[cia-drugs] Popular Mechanics unmasked and debunked decisively
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WULRQCgvsdE Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[cia-drugs] Book Review:: Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War, by Pepe Escobar
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20070403&articleId=5265 Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War, by Pepe Escobar Book Review by F. William Engdahl Global Research, April 3, 2007 Email this article to a friend Print this article Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War, By Pepe Escobar, Nimble Books LLC. This marvelous book by Pepe Escobar, the well-known 'Roving Eye' of Asia Times Online, ought to be placed on the desk of every member of the US Congress, as well as British Parliament members and any others who are debating placing their troops in far-flung remote areas of the world to 'make the world safe for Globalistan.' Escobar is at his inimitable best in his personal narratives, with his keen eye for the absurdities of the globalizing world, the contrast between obscenely wealthy and dirt poor. It is no simple description, however. He has not merely gone to Iraq or Afghanistan as a journalist embedded in to a NATO fighting unit to report the filtered perceptions allowed reporters in this bizarre new form of controlled journalism. Escobar gets out of the jeep, wanders off the beaten paths, into the villages, talks with the rich, the poor, the young, the old, the scholars, the tradesmen. The result is in the best tradition of a Peter Schall-Latour or John Gunther, the famous political traveler of the 1940's. Yet this book should not be mistaken for a travelogue through the mysterious regions of Eurasia or Latin America. It is a rich, political history of our time. Escobar manages to capture the absurd element of what he appropriately names 'Jihad Inc' as a Made in America phenomenon emerging from the ill-considered experiment in the early 1980's by a part of US intelligence to unleash the force of Islamic believers against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan: "Jihad Inc is an American invention, along with associate executive directors Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. It was a US strategy in USSR-invaded Afgjhanistan in the 1980's-'Let's launch one billion Muslims against the Evil Empire!-that catapulted jihad to the forefront of political Islam. Zia ul-Haq, the Pakistani dictator, supported by billions of dollars, could not pass up the opportunity to launch a true, pan-Islamic jihad against Russian infidels. Wahabi Saudi Arabia also jumped at the golden opportunity to spread its rigid interpretation of Islam. In 1985 Ronald Reagan described the Afghan jihadis visiting him at the White House as the 'moral equivalent of America's founding fathers.' Even at the time Whitney Houston-fan Osama bin Laden would frown if landed in the same corner of lower Paradise in the company of Thomas Jefferson. The Looney Tunes element of it all is deliriously funny-if it was not tragic. First the US pitted political Islam against communism. Then communism died. Now it's the US against political Islam. A historical 'what if' perfectly allows us to think that were the Cold War still on, everyone would still be watching the same movie." (p.92). The writer manages to mix his unique wealth of personal experiences as a global journalist talking, listening, observing, with that of a serious student of culture and history. Another brief excerpt is useful: "But then, around mid-2004, Islamic scholars from Morocco to Malaysia started to finally legitimize al Qaeda as a Muqadamaul Jaish-in fact a revolutionary vanguard. This totally Western concept was absolutely unheard of in Islam-well, at least until the symbolically-charged spring of 2003 when Baghdad was 'liberated' by George W. Bush's Christian armies. The concept of revolutionary vanguard simply does not exist in Islam. Before Hezbollah surged to the fore in the summer of 2006, al Qaeda's internationalism might conceive of merging with some radical strands of the only other global protest movement: the alter-globalization, anti-imperlialism brigade.As much as al Qaeda's only strategic goal is trapping the US, Washington helped al Qaeda by trapping itself in Iraq and in still another, dangerous form of hubris, George W. Bush's Greater Middle East." (pp.100-101). What is most compelling is the unpretentious manner in which Pepe Escobar sifts through the incredibly complex historically-rooted strands of Islamic history and political geography to clarify the implications of the historical fault-line cutting through Islam, that between Shiite and Sunni and all its manifold complexities. It makes starkly clear how Washington and the pro-war Pentagon hawks are playing with a fire that has the potential to ignite a conflagration not even the Pentagon's Smart Bombs, Full Spectrum Dominance, Net-Centric warfare methods, its Revolution in Military Affairs, laser-guided bombs or deadly chemical weapons would be able t
[cia-drugs] Fwd: The Mother of All "Benchmarks" for Iraqi Government
Begin forwarded message: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: April 2, 2007 12:21:13 PM PDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Mother of All "Benchmarks" for Iraqi Government GEORGE BUSH’S Supplemental Funding LAND MINE: IF THE IRAQI PEOPLE AGREE TO 'REVENUE SHARING,' THEY LOSE THEIR OIL TO EXXON by Richard Behan CommonDreams, March 30, 2007 http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/30/201/ George Bush has a land mine planted in the supplemental appropriation legislation working its way through Congress. The Iraq Accountability Act passed by the House and the companion bill passed in the Senate contain deadlines for withdrawing our troops from Iraq, in open defiance of the President’s repeated objections. He threatens a veto, but he might well be bluffing. Buried deep in the legislation and intentionally obscured is a near-guarantee of success for the Bush Administration’s true objective of the war- capturing Iraq’s oil-and George Bush will not casually forego that. This bizarre circumstance is the end-game of the brilliant, ever- deceitful maneuvering by the Bush Administration in conducting the entire scenario of the “global war on terror.” The supplemental appropriation package requires the Iraqi government to meet a series of “benchmarks” President Bush established in his speech to the nation on January 10 (in which he made his case for the “surge”). Most of Mr. Bush’s benchmarks are designed to blame the victim, forcing the Iraqis to solve the problems George Bush himself created. One of the President’s benchmarks, however, stands apart. This is how the President described it: “To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country’s economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis.” A seemingly decent, even noble concession. That’s all Mr. Bush said about that benchmark, but his brevity was gravely misleading, and it had to be intentional. The Iraqi Parliament has before it today, in fact, a bill called the hydrocarbon law, and it does call for revenue sharing among Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. For President Bush, this is a must-have law, and it is the only “benchmark” that truly matters to his Administration. Yes, revenue sharing is there-essentially in fine print, essentially trivial. The bill is long and complex, it has been years in the making, and its primary purpose is transformational in scope: a radical and wholesale reconstruction-virtual privatization- of the currently nationalized Iraqi oil industry. If passed, the law will make available to Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/ Texaco, BP/Amoco, and Royal Dutch/Shell about 4/5’s of the stupendous petroleum reserves in Iraq. That is the wretched goal of the Bush Administration, and in his speech setting the revenue- sharing “benchmark” Mr. Bush consciously avoided any hint of it. The legislation pending now in Washington requires the President to certify to Congress by next October that the benchmarks have been met-specifically that the Iraqi hydrocarbon law has been passed. That’s the land mine: he will certify the American and British oil companies have access to Iraqi oil. This is not likely what Congress intended, but it is precisely what Mr. Bush has sought for the better part of six years. It is why we went to war. For years President Bush has cloaked his intentions behind the fabricated “Global War on Terrorism.” It has long been suspected that oil drove the wars, but dozens of skilled and determined writers have documented it. It is no longer a matter of suspicion, nor is it speculation now: it is sordid fact. (See a brief summary of the story at http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/47489/ . ) Planning for the two wars was underway almost immediately upon the Bush Administration taking office–at least six months before September 11, 2001. The wars had nothing to do with terrorism. Terrorism was initially rejected by the new Administration as unworthy of national concern and public policy, but 9/11 gave them a conveniently timed and spectacular alibi to undertake the wars. Quickly inventing a catchy “global war on terror” theme, the Administration disguised the true nature of the wars very cleverly, and with enduring success. The “global war on terror” is bogus. The prime terrorist in Afghanistan and the architect of 9/11, Osama bin Laden, was never apprehended, and the President’s subsequent indifference is a matter of record. And Iraq harbored no terrorists at all. But both countries were invaded, both countries suffer military occupation today, both are dotted with permanent U.S. military bases protecting the hydrocarbon assets, and both have been provided with puppet governments. And a billion dollar embassy in Baghdad is under construction now. It will be the largest U.S. embassy in the world by a factor of ten. (To see it, go to http://www.globalrese
[cia-drugs] Fwd: Dubya Thinks He's Don Corleone, but Being Dyslexic, He's "The DOGFATHER"
Begin forwarded message: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: April 2, 2007 12:29:23 PM PDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Dubya Thinks He's Don Corleone, but Being Dyslexic, He's "The DOGFATHER" CENTRAL CASTING CALL FOR "THE GODFATHER IV" – BUSH CRIME FAMILY LINES UP BuzzFlash, 03/23/2007 - 4:20pm http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/194 At BuzzFlash we believe that framing and defining the "other guy" is a winning strategy in politics. It's necessary to create frames that citizens will instinctively understand if they have a typical American cultural frame of reference. That's why we've described the Bushies in terms of a crime family for years. There are just too many parallels to overlook -- arrogance, disregard for the law, brute application of power, and a loyalty first mentality. That's why we're pleased to report that the idea that Bush and his friends have been running the show out of Washington like Vito Corelone ran his mob operation in New York City has spread like wildfire. From the New York Times editorial page, to Toledo Blade Op-Ed columnist Ann McFeatters, to Sidney Blumenthal at Salon.com and Jorge Mariscal at Capitol Hill Blue online -- heck, even Senator Chuck Schumer and Argentine President Hugo Chavez have picked up on this -- opinion makers and reporters alike are comparing George W. Bush's administration to a Syndicate. Ironically, "W" himself has helped feed this frame by nicknaming his long-time attorney pal and (at least for the time being) U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales "Fredo." Of course, we think it's great that President Bush recognizes the Godfather analogy to his own inner circle. Too bad, though, that he can't remember clearly (or think clearly) about who's who in the Mario Puzo/Francis Ford Coppola epic saga. Bush probably isn't that strong on analogies, in general. Yet his instincts tell him there's some kind of link there. As to the casting decisions, we favor Cheney (but perhaps, at one time, Bush 1), to win the Godfather part. Jeb has the edge for playing Michael Corleone - even though only time will tell whether he'll rise to the top job. "W" himself can be viewed alternately as either of the remaining brothers -- Sonny, the hothead, or Fredo, the lightweight. Here's how Wikipedia describes Fredo: "Fredo was always thought of in the Corleone crime Family as the weakest and most foolish of the three Corleone brothers, and so was given its unimportant businesses to run. ... Fredo betrayed Michael ... In popular culture, Fredo has become representative of the "weak link" of an organization. Referring to someone as "Fredo" indicates that the person is not competent enough to be trusted with important tasks or knowledge. ..." Although, "W, " due to his narcissistic personality, probably would see himself as the Don. Finally, and indisputably, Alberto Gonzales reprises the role played by the great Robert Duvall -- that of the Consigliere, or crime family attorney. He's the outsider who made it to the inside, the legal guy who can be depended upon to put the family first, the man who knows how to keep his patrons out of jail. Let's hope that this time, in the real world, the Consigliere himself goes down -- bringing all the rest with him. The Failed Attorney General (NY Times/Int'l Herald Tribune) Whether he likes it or not, Bush may have to cut 'Fredo' loose (Ann McFeatters/Toledo Blade) What Bush is hiding (Sidney Blumenthal/Salon.com); or, The Godfather White House (The Guardian) Godfather Govt.: A Way Of Life Is Not A Scandal (Carolyn Baker/ Scoop.co.nz) Full cast and crew for The Godfather (IMDB) Hugo Chavez Calls for Protests of 'Godfather' Bush (NewsMax) Gonzales Should Be Fired (Captol Hill Blue) When Loyalty Is Not a Virtue: A Glimpse into Bush's Amoral World (OpEd News) Schumer Calls for Alberto "Consiglieri" Gonzales to Resign. What About Godfather Dick Cheney and His Son Fredo George W. Bush? (BuzzFlash/Yahoo) Senator Schumer: "To paraphrase 'The Godfather,' the White House made us an offer we can't accept." (The Western Courier) COMMENTS: IF WE ALLOW Submitted by Gonnuts on Mon, 03/26/2007 - 10:06am. If we allow this administration to get away without being criminally indicted for the many crimes they have committed we can hang it up as a nation. The president that would set would mean any future administration will have a green light to do whatever they wished if no one in this administration is held accountable. The RICO Act would be perfect to use against this gang of thugs. The Hague would be even better. I don't care how it's achieved, just get it done or kiss this country good-bye. I will, if they let them off the hook, renounce my citizenship and move to Canada. SOONER OR LATER... Submitted by marlow on Fri, 03/23/2007 - 9:47pm. Co
[cia-drugs] [IN REVIEW] April, 3, '07, Ron Paul
This is just a random sample of what Ron Paul has to offer. OH, MY GOD... what a wonderful President he will make. Watch this Ron Paul, Bill Maher video and start collecting Ron Paul video clips. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKzq9c9v8v4 Ron Paul on MSNBC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uem3OIp6kzU Also, he writes like a founding father, in spirit. http://www.house.gov/paul/ Ron Paul has my vote. http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ FREEDOM TO FASCISM producer, Aaron Russo Announces Full Support Of Ron Paul http://www.rense.com/general75/arrp.htm Ron Neil http://www.onedollardvdproject.com ~~~ There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are: 1. Freedom of the person. Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear. 2. Freedom of the mind. Unless a free people are educated--taught to think intelligently and plan wisely--freedom usually does more harm than good. 3. The reign of law. Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law. 4. Freedom of speech. Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions. 5. Security of property. No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal property. 6. The right of petition. Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship. 7. The right to rule. It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual management of the government. 8. Universal suffrage. Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped, and otherwise differentiated. 9. Control of public servants. No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public servants. 10. Intelligent and trained representation. The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved. >From the Urantia Book.
[cia-drugs] --
Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python http://www.terry-jones.net http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2047110,00.html -- Call that Humiliation? - No hoods. - No electric shocks. - No beatings. - These Iranians clearly are a very Uncivilised Bunch Terry Jones Saturday March 31, 2007 The Guardian I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world - have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake, what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe. Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are. It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't be humiliated. And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilised world: they should allow their captives the Privacy of Solitary Confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its captives in Guantánamo Bay. The true mark of a civilised country is that - it doesn't rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. (How Uncivilised?) The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost 5 years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras! What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions", which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to stand on the balls of their feet & then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will confess to anything to get out of it. And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed". What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her "unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals, they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can see exactly what has been going on. As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and western values to the country, as he has in Iraq. Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python www.terry-jones.net = -The Real Question is: Which AIPAC Zionist Approved & Controlled Candidate - are We Allowed to Choose from? = Dysfunctional Bush Bumperstickers: Support the BUSH - 30% MAJORITY! or 97% of Sunnis and 66% of Shias Want U.S. to Stay!
[cia-drugs] --
http://tvnewslies.org/html/spy_on_skull___bones_.html You Approve of Domestic Spying? Then Start With Skull & Bones! A TvNewsLIES Proposal - Lets get it straight, you actually believe that the government has the right to spy at will. You really think theres nothing wrong with listening in on domestic phone conversations or intercepting personal e-mail or cell calls. You really have no qualms about bypassing the courts and warrants to spy on Americans who might have expressed opposition to the invasion of a militarily castrated nation? You bought into the idea that secret government spying will keep Americans safe. And you have no problem with spying on grass roots peace organizations whose members walk around with signs demanding a safer and friendlier world? All right then, if spying is the way to go, why not snoop in the right places? Do secret societies and organizations with great power and hidden agendas make you at all nervous? How do you feel about covert private groups that wield enormous power, if not direct control, over your own political system and on governments around the world? If you dont believe they really exist, how about using your super spy technology to see if youre right, or if just if - youre absolutely and frighteningly wrong. Heck, if youre going to spy, why not go after the bad guys. Heres an idea: a new Cabinet Department: the DDGI the Department of Domestic Good Intentions. Lets set up a branch of government to investigate spy on, if you will the secret organizations whose agendas are never allowed to be exposed, and whose meetings are held behind closed doors with no media coverage whatsoever. The DDGI could be charged with discovering whether these groups \secretly formulate policies or illegally usurp powers constitutionally reserved for elected representatives of the people. If you dont think thats happening, why not be certain? These folks are far more of a threat than the people being spied on right now. Go for it. Face it you walk around claiming that 9/11 changed everything! Youre prepared to tread on some very precious constitutional guarantees so that the nation can be safe. Okay, lets play along with that for the moment. If you buy into the spying game, answer this: Should secret organizations be exempt from the changes you say were brought on by 9/11? To follow your line of thinking, lets go one step further: What if Al Qaeda is smart enough to figure that out? What Al Qaeda realizes that peace organizations are under the watchful eyes of our government yet secret societies are not? What if they are using the cover of organizations such the Skull & Bones organization to plan the next 9/11? What nonsense, right? But are you absolutely sure? Do you have a single clue about the activities of Skull & Bones and other secret societies? They may very well be doing things that are much more dangerous than any terrorist organization on your watch list. Are you ready to find out what that might be? You should be. All right, then get that Department set up to do some productive spying. First move is to check out all the organizations that have operated in complete secrecy so we can all rest assured they are not fronts for terror organizations. In fact, you never know what might be uncovered; they might be doing things that are far worse. You can start with a thorough surveillance of Skull & Bones. Then you can mosey on down and spy on the lodges of the Freemasons. After that you can install hidden cameras and microphones at the next meeting of the Bilderberg group. And lets not stop there...lets continue on and take a peek behind the insanity that takes place at BOHEMIAN GROVE! Damn it, if youre going to spy, go after the big fish; the ones who have hidden their agendas so expertly all these years. Once youve thoroughly checked out these guarded cabals, your next project must include the clandestine agendas of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Both of these groups are cleverly disguised as reputable institutions concerned with public and international policy. We hear these names all the time. Members of these groups are everywhere. They can be found in all branches of our government, including the executive. They are in the media. They are members of many other political think tanks. But we know almost nothing about them: who they are, who pays their salaries, where they get their money and why they have such close ties with our elected officials! Get on it. If spying is the way to go, get those wiretaps and bugs away from the ad
[cia-drugs] Proof of US orchestration of Death Squads Killings in Iraq
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? context=viewArticle&code=20070314&articleId=5081 Silence of the Lambs? Proof of US orchestration of Death Squads Killings in Iraq A Cry to Raise Our Voices! by Max Fuller Global Research, March 14, 2007 Email this article to a friend Print this article Testimony of Iraqi torture victim confirms the presence of US personnel at the infamous Jadiriyah bunker Probably everyone remembers the discovery of the Jadiriyah detention facility in November 2005. US troops were reported to have uncovered the prison in their hunt for a missing person, only to discover some 170 detainees in horrific conditions, many of them clearly the victims of obscene tortures. Although it was admitted that the facility belonged to the interior ministry and that the detainees were held by a secretive interior ministry force known as the Special Investigations Unit, the story was quickly shuffled away as yet another example of the work of Shiite militiamen, in this instance, as was the vogue at that time, the Badr Brigade[i]. Myriad promises were forthcoming both from the US and Iraqi governments that investigations would be rapidly carried out and better supervision would in future be applied to Iraqi-run detention facilities (for instance the Iraqi government assured the world that a ministerial level investigation would rapidly be carried out, while US officials promised a legal team to go through the detainees' files and a US embassy spokesman stated that Justice Department and FBI officers would provide technical assistance). Of course, given the scale of the abuse (flayings, burnings, drillings etc) and the proximity of the perpetrators to the Iraqi government (by dint of working for the Interior Ministry as well as by any possible Badr-SCIRI links) and to the US occupation which had, after all, established them (as numerous reports have amply documented, eg Knight Ridder, 9 May 2005), such investigations were grossly less than what was urgently required a full and public criminal investigation by independent international agencies. In the event, even these limited promises came to nothing, as the UN Human Rights Office in Iraq recently highlighted. What we have actually seen is neither investigation nor prosecutions, despite the fact that Jadiriyah lies at the heart of the state of fear that Iraq undeniably now is. In October last year I had the privilege to interview one of the victims of that terrible abuse, the distinguished former Professor of Pedagogy at Baghdad University Tareq Samarree, who had been seized from his home in March 2005 by plain-clothed interior ministry personnel without charge. Professor Samarree, who provided a horrific first-hand account of the torture that he had suffered as well as details of others who had died and of the disappearance of his son within the Iraqi detention system, never had sight of any hint of judicial process nor any access to the outside world. What made Professor Samarree's story most striking were the details of his release. Professor Samarree's physical condition was so bad when the American soldiers discovered the facility that he, along with around a dozen other detainees, was instantly taken to a local hospital. Here, he and his companions remained without access to lawyers, journalists, officials or even a telephone. In fact, it quickly became clear that these victims of torture were to be returned to Iraqi detention. Professor Samarree, another of whose sons lives in the United States, was fortunate to be able to persuade an American solider to take pity on him and assist him and two of his companions to escape. The last words the soldier said to Professor Samarree were `Run, run. Don't look back!' Within days Professor Samarree had arranged for himself and his family to flee the country. He is now in Europe, where he is claiming political asylum. The full details of Professor Samarree's story and a detailed account of the US-built Iraqi intelligence apparatus are contained in the article Ghosts of Jadiriyah, published by the BRussells Tribunal. It should be noted that the story was offered on the one- year anniversary of discovery of the Jadiryah facility to a range of mainstream media publications, including New Yorker, New Statesman, the Independent, The Big Issue, as well as to the radical left publication Z Mag. Of them all, only the New Statesmen and Z Mag were courteous enough even to reply to affirm their rejection. It seemed that Professor Samarree's remarkable story and any further interest in Jadiriyah were simply off the agenda. But Jadiriyah, with its ghosts and its horror, will not go away. On 7 February 2007 another former inmate from Jadiriyah, Abbas Z Abid, presented his sworn testimony at the international peace conference in Kuala Lumpur. Like Professor Samarree's, his description of the torture that he and
