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Beyond
Antiwar Protests - 28 April '03
Unpublished
On Sat 4/5/03, the Sentinel & Enterprise
ran the story, “A pacifist wants to
move beyond antiwar protests” which
stated that protests should have stopped after
the Iraq war began, and anti-war activists
should have begun addressing the psychological
needs of Americans afflicted by the war. Prayer
vigils that welcome military family members,
and efforts to counsel and console sufferers
were suggested. Worthy suggestions. But activists
should also augment another function--public
education.
Some people think we should have avoided the
Iraq violence; others don’t. The difference
seems based upon a difference of information
people have at hand. Vietnam protests helped
prevent more suffering by bringing pertinent
information out of the media shadows. Unfortunately,
to be well informed, we can’t just sit
back with the evening news or a couple of
mainstream news publications. For example,
defense contractor General Electric owns NBC.
There are heavy oil (Saudi) investments in
Fox. The other networks are similarly tainted.
We must actively seek alternatives.
Questions each of us might consider are: do
private interests who stand to profit enormously
covertly encourage and even contrive threats
in the first place? And what if they also
control the government?
Quite sufficiently, covert treachery is historically
proven. And if there’s even the slightest
chance going forward, doesn’t each of
us owe it to our young men and women to investigate?
Many protesters invested tremendous time and
effort, sometimes in the bitter cold, when
they could have been relaxing at home. Most
honor our soldiers, but worry that their devotion
is criminally abused. Granted, such ruthlessness
isn’t an easy thing for many Americans
to face up to or want to understand. Some
deny or reject it out of hand (condemnation
without investigation).
Proven treacheries: Battleship Maine--a scam
that fomented war with Spain; Gulf of Tonkin--a
lie that led to the Vietnam War, which was
CIA instigated; JFK assassination--a CIA/Mafia
operation covered up by the Warren Commission;
Iran-Contra--weapons sales to the enemy of
our supported friend, Saddam; BCCI scandal--CIA
people and Saudis supporting arms dealers,
laundering drug money, and financing terrorism;
CIA/Mafia/Daddy Bush & Sons orchestration
of the S&L Scandal in the 1980s. And strong
evidence now points to homeland treachery
in 9/11.
Consider the Carlysle Group, US-based international
arms broker and investment group: President:
Frank Carlucci, former CIA deputy director.
His sidekick, James Baker III, Secretary of
State under Daddy Bush. Overseas representatives:
John Major, former British Prime Minister;
Daddy Bush, former CIA director. Carlysle
financially manages the Saudi Binladen Corporation
(Osama’s family) which helped George
W. make millions at Harken Energy. Osama’s
brother was represented on Harken’s
board.
When government becomes infiltrated by such
ruthless elitist manipulators, patriotism
and military courage become exploited commodities.
Private war agendas are woven into purported
noble ones. This is the "hook"--a
con-game variation on the "protection
racket." We end up fighting for corporate
conflict-makers who consider soldiers expendable
tools. Right after Congress passed a support
resolution for our soldiers in Iraq, the House
voted to cut veterans’ benefits by nearly
$25 billion over ten years. A revealing, (and
disgusting) travesty.
The U.S. is the most dangerous infiltrated
government, with a military budget equaling
the total of the next 28 nations, and bases
in 120 countries. That means a huge citizen
responsibility, and demands vigilance, investigation,
and involvement with representatives.
Key point: the government is NOT the country
(Constitution). Soldiers are sworn to uphold
and protect the Constitution "...against
all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC." But
it’s also a primary civilian duty to
protect the country from the government, when,
in the course of human events...
Carrying signs goes only so far. The peace
movement and activists can play an important
role in continuously expanding public awareness.
Trillions of dollars, the environment, and
the lives of soldiers and innocents are at
stake.
Hatton
Response - 1 April '03
Unpublished
David Hatton's 3/31/03 letter (Those who disagree
with U.S. military action in Iraq are unpatriotic)
in response to Anthony Lorenzen's 3/22 letter
is emotional, chauvinistic drivel--a pompous
sixth-grade ramble full of misinformation
and omissions. I'm sure Mr. Lorenzen is capable
of his own response, but I want to add my
support.
Hatton says that UN Resolution 1441 stipulates
use of force. It does not, but uses the phrase
"serious consequences." Those thirsting
for conflict and blood would interpret that
as meaning Shock and Awe.
He admonishes Lorenzen to get the facts. Here's
some: Former Chief Inspector for UNSCOM, Scott
Ritter, has stated over again that the first
wave of inspections was achieving major success
until it was aborted prematurely at the behest
of the U.S. government, apparently in anticipation
of the need for an excuse for the current
war. The lie was that Saddam "kicked
the inspectors out." This was around
the time that Halliburton was doing all that
business with Saddam, an acknowledged enemy
of the U.S. What do we call this? Oh, yes—treason.
Hatton is indignant that anyone should question
our "military members." They are
angels beyond reproach, while he ignores the
ones who have come out against this war. He
says top officials such as Tommy Franks have
said they'll find chemical weapons. A possibility,
since we sold them to Saddam (not to mention
West Nile virus) in criminal violation of
international treaty. Hatton says that Iraq
has already launched weapons "they don't
have." All Iraqi weapons in use, including
missiles, have been defensive ones allowed
by Res 1441.
On the other hand, the "humane war"
is once again being fought with radioactive
munitions. In 1991, the Allies fired 944,000
Depleted-Uranium rounds, poisoning our own
soldiers and leaving at least 320 metric tons
of DU on the battlefield (a Pentagon admission).
A UK Atomic Energy Authority report said that
some 500,000 people will die before the end
of this century, due to radioactive debris
left in the desert. Can you imagine the moaning
from Bush if Saddam had committed such a war
crime? Now, three British soldiers in action
have protested the war and how it's being
fought, increasingly endangering civilians.
That's courage and integrity.
Hatton praises our "elite government
intelligence agencies," such as FBI and
CIA. They cannot lie, be mistaken, or be servants
of money and power. FBI whistle-blower Colleen
Rowley (a Time Magazine person of the year)
exposed her supervisors, who prevented field
agents from looking into Zacarias Moussaoui's
computer. He was arrested before 9/11, but
only later was the plot exposed. In other
words, 9/11 could have been stopped. The supervisors
were promoted. Forgotten in a simliar scenario
is John O'Neill, the former director of antiterrorism
in the New York office of the FBI, who resigned
in protest of official obstruction he faced
when investigating Saudi involvement in terrorism.
And it has been shown that the Warren Commission
covered up the conspiracy to assassinate JFK,
in which the CIA took part. Forgotten is Iran-Contra,
where CIA was selling weapons to Iran while
Saddam was fighting it with our support and
blessing. Anyone who trusts implicitly the
CIA and our secrect agencies is either brainwashed
or on the stupid side of naive.
Hatton notes the more than 40 countries who
support the war effort, but fails to note
that in the overwhelming majority of them,
the people are majorly opposed. It's only
the more knowledgeable and trustworthy leaders,
possibly browbeaten, bribed and sucking up,
who have come along for the ride, maybe sent
a wheelbarrow along. Let's face it, it's the
U.S. and Britain, with some Aussies.
I'll give Hatton the point about flag burning
not being patriotic, but add that flag burners
and blind flag wavers like him both miss the
point: The flag stands for the country and
the Constitution, not the government. If "following
the Constitution and dissenting doesn't make
you a patriot," then how does violating
it and bending obediently to corrupt "authority"
do so? The Constitution and the Declaration
make it a solemn duty of each citizen to protect
the country and the Constitution from the
government with constant scrutiny, questioning
and even dismantling if needed. I submit that
such need has never been greater in U.S. history.
Bin
Forgotten - 25 March '03
Unpublished
I congratulate the Sentinel & Enterprise
for the "Osama bin fogotten" editorial
on 3/24/03. It notes that the Bush administration
never mentions Osama bin Laden unless directly
questioned, and that it omitted the mention
of his name from a progress report on the
war on terrorism recently sent to Congress
by Bush. It's suggested that "the White
House doesn't want to dwell on the fugitive
terrorist still being at large." This
is plausible enough, if a bit obvious; but
we need to look at plausible motives for the
obvious.
Many independent investigators believe that
it goes deeper than the implied embarrassment
over "losing" him. This matter is
extremely important, especially to the 9/11
families, and needs further investigation
and coverage by the media. Over 400 members
of the families are suing the US government,
not just for prior knowledge, but for complicity.
Their lawyer, Stanley Hilton, former senior
adviser and counsel to Bob Dole, claims to
have solid evidence highly incriminating to
the U.S. government.
Some
of this has also come out here and there in
mainstream news--but only in pieces. The families
have been in a lonely and difficult struggle
with this, and I believe they deserve strong
public support. It's critical because the
war on terror, and the current sacrifice of
life in Iraq are predicated on the official
line.
Osama is not "bin forgotten" at
the White House, but it might be pleased if
the rest of us forgot about him and the questionable
circumstances surrounding the Tower attack.
The official 9/11 Commission has been stonewalled
in two important ways. First, only $3 million
have been allocated to investigate the worst
attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor. Compare
that to the $70 million spent investigating
the sexual dalliance of Bill Clinton. Secondly,
Bush has appointed two highly suspect individuals
in a row to head the Commission, the second
one being a business partner with Osama's
brother-in-law. If the Warren Commission could
obscure the truth about the assassination
of its own government's president, what can,
or would, a commission not cover up? And allowing
Bush to pick the chief investigator smacks
of the fox guarding the hen house.
Furthermore,
elements in the government have been sabotaging
investigations. FBI whistle-blower Coleen
Rowley (a Time Magazine person of the year)
exposed her supervisors, who prevented field
agents from looking into Zacarias Moussaoui's
computer. Moussaoui had been arrested before
9/11, but because of the stonewalling, only
later was the computer data on the 9/11 plot
exposed.
In
other words, the attack could have been stopped.
The
supervisors were promoted. Too soon forgotten
also is John O'Neill, the former director
of antiterrorism in the New York office of
the FBI, who resigned in protest of official
obstructions he faced when investigating Saudi
involvements. He died in bitterly ironic fashion--in
a Tower courageously trying to rescue people.
It looks very much like members of the Bush
administration (some of whom have been in
positions of power for over 25 years) are
deeply complicit in the attacks on America.
These corporate elitists are internationalists--fascists
posing as patriots. They advise, influence
and control the government that sends our
young people to battle to serve selfish and
ruthless agendas. They establish, coddle and
dance with dictators, and they work to create
"reasons" to wage war and rescind
our civil liberties. This is all coming out
with increasing momentum. Once it breaks,
it will gel America into solidarity, as we
see who and where the enemy is and in what
way it regards human life and the Constitution.
War
Editorials Answer - 21 March '03
Unpublished
Two Sentinel & Enterprise editorials on
Friday, 3/21 deserve special comment: “This
War is Justified,” and “Why should
the U.S. invade Iraq? It’s simple,”
by Jay Ambrose. Both “Psy-Ops”
pieces attempt apology for the notion of Liberation
Through Obliteration as an acceptable form
of international politics. Both are so ludicrous
that it avails little to address their canned,
sound-bite rhetoric directly.
In light of past government and corporate
scandals, it’s amazing that some people
allow no possibility of anything other than
noble motives for a brutal attack on a living
city of about 5 million people. Nothing underhanded
can be going on, right? Nothing worth questioning,
anyway.
Even though widely-exposed scandals are relatively
few compared to what actually goes on in the
world, they serve as windows to what happens
in big business/politics/intrigue. Examples
include the JFK assassination and coverup
(GHW Bush/CIA/Mafia); Watergate and the Pentagon
Papers; Iran-Contra; Pacific Gas and Electric’s
willful poisoning of its employees and its
entire host community (Erin Brockovich story);
the Karen Silkwood story (willfully exposing
people to radioactivity), the vicious Union
Carbide incident in Bhopal, India; and the
vinyl chloride assault, wherein chemical companies
knowingly poisoned employees and the American
people.
These examples provide a common lesson. Where
big money and/or special interests are at
stake, human life often comes last. These
incidents represent only millions of dollars
for which corporate types have proven they
are eager to subvert inalienable human rights.
It would be naive, if not purely stupid, to
regard them as isolated or specialized incidents.
What can we imagine the incentive to be when
the stakes are in the multiple billions or
even trillions, as with oil, weapons, war
and re-construction?
After WW II we rebuilt Germany and Japan.
Who are “we”? The payers were
the taxpayers while the profiteers were those
who reaped billions from both sides of a war
they contrived behind the scenes. The elitists
must roll around on the boardroom floors laughing
at the gullibility of the people, who repeatedly
fall for the ruthless, bloodthirsty, blow-it-up/fix-it-up,
good-cop/bad-cop con game in the name of freedom
and justice. (Most terrorism is also a “protection
racket.”)
Similarly, after Desert Storm, Bechtel, Inc.,
whose government servants were its execs Caspar
Weinberger and George Schultz, got the Kuwait
reconstruction contract. Pre-war speculation
about rebuild profits never materialized because
the damage, though significant, wasn’t
as great as anticipated. That tactical error
has been corrected with Shock and Awe. And
even before the first “liberation”
bomb was dropped, Halliburton (which sends
a $million/year to Dick Cheney) had lined
up $billions in reconstruction contracts in
Iraq. Mr. Ambrose is correct. It’s “simple,”
all right--a simple matter of accounting.
Baghdad is now in flames and rubble. This
is somehow “justifiable” and “simple?”
Such target practice to get one man who might
someday have weapons he could use to attack
the U.S. (once he convinces the Saudis to
finance his future terrorist group instead
of al-Qaeda)? When non-violent disarmament
could have been accomplished with persistent
inspection?
This horrific, unconstitutional, unprovoked
attack on a dense urban area in violation
of the Nuremburg Charter is a monstrous terrorist
act. It makes 9/11 (Saddam had nothing to
do with that) a walk in the park. The Bush
Administration's criminal resort to limitless
violence in order to achieve its objectives
is hypocrisy and cowardice in the extreme:
the most powerful military in the world waging
a first-strike attack with advanced weaponry
against an impoverished country on the pretext
that it may someday possess a mere semblance
of such weapons.
Meanwhile, with over 60 unresolved UN resolutions
(one as old as #342), longtime invader and
occupier of neighbors’ lands, chronic
ethnic cleanser, possessing nuclear weapons,
and with a high living standard, Israel gets
$14 million/day of our tax money string-free
to buy high tech weapons and armored bulldozers
to level buildings and peoples’ homes
and any women in the way. Oh what rhetoric
we’d hear if Saddam ran over someone
with a bulldozer. Truth be told, Israel needs
liberation far more than money.
The world has entered a new phase. The Bush
Administration seems hell bent on bullying
defiance. The attack on Iraq suggests that
raw military power will be the means to a
newly brazen corporate empire, possibly with
an Israeli/American facade. The authors of
the editorials should rejoice in the accomplished
goal: Saddam is no longer the butcher in the
world’s eyes. George Bush and America
are.
Iraq
War Motives - 17 Mar '03
Unpublished
In discussions about patriotism, terrorism,
war, and so on, it seems that disagreement
often arises from disparate views of historical
events or different ideas about which to emphasize.
One writer cited numerous terrorist events,
saying that cowardly France has not answered
the call to fight terrorism. Not included
in this diatribe was that terrorism has been
for decades, and is being, supported by financial
networks with close ties to American corporations,
government officials, and CIA/FBI personnel.
According to Richard Perle, former US government
officials are connected to terrorist funding:
“The Saudis are a major source of the
problem we face with terrorism. That would
be far more obvious to people if it weren’t
for this community of former diplomats effectively
working for this foreign government."
US links to terror are made easily (read “Forbidden
Truth” by Brisard and Dasquie), while
there are none between Saddam and same. Fortune
Magazine reported that Thomas Kean, the President’s
choice to head the 9/11 investigation, and
Bush himself, share an unusually well-placed
business partner: Khalid bin Mahfouz--aka
"Osama's bagman" or "Osama's
brother-in-law." Because of the business
relationships Osama and his family have with
the Bushes and the CIA, and because his family
is a part of the Saudi government, Osama wasn’t
captured.
We could add a few terrorist-like acts to
the list. 1) American Flying Fortresses dumping
gasoline bombs on Dresden in 1945, resulting
in the excruciating murder of 100,000 people.
2) 3,630 nighttime bombing runs in 14 months
on a country the size of Missouri, killing
650,000 innocent Cambodians during Vietnam.
3) The “economic” sanctions on
Iraq, depriving it of such weapons of mass
destruction as water, food and medicine. This
has killed a million people, half of them
children. Imagine having to drink feces-laden
water.
Ex-Marine and military analyst Daniel Ellsberg,
who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, has
called on government officials to leak documents
showing Bush administration lies in its case
against Saddam. He warned that whistleblowers
may face ruined careers and marriages and
be incarcerated, but said, "Do what I
wish I had done before the bombs started falling
in Vietnam.”
Stanley Hilton, former senior adviser and
counsel to Bob Dole, has not received media
attention, but he's the lawyer for over 400
of the 9/11 families. He’s suing the
US government, not just for prior knowledge,
but for complicity. He claims to have evidence
and witnesses as depositions, government agents,
and a wife of a supposed hijacker, that hijackers
were paid, funded, housed, and protected by
the U.S. government. Some hijackers were trained
at a secret military program at Pensacola,
Florida. A lot of this has come out here and
there in mainstream news--but only in pieces.
For Hilton’s story, go to: www.prisonplanet.com/jones_report_031403_hilton.html
For the audio: www.prisonplanet.com/hilton_03_11_03.mp3
Another writer noted our debt to the military,
quoting a JFK speech. (I don’t disparage
the military, rather its misuse in service
to private interests in contrived and phony
wars, like Vietnam and the Gulf War.) The
writer did not emphasize that JFK was assassinated
by our own people (CIA/Mafia), and that this
was covered up for decades by the government,
which is now covering up 9/11 as an excuse
to strip civil liberties, institute tyranny,
and indenture our soldiers to serve the agenda
of power mongers.
What can we say of government policy to make
high-explosive weapons from radioactive uranium
waste, sell them to other nations, and employ
them in combat, heavily exposing our troops
without warning them. A policy of convenient
corporate waste disposal that poisons the
Earth with material that persists for millions
of years. Our military is made up of our family
members, and no doubt has served with honorable
intent. But since the Gulf War, over 9,000
of the more than 136,000 American soldiers
exposed to our depleted-uranium dust have
died. Many others have “mysterious,”
debilitating health problems. And unspeakable
radiation birth defects are happening to Iraqi
mothers at the rate of 2/day. Go to www.alkhilafah.info/massacres/iraq/
and follow the links to “Extreme Birth
Deformities” (not for the faint of heart).
We keep hearing nonsense about “liberating”
Iraq. To do this, we would behave like Saddam,
commit a war which, militarily, is comparable
to six bullies kicking a quadraplegic lying
face down; kill another estimated half million
people; ignore the UN to make clear to Saddam
that the UN cannot be ignored; wage war to
preserve the UN’s ability to avert war;
subvert the UN’s word to show that it’s
word must be taken seriously; and in this
case, use 3000 bombs in 48 hours, demonstrating
the democratic principle of Liberation Through
Obliteration. Meanwhile, Halliburton, from
which Dick Cheney still gets $1 million/year,
has already got the post-war oilfield rebuild
contracts.
Certainly, few nations can cast the first
stone, but I disagree with the prejudiced
hatred that defines a people, such as we’ve
heard about France during WW II, as a cowardly
nation. Such grossly generalized Klan rhetoric
ignores the heroic French resistance and underground
and runs contrary to American ideals. But,
if we don’t get control of our government
and its ruthless corporate masters, history
may send some nasty rhetoric toward America
as a nation of sociopathic hypocrites who
crow about freedom and justice but deprive
others of them and commit genocide in the
process.
Response
to S. Ciccolini's Response to My 19 Feb Letter
Published
3 Mar '03, Sentinel & Enterprise
Stephen Ciccolini's 2/26 response to me, "US
Citizens allowed to voice their views"
is welcome, because it provides some tasty
bits of misinformed illogic. First, the Constitution
doesn't confer the "right" to free
speech, it protects that inherent right. His
implication is that we should be so grateful
that we don't exercise that right. Go someplace
else and do it. Highly patriotic! Did I mention
blindness previously? There is also the implication
that our republic (not a democracy, Stephen)
is the only place in the world where that
right is protected. Typical chauvinistic arrogance
that avoids the issue.
As for the rest of his uninformed ranting,
if Mr. Ciccolini had any savvy about the Constitution,
he'd know it's a sovereign's solemn duty,
not a right, to monitor, question and even
oppose the government, which is NOT the country
(this latter point he seems not to understand
either).
Consider two quotes:
"Government is not reason, it is not
eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome
servant and a fearful master. Never for a
moment should it be left to irresponsible
action." This ranting comes from that
renowned Socialist Commie pinko, George Washington.
The second:
"Naturally the common people don't want
war. . . That is understood. But, after all,
it is the leaders of the country who determine
policy and it is always a simple matter to
drag the people along, whether it is a democracy,
or a fascist dictatorship. . . Voice or no
voice, the people can always be brought to
the bidding of the leaders. . . All you have
to do is tell them they are being attacked
and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism
and exposing the country to danger. It works
the same in any country." This comes
from one who would have been a welcome addition
to the Bush cabal: Hermann Goering.
Stephen, please do some homework, will ya?
In the meantime, I can recommend a good massage
therapist if you pull a muscle blindly waving
your flag.
Soldier's
Duty/Military Respect
Published
19 Feb '03, Sentinel & Enterprise
I've
heard talk lately about giving support and
respect to people in the armed services. The
issue seems to revolve around separating politics
and right vs wrong on the one hand from the
enlisted person's motives, honor and duty
on the other.
Local news stories tell of financial woes,
unemployment, call-ups of public servants
and teachers, and the pain of family separation.
Not mentioned, however, is the Pentagon plan
to blast the living daylights out of Iraqi
families with 6 to 8 hundred million dollars
worth of missiles on Baghdad alone in the
first two days. I wonder what our attitude
would be if we knew that even one Cruise missile
($1 million each) was going to strike families
somewhere in Leominster, maybe even a school
or a church. If the media would show details
about what has been done to the Iraqi people
and others, with Depleted-Uranium munitions
alone, and what will be done should this war
proceed, most pro-war minds would change rapidly.
We've already had the dark lesson: Blind duty
can result, and has unquestionably resulted,
in brave and dedicated soldiers having their
lives racked by guilt and mental illness,
and many ended by suicide, from having killed
innocents, including children, in falsely
predicated and contrived wars such as Vietnam
and the Gulf War. How convenient for dissembling,
greedy, power-drunk, bloodthirsty leaders
to have unquestioning force at their disposal.
If people are going to enlist and expose themselves
to such potential, perhaps they should take
personal responsibility and do some homework,
or they may find they've killed under the
mere pretext of honor. But civilians are asked
to facilitate such a fate for our soldiers
by "respecting" and being grateful
to those who go unquestioningly to blow up
the Earth and families and children just like
those they purport to defend. No amount of
"respect" or "support"
is likely to lift that weight from a soul
when reality hits. I'm very concerned about
this for our servicepeople and their families.
Remember: soldiers are sworn to uphold and
protect the Constitution, not politicians,
not even Presidents, and certainly not multinational
companies. Following orders in war can result
in the death and maiming of many innocent
people, so it seems highly incumbent upon
individual soldiers to be sure they are serving
that sworn duty and not merely ruthless special
interest operating through, or even as, the
government. In that case, it would truly serve
duty, honor and the Constitution to refuse
orders and drop weapons beforehand. If the
military were now going to defend the Constitution,
they would be heading for Washington DC to
depose President Bush and his oily, defense-contractor
cronies who are filthying the Constitution
and its ideals.
The armed services should get respect, but
not merely because they serve without determining
what they serve. And if they don't, they and
their families shouldn't be disappointed or
surprised by the informed response they get
at home. And those who support the troops
in spite and ignorance of political reality
do them worse disservice than dissenters by
abrogating our sacred responsibility to them,
to the Constitution, to fellow beings, human
compassion and the Earth itself. Perhaps someone
with a loved one in uniform will write in
and address this issue from that perspective.
Smelling
Salts
Published
31 Jan '03, Sentinel & Enterprise
Dirty
politics and money scandals in Massachusetts
are no secret (Big Dig a good example). Millions
of dollars are soul tempting.
But consider a tiny portion of our national
scandals, where $billions, even $trillions
have been, and are, at stake: Bay of Pigs
(Mafia/CIA); JF Kennedy assassination (Mafia/CIA);
Warren Commission coverup; Watergate (Nixon
and others); S&L scandal (Bush family/Mafia/CIA);
Iran-Contra (GHW Bush/CIA/military); BCCI
scandal-crash (GHW Bush/Bill Clinton/Bank
of America/CIA—BCCI founded by the US
intelligence community, was laundering drug-money
and covertly funding Iran-Contra, Saddam Hussein
and terrorist groups); Enron/Halliburton (GW
Bush/Dick Cheney/CIA). It would be extremely
naive to conclude that such activities are
rare.
This history and human nature notwithstanding,
some people still doubt that greedy intrigue
could extend to war-mongering, or what I call
the "blow-it-up/fix-it-up" merry-go-round.
Such doubt testifies to the mass hypnosis
induced by popular history, pablum news, and
cultural myth. The big dollars are in war
and its aftermath, supported by the domestic
Big Sell of America's Macho Good-Guy self-image.
Hey, we rebuilt Germany and Japan after WW
II, right? And how about feeding starving
foreigners? Well, for the most part, those
people wouldn't be starving if they hadn't
been colonized, had their lands appropriated
and raped for profit, and their cultures polluted
by the same brute force that drives today's
multinational corporate agendas.
History dispassionately recounts "explorers"
and "colonists" sailing to a foreign
land and simply taking over, usually by violence.
Australian Aborigines lived for thousands
of years in blissful harmony with the land.
After Whitey arrived, displaced them, and
installed capitalism, they succumbed to "poverty"
and disease.
The
same blessings were bestowed upon Africans
and Native Americans, and continued under
new guise in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and now
Iraq. Once military-industrial profits flow
from blowing the hell out of Iraq twice, new
territory for profit, power and control opens
up. Can't wait to see golden arches in Baghdad.
Brutal governments, assassinations, illegal
drug trade, and wars, including the Gulf War,
are being covertly managed, and the debtors
(the people) and profiters (political leaders
and elitists) never vary. After the Gulf War,
multinational construction company Bechtel
got the contract to rebuild Kuwait. Two of
its officers had been "on loan"
to the Reagan Administration—-George
Schultz (Sec'y State) and Caspar Weinberger
(Sec'y Defense and Iran-Contra player "pardoned"
by pal GHW Bush).
What might it take to purge the self-righteous
American platitude: evil dwells elsewhere
and war is unavoidable to defeat it, even
if war is hell? Can such uninformed sanctimony
ever be cleansed? An opportunity looms. If
anyone might support Bush's blood-lust, it
would be the families of 9/11. Instead, they
are all clamoring for thorough investigation
into American complicity in, even planning
of, the Twin-Tower excuse for war and the
Patriot-Homeland Nazification of America—potential
profits dwarf the value of the buildings.
The truth of 9/11 has already been sufficiently
reported in books and on the Internet, but
has not yet breached our somnambulent mass
media. But the truth would be a strong smelling
salt for the swooning, information-deprived
evening news crowd, and, hopefully, not too
late to save some lives and what remains of
the Constitution.
US
Scandal History, 29 Jan '03
Unpublished
Dirty
politics and money scandals in Massachusetts
are no secret (Big Dig a good example). Millions
of dollars are soul tempting.
But consider a tiny portion of our national
scandals, where $billions, even $trillions
have been, and are, at stake: Bay of Pigs
(Mafia/CIA); JF Kennedy assassination (Mafia/CIA);
Warren Commission coverup; Watergate (Nixon
and others); S&L scandal (Bush family/Mafia/CIA);
Iran-Contra (GHW Bush/CIA/military); BCCI
scandal-crash (GHW Bush/Bill Clinton/Bank
of America/CIA—BCCI founded by the US
intelligence community, was laundering drug-money
and covertly funding Iran-Contra, Saddam Hussein
and terrorist groups); Enron/Halliburton (GW
Bush/Dick Cheney/CIA). It would be extremely
naive to conclude that such activities are
rare.
This history and human nature notwithstanding,
some people still doubt that greedy intrigue
could extend to war-mongering, or what I call
the "blow-it-up/fix-it-up" merry-go-round.
Such doubt testifies to the mass hypnosis
induced by popular history, pablum news, and
cultural myth. The big dollars are in war
and its aftermath, supported by the domestic
Big Sell of America's Macho Good-Guy self-image.
Hey, we rebuilt Germany and Japan after WW
II, right? And how about feeding starving
foreigners? Well, for the most part, those
people wouldn't be starving if they hadn't
been colonized, had their lands appropriated
and raped for profit, and their cultures polluted
by the same brute force that drives today's
multinational corporate agendas.
History dispassionately recounts "explorers"
and "colonists" sailing to a foreign
land and simply taking over, usually by violence.
Australian Aborigines lived for thousands
of years in blissful harmony with the land.
After Whitey arrived, displaced them, and
installed capitalism, they succumbed to "poverty"
and disease. The same blessings were bestowed
upon Africans and Native Americans, and continued
under new guise in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and
now Iraq. Once military-industrial profits
flow from blowing the hell out of Iraq twice,
new territory for profit, power and control
opens up. Can't wait to see golden arches
in Baghdad.
Brutal governments, assassinations, illegal
drug trade, and wars, including the Gulf War,
are being covertly managed, and the debtors
(the people) and profiters (political leaders
and elitists) never vary. After the Gulf War,
multinational construction company Bechtel
got the contract to rebuild Kuwait. Two of
its officers had been "on loan"
to the Reagan Administration—George
Schultz (Sec'y State) and Caspar Weinberger
(Sec'y Defense and Iran-Contra player "pardoned"
by pal GHW Bush).
What might it take to purge the self-righteous
American platitude: evil dwells elsewhere
and war is unavoidable to defeat it, even
if war is hell? Can such uninformed sanctimony
ever be cleansed? An opportunity looms. If
anyone might support Bush's blood-lust, it
would be the families of 9/11. Instead, they
are all clamoring for thorough investigation
into American complicity in, even planning
of, the Twin-Tower excuse for war and the
Patriot-Homeland Nazification of America—potential
profits dwarf the value of the buildings.
The truth of 9/11 has already been sufficiently
reported in books and on the Internet, but
has not yet breached our somnambulent mass
media. But the truth would be a strong smelling
salt for the swooning, information-deprived
evening news crowd, and, hopefully, not too
late to save some lives and what remains of
the Constitution.
Poor
Excuses for Iraq Attack
Published
24 Jan '03, Sentinel & Enterprise
I
would like to respond to the editorial on
1/22/03 entitled "Some Questions for
Protesters." It begins with the misleading
statement about "thousands" of protesters.
More accurately, hundreds of thousands--bigger
than anything since Vietnam, and more impressive
given it's pre-emptive nature.
The White House is wrong in threatening pre-emptive
war. Two small reasons: it violates the Constitution
and the Nuremberg Charter. No less a figure
than Ramsey Clark, with a law professor from
the University of Illinois, among others,
are calling for impeachment of Bush, and,
by implication, his oil-soaked, hawk-mate
Cabinet. Even Pentagon officials are opposing
Bush, who stands alone, with the exception
of Tony Blair (surprise!)
There are two questions put, the first being
whether Saddam is a threat to the US.
Reasons:
1) He is capable of genocide, having "murdered"
100,000 Kurds.
Answer: Not mentioned is that the Kurds, at
the urging of our own humanitarian Henry Kissinger,
were uprising against Saddam, and were thus
an enemy. What would Bush do if 100,000 Americans
stormed Washington, DC? Saddam used US-sourced
weapons against the Kurds, who were told they
would have our support, and so exposed themselves.
Remember,
the US "murdered" over a million
civilians in Vietnam. Are we guilty of genocide?
Should we not disarm as well? We stood by
in virtual silence during the mass murder
by Indonesia's General Suharto, set up by
Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger with US weapons,
of 250,000 East Timorese civilians.
2) Saddam's government has admitted having
nuclear weapons in the past.
Answer: That's the past, folks! We have satellites
that can watch you taking a crap from space.
When Scott Ritter was UNSCOM Chief Inspector,
they found radioactive material thrown out
by a hospital that couldn't have blown your
nose. All fuel-processing and weapons manufacturing
facilities were dismantled at that time.
3) Saddam has offered rewards to survivors
of terrorists who have killed innocent Israelis,
and he hates Israel.
Answer: Ooops! I thought we were talking about
threats to the US. Oh, excuse me, right you
are. IsraelAmerica gets an annual $60 billion
gift to buy F-16s and high tech weapons to
use against those rock-throwing Palestinian
"terrorists." Where's the same,
good-Christian concern for war-threatened
innocent Iraqis that the author lavishes upon
Israelis?
Second question is how do you get Saddam to
disarm and never again build weapons of mass
destruction (WMD)?
Answer: How is it that a country is expected
forever to be defenseless, when its neighbors,
almost all of whom have been in wars, all
have attack weapons. What did Saddam do? After
being told that the US had no interest in
border disputes in the Middle East, he attacked
Kuwait, a country carved arbitrarily out of
Iraq by the King Colonists, the British. What
would we do if someone carved New England
out of the US (a lot of which was carved out
of Mexico, by the way) and made it a country?
Furthermore, Kuwaiti rigs were stealing Saddam's
oil across the border.
Ignored is the fact that, when convenient,
we patted Saddam's sadistic behind and sold
him all the arms he wanted, including chemical/biological
weapons in criminal violation of an international
treaty signed in the 1970's. Who's the bad
guy? In any case, nuclear materials and weapons
(which are the ONLY WMDs there are) are among
the easiest to track. Also, they would have
to come from outside Iraq, and it would be
easy to spot new processing facilities from
space. The trade sanctions against Iraq have
prevented even food and medicine from getting
to dying people.
The argument is we have to threaten war to
get inspections, and that Saddam kicked the
previous inspectors out. A bald-faced lie.
The UNSCOM inspectors, as Chief Inspector
Scott Ritter has noted numerous times, were
pulled grudgingly by UNSCOM Director Butler
at the urgings of the US.
Finally, this is the most narrow-mindedly
selfish, fear-based rationalization I've heard
for protecting Americans. War in Iraq would
be so inhuman that it's inhuman even to threaten
it, especially after we've sanctioned to death
an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children and caused
Frankensteinian birth defects with our depleted-uranium
weapons (a waste-disposal plan of our nuclear
industry). The best thing we could do is rebuild
and heal that devastated land with a portion
of the $200 billion a war would cost. I guarantee
you terrorism would stop (although, we might
have to admit to, and expose, the Saudi financing
of it).
School
of the Americas - 18 Jan '03
Unpublished
I’m
most grateful for the Jan 17 Telegram report
by Richard Nangle, “McGovern blasts
School of Americas.” However, I suggest
that the comparison of Pentagon reluctance
to give up the School to the reluctance of
the National Rifle Association toward gun
control is misleading. Most importantly, the
School (in Fort Benning, GA), like the Pentagon
itself, the CIA, and FBI, operates primarily
at the behest of huge corporations (e.g.,
mining, oil, logging, "defense").
Its
violent operations intend to create regimes
and situations sympathetic to corporate agendas
which frequently dispossess and murder indigenous
peoples and other nationals, to plunder natural
resources and create slave-labor pools. Venezuela
has said publicly that it is “tired”
of having us come down there and kill elected
officials.
A notable graduate of the School was Manuel
Noriega, who was subsequently put in place
to run drugs and weapons and to launder money
for the CIA, one of the bigger drug-dealing
(heroin and cocaine) entities in the world.
Also, the School is essentially the biggest
and most well-equipped terrorist training
camp in the world, although Mr Nangle’s
phrase “brutal military operations”
also fits. The 30,000 people killed in Nicaragua
testify to this.
The School exemplifies the fate of many of
America’s government, military and clandestine
agencies—they are handmaidens of traitorous,
elitist internationalists, such as Bush and
Cheney, who foster global corporate fascism
and the subjugation of human rights, civil
liberties, peace, and justice to the ruthless
whims and policies of money/power interests.
And it exemplifies the reasons other peoples
hate America.
European
Despotism
Published
11 Jan '03, Sentinel & Enterprise
I'd
like to applaud Thomas Nycraft's editorial
letter of 1/8/03 for its general impact. However,
he suggests a lack of autonomy in American
politics due to the influence of British politics.
In my view, this is a dangerous half truth.
True, "America" has existed primarily
on paper since its inception, because, although
its intent was freedom from British rule,
the aristocratic and capitalist/financial
influence that underlay British government
was transferred here, and has pretty much
run the show, even though it has evolved considerably.
It cannot be said too often or strongly enough
that the most important factor in modern history
is the steady usurpation of political systems
by money/power interests. Since the rise in
Europe of the (German) House of Rothschild
and international banking (late 18th century),
no country has been free of this influence,
Great Britain no exception.
With
the advent of the corporate mechanism, the
wealth-hungry have provided themselves with
the means to solidify the bastions of power.
Although Britain is home to some of the most
powerful corporations in the world, the U.S.
is no slouch in this department, so I seriously
doubt if British politics boss or mastermind
America's, since common money/power heavily
influences both. It's primary tentacle in
the the US is the "Federal" Reserve
Bank.
A majorly important corporate tool of control
and influence is the cartel. This enables
coordinated efforts of "separate"
corporations all over the world, even those
in warring political entities. Thus, a huge
international cartel (including Chase Manhattan,
Ford, General Motors, Kellog and International
Harvester, to name a few) built the Third
Reich in preparation for WWII (I've read that
the war with Japan had been planned since
1910).
Similarly,
American corporate entities (such as IBM,
Honeywell, Gulf and Western) built Soviet
war industry for 30 years during the Cold
War, one perk of which was 5.5 $trillion taxpayer
dollars (to date) going to the U.S. nuclear
weapons industry for "defense."
Hey, it's good for the economy, even though
we cut social and educational programs for
lack of funds.
There has been little "just" war,
or war for "freedom and peace,"
but primarily war compensatory to the machinations
of those who create threats to peace and freedom,
and incite war by buying and supporting opposing,
violent political figures and ideologies,
and by selling war materiel. Business is war
is business, and money is made selling things
to all sides.
Soldiers
are the unwitting, brainwashed, albeit brave,
accomplices in this bloodthirsty power game.
Also, the Third World is no accident, but
a creation of the central banks for the purpose
of corporate exploitation of hard resources
and slave labor.
With greasy oil and defense-contractor executives
slithering all over our government, and with
our military and "security" agencies
operating at the behest of corporate agendas,
this constitutes a separate, nameless, nearly
autonomous, selfishly motivated, ruthless
world power acting in the name of the Constitution
and the American people. And it demonstrates
a remarkable lack of prejudice in having no
remorse for killing people regardless of age,
gender, nationality or religious affiliation.
Terrorism is no exception, being throughly
supported, if not guided, by huge financial
interests, primarily Saudi ones. However,
the history of the development of the Saudi
oil industry reveals that one American umbrella
company, Aramco, ran the show from the outset.
It was sold to the Saudis, but retained some
"American" cartel-ite executives,
while "American" companies cornered
petroleum refining. An industry lock-and-load.
Remember, there is no national loyalty or
patriotism in the policies and behaviors of
the power elite, such as its shell company
Bush, Cheney, Blair & Co. They are exclusively
internationalists, their obligatory citizenships
notwithstanding. Whatever political mechanisms
and lip services may be displayed outwardly
for the people to see, huge cartels rule,
or attempt to rule, the world. This is what
9/11 and most wars of the last century were
about, and what the threatened Iraq war is
about. A fascist corporate/military global
empire.
Resource
Depletion/Community Growth
Published
23 Nov '02, Sentinel & Enterprise
Engaging
in habit that common sense strongly contraindicates,
even when destructive and life-threatening,
is a unique human quality. Incessant community
growth and development in the face of finite
space and resources exemplifies this.
The
linchpin of greed-driven, debt-based capitalism,
growth is worshiped as the be all/end-all
of business and economics. This is largely
because conventional economics is based upon
the unstated prerequisite that our source
of life and most basic asset, the Earth, must
be in liquidation in order for this insanity
to appear to work.
Those
who believe that never-ending growth is essential
to prosperity recall the addict, who convinces
himself that the next fix will solve his pain.
We see space, we must squeeze dollars out
of it. That big puddle we call a reservoir
cannot run dry. Put a ban on water use, rather
than organize ourselves so as to avoid such
desperation. Fueled by unenlightened human
self-importance, greed, and dependence upon
self-destructive approaches, growth addiction
qualifies societal organization. Developers,
construction contractors, and jobs depend
economically upon a relentless march to agony.
It’s similar to the “health”
care system, whose prosperity depends upon,
and facilitates, widespread illness, not wellness.
“Controlled growth” is virtual
nonsense at this point--much like believing
that by controlling increasing pressure in
a balloon, we can keep it from exploding.
We’ve not yet been forced by intense
overt crisis to admit the fallacy of this
philosophy, but it isn’t that far off.
In some crucial ways, we’re already
blindly into crisis from which there may be
no return short of chaos. Due to health ignorance,
terminal illness often goes undetected until
it’s too late.
Planners, politicians and economic wizards
with an ounce of common sense would be promoting
a system where prosperity is not dependent
upon growth, in anticipation of the unpredictable
moment when space, water, and other resources
absolutely run out, which they must unless
the growth-mongers tell us how to balloon
the planet. We’re handing down a situation
that makes AIDS, terrorism, and a Bush presidency
look like a picnic. It’s so obvious,
one wonders how we ever got to the point where
peeking at the local reservoir levels sends
a spinal chill. If people simply woke up and
began drinking the amount of water required
to maintain wellness, we’d run out soon
enough.
Admittedly,
the entire challenge cannot be solved locally
alone because it’s intertwined with
state, national and global issues. Outside
influence and pressure come to bear, these
in turn driven by the Earth-liquidating national
and world economic philosophy and policies.
Not to mention the insult to Creation that
is overpopulation. Despite these obstacles,
in order to avoid catastrophe, we must work
at all societal levels, not only to stop growth,
but to reduce the human footprint upon the
Earth.
This demands that we find ways to move away
from community addictions and blind habits
toward self-sustainability. For example, turn
suitable local lands to organic farming, rather
than housing developments, soccer fields and
department stores. Industrial agriculture,
a dumping permit for the petrochemical industry,
is killing the land, poisoning and wasting
water, and causing extreme illness. Our community’s
near-total dependence on this deadly system
is frightening when the specifics of it are
known.
Let’s take the money the State wants
to waste on Rte 12 growth and fix the water
mains delivering that brown slime to the faucet
(talk about a pipe dream). Many old mains
could be asbestos lined. Mixing bodily waste
with the water supply, then spending $millions
to separate them unsuccessfully, is an example
of normalized insanity. So normal, that the
law demands it (as it does the interment of
toxic formaldehyde time-bombs in cemeteries).
Anyone who thinks the sewage system is a good
idea should drink the effluent from the wastewater
“treatment” plant. Again, habitual
dependence and convenience make it easier
to continue absurdity than to behave sensibly
(by using composting toilets, for one thing).
Selfish pursuit of the American Dream has
become a death knell. Also, our way of life
is predicated upon oppressing others, because
its growth and extravagance are not sustainable
in terms of sharing planetary resources. For
example, if China were “raised”
to the average American living standard, it
would consume every drop of oil the world
produces.
We’ve
engendered resentment and hate in many areas
of the world for our bullying corporate oppression
and thefts in other countries, our hogging
consumption of energy, and our highly disproportionate
pollution output. It’s dismaying to
think that we wave flags and crow about this.
It would take a twist of fate or two only
six months or so to turn this country into
an embattled third world. Let’s hope
it doesn’t come to that before common
sense sets into the minds behind the dollar-sign
eyes.
Peter
G. Tocci is a Holistic wellness consultant and health writer dba
Associated Health Services in Leominster, Massachusetts.
Check
out Holistic Health
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Health Services
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Peter G. Tocci
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Leominster, Mass. USA 01453
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