GLOOMY SUNDAY
March 30, 2003
Sunday is here, the second Sunday since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. What a difference a week makes. What the arrogant attackers were saying was supposed to be a "cakewalk" is turning into an unthinkable catastrophe in the making.The claims that the Americans would be greeted as liberators now seem absurdly naive, but did Cheney and Rumsfeld really believe those things? Or did they just use those claims to get the war going, to get it to a point where it would be very difficult to pull back? They got their war. Now can they handle it?
The Sunday New York Times Week in Review section says, "The War in Iraq Turns Ugly. That's What Wars Do." Indeed. And that is why it was so foolish to undertake this one, and why it is always foolish to undertake any war that can be avoided. The hawks will use the "war isn't nice" doctrine as a way to justify whatever they do. But, of course, that is no justification because they are the ones to forced the world into this calamity. That's a justification if you are attacked.
Unfortunately the miscalculations of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and so forth will cost many lives and much more besides.
According to the News Insider, the US is already attacking Iran, with an "n". According to the report, "From March 21 to March 24, 2003, Iranian air-space had been violated with impunity by US aircraft. The US attacked the oil-industry communities of Khorramshahr, Abadan and Manyuhi in Iran not far from the US-UK-Kuwaiti controlled Faw Peninsula and Umm al Qasr -control points for the Shatt al Arb through which billions of gallons of crude oil have passed to the US, UK and Japan." A Knight Ridder report says that Bush has been shielded from views that differ from those of his hawk inner circle. The views of CIA and State and Defense Department officials who warned that U.S.-led forces could face stiff resistance in Iraq never got to Bush. He only heard the Cheney/Rumsfeld views that the who predicted that Iraqis "would joyously greet coalition troops as liberators and that the entire conflict might be over in a matter of weeks." Sounds very similar to the way Hitler was shielded from bad news, much to his ultimate detriment. One could say what is bad for a ruthless dictator is good for the rest of the world, but that's not always true. Here is The Shock and Awe Photo Gallery. Strong anti-war feeling grips world. Chief gangster Bush and his sidekick Tony Blair held an emergency summit at Camp David to discuss war plans that have gone terribly awry. Tension was visible as Bush snapped at reporters who asked how long the invasion would take: "However long it takes. That's the answer to your question, and that's what you got to know. This isn't a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got know [sic] that, see?" See? This is Mugsy talkin' now, see? And Mugsy don't like to get crossed, see? Or you may find yourself wearing concrete boots, see? See GoOFF.com Since the Bush mob has suppressed any attempt for a public hearing on 911, it is up to independent researchers to figure out what they can from the evidence that is available. As usual, however, independent researchers can come up with some pretty amazing things. Communities develop around these mysteries and individual researchers share information and support each other's efforts so their research is cumulative. One of the most interesting sites for speculation on what really happened to the World Trade Center is "The World Trade Center Demolition and the So-Called War on Terrorism". Of particular interest is "Evidence for Explosives in the Twin Towers", which deals with the neatly symmetrical collapse of the buildings, which would seem not be indicated by the jet crashes alone. In fact the collapses appeared virtually the same as controlled demolitions that are carried out using explosives. NOTES FROM THE AGE OF FOOLS
March 30, 2003
Fragility is the word of the hour. What the rise of the Bush administration has shown us more than anything is the fragility of our world. The mob showed it by tearing it apart, piece by piece. Here are unelected leaders, members of a clique of shady, behind-the-scenes power players with a front man who never traveled abroad before becoming the leader of American foreign policy, though he had the money and leisure time to do anything he wanted. He didn't even know the names of many vitally important countries or their leaders. But he knew how to affect a commanding demeanor, how to read a political speech with the appropriate pomp, and most of all how to pay back the donors who put him where he is, using the taxpayers money to do it. Unhindered by the restraint of ethical considerations, the mob has had a heyday stealing everything within reach. Now we are seeing the potential catastrophe of taking this small time crony politics to the level of global playing field. Now we stand on a threshold at which we must contemplate the previously unthinkable. Under the Bush cabal we may see the structure of American power and wealth crumble to dust like the World Trade Center."Congratulations on your Liberation!" According to war correspondent of The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times Chris Hedges, "We are going to pay for every single bomb we drop on Iraq. And frankly, we deserve it ... The chief institutions that peddle war are the state and the press. You have this need on the part of the national press to create a mythic hero. Mythic reporting in war sells newspapers. Real reporting doesn't. The only product we have to sell is credibility, and we're damaging it right now." Hedges likens war to necrophilia, poison, and narcotics. See Austin American Statesman. More from Scott Ridder, 12-year Marine, Gulf War veteran and UN inspector. "It is too late for stopping the war, but we can change the government that got us into this war," Ritter said. "It is a dereliction of duty for us to not oppose this with all of our strength if this war is not justified." See Cornell Daily Sun. As soon as war was irrevocably launched, Bush & Co. began to abandon their earlier claims that it would be virtually effortless. On March 16, two weeks ago, the brilliant Dick Cheney said, "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." Thanks, Dick. What a fine mess you got us into.