Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Shrub Wants The Exxon Iraq QUOTE OF THE DAY "This is a Mobil-Shell game intended to put the American Exxon Iraq." - - An anonymous Jordanian Political Observer (quoted in today's BOTTOM LINE ARTICLE) RHINO HERE: San Francisco's my home town. Fifth generation native I am. So without claiming objectivity, I'll say, San Francisco's always a beautiful city. But last Saturday, what a sight! Check out aerial photos of the tens of thousands of anti-war Americans filling up Civic Center: http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/01/1562069.php 1/27/03 - THE DAY THE INSPECTORS REPORT The "Not in Our Name Project" is proposing the following action: On Monday, January 27 - The eyes of the world will be on the United Nations when the UN inspectors turn in their report on Iraq. Wherever you are at 12 noon, Take the hour to say, "Not in Our Name will you wage war on Iraq!" Stop what you're doing on campuses, in workplaces and communities from noon to 1 p.m. and fill the hour with debates, discussion and expressions of conscience against the war. Students gathering for debates and protests; professors devoting classes at that hour to the issue; workplace discussions about the war. Shops closing for the hour, church bells ringing, radio stations featuring No War on Iraq call-ins. Across the country, voices rising: no matter what the UN inspectors, the Security Council or the U.S. government may say, this war is wrong and the people do not want it. For ideas, information & updates on the January 27 / Noon to 1 p.m. action, go to: http://www.notinourname.net ABOUT THOSE BIRD SHIT COVERED MISSILES Speaking of the inspectors, responding to all the media hullabaloo over the missiles found late last week, reportedly covered not by camouflage tarps, but by bird shit, one of my favorite social studies teachers, William Rivers Pitt, wrote the following to CNN about their coverage: "First things first: The warheads. Let's be clear. These were not 'chemical warheads.' In the Iraqi arsenal, a warhead is a warhead - an empty ordnance space strapped to a missile. What matters is the payload, be it explosive or chemical or nuclear. The item placed in the warhead denotes the designation. These warheads were stone-cold empty, so by definition they are not 'chemical warheads.' They are, in fact, nothing, because they were loaded with no payload. Furthermore, the word 'warhead' is in itself misleading, as these were artillery munitions. Second. Iraq is allowed by UN resolutions to have a variety of weapons, including the Al Samoud missile. We did not want to pull Iraq's fangs completely after the Gulf War, considering the neighborhood they live in. We allowed them to keep missiles that fly only a certain distance (150km most often). Many people will not know this, and will think the presence of these munitions will represent a breach of the UN resolution. This is not the case. Third. Scott Ritter informed me today that these munitions were part of Iraq's declaration last December. I await further confirmation of this, and so should the journalism world. Fourth. This is absolutely a vindication of the inspections regime. They found the stuff, and it will be destroyed, and no American soldiers or Iraqi civilians died in the process. Inspections work. Fifth. Recall how the UNSCOM inspections were undermined by meddling from the American intelligence community. Understand that this warhead story did not come from Blix, or through the normal channels, but through a Japanese (read: close ally) inspector who contacted the news media and let rip before the facts were in hand." http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/011803A.wrp.cnn.htm A PROGRESSIVE SUPPORTING THE WAR? HITCHENS ON "EVIL" Libertarian journalist and author of, "The Trial Of Henry Kissinger", Christopher Hitchens rebuffs the budding anti-war movement. Things to ponder. A blustery Rush he's not. "Evil; Scoff If You Must, But You Can't Avoid It." http://slate.msn.com/id/2076195/ THE BOTTOM LINE comes from veteran writer, John Cory, currently correspondent for TruthOut in Saudi Arabia. His article gives a sense of the momentum of the war machine, including a mention that the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) is going ahead on schedule in Abu Dhabi while American diplomats are stowing and going in fear of possible pre-war kidnaping. 8:17:02 AM    comment

The Games of War By John Cory t r u t h o u t, Sunday 19 January 2003 The game is afoot as they say. While Ari Fleischer keeps denying that the war is inevitable, you cannot walk around Kuwait, or parts of Bahrain, without tripping over American military equipment and personnel or reporter-celebrities in safari suits. I suppose this means the war games in Qatar were successful and Gen. Franks will not be wintering in Florida this year. The Middle East Newsline reports that the U.S. has begun withdrawing non-essential government personnel from the Middle East. According to the article, "Officials said the effort is meant to avoid Arab or Islamic reprisals on U.S. personnel over the next few months amid tension in the Persian Gulf and Middle East region." According to the news article, "The biggest threat is that of kidnapping of Americans, particularly diplomats." A sure sign of coming war is when politicians evacuate, leaving the rest of us to face the consequences of their actions. Meanwhile the business of war continues, even on the eve of invasion. In Abu Dhabi, the UAE defense show is on schedule for March 16-20. More than 850 defense contractors from Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Germany and Italy and elsewhere are expected to attend the sixth International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) despite the pending war. According to Ali Al-Tunaiji, the director general of General Exhibitions Corp. "The tension is increasing day by day, but we will go ahead in hosting the event even if there is an attack on Iraq." Obviously the profits of war must not be ignored during war... http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/012003A.cory.games.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. COMMENT ON TODAY'S BLOG / SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 8:08:31 AM    comment

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