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Sunday, August 13, 2006 |
WilliamBowles: "With so much at stake, there is literally nothing they won't do in order to hold onto power including fabricating evidence in order to launch illegal wars. Don't tell me that the invasion and destruction of Iraq wasn't the result of an international conspiracy!
Evidence was fabricated on a grand scale, lies told to all and sundry and the lies were delivered by a complicit corporate and state media. It doesn't need a gang of people in some back room somewhere, plotting and scheming, it's called government policy and it takes place at the highest levels of government; this is the political class's role, to preserve the rule of capital at any cost.
Cast your mind back if you can, to previous 'terror' alerts that came to nought with not even a trial let alone a conviction of attempting to blow anything or anybody up.
There was the 'ricin' poison 'plot', except there was no ricin.
Then there was a 'gas attack' on the London underground, another story that came to nought.
And then there was the army pitching at Heathrow on the 'intelligence' that 'terrorists' were about take out a jet with a ground-to-air missile. As with all the other 'terror' alerts, it was all hot air.
Thus far, 24 people have been arrested (and one released without charge) and 19 named and charged under various and sundry 'anti-terrorism' legislations.
Another report talks of an agent who had infiltrated the group. What was this person's role? Was he an agent provocateur?
Now whether you think the current alert is for real or not, the evidence of both the US and UK's governments involvement in set-ups and provocations is overwhelming."
TimesOnline: "British officials are furious with the US Administration for 'jumping the gun' by declaring that al-Qaeda was behind the airline terror plot, The Times has learnt."
Of course, if the plot turns out to have been a hoax or much exaggerated, it doesn't help to cry wolf for the umpteenth time. Don't overdo it, boys! We're not that stupid.
Yahoo: "As the British terror plot was unfolding, the Bush administration quietly tried to take away $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new explosives detection technology."
So you see George W. Bush thrives on terror, he loves terror and promotes terror.
The only result so far has been the disruption of air traffic and trade, something real terrorists would like to achieve. Scepticism of government decisions has increased. And it becomes increasingly clear that brutal force is counterproductive.
BBC: "Stringent security searches which have led to long delays and cancellations at Heathrow are not sustainable, airport operator BAA has warned."
This 'war on terror' is not sustainable, it is achieving exactly the same aim real terrorists would have, i.e. the disruption of normal life.
11:55:16 AM 
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Juan Cole: "The United Nations Security Council finally called for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon late Friday.
A 'cessation of hostilities' means that Hizbullah has to stop its attacks, but Israel doesn't have to stop its attacks or withdraw from Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded to the resolution by promising to take it up (late) on Sunday but in the meantime to invade Lebanon with 30,000 more troops and to rush to the Litani river."
NYTimes: "A senior administration official in Crawford, Tex., where Mr. Bush is on vacation, said that it increasingly seemed that Israel would not be able to achieve a military victory, a realization that led the Americans to get behind a cease-fire."
Haaretz: "Twenty-four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and another 11 seriously wounded in heavy clashes Saturday with Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon, after Israel dramatically expanded its ground operation in the area.
Five air crewmen were believed to be dead after an Israel Air Force helicopter was shot down by Hezbollah fire late Saturday, the IDF said."
Aljazeera: "Hezbollah says it will abide by a UN-backed ceasefire and Israel says it plans to halt offensive operations on Monday, but both sides issued caveats to their acceptance of a UN resolution to end the fighting."
If the ceasefire is a success this should take the wind out of the drive to attack Syria and Iran. The world no longer accepts the Israeli war crimes. And it is clear that brutal force does not accomplish anything, apart from more resistance, which is coming of age.
11:29:28 AM
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DearKitty: "Katharine Lee Bates was born on August 12, 1859.
Her poem 'America the Beautiful', set to music, is today sometimes sung by Right wingers in the USA, wallowing in chauvinist patriotism.
It is a little-known fact that America's best loved song was written by a woman who was a feminist, a lesbian, a Christian socialist, and an ardent anti-imperialist."
11:01:51 AM
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