Clipping File

Sunday, June 15, 2003

Newsday.com - Truth Is Strongest Weapon In War

It leaps out that the reason given to Americans for going into Iraq -- to stop them from blowing us up with nuclear weapons -- was an outright lie. It was told to America by President George W. Bush. And people died because of it. What kind of a lie and why it was told is something that only a full investigation by Congress, full and on television, can tell the public and tell us who lied and why.

11:01:59 PM

Toronto Sun: "U.S. media caved in to the Bush agenda"

Why, readers in the U.S. keep asking me, are so many Americans unconcerned their government appears to have misled them and Congress over Iraq, and then waged a war with no basis in law or fact?

Why is there growing outrage in Britain over Tony Blair's equally exaggerated or patently false warnings over Iraq, while middle America couldn't seem to care less about George Bush's "Weaponsgate."

10:53:35 PM

The Observer: "Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds"

An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist.

The conclusion by biological weapons experts working for the British Government is an embarrassment for the Prime Minister, who has claimed that the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein.

Instead, a British scientist and biological weapons expert, who has examined the trailers in Iraq, told The Observer last week: 'They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons.'

10:27:51 PM

Remember Compassionate Conservatism?

From This Modern World:

Here are Bush's own words, January 30, 2002:

I want to expand the size of AmeriCorps by 200,000 volunteers, many of whom will end up teaching in inner-city schools.

And yet today's Washington Post brings us this lovely headline:

AmeriCorps Officials Are Told of Cutbacks Local Directors Expect 'Devastating' Reductions in Program Bush Pledged to Expand

And in the story itself, this tidbit says it all:

Alan Khazei, the founder and chief executive of Boston-based City Year, one of the oldest and most highly praised community programs, said the national office has told him "only three of our 10 programs will be funded. It is devastating. Basically, national service in America has been wiped out or reduced to a shell this week."

Our GOP at work: hundreds of billions of dollars for tax cuts. Not even a fraction of one percent of that for a set of programs which encourage public service while actually improving the lives of poor and working people.

Memo to Iraqi civilians: when Bush says he really, really, really cares about your kids and about rebuilding your nation's infrastructure... look no further than his own backyard to see if his words mean a goddamned thing.

10:21:00 PM

Where are the WMD?

As Steve Gilliard of Daily Kos says so well, "If there was the slightest chance that a usable WMD stockpile would be found, is there any chance Rumsfeld would let George Tenet take the credit for finding it."

From Time Magazine:

After weeks of pressure to explain what it knew about the alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq before launching the war there, the Bush Administration has placed the issue in CIA Director George Tenet's lap. Administration officials have been subtly pointing the finger in his direction, saying all their knowledge of Iraq's weapons programs came from Tenet's agency. That apparently didn't apply to a British intelligence report, cited by President Bush in his State of the Union speech, that claimed Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from an unnamed nation later identified as Niger. The report has since been discredited, having been based on forged documents. The CIA had, in fact, looked into the report in February 2002 and found it dubious. At first the White House claimed that the CIA, if it had had any reservations about the intelligence, had not communicated them. Then, after other U.S. officials revealed that the CIA had sent a cable to the White House in March 2002 that cast doubt on the Niger report, Bush aides insisted the warning was too vague to raise red flags.

Now Bush has put Tenet in the hot seat, placing him in charge of the hunt for the wmd. Tenet announced last week that he was bringing in former U.N. weapons inspector David Kay as his adviser in the search. Sources tell Time that Kay will be in overall charge of the operation of 1,300 soldiers and civilians, which was previously overseen by the Pentagon, and will report directly to Tenet.

9:54:45 PM

Hussein's Image Is Banned in Public, Except on Money

Rumsfeld said something along the lines of "Freedom is untidy."

Among the first decrees by L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator of Iraq, when he arrived in May was to ban the public display of Saddam Hussein's image.

9:48:26 PM

Asia Times: "US turns to the Taliban"

Such is the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, compounded by the return to the country of a large number of former Afghan communist refugees, that United States and Pakistani intelligence officials have met with Taliban leaders in an effort to devise a political solution to prevent the country from being further ripped apart.

12:29:58 AM

"Can Abbas survive the crossfire?"

[T]he demand that Abbas immediately confront militants is unrealistic not only because PA forces have been badly damaged during the two years of fighting, but more importantly because Abbas needs time to gain popularity and credibility. "The only thing that can give him the credibility is for him to be able to point towards hope and a better future," says [Palestinian legislator] Fares. "What the Israelis are doing to him is tying up his hands and legs and throwing him into the sea, while at the same time asking him not to get wet."

12:17:38 AM

"Top US civilian administrator in Iraq bans anti-American activities"

To check attacks on US troops in Iraq, all anti-American activities in the country will be banned.

Gatherings, pronouncements or publications that incite disorder or violence against the US-led occupation force are affected.

12:17:15 AM

Ha'aretz: "Clarifying the occupation lexicon"

Israeli political discourse relies on terms that have become so distorted in meaning that the understanding of the reality behind them has also been distorted. Here are some examples:

...

Checkpoints: Israelis are convinced the checkpoints are meant to prevent terrorists from reaching the country. Nobody asks how the checkpoints between village and village or city and village service the purpose, even when the villages and towns are far from the Green Line or even a settlement. A checkpoint harms more than the economy. Its purpose is to harass and humiliate, on a daily basis. It means constant conflict with soldiers, like on Monday, at the Sudra checkpoint in northern Ramallah. Those passing through it need to walk about two kilometers on foot, from taxi to taxi. Ambulances are not allowed through. The elderly and the ailing are pushed in wheelchairs provided by Palestinian medical relief committees. Sometimes, when there's no alternative, the sick are put on little carts that usually serve to carry heavy loads. ...

Illegal outposts: The original intention was to extend settlements during the Oslo process, without being stopped. Meanwhile, most have been legalized whether de jure or de facto. People forget that. Using the term "illegal" makes people forget the fact that international law prohibits all the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza because international law prohibits the occupying power from moving its population into the occupied territory. But forget international law. If it's so natural for Jews from Tel Aviv and Ra'anana to move to new settlements near Ramallah and Hebron, why can't Palestinians move from Ramallah and Gaza to neighborhoods near Tel Aviv (with government financing)? Why are extra rights enjoyed by Jews between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River so self-evident?

12:13:55 AM