Thursday, June 03, 2004
Welcome to the USA
ARTISTS SUBPOENAED IN USA PATRIOT ACT CASE
Feds STILL unable to distinguish art from bioterrorism
Grand jury to convene June 15
Three artists have been served subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury that will consider bioterrorism charges against a university professor whose art involves the use of simple biology equipment.
Early morning of May 11, Steve Kurtz awoke to find his wife, Hope, dead of a cardiac arrest. Kurtz called 911. The police arrived and, after stumbling across test tubes and petri dishes Kurtz was using in a current artwork, called in the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Soon agents from the Task Force and FBI detained Kurtz, cordoned off the entire block around his house, and later impounded Kurtz's computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even his wife's body for further analysis. The Buffalo Health Department condemned the house as a health risk.
Only after the Commissioner of Public Health for New York State had tested samples from the home and announced there was no public safety threat was Kurtz able to return home and recover his wife's body. Yet the FBI would not release the impounded materials, which included artwork for an upcoming exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
While most observers assumed the Task Force would realize that its initial investigation of Steve Kurtz was a terrible mistake, the subpoenas indicate that the feds have instead chosen to press their "case" against Kurtz and possibly others.
The subpoenas are the latest installment in a bizarre investigation in which members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force have mistaken an art project for a biological weapons laboratory. While most observers have assumed that the Task Force would realize the absurd error of its initial investigation of Steve Kurtz, the subpoenas indicate that the feds have instead chosen to press their "case" against the baffled professor.
read more about this case
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
wow I just heard on the radio that 52% of Americans think that Saddam is linked to the attacks on 9/11.
For the record I will repeat this: SADDAM HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11! We invaded Iraq under FALSE pretenses and the uneducated and naive public bought it, swallowed it and now we have to pay for it and eat our own shit.
Yes I'm glad they got rid of Saddam and when I asked Iraqis, what about the Weapons of Mass Destruction? And some would tell me that Saddam was the WMD. hmm...
In fact Iraq now is more of a threat to the world and the USA as a direct result of the US occupation. I believe the next attack on the USA will not come from AlQa'ida or any organization but will be an individual operating on their own. You will never win the war on terror Mr.Bush because we are against you, not with you, therefore we are the terrorists.
Let us hope for the best for Iraqis.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
from my cousin tk from Baghdad,
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 01:48:37 -0700 (PDT)
long long long time usama and no see
even your blogger is getting slower.
and the country is falling down with no reason !
and all the news is talking about is abu graib and US slodiers.
already said that these things happen .
in the middle of the US
in iran
in kuwait....every were
maybe car accedent kill more people every day
the world should not focus on abu graib
it should focus on the business in Iraq that is going down
the burglers are returning and rising
the kidnaping of rich or foriegn people began to be a habit
the life is geting worse and we are thinking of abu graib
we should not focus there
well dam all that
it is a sad letter
booo!!!
how are you ?
tk your friend
My cousin tk wants to come here to Chicago and visit me. I am looking into finding the best legal route for him. Any suggestions?
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
This Abu Musab al-Zarqawi guy that claims to avenge the torture of Iraqis by beheading the American citizen is a scumbag. I repeat Al-Zarqwai has no claim or right to speak for Iraqis. He is a sham and using this US occupation to declare war on Shia's and anyone cooperating with the US. Whatever you may think of the Abu-Graib pictures do not applaud this fuckhead. He has killed so many Iraqis by his various 'resistence' methods.
here is the article:Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq beheaded an American civilian and vowed more killings in revenge for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, an Islamist Web site said Tuesday.
A poor quality videotape on the site showed a man dressed in orange overalls sitting bound on a white plastic chair in a bare room, then on the floor with five masked men behind him.
"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael... I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah," said the bound man, adding he was from Philadelphia.
After one of the masked men read out a statement, they pushed Berg to the floor and shouted "God is greatest" above his screams as one of them sawed his head off with a large knife then held it aloft for the camera.
The Web site said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top ally of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was the man who cut off Berg's head. The statement read out before the killing was signed off with Zarqawi's name and dated May 11.
source
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
When I was in Baghdad and discussing the Coalition, the US government and various members of the Coalition Provisional Authority my Uncle said: they are all madmen, all of them...they are all thieves and liars.
yes they are. All of them.
Monday, May 03, 2004
I've been disgusted and freaked out with the recent Abu Ghraib images of prison abuse at the hands of the US. Here in the USA it is getting much publicity and Bush has made some lame statement about how this is not representative of the USA. Yeah sure Mr.Bushie. Anyway this is a micro incident of many atrocities that go on in Iraq at the hands of coalition. But as my cousin has stated in the past, these soldiers, any soldiers are going to behave in this manner during war. Can we compare this to what Saddam did? Well to make the parallel would be sort of ironic considering that this is what the US claims to have ended, all the torture and brutality of Saddam's 35 year regime. Can we ponder this a bit? Any Iraqi can tell you endless stories of what Saddam or his henchmen did. And they got away with acts that are much worse than the Abu Ghraib prison US photos. And why do we need to see photos to be outraged?
Why not be outraged at everything that is going on? 10,000 Iraqis dead since the occupation and rising. I think in a way that some Iraqis will automatically be silent. But please do not be silent dear friend. These sadist need to be punished. A buddy from work who is in the US Airforce told me that those soldiers should be executed for what they did. Well that seems a bit harsh, he said it, not me.
However, following the publication of the photos by the CBS television network one wonders whether U.S. administrator Paul Bremer and Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, were aware of the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
If they were aware of the fact but failed to prevent it, then they should be tried in court according to Article 4 of the Geneva Conventions.
This article enumerates the rights of people whose countries have been invaded and occupied. It states that the occupying forces do not have the right to torture the occupied country’s nationals and if they do, the occupying country’s highest-ranking political official and military commander are to be held responsible for the crimes.
And this from Zmag.org :
"Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee."
It's not really so much the torture. But the humilation that these photos protray; the female soldier in front of the naked Iraqi prisoners is going to give rise to more anger and hostility toward the US all over the world. Be prepared for more violence.
Go read that full article in Zmag. This has been going on for a while now and our US media that was once a cheerleader for Bushie has recently been a little critical now. Look, Bremer, Sanchez and the rest of those bastards all knew about this. They are only making a fuss since the pictures are out. Anyway, I have no idea who to vote for this coming election. Not Bush, Not Kerry (pro-Israel lover), so what? Nader...ahh Nader.
I wonder what my cousin thinks of all this? I should write him. In other news I showed a short video piece I made called BOMBSHELL: IRAQI SECRET VIDEOS AND ARTIFACTS FROM A FALLEN REGIME. I showed it at few places here in Chicago and it has raised discussion and I was even accussed of accepting money from the Republican Party! haha. These were clips that I bought from Baghdad when I was there.
The documentary is still is in the early phases. I will keep you posted.
