Volume 7 Issue 29…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July 23, 2004

Smiling Faces Sometimes (song)

Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend

Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within

Smiling faces, smiling faces ...Tell lies and I got proof

The truth is in the eyes...Cause the eyes don't lie, amen

Remember a smile is just

A frown turned upside down..My friend let me tell you

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes

They don't tell the truth, uh

Smiling faces, smiling faces...Tell lies and I got proof

Beware, beware of the handshake

That hides the snake...I'm telling you beware

Beware of the pat on the back

It just might hold you back

Jealousy (jealousy)...Misery (misery)...Envy

I tell you, you can't see behind smiling faces

Smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth

Smiling faces, smiling faces..Tell lies and I got proof

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes

They don't tell the truth

Smiling faces, smiling faces...Tell lies and I got proof

(Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes (2X)

I'm telling you beware, beware of the handshake

That hides the snake...Listen to me now, beware

Beware of that pat on the back

It just might hold you back

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes

They don't tell the truth

Smiling faces, smiling faces ...Tell lies and I got proof

Your enemy won't do you no harm

Cause you'll know where he's coming from

Don't let the handshake and the smile fool ya

Take my advice I'm only try' to school ya

FFX: Explosive Growth

Hosted by the hottest spoken word artist in the ATL, Yohannes Sharriff, Free Form X-Change (FFX) at Apache Café presents Ladies' Night every third Sunday. The joint is off the hook every Sunday, but this night is designed to accord sisters queen status.

Taking over the spot 3 months ago, Yohannes' stated goal was to create a vibe where artists can grow and share FFX's positive energy. Succeeding that goal, but losing the battle to keep the performers' list short, he has capitulated to the weekly onslaught of poets, MCs, vocalists and instrumentalists scrambling to take the mic. Last week's list kept the joint hopping until 1:30 AM. Unfortunately, everyone that signed up could not be accommodated. Performers come from across the South hoping for a shot on stage at FFX. Bouncing to crunk "dirty" South grooves, "South House," MCs from Arkansas, South Carolina and Maryland rocked the house. "Freedom Speaks," a fiery sister, torched the joint with Promises, a piece on keeping commitments to self and others. The evening's eye-popper was Vanessa! Like pouring gasoline on embers, her hip hop dance routine with its "Flashdance" flair stoked the capacity crowd's smoldering emotions into a blazing inferno.

Asked for his thoughts on FFX's success since taking on the challenge of host, Yohannes said, "Not only has FFX grown, I have had to grow with it. When performing, I forget how many fantastic artists there are in the South, especially in Atlanta. Squeezing them onto my list, but giving them the time they deserve, while trying not to offend artists that have worked hard to develop their talents, is a delicate balancing act that is far more difficult than I ever imagined. So, the challenges are enormous, but the rewards are even greater."

Come early for a spot on the hottest open mic in Atlanta. Doors open @ 8:00 PM

USS Liberty: Preemptive Strike and Cover-up

"The history of the race, and each individual's experience, are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal." Mark Twain

On June 8, 1967, the fourth day of the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab States of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, the USS Liberty, a state-of-the art intelligence gathering vessel, came under fierce air and sea attack off the Sinai Peninsula. The sustained assault, which left 34 dead and 172 wounded, abruptly aborted its mission to collect electronic intelligence on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Clearly identified and sailing international waters, Liberty's crew did not know Israel had warned the US they would sink the ship, if it was not removed. Before launching its 75-minute attack, Israeli reconnaissance planes flew overhead. Its pilots and Liberty's crew smiled and waved to each other. By the time Liberty received the threatening message, it was taking on water.

Aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean launched fighter jets in response to Liberty's distress signal. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, on orders from President Lyndon B. Johnson recalled the fighters. He did not want to embarrass Israel or incur the wrath of the Jewish lobby; the Liberty and its crew were expendable.

Unlike the Japanese attack on the US gunboat Panay (1937), North Korea's seizure of the Navy intelligence ship Pueblo (1968), and the terrorist attack on the Navy destroyer Cole (2000), there was no public outcry and demand that the perpetrators be punished over the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. President Johnson went on television and announced that ten sailors were killed in the "six minute accidental" attack.

Under threat of court-martial, sailors were ordered not to discuss the incident. Congress did not investigate it; a naval review did not mention Israel's role. With witnesses gagged, the Navy Board of Inquiry concluded the attack was "a friendly fire incident."

Survivors and many key government officials believe Israel deliberately targeted the ship to prevent US discovery of an Israeli massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war, killings that were not reported until 1995, conceal its planned attack on Syria to seize the Golan Heights and blame Arabs for the USS Liberty attack. A US retaliation would ensure an Israeli victory.

In defiance of evidence to the contrary, Israel has steadfastly maintained it mistook the Liberty for the out-of-service Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir and that the US brought the attack upon itself by operating in a war zone without displaying a flag. Whatever its motives and explanations, the Israeli attack violated international law. Moreover, its deliberate destruction of life rafts released from the Liberty constituted a war crime. Since no statute of limitations exists for murder or war crimes, Liberty survivors and supporters believe Israel may still be brought before the bar of justice for its illegal actions.

Despite considerable damage, the Liberty made port. Repaired, it returned to the US. Decommissioned (1968) and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (1970), the USS Liberty was sold for scrap. (Sources: http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/, www.history.navy.mil and www.ussliberty.org/ )

Feith: An Israel Firster?

Douglas Feith is the number three man at the Pentagon. Feith's job description gives him incredible access to everything from establishing US policy with foreign governments and organizations to overseeing defense related technology transfers.

In addition to being implicated in awarding a non-bid contract to Halliburton, Feith is under Senate Intelligence Committee scrutiny for his role in the creation of an unofficial intelligence unit that may have undermined the CIA in building the case for war against Iraq. According to testimony contained in the annex to the Senate Committee's pre-war intelligence report, Feith, set up the unit as part of the Office of Special Plans. Considered a hawk, not only is Feith believed to have gathered intelligence and undermined the CIA, but he may have secretly briefed the White House.

A review of Feith's views place him squarely in the neocon camp and cast doubt on whether his loyalties lie first with Israel or the US. Couching things in terms of "good versus evil," Feith has consistently opposed US-led Middle East peace efforts that required Israel to surrender West Bank territory. A Zionist, Feith believes Arabs have no legal claim to land that "God gave Jews."

With such intractable views, Feith and the other neocon hawks that helped define the Bush administration place Israel first in constructing policy positions and developing strategy. Could this explain how and why 9-11 happened and the preemptive invasion of Iraq?

By John Burl Smith

Neocons are trying to put Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator John Edwards on the defensive by claiming he has no foreign policy experience. They presume Edwards would perform worse than George W. Bush, who was a Texas governor that had barely traveled outside the US before his White House run. Their "intentional fallacy" compares and contrasts an unknown with a known.

The known begins with Bush v Gore. It began Bush's "on-the-job-training," which has brought the nation and world to a perilous place. His lack of international "gravitas" was immediately apparent, evidenced by his dismissive rejection of President Bill Clinton's warning about al-Qaeda and terrorism.

A source of friction from the start between US allies and the UN, Bush's unilateral "go it alone" style was a downhill slide by 9-11. The CIA and MI5 helped orchestrate a campaign of deceit that claimed Iraq's WMDs posed an "imminent threat" to the US. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell took their fictitious case to the UN. The terrorism scare revived Bush's presidency. It became the slippery slope that oiled Bush's rush to war against Iraq.

Ox in the ditch, hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives later, Bush is still claiming "I was right to go into Iraq." The people who were right in this sad saga are UN inspectors and diplomats, including Hans Blix, Scott Ritter, Claire Short, Robin Cook, Dr. David Kelly and Joseph Wilson. Protesters against the war, humanitarian groups, information services, such as The DISH and many others, were right to tell the world British and US' claims were fictitious. Foreign leaders, Helmut Schmidt, Jacques Chirac and Vladmir Putin, were right to request more time to verify Bush's claims regarding WMDs. Artists, Yohannes Sharriff Smith, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and others, have a right and duty to speak out and force US neocon media to acknowledge opposition to Bush.

Maintaining one's rightness for acting wrongly does not take experience, simply jackass stubbornness. Today, Bush still argues resolutely that only "war" could "enforce UN resolutions and disarm Saddam Hussein " or the UN would become "irrelevant." What does the UN say about Bush's justification for rushing to war in Iraq "to enforce UN resolutions?" Intelligence Committees in the US and Great Britain have declared that Iraq's WMD threat was a hoax. Why has the UN not issued a report on the US' illegal preemptive war against a fellow UN member? Is this the UN's way of saying the US' actions cannot be examined? If the UN does not address preemptive war conducted in its name, it has definitely become "irrelevant."

This is Bush's preemptive foreign policy record. It has wrecked havoc on innocent Iraqis, which Bush claimed to have liberated. The choice is not about who has the most foreign policy experience but whose experience will produce policies that benefit the US and people around the world. Given Bush's record and prescription for the future, Senator Edwards could not do worse as vice or president. The question for voters is, who can cleanup this mess without wasting more lives and resources simply to maintain "I was right?"

Outfoxed: Unfair and Unbalanced

From Christiane Amanpour to Dan Rather, some of the nation's most respected journalists have acknowledged the reality of media manipulation, oftentimes to serve the current administration. Journalists unwilling to massage information to fit corporate dictates have found themselves demoted, censored and/or unemployed.

The book, Into the Buzzsaw, a collection of essays by eighteen award-winning journalists, uncovers the sorry state of American journalism. For more about this book and the kinds of news stories that failed to make the headlines, visit www.intothebuzzsaw.com.

The film Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism also examines media bias. Outfoxed's Director/Producer Robert Greenwald takes an in-depth look at corporate control of media and the dangers inherent in increased concentration. In Outfoxed, former Fox News Channel employees reveal how news is used to push a "right wing" point of view. A cache of more than thirty Internal memos validate their claims that Fox News is unfair and unbalanced.

Common Cause, Moveon.org and other organizations have teamed up and launched a campaign to take on Fox's biased reporting. In addition to filing complaints with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its deceptive advertising slogan ("fair and balanced"), the public is invited to sign a petition at www.moveon.org/fox/.

Unequal Treatment

In December 2003, the United Nation's General Assembly voted to ask the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on the legality of the West Bank security barrier being erected by Israel under the pretext of thwarting suicide bombers. Only partially completed, the barrier consists of concrete walls, barbed wire fences, trenches and patrol roads.

Seen by Palestinians on the West Bank as a land grab of occupied territory, the barrier has served to separate them from villages, farmland, schools and jobs. Many Israelis, on the other hand, see the West Bank as "disputed" territory. For them, it is "Judea and Samaria," part of the "Promised Land God gave Jews." Unfortunately, as Israel claims a right to more land, a future Palestinian state becomes more improbable.

Recently, the ICJ ruled the barrier illegal and demanded Israel pay reparations. While the ICJ's ruling is advisory and non-binding, it has served to prompt the General Assembly to pass a resolution demanding that Israel dismantle the barrier. Problem is, General Assembly resolutions are also non-binding and Israel has already vowed not to abide by either the ICJ or General Assembly. This leaves the Security Council as the sole international body that can issue a binding resolution and force compliance with military power, if necessary.

Unfortunately, much as it did in the case of apartheid South Africa, the US has consistently used its Security Council veto to shield Israel from the need to comply with the wishes of the vast majority of the world community. In many instances, pre-war charges leveled against Iraq equally apply to Israel. Israel has attacked and murdered its neighbors, possesses biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and the capability to deploy them at a moment's notice, and it has violated and continues to violate numerous UN resolutions. The US has neither proposed sanctions against Israel nor suggested using military might to enforce compliance.

There is a noticeable difference in the treatment accorded Israel by the United States and the United Nations relative to other member nations over a range of issues from nuclear weapons capability to its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories. This double standard makes it impossible for either the United Nations or the United States to act as an honest broker in forging a peaceful settlement in the Middle East.

Disgruntled feels: Pretentious! On the campaign trail, a smiling George W. Bush enthusiastically proclaims the economy is headed in the right direction. His sunny prognostication ignores some relevant data. His administration presides over a more than $7.2 trillion federal debt, which is projected to increase, given stagnant employment, declining incomes, rising foreclosure rates and rising balance of trade and federal budget deficits. None of these numbers represent good economic conditions, but Bush keeps on grinning and pretending, as if lying and jawboning are synonymous.

Disgruntled wants to know: In the land of liberty where free speech is a "cherished" value, critics of the Bush administration have come under fierce attack. Whoopi Goldberg and Linda Ronstadt are just the latest examples of people punished for criticizing Bush. Ronstadt dedicated a song to Michael Moore, while Goldberg joked about the man's name and the female anatomy. One wonders, what extreme measures Bush aficionados would undertake, if he, like Bill Clinton, played hide the cigar in Monica's bush?

Disgruntled says: Based on all the published pre-war intelligence reports, it is clear "cherry-picked" and "sexed-up" are apropos in describing how data was used and discarded in making the case for a preemptive strike. Ironically, some "right wing" pundits persist in trying to convince the gullible that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, tried to buy uranium from Niger and posed an imminent threat to the US. Thinking people should realize, a closed mind is a dangerous trap. To take a strong and resolute stance in the face of information to the contrary makes one a sap.

US Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) was censured by Congress and her comments were stricken from record for telling the truth. Brown's statement, "I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Over and over again after the election, when you stole the election, you came back here and said get over it. No we're not going to get over it and we want verification from the world." All those disenfranchised in 2000 and those who feel the election was stolen need to demand international monitors.

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