Re: [globalnews] Iraq: a 12-year old's powerful statement
Title: FW: [globalnews] Iraq: a 12-year old's powerful statement Dear Keith, Very seldom am I tempted to answer something that comes from Curtis and Global News. However such utter rubbish as thisneeds some correction. Theclaim that the war is about weapons of mass destruction claim is a furphy. It is about oil, pure and simple. Which nation has the most weapons of mass destruction? Which country supplies these weapons? Which country took 8000 pages out of the declaration supplied to the UN by Iraq because they listed the US companies that supplied them to Iraq. As to this childunwittingly helping Saddam Hussein, has it ever occurred to you that you may be unwittingly deceived byrown mass media. This war is not some video game that you turn the TV on to which channel will show you the most sanitised version of an unjust war. What makes some people in America think that they have the right to be the policeman of the world? There may be millions of people in the US who share your views, however a head count would probably show that there are more people worldwide who can see through the motives of your beloved Dubya and are going out on the streets to show their contempt for him. If you feel so dearly for what you see as a just American cause why dont you go into Iraq and be the first person to enter Baghdad at the head of a victorious US Army after it has massacred hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. At any rate with any sort of luck you may be able to kill more Iraqi's than your own soldiers. I feel that if you led the victorious troops into Baghdad you would have more chance of being shot by your own men than by the enemy. Enjoy your war and may you inheret the legacy of the results which you are demanding from your leaders. Somehow you are reading the world sentiment wrong. The protest marches are not just anti war they come from a heart felt compassion for the people of Iraq. As for the idea of showing someone a different way. How's this for a different way. Pistols at dawn for the two leaders of the dispute with the winner takes all. EitherAmerica getsIraq or Saddam gets America.Or how is this for a different scenario, Hussein and Bushleads their army into battle with each man at the head of their armies. Let us see just how good a General each one is. Could you just imagine the ratings fora real life pistol duel on prime time after the evening news. Maybe you could be Dubya's second.It could be held on neutral ground say in Afghanistan or maybe Venezuela. It would beat High Noon or Gone With The Wind for drama.What do you think. James Hedley Original Message:Keith N Legge To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 8:55 AM Subject: Re: [globalnews] Iraq: a 12-year old's powerful statement Jane, There is not one person alive in the west who wants war. But I think stories like you have posted and all anti war rallies are doing more harm to the cause than the good that is intended. The focus is wrong. I mean antiwar. In my humble opinion, people power ought to be used to convince the world that Saddam needs to go along with all his regime. For some insane reason, the powers that be believe it is better to kill millions of kids like the writer spoke of in your post rather than be accused of being politically incorrect by accidentally killing one or two or a dozen or two of Saddams "innocent" relatives, as apparently happened in Cuba or somewhere many years ago. If you oppose something someone more powerful wants so he canachieve his goal, he'll take no notice and operate against you. Show him there is another way, certainly not, in this case by suggesting SH can be trusted not to use weapons of mass detruction as France China and Russia seem to be doing backed by Germany. That is absolutely rediculous. People power needs to be used toback the permanent elimination of SH and his henchmen. And for the US to suggest they can't is rediculous. They just don't want to because of the political fall out they perceive hppening. Let's show them that it is more politically unbeneficial to make war than to risk a bad political reputation by dealing with SH. The other sad thing is that our little girlas true and horrific as her story is, is, unwittingly hopefully, just a tool inthe hand of SHso he can continue to live to wreak far more damage on her own people than the Allies will ever do in any war. Let's hear her talk about that, and the very fact that she will have no chance in her own country of getting people to oust SH. As evil as war is, there are greater evils as the free west can attest to. Where would we be with our freedoms if the wars of last century had not happened, if Hiroshima and Nagasaki hadn't happened? And where would the oppressed peoples of Europe and Japan be if it hadn't happened just as it did. Do
FW: [globalnews] Der Spiegel: Fundamentalist Bush Regime WantsCrusade Against Islam; Bush Believes God Put Him in Oval Office (Long)
Title: FW: [globalnews] Der Spiegel: Fundamentalist Bush Regime Wants Crusade Against Islam; Bush Believes God Put Him in Oval Office (Long) Der Spiegel COVER STORY War out of compassion By attacking Baghdad, US president George W. Bush wants to fulfill a divine order. In the highly religious United States, there has rarely been such a deep connection between national power interests and fundamentalist false piety. Christian fanatics are calling for a crusade against Islam. Washington is a god-fearing city. One of the rituals at the White House is that cabinet meetings begin with a prayer. The president asks one of his cabinet secretaries to say a few words of reflection, and those in the room bow their heads, close their eyes, and fold their hands together. Old soldier Donald Rumsfeld beseeches God to curb the lust for action. A bible study group also meets regularly to discuss and interpret selected passages from the New and Old Testament. Although White House employees are not required to participate, someone is certainly taking notes on who attends and who doesn't. Devout, moral and good people populate the official headquarters of the president. Swearing is forbidden, and no one smokes or drinks. No one can work there who is unable to fulfill the unwritten criterion of no joint since college. David Frum, the president's former speechwriter, enthusiastically reports that a modern Evangelism pervades this beautiful building on Pennsylvania Avenue. George W. Bush claims that he reads the bible every day. Recently, he has been heard mentioning the strength that comes from within with conspicuously increasing frequency. I pray, he says, I pray for strength, for direction, for forgiveness. And I ask the good and generous almighty God to accept my gratitude. The more imminent the war with Iraq becomes, the more often does the president talk about his faith and his values. He believes that his actions are greatly affected by his faith. In the United States, it almost goes without saying that in times of national crisis, the president becomes a preacher, one who dispenses comfort and strength. However, this pastoral tone is gradually being used to justify policy. George W. Bush is convinced that it is God alone who has allowed him to occupy this office at this historic moment. In his prayers, says Bush, he especially prays for strength to accomplish his mission: God has called upon us to protect our country and to lead the world to peace. The White House is not just the heart and brain of today's vastly superior superpower, but has also frequently been a place of piety. Many presidents before Bush have tried to harmonize their personal faith with the United States' claim to exercise its imperial prerogative. Jimmy Carter took his Christianity so seriously that he temporarily gave preference to the gentle dissemination of human rights over a more hard-nosed policy of interests. In contrast, the less pious Ronald Reagan cloaked his efforts to disarm the competing superpower in allusions to the Bible (Evil Empire). However, George W. Bush appears to be serious about both issues: his faith in Jesus Christ and the projection of imperial power. Whenever an American president tries to link his Christianity with a desire for a new order and harmonization of spheres of interests, the Europeans respond with deep skepticism. The quintessentially American reference to a manifest destiny - the destiny of the United States to bring peace to the world through war - is not compatible with the Europeans' worldly understanding of power and politics. But anyone who fails to take seriously the role of religion in God's own country (the US' view of itself), a country whose currency bears the motto In God we trust, fails to understand America. >From the very beginning, the United States aspired to be the city on the mountain mentioned in the Bible, but so have many US presidents. America wanted to offer itself to all of humanity: as a real-life utopia and a precursor of the future heavenly Jerusalem, all at the same time. This boundless claim also dominates foreign policy. The Bush administration has found alternating justifications for war against Iraq. At first, the decisive issue was that there was a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, a claim, however, for which there was no evidence. Then regime change became an alternative end in itself, as grounds for destroying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as a means of securing the oil reserves of the Middle East against an anti-American dictator, or as a means of democratizing the entire region. Then the president argued that the Iraqis have the right to be liberated from tyranny, before finally returning to the unproven initial argument alleging collaboration between Saddam and bin Laden. >From the very beginning, the White House showed little patience to tolerate objections and acknowledge opposing views. And now the
news outside US
Allan-I know that Special Forces, both US and British, are inside Iraq, and have been for months, to scout out targets and collect intelligence. As far as I am concerned, Iraq is all about oil and control over oil in the Middle East. Iraq is only the first one. It was revealed the other day that the Western Powers have already made deals over who gets what percentage of Iraqi oil. That includes France. As you might already know, France, Germany and Russia want the UN inspectors to remain for several months. That means it is too hot to wage war by then. The US/Brits have drafted another resolution, sort of watered down version of the first 1441. Canada and two other countries have put forward another draft resolution that would "please" all. Wait another month before bombing if Iraq does not destroy all its non-existant weapons of destruciton. It has also been shown that Robert Powell's so called evidence at the UN was full of BS and untruth. "60 Minutes" sent a film crew to interview a so-called facility of mass destruction. It was simply a collection of villagers who oppose Saddam but are tolerated somewhat by the regime. They are in a very remote area of Iraq. It has also been mentioned by many retired Generals that you don't put that many troups over there if you are not going to use them. It is also noised around "Beware of the Ides or March". Michael
ADMIN: Re: Escaping the Matrix - Richard K Moore
RK - Excellent choice of a post, but, MAN, please don't ever post an attachment to BD Now! again. If you've copying from a webpage, You need to copy the text to an editor, format as necessary for email, and then send it to the list. -OR- just give the url. I do appreciate that you got this important article up on BD Now! (again) Thanks -Allan
Re: FW: [globalnews] Der Spiegel: Fundamentalist Bush RegimeWants Crusade Against Islam; Bush Believes God Put Him in Oval Office(Long)
Dan Rather has interviewed Saddam. Of course, even the network admits that their tape was reworked for more than a day to 'make certain that Saddham was translated correctly' My impression of what I read in the paper was that Saddham was going to stand his ground in the face of W's demands because he believes that the American people will not support a War of aggression. Rather apparently told him that that was not true, most people supported the President, but Saddham seemed happy to believe that goodness would intervene, or, so I understood. I dunno...
Re: FW: [globalnews] Der Spiegel: Fundamentalist Bush Regime Wants Crusade Against Islam; Bush Believes God Put Him in Oval Office (Long)
I heard yesterday that Baghdad offered to debate Washington in public but that Bush ridiculed the offer. I know why he wouldn't want to accept the offer, but I do not understand why this is an unacceptable offer! What a wonderfull idea, I'm all ears! Peter.
update
Canada's offer to have a UN-sanctioned war on Apr. 1 was rejected by Germany and US. Michael
Dan Rather interview
We saw only the last half hour of the Saddam Hussain interview. What I saw and heard didn't exactly jive with Rather's interpretation on what he'd been told. They said the regime's own interpreters, and those who were going to 'mark up' the tapes had complete control over the interview and the resulting tapes. And, that CBS's crew verified that the interpretations were 'for the most part' correct. Hussain made some interesting counterpoints. Such as, Rather's referral that 'when American troops come marching in, they'll be greeted with music and song. He said that if his country invaded the US, would we look upon the invaders with songs in our hearts? That he would hope the citizens of the United States would come forth and defend her country with everything she has, as will his own country (to an invading force.) CBS said they have complete transcripts on their website. But I couldn't get farther than the front page on CBS. However (good ol Google), when I type in CBS + Saddam Hussain, I got the Gulf News online edition. http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=78698 You get a different perspective here.
