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Thursday, June 5, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
- - US deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, 6/1/2003
JUNE 5th IN HISTORY:
1968 -- Senator & presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic party. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was convicted of the murder.
1977 -- First personal computer, the Apple II, goes on sale.
RHINO HERE:
In my understanding there are 2 kinds of predictions, the psychic predilections of seers, and the educated guesses of students of history & current affairs. RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is a case of the latter; predictions from 1999 about Iraq - U.S. relations, & predictions made last month looking into the coming few years, both by a college sociology teacher who I think knows of what he speaks.
But first a suggested action; TAKE 5 MINUTES & sign a petition that focuses on a very important issue for our future: voter fraud. And if you're not familiar with the work of investigative journalist Greg Palast and/or Martin Luther King, III, I suggest surfing deeper into the layers of the petition.
And before the petition:
Extra! Extra! Read all about it. News flashes sweeping the U.S. & U.K.!!!!!
- The War On Iraq was actually about OIL!
- General Powell lied to the world about WOMAD's in his testimony at the U.N.!!!!
Yawn. Not really news to anyone who's been reading Rhino's Blog &/or countless other progressive info sources, but it's now being reported with the behind the closed doors details in U.S. News & World Report & other mainstream rags. Check out the 2 articles below:
Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil
by George Wright, London Guardian, Wednesday June 4, 2003
Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war.
The US deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in oil. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,970331,00.html
Truth and consequences
New questions about U.S. intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass terror
By Bruce B. Auster, Mark Mazzetti & Edward T. Pound , U.S. News & World Report Online, 6/9/03
On the evening of February 1, two dozen American officials gathered in a spacious conference room at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. The time had come to make the public case for war against Iraq. For six hours that Saturday, the men and women of the Bush administration argued about what Secretary of State Colin Powell should--and should not--say at the United Nations Security Council four days later. Not all the secret intelligence about Saddam Hussein's misdeeds, they found, stood up to close scrutiny. At one point during the rehearsal, Powell tossed several pages in the air. "I'm not reading this," he declared. "This is bulls- - -."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030609/usnews/9intell.htm
Stop the Florida-tion of the 2004 election
Computers threaten accountability of voting system
Today, there is a new and real threat to voters, this time coming from touchscreen voting machines with no paper trails and the computerized purges of voter rolls. You can join SCLC President Martin Luther King, III and investigative reporter Greg Palast in opposing the "Florida-tion" of the 2004 Presidential election by signing this petition. A complete copy of the petition will be delivered by Working Assets to Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Signatures so far: 26,100
Goal: 250,000 signatures
Deadline: Ongoing
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993
7:25:37 AM 
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RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is by Chuck O'Connell ( COconnellm@aol.com ) who teaches sociology at the University of California Irvine. It seem to me a clear common sense understanding of what's really going on behind the half hearted lies of the shrub gang, who when Wolfowitz's mouth is included, seems to not even care about keeping their lies secret.
RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE
Don't Look for Democracy - Predictions About the Iraq War
By CHUCK O'CONNELL, CounterPunch , March 19, 2003
Back in 1999 after looking at the sanctions program against Iraq and the NATO war against Yugoslavia, I made a few predictions to my students which I have reiterated each subsequent year. Those predictions were as follows:
1. The U.S. would invade Iraq.
2. The U.S. would project military power into the Caspian - Central Asia region.
3. The European Union would seek to dissociate itself from U.S. foreign policy and chart its own course.
Why did I make these predictions and why have they come true?
Foretelling a U.S. war against Iraq was fairly easy to do. The explanation is that the U.S. backed sanctions program was designed to destroy the country economically and militarily; in effect, it was a form of siege warfare designed to degrade the target (Iraq) making it much easier to conquer. Added to the sanctions program was the imposition of northern and southern "no-fly" zones which not only effectively denied to the Iraqi military the airspace over the country's northern and southern perimeters but also allowed the U.S. and UK air forces to bomb northern and southern Iraq to pieces on a regular basis. The U.S. thus softened up the invasion routes for the conquest of Iraq. In short, the coming war represents a continuation of the ongoing war against Iraq. It will be Phase III. Phase I was Desert Storm - kicking Iraq out of Kuwait. Not knowing how the Iraqi Army would perform on its home soil and not having a suitable replacement for Saddam Hussein, the U.S. began Phase II - siege warfare plus bombing to reduce Iraqi defenses while a replacement could be found for Hussein. This low intensity warfare has finally accomplished its task and now the "necessary" reasons for invasion have been trotted out to justify the war and occupation.
"But why invade Iraq?", the students asked. Answer: The Baath regime (which the U.S. helped come to power in 1963 by assisting its coup against a previous Iraqi government) no longer served as the compliant vassal of U.S. political economic interests in the region.
http://www.counterpunch.org/oconnell03202003.html
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6:06:30 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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