Should He Stay or Should He Go
I somehow missed this. Tony Blair singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go” – hilarious.
Deconstructing Neocon Propaganda on Terrorism
A must read: “The Clash of Civilizations Doesn’t Exist… Yet” by Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted September 1, 2006.
The neocons who are pushing a Clash of Civilizations are mirror-images of the terrorists that inspire their hyperbolic fear — they are just as irrational and just as great a threat to our security.
To the extent that some terrorist groups have recently turned their eyes to us, it’s not a matter of hating our freedoms or our women’s bare shoulders. It’s because we’ve supported many of those repressive regimes — often with troops on the ground — from Indonesia to Iran.
Consider this: in the epic struggle between East and West, some of our staunchest allies are the undisputed champs in spreading violent Islamic extremism. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan established fundamentalist, anti-Western madrassas all across the world, funneled gobs of cash to extremist groups, and nurtured and supported them in their infancy. It wasn’t just random individuals within those countries; Saudi Arabia made it a foreign policy priority to spread its brand of Wahhabism, mostly to counter the perceived threat of Pan-Arabism and other anti-colonial ideologies. Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI — sometimes called a “state within a state” — not only supported the Taliban in Afghanistan but funded, equipped and helped train some of the most notorious terror groups that grew out of that country in the 1990s. Talk all you want about Syria and Iran supporting Hezbollah, these are the great terror-sponsoring states, and they’re on the side of the Western democracies.
What’s more, the West isn’t all that unified in this great existential struggle to save itself from destruction. A recent poll of citizens in the United Kingdom, our most loyal ally and a country that largely believes the Clash of Civilizations meme, found that — “by a margin of more than five to one — the public wants Tony Blair to split from President George W. Bush and either go it alone in the ‘war on terror’, or work more closely with Europe.” Just 14 per cent believed “Britain should continue to align itself with America.” A Pew Global Attitudes survey in June found that in Spain, supposedly a target of “Islamic Imperialism” and the victim of one of the most spectacular terror attacks ever, “four times as many people oppose the war on terror as support it (76 percent to 19 percent).”
Fox News Needs Ethical Leadership
Isn’t anyone at the helm over there at Fox News? Media Matters is listing some of the reactions of Fox News hosts and reporters to the London attacks. This is sickening.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade:
KILMEADE: And he [British Prime Minister Tony Blair] made the statement, clearly shaken, but clearly determined. This is his second address in the last hour. First to the people of London, and now at the G8 summit, where their topic Number 1 –believe it or not– was global warming, the second was African aid. And that was the first time since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know now, that terrorism should be Number 1. But it’s important for them all to be together. I think that works to our advantage, in the Western world’s advantage, for people to experience something like this together, just 500 miles from where the attacks have happened.
Tell that to their families. Works to our advantage?
Fox News contributing correspondent Simon Marks:
MARKS: It [Edgeware Road] is an area that has a very large Arab population. Surrounding that station, a large number of Middle Eastern restaurants. So, it’s a further indication, if in fact these attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda-affiliated cells, that these people are, if necessary, prepared to spill Arab blood in addition to the blood of regular — of non-Arab people living in London.
Arab vs “regular” Londoners? London is an international city.
Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume:
HUME: You know, the market was down. It was down yesterday, and you know, you may have had some bargain-hunting going on. I mean, my first thought when I heard — just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, “Hmmm, time to buy.” Others may have thought that as well. But you never know about the markets.
His first thought….time to buy? What a schmuck.
And here’s some lovely bashing for the people who helped us win our revolution:
Fox News host John Gibson:
GIBSON: By the way, just wanted to tell you people, we missed — the International Olympic Committee missed a golden opportunity today. If they had picked France, if they had picked France instead of London, to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn’t worry about terrorism. They’d blow up Paris, and who cares?
Well, I would care, and so would a whole lot of other people. What have we become here?
Something like this happens, and this is how crass and disgusting the right-dominated Fox News network reacts. Yeah, very moral, very christian, very ethical, very compassionate.
Please, world, don’t judge us by these people.
Ratcheting Up the Terror
Well, I guess they needed something for the polls. It was good timing for terrorism… London wins the Olympics, the G8 is going on – everyone is celebrating, then POW! Multiple bombings on the London Metro, something like 40 people dead and 1000 injured, railway cars smashed, a bus exploded.
Blair links it to the G8. The “Secret Al Qaeda Jihad Organization in Europe” that claimed responsibility for the London attacks says that they did so as retaliation for Britain’s involvement in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan – which actually makes more sense. They include “Denmark, Italy and all of the Crusader governments” in future attacks. Horrible, brutal, desperate and wrong – but there is a logic to the claim. Bush says, “The contrast couldn’t be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who’ve got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terror goes on.” I’ll bet it does. If it turns out (as many people are arguing, with more evidence than you’d think) that Bush allowed 9/11 to happen, those words will be good to requote. I’m almost cynical enough at this point to begin to suspect that Bush is simply ordering these events to happen. So the US/UK and the terrorists support one another’s darkness – a bit like evangelists and titty bars.
Sometimes humor has a grain too much truth.
Unconfirmed sources report that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is taking full responsibility for the bombing attacks in London today. In a tearful press conference this morning Blair spoke to the nation and asked to be forgiven for involving Britain in the misguided American military adventure in Iraq. – Unconfirmed Sources
After the explosions, the pound dropped to a 19-month low ( but it’s still worth $1.74 or so).
One might almost miss that Egypt’s ambassador to Iraq has been killed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group – but that’s pretty significant too. We have done nothing, not even Rove-fare, to counteract the impression of us as Crusaders. We’re pretty similar, Crusading Capitalists and Pseudochristians – greedy plunderers of the spoils of war. Like in olden days, the money doesn’t even go to the conquering country as a whole but only to chosen ones, in this case insiders, cronies, CEOs and contracters (like Halliburton, who just won yet another big contract in Iraq!). This administration is hostile to the poor and to the working class of all countries including its own, cowboy swagger notwithstanding.
My heart flies out to everyone in London and all of the British Isles. My deepest sympathies. Don’t let them use this to do to you what they are doing to us. I like what I see so far about the local reaction – they won’t be ruled by fear, unlike us.
Actions of the Day
Restore Scientific Integrity
Federal government scientific information is being censored, manipulated, and distorted on an unprecedented scale. To prevent these abuses of science, members of Congress have introduced the Restore Scientific Integrity to Federal Research and Policy Making Act. They need to hear from us about the importance of protecting government science and our nation’s health, safetey, and environment. Check out the Union of Concerned Scientists efforts to restore scientific integrity in federal policy making. Click here to take action through the Union of Concerned Scientists – it’s easy and free!
Save the Media
Read the pdf version of “A New Standard,” the recent report from Free Press, Common Cause, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and Media Access Project. Then read or listen to Bill Moyers’ speech at the close of the National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis. More than 60,000 Free Press activists have already joined a call for the resignation of Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson and the creation of town hall meetings nationwide to put the public back into public broadcasting.
Add your support to the petition.
Impeach Bush
President Bush mislead Congress and the people as the Administration prepared to wage unprovoked war against Iraq. The evidence used to justify the war and “sell” it to the public was based on fabrications and lies. A number of recent revelations confirm that the Administration knowingly lied about the war and its causes. Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld’s key aide, was quoted in Vanity Fair magazine as saying, “For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.” Since the Administration was flooded with angry letters, undoubtedly many from families of U.S. soldiers, the Pentagon attempted to do damage control, asserting that Wolfowitz was misquoted. The public now knows, as does every member of Congress, that in April 2002 Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair secretly agreed to wage unprovoked war against Iraq (at a meeting at Bush’s Crawford ranch in Texas). This fact, and other incriminating information about the secret maneuvers to wage unprovoked war, are contained in British government documents. In a letter to Bush earlier this month, 89 House Democrats expressed shock over the documents. They asked whether the papers were authentic and, if so, whether they proved that the White House had agreed to invade Iraq months before seeking Congress’ OK. (Los Angeles Times, May 12, 2005)
“If the disclosure is accurate, it raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war, as well as the integrity of our own administration,” the letter says. “While the president… was telling the citizens and the Congress that they had no intention to start a war with Iraq, they were working very close[ly] with Tony Blair and the British leadership at making this a foregone conclusion,” the letter’s chief author, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, said Wednesday. As Ramsey Clark recently stated: “Impeachment now is the only way we, the American people, can promise ourselves, and the world, that we will not tolerate crimes against peace and humanity by our government. Knowing what we know, to wait longer is to condone what has been done, and risk more.” Use the quick and easy-to-use advocacy mechanism on the ImpeachBush.org website to send personal customized letters to the representatives from your district and state to urge them to support the impeachment of George W. Bush and other high officials for the commission of High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Protesting Iraq – Anti-War Photos
indymedia.us :: International Day of Protest on the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq
Some photos from all over the USA, and all over the World.
From signs:
Support the troops – bring them home
Dissent Protects Democracy
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
War is Terror
Drop Bush Not Bombs
It’s about Lives for Oil and Nothing about Freedom
Students Not Soliders
No To Imperialism Militarism and Bush
Iraq War is Anti-Christian
Making a Killing with Your Money
No War but Class War
Who Dies for Bush Lies?
Warning – You are Buying War, Poverty, Greed, and Fear
Third World Within (on a map of a bleeding USA)
9/11 Unanswered Questions: Why did FBI HQ block investigations in NY, Minneapolis, and Phoenix?
Iraquis aren’t Cheerleaders (with a photo from Abu Ghraib)
Jail Time for War Crimes
Destroy the War Machine
College Not Combat
War Loves to Prey on the Young
When Christ Disarmed Peter, he Disarmed Every Soldier
Dumbo – “Bring Them On”
Violence Breeds Violence
Books Not Bombs
Stop the Poverty Draft
Stop the War Junkies
Where are the WMDs?
Not Our President
Not in Our Name
War is Not the Answer
80% Unemployment in Harlem
Every Day a Soldier Dies for Cheney’s Oil and Bush’s Lies
Anything War can Do, Peace Can Do Better
Give Peace a Chance
Death is Forever
US Troops Out of the Middle East
Another Woman for Peace
Osama Toppled 2 Buildings, Bush Toppled Peace, Freedom and Democracy
21st Cent. terrorist murders -Bin Laden 3,000, Bush 15,000
Lee Harvey, where are you?
Bush Quit Your Vile War, Deal with WHY They Hate Us
Viva La Paz
End Occupation Corporate Exploitation Iraq to Haiti
Stop Imperialism
Why Aren’t You Outraged?
Uncle Sam Iraq will be your Vietnam
Anti-Bush – Pro-Schools
No War for Oil
US Out of the Middle East
History Will Condemn Us
Vietnam Mistake Iraq Bigger Mistake
A US Occupation is Still an Occupation
Use Law Not War
Liars
Military Families Say Bring Them Home Now
Bring Them Home
Money for Jobs and Education Not War
Don’t Send Our Troops to Commit Your War Crimes
Stop the Back Door Draft
Fight Corporate End Racist War
Separation Corporations and State
Silence is Acceptance
No War Between Nations, No Peace Between Classes
No More
Stop the War
And from Protests Outside the US:
Only Democracies May Commit Mass Murder According to the American Empire
One Million Children
Another World is Possible
End the Occupation of Iraq and Palestine
No More War
Is This Your Peace Fu…ng Capitalists?
Global No
Troops Out Now
No to American Terrorism, No to Islamic Terrorism
Violence Leads to Violence
Bush (with a swastika for the S)
Latin Amerika Rebelde y Anti-Kapitali$ta
Bush the Tiny Tyrant
Put Bush, the war criminal, on trial
Support the Right to Resistance in Iraq and Palestine
No More Bush Wars
Bliar Bliar Iraq’s on Fire
No Nukes
Bush terrorist number one of the world
No to War Profiteering
“2-4-6-8, F..k The Police State
Oil War
All Out Iraq Now
Occupation is Not Freedom
“War is everywhere: a global war against humanity in which our bodies, the air we breathe, the water that we drink, what we are taught, the stories we tell and are told … become commodities bought and sold in an open market. Whether in the Iraqi killing fields or a prepaid drought in Phiri, Soweto, the logic is the same: the rule of money and the market over all of life – the logic of neoliberalism.†–South Africa IndyMedia