The Guerrilla Campaign

By Joseph L. Galloway McClatchy Newspapers Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/31672.html This week, the Iraq war claimed its 4,000th American killed in action, but that sad and tragic milestone came as the war seems to have slipped off the evening news, off the front pages and from the minds of the American people. I suppose this benign neglect of so important and damaging an event is combat fatigue on the part of the public. No doubt the White House is happy to see Iraq shoved to a back burner, just as all three presidential candidates are relieved to talk about something else, anything else, but their half-baked ideas about the war. Shame on them, and shame on us, for such callous indifference to the service, sacrifice and suffering of the families of the dead, wounded and injured troops who’ve given so much for so little in return. Vice President Cheney again stuck both feet in his mouth by saying and then repeating that we should remember...

By Sheila Samples 3/24/08 Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number. Shake your chains to earth, like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you-- Ye are many, they are few. - Percy Bysshe Shelley My friend Bernie says he can't believe the American people haven't figured out what it's all about. "The whole damn political scene is nothing but a corporate media freak show," he said. "There's no breathing room between elections -- no time nor interest in investigating, or even addressing, issues that are critical to our survival as a nation. The minute every last dollar is sucked out of the competition, the candidate who bought the most attack ads -- the most face time -- wins, and the election is over. Then," Bernie said with disgust, "it's time to start raising money for the next election, because the media is already out there campaigning." "I hadn't thought of it that way," I said. "But, surely electing a pre...

- by Stephen Lendman 3/24/08 Sami Al-Arian is a political prisoner in Police State America. This article reviews his case briefly and updates it to the present. Because of his faith, ethnicity and political activism, the Bush administration targeted Al-Arian for supporting "terrorism." In fact, he's a Palestinian refugee, distinguished professor and scholar, community leader and civil activist. Nonetheless, the FBI harassed him for 11 years, arrested him on February 20, 2003, and falsely accused him of backing organizations fronting for Palestinian Islamic Jihad - a 1997 State Department-designated "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)." A week later, in spite of his many awards, impeccable credentials and tenured status, University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft fired him under right wing pressure. Since February 20, 2003, Al-Arian has been imprisoned - first at Tampa, Florida's Orient Road jail, then on to more than a dozen different maximum an...

John Mccain: Biggest Fag In War History By Vlad Kalashnikov 22.03.2008 http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=17922&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1 I recently became a private scholar of The Decline And Fall of The American Empire. I use the famous Gibbon title very sarcastically, because a specialist like me knows what a historical obscenity it is comparing a laughable Chinese-sweatshop-manufactured American Empire, that lasted only from say 1991 until 2004, to the great 500-year-long Roman Empire (or Russian Empire, or many great empires, a class where Americans don’t belong). History will not even remember this laughable American empire, which today disappears before our eyes. Actually today’s American Empire collapse happens so fast, it is like that construction crane in New York City that just collapsed into another building last week, because dumbfuck Americans don’t even know how to build cranes these days. For me as outsider scholar coolly observing this process, what ...

by Mary Pitt 3/19/08 The speech by Barrack Obama was expected to be about race. It turned out to be much, much more than that, regardless of what you would learn from the evening news. Of course, we know that the evening news and the "pundits" that you will find there always go for the more sensational aspects of any story, looking only at the surface without any effort to look for deeper meanings. While they rail that Obama did not denounce his pastor or get up in the middle of the sermon and walk out the door at some of the pastor's "inflammatory" statements, a bit of thought will cause you to wonder if they are not asking a bit too much. Or perhaps that is the reason so many churches are empty on Sunday morning, leaving the preacher shouting at the empty rafters. On the other hand, if you really listened to the words of the man, a different perspective would emerge. He spoke not only about being a black man running for the American presidency but about a back...

We have a F--- Constitutional Crisis! by Larisa Alexandrovna on March 07, 2008 http://www.atlargely.com/2008/03/we-have-a-f---.html This is called an impeachable offense , another one - one of many ignored by Congress: "President Bush quietly has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant. Bush asserted the new authority Dec. 20 after signing legislation that overhauls some postal regulations. He then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it." I just want Congress to collectively answer two questions: Is the president above the law? Or is it that only George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are above the law? Just think of this as a civics lesson and try to explain your reasons for violating your oath of office, turning your back on the Constitution and country alike...

- by Stephen Lendman 3/3/08 […] On March 1, Hamas reported that Israelis killed 91 Palestinians in February, 83 in Gaza and eight in West Bank, and the killing continues to escalate. The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) said eyewitnesses confirmed that IDF troops and tanks invaded Jabalyia (in Gaza) before dawn on Saturday. They targeted the refugee camp, struck at resident homes, attacked medical relief workers, fired missiles at cars and in residential areas, and killed at least 37 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and injured 120 others by midday. IMEMC later on Saturday raised the toll to 56 dead and updated it again Sunday AM to 98 as IDF forces continued rampaging without letup. Haaretz first reported 34 deaths on Saturday, including five children and three women. Later in the day, it upped the total to 50, then 59 and by Sunday noon the total known killed was "more than 70." AP first indicated 33 deaths, then raised it to 45, then 50 late in the day and 66 ...

by Mary Pitt 3/1/08 When I first heard the stories that have been circulating as to whether John McCain is eligible for the presidency due to not having been born on "American soil", it seemed to be a bit of a tempest in a teapot. Of course, Senator McCain is as American as anybody! His father was a military officer in the service of his country when the good senator was born at a Panama military base. But, if we expand on that thought of precisely what constitutes the national territory and, thus, the jurisdiction of the American legal system, it gives rise to other considerations. At the beginning of the Afghanistan conflict, there arose the problem of how and where to confine those who were taken prisoner. The administration did not want to bring them to the United States and thus allow them the protections of the Constitution by treating them as common criminals. Therefore, they were taken to our military base at Guantanamo, Cuba, in which case it would be "legal...

The most heinous crime of the new millennium 5/25/2003 By Lisa Walsh Thomas Online Journal Contributing Writer "We have satellite photos that indicate that banned materials have recently been moved from a number of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction facilities. There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." —Colin Powell on February 6, speaking to the UN Security Council, demanding their support for the invasion of Iraq May 23, 2003—The greatest crime? Tall order, even if the millenium isn't three years old yet, because the new leaders of this country have had a running start since before the new millenium bells started ringing. The long line at the rear is ready to give the honor to George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and others on the payroll to paralyze American hearts with fear of being nuked by Iraq (or whomever) so that Johnny could go marching off to war and see that dollars instead ...

- by Stephen Lendman 2/25/08 On February 18, at 5:30PM in Havana an era ended when Fidel Castro's written statement announced it. It was read on early Tuesday morning radio and television and reprinted in the Cuban newspaper Granma as follows: "....I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief....it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer....Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others....who learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution. The path will always be difficult....We should always be prepared for the worst....The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.... I was able to recover the full...

by Mary Pitt 2/23/08 In the midst of all the partisan politicking that is going on, it is very easy to lose sight of unpleasant truths. We hear the Republicans railing about the "tax and spend" policies of the Democrats while the Democrats concentrate on the plight of the common folk of the country who have been bled white by paying for the privilege of bidding adieu to their means of employment. All the Republican candidates have campaigned on the virtue of literally abolishing all taxes, at least on the wealthy, so they can use all their money to make more money and to become even wealthier. Ron Paul even goes as far as pledging to abolish the Internal Revenue Service while Huckabee is an advocate for the "flat tax" which will further shift the burden of supporting the government even more onto the poor and middle class. Of course, they all want to eliminate all Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government charitable institutions, leaving the poor to ...

What FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds found in translation by Philip Giraldi 12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 17, 2008 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-sibeledmonds_17edi.ART.State.Edition1.45b446a.html Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will. The former FBI translator turned whistle-blower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington's highest levels – sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage. She may be a first-rate fabulist, but Ms. Edmonds' account is full of dates, places and names. And if she is to be believed, a treasonous plot to embed moles in American military and nuclear installations and pass sensitive intelligence to Israeli, Pakistani and Turkish sources was facilitated by figures in the upper echelons of the State and Defense Departments. Her charges could be eas...

Defending Torture, Administration Stoops to the Orwellian Friday, Feb 08, 2008 - 12:09 AM By A. Barton Hinkle Times-Dispatch Columnist http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion/oped.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-08-0049.html Earlier this week the White House called American veterans liars. The Bush administration didn't say it quite so baldly as that. But after CIA director Michael Hayden acknowledged the use of waterboarding, a White House spokesman said the ad ministration had determined it was a lawful "enhanced interrogation technique" rather than illegal torture. That's a remarkable shift. During the WWII era the U.S. prosecuted Japanese military leaders for committing torture -- by waterboarding -- in the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. As Charles Nielsen, an Army Air Force lieutenant who was captured by the Japanese, testified then: "I was given several types of torture . . . .I was given what they call the water cure." He described the effect: "I felt ...

- by Stephen Lendman 2/7/08 For Big Media, truth is a scare commodity and in times of war it's the first casualty, or as esteemed journalist John Pilger noted: "Journalism (not truth) is the first casualty (of war). Not only that: it('s)....a weapon of war (by its) virulent censorship....by omission (and its) power....can mean....life and death for people in faraway countries, such as Iraq." Famed journalist George Seldes put it another way by condemning the "prostitution of the press" in an earlier era when he covered WW I, the rise of fascism, and most major world and national events until his death in 1995 at age 104. He also confronted the media in books like "Lords of the Press." In it and others, he condemned their corruption, suppression of the truth, and news censorship before the television age, and said "The most sacred cow of the press is the press itself, (and the press is) the most powerful force against the general welfare of the...

Cal Thomas writes: “At a minimum, we should send Iraq and Afghanistan a bill for what we have done and are trying to do for them, or ask for price cuts on Iraqi oil. Thousands of American lives have been lost and the financial cost is enormous, as we seek to advance freedom for others.” - Allies are contributing chump change for wars The News Press 2/09/08 Well, wouldn’t that be special. We’ve gone in, uninvited, and destroyed their countries, their infrastructure, their people, and poisoned their environment with our DU munitions, and he wants us to send them the bill. Why? Because he’s upset that our allies aren’t investing enough of their treasury in Bush’s wars. Is this a great country, or what? According to the bush administration and its allies, it would be ok for me to get some hack lawyer to write an opinion saying it’s legal for me to go ahead and go in to his home, beat him up, trash his house, kick his dog, rape his wife and children, and strew his garbage about the street...

by Richard L. Franklin 2/7/08 Back in the first century, the Roman poet Juvenal, in his 'Satire X', wrote a poem with lines which have forever remained famous and have been endlessly repeated. His satirical poem ridiculed the Roman people for letting their freedoms dwindle and slip away as they contented themselves with the free grain that was given to them in addition to the free circuses held in the Coliseum. From Juvenal's 'Satire' Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses As I watched and listened to the electoral circus being presented to the people of America, and I took note of their extreme excitement over the ongoing contests, I was simultaneously saddened and angered. I saw the entire huge ritual as a great waste of time ...

Bush administration acknowledges and defends use of torture technique By Joe Kay 7 February 2008 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/feb2008/tort-f07.shtml The White House publicly acknowledged on Wednesday that President Bush has authorized the use of waterboarding, and that he may do so again in the future. The statements amount to an open admission of criminal activity on the part of the US government. The acknowledgement from White House deputy spokesman Tony Fratto came a day after testimony from CIA Director Michael Hayden before the Senate Intelligence Committee. For the first time, Hayden officially stated that the Bush administration had used waterboarding on three prisoners in 2002 and 2003. Waterboarding is a form of torture used since the Spanish Inquisition. It involves pouring water over a prisoner’s head to cause drowning, and has been prosecuted as torture by the United States government in the past. While the Bush administration is now stretching language and credulity t...