FalloutStories related to 11 Sept 2001. |
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3/11/2004; 10:49:10 |
| NYT Endorses Kerry for President: |
| "There is no denying that this race is mainly about Mr. Bush's disastrous tenure. Nearly four years ago, after the Supreme Court awarded him the presidency, Mr. Bush came into office amid popular expectation that he would acknowledge his lack of a mandate by sticking close to the center. Instead, he turned the government over to the radical right." "We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better." -- New York Times 17 Oct, 2004 |
| Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences: |
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'This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list.' -U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, Feb. 12, 2003 |
| On the road to losing the peace : |
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'It was bad enough for the U.S. to have endured the intelligence failures that led to Sept. 11; it's another thing to know that 18 months, billions of dollars and untold numbers of bombs later that Osama bin Laden and most of his top advisers remain on the loose. This failure ought to be thrown daily in Mr. Bush's face, but he has diverted attention to Iraq, where the United States is about to make a mistake of historic proportions.' -Jeffrey Simpson in The Globe and Mail, 18 Feb 2003 |
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Allegations over missing explosives in Iraq and an FBI probe of Halliburton hit the Bush campaign all last week.'
Incredible. 'He can run but he can't hide.' Right. Of course bin Laden would prefer to have the extremist in power in the US as it helps inspire recruits. Martin refuses to take sides in next week's U.S. presidential election (Canadian Press)  < 8:13:15 PM>. .Canadian Press - NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. (CP) - Insisting he doesn't have any problems with the Bush administration, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Saturday he's willing to work with whomever Americans elect as their next President on Tuesday. [Via Yahoo! News - World] He has to play the diplomat. He knows damn well his citizens don't want Bush running amok anymore. Bin Laden Tries to Influence U.S. Election -Analysts < 7:58:49 PM>. .DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ditched his usual Islamist rhetoric for calculated political language designed to influence next week's U.S. presidential election, Arab analysts said on Saturday. [Via Reuters: World] Guerrilla News Network: Bush Wanted to Invade Iraq if Elected in 2000 < 2:02:26 PM>. .Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.
[base "]He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,[per thou] said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. [base "]It was on his mind. He said to me: [OE]One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.[base '] And he said, [OE]My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.[base '] He said, [OE]If I have a chance to invade[sigma].if I had that much capital, I[base ']m not going to waste it. I[base ']m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I[base ']m going to have a successful presidency.[per thou] REM frontman says visits help put the American political situation into focus
[Via The Globe and Mail: Arts]The soft-spoken pop singer says the time he spent in Vancouver while recording R.E.M.'s new album Around the Sun helped put the American political situation into focus. "It gave me a great sense of perspective, I have to say, being so close to my own country, but in a country that is clearly more liberal-minded," Stipe said on the phone from Chicago in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press. "There's a feeling in Canada of supporting . . . the creative arts and supporting people speaking out and supporting progress and living in the 21st century." R.E.M. will embark on a Canadian tour next month, and Stipe said he is more than happy to "suck up" to The Great White North, calling Vancouver a "city of the future" with "brilliant restaurants" and "incredibly creative people." During his stay he became hooked on the Canadian news media and still seeks it out online.
[snip]
The singer said he's been struck by the number of hawkish Republicans who have never served in the military, and the number of Democrats who are former soldiers but now oppose the war in Iraq."
Rukavina said he has friends in the United States who say they would seriously consider moving to Canada if Bush is re-elected.
"I think they just don’t feel they can stay in a country that Bush represents," he said.
[Via ruk.ca from peter rukavina] Halliburton has become a political liability for the Bush administration as the US prepares to vote in presidential elections next week. The company, one of the chief government contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been dogged by controversy, which includes claims of White House favouritism in awarding the firm billions of dollars of contracts without being forced to bid and Pentagon allegations that the firm has massively overcharged for its work.
It emerged late on Thursday that the FBI had launched an inquiry into how Halliburton secured contracts in Iraq, so far worth almost $9bn (£4.9bn).' "In an article in the Saudi English daily The Saudi Gazette, Md. Maqdoom
Mohiuddin and Khamis Mushayt wrote an op-ed and book review which exposes an
alleged U.S. plot to invade Pakistan, and then later possibly Sudan,
Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey." This surprising item alerted me to this book by StratFor's boss, George Friedman. StratFor is a private CIA, being paid by companies to tell them of risks. The book tells of the 'real' reasons whey the US went into Iraq: to scare the shit out of other wavering countries to back the US and not Al Qaeda. Apparently. It says that WMD and terrorism links were merely a smoke screen, or propaganda.
This clarity (even though Wolfowitz has said this openly) wouldn't have been enough to pull the US street with them.
However, our President sheepishly admitted it was "a poorly-tailored shirt." Poor guy. We should send him some money for a shirt that doesn't have big rectangular pooch and a rope hanging from it. Link 'The major causes of death before the invasion were myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, and other chronic disorders whereas after the invasion violence was the primary cause of death. Violent deaths were widespread, reported in 15 of 33 clusters, and were mainly attributed to coalition forces. Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children. The risk of death from violence in the period after the invasion was 58 times higher (95% CI 8·1–419) than in the period before the war.'
The link is to a pdf file of the report. The findings are a stunning exposure of the incompetence and irresponsibility of the people responsible for the invasion of Iraq. |
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