On Mar 16, 2:30=A0pm, "aw" <aw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> How Could Hillary Have Known?
> By WILLIAM BLUM
>
> Hillary Clinton and many other members of Congress claim that their
sup****=
t
> of the invasion of Iraq was based on faulty intelligence re****ts. How
coul=
d
> they dispute the research and analysis of all those experts, so well
train=
ed
> and experienced in their fields?
>
> Well, apart from the fact that American intelligence agencies and their
> re****ts were by no means of one opinion (one well-publicized CIA paper,
fo=
r
> example, predicted all manner of devastating consequences which could
resu=
lt
> from an invasion and occupation) ...
>
> Apart from the fact that there were several public statements, including
> some on American TV, from Saddam Hussein's deputy prime minister, and
othe=
r
> statements made by Iraqi scientists to American media and to American
> intelligence that Iraq no longer had any weapons of mass destruction ...
>
> Apart from the fact that UN nuclear inspectors had determined before the
w=
ar
> that Iraq did not have a nuclear weapons program ...
>
> Apart from the fact that Colin Powell, speaking in February 2001 of US
> sanctions on Iraq, said: "And frankly they have worked. He [Saddam
Hussein=
]
> has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of
ma=
ss
> destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his
> neighbors."
>
> Apart from all that, this question must be asked: What did the millions
of=
> Americans who marched against the war before it began know that all
those
> members of Congress didn't know? At a minimum, they knew that nothing
the
> Bush administration had told them came anywhere close to justifying
droppi=
ng
> bombs on the innocent people of Iraq. They also knew that nothing the
Bush=
> administration had told them could be trusted. All it took to reach this
> advanced stage of awareness was not being born yesterday.
>
> As I've written before, the same phenomenon attended the Vietnam War.
The
> anti-Vietnam War movement burst out of the starting gate back in August
> 1964, with hundreds of people demonstrating in New York. Many of these
ear=
ly
> dissenters took apart and critically examined the administration's
> statements about the war's origin, its current situation, and its rosy
> picture of the future. They found continuous omission, contradiction,
and
> duplicity, became quickly and wholly cynical, and called for immediate
and=
> unconditional withdrawal. This was a state of intellect and principle it
> took members of Congress and the media -- and then only a small minority
-=
- =A0
> until the 1970s to reach. And even then -- even today -- our political
and=
> media elite viewed Vietnam only as a "mistake"; i.e., it was "the wrong
wa=
y"
> to fight communism, not that the United States should not be traveling
all=
> over the globe to spew violence against anything labeled "communism" in
th=
e
> first place. Essentially, the only thing these "best and brightest" have
> learned from Vietnam is that we should not have fought in Vietnam. And
I'm=
> afraid that the present generation of "leaders" will learn very little
mor=
e
> than that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq.
>
> A Mecca of hypocrisy, a Vatican of double standards
>
> On February 21, following a demonstration against the United States role
i=
n
> Kosovo's declaration of independence, rioters in the Serbian capital of
> Belgrade broke into the US Embassy and set fire to an office. The attack
w=
as
> called "intolerable" by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the
> American Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he
would=
> ask the UN Security Council to issue a unanimous statement "expressing
the=
> council's outrage, condemning the attack, and also reminding the Serb
> government of its responsibility to protect diplomatic facilities."
>
> This is of course standard language for such situations. But what the
medi=
a
> and American officials don't remind us is that in May 1999, during the
> US/NATO bombing of Serbia, then part of Yugoslavia, the Chinese Embassy
in=
> Belgrade was hit by a US missile, causing considerable damage and
killing
> three embassy employees. The official Wa****ngton story on this -- then,
an=
d
> still now -- is that it was a mistake. But this is almost certainly a
lie.=
> According to a joint investigation of The Observer of London and the
> Politiken newspaper in Denmark, the embassy was bombed because it was
bein=
g
> used to transmit electronic communications for the Yugoslav army after
the=
> army's regular system was made inoperable by the bombing. The Observer
was=
> told that the embassy bombing was deliberate by "senior military and
> intelligence sources in Europe and the US" as well as being "confirmed
in
> detail by three other Nato officers -- a flight controller operating in
> Naples, an intelligence officer monitoring Yugoslav radio traffic from
> Macedonia and a senior [NATO] headquarters officer in Brussels."
> Moreover, the New York Time re****ted at the time that the bombing had
> destroyed the embassy's intelligence-gathering nerve center, and two of
th=
e
> three Chinese killed were intelligence officers. "The highly sensitive
> nature of the parts of the embassy that were bombed suggests why the
Chine=
se
> ... insist the bombing was no accident. ... 'That's exactly why they
don't=
> buy our explanation'," said a Pentagon official. There were as well
severa=
l
> other good reasons not to buy the story.
>
> In April 1986, after the French government refused the use of its air
spac=
e
> to US warplanes headed for a bombing raid on Libya, the planes were
forced=
> to take another, longer route. When they reached Libya they bombed so
clos=
e
> to the French embassy that the building was damaged and all
communication
> links knocked out.
>
> And in April 2003, the US Ambassador to Russia was summoned to the
Russian=
> Foreign Ministry due to the fact that the residential quarter of Baghdad
> where the Russian embassy was located was bombed several times by the
Unit=
ed
> States during its invasion of Iraq. There had been re****ts that Saddam
> Hussein was hiding in the embassy.
>
> So, we can perhaps chalk up the State Department's affirmations about
the
> inviolability of embassies as yet another example of US foreign policy
> hypocrisy. But I think that there is some satisfaction in that American
> foreign policy officials, as morally damaged as they must be, are not
all =
so
> stupid that they don't know they're swimming in a sea of hypocrisy. The
Lo=
s
> Angeles Times re****ted in 2004 that "The State Department plans to delay
t=
he
> release of a human rights re****t that was due out today, partly because
of=
> sensitivities over the prison abuse scandal in Iraq, U.S. officials
said.
> One official ... said the release of the re****t, which describes actions
> taken by the U.S. government to encourage respect for human rights by
othe=
r
> nations, could 'make us look hypocritical'."
>
> And last year the Wa****ngton Post informed us that Chester Crocker,
former=
> Assistant Secretary of State and current member of the State
Department's
> Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion, noted that "we have to be
able =
to
> cope with the argument that the U.S. is inconsistent and hypocritical in
i=
ts
> promotion of democracy around the world. That may be true."
>
> Like ****ography, torture doesn't require a definition. You know it when
y=
ou
> see it. Or feel it.
>
> With all the media coverage of "waterboarding" and all the congressional
> questioning of government officials about their views on the subject, I
> imagine that by now many people think that waterboarding must be the
worst=
> kind of torture that the United States has engaged in, and that if
> waterboarding is in fact not torture then the idiot king is correct when
h=
e
> says: "We don't torture." This is the way myths are born, so let's try
and=
> squash this particular one while it's still young.
>
> Here in capsule form is a sample of some of the acts carried out in
recent=
> years by American military forces, their contract employees, and the CIA
> against detainees in one or another edifice of the sprawling global
prison=
> complex maintained by the United States in occupied Iraq, occupied
> Afghanistan, occupied Cuba, and various other secret prisons occupied by
t=
he
> CIA around the world. It may be torture to read but the point needs to
be
> made. Lest we forget.
> Standing or kneeling or forced into contorted, painful positions for
many
> hours ... in leg shackles and handcuffs with eyes, ears and mouth
covered,=
> exposed to extremes of heat or cold ... stripped ****d, led around with
a
> dog leash ... deprived of sleep, kicked to keep them awake for days on
end=
,
> subjecting them to a 24-hour bombardment of bright lights or blaring
noise=
> ... guards staging races of detainees in short leg shackles, violently
> puni****ng them if they fall ... withholding painkillers and other
> medications from the injured ... sensory deprivation, with all human
conta=
ct
> cut off ... made to lie ****d on a sheet of ice ... fake blood smeared
on
> Muslim men when they are about to pray, telling them that it's menstrual
> blood.
>
> The Iraqi general "was put headfirst into a sleeping bag, wrapped with
> electrical cord and knocked down before the soldiers sat and stood on
him.=
> The cause of death was determined to be suffocation."
>
> Chained to the ceiling, shackled so tightly that the blood flow stops
...
> shackled to the floor in fetal positions for more than 24 hours at a
time,=
> left without food and water, and allowed to defecate on themselves; a
> detainee found with a pile of hair next to him; he had apparently been
> literally pulling his own hair out throughout the night ... wrapping a
> prisoner in an Israeli flag ... use of unmuzzled, growling dogs to
frighte=
n,
> in at least one instance actually biting and severely injuring a
detainee
> ... burn marks on their backs ... detainee left at an Iraqi hospital,
> comatose, with massive head trauma, burns on the bottoms of his feet
cause=
d
> by electrocution, bruises on his arms ... more than a hundred detainees
ha=
ve
> died during interrogations ...
>
> The death of two captives in Afghanistan: one from "blunt force injuries
t=
o
> lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease"; an autopsy
showed=
> that his legs were so damaged that amputation would have been necessary;
t=
he
> other captive suffered from a blood clot in the lung that was
exacerbated =
by
> a "blunt force injury" ...
>
> Kicks to the groin and legs, shoving or slamming detainees into walls
and
> tables, forcing water in their mouths until they could not breathe ...
He
> had his hands handcuffed behind him and was suspended by his wrists --
"Hi=
s
> arms were so badly stretched I was surprised they didn't pop out of
their
> sockets." ... forced to masturbate while being photographed and
videotaped=
> ... seven ****d Iraqis piled on top of each other in a pyramid ...
detaine=
e
> punched in the chest so hard he almost went into cardiac arrest ...
forcin=
g
> ****d male detainees to wear women's underwear.
>
> The re****t by General Taguba found that between October and December of
20=
03
> there were numerous instances of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal
> abuses" at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including breaking chemical lights
a=
nd
> pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees, threatening male detainees
wit=
h
> rape, sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom
stic=
k,
> raping female prisoners ...
>
> Eighteen days ****d and alone in a cell, often with his hands and feet
bou=
nd
> together, frequently beaten ... "He locked his arm under mine and
holding
> the back of my head he beat my head against the doors of the cells" ...
hi=
s
> hands and feet were pushed through the metal bars of the cell door and
the=
n
> tied together.
>
> Six weeks after his release, he says he has lost the will to live. He is
t=
oo
> ashamed to be seen by his friends and family and has not seen or spoken
to=
> his fianc=E9e. The wedding is off. "I was a man before, but my manhood
was=
> taken away. Since this happened to me, I consider myself dead. My life
fee=
ls
> over."
> Iraqi prisoners were forced to crawl through broken glass and wear
women's=
> sanitary products ... two drunken interrogators took a female Iraqi
prison=
er
> from her cell in the middle of the night and stripped her ****d to the
wai=
st
> ... an Iraqi woman in her 70s was harnessed and ridden like a donkey ...
> detainees were pressed to denounce Islam, or force-fed ****k and liquor
...=
>
> Jamadi died an hour after his arrival at Abu Ghraib in early November
2003=
;
> he had been beaten while in CIA custody and then hung by his wrists,
with
> his arms crossed across his back. US Army guards at the prison then
packed=
> his body in ice and posed with the corpse in mocking photographs.
>
> "They forced us to walk like dogs on our hands and knees ... and we had
to=
> bark like a dog, and if we didn't do that they started hitting us hard
on
> our face and chest with no mercy." ... "Do you believe in anything?" the
> soldier asked. "I said to him, 'I believe in Allah.' So he said, 'But I
> believe in torture and I will torture you'."
>
> Taken out and tied to a post, rubber bullets were fired at them; made to
> kneel in the sun until they collapsed ... "They tied my hands to my feet
> behind my back. My left hand to my right foot and my right hand to my
left=
> foot. I was lying face down and they were beating me like this" ...
inmate=
s
> kept in wire cages with concrete floors and no protection from the
element=
s.
>
> "They actually said: 'You have no rights here'. After a while, we
stopped
> asking for human rights -- we wanted animal rights" ... crosses shaved
int=
o
> their scalp or body hair ... dislocated his arms, beat his leg with a
bat,=
> crushed his nose, and put an unloaded gun in his mouth and pulled the
> trigger ... Six Kuwaiti prisoners said they were severely beaten, given
> electric shocks and sodomized by US forces in Afghanistan ...
>
> The Afghan detainee had been captured in Pakistan along with a group of
> other Afghans. His connection to al Qaeda or the value of his
intelligence=
> was never established before he died. "He was probably associated with
> people who were associated with al Qaeda," one US government official
said=
..
> ... numerous suicide attempts ...
>
> And here's George W. in 2004: "The world is better off without Saddam
> Hussein in power. The world is better off because he sits in a prison
cell=
..
> Because we acted, torture rooms are closed, rape rooms no longer exist."
>
> Brian Whitman, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, 2005: "The
Unit=
ed
> States treats all detainees in their custody with dignity and respect."
>
> It should be noted that the CIA has been treating (real and alleged)
> opponents of American imperialism with similar dignity and respect ever
> since the Agency's founding. Police and prisons within the United States
> have been torturing for even longer.
>
> Now for the good news: The Bush administration, trying to shore up
sup****t=
> for its military-trial procedures, has cabled US embassies with
instructio=
ns
> that evidence obtained through torture will not be allowed. But evidence
> obtained through treatment considered "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" is
t=
o
> be allowed.
> George Bernard Shaw used three concepts to describe the positions of
> individuals in Nazi Germany: intelligence, decency, and Naziism. He
argued=
> that if a person was intelligent, and a Nazi, he was not decent. If he
was=
> decent and a Nazi, he was not intelligent. And if he was decent and
> intelligent, he was not a Nazi.
> I suggest the reader make the obvious substitution: "Bush sup****ter" in
> place of "Nazi".
>
> That oh-so-precious world where words have no meaning
>
> In December, 1989, two days after bombing and invading the defenseless
> people of Panama, killing as many as a few thousand, President George
H.W.=
> Bush declared that his "heart goes out to the families of those who have
> died in Panama". When a re****ter asked him: "Was it really worth it to
sen=
d
> people to their death for this? To get [Panamanian leader Manuel]
Noriega?=
",
> Bush replied: "Every human life is precious, and yet I have to answer,
yes=
,
> it has been worth it."
>
> A year later, preparing for his next crime against humanity, the
invasion =
of
> Iraq, Bush, Sr. said: "People say to me: 'How many lives? How many lives
c=
an
> you expend?' Each one is precious."
>
> At the end of 2006, with Bush's son now president, White House spokesman
> Scott Stanzel, commenting about American deaths reaching 3,000 in Iraq,
sa=
id
> Bush "believes that every life is precious and grieves for each one that
i=
s
> lost."
>
> In February 2008, with American deaths about to reach 4,000, and Iraqi
> deaths as many as a million or more, George W. Bush asserted: "When we
lif=
t
> our hearts to God, we're all equal in his sight. We're all equally
preciou=
s.
> ... In prayer we grow in mercy and compassion. ... When we answer God's
ca=
ll
> to love a neighbor as ourselves, we enter into a deeper friend****p with
ou=
r
> fellow man."
>
> Inspired by such noble -- dare I say precious -- talk from their
leaders,
> the American military machine likes to hire like-minded warriors. Here
is
> Erik Prince, founder of the military contractor Blackwater, whose
employee=
s
> in Iraq kill people like others flick away a mosquito, in testimony
before=
> Congress: "Every life, whether American or Iraqi, is precious."
>
> William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA
> Interventions Since World War II, Rogue State: a guide to the World's
Only=
> Super Power. and West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir.
Vlcku, a komu ty vlastne fandis?
Hilarii nebo Obamovi?
|
