Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Volume 10 Issue 33…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…August 17,
2007
Intuit's Vibe
Farming Mushroom Clouds
B. Nice
Holy warriors sprout like mushroom clouds
Deprived the warmth of natural light in cold stark clap-board caves
Fed on simplistic solutions of lemon scented bovine
bi-product
Foxes fill the boxes well over the top
Teaching the ABCs of media indoctrination
Propaganda rules the nation
Two hundred stations repeat the gospel of George
Thousand-mile staring
Eye glazed monotone unison
Invasion equals liberation
We drop this bomb to free a nation
A radiant example for the world to see
Militarily imposed democracy
When George kills civilians its collateral damage
When Saddam shoots our soldiers it's a crime of war
George puts cameras on the noses of missiles
to film the destruction of cameras
on the killing floor
Hundreds of millions of peaceful anti war protesters
flood the streets of every major city on earth
The American media mostly broadcasts reports
of demonstrators being beaten by
police
It’s almost as if a dam has burst at the Pentagon
flooding the American media in a
torrent of lies and disinformation
I wonder what happened to that division of eight thousand soldiers
that surrendered only to quietly disappear in a puff of smoke
I'm not trying to be funny
Everyone knows this ain't no joke
That Gold Star Banner hanging above the mantle shelf
will never kiss the kids goodnight
If George cares so much about our troops
why is he trying to cut veterans benefits for our wounded soldiers?
Why do the families of our troops need food-stamps and other charitable support?
Why is George exposing our troops to radioactive munitions again?
I guess Gulf War Syndrome is all but forgotten
There is no glory in the intentional destruction of human life
Support the troops
Bring our children home
September 11, 2001:
Official Story
On the morning of September 11,
2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four jet airliners en route to California
from Logan International, Dulles International and Newark airports. The
hijackers intentionally flew two of the airliners into the World Trade Center
in New York City. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of
the World Trade Center (WTC) at 8:46:30 A.M. (Eastern Daylight Time). United
Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 9:02:59 A.M.
The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County,
Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on
the fourth aircraft attempted to retake control of their plane from the
hijackers; the plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural
Somerset County, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles northwest of Washington, DC.
Three buildings in the World Trade Center collapsed on the day of the attacks.
In addition to the North and South Towers, which sustained direct damage, 7
World Trade Center Tower imploded. Rescue and recovery efforts took months to
complete. The buildings smoldered and smoked for 99 days before the fire was
put out. The clean-up was not completed until May 2002. In addition to the 19
hijackers, 2,974 people died as a result of the attacks.
All international civilian air traffic already in flight on 9-11 were either
turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico. North American air
space was closed for several days and air travel decreased significantly upon
its reopening. Air travel capacity fell nearly 20%, exacerbating the financial
problems of the struggling U.S. airline industry.
On 9-11, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ
did not open; they remained closed until September 17. When the markets
reopened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 684 points. By week's end, U.S.
stocks had lost $1.2 trillion in value.
More than a year after the attacks, the US government formed the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(9/11 Commission) to "prepare a full and complete account of the
circumstances surrounding the attacks, including preparedness for, and the
immediate response to, the attacks. On July 22, 2004, the panel issued the 9/11
Commission Report.
The US government determined that al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden, bore
responsibility for the attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the
animosity towards the US felt by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the "principal
architect" of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed "not from his experiences there
as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy
favoring Israel." Fifteen of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia, two
from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration declared a
war on terrorism, with the stated goals of bringing Osama bin Laden and
al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks.
Approximately one month after 9-11, a US-led coalition attacked Afghanistan to
remove the Taliban regime, which was accused of harboring al-Qaeda.
The US government enacted laws to prosecute the war on terror. These include
the Homeland Security (2002) and USA PATRIOT Acts. The Bush Administration used
9/11 as the pretext for initiating its secret National Security Agency
warrantless wiretapping program. It also set up a detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold what it termed "illegal enemy
combatants." Source: http://en.wikipedia.organd
www.commondreams.org/)
Some Unanswered 9-11
Questions
"I was not involved in the September 11 attacks in the
United States nor did I have knowledge of the attacks. There exists a
government within a government within the United States. The United States
should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself;
to the people who want to make the present century a century of conflict
between Islam and Christianity. That secret government must
be asked as to who carried out the attacks. ... The American system is
totally in control of the Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United
States." - Osama bin Laden
In contrast to 9-11, an
independent panel was approved to investigate the Columbia tragedy the day
after that disaster. The Kean Commission was appointed only under pressure from
9/11 families in January 2002, after 19 months of active obstruction by the
White House. The government spent $65 million investigating former President
Bill Clinton's sex life, $50 million probing the Columbia shuttle disaster and
$3 million on the September 11 panel. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney sought to
limit the scope of any investigation into the terror attacks.
Given the obstacles to investigating 9-11, there remain many unanswered
questions. Understandably, members of the victims' families wondered on a
number of occasions, how did the FBI miraculously obtain evidence and identify
the culprits within hours of the attacks when they had left the hijackers off
the terrorist watch-list? Why did Bush and Cheney insist on being questioned by
the 9-11 commission together, without being taped, without taking an oath and
with no records kept?
According to the official version
of events, fifteen of the hijackers were Saudi citizens. For decades, the US
has refused to investigate suspected Saudi Arabian ties to money-laundering and
Islamic charities that fund terrorism. Why did the US ignore the Saudi role in
the terror attacks? Who authorized the airlift of bin Laden family members the
day after the terror attacks when all planes were grounded?
Air traffic controllers unable to establish contact with an errant plane are supposed
to turn the case over to the North American Air Defense (NORAD) within minutes.
After being alerted, NORAD is expected to scramble fighter jets to intercept
the plane. This did not happen on 9-11. Why did U.S. Air Defenses fail to
follow standard operating procedures on Sept. 11, 2001?
On September 11, 2001, Dick Cheney was running war games that simulated the
very attacks that happened that day. Why did the 9/11 Commission Report omit
this information? What role did Dick Cheney play in the failure of NORAD to
respond to the hijacked aircrafts normally?
After receiving an unspecified warning from the FBI, Attorney General John
Ashcroft stopped flying by commercial planes and started hiring private jets.
Top Pentagon brass canceled their travel plans for 9-11. Former San Francisco
Mayor, Willie Brown and others received warnings not to fly to New York for a
mayor's conference on 9-11. Who warned these people before September 11 not to
fly on commercial aircrafts or report to work on that day? Who had advanced
knowledge of the attacks?
There are many other unanswered
questions surrounding 9-11. These include the crippling of the 9-11
investigation by the sudden arrival of the anthrax attacks in October 2001, the
put options on airline stocks, Cheney's November 2001 revelation that a
"Shadow Government" had been activated on 9-11, the implosion of
World Trade Center Building 7, etc. (Sources: www.911truth.org/ancien/questions.html
and http://tvnewslies.org/html/9_11_facts.html)
9-11 General Strike in USA
A general strike is proposed for
the United States on September 11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.
General strikes, more common in Europe, are events that shut down the normal
operations of a city, state or nation for a period of time to force awareness
and action on a single issue or broader set of concerns.
The 9-11-07 general strike is a national call to action. It is not about a
single issue. It is not an anti-war protest, a civil rights protest, or an
election fraud protest. It is not about torture, warrantless wiretapping,
failures of the corporate media, the 9-11 cover-up,
the environment or impeachment. This strike is about all these issues and so
much more.
On this day, citizens are called to take action. No school, work or shopping.
Everyone is called to hit the streets! While we all have different concerns, we
all have the same concern: we are being lied to and this government does not
represent us. Join other US citizens in demanding truth, justice, and
accountability. We have to stand up and take it back! For more information,
visit http://www.strike911.org/.
War with Iran: Déjà vu Afghanistan
and Iraq
By John Burl Smith
The US has already declared war
on Iran. Formal hostilities haven't commenced -- the shooting and killing comes
later. Under the guise of trying to curb "Iran's nuclear ambitions,"
the USA has only mushroom clouds this time to justify war - no weapons of mass
destruction.
For Iranians, this is an old strategy that was first visited upon Tehran in
1941. Claiming they were preventing Iran from becoming allies of the Axis
powers (WWII) Britain and the USSR invaded Iran. The occupation secured Iran's
petroleum infrastructure and opened a supply line to Russia. The Allies forced
the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. They
established the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, BP) to
control Iran's oil reserves, while supporting the Shah's brutally oppressive
reign.
In 1951, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, a nationalist, was elected Prime Minister.
Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, an enormously popular
move with Iranians. At the behest of BP, the British Intelligence Service
invited the US to join their plot to overthrow Mossadegh. The CIA took the lead
and conducted Operation Ajax from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Reminiscent of Co-InTel-Pro, a US domestic spy/terrorist program conducted
against the Black Power Movement, the CIA hired Iranians to protest against
Mossadegh and fight pro-Mossadegh demonstrators. Anti- and pro-monarchy
protestors violently clashed in the streets. The US used the turmoil as cover
for a US led coup d´état. Pro-Shah tanks stormed the capital and bombarded the
Prime Minister's residence. On August 19,1953,
Mossadegh surrendered. He was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to
three years in prison. The US government in 2000 admitted it instigated this
coup and formally apologized to Iran.
Today, August 19, 2007, the US is up to its old tricks in Iran! The breaking
news is that the US has designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a
"specially designated global terrorist." The Bush administration has
chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's 125,000-strong elite
military branch, to counter "Iran's growing involvement in Iraq and
Afghanistan, as well as its support for extremists throughout the region. Rubber
stamping Bush's use of Executive Order 13224 signed two weeks after 9-11, the decision to go to war against Iran has congressional
support.
A highly provocative action, designating the Revolutionary Guard, a part of
Iran's government as a "global terrorist," allows Bush to attack the
assets of IRGC and disrupt operations of foreign businesses that "provide
support, services or assistance to, or otherwise associate with, known
terrorists."
To support a puppet government, like the one the US has established in Iraq, on
December 24, 1979, Russia invaded Afghanistan to prop up the government of Lt.
Gen. Sadar Mohammed Daud Khan, who came to power after a coup in 1973. The US
began by pumping $6 billion into Afghanistan to undermine the Russian backed
government. The CIA recruited Osama bin Laden with $20 billion to train and arm
a contra-style Afghan force called the mujahideen
(Mujiahideen: Freedom Fighters/Terrorists? TheDISHv7no32.html)
The US is the world's largest arms dealer. It has more nuclear weapons than the
rest of the world combined and has used them against Japan. Yet, the US is the
first to designate other nations as terrorists, if they attempt to develop
similar weaponry as the US. The world is witnessing the terror the US is
heaping upon the poor people of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as, the rest of
the Middle East through its client Israel. The US is the real terrorist!
In South America (Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba), Africa (Nigeria, Somalia,
Sudan and Congo) and any other place where there is oil or other vital natural
resources - the US is there sponsoring terror. Iran is an instant replay of the
run up to the Iraq War. The words have changed but the tune the US is singing
is the same and the US media are dancing along in lock step. War in Iran is as
eminent as war with Iraq was at this point! If you believe history, bullets and
bombs will be flying before the 2008 election. That is all Bush has left!
Disgruntled says:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is much like most members of this
nation's wealthy elite that support the war in Iraq. Like George W. Bush and
Dick Cheney, who sat out the Vietnam conflict, Romney is gung-ho for war, but
his support for the conflict does not include personal service or sacrifice.
Recently in Iowa, when asked if any of his five sons had served in the
military, Romney responded in part, "one of the ways my sons are showing
support for our nation is helping to get me elected..." By equating
working in a political campaign with engaging in armed combat, Romney shows the
disconnect that exists between national leaders that cavalierly take their
country to war and those forced to fight it, whether they do so as part of a
draft or volunteer for military service.
Disgruntled
feels: Compliant! In reviewing post 9-11 news coverage, especially
reports published during the lead up to the war in Iraq, it is obvious the US
corporate media behaved much like an arm of the government. They did not
provide information that contradicted government assertions used to justify
going to war against a country that had nothing to do with the 9-11 terror
attacks. Ironically, despite their complicity in the war against Iraq, which
was a grave disservice to the US public and antithetical to the whole notion of
the role of the media in a democracy, they seem poised to be equally as
compliant in going along with the Bush junta in starting a war against Iran.
Disgruntled
wants to know: I recently watched an edition of the CNBC program Kudlow
& Company. As you may know, Lawrence Kudlow is a staunch market capitalist.
Normally, a very pro-business advocate, he advises little in the way of
government regulation or interference in the market. Yet, on this particular
show, Kudlow was advocating a move by the Federal Reserve to introduce more
liquidity into financial markets, which would help certain business, i.e.,
banks and insurance companies, that may have been exposed to the sub-prime
mortgage debacle. Without knowing what their exposure is, a government bailout
at this juncture allows these entities to hold worthless paper on their books
and not suffer the negative consequences of their greed and bad investment
decisions. Since individuals losing their homes in the mortgage meltdown cannot
expect a bailout, what message does the Fed's action and Kudlow's advocacy send
to the US public and other observers of US market capitalism?
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and
Phone Calls
Email sumerian100@yahoo.com Bush like Hitler,
says Congressman...By Toby Harnden... Addressing a gathering of atheists in his
home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison (D) compared the 9/11 atrocities to the
destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably
burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler's later seizure of
emergency powers. "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me
of that," Mr Ellison said. "After the Reichstag was burned, they
blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in
a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he
wanted."
Email www.larouchepub.com The Guns of August 2007:
Cheney's Finger Is Already on the Trigger by Jeffrey Steinberg...On July 16,
the London Guardian reported that President Bush, under the powerful influence
of Vice President Dick Cheney, has tilted in favor of military action against
Iran before he leaves office. According to the Guardian account, a series of
meetings during June and July, involving top White House, Pentagon, and State
Department officials, was used by the Vice President to assert that the
diplomatic track, ostensibly pressed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, had failed to produce any results, and that no
future U.S. administration would have the courage to act militarily against
Tehran.
Email www.afterdowningstreet.org Congressman
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) called the Administration's latest idea to label Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization another step in
the lead-up to war with Iran. "The belligerent Bush Administration is
using this pending designation to convince the American public into accepting
that a war with Iran is inevitable. This designation will set the stage for
more chaos in the region because it undercuts all of our diplomatic efforts.
This new label provides further evidence for Iran's leaders that there is no
point to engage in diplomatic talks with the United States if our actions point
directly to regime change. Our nation is better served by demanding sensible
and responsible diplomatic foreign policy initiatives from the Bush
Administration. This is nothing more than an attempt to deceive Americans into
yet another war - this time with Iran," Kucinich concluded.
Email www.ft.com Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned...By Jeremy Grant..The US government is on a burning platform‚ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration, and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country's top government inspector has warned. David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country's future in a report that lays out what he called "chilling long-term simulations." These include "dramatic" tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt. Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman Empire, Mr. Walker warned there were "striking similarities" between America's current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government."
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