hamas was on the verge of bringing the rocket and mortar attacks to an end. According to the <a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Behind+the+Headlines-+Calm+in+the+South+19-Jun-2008.htm">Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs</a>, Israel had been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_and_mortar_attacks_in_Israel_in_2008">subject to</a> a total of 1 rocket and 3 mortar attacks in September, and 1 rocket and 1 mortar attack in October.</span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmxvl7jEqSTLj1wyz5eoeNaVXVDdvkSqKgiJ3URXdrC_xcFFQPg_87u1ri4qByGXXSko-swV-46WWsNS15swbsySzqCSCAlGcumJZzJRZmj9F5khNs4LnHC5jyk1mUPrf5SVM/s1600-h/rockets2008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288114816754858866" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 566px; cursor: pointer; height: 368px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmxvl7jEqSTLj1wyz5eoeNaVXVDdvkSqKgiJ3URXdrC_xcFFQPg_87u1ri4qByGXXSko-swV-46WWsNS15swbsySzqCSCAlGcumJZzJRZmj9F5khNs4LnHC5jyk1mUPrf5SVM/s320/rockets2008.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:100%;"></span></p><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >So, when Israel supposedly received reports of a tunnel being built a few hundred meters from its border, it had a number of factors to consider. Chief among these should have been the safety of its citizens. The ceasefire was clearly moving toward fruition, despite Israel’s slow pace on opening the borders. It is difficult to imagine how Israeli policy makers could have come to the conclusion that the ceasefire agreement would withstand the violation of Gaza’s sovereignty by armed Israeli soldiers.<br /><br />They knew the tunnel was there - and this knowledge neutralized the threat. If they were so sure of the “imminence” of this attempt to abduct a member of their armed services, they could have set up an ambush on their side of the border. They could have reinforced the ground around that area of the border wall to make tunnelling impossible. They could have made contact with Hamas in order to alert them to their knowledge of this tunnel while questioning Hamas’s commitment to the ceasefire. Instead, they invaded Gaza, and in the process, they destroyed any possibility of Hamas maintaining the support necessary for upholding the ceasefire, either inside, or outside of the organization.<br /><br />Israeli policy makers knew they were retreating from the brink of peace. If they did not know, then they are guilty of gross incompetence which has resulted in the deaths of Israeli civilians, Israeli soldiers, and residents of Gaza. Israeli policy makers knew this would be the result, and they did not care - at least not enough to risk the possibility that metal would cease to fall on their towns and villages. The inevitable outcome of such a situation would have been a call from inside and outside the country for Israel to adhere to their end of the ceasefire and to end the economic stranglehold on Gaza. This in turn would have strengthened Hamas’s position within Gaza and the West Bank, putting the Israeli leadership’s objective of toppling Hamas in Gaza out of reach. The people of Gaza would have their democratically elected representatives speaking for them and acting in their interests, instead of the docile Fatah that had seized power in the West Bank along with the assistance of Israel and the West. One can hope that the people of Gaza can somehow avoid the Israeli objective of an imposed Fatah dictatorship - and at the same time, that they recognize the fear that the threat of a peaceful expression of their will posed to those who oppress them.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" ></span><span style="font-size:0;"></span></span></p><span style=";font-family:';font-size:12;" lang="EN-CA"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-59454582666581089642008-06-10T19:01:00.000-07:002008-06-11T23:01:12.889-07:00Impeachment. We're safe... for now.<span style="font-family:georgia;">So, what's important? What do we need to know today?<br /><br />Currently, some of the stories displayed on the front page of </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/"><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#ff0000;">CNN.COM</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> include the following:<br /><br /><em><a href="http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=33407">Be Cheap This Summer</a>: Rising gas prices and a worsening economy may affect how Americans spend their leisure time this summer. We want to see how you plan to have fun -- for free. </em><br /><br /><em><a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/10/oklahoma-dem-wont-endorse-obama/">House Democrat Won't Endorse Obama</a>: one congressional Democrat </em>(Rep. Dan Boren, Oklahoma)<em> said Tuesday he will not endorse Barack Obama's bid for the White House. </em>(Makes sense, everybody is always waiting on pins and needles to hear the next utterance from the great Dan Boren).<br /><br /><em><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/06/10/half.ton.man.ap/index.html">700-pound man dreams of walking down the aisle</a>:</em> <em>Mexico (AP) -- Manuel Uribe, who once weighed a half-ton but has slimmed down to about 700 pounds, celebrates his 43rd birthday Wednesday with a simple wish for the coming year: to be able to stand on his own two feet to get married.</em><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.wbaltv.com/news/16557156/detail.html" target="new" s_oid="http://www.wbaltv.com/news/16557156/detail.html" s_oidt="0"><em><span style="font-family:georgia;">Man finds $250,000 lottery ticket in jacket</span></em></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> : <em>A Prince George's man found more than he expected when searching his pockets last week.</em><br /><br />Important stuff - but these days, there are a few corners of the Internet where fringe groups come together and discuss issues that, unlike the stories above, aren't at all newsworthy and in reality would be offensive, and even dangerous to the average American's ear. Even so, and regrettably, some news wire services continue to cater to these extremist elements within our society by reporting on fodder such as the following:<br /><br /><em><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_go_co/kucinich_impeachment;_ylt=A0WTUd..sk5IGPYAQQiyFz4D">Rep. Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution</a>: Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush... Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war... Kucinich introduced a resolution last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. That resolution was killed, but only after Republicans initially voted in favor of taking up the measure to force a debate.</em><br /><br />Apparently, this Kucinich character is a member of the U.S. Congress, I would imagine from one of the pockets of far left constituencies in Oregon, or California - they say he ran in the Democratic presidential primary. I don't recall hearing his name on CNN too much, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing his name during the introductory credits during the first few debates - back when there were all those other people up on the stage with Hillary and Obama.<br /><br />Of course, none of this has made it to the front page of CNN.COM - which means that, so far, those who fight to ensure that our airwaves only reflect respectable American values continue to prevail in their struggle. Even so, there is always the possibility that members of these extremist elements within our society could make their way into the permissive bastions of the <em>liberal media</em> and plant details of this sordid activity within the websites of our major news outlets.<br /><br />In order to ensure that this type of propaganda is not allowed to infect those who are deficient in their ability to retain the information that is essential to their enjoyment of the American way of life, it is important that these ideas are not readily available within the media system. I am happy to report that, as of this writing, those who protect the fourth pillar of democracy from anti-American rhetoric are succeeding.<br /><br />By clicking on the following link, you will find the latest results retrieved when the search term "</span><a href="http://search.cnn.com/search.jsp?query=impeachment&type=news&sortBy=date&intl=false"><span style="font-family:georgia;">impeachment</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">" is entered into the </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/CNN.COM"><span style="font-family:georgia;">CNN.COM</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> website. As you can see, despite the ever increasing leftward slant of this organization, the words of the dangerous classes have not surfaced. No word of the above noted activity can be found, even when the search term "</span><a href="http://search.cnn.com/search.jsp?query=kucinich&type=news&sortBy=date&intl=false"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Kucinich</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">" is entered into the site. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>(Note: after the writing of this post, CNN finally added an article to their site - but I'm sure you still get the point).<br /></em><br />One should not be lulled into a feeling of security based on the above noted information. I have heard reports that mention of this affair has been made during CNN broadcasts, however, if I have not seen it, I would imagine the seepage is not such that we should be overly concerned of an outbreak.<br /><br />Currently, even those with the unenviable job of defending America from the scourge of the <em>far left</em> media that takes advantage of our freedoms are meeting with success, as the same two search terms, "</span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?q=impeachment&search=search+site&submit=Search&id=11881780&FORM=MSNBC&os=0&gs=1&p=1&adunitid=&propertyid="><span style="font-family:georgia;">impeachment</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">" and "</span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?q=kucinich&search=search+site&submit=Search&id=11881780&FORM=MSNBC&os=0&gs=1&p=1&adunitid=&propertyid="><span style="font-family:georgia;">Kucinich</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">", entered into the MSNBC site fail to register the latest activities of those who would deny Americans their beliefs (although, as you can see, one article reporting on earlier activities perpetrated by this same crew has made it through - an example of the danger a weak moment permits).<br /><br />While the danger can never be understated, it is comforting to know that the individuals that own these broadcasters, and those who they choose to work for them, continue to ensure that the information conveyed to the nation accurately reflects the </span><a href="http://www.impeachpac.org/?q=node/6"><span style="font-family:georgia;">views</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> and </span><a href="http://www.democrats.com/bush-impeachment-poll-2"><span style="font-family:georgia;">desires</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> that they share in </span><a href="http://creativeclass.typepad.com/thecreativityexchange/images/2008/03/10/inequality.png"><span style="font-family:georgia;">common</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> with the American people.<br /><br />It is imperative that we continue to understand the common good through the voices of those whose place in the order of things entitles them to the </span><a href="http://godtaughtme.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/conglomerates.jpg"><span style="font-family:georgia;">positions of leadership</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> they hold. For every time a citizen's mind is captured by the Kuciniches of the world - slipping outside of the wide spectrum of acceptable American values - it means that a few more of our tax dollars are diverted from </span><a href="http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2007/11/6/defense_earnings.jpg"><span style="font-family:georgia;">growth</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> and </span><a href="http://static.seekingalpha.com/wp-content/seekingalpha/images/Exxon09012007Chart.png"><span style="font-family:georgia;">jobs</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to fund the necessary increase in policing and domestic security costs that such dangerous ideas necessitate.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-72652210707792095152008-05-14T17:22:00.000-07:002008-05-14T22:37:55.722-07:00Girl of 8 used as 'suicide' bomber - and other tales the corporate media wishes were true.<span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>Girl of 8 used as 'suicide' bomber</em>.<br /><br />To the average consumer of the corporate-media's wares, headlines such as this serve to assure them of the evil nature of the forces that we are currently confronting. In spite of all our blunders, and in spite of the seemingly complicated issues that surround <em>the War on Terror, </em>here is a clear example of the evil that the Western forces of <em>good </em>are clumsily attempting to counter.<br /><br />On the other hand, for those of us who have retained the lessons that the Western corporate media have so painfully bestowed on us, particularly the advanced level courses we have been forced to endure over the last seven years, the nature of the above noted headline served to alert us that it was time to carefully inspect the bottom of our shoes.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the pass rate for the above noted curriculum appears to be dreadfully low, and nowhere does the failure rate seem more abysmal than among those who make up the ranks of the global media system.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080514/twl-girl-eight-in-iraq-suicide-bombing-3fd0ae9.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The story</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> attached to the above noted headline consists of the following: an eight year old girl was strapped with explosives, she approached an Iraqi army captain at a checkpoint, the explosives were detonated by remote control. The editors ensure that the word <em>suicide </em>appears in quotes, as if to sneeringly confirm to it's consumers that, "yes - you are well acquainted with the type of Islamic scum we're talking about here".<br /><br />A quick glance of the article in question assures us that the stench emanating from the headline is likely an accurate indicator of the articles content - the first warning sign arises as a result of the timing between the incident and the publication of the story.<br /><br />While the news is attributed to the Guardian in some articles, the </span><a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=147666&in_page_id=64"><span style="font-family:georgia;">first mention </span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">of an eight year old bomber appears in the Metro UK, a free UK daily. The story was captured by Google news around four o'clock in the afternoon London time, or six o'clock in the evening Baghdad time. While there is no mention of what time the incident took place in Baghdad, it is clear that it took place on Wednesday - hours ahead of the publication.<br /><br />While we can be sure that the crime scene investigators of the coalition forces are getting lots of practice when it comes to bombings - it's difficult to believe that they were really able to determine that the bomb was detonated via remote control from the small pieces of bomb, human flesh, bone, debris, etc., in time for the evening editions.<br /><br />Of course, the biggest indicator that we are being offered a spoonful of the substance the corporate media has served us so often before is the sources. The sources, in no particular order, consist of the following: an Iraqi Army spokesman, US soldiers, the military, and Iraqi Army Lieutenant Ahmed Ali.<br /><br />These are the same entities that provide the lions share of information on the day to day occurrences in Iraq and the greater war on terror that is reported by the ever vigilant employees of the corporate media bosses. In much the same way that these employees will drift between stints as journalists, to government PR and corporate PR - their bosses will drift between stints as VP, CEO, or Member of the board, and elected official or political advisor. You see, the employees are very aware of the types of sources that their bosses would approve of -they share an ideology that lends to this perspective - if they didn't, then they would likely never have risen to the positions they hold within the corporate media establishment.<br /><br />The biggest problem that would have been noted by far too few readers of this story, is its similarity with a story that emerged from the same sources at the beginning of February. In that particular version of the <em>how low can the Islamic scum we're fighting go </em>genre, the media quickly informed us that <em>the terrorists</em> had strapped explosives to two women with Down Syndrome. While it's too early to tell exactly how far this particular tale of Islamic evil will travel, the Down Syndrome suicide bomber version had legs. ABC, MSNBC, the London Times, and thousands of other arms of the media system covered the event. In fact, a </span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enCA234CA234&q=downes+syndrome+bomber"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Google search </span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">of the term will still get you a whole page of accounts describing how the forces of darkness strapped bombs to the women, and persuaded them to blow themselves and 91 to 99 other people up.<br /><br />There was one small problem with the story, and the problem was apparently so small that it didn't seem to warrant much in the way of retractions - it wasn't true. The </span><a href="http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=500&sid=1348577"><span style="font-family:georgia;">credible information</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> that was deemed reliable by the system's editors originally came from one Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, the chief Iraqi military commander in Baghdad, who had determined that "photos of the women's heads showed they had Down syndrome".<br /><br />It would appear that today's 8 year old suicide bomber story suffers from the same deficiency as its Down Syndrome kin. The details of the story have been quietly morphing as the day has progressed: the 8 year old girl </span><a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080514/twl-teenage-girl-used-in-suicide-bombing-3fd0ae9.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;">turned into a 16 year old girl </span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">whose bomb was detonated by remote control. Now it would appear that the girl is </span><a href="http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23701658-401,00.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;">aging quickly</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">, now between 16 and 18, and it would also appear that there was no remote control, and the stories are beginning to drop the info on the original error altogether - so just another crazy suicide bomber blowing herself up to hook up with the 72 virgins and..... hmm, that doesn't seem to work - oh well.<br /><br />While a little digging at the muck that has once again been deposited at our feet reveals the truth, you can rest assured that the headlines will not scream out Suicide bomber NOT 8 year old girl - millions of corporate media consumers will never see a retraction, or make the connection when they see the revised story. They will simply go through life believing that those individuals in Iraq who resist foreign occupation, and sometimes are willing to sacrifice there own lives to that end, strap remote controlled bombs to 8 year old girls.<br /><br />In ending, a response to those who would excuse stories such as those above as being understandable errors based on information from <em>reliable sources</em>. If <em>the Iraqi army </em>and <em>government officials</em> constitute reliable sources, then I would ask you to examine the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaqi_incident"><span style="font-family:georgia;">events</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> that occurred in the village of Ishaqi in March 2006. These events did not scream across the pages of the corporate press, in this case the words of Iraqi police and government officials were never enough for the corporate media's consumers to hear of it - but unlike this case, questions remain, and silence persists.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-53759570764348054642007-12-03T19:50:00.001-08:002007-12-03T19:50:31.687-08:00No NAFTA Superhighway? Somebody better tell the Government of Manitoba.<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/Br31mdP8-Ug' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/Br31mdP8-Ug'/></object></p><p>After repeated denials by all three national governments regarding the objectives of the SPP, the creation of a monetary union, and the creation of an intercontinental superhighway - the government of Manitoba apparently didn't get the memo.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-24067417908941003642007-10-29T00:39:00.000-07:002007-10-29T01:00:47.181-07:00Cheney's Plan for Iran Attack Starts With Israeli Missile Strike<span style="font-family:times new roman;">From Der Spiegel:</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">By Gregor Peter Schmitz and Cordula Meyer10/26/07 "<a href="http://www.spiegel.de/">Der Spiegel</a>" -- - US Vice President Dick Cheney -- the power behind the throne, the eminence grise, the man with the (very) occasional grandfatherly smile -- is notorious for his propensity for secretiveness and behind-the-scenes manipulation. He's capable of anything, say friends as well as enemies. Given this reputation, it's no big surprise that Cheney has already asked for a backroom analysis of how a war with Iran might begin.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In the scenario concocted by Cheney's strategists, Washington's first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">This information was leaked by an official close to the vice president. Cheney himself hasn't denied engaging in such war games. For years, in fact, he's been open about his opinion that an attack on Iran, a member of US President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil," is inevitable.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Given these not-too-secret designs, Democrats and Republicans alike have wondered what to make of the still mysterious Israeli bombing run in Syria on Sept. 6. Was it part of an existing war plan? A test run, perhaps? For days after the attack, one question dominated conversation at Washington receptions: How great is the risk of war, really?</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Grandiose Plans, East and West </span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In the September strike, Israeli bombers were likely targeting a nuclear reactor under construction, parts of which are alleged to have come from North Korea. It is possible that key secretaries in the Bush cabinet even tried to stop Israel. To this day, the administration has neither confirmed nor commented on the attack.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Nevertheless, in Washington, Israel's strike against Syria has revived the specter of war with Iran. For the neoconservatives it could represent a glimmer of hope that the grandiose dream of a democratic Middle East has not yet been buried in the ashes of Iraq. But for realists in the corridors of the State Department and the Pentagon, military action against Iran is a nightmare they have sought to avert by asking a simple question: "What then?"</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The Israeli strike, or something like it, could easily mark the beginning of the "World War III," which President Bush warned against last week. With his usual apocalyptic rhetoric, he said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could lead the region to a new world war if his nation builds a nuclear bomb.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Conditions do look ripe for disaster. Iran continues to acquire and develop the fundamental prerequisites for a nuclear weapon. The mullah regime receives support -- at least moral support, if not technology -- from a newly strengthened Russia, which these days reaches for every chance to provoke the United States. President Vladimir Putin's own (self-described) "grandiose plan" to restore Russia's armed forces includes a nuclear buildup. The war in Iraq continues to drag on without an end in sight or even an opportunity for US troops to withdraw in a way that doesn't smack of retreat. In Afghanistan, NATO troops are struggling to prevent a return of the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists. The Palestinian conflict could still reignite on any front.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In Washington, Bush has 15 months left in office. He may have few successes to show for himself, but he's already thinking of his legacy. Bush says he wants diplomacy to settle the nuclear dispute with Tehran, and hopes international pressure will finally convince Ahmadinejad to come to his senses. Nevertheless, the way pressure has been building in Washington, preparations for war could be underway.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In late September, the US Senate voted to declare the 125,000-man Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. High-ranking US generals have accused Iran of waging a "proxy war" against the United States through its support of Shiite militias in Iraq. And strategists at the Pentagon, apparently at Cheney's request, have developed detailed plans for an attack against Tehran.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Instead of the previous scenario of a large-scale bombardment of the country's many nuclear facilities, the current emphasis is, once again, on so-called surgical strikes, primarily against the quarters of the Revolutionary Guards. This sort of attack would be less massive than a major strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Conservative think tanks and pundits who sense this could be their last chance to implement their agenda in the Middle East have supported and disseminated such plans in the press. Despite America's many failures in Iraq, these hawks have urged the weakened president to act now, accusing him of having lost sight of his principal agenda and no longer daring to apply his own doctrine of pre-emptive strikes.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Sheer Lunacy?</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The notion of war with Iran has spilled over into other circles, too. Last Monday Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made it clear that the president would first need Congressional approval to launch an attack. Meanwhile, Republican candidates for the White House have debated whether they would even allow such details to get in their way. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said he would consult his attorneys to determine whether the US Constitution does, in fact, require a president to ask for Congressional approval before going to war. Vietnam veteran John McCain said war with Iran was "maybe closer to reality than we are discussing tonight.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">"Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has also adopted a hawkish stance, voting in favor of the Senate measure to classify the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Her rivals criticized Clinton for giving the administration a blank check to go to war.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The US military is building a base in Iraq less than 10 kilometers (about six miles) from Iran's border. The facility, known as Combat Outpost Shocker, is meant for American soldiers preventing Iranian weapons from being smuggled into Iraq. But it's also rumored that Bush authorized US intelligence agencies in April to run sabotage missions against the mullah regime on Iranian soil.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Gary Sick is an expert on Iran who served as a military adviser under three presidents. He believes that such preparations mark a significant shift in the government's strategy. "Since August," says Sick, "the emphasis is no longer on the Iranian nuclear threat," but on Iran's support for terrorism in Iraq. "This is a complete change and is potentially dangerous.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">"It would be relatively easy for Bush to prove that Tehran, by supporting insurgents in Iraq, is responsible for the deaths of American soldiers. It might be harder to prove that Iran's nuclear plans pose an immediate threat to the world. Besides, the nuclear argument is reminiscent of an embarrassing precedent, when the Bush administration used the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction -- which he didn't -- as a reason to invade Iraq. Even if the evidence against Tehran proves to be more damning, the American public will find it difficult to swallow this argument again.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The forces urging a diplomatic resolution also look stronger than they were before Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants the next step to be a third round of even tighter sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council. Rice has powerful allies at the Pentagon: Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral William Fallon, head of US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces throughout the region.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Rice and her cohorts all favor diplomacy, partly because they know the military is under strain. After four years in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US lacks manpower for another major war, especially one against a relatively well-prepared adversary. "For many senior people at the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department, a war would be sheer lunacy," says security expert Sick.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and now a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, agrees. A war against Tehran would be "a disaster for the entire world," says Riedel, who worries about a "battlefield extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent." Nevertheless, he believes there is a "realistic risk of a military conflict," because both sides look willing to carry things to the brink.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">On the one hand, says Riedel, Iran is playing with fire, challenging the West by sending weapons to Shiite insurgents in Iraq. On the other hand, hotheads in Washington are by no means powerless. Although many neoconservative hawks have left the Bush administration, Cheney remains their reliable partner. "The vice president is the closest adviser to the president, and a dominant figure," says Riedel. "One shouldn't underestimate how much power he still wields.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">"'Is it 1938 Again?'</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran last week also played into the hands of hardliners in Washington, who read it as proof that Putin isn't serious about joining the West's effort to convince Tehran to abandon its drive for a nuclear weapon. Moreover, the countries bordering the Caspian Sea, including Central Asian nations Washington has courted energetically in recent years, have said they would not allow a war against Tehran to be launched from their territory.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Cheney derives much of his support from hawks outside the administration who fear their days are as numbered as the President's. "The neocons see Iran as their last chance to prove something," says analyst Riedel. This aim is reflected in their tone. Conservative columnist Norman Podhoretz, for example -- a father figure to all neocons -- wrote in the Wall Street Journal that he "hopes and prays" that Bush will finally bomb Iran. Podhoretz sees the United States engaged in a global war against "Islamofascism," a conflict he defines as World War IV, and he likens Iran to Nazi Germany. "Is it 1938 again?" he asks in a speech he repeats regularly at conferences.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Podhoretz is by no means an eccentric outsider. He now serves as a senior foreign-policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani. President Bush has also met with Podhoretz at the White House to hear his opinions.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Nevertheless, most experts in Washington warn against attacking Tehran. They assume the Iranians would retaliate. "It would be foolish to believe surgical strikes will be enough," says Riedel, who believes that precision attacks would quickly escalate to war.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Former presidential adviser Sick thinks Iran would strike back with terrorist attacks. "The generals of the Revolutionary Guard have had several years to think about asymmetrical warfare," says Sick. "They probably have a few rather interesting ideas.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">"According to Sick, detonating well-placed bombs at oil terminals in the Persian Gulf would be enough to wreak havoc. "Insurance costs would skyrocket, causing oil prices to triple and triggering a global recession," Sick warns. "The economic consequences would be enormous, far greater than anything we have experienced with Iraq so far."Because the catastrophic consequences of an attack on Iran are obvious, many in Washington have a fairly benign take on the current round of saber rattling. They believe the sheer dread of war is being used to bolster diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis and encourage hesitant members of the United Nations Security Council to take more decisive action. The Security Council, this argument goes, will be more likely to approve tighter sanctions if it believes that war is the only alternative.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><em>Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan</em></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-58727883838603787322007-10-06T15:46:00.000-07:002008-12-10T16:28:04.796-08:00Understatement of the year nominee: "Blackwater's actions were 'excessive' ".<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpWzLIB9YKKs8Us5xcStzFG04HACYhj37O1JFU5OSPSGDRtk7baMTZtsXMMNa8tGHsvxQxYlBGyftzX3BdOdhUc-ItVWNpPZ6Kl6PIyyMe7iUVYNE7cGV3fAJxSVCvANFr1EK/s1600-h/blackwater-report.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118360748417645042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 422px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="244" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpWzLIB9YKKs8Us5xcStzFG04HACYhj37O1JFU5OSPSGDRtk7baMTZtsXMMNa8tGHsvxQxYlBGyftzX3BdOdhUc-ItVWNpPZ6Kl6PIyyMe7iUVYNE7cGV3fAJxSVCvANFr1EK/s320/blackwater-report.jpg" width="381" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100402654.html" target="">U.S. military</a> reports from the scene of the Sept. 16 shooting incident involving the security firm Blackwater USA indicate that its guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force against Iraqi civilians, according to a senior U.S. military official.<br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkwGSj4AlRgUjV1TOIkiso-4zs7seen0zgKIy-V7DSS_o_uMmBroEz4Aj63lbt1IIxF2v27_iFpPsoBB8Xzu4jlBksmBQLRjchXVxT16qMzA6yfJi7fRTBvSlU-ZH5RsThGa1/s1600-h/blackwater-report.jpg"></a></span></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkwGSj4AlRgUjV1TOIkiso-4zs7seen0zgKIy-V7DSS_o_uMmBroEz4Aj63lbt1IIxF2v27_iFpPsoBB8Xzu4jlBksmBQLRjchXVxT16qMzA6yfJi7fRTBvSlU-ZH5RsThGa1/s1600-h/blackwater-report.jpg"></a></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-18116658658383762002007-10-06T03:32:00.002-07:002007-10-06T14:04:54.360-07:00More torture - Compliments of Dick Cheney<span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:130%;">It really is time to reign these folks in, the damage that results from it can't possibly be worse than what it's doing to America's image in the world.</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/10/04/BL2007100401359.html">By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com</a> </span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Thursday, October 4, 2007; 1:42 PM How the United States became associated with torture is not just a matter of historical interest. And that's all the more clear today, with the publication of a major New York Times story describing the Bush administration's ongoing circumvention of national and international prohibitions against barbaric interrogation practices. In other words: It continues. ........<br /><br />...Few other issues speak so clearly to how we see ourselves as a people -- and how others see us. But the White House's non-denial denials, disingenuous euphemisms and oppressive secrecy have repeatedly stifled any genuine discourse. Bush shuts down discussion by declaring that "we don't torture" -- yet he won't even say how he defines the term. Facts are the most crucial and largely missing element in this debate. Today, we have a few more.<br /><br />There's not a whole lot of doubt about where these polices originated: "Associates at the Justice Department said Mr. Gonzales seldom resisted pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney and David S. Addington, Mr. Cheney's counsel, to endorse policies that they saw as effective in safeguarding Americans, even though the practices brought the condemnation of other governments, human rights groups and Democrats in Congress. Critics say Mr. Gonzales turned his agency into an arm of the Bush White House, undermining the department's independence." </span></em><br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">T</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">here's also </span></span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21133278/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">more on this</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> at MSNBC, but they now appear to contain the beginning of what appears to be official denials, and an attempt to block information from the public. Denials, which I don't think would hold up in the case that the Attorney General offered a "secret opinion".<br /></span><br /><em><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Asked about the story Thursday, Perino confirmed the existence of the Feb. 5, 2005, classified opinion but would not comment on whether it authorized specific practices, such as head-slapping and simulated drowning....<br /></span></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The American Civil Liberties Union called for an independent counsel to investigate the Justice Department’s torture opinions, calling the memos “a cynical attempt to shield interrogators from criminal liability and to perpetuate the administration’s unlawful interrogation practices.”</span> </span></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-70068355432403240722007-09-28T16:30:00.000-07:002008-12-10T16:28:05.072-08:00Oil Production Down By 1 Million Barrels Per Day - Despite Rising Number of Oil Rigs in Saudi Arabia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5DxYJsPAAZ6BgH-lQlbTwR9PuAAKLBocZYb-KuSA6Wb56MxmzigmTfJvTvUmTrWngz9dDOh4Xr-Gc85bM9n50Q6u9ZsoIlFVX24Kt8SHPWZL_2mg62GJVEHJIgxCfuyY0AGx/s1600-h/saudi11_06.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5115388158602410450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5DxYJsPAAZ6BgH-lQlbTwR9PuAAKLBocZYb-KuSA6Wb56MxmzigmTfJvTvUmTrWngz9dDOh4Xr-Gc85bM9n50Q6u9ZsoIlFVX24Kt8SHPWZL_2mg62GJVEHJIgxCfuyY0AGx/s320/saudi11_06.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Two weeks ago, OPEC's oil chief, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, told the world that <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070914133613.9oybt8hr&show_article=1">$80 oil won't last </a>now that OPEC has increased production: "the fundamentals" he said, "do not support the price."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">However, <a href="http://www.theoildrum.com/uploads/12/saudi11_06.png">this graph </a>, posted by Stuart Staniford from the <em>Oil Drum</em> showing Saudi oil production in 2006 compared to the number of oil rigs entering the country tells a different story. The oil rigs entering the country increased sharply, while oil production continued to drop.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Now we have</span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"> <a href="http://moneynews.newsmax.com/money/archives/st/2007/7/17/115854.cfm">this</a> from Goldman Sachs: <span style="font-family:times new roman;">"We believe the current price rally is critically different from last year's, as the fundamentals are substantially stronger...<strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;">global crude oil production is over 1 million barrels per day lower than last year, while demand is over 1 million bpd higher.</span></strong></span></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">From what I've been reading recently - officialdom is starting to sound a lot like the peak-oil crowd did a couple of years back. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><br /><blockquote>The International Energy Agency, adviser to 26 industrial nations, said<br />last week that consumption of energy would outpace new production for the next<br />five years, leading to a supply crunch in 2012.<br /><br />"The results of our analysis are quite strong," said IEA oil analyst<br />Lawrence Eagles. "Something needs to happen. Either we need to have more<br />supplies coming on stream, or we need to have lower demand growth."<br /></blockquote><br />It's starting to look as though <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=9622">Matthew Simmon's </a>declaration from 2005 that Saudi Oil has peaked may have been bang on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21528794.post-19553337439544268422007-09-20T22:47:00.000-07:002007-12-08T13:26:44.075-08:00JFK Quotes You Probably Haven't Heard<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here are some JFK quotes that you've likely never heard. I would ask the question - when will we ever hear a President utter such words again?</span><br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.</span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Commencement Address American University, Washington, Monday, June 10, 1963</span></div><div align="left"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em>Let us call a truce to terror. Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And as we build an international capacity to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war.<br /></div></em></strong></span><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;">September 25, 1961</span></span></div><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our primary long-range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament -- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. </span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">June 10, 1963</span></div><br /><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is therefore our intention to challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race- -to advance together step by step, stage by stage, until general and complete disarmament has been achieved. We invite them now to go beyond agreement in principle to reach agreement on actual plans.</span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations. September 25, 1961</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><strong><em>but this administration has failed to recognize, has failed to recognize that in these changing times, with a revolution of rising expectation sweeping the globe, the United States has lost its image as a new, strong, vital, revolutionary society. </em></strong></span></p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;">University of Illinois Campus, October 24th, 1960</span></span></p><p><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong></p><p><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">I believe in an America... where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source</span></em></strong> </p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960</span><br /></span></p><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich</span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1961</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">In this serious hour in our Nation's history when we are confronted with grave crises in Berlin and Southeast Asia, when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking reservists to leave their homes and their families for months on end and servicemen to risk their lives--and four were killed in the last two days in Viet Nam and asking union members to hold down their wage requests at a time when restraint and sacrifice are being asked of every citizen, the American people will find it hard, as I do, to accept a situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.</span></em></strong><br /></p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;">News Conference April 11, 1962</span><br /></span></p><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">In short, at a time when they could be exploring how more efficiency and better prices could be obtained... a few gigantic corporations have decided to increase prices in ruthless disregard of their public responsibilities.</span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;">April 11, 1962</span><br /></span></p><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">Harry Truman once said there are 14 or 15 million Americans who have the resources to have representatives in Washington to protect their interests, and that the interests of the great mass of other people, the hundred and fifty or sixty million, is the responsibility of the President of the United States. And I propose to fulfill it. </span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Atlantic City at the Convention of the United Auto Workers. May 8th, 1962</span></div><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-family:verdana;">I realize that there are some businessmen who feel only they want to be left alone, that Government and politics are none of their affairs, that the balance sheet and profit rate of their own corporation are of more importance than the worldwide balance of power or the Nationwide rate of unemployment. But I hope it is not rushing the season to recall to you the passage from Dickens' "Christmas Carol" in which Ebenezer Scrooge is terrified by the ghosts of his former partner, Jacob Marley, and Scrooge, appalled by Marley's story of ceaseless wandering, cries out, "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob." And the ghost of Marley, his legs bound by a chain of ledger books and cash boxes, replied, "Business? Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business. Charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"<br /><br />Members and guests of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce, whether we work in the White House or the State House or in a house of industry or commerce, mankind is our business. And if we work in harmony, if we understand the problems of each other and the responsibilities that each of us bears, then surely the business of mankind will prosper. And your children and mine will move ahead in a securer world, and one in which there is opportunity for them all.</span></em></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Florida Chamber of Commerce, November 18th, 1963<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA">The inspiration for these quotes came from a documentary entitled <i>Evidence of Revision</i>. It's a series of five videos, each about an hour and a half long that you can find on Google Video. I would highly recommend finding the time to watch it. Once you do - you'll be left with some strong doubt as to who killed this man. More significant to the here and now - you'll realize that the completion of a Presidential Commission of inquiry does not mean that the public is in possession of the truth - I'm no 9/11 conspiracy theorist - but that doesn't mean I have to consider the commissions report to be anything more than toilet paper.</span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com37