Al Queda Getting Larger under Bush’s Watch
Reuters reported today that the Islamist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) from Algeria has announce it has joined al-Queda and proclaimed allegiance to Osama bin Laden after nearly a year of negotiations between the two groups. Abd al-Malek Droudkel, leader of the GSPC, also urged other Islamist groups around the world to join forces to defeat the US.
Their targets seem to be the US and France. al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawarhiri urged the GSPC to punish the "Crusader nation" France. According the GSPC, "The United States can be overcome only by the Islamic United States….We advise our brothers in other jihadist movements to join this unity."
"We’re not talking about large numbers of terrorists, like Iraq or Afghanistan, or fixed training bases," one U.S. counterterrorism official in Washington told Reuters.
"We’re talking about relatively small numbers of moving targets who are difficult to fix and destroy but who represent an increasing threat … It’s not the biggest threat in the world, but it’s a significant emerging one."
These terrorists have a few common threads: they are all out of poor countries and they all hate the US for their policy in Iraq.
House Republicans Fan the Flames of Iranian War by Publishing Misleading Information
On September 12, 2006, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency - the UN’s nuclear watchdogs) called a report published by the US House Intelligence Committee’s report on Iran’s Nuclear Program (published August 23) "erroneous and misleading", according to the BBC News headline today. The BBC has links to both the House report and the IAEA rebuttal.
The IAEA, very displeased about the whole affair, pointed out that the House report published a caption under a photo of the Nataz site in Iran (page 9 of the House report), claiming Iran is enriching "Weapon’s grade" uranium when in fact the photo shows a very low level "fuel grade" uranium being produced. The IAEA is displeases with a couple of other things, but this was the big one.
This harkens back to the statements by Condi Rice that Iraq had the dreaded "aluminum tubes" that could only be used in a centrifuge to produce nuclear weapon grade uranium. And speaking of photo’s, remember the then respected Colin Powell showing the UN photos of trucks that "may" be mobile nuclear labs? I think the UN has been burned before on this one. So has the United States.
If you don’t want to be forced into another fake and worthless war (not to mention expensive and deadly), you need to vote out the House members that are allowing this propoganda to be published in the name of the United States.
The Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that have published these lies are listed below. Be sure to vote these Warmongers out of office next month:
Peter Hoeskstra (MI), Ray LaHood (IL), Terry Everett (AL), Elton Gallegly (CA), Heather Wilson (NM), Jo Ann Davis (VA), Mac Thornberry (TX), John McHugh (NY), Todd Tiahrt (KS), Mike Rogers (MI), Rick Renzi (AZ), Darrell Issa (CA).
For completion, there are Democrats on the committee, but if you think they had any control over this report, you are kidding yourself. The House Committee web page even lists them last. They are as follows:
Jane Harman (CA), Alcee Hastings (FL), Silvestre Reyes (TX), Leonard Boswell (IA), Bud Cramer (AL), Anna Eshoo (CA), Rush Holt (NJ), Dutch Ruppersberger (MD), John Tierney (MA).
Another General Calls for Rumsfeld Resignation
Yet another recently retired two-star general who just a year ago commanded a U.S. Army division in Iraq on Wednesday joined a small but growing list of former senior officers to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
"I believe we need a fresh start in the Pentagon. We need a leader who understands teamwork, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation," Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said in an interview on CNN.
In recent weeks, retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton and Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni all spoke out against Rumsfeld. This comes as opinion polls show eroding public support for the 3-year-old war in which about 2,360 U.S. troops have died."You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense," Batiste said.
Bush Administration Lies about the Lie
In true form the Bush Regime sent their relentless mouthpiece, Scott McClellan, out to spin the truth for the usually attentive White House Press Corps, only to find the sleeping bear has stirred yet again.
This time the Whitehouse has not denied that the President authorized the leaking of former covert CIA operative Vallerie Plame’s identity. Bush did it. He is responsible. However, McClellan insists the reason was because it was “in the public interest”.
The Bush administration must think the American People are pretty stupid. Consider all they have managed to quell - 2 Downing Street memos and a fake, yet expensive, war that is now in the toilet.
Bush authorized that leak because he was being vindictive towards Plame’s husband for publishing an article that revealed his lies about a made-up Iraqi yellow cake deal that pushed us into war. Bush just rolled over Joe Wilson and, in essense, put his wife in great danger. Where is the public interest?
The CBS headline is “The leak-hater is the leaker.” Where I grew up the saying goes, “The smeller’s the feller.” Looks like it’s going to take the Bush Regime some time to clear the air with this one.
Google bows to China
One day in 2002, the China’s government decided they did not want the defense minister from Taiwan to attend an arms conference in Florida. China demanded the Bush administration bar his attendance. They did not.
When China did not get what they wanted, Chinese General Zhu released the following comment: "China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan."
My first response is how can China possibly want to attack the US over such a trivial issue? My second is nauseating fear thinking about the trivial Iraq war.
Here is another sign the Chinese Yahn is more powerful than the dollar and marching to get the US. This from the BBC News:
Leading internet company Google has said it will censor its search services in China in order to gain greater access to China’s fast-growing market.
Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been frustrated by government blocks on the site.
The company is setting up a new site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing.
Google argued it would be more damaging to pull out of China altogether.
Bush has made China so powerful, they can force US companies to bow to their oppressive demands. When China decides to squash the US financially, we will be subject to the same nonsense as Google. Instead of Republican or Democrat, our choices will be Free Speech or Nukes. Soon the phrase "Choose Life" will have new meaning.
Bush Gets a Taste of the Real World
Bush was in Philadelphia last Tuesday, Jack Murtha’s home state, to give a rah-rah speech to the Philidelphia World Affairs Council on Monday. This day Bush opened his sanctum to Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News for a little PR exercise. Given his pathetic approval ratings in the 30’s, the Bush Administration must have felt the need to reach out.
After his speech at the luncheon, Bush gets a silly grin on his face and says, "I’ve got a little extra time on my hands, maybe I’ll answer some questions."
Nobody expected this. He usually just smiles and waves, then darts for the safe haven of the Presidential limo. Not this time - this time he had a reporter to cowtow to so he improvises. God help us all.
The first bomb:Bush called on Didi Goldmark, 63, a former libel defense lawyer from New Hope, Pa. "Since the inception of the Iraqi war," she said, "I’d like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators." The Bush administration has usually brushed this question by saying that the Pentagon does not count Iraqi victims. The President showed a new confidence by answering the question, "How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war?" he said, beginning the answer that would create the headlines from the event. "I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq." The White House later backpedaled and stated the number was not a government estimate, but was based on news reports that the total was 27,000 to 30,000.
The second bomb:Bush called on Faézé Woodville, 44, of Stratford, Pa., who cares for two sons at home. "Mr. President," she began, "I would like to know why it is that you and others in your administration keep linking 9/11 to the invasion of Iraqwhen no respected journalist or Middle Eastern expert confirmed that such a link existed." She got a burst of applause.
The only applause the official White House transcript references is after Bush’s vacuous answer. Bush pretended not to hear the question (Freudian, no doubt) and made her repeat it before he answered. She repeated it word for word the second time.
"I appreciate that," he began, which is the way he often begins the answers to questions he does not appreciate the continued, " 9/11 changed my look on foreign policy. I mean, it said that oceans no longer protect us…"
In reality, this means his answer is that we should all be afraid and stay afraid and that is the justification for all unjustified slaughter. Bush continued with the usual drivel about how Sadam was such a bad guy, etc.
Chatting afterward with reporters from TIME and The Washington Post, Woodville said she was disappointed by the non-answer. "He must think we’re morons," she said.
Bush excapes the real world for the sanctuary of la la land and a chat with Brian Williams. During some non-camera on Air Force One that day Williams asked Bush about thePresident about one-time administration claims that Iraqis would welcome Americans as liberators. "I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome," the President replied.
Wow…and the scary part is he had no idea what he just said.
Iraq Going Downhill Even Further
Aljazeera.net took an unscientific poll of its readers. When asked, "Is Violence in Iraq Destablising the Region", the response of 14,960 readers was as follows:
77% yes, 19% no, 4% unsure.
They also published an article, Iraqis turn to Drugs to Escape Reality, where they outline the abuse of perscription-type drugs they are using to escape the continual violence in the area.
In as speech this morning, Bush said, "(Iraqi’s have) gone from living under the boot of a brutal tyrant, to liberation, to free elections, to a democratic constitution. A week from tomorrow, they will go to the polls to elect a fully constitutional government that will lead them for the next four years."
They already had elections in Janary of 05. It’s been almost a year. It’s getting ridiculous.
Canada Stands up to Bush
New Democrat Party Leader Jack Layton has had enough of this fake war, as he lays out in his statment to Canada’s Prime Minister, Paul Martin. Layton called for an immediate halt to sending more Canadian troops to Afghanistan, warning that Canada must not "drift into a war blindly."
"We appear to be drifting from our original mission there – which was to provide security in the capital region – and into a combat role side-by-side with American troops," Layton continued.
Layton’s announcement follows NATO’s approval of a plan to send up to 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan in a major expansion of their mission.
"We must not drift into a war blindly or secretly, on the say-so of one man – Mr. Martin."
According to the BBC, Layton also said at a campaign stop in St. John’s,"Canadians need to have a debate on whether they want Canadian service personnel to become deeply involved in an initiative that’s pressed forward by (U.S. President) George Bush."
Go Team Canada!
The World Catches on to US Torture Ways
Today the Republican Whitehouse (Scott McClellan) refused to address a reporters question about the Italian Government seeking extradition of 22 CIA agents in connection with the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan, who was then flown to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured.
A radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar was walking to a Milan mosque for noon prayers in February 2003 when he was grabbed on the sidewalk by two men, sprayed in the face with chemicals and stuffed into a van. He hasn’t been seen since.
Italian authorities suspect the Egyptian was the target of a CIA-sponsored operation known as rendition, in which terrorism suspects are forcibly taken for interrogation to countries where torture is practiced. The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation.
In contrast Eupropean governmenets are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights and are beginning to file charges against the CIA, but it’s not easy to file charges against a US agent.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has denied that America is transporting terror suspects to secret jails around the world to be tortured. We don’t fly people from your airports to distant places to be tortured - so says Condoleeza Rice as she heads to Europe and straight into increasing anger in Europe’s capitals.
This is another lie that will come back to bite the Bush Crime Family and all who follow.
Saturday Bush Radio Address
In his weekly radio propaganda address Bush lauded the progress in Iraq and compared the activity in Iraq today to that of the "birth of the US 200 years ago". He hinted that Iraq was not the only conquest on his mind by saying the current war efforts reached beyond Iraq to the "broader Middle East". Bush continued spewing his veiled security threats to the American people if we pulled out of Iraq, saying bringing liberty to Iraq would bring "security to our own citizens".
He also stated, "We remain fully committed to defending the security and well-being of our friend and ally Israel." This is part of what got us bombed in the first place.