Hello Tom >Hello All, > >I think far too many people get their information from the boob >tube. Very few people begin their discussion of the current war in >Iraq with its starting point at around 1980.
Or 1920? >I have talked with more than a few of my countrymen and many still >think this is a war caused by Saddam Hussein¬¥s insane attempt to >use WMD¬¥s against us and his links with international terror. Where >did they get these ideas? I believe television mostly or one of the >corporate media outlets. If the only news one gets is from these >sources you cannot help from beingĶĶ. well brainwashed. I really >wish there was another word for it. Misinformed is too weak. Misled is stronger, disinformed stronger still, lied to stronger yet, but none of that explains the denial and conscious rejection with which they so often defend the lies they've been fed. So "brainwashed" it has to be. I think you're forgetting a major source of it though. As well as from FauxTV, millions of them get it from the pulpit - God told them. And if you disagree you must therefore be a creature of the Devil. Of course Boy George gets it direct from God on his personal hotline. We've had lots about this before. Here's some more: 'Interview with Kevin Phillips, longtime Republican strategist and author of several books. His newest work, "American Theocracy," comes out today. A review in Sunday's New York Times said the book may be "the most alarming analysis of where we are and where we may be going to have appeared in many years."' http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/21/1418243 Democracy Now! | Interview - Former GOP Strategist Kevin Phillips on American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century There's also this, just in from US historian Howard Zinn: "Now that most Americans no longer believe in the war, now that they no longer trust Bush and his Administration, now that the evidence of deception has become overwhelming (so overwhelming that even the major media, always late, have begun to register indignation), we might ask: How come so many people were so easily fooled? "... It seems to me there are two reasons, which go deep into our national culture, and which help explain the vulnerability of the press and of the citizenry to outrageous lies whose consequences bring death to tens of thousands of people. If we can understand those reasons, we can guard ourselves better against being deceived. "One is in the dimension of time, that is, an absence of historical perspective. The other is in the dimension of space, that is, an inability to think outside the boundaries of nationalism. We are penned in by the arrogant idea that this country is the center of the universe, exceptionally virtuous, admirable, superior. "If we don't know history, then we are ready meat for carnivorous politicians and the intellectuals and journalists who supply the carving knives..." -- America's Blinders by Howard Zinn Published on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 by the Progressive http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0321-20.htm From Tom Feeley's offerings for the day: They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening : George Orwell The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them: George Orwell Best Keith >How else can it be explained that I and my people accepted a >pre-emptive war? Think about that concept. The greatest military >power in the world is going to attack you because at some time in >the future you may be a threat to us. New York and Washington were >not attacked by Iraq but because Saddam isn¬¥t a nice guy and may >have thought about such attacks let¬¥s go kill him. > >Insane, ridiculous, oversimplified, definitely and yet we swallowed >it hook, line and sinker. How else other than being brainwashed can >it be explained? StupidityĶ..no, there are plenty of smart >Americans. LazinessĶ.no, Americans work like ants. Correct me if >I¬¥m wrong but the concept of working 24/7 comes from the American >lexicon. Perhaps that¬¥s part of the brainwashing, too. But I >digress. If > >pre-emptive war is your moral starting point all of the other war >crimes follow in its path. When we Americans did not stand up and >say no to pre-emptive war there can be no blaming of soldiers for >acts of atrocity. The huge atrocity has already been permitted by a > > ¬® free society ¬®. How can anyone blame young soldiers in a war >zone for their actions. They are merely the minor reflection of the >crimes we have already committed. Get our children out of harms way >now! Not next year or 5 months from now but now. Begin this week. We >shouldn¬¥t have gone there. It was wrong! Just get out completely. >No bases, no carrier strike force, no submarine launched cruise >missles. Anything else is just a mistake. Any force left behind will >be abused. Get out now, get out quickly and beg for forgiveness >cause we have certainly done incredible harm. > > > >Tom > > > > > >From: regina abbott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >Sent: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:18:03 -0300 >Subject: Re: [Biofuel] [off topic]US marines 'massscred Iraqi civilians' > >Hello Keith > This is E in Montana. All of these things you cite about possible >atrocities are disgusting and regrettable like most everything else >in war. But what about the soldiers? As in Vietnam the people they >are there to protect are also trying to kill them. By the way the E >stands for ED, my wife and I shared an email address when we joined >the list. I spent 14 months in Vietnam in the Marines. I think that >qualifies me to know how a lot of these guys feel. It is no fun to >spend every day waiting for a sniper bullet to end your life or to >have it ended by a bomb planted by say a 3 year old child. It does >something to you! It does something to you to be a "survivor" . You >never forget the ones that died and those that wish they had. And >they, like us from Vietnam, get to live with the "FACT" that it was >all over the money grabbing corrupt politicians. You try to remember >that you served your country not the thieves running it. >Also my previous post was meant to have very little to dowith this >one. It was meant for the many anti-American remarks made in >previous weeks. Before you condemn a soldier, try to >put yourself in his shoes. You may find some grace for him. I >am not condoning murder. > >P.S. Don't knock our country. Do as you wish with our corrupt >politicians!!! > >From: Keith Addison ><<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: <mailto:Biofuel@sustainablelists.org>Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >To: <mailto:Biofuel@sustainablelists.org>Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >Subject: Re: [Biofuel] [off topic]US marines 'massscred Iraqi civilians' >Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:37:29 +0900 > >A link: > > > ><http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2090849,00.html>http: >//www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2090849,00.html > >US Marines investigated for Iraq war crimes - World - Times Online > >March 17, 2006 > >By Jenny Booth and agencies > >About a dozen US Marines are being investigated for possible war > >crimes after the deaths last year of 15 Iraqi civilians caught in the > >crossfire during a gun battle with insurgents. > > > >Also: > > > ><http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12379.htm>http://infor >mationclearinghouse.info/article12379.htm > >US raid on home killed 11 family members > >By Amer Amery > >03/16/06 - TIKRIT, Iraq, March 15 (Reuters) - Eleven members of an > >Iraqi family were killed in a U.S. raid on Wednesday, police and > >witnesses said. The U.S. military said two women and a child died > >during the bid to seize an al Qaeda militant from a house. A senior > >Iraqi police officer said autopsies on the bodies, which included > >five children, showed each had been shot in the head. Community > >leaders said they were outraged at the killings and demanded an > >explanation from the U.S. military. ... > > > ><http://snipurl.com/nwz2>http://snipurl.com/nwz2 > >Telegraph | News | SAS soldier quits Army in disgust at 'illegal' > >American tactics in Iraq > >SAS soldier quits Army in disgust at 'illegal' American tactics in Iraq > >By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent > >(Filed: 12/03/2006) > >An SAS soldier has refused to fight in Iraq and has left the Army > >over the "illegal" tactics of United States troops and the policies > >of coalition forces. After three months in Baghdad, Ben Griffin told > >his commander that he was no longer prepared to fight alongside > >American forces. > > > ><http://eatthestate.org/10-14/ConquerDivide.htm>http://eatthestate. >org/10-14/ConquerDivide.htm > >Conquer and Divide (March 16, 2006) > >The 48-page "Beyond Abu-Ghraib: Detention and Torture in Iraq" was > >virtually ignored by US media, and that's a shame. Its findings, > >based on extensive interviews with (among others) Iraq's prisoners, > >former prisoners, and their families, directly implicate Washington > >in <I>current</I> human rights abuses, and go a long way toward > >explaining why a continuing US troop presence in Iraq, far from > >keeping a lid on civil war, is actually making the violence, > >sectarian and otherwise, far worse. > > > ><http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde140012006>http://web.am >nesty.org/library/index/engmde140012006 > >Iraq: Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq - Amnesty >International > >6 March 2006 > >According to Amnesty International, the US-led occupation forces > >continue to use torture in Iraq. The US and UK have ignored their > >obligations under international law and have "attached insufficient > >weight to human rights considerations." Iraqi detainees are held > >without trial or sentence, and Iraqi authorities have continued a > >pattern initiated by the US in systematically violating detainees' > >rights. > > > ><http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/33768/>http://www.alternet.org/w >aroniraq/33768/ > >Chaos Accomplished > >By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted March 20, 2006. > >Three years after the U.S. invasion, a snapshot of Iraq reveals a > >country that is miles from anything resembling a 'road to progress.' > > > ><http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/33771/>http://www.alternet.org/w >aroniraq/33771/ > >Welcome to Liberated Iraq > >By Entesar Mohammad Ariabi, AlterNet. Posted March 20, 2006. > > From a physician's viewpoint, liberation means rising infant > >mortality, critical shortages of medicines, terrorized doctors and > >the return of diseases once under control. > >Editor's Note: The following are the remarks of Dr. Entissar Mohammad > >Ariabi, a pharmacist from Yarmook Hospital who is part of an Iraqi > >women's delegation touring the U.S., organized by CODEPINK and Global > >Exchange. She spoke on March 18 in West Palm Beach, Florida. > > > >Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War? As Many As 250,000 > ><http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11674.htm>http://w >ww.informationclearinghouse.info/article11674.htm > > > >Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially > >acknowledged) In Bush's War 2318 > ><http://icasualties.org/oif/>http://icasualties.org/oif/ > > > >The War in Iraq Costs > >$248,822,016,155 > >See the cost in your community > ><http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid= >182>http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid= >182 > > > >'Iraq was awash in cash. We played football with bricks of $100 bills' > >At the beginning of the Iraq war, the UN entrusted $23bn of Iraqi > >money to the US-led coalition to redevelop the country. With the > >infrastructure of the country still in ruins, where has all that > >money gone? Callum Macrae and Ali Fadhil on one of the greatest > >financial scandals of all time > >Monday March 20, 2006 > ><http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1734689,00.html>http://www.g >uardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1734689,00.html > > > >And so on. > > > >Keith > > > > > > >US marines 'massscred Iraqi civilians' Tuesday March > > >21, 09:11 AM > > >Click to enlarge photo > > > > > > > > > > > >A US magazine has released a video it claims shows a > > >civilian massacre by American marines in Iraq. > > > > > >The incident, which happened last November in the town > > >of Haditha, was captured by a journalism student, Time > > >Magazine says. > > > > > >The graphic footage shows heavily bloodstained rooms, > > >and bodies of the alleged victims wrapped in rugs at > > >the house and in the local morgue. > > > > > >Residents in the Iraqi town claim the incident > > >happened shortly after a roadside bomb killed a US > > >Marine in a western Iraqi town last year. > > > > > >US forces went into nearby houses and shot dead 15 > > >members of two families, including a three > > >year-old-girl, residents said. > > > > > >"American troops immediately cordoned the area and > > >raided two nearby houses, shooting at everyone > > >inside," said a witness. "It was a massacre in every > > >sense of the word." > > > > > >Time said the available evidence did not provide > > >conclusive proof that the Marines deliberately killed > > >innocent civilians. > > > > > >The US Military, after being presented with evidence > > >in January, concluded that civilians were killed by > > >Marines, Time said, victims of "collateral damage" > > >rather than deliberate murder. > > > > > >Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the number-two US > > >commander in Iraq, said about 12 Marines were under > > >investigation for possible war crimes in the incident. > > >He said the case was referred to the Naval Criminal > > >Investigative Service. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
