US Troops Looting Alongside the Iraqis

An AP report states that American troops are looting in many areas of Baghdad, right along side the Iraqis. Earlier, I voiced a suspicion that looting would be used as a cover to destroy Saddam's files, which no doubt include info on the relationship between his regime and many in the Bush administration. The AP report includes one case in which US troops stormed one of the presidential palaces, shitting in the toilets (the Israelis did the same thing in Jenin) and "also rifling through documents."


It is also interesting to note that the ONLY facility being guarded from looting is the duty-free shop at the Baghdad airport. Why? It's where all the booze is. Since Islam forbids the use of alcohol, there's pretty little doubt just who the troops are guardeding the booze for.

Bush Issues UN a Corporate Snub

Has the UN has been invited to participate in the post-war process? To set the record straight, nNo one in the Bush administration plans to invite them. Instead, Tommy Franks is going to issue the invitation - which is, diplomatically/politically speaking, equivalent to a noninvitation. This pointless announcement by Ari Fleischer on Thursday April 10 was typical corporate Bush tactics - throw out a soundbyte that makes it seem to the uninformed as if Bush had invited Kofi Annan, when in fact he has not. Then all the Freepers can hammer on their latest piece of disinformation: "Bush invited the UN and they didn't respond."


Murdoch, Sure of Bush Big Pay off for FOX Disinformation Role in War, Gambles $6.6 billion in DirecTV Deal

Being a journalist who runs partly on intuition (most of us with low to nonexistent budgets do - and, I must say, with excellent results), I sometimes find myself getting hunches so strong that I sort of "leap ahead" in time. So last week, when I said that I thought Rupert Murdoch was trying to promote the Bush War as a way to optimally position his new DirecTV empire, I didn't know that Murdoch did not yet own the controlling share of DirecTV....the $6.6-billion deal was announced yesterday (4/10). The deal was concluded just in time for the FCC determination (due in June) of whether a media mogul can own more than 30% of the airwaves in a given market. For Murdoch to go forward with the purchase most certainly indicates deals have been worked out and that he is confident the FCC will decide in his favor. How can he be this sure ($6.6 billion sure) unless someone TOLD HIM. But the Bush administration's pattern all along has been to reward those who help promote its agenda or give it money. Murdoch's FOX coverage of the war was so outrageously one-sided that it was a travesty. So, I bet he assumes the Big Payoff is on its way.


If the Big Payoff comes through, and the gov. approves, Rupert Murdoch will control the DirecTV corporation, which brings C-SPAN to 11 million viewers. And, when this happens, we can all kiss C-SPAN goodbye as a source of unmanipulated news.


Corporate Media Tries to Deflect Anti-Bush Movement

The Bush Reich and its media minions, in a self-protective "preemptive strike," are trying to use the "end of the war" as leverage against its most vocal detractors. So now, suddenly, headlines are appearing everywhere aimed at shaping the public's perception of the anti-war movement as a "spent force," one that has succumbed to the glory of Bush's "triumph" in Iraq. Some samples: "Mood Shifts in France as War Comes to End," "Anti-war Movement Now Without a Cause," "Bush Critics Fall Silent as Baghdad Falls," etc.


The reality is, the backlash against Bush is likely to gather momentum now, because in addition to the lingering rage inspired by flagrant dismissal of dissenters and protestors, the post-war circus and the deteriorating conditions on the domestiic front will inspire even more fury. Antiwar groups are now hoping to redirect their energies in an organized thrust to dump not just Bush in the coming election, but all those who voted with him.

Calls Begin for Bush to Be Declared a War Criminal

Meanwhile, internationally, a call is already going up for Bush to be declared a war criminal and for the US to be disarmed by the UN.


Here's a story from the Times of India: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow


"The UK based Indian Workers Association on Wednesday demanded registration of ‘a war criminal case' against UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush at the Court of International Justice, Hague. They said the leaders had attacked Iraq against the set international norms Demanding action against Blair and Bush, the IWA also asked United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan to withdraw veto power from both the countries, as they had brought disrepute to the UN charter.


IWA overseas spokesman Hardeep Singh in a written statement demanded that Annan should call an emergency general body meeting of UN and immediately expel US, UK and Spain. He stated that UN should also impose sanctions against them. IWA also demanded moving of a resolution to disarm these countries which are posing threat to the world peace and sovereignty of independent countries.


Referring to a survey of anti-war coalition, Great Britain, co-sponsored by IWA, the spokesman said about 80 per cent British and rest of the world were against the war on Iraq. The war had been unleashed by the duo on the pretext of eliminating alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but both countries were in possession of about 60 per cent of the total WMD in the world, he said. He added while the war might bring huge profits to monopolist multinational corporations, it had brought nothing but death and devastation to the ordinary Iraqis."


Amy Goodman Offers Yet More Proof that Journalist Attacks were Pentagon 'Hits'

Amy Goodman was on C-SPAN this morning -Go, Amy Go!!! Among other critical topics, she confronted the issue of the Pentagon's murderous attacks on journalists. One of the vital pieces of information that she got out was that Al-Jazeera had REPEATEDLY contacted the Pentagon with the precise coordinates of their studio to insure that they would not accidentally be targeted. Yet the studio was bombed - a direct, precise and very obviously intentional hit, which killed one journalist.

Goodman pointed out that the Palestine Hotel, fired on by a US tank,, killing or injuring several journalists, was well known to be the temporary home of the western press corps - an estimated 200 journalists were at the hotel - "packed like sardines, " as Goodman observed. From this information, I myself suspect that the tank attack was intended to be far more deadly than it was. A reporter on the scene said that the tank very methodically lined up its shots. There was no firing from the hotel, as the Pentagon reported, netiher before nor after the attack by the tank. It was a cold-blooded "hit."



Manipulation of Iraq Coverage Detailed By Michael Wolf of "New York Magazine"

Michael Wolf of "New York Magazine" reveals what a sham the mainstream media war coverage was. Wolf said that there was a very consistent effort made to manipulate the news in Pentagon briefings. The Pentagon officials were always very careful to avoid the reporters they knew from past experience were likely to ask more challenging questions. A particular effort was made to make the foreign press look foolish. " If you were a ridiculous person in the foreign media, they would always call on you, so they [and viewing public] could dismiss you." This would be like having the class clown with a GPA of 1.8 represent your college at a highly competitive, serious academic college conference.

Attack Dogs in Freeper Kennel Numbers about 3,000

While overseas, Wolf was the victim of a Freeper attack organized by Rush Limbaugh. While Limbaugh sat on his lazy, cowardly, pompous ass back in the states, he sicced his kennel of rabid attack dogs on Wolf, who became the recipient of some 3,000 typical Freeper hate e-mails. Their content, as Wolf put it, was too ugly, embarrassing, and primitive to even repeat.


Hey! I just realized this! Every recipient of a sudden mass hate-mail attack lately has gotten an estimated 3,000 e-mails in a sudden flood - NBC re: Peter Arnett, the Dixie Chicks, now Wolf. So this means that this is the extent of the Freeper kennel - 3,000, that works out to about 60 attack dogs per state. Not exactly a mandate! But the attack dogs are well organized and well trained.


As a journalist, over the years, I have come to know what a typical REAL pattern of responses to articles or newscasts is. You get a flow of immediate responses, pro and con, then, if the topic has really tripped some triggers, you may continue to get mail for two or three weeks after that, with some trickling in afterward. In the case of Freeper attacks, there is always a delay of a day or two as the target is detected and marked out by the attack dog kennel handlers, be it Rush Limbaugh, the Free Republic webmasters or Michael Savage. Then the target is suddenly inundated by hatemail - all equally primitive of content, grammar and spelling - within a short period.


Of course, there is a more sophisticated version of this type of attack for other occasions: "letters to the editor" or "letters to Congress" campaigns, where form letters (believe it or not!) may be developed and used by the Freeps to "stuff the ballot boxes," so to speak. The end result is an illusion of critical mass.

Pat Robertson Prays for Iraqis not to Descend to "their Animal Natures"


Pat Robertson has his own bizarre counterpart to Bush's grandiose :Operation Iraqi Freedom. He calls it Operation Prayer Shield. These prayers are apparently devoted exclusively to the war cause, and to AMERICAN troops - no mention made of anyone else, esp. the Iraqis. The one prayer he offered for the Iraqis was for God not to let them loot American facilities, and don't let them break down into " their animal nature." Anyone knowing fundy Christian doctrine will know just what a horrible slam this is. The fundies believe that they are separate from the animals, that animals have no souls, and that humans are made in the image of God, though they are "fallen angels" until "saved." So to refer to the "animal natures" of Iraqis is to, in essence call them subhuman.

If you go up onto Robertson's Christian Broadcasting network online (www.cbn.com), you will find "Military Prayer Points" - when you click onto this sublink, you discover that to get your military prayer points, just sent $10 for the DVD or $23 for the VHS - FREE if you use them for your whole church (and thus render the propaganda more effective).


www.faithflashes.com/military.htm



.... Speaking of bloodthirsty rightwing Christian fundy wackos, yesterday, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, one of the Republican members opened their testimony by quoting passages from Isaiah on the fall of Babylon....