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Today's
Stories
April
14, 2004
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What the President Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion Story: We Rule; You
Die
April
13, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
The Ill, Old and Young of Fallujah Ask:
"Do We Look Like Fighters?"
Stan
Goff
The Bridge: a Rant
Dave
Lindorff
The Real Lessons of Vietnam
April 10
/ 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Greatest Radical Journalist of His Age
Patrick
Cockburn
Ambush, Kidnap, Murder: Another Day in "Post War" Iraq
Ellen Cantarow
Health Under Siege on the West Bank
Tariq Ali
Iraqi
Resistance: a New Phase
Werther
Pseudoconservatism Revisited: When God is Pro War & Other Delicacies
Robert
Fisk
Bush's War Lords to Their Critics: "Just Shut Up"
Gary Leupp
Indian Wars, Vietnam and Orientalist Fantasy
Ron Jacobs
The Iranian Revolution, Cont.
Jorge Mariscal
Perils of the Bootstrap
Phil Gasper
Defying Stereotypes About Death Row
Dave Zirin
Bringing the Black Freedom Struggle Into Sports: an Interview with Lee
Evans
Brandy
Baker
The Revolution is Playing at a Theater Near You
Mickey Z.
Underground Music is Free Media: an Interview with Twiin
Ali Tonak
Get Ready for the Million Worker March
Harry Browne
Asking the Wrong Question About Richard Clarke & 9/11
Gideon
Samet
The Sharonizing of America
Conn Hallinan
Remote Control Warriors
Website
of the Weekend
Taboo
Tunes
April 9,
2004
Robert
Fisk
This
War's Simple Truth: Iraqis Do Not Want Us
John L.
Hess
The
Non-Confessions of a Warrior Princess: Condi on the Stand
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Condoleezza's Condescensions
Christopher Brauchli
Holes in the Sky: Bush's Crazed Missile Defense Plan
Don Santina
Forget the Alamo!: Glorifying the Fight for Slavery in Texas
William S. Lind
The 4G Warfare Seminar, Cont.
Bill Christison
9/11
Commission is Bush's New Lapdog
Website of the Day
What We've Done to Fallujah
April 8, 2004
Wayne Madsen
Rice
(and the Record) Proves It: Bush Knew, But Failed to Act
Kurt Nimmo
Will
Bush Flatten Fallajuh?
Patrick
Cockburn
Guided
Missile; Misguided War
Laura Flanders
Steamed
Rice
Larry Everest
What Condi Rice is Hiding
Adam Federman
Sacred Capitalism Hits Russia
M. Junaid
Alam
The Iraqi Intifada Begins
Norman Solomon
The Quest for a Monopoly on Violence
Douglas
Valentine
Echoes
of Vietnam: Phoenix, Assassination and Blowback in Iraq
Website of the Day
Xispas: Chicano Art, Culture and Politics
April 7,
2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Those
Pulitzers!
Sen. Robert
Byrd
Deeper
into the Mouth of Hell: We Must Find the Exit from Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Tet
in Iraq: Closer to the Cosmic Disaster?
Patrick
Cockburn
Battles
Across Iraq: US Death Toll Mounts
Kathy Kelly
Pacification: Worth the Price?
Sonali
Kolhatkar
What Are You Doing About Afghanistan?
Rahul Mahajan
Report from Baghdad: Opening the Gates of Hell
Robert
Fisk
US Airlifts Saddam to Qatar
Mike Whitney
America Out of Iraq, Now!
Sam Hamod
Bush, Pandora's Box and the Tiger
April 6, 2004
C.G. Estabrook
Mercenaries
and Occupiers
William
Blum
The
Anti-Empire Report: the Israel Lobby
Col. Dan
Smith
The
Language of Disbelief: 1.3 Billion Still Live in War Zones
Dr. Bulent Gokay
The Coming Islamic Republic of Iraq?
Lynn Landes
Faking Democracy: Americans Don't Vote; Machines Do
Sheila Samples
What Would Royko Write?
Jason Leopold
Condi's Blind Spot: Rice Never Mentioned al-Qaeda
Mickey Z.
A Reality Show with No End in Sight
Robert
Fisk
Iraq on the Brink of Anarchy
|
April
14, 2004
It's a Wonder That You Still Know How
to Breathe
What
Dubya Really Said
By RON JACOBS
Before I take your questions, let me speak with
the American people about the situation in Iraq.
This
has been tough weeks in that country. Coalition forces have encountered
serious violence in some areas of Iraq. Our military commanders report
that this violence is being instigated by three groups. Of course, as
you all know, these military commanders and their civilian bosses would
never lie to me. After all, it is because of the proof they presented
to us about Iraqi WMDs that we invaded Iraq in the first place. One
of these groups is led by Manny of the Pep Boys, and the other two are
led by his cohorts in crime: Moe and Jack.
They
want to run us out of Iraq and destroy the profit-seeking hopes of Halliburton
and its subsidiaries.
The
violence we have seen is a power grab by these extreme and ruthless
elements. It's not a civil war. It's not a popular uprising. It’s
even crazier than that. Iraq is relatively stable, especially if you
compare it to the first or second circle of Hell. Most Iraqis, by far,
reject violence and oppose dictatorship. This is why they support the
resistance in its struggle against US authoritarianism. In forums where
Iraqis have met to discuss their political future and in all the proceedings
of the Iraqi Governing Council, Iraqis have expressed clear commitments.
They want strong protections for individual rights, they want their
independence and they want their freedom. But guess what, they can’t
have it except on our terms.
America's
commitment to the occupation of Iraq is required by our interests. Iraq
will either be a US client regime or it will be leveled.
By
helping to secure Iraq, Americans serving in that country are protecting
the interests of a lot of my rich friends. We are grateful to them all
and to their families that face hardship and long separation. This weekend
at a Fort Hood hospital, I presented a Purple Heart to some of the wounded,
had the honor of thanking them on behalf of all my family’s friends.
Other men and women have paid an even greater cost. We pray that their
families will find God's comfort in the midst of their grief. As I've
said to those who have lost loved ones: What a bunch of suckers. Hell,
I never had to go to Vietnam, because I wasn’t going to risk nothing
for my dad’s friends.
America's
armed forces are performing brilliantly, following orders to kill men,
women and children and then blame them for their deaths. I am constantly
reviewing their needs. Troop strength now and in the future is determined
by the situation on the ground. If additional forces are needed, I will
send them. If additional resources are needed, we will provide them.
After all, I don’t give a shit. I don’t know any of these
guys.
The
people of our country are united behind the men and women in uniform.
They want them to return to the States right away. Guess what? That
is not going to happen. One central commitment of their mission is the
transfer of a sovereignty back to the Iraqi people. We have set a deadline
of June 30. It is important that we meet that deadline. As a proud and
independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation,
and neither does America. This means that we have to let them think
they’re running the show. So, what we’re going to do is
let the Iraqis we pick (because they owe us big time) do some of the
little things around Iraq, like planting flowers and holding traffic
court. Everything else, like running the army and the police, will still
be under our control.
America's
objective in Iraq is limited and it is firm. We seek a compliant Iraq
where US and British corporations can feel secure as they profit from
that country’s resources. Were the coalition to step back from
the June 30 pledge, many Iraqis would question our intentions and feel
their hopes betrayed. So, we’re going to make a big show about
this transfer thing and hopefully that will convince the Iraqi people
that we are no longer there running their country and killing those
Iraqis who don’t like us. After all, they must be stupid people
since they don’t speak English, right?
Iraqi
authorities who work for the US are now confronting the security challenge
of the last several weeks. In Falluja, coalition forces have suspended
the collective punishment we wreaked on that city, allowing members
of the Iraqi Governing Council and local leaders to try and convince
the insurgents that once they give up the city we aren’t going
to kill every one of them and hang their burned bodies from a bridge.
Of course, we might.
Our
coalition is standing with Iraqi leaders who wouldn’t even be
there if US forces weren’t protecting them as they attempt to
establish any kind of authority in their country. The transition to
what we like to call sovereignty also requires an atmosphere of security.
And our coalition is working to provide that security. We will continue
taking the greatest care to prevent harm to contractors working for
US companies. We will not permit the spread of chaos and violence unless
it is US forces conducting that violence. I have directed our military
commanders to make every preparation to use decisive force if necessary
to maintain order and to protect our troops.
On
June 30 when the flag of Iraq is raised, our handpicked Iraqi officials
will assume responsibility for a couple of the ministries of government—like
traffic and rubbish removal. On that day the transitional administrative
law will take full effect. The United States and all the nations of
our coalition will establish normal diplomatic relations with our handpicked
Iraqi government. An American embassy will open and an American ambassador
will be posted. This Embassy will oversee continued US military operations
in that country and will also manage the activities of thousands of
CIA agents, along with the work of tens of thousands of private mercenaries
they have working over there. You can be sure that the US Ambassador
will be experienced in intelligence operations and well versed in our
colonial aspirations.
According
to the schedule already approved by the Governing Council, Iraq will
hold elections for a national assembly no later than next January. This
government better well be the one we want or there will be some more
problems. Iraqis' neighbors also have responsibilities to make their
region more stable. So I'm sending Deputy Secretary of State Armitage
to the Middle East to discuss with these nations our common interest
in a free and independent Iraq and how they can help achieve this goal.
Of course, unless they agree with the plans Israel and the US have for
that region, they may very well be the next country to feel the wrath
of America’s military force.
Let
me repeat, our commitment to the success and security of Iraq will not
end on June 30. On July 1 and beyond, our reconstruction assistance
will continue and our military commitment will continue. This is necessary
in order to keep the natives down. Having forced a new government on
the Iraqi people, US military forces will be necessary to protect their
government from the large numbers Iraqis who disagree with their presence
and have no respect for its authority.
Now
is the time and Iraq is the place in which the enemies of US imperialism
are testing the will of the Empire. We must not waver. The violence
we are seeing in Iraq is familiar. The F-16 that drops a bomb on a mosque
or in a civilian neighborhood is serving the same ideology of murder
that kills innocent people on trains in Madrid and murdered children
in Vietnam and El Salvador. We've seen the same ideology of murder in
the killing of millions around the world. The attacks on the Pequot
Indians back in the 17th Century, the destruction of two cities in Japan
with nuclear weapons at the end of World War II, and in the merciless
horror inflicted upon millions of innocent men and women and children
during our war on Vietnam.
None
of these acts is the work of a religion. All are the work of a fanatical
political ideology. The servants of this ideology seek tyranny in the
Middle East and beyond. They seek to oppress and persecute women. They
seek the death of every Jew, Christian and Muslim who desires peace
over terror. They seek to set free peoples against each other. And they
seek weapons of mass destruction to blackmail and murder on a massive
scale.
We
will succeed in Iraq or we will kill a lot of people trying. We're carrying
out a decision that has already been made and will not change. Iraq
will be America’s Arab pawn. And America and Israel’s plans
for the region will be safer because of it. We serve the cause of unfettered
capital and that is always and everywhere a cause worth serving.
Ron Jacobs can be reached at: rjacobs@uvm.edu
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