Humanitarian Intervention
From Human Rights Watch:
"The United States-led coalition forces justified the invasion of Iraq on a variety of grounds, only one of which - a comparatively minor one - was humanitarian. The Security Council did not approve the invasion."
"Now that the war's proponents are relying so significantly on a humanitarian rationale for the war, the need to assess this claim has grown in importance. We conclude that, despite the horrors of Saddam Hussein's rule, the invasion of Iraq cannot be justified as a humanitarian intervention."
http://www.xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/_p3/human_right_watch_2004.html
From Human Rights Watch:
"The United States-led coalition forces justified the invasion of Iraq on a variety of grounds, only one of which - a comparatively minor one - was humanitarian. The Security Council did not approve the invasion."
"Now that the war's proponents are relying so significantly on a humanitarian rationale for the war, the need to assess this claim has grown in importance. We conclude that, despite the horrors of Saddam Hussein's rule, the invasion of Iraq cannot be justified as a humanitarian intervention."
http://www.xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/_p3/human_right_watch_2004.html
Terrorist Link
After seeing planes flying into the World Trade Center on Television - over and over, so that even Rumsfeld would say it would seem like an army of planes flew into thousands of buildings - our fear and outrage were directed towards Osama Bin Laden.
Our gaze was shifted from Bin Laden, who escaped from Tora Bora, to the frightening specter raised by top officials that Mr. Hussein might provide terror weapons to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups for use against the United States.
This was a naked exaggeration from what the intelligence analysts were predicting. The National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iraq "might," if it became sufficiently desperate, take "the extreme step" of helping terrorists conduct a chemical or biological attack against the United States.
As it turned out, of course, there were no weapons to give to anyone.
After seeing planes flying into the World Trade Center on Television - over and over, so that even Rumsfeld would say it would seem like an army of planes flew into thousands of buildings - our fear and outrage were directed towards Osama Bin Laden.
Our gaze was shifted from Bin Laden, who escaped from Tora Bora, to the frightening specter raised by top officials that Mr. Hussein might provide terror weapons to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups for use against the United States.
This was a naked exaggeration from what the intelligence analysts were predicting. The National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iraq "might," if it became sufficiently desperate, take "the extreme step" of helping terrorists conduct a chemical or biological attack against the United States.
As it turned out, of course, there were no weapons to give to anyone.
Aerial Attack
Some members of Congress voted for force in Iraq out of fear that Mr. Hussein was prepared to launch a biological attack on the American homeland.
A month before the vote, Mr. Tenet and Vice President Dick Cheney went to Capitol Hill to brief House and Senate leaders on the supposedly dire threat posed by Iraq's unpiloted airborne vehicles, which they described as capable of spreading chemical or biological agents.
Senator Trent Lott, the Republican who was one of four leaders briefed by Mr. Tenet and Mr. Cheney, said recently that the information "did have an effect on us, no question,"
and Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, complained at a recent hearing that he had been led to believe that the threat was imminent.
What is disturbing in this episode is that the Air Force, the agency most expert on the unpiloted vehicles, dissented from the intelligence consensus and thought that the aircraft were actually designed for reconnaissance. The chamber made for a camera left no room for toxin, and no mechanism for distribution was hypothesized.
Why did the National Intelligence Estimate override the Air Force experts and what role did Mr. Cheney play in either shaping or hyping the threat?
Some members of Congress voted for force in Iraq out of fear that Mr. Hussein was prepared to launch a biological attack on the American homeland.
A month before the vote, Mr. Tenet and Vice President Dick Cheney went to Capitol Hill to brief House and Senate leaders on the supposedly dire threat posed by Iraq's unpiloted airborne vehicles, which they described as capable of spreading chemical or biological agents.
Senator Trent Lott, the Republican who was one of four leaders briefed by Mr. Tenet and Mr. Cheney, said recently that the information "did have an effect on us, no question,"
and Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, complained at a recent hearing that he had been led to believe that the threat was imminent.
What is disturbing in this episode is that the Air Force, the agency most expert on the unpiloted vehicles, dissented from the intelligence consensus and thought that the aircraft were actually designed for reconnaissance. The chamber made for a camera left no room for toxin, and no mechanism for distribution was hypothesized.
Why did the National Intelligence Estimate override the Air Force experts and what role did Mr. Cheney play in either shaping or hyping the threat?
Biological
The National Intelligence Estimate concluded only that Iraq had "some" lethal biological agents and could quickly make more. President Bush, on the other hand, threw caution aside. In his major speech before the Congressional vote, Bush extrapolated wildly from a U.N. finding that Iraq could have produced a lot more anthrax than it admitted.
"This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and is capable of killing millions. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, and VX nerve gas."- George Bush, Cincinnati, Oct. 7, 2002
Powell went before the UN and charged that Iraq had tens of thousands of litres of anthrax, botulinium toxin, mustard gas and nerve gas, along with mobile bio-weapons labs:
"Let me take you inside that intelligence file and share with you what we know from eye witness accounts. We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails ." - Colin Powel, United Nations, Feb. 5, 2003
The National Intelligence Estimate concluded only that Iraq had "some" lethal biological agents and could quickly make more. President Bush, on the other hand, threw caution aside. In his major speech before the Congressional vote, Bush extrapolated wildly from a U.N. finding that Iraq could have produced a lot more anthrax than it admitted.
"This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and is capable of killing millions. We know that the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, and VX nerve gas."- George Bush, Cincinnati, Oct. 7, 2002
Powell went before the UN and charged that Iraq had tens of thousands of litres of anthrax, botulinium toxin, mustard gas and nerve gas, along with mobile bio-weapons labs:
"Let me take you inside that intelligence file and share with you what we know from eye witness accounts. We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails ." - Colin Powel, United Nations, Feb. 5, 2003
Nuclear
The president and his top aides were artful in suggesting Nuclear consquences using Mushroom clouds.
Their "talking points:"
"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Condoleeza Rice (CNN, Late Edition, Sunday, September 8, 2002;
"we cannot wait for the final proof "the smoking gun" that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." - President George Bush, Oct. 7, 2002.
Inaction might bring "the sight of the first mushroom cloud on one of the major population centers on this planet." - Nov. 12 Gen. Tommy R. Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command
In a speech shortly before the Congressional vote authorizing force against Iraq, President Bush warned that if Iraq could "produce, buy or steal" highly enriched uranium a bit larger than a softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. That was technically true, but the president failed to say that the intelligence community considered it unlikely.
The consensus view, as stated recently by George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, was that Iraq would need five to seven years to make a bomb.
The Bush administration ignored the intelligence they received, and instead played out the now-discredited claim that Iraq "sought uranium oxide, an essential ingredient in the enrichment process, from Africa."
Despite warnings from intelligence analysts that the information was unreliable, the uranium would return again and again, including the Jan. 28 State of the Union address and three other Bush administration statements that month.
The president and his top aides were artful in suggesting Nuclear consquences using Mushroom clouds.
Their "talking points:"
"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Condoleeza Rice (CNN, Late Edition, Sunday, September 8, 2002;
"we cannot wait for the final proof "the smoking gun" that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." - President George Bush, Oct. 7, 2002.
Inaction might bring "the sight of the first mushroom cloud on one of the major population centers on this planet." - Nov. 12 Gen. Tommy R. Franks, chief of U.S. Central Command
In a speech shortly before the Congressional vote authorizing force against Iraq, President Bush warned that if Iraq could "produce, buy or steal" highly enriched uranium a bit larger than a softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. That was technically true, but the president failed to say that the intelligence community considered it unlikely.
The consensus view, as stated recently by George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, was that Iraq would need five to seven years to make a bomb.
The Bush administration ignored the intelligence they received, and instead played out the now-discredited claim that Iraq "sought uranium oxide, an essential ingredient in the enrichment process, from Africa."
Despite warnings from intelligence analysts that the information was unreliable, the uranium would return again and again, including the Jan. 28 State of the Union address and three other Bush administration statements that month.
I've added quite a few audio links. Broadband would be nice, but only the large graphics of the twin towers and "mean Bush" are long.
Passing your mouse over many of the pictures and underlined text will cause an audio clip to play. I'm thinking of creating a flash media movie depicting the relationship between Israel, oil, Cheney, and the Office of Special Plans. I might need to stay with you for a few days in rotation if they find out.
neocons pray to a different Jesus.
Dear Big, Bad-Ass Jesus
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord my ass to keep,
And if they kill me before i wake,
I pray to hell their souls you take.
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord my ass to keep,
And if they kill me before i wake,
I pray to hell their souls you take.
From the Power Dictionary:
ter·ror·ist
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-st
Function: adjective or noun
: one who employs the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Someone who was really the enemy all along.
America never creates enemies, we only reveal them. If you are even capable of hating the US or Israel, you should never have been born.
And if it turns out that the killing will come to hundreds of millions of people, so be it. They all just revealed themselves to be our enemies (or were standing too close to some target).
The only ones left will be a small remnant with an abnormal, genetic inability to feel outrage. They will be allowed to breed and replenish the docile work force.
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!"
--George W. Bush, September 13, 2001
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
--George W. Bush, March 13, 2002
ter·ror·ist
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-st
Function: adjective or noun
: one who employs the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
Someone who was really the enemy all along.
America never creates enemies, we only reveal them. If you are even capable of hating the US or Israel, you should never have been born.
And if it turns out that the killing will come to hundreds of millions of people, so be it. They all just revealed themselves to be our enemies (or were standing too close to some target).
The only ones left will be a small remnant with an abnormal, genetic inability to feel outrage. They will be allowed to breed and replenish the docile work force.
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!"
--George W. Bush, September 13, 2001
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
--George W. Bush, March 13, 2002
"We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." - Vice President Dick Cheney on NBC's Meet the Press, March 16, 2003
"I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a hearing of the Senate's appropriations subcommittee on defense, May 14, 2003
"Saddam could launch a strike against the US within 45 minutes of notice of attack"
-September 24th, 2002 at the Ari Fleischer press gaggle
-September 26th, 2002 "global message" in the Rose Garden with congressional leaders
-September 28th, 2002 radio address.
"I don't remember the [45 minute] statement being made, to be perfectly honest." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon Briefing, February 11, 2004
The Lie Factory
"I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a hearing of the Senate's appropriations subcommittee on defense, May 14, 2003
"Saddam could launch a strike against the US within 45 minutes of notice of attack"
-September 24th, 2002 at the Ari Fleischer press gaggle
-September 26th, 2002 "global message" in the Rose Garden with congressional leaders
-September 28th, 2002 radio address.
"I don't remember the [45 minute] statement being made, to be perfectly honest." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon Briefing, February 11, 2004
The Lie Factory
From the Power Dictionary:
ne·o·con
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English Political Slang
1. sometimes offensive : a male servant
2 a : of or relating to a philosophy of hate-based unilateralism
b: of or constituting a political party professing the principles of Dick Cheney:
as (1) : of or constituting a party of the United States advocating Middle East Domination
(2) : PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
Neoconservatism is a militant ideology originally most closely associated with a group of intellectuals whose background was formerly with the left, such as Irving Krystol.
However, in time, this ideology, calling for a violent campaign of US/Israeli partnership for world domination for the "good" of all, has been adopted by a number of people, such as Dick Cheney, who have no previous association with the left, but are attracted to neoconservatism by the prospect of killing and stealing and blowing things up on a grand scale.
Since the world-view of people like him is now identical with that of the neo-conservatives narrowly defined, it is a convenience to refer to people like him as part of the "neo-conservative" group.
It is also supremely irritating to neocons, since it reminds them of uncomfortable similarities between their world view, and Hitler's (with the exception that 'radical Muslims' get to be the Jews this time).
ne·o·con
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English Political Slang
1. sometimes offensive : a male servant
2 a : of or relating to a philosophy of hate-based unilateralism
b: of or constituting a political party professing the principles of Dick Cheney:
as (1) : of or constituting a party of the United States advocating Middle East Domination
(2) : PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
Neoconservatism is a militant ideology originally most closely associated with a group of intellectuals whose background was formerly with the left, such as Irving Krystol.
However, in time, this ideology, calling for a violent campaign of US/Israeli partnership for world domination for the "good" of all, has been adopted by a number of people, such as Dick Cheney, who have no previous association with the left, but are attracted to neoconservatism by the prospect of killing and stealing and blowing things up on a grand scale.
Since the world-view of people like him is now identical with that of the neo-conservatives narrowly defined, it is a convenience to refer to people like him as part of the "neo-conservative" group.
It is also supremely irritating to neocons, since it reminds them of uncomfortable similarities between their world view, and Hitler's (with the exception that 'radical Muslims' get to be the Jews this time).
Bush lied to us
Some excuse going to war without proof of WMD as bad information.
Excusing Bush now that we know he lied to us is even harder to excuse. How can we let Bush make us liars, and ignore it?
Tenet told Bush personally that the CIA had no conclusive evidence of the existence of WMD, yet the administration told us that they knew where the WMD was, and that it would only take 45 minutes to deliver it, and that if we didn't act, we would wake up to a mushroom cloud.
None of that was told to Bush by Tenet, and Tenet told America on national television that he didn't tell Bush any of that. The discovery that there was no WMD before the war, and none now may have been a surprise, but the opposite had never been asserted to be certain by anyone but the Administration. It was this "non-intelligence" certainty upon which we were convinced of the imminent threat posed by WMD in Iraq and that continuing inspections would inevitably lead to our destruction.
The "intelligence failure" was between Bush's ears, and was put there by the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon at the pleasure of Dick Cheney "for the good of the nation."
Re-electing Bush will only give a mandate to the Office of Special Plans to continue Richard Perle's vision of "creative destruction" in the Middle Eastern states - starting with Syria, and ending with Saudi Arabia. The goal being a partnership with a safer, larger Israel, and a total dominance of Mideast oil by the US.
Do not re-elect a war President who lied to us to end debate, and speed us on to war. This type of war for control is immoral. Haven't we learned from our sordid history about stealing land from native peoples under the guise of "civilizing them?"
Liars never prosper.
Some excuse going to war without proof of WMD as bad information.
Excusing Bush now that we know he lied to us is even harder to excuse. How can we let Bush make us liars, and ignore it?
Tenet told Bush personally that the CIA had no conclusive evidence of the existence of WMD, yet the administration told us that they knew where the WMD was, and that it would only take 45 minutes to deliver it, and that if we didn't act, we would wake up to a mushroom cloud.
None of that was told to Bush by Tenet, and Tenet told America on national television that he didn't tell Bush any of that. The discovery that there was no WMD before the war, and none now may have been a surprise, but the opposite had never been asserted to be certain by anyone but the Administration. It was this "non-intelligence" certainty upon which we were convinced of the imminent threat posed by WMD in Iraq and that continuing inspections would inevitably lead to our destruction.
The "intelligence failure" was between Bush's ears, and was put there by the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon at the pleasure of Dick Cheney "for the good of the nation."
Re-electing Bush will only give a mandate to the Office of Special Plans to continue Richard Perle's vision of "creative destruction" in the Middle Eastern states - starting with Syria, and ending with Saudi Arabia. The goal being a partnership with a safer, larger Israel, and a total dominance of Mideast oil by the US.
Do not re-elect a war President who lied to us to end debate, and speed us on to war. This type of war for control is immoral. Haven't we learned from our sordid history about stealing land from native peoples under the guise of "civilizing them?"
Liars never prosper.
From the Power Dictionary:
Bu·shie
Function: adjective or noun
Inflected Form(s): bu·shE
1 : full of or overgrown with ignorance
2 : resembling a bush; especially : being thick and spreading
By what license does this loathsome, little, dung maggot claim to feed upon us? Common medicinal maggots may cleanse the dead flesh from our wounds, but hating such beneficial utility, this one feeds instead upon the sweet, youthful blush from the cheeks of liberals.
Oh sweet Bushie. Naming thy sweet odours could not rob your handle of the fetid, festering scent of bloated rotting fish afloat in the filmy scum of Summer. For any name you choose would smell as sweet.
Ah. There's the tonic to ease the torture of the hour! The Bushie does turn our minds away from Bush!
Natural fools are prone to self conceit, while fools of disguise with their wits lay waste. How cleverly Bushies disguise themselves a fool, to feed the dull mind and fill the empty headed gazer's eyes.
But the fool hurts himself, and though being well, cannot flee, but crippled by his own barbs must bear his wounds even by the stones of passing children.
Sitting alone, and damaged on the curb, even the passing beagle does leave his opinion.
Welcome fair Bushie to the right.
Bu·shie
Function: adjective or noun
Inflected Form(s): bu·shE
1 : full of or overgrown with ignorance
2 : resembling a bush; especially : being thick and spreading
By what license does this loathsome, little, dung maggot claim to feed upon us? Common medicinal maggots may cleanse the dead flesh from our wounds, but hating such beneficial utility, this one feeds instead upon the sweet, youthful blush from the cheeks of liberals.
Oh sweet Bushie. Naming thy sweet odours could not rob your handle of the fetid, festering scent of bloated rotting fish afloat in the filmy scum of Summer. For any name you choose would smell as sweet.
Ah. There's the tonic to ease the torture of the hour! The Bushie does turn our minds away from Bush!
Natural fools are prone to self conceit, while fools of disguise with their wits lay waste. How cleverly Bushies disguise themselves a fool, to feed the dull mind and fill the empty headed gazer's eyes.
But the fool hurts himself, and though being well, cannot flee, but crippled by his own barbs must bear his wounds even by the stones of passing children.
Sitting alone, and damaged on the curb, even the passing beagle does leave his opinion.
Welcome fair Bushie to the right.
Bush's fantasy island
The most merciful thing about Bush I think, is his inability to correlate information with truth.
He lives on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of deceit and he doesn't voyage far.
Truth has hitherto harmed him little; but some day the piecing together of his dissociated statements will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
The most merciful thing about Bush I think, is his inability to correlate information with truth.
He lives on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of deceit and he doesn't voyage far.
Truth has hitherto harmed him little; but some day the piecing together of his dissociated statements will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
