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September 19, 2007
OT 07-66
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Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First
A preliminary Iraqi report on a shooting involving an American diplomatic motorcade said Tuesday that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman’s call to stop, killing a couple and their infant.
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American Embassy officials had said Monday that the Blackwater guards had been responding to a car bomb, but Mr. Dabbagh said the bomb was so far away that it could not possibly have been a reason for the convoy to begin shooting.
Instead, he said, the convoy had initiated the shooting when a car did not heed a police officer and moved into an intersection.
“The traffic policeman was trying to open the road for them,” he said. “It was a crowded square. But one small car did not stop. It was moving very slowly. They shot against the couple and their child. They started shooting randomly.”
In video shot shortly after the episode, the child appeared to have burned to the mother’s body after the car caught fire, according to an official who saw it.
In interviews on Tuesday, six Iraqis who had been in the area at the time of the shooting, including a man who was wounded and an Iraqi Army soldier who helped rescue people, offered roughly similar versions.
McClatchy: Iraq considers new steps against security companies
Two survivors of Sunday’s shooting at a busy Baghdad traffic roundabout said Tuesday that security guards for a State Department convoy opened fire without provocation, contradicting assertions by the guards’ U.S.-based employer, Blackwater USA, that they were responding to enemy fire.
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Both Karim and Salma said a helicopter was on the scene. Salma said it also fired into the line of cars, contradicting Blackwater’s statement that its helicopter didn’t open fire.
Dabbagh, the government spokesman, said that the preliminary report also showed that a helicopter had fired into the crowd.
I took a ride in a taxi tonight with a fellow who told me about the beauty of his home city, Tehran. Two hours away are the beaches on the Black Sea, to the north are green forests and Russia. All around are ancient villages of the old civilizations like Egypt and the red clay mortared brick houses of his home city, now replaced with concrete buildings. To the south are deserts with beautiful sunsets.
He got me home on time, thank you sir.
Can’t we all just get along.
Posted by: jonku | Sep 19 2007 9:25 utc | 2
We discussed the wood-framed architecture here in Vancouver and the older buildings in the eastern US and Europe, and the talk turned to mosaics and the Moorish influence on the Spanish architecture in Mexico. He suggested I look on google for Isfahan, this is what I found:
Isfahan.
A city as beautiful as any I have seen.
Tehran has four seasons, although as elsewhere that is changing. We also talked about the rugged country in the north, which in photos rivals the Rockies, the Alps and of course the Himalayas which must be quite close by.
As a man I could travel easily there, women of course must where coverings when outside the cities.
Posted by: jonku | Sep 19 2007 9:36 utc | 3
State-secret overreach: For too long, judges have allowed the government to hide mistakes behind national security.
It’s only fair…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 19 2007 9:41 utc | 5
A good essay by Peter Galbraith (ignore him on Kurdish issues, he is partisan on that): The Iranian Conundrum
With so much of the U.S. military tied up in Iraq, the Iranians do not believe the U.S. has the resources to attack them and then deal with the consequences. They know that a U.S. attack on Iran would have little support in the U.S. — it is doubtful that Congress would authorize it — and none internationally. Not even the British would go along with a military strike on Iran. President Bush’s warnings count for little with Tehran because he now has a long record of tough language unmatched by action. As long as the Iranians believe the United States has no military option, they have limited incentives to reach an agreement, especially with the Europeans.
…
Soldier: Blackwater “indiscriminate killers” take action!
Of course, as per the norm, important diaries like this one only received a mere 17 comments on dkos.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 19 2007 9:53 utc | 7
Paul Krugman starts blogging for the NYT: His first post
Middle class America: That’s the country I grew up in. It was a society without extremes of wealth or poverty, a society of broadly shared prosperity, partly because strong unions, a high minimum wage, and a progressive tax system helped limit inequality. It was also a society in which political bipartisanship meant something: in spite of all the turmoil of Vietnam and the civil rights movement, in spite of the sinister machinations of Nixon and his henchmen, it was an era in which Democrats and Republicans agreed on basic values and could cooperate across party lines.
The great divergence: Since the late 1970s the America I knew has unraveled. We’re no longer a middle-class society, in which the benefits of economic growth are widely shared: between 1979 and 2005 the real income of the median household rose only 13 percent, but the income of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296 percent.
Most people assume that this rise in inequality was the result of impersonal forces, like technological change and globalization. But the great reduction of inequality that created middle-class America between 1935 and 1945 was driven by political change; I believe that politics has also played an important role in rising inequality since the 1970s. It’s important to know that no other advanced economy has seen a comparable surge in inequality – even the rising inequality of Thatcherite Britain was a faint echo of trends here.
…
Greetings from Stalin: U.S. Working to Reshape Iraqi Detainees
The U.S. military has introduced “religious enlightenment” and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, said yesterday.
Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis who have been held for more than a year, are intended to “bend them back to our will” and are part of waging war in what he called “the battlefield of the mind.” Most of the younger detainees are held in a facility that the military calls the “House of Wisdom.”
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Stone said he wants to identify “irreconcilables” — those detainees whose views cannot be moderated — and “put them away” in permanent detention facilities. Psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and interrogators help distinguish the extremists from others, he said.
Newspeak: we think of “security forces” as bodyguards whose job it is to protect specific persons or objects they are assigned to guard.
But what we witnessed was not “security forces” on a rampage, we saw mercenaries doing their job. Let us start calling them by their real name.
Posted by: ralphieboy | Sep 19 2007 11:11 utc | 11
Great-grandma Betty pleads innocent to resisting arrest over dead grass
OREM – Betty Perry pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges she failed to water her lawn and resisted arrest when an officer attempted to cite her.
What was that in the docu, ‘The Power of Nightmares’, about Western man being obsessed with their lawn?
Snip:
“when Flygare pig face dick tried to stop her from going back inside her house, she reportedly tripped and injured her nose.
I bet she did…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 19 2007 11:14 utc | 12
Here is a great podcast I heard awhile ago. It goes into great detail about the system in the USSR.
Back in the USSR
Given all the terrible things that the US government is doing at home and abroad, it’s easy to lose perspective — particularly for Americans. To despair or, perhaps more accurately, to despair for the wrong reasons. Dr. Kate Brown, a stunningly brilliant historian (her book ‘A Biography Of No Place’ won the 2004 George Louis Beer Prize from the American Historical Association) helps us regain perspective by making comparisons to the former USSR, of which there turn out to be many. It’s well worth being reminded that such a system inevitably collapses, though how it collapses may be an open question. And specifically, though we can’t (yet) get into the secret US prison system, NKVD and KGB documents regarding the Soviet Gulag tell us a lot about what we could expect to find. I’m very grateful to Kate for talking with me. I enjoyed this conversation immensely and I love her Chicago accent. Runtime here of about an hour and eleven minutes. Enjoy!
Oh, and I forgot to mention in my post above #12
…Taser that old trout!
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 19 2007 12:01 utc | 13
Ministers declare Gaza ‘hostile entity’, vote to disrupt power, fuel
The security cabinet on Wednesday voted to declare the Gaza Strip an “hostile entity,” approving among other things the disruption of power and fuel supplies to the Strip, as a response to the ongoing Qassam rocket fire at Israeli communities.
The ministers decided, however, not to disrupt Gaza’s water supply.
…
Barak also said that Israel is moving closer to a large-scale military operation in Gaza. “Every day that passes brings us closer to an operation in Gaza,” Barak was quoted as saying. He said an array of options would be considered before a major invasion.
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In addition, the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip will further reduce operations. The crossings will only allow in food and medical supplies, and other goods, such as water pipes that are also used to manufacture Qassams, will not be let in. Human traffic at the crossings will be brought to a complete halt.
MIT OpenCourseWare: Anthropology 21A.225J Violence, Human Rights, and Justice, Fall 2004
Also see, Anthropology of Human Rights
Human Rights Syllabi
This course brings the tools of anthropology to bear on the study of human rights. Where anthropology is committed to exploring the diversity of human experience the human rights movement seeks the recognition of universal norms that transcend political and cultural difference. To what extent can these two goals be reconciled? What can anthropology tell us about the limits of the human rights movement?
The seminar will briefly examine the source of the debate between universalism and relativism and discuss how anthropology and anthropologists have dealt with human rights issues in the places they have worked and what effects their positions and actions have had on the understanding of the human rights movement in the world today. The course surveys cases from various parts of the world with an emphasis on cases from Latin America.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 19 2007 13:20 utc | 15
Re: The Raytheon Gun – no wonder they don’t feel the need to waterboard people anymore.
Posted by: Sgt Dan | Sep 19 2007 13:53 utc | 16
b@14
And the rest of the world sits and does nothing, like the students at the U of F, but no cameras will record this continuing atrocity.
Posted by: ww | Sep 19 2007 13:56 utc | 17
‘Israeli warplanes raid’ Lebanon
The fighter jets allegedly caused sonic booms as they flew over the cities of Sidon and Tyre, as well as the towns of Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun.
Israel has so far made no comment on the Lebanese claims.
Israel has been criticised by the UN for making a number of overflights in Lebanon in recent weeks.
Israel says they are necessary to monitor activities by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants.
“Monitoring” at super-sonic speed? Bullshit …
@Uncle $cam #13:
Yeah, that was a great recording. George Kenney is a former State Department official who has seen the light on many issues, and makes good use of his insider experience in interviews. He has a nice, relaxed interviewing style. He was interviewing Jonathan Cook on Palestine before anyone was.
Posted by: Malooga | Sep 19 2007 14:47 utc | 19
From DM’s #8
What would happen if [the pain guns] fell into the hands of unscrupulous nations where torture is not unknown?
Clearly, they are already in those hands.
Posted by: small coke | Sep 19 2007 15:26 utc | 20
wondering if this is another move to legitimize an increased u.s. military involvement in the niger delta (ala AFRICOM)
more eye-grabbing headline on this story
Nigeria, a Haven for Hard Drugs – George Bush
President of the United States, Mr George Bush, has listed Nigeria and 19 other countries as either major illicit drug transit or major producing countries, just as he called on the Nigerian authorities to “re-double their efforts to use the frequent arrest of street criminals and couriers to identify and prosecute major drug traffickers.”
but better coverage in this rpt
Nigeria: Drug War – Bush Commends EFCC
Bush, in the 2008 country certification report entitled ‘Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2008’ made available to THISDAY, however said a country’s present inclusion in the list is not necessarily “adverse reflection” of its efforts at combating illicit drugs or level of cooperation with the U.S.
Nigeria is the only African country on the list of 20 major countries that transit or produce illicit drugs released by the U.S. government yesterday.
…
Bush, in the memo, declared: “Pursuant to section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228)(FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.
“A country’s presence on the Majors List is not necessarily an adverse reflection of its government’s counter-narcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.”
Rather, he explained, , “consistent with the statutory definition of a major drug transit or drug producing country set forth in section 481(e)(2) and (5) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (FAA), one of the reasons that major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographical, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit or be produced despite the concerned government’s most assiduous enforcement measures.
but, no surprise, the list is highly political
Besides, Bush said, “pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Burma and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in section 489(a)(1) of the FAA I have also determined, in accordance with the provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the FRAA, that support for programs to aid Venezuela’s democratic institutions is vital to the national interests of the United States.”
give that specific admission, which coincides w/ the increased USAID/NED funding in venezuela as eva golinger has recently documented, and that the so-called “war on drugs” has proven itself time & again to not really be geared toward solving illegal drug use issues but for enabling other programs/goals, my educated guess is that, by adding nigeria to the list, it primarily serves as yet another “problem” for AFRICOM — which is struggling to find public reasons to be setting up in africa — to solve.
Posted by: b real | Sep 19 2007 15:28 utc | 21
Blackwater’s rules of engagement “are set by State and are different than other security contractors who use the Military Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force,” Pelton, [author of Licensed To Kill], says via e-mail. “State went from a kinder, gentler Rules of Force (they were told to shoot flares, throw water bottles or wave a flag to warn off motorists) to shoot if a threat is imminent with no warning shots required. They are supposed to use aimed shots and have to file a report if there is any discharge of a weapon.
“Its important to note that [State Department] or Embassy security details work in close conjunction with the State Department security staff (Diplomatic Security Services) and the U.S. military, so it’s incorrect to portray Blackwater as a lone actor in all of this.”
Any bets that the Blackwater employees involved in this shooting spree are no longer in Iraq?
Posted by: small coke | Sep 19 2007 16:33 utc | 22
Evidently, there are multiple “associations” for the procurement corps that provide mercenaries in Iraq. McClatchy identifies the Private Security Association of Iraq. Another has a catchier name.
“It’s a little bit frustrating because there are 15 different committees that have jurisdiction over what our industry does,” said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, whose members include Blackwater and DynCorp. “We are pulled in all these different directions.”
link
Do all these people use Orwell as an instruction manual?
Posted by: small coke | Sep 19 2007 17:01 utc | 23
The Lebanese elections would appear to be in jeopardy:
Anti-Syrian Parliamentarian Killed in Large Bomb Blast in Beirut
A large explosion in Lebanon killed an anti-Syrian parliamentarian and at least four other people in a Christian suburb of east Beirut today. About thirty people were injured by the blast.
The blast in the Sin el-Fil area killed Antoine Ghanem, a deputy in the Lebanese Phalange Party, the Lebanese national news agency said on its Web site….
The Lebanese Red Crescent confirmed that at least five people were killed and about 30 injured, the Lebanese news agency reported.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 19 2007 17:18 utc | 24
Do all these people use Orwell as an instruction manual?
lol, of course! they learn it in luntz 101
good catch
Posted by: annie | Sep 19 2007 17:36 utc | 25
Just a little incident. A student asks Kerry some indelicate questions, is dragged off and tasered (tortured) by the campus police.
The audience remains pretty passive, which is not nice, but perhaps understandable.
Kerry, that slime ball, says nothing, doesn’t stop it (a few words would have been enough) and as usual pretends to be the good guy, as he says, Oh, I will answer his questions! Meanwhile student howls in pain, desperately yells, Help me, etc.
That is just normal for conferences or in the halls of Academe in the US today?
YouTube
These are small things but oh so telling.
Posted by: Tangerine | Sep 19 2007 19:34 utc | 26
sorry didn’t scroll down to see the next topic…i always just start from the top…
argh, say, great minds think alike as my young relative would say…
Posted by: Tangerine | Sep 19 2007 19:37 utc | 27
b real @22 – the so-called “war on drugs” has proven itself time & again to not really be geared toward solving illegal drug use issues but for enabling other programs/goals
and Nigeria has the highly corrupted, conflicted, patronage-driven system of govt for which US drug war leaders show a particular affinity. It does seem unlikely, as you say, that drugs are the chief cause of the US putting Nigeria on its drug list.
The key question has always been whether the USgovt’s purported goal to eliminate the drug trade isn’t simply a cover for the real goal, to be the alpha drug lord, with all its perks – an excuse to move official US military resources around the world and to keep secrets, a vast treasury of unmarked funds, a network of covert distribution lines and criminal operators, who also make great fall guys if anyone gets caught, etc.
Gary Webb’s remarkable report in the San Jose Mercury, tying cocaine trade in Calif directly to funding of the Contras, offered the best public glimpse of this racket.
Most of the time, it is assumed, that in the US corporate players leave this arena to the partner with the official monopoly on military power and violence, government.
The case of a US banana company, charged with running shipments of drugs for weapons on banana freighters, for a right wing militia in Columbia, raises an old flag. This time the case and the players are enmeshed in triangulations that may only misdirect an observer from underlying purposes.
Remember that banana scandal, where a high-powered Republican lawyer advised Chiquita to go on paying right wing terrorists even though it was a felony? Where said high-powered Republican lawyer alleged that Michael Chertoff–the guy now in charge of protecting our country–told him that he could go on funding terrorists so long as he also cooperated with Administration investigations of the terrorists? And where, just last week, DOJ said the high-powered Republican lawyer would not be charged?
Now, if I told you that there were weapons and cocaine involved, would you start looking for those acid washed jeans you put away a couple of decades ago and make an appointment for a Fawn Hall doo?
Posted by: small coke | Sep 19 2007 19:58 utc | 28
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 19 2007 20:23 utc | 29
LINK Again. This entry may have been taken off line, I’ve heard that she tried to get this published and cannot find a taker. If the link doesn’t work perhaps she can’t even publish it online. Very explosive and incriminating.
Posted by: anna missed | Sep 19 2007 20:29 utc | 30
after having read several books on the illicit economy, and specifically the works of carolyn nordstrom, which largely focus on field research in angola and on the incredibly lucrative illicit economy in africa especially (not simply pharmaceuticals or hard drugs, but more importantly everything from cigarettes to tvs to vehicles), i’ve also wondered if the increase of u.s. military presence, & the private mercs that will likely take up a substantial portion of the boots on the ground, could portend a mafia-like strategy to move into that racket & capture some of those enormous flows. nordstrom points out the role of indigenous military commanders in some of these networks.
we’ve already seen an increase in piracy off the coast of somalia over the past year despite an increased presence by the u.s. navy and rpts of private outfits like ‘top cat marine security’ working for the TFG.
is it a stretch to see the u.s. govt adding piracy & illict trade as additional sources of off-the-books cash for funding operations around the world in the same way they use the drug market?
Posted by: b real | Sep 19 2007 21:16 utc | 31
breal@21
my educated guess is that, by adding nigeria to the list, it primarily serves as yet another “problem” for AFRICOM — which is struggling to find public reasons to be setting up in africa — to solve.
and your absolute right. And its also a sharp warning to Nigeria to cease & desist its ongoing efforts to prevent an Africom base in Nigeria.
we are treading new ground here as the USA & Nigeria have never in my recollection faced-off like this before. Particularly in full public view. Its worth remembering that Maggie Thatcher once tried to intimidate Nigeria over South Africa and the Nigerians nationalized BP shortly after.
it should also be noted that prior to this administration, the USA policy towards Africa has generally avoided confrontation or the appearance of it. Even during the apartheid regime, the Afrikaaners knew the USA could not be counted on to assist them, USA sanctions were in fact a major blow for them.
but this new policy towards Africa rejects that history. And just this very moment, I recall that prior to the Iraq invasion, Mandela rebuked Bush for “not understannding history”. On the other hand I also recall a Bush operative once claiming their mission is “to create their own reality” or something of the sort. Hence, it seems they would like to remake Africa in the exact same sense that they desired to remake the Middle-East. And going by the results from the Middle-East so far, Africa has a lot to be worried about.
however, time is on the side of Africa. Because this administration has about a year left to do whatever it has in mind. And this explains the total lack of finesse in the manner in which it has been alienating African nations.
if as it can be argued today that the USA has handed Iraq to Iran, it seems the USA is doing its very best to hand its influence, goodwill and all that comes with it in Africa over to China.
in fact, the damage the USA has done to its interests in Africa over the last six-months may not be reversible in the sense that re-alignments are often not reversible because as people withdraw their affinities & goodwill, they may either choose to invest it elsewhere or they may choose not to invest it at all, as a result of having been burnt.
and my guess is that this attempt to intimidate Nigeria will back-fire. First, theres nothing here that favors the ordinary Nigerian. It also re-enforces the pretty unanimous view that its all about oil. And the Nigerians will look for an opportunity to deliver an equally sharp response to this USA administration. They will not respond to this particular situation but will wait till something else develops that in the eyes of the world justifies a stiff response.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 19 2007 23:17 utc | 32
Nigerians will look for an opportunity to deliver an equally sharp response to this USA administration.
go, jony, go. May you be so right about this.
this explains the total lack of finesse in the manner in which it has been alienating African nations.
Not to mention the junta’s lack of history, as you noted, the absence of imagination, all-encompassing brutality of their understanding, imperviousness to advice, blind ideological zeal, colonial patronization, pathologic compulsion for failure, and all-consuming, general idiocy.
While the population seems pacified by fear, circuses and bread. In the US “the people” rise slowly, when they do rise. I have not entirely given up hope that it may happen. Would recession help?
“When you got nothin, you got nothin to lose.”
Posted by: small coke | Sep 20 2007 0:16 utc | 33
Time for Bush Bush to tiptoe through the tulips again:
Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.
“This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar,” said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.
Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright
Posted by: Sam | Sep 20 2007 1:00 utc | 34
Re #34 – anyone not in a panic about now isn’t paying attention. I may post more on my thoughts today tying this in w/Iran later.
But this is well & truly Fun …. Rather files $70M Lawsuit against CBS
Dan Rather, whose career at CBS News ground to an inglorious end 15 months ago over his role in an unsubstantiated report questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era National Guard service, filed a $70 million lawsuit this afternoon against the network, its corporate parent and three of his former superiors.
…
In the suit, filed this afternoon in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Rather charges that CBS and its executives made him “a scapegoat” in an attempt “to pacify the White House,” though the formal complaint presents virtually no direct evidence to that effect. To buttress this claim, Mr. Rather quotes the executive who oversaw his regular segment on CBS Radio, telling Mr. Rather in November 2004 that he was losing that slot, effective immediately, because of “pressure from ‘the right wing.’ ”
Stay Tuned…
Posted by: jj | Sep 20 2007 1:15 utc | 35
From article that Sam points to:
The Federal Reserve, however, clearly calculates the risk of a sudden downturn is now so great that the it outweighs dangers of a dollar slide.
Scylla and Charybdis.
Disregulated markets and predatory, crony capitalism – what a ride!
Sunnis may settle this time for new assurances from the US, which US cannot guarantee, about Sunni hegemony in ME. Adm. Fallon IS on a talking tour of the area as this goes down; $ peg as insurance policy in any new regional agreements. How long can Saudi economy absorb the $erosion and Saudi inflation?
Posted by: small coke | Sep 20 2007 1:24 utc | 36
I need to post also this excerpt from Sam’s link above as I think it’s most relevant:
Jim Rogers, the commodity king and former partner of George Soros, said the Federal Reserve was playing with fire by cutting rates so aggressively at a time when the dollar was already under pressure.
The risk is that flight from US bonds could push up the long-term yields that form the base price of credit for most mortgages, the driving the property market into even deeper crisis.
“If Ben Bernanke starts running those printing presses even faster than he’s already doing, we are going to have a serious recession. The dollar’s going to collapse, the bond market’s going to collapse. There’s going to be a lot of problems,” he said.
What’s so noteworthy here? Well, Soros’ close buddy – Soros who has spent so much money domestically investing in a myriad of websites & activist organizations – kos, mediamatters, some progressive institute whose name eludes me, moveon for starters – all Designed Specifically to insure that they Define what is “liberalism” & that they do not mention the Predators War On Americans – Jim Rogers has just sold all his Americans assets, including his home I believe & moved to Asia. Now that he’s sucked all the money he can out of America he’s speaking out – Face It & tough shit assholes you’re broke, I’ve stolen as much as I could & I”m movin’ on…
So, let’s go easy on placing blame on those Americans who the elite work so hard to keep totally ignorant…
Posted by: jj | Sep 20 2007 1:27 utc | 37
Superstructure in teeter motion. There is little law left worth the paper it’s writ on. A few more shakes, and we are all Palestine.
I was thinking of ranting at length about Israel’s declaration of the Gaza Strip as an enemy entity today so that they could start ‘starving’ the Gaza of fuel and power; about the sheer audacity of treating them as an independent entity when in fact Israel continues to control its borders, air space and coastal waters and funds collected through various government services related to the borders; about how they have systematically destroyed the Gaza’s ability to self-govern but are now complaining that the ‘government’ of the Gaza is unwilling to end hostile rocket fire…
But I’m busy, and decided to just go down the snark route. The Israelis decided to wait until Condi was on a visit to hype Shrubya’s upcoming Middle East peace conference before dropping their latest bombshell.
Posted by: small coke | Sep 20 2007 2:59 utc | 38
Link @ 38:
“The idea that somehow the president of the United States would call an international meeting so that we could all have a photo-op is very far-fetched,” said Rice
No Bush would never do that. Oh wait. Does anybody remember mission accomplished, landing on a flight deck and declaring combat operations over? How about Hurricane Katrina, when Bush pulled rescuers from there duty saving lives so they could pose with him in a national TV address on how much he was helping the victims? Bush would never do a photo-op would he?
Posted by: Sam | Sep 20 2007 3:10 utc | 39
jony_b_cool – it should also be noted that prior to this administration, the USA policy towards Africa has generally avoided confrontation or the appearance of it. Even during the apartheid regime, the Afrikaaners knew the USA could not be counted on to assist them, USA sanctions were in fact a major blow for them.
avoiding the appearance, perhaps, but let’s not kid ourselves — the u.s. policy towards africa has always tended to favor the western colonizer over the locals, from congress’ majority vote for recognition of leopold’s free state of congo in 1884 up through more than 2/3rds of the 20th century in its support for white settler states.
and for those africans who tried to part from the core model of western hegemony, u.s. foreign policy was very confrontational, though often acted out covertly and via proxy.
for instance,
Late in the summer of 1960, the Eisenhower administration concluded that Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s militantly nationalist prime minister, was “an African Castro” and must be eliminated. Lumumba’s crime was that he had requested and received some military aid from the Soviet Union in August 1960, in the face of “considerable Western support for the Katanga secession and UN reluctance to use force to end it.” On August 18, following a National Security Council briefing, Eisenhower asked his aides whether “we can’t get rid of this guy.”
from mahmood mamdani’s good muslim, bad muslim: america, the cold war, and the roots of terror, p.71
btw, not long after, the rockefellers purchased a major interest in katanga’s mines. by ’64, the u.s. was funding & supporting more than a thousand mercenaries in the congo to put down the simba rebels & protect mobutu.
the u.s. was also active in controlling the independence mvmts in several african nations as their colonizers pulled out, particularly in the portugese colonies of angola & mozambique.
wrt u.s. policy in both that & in support of the white settler states,
When Nixon first came to power in early 1969, Kissinger in his capacity as National Security Adviser to the new administration, immediately commissioned a study of the current attempts aimed at national liberation in Africa. The National Security Council Interdepartmental Group for Africa, in which Kissinger served as Secretary, issued a secret report on April 10, 1969 in which the contours of US policy towards Africa would be guided over the next five years.
This secret report was named National Security Study Memorandum, No. 39 and it was designed to nationalize an escalation of support for Portuguese colonial rule in Africa as well as to fortify the political and economic positions of the white settler-colonial regimes then operating in Rhodesia, South-west Africa and the Republic of South Africa. With the US was carrying out a war against the national liberation struggles in Indochina, a similar war being waged by nationalist forces in the Portuguese colonial territories on the African continent would make the two nations natural allies. In addition, Portugal was also a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which was established with American dominance after the conclusion of World War II and the beginning of the so-called “Cold War.”
This report, which was circulated by Kissinger to the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence (CIA), incorrectly concluded as it related to the national liberation movements on the continent that: “[T]he blacks cannot gain political rights through violence. Constructive change can come only by acquiescence of the whites.” As a result of this line of thinking fostered by Kissinger, the NSSM memorandum came up with five potential policy options for the United States government to follow in regard to its policy in southern Africa and other contested regions.
According to a summary of the report by Mohamad El-Khawas and Barry Cohen, the options can be summed up as follows:“To improve the US standing in black Africa and internationally on the racial issue; To minimize the likelihood of escalation of violence in the area and risk of US involvement; To minimize the opportunities for the USSR and Communist China to exploit the racial issue in the region for propaganda advantage and to gain political influence with black governments and liberation movements; To encourage moderation of the current rigid racial and colonial policies of the white regimes; To protect economic, scientific and strategic interests and opportunities in the region, including the orderly marketing of South Africa’s gold production.”
These options drafted in 1969 and implemented thereafter does not give any consideration to the national liberation movements representing the will of the African peoples in their struggle for self-determination and independence. Such a set of policy options led to the escalation of financial and military support to the Portuguese colonial regime by the United States and NATO. The policy implications contained in NSSM 39 emanated from the so-called “Nixon Doctrine” which sought to reinforce a western anti-communist alliance with each respective ally sharing responsibility within its sphere of influence.
Such an approach to the existence of colonialism during the late 1960s was clearly designed to perpetuate the continuance of imperialism in Africa.
from abayomi azikiwe, US Foreign Policy Towards Africa During the Nixon/Ford Administrations
mamdani explains
The Nixon Doctrine held that “Asian boys must fight Asian wars.” It summed up the lesson of more than a decade of U.S. involvement in Indochina. More specifically, it weighed the Vietnam debacle against the conduct of relatively successful proxy wars in Laos. … As opposition to the Vietnam War mounted back home, the advantages of proxy war became clear; waged in secret, it was at the same time removed from congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and conventional diplomacy.
one only need think of the regime change in somalia via ethiopian forces to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
and speaking of u.s.-backed regime change
Regime change may help Eritrea evade joining “State Sponsor of Terrorism” list: Jendayi E. Frazer
Addis Ababa- The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi E. Frazer said that regime change can enable Eritrea avoid going to the US list of “State Sponsor of Terrorism”, amid Eritrea’s continuing and growing associations with international terrorists.
“To get off the State Sponsor Terrorism list requires two things; the change of government or that for at least six months you can document that a country has no longer been supporting terrorists.” she pointed out.
Posted by: b real | Sep 20 2007 4:35 utc | 40
Greg Palast: The Surge and the al-Qaeda Bunny
09/17/07 “ICH” — — Monday, September 17, 2007- Did you see George all choked up? In his surreal TV talk on Thursday, he got all emotional over the killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the US against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq.
Bush shook Abu Risha’s hand two weeks ago for the cameras. Bush can shake his hand again, but not the rest of him: Abu Risha was blown away just hours before Bush was to go on the air to praise his new friend.
Here’s what you need to know that NPR won’t tell you.
1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn’t a sheik.
2. He wasn’t killed by Al Qaeda.
3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik – and a murderous deceit.
How do I know this? You can see the film – of “Sheik” Abu Risha, of the guys who likely whacked him and of their other victims.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 20 2007 4:50 utc | 41
Happy Ramadan from Leila el-Haddad
Too good not to post in full:
Firstly, a blessed and joyous Ramadan to everyone. I only wish it was so joyous an occasion for my friends and family in Gaza.
Today Israel officially announced Hamas a “hostile entity” (although that sort of had me confused-is this to say they were of “friendly entity” status before??). And made the decision to cut fuel and electricity, once again.
But fear not, country folk. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed reassuringly that the U.S. “would not abandon the innocent Palestinians”. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also said that Israel will continue to supply Gaza’s humanitarian needs, just not “all the needs that are more than the humanitarian”.
… except for fuel. Oh, and electricity. So don’t worry, people of Gaza, you won’t starve (remember: you are on a diet). You will get to eat your (cold) Ramadan iftars,-only in the dark, and of course no water to wash down that meal (or your clothes, for that matter) since the pumps are driven by electricity. And no gas to heat your food or houses with come winter. And you’ll have to consume what you get quickly, since the refrigerators (both yours and the supermarket’s) won’t work without power. And don’t even THINK about getting sick-prevention is your best insurance policy now. Hospital ICUs will have to be powered by generators. Kidney dialysis? Start writing a will. Baby formula? Breastfeed. Vaccinations? Stay home from school.
“Civilian levers” is what the Israeli cabinet has mockingly decided to call these “measures” of collective punishment. No doubt this sick euphemism was the brain-child of the ever-reliable Dov Weisglass, of “the Gaza diet” fame.
And remember, you are the “innocent Palestinians” stuck in the middle of all of this.
Now how about some thank you notes to Condi? Its Ramadan, after all, the month of mercy, forgiveness and thanks.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 20 2007 4:53 utc | 42
On Being Called an anti-Semite in Montana
A powerful testament to the new McCarthyism that is rampant in the U.S. today.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 20 2007 4:59 utc | 43
b real@40,
The “appearance” of US policy towards Africa has always been intended to mask dark deeds going on at the very same time. Thanks for pointing this out,
accorddingly, as much as we would wish to put the past behind us as we work for a better future, we would be fools to think that whats going on today is “new”. What’s new is that this administration, makes the obligatory efforts, feeble & often comical in this case, to mask its true intents towards Africa, but does not seem to care if anyone buys in or not. In particular, the Africans are not buying in and it looks like just another foreign-policy narrative whose primary value lies in domestic USA consumption.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 20 2007 12:57 utc | 45
I remember listening to NPR before Bush’s first trip to Africa, some six years ago, and they were chirping away, merrily and mindlessly, as they are wont to do, about how Bush, with Colin and Condi, would put more “effort into helping the Africans” than previous administrations. And this is NPR, and the co-ordinating class listens to this shit the whole time they are commuting in their cars, and they believe this shit! Good ole NPR: they led the fight against community radio.
Posted by: Malooga | Sep 20 2007 13:43 utc | 46
From Iraq Today, a repost from a year ago. Very succinct for teach-ins, or discussing with the wing-nut relatives at Thanksgiving. The fact that it hasn’t lost one iota of rellevance in a year should tell us something:
Ten Fallacies About the Violence in Iraq. By John Tirman, AlterNet. Posted November 28, 2006.
1. The U.S. is a buffer against more violence
2. The killers do it to influence U.S. politics.
3. The “Lancet” numbers are bogus.
4. Syria and Iran are behind the violence.
5. The “Go Big” strategy of the Pentagon could work.
6. Foreign fighters, especially jihadis, are fueling the violence
7. If we do not defeat the violent actors there, they will follow us here.
8. The violence is about Sunni-Shia mutual loathing; a pox on both their houses.
9. The war is an Iraqi affair, and the best we can do now is train them to enforce security.
10. Trust the same people who caused or endorsed the war to tell us what to do next.
Posted by: Malooga | Sep 20 2007 14:57 utc | 47
US rate cuts: Like a blow to the head
Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the Bank of China, must sympathize with the plight of poor Raoul, the waiter whose good service is rewarded with a brick to the back of his head.
In a 2004 episode of the US cable network series The Sopranos , New Jersey mafia boss Tony Soprano takes the senior leadership of his crime family to an expensive dinner at a casino restaurant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
There they enjoy multiple rounds of the best cuts of steak, lobster and the finest beverages; it is Tony’s nephew and heir apparent, the sobriety-, impulse-control-, fidelity- and literary-talent-challenged would-be part-time Hollywood screenwriter and full-time thug Christopher Moltisanti who gets stuck with the US$1,184 check.
Christopher is none too happy with this situation; he is particularly enraged that his fellow goomba Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri sent over an expensive bottle of Cristal to two young ladies he classified as “skanks” at an adjoining table. He leaves a $16 tip, for an even $1,200. The waiter, Raoul, is none too pleased with this, and he comes out to the parking lot to complain to Christopher about his stinginess.
There was no problem with his service; he feels he deserves more. Standard American tipping protocol calls for gratuities to amount to about 15% of the check, which, in this case, would have called for a $177.60 tip.
Christopher is in no mood for interlocution. As in most scenes in The Sopranos up to and including solemn religious observations, the situation rapidly descends to exchanges of rank obscenities. As Raoul turns away to return to work, Christopher throws a brick that hits the waiter in the head.
Also see, Saudis take fright
Father, mother, sister, brother,
Uncle, aunt, nephew, niece,
Soldier, sailor, physician, labourer,
Actor, scientist, mechanic, priest
Earth and moon and sun and stars
Planets and comets with tails blazing
All are there forever falling
Falling lovely and amazing
– Nick Cave
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 20 2007 16:02 utc | 48
Naomi Wolf’s essay, Fascist America, in 10 easy steps (noted by Uncle $cam back in May), now a book: The End of America; Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot.
not exactly news here, but “knock, knock!” America.
Posted by: manonfyre | Sep 20 2007 16:17 utc | 50
small coke@33,
and as you watch the Africa situation develop, please keep an eye on Eritrea. This tiny country may become the striking feature in the ongoing adventures of the USA & its proxy Ethiopia (more or less a brand name for Tigre’s TPLF) in the Horn of Africa.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 20 2007 16:37 utc | 51
Palestinian teenager, 16, crushed to death by Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza City
Warning: The photo is very graphic and disturbing.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 20 2007 17:58 utc | 52
Igor Smirnov, founder of the Psychotechnology Research Institute, died of a heart attack in 2005. Smirnov is best known in the United States for consulting with the FBI during the 1993 Waco siege.
Yeah, we see how well that went…
The Weird Russian Mind-Control Research Behind a DHS Contract
A dungeon-like room in the Psychotechnology Research Institute in Moscow is used for human testing. The institute claims its technology can read the subconscious mind and alter behavior.
MOSCOW — The future of U.S. anti-terrorism technology could lie near the end of a Moscow subway line in a circular dungeon-like room with a single door and no windows. Here, at the Psychotechnology Research Institute, human subjects submit to experiments aimed at manipulating their subconscious minds.
Elena Rusalkina, the silver-haired woman who runs the institute, gestured to the center of the claustrophobic room, where what looked like a dentist’s chair sits in front of a glowing computer monitor. “We’ve had volunteers, a lot of them,” she said, the thick concrete walls muffling the noise from the college campus outside. “We worked out a program with (a psychiatric facility) to study criminals. There’s no way to falsify the results. There’s no subjectivism.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gone to many strange places in its search for ways to identify terrorists before they attack, but perhaps none stranger than this lab on the outskirts of Russia’s capital. The institute has for years served as the center of an obscure field of human behavior study — dubbed psychoecology — that traces it roots back to Soviet-era mind control research.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 20 2007 18:40 utc | 53
Are USAID Gorilla Conservation Funds Being Used To support Covert Operations in Central Africa
On Wednesday September 19, 2007 the U.S. State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the provision of $496,000 of new funds for wildlife conservation in the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to a State Department press release, poaching, armed conflict and “demographic pressures” are justification for the grant.
But investigations in Eastern Congo reported by these authors over the past six months indicate that USAID “conservation” funds—millions of taxpayer’s dollars—have been misappropriated, misdirected and disappeared. Evidence suggests that ongoing guerrilla warfare in Central Africa is receiving clandestine financial support in AID-for-ARMS type financial transfers.
also see
S.O.S In Eastern Congo: Magic Sticks, Corrupton & Gorilla Warfare
Posted by: b real | Sep 20 2007 19:26 utc | 54
the senate has just passed important legislation designed to protect us no doubt
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate–
(1) to reaffirm its support for all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, including General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force–Iraq;
(2) to strongly condemn any effort to attack the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces; and
(3) to specifically repudiate the unwarranted personal attack on General Petraeus by the liberal activist group Moveon.org.
apparently they have nothing more important to attend to.
Posted by: annie | Sep 20 2007 19:53 utc | 55
Two stories you should note:
Leila Fadel of McClatchy on Blackwater: Maliki blasts Blackwater firm for other incidents
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al Askari told McClatchy Newspapers that one of the incidents was former Iraqi Electricity Minister Ahyam al Samarrai’s escape from a Green Zone jail in December. Samarrai had been awaiting sentencing on charges that he had embezzled $2.5 billion that was intended to rebuild Iraq’s decrepit electricity grid.
…
Until now, Iraqi officials hadn’t named the private security company that they believe helped Samarrai, the only Iraqi cabinet official convicted of corruption, to escape from a jail that was overseen jointly by U.S. and Iraqi guards. He subsequently was spirited out of the country and is believed to be living in the United States.
The U.S. State Department made note of his escape in its December report on developments in Iraq, saying that “Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) said they believed he fled with the help of members of a private security company.”
But the accusation that Blackwater, which earned at least $240 million in 2005 from contracts to provide security to U.S. officials in Baghdad, assisted in his escape raises questions about what American officials might have known about the breakout.
Emptwheel at Next Hurrah with some interesting Abu Graib revelations: CBS Collaborates in Torture
The most interesting thing about the Dan Rather complaint, IMO, is the description it gave of CBS and Administration attempts to spike the Abu Ghraib story:
Despite the story’s importance, and because of the obvious negative impact the story would have on the Bush administration with which Viacom and CBS wished to curry favor, CBS management attempted to bury it. As a general rule, senior executives of CBS News do not take a hands-on role in the editing and vetting of a story. However, CBS News President Andrew Heyward and Senior Vice President Betsy West were involved intimately in the editing and vetting process of the Abu Ghraib story. However, for weeks, they refused to grant permission to air the story, continuously insisting that it lacked sufficient substantiation. As Mr. Rather and Ms. Mapes provided each requested verification, Mr. Heyward and Ms. West continued to “raise the goalposts,” insisting on additional substantiation.
Even after obtaining nearly a dozen, now notorious, photographs, which made it impossible to deny the accuracy of the story, Mr. Heyward and Ms. West continued to delay the story for an additional three weeks. This delay was, in part, occasioned by acceding to pressures brought to bear by government officials urging CBS to drop the story or at least delay it. As a part of that pressure, Mr. Rather received a personal telephone call from General Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urging him to delay the story.
Only after it became apparent that, due to the delay, sources were talking to other news organizations and that CBS would be “scooped,” Mr. Heyward and Ms. West approved the airing of the story for April 28, 2004. Even then, CBS imposed the unusual restrictions that the story would be aired only once, that it would not be preceded by on-air promotion, and that it would not be reference on the CBS Evening News.
Many are mocking Rather’s suit against CBS as a petty, baseless personal egocentrism. (Not explicitly, by undertone.)
Rather is a complex character, not without egotism. But he did start his career as a print reporter, and not from the well-heeled side of the tracks. His news sensibility always retained a certain populist sympathy.
I suspect that his suit is motivated, in part, as an attempt to strike a blow for press freedom, as he understands it, against corporate and government subversion, and to open a few windows for the public onto how the news game is played.
If this is so, news coverage of his suit will continue to play him as a fool, who has lost all judgment since losing his job (job loss – something lots of people understand), and will offer very limited coverage of the substance of his case. Make it a kind of Perris Hilton affair – a celebrity who can’t accept being fired because he messed up at his job. Who doesn’t know the implicit social contract: to move on, when the (police) man says move. Rich and famous (what could be better?), made all that money, and can’t accept being fired “like a man”.
Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s the subtext I seem to hear in the first coverage of Rather’s lawsuit.
Rather’s motives are not key, in any case. If it turns out that there are those in the press who do want to air issues about who decides what’s news when, or what the role of the press should be, then Rather’s suit provides the opening for interesting public discussions.
I’m not holding my breath.
Posted by: small coke | Sep 20 2007 20:43 utc | 57
apparently they have nothing more important to attend to.
Senate Votes NO on Restoring Habeas Corpus
Apparently not. Priorities, m’am.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 20 2007 20:52 utc | 58
Now something lighter Englehardt’s latest:
Has anyone noticed that our commander-in-chief no longer plays dress up? He hasn’t done so for a while and that’s no small thing. It’s a phenomenon that came and went almost without comment in the media.
I don’t remember the first time I noticed that George W. Bush liked to dress up. It could have been in May 2003 when he strutted across that carrier deck all togged out to announce that “major combat operations had ended” in Iraq, or when he started appearing before massed, hoo-ahing troops in military-style jackets with “George W. Bush, Commander in Chief” hand-stitched across the chest, or when he served that inedible turkey in Baghdad. I can’t tell you either when it first registered that he was visibly enjoying himself “in uniform”; or when it occurred to me that this was not just play-acting, but actual play of a very young and un-presidential sort; or when I first noticed that, “in uniform,” he looked strangely like a life-sized version of the original 12-inch G.I. Joe doll. (“Action figure” was the term first invented for it, because who wanted a boy to think he had a Barbie, even if it came with its own “beach assault fatigue shirt” and “bivouac pup-tent set”?)
Posted by: Debs is dead | Sep 20 2007 20:53 utc | 59
Posted by: Bea | Sep 21 2007 2:39 utc | 60
Some information on Tor from Schneier. (Tor is an EFF sponsored mechanism for making your web interactions anonymous by routing them through a variable list of servers.) Schneier makes the point that this does NOT make this traffic private, in fact those interested in traffic people are trying to anonymize are likely to run Tor servers in order to sieve through it.
Tor anonymizes the origin of your traffic, and it makes sure to encrypt everything inside the Tor network, but it does not magically encrypt all traffic throughout the internet.
Tor anonymizes, nothing more.
Dan Egerstad is a Swedish security researcher; he ran five Tor nodes. Last month, he posted a list of 100 e-mail credentials — server IP addresses, e-mail accounts and the corresponding passwords — for
embassies and government ministries around the globe, all obtained by sniffing exit traffic for usernames and passwords of e-mail servers.
The list contains mostly third-world embassies: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Iran, Mongolia — but there’s a Japanese embassy on the list, as well as the UK Visa Application Center in Nepal, the Russian Embassy in Sweden, the Office of the Dalai Lama and several Hong Kong Human Rights Groups. And this is just the tip of the iceberg; Egerstad sniffed more than 1,000 corporate accounts this way, too.
One of the tools developed by Dark Web is a technique called Writeprint, which automatically extracts thousands of multilingual, structural, and semantic features to determine who is creating “anonymous” content online. Writeprint can look at a posting on an online bulletin board, for example, and compare it with writings found elsewhere on the Internet. By analyzing these certain features, it can determine with more than 95 percent accuracy if the author has produced other content in the past.
And if your name or other identifying information is in just one of those writings, you can be identified.
Posted by: PeeDee | Sep 21 2007 3:18 utc | 61
the transition team tasked w/ planning for establishment & operations of AFRICOM has been pretty quiet publicly, but a report suggesting some of it’s ideas was circulated yesterday in military publications
DoD planning 5 regional teams under AFRICOM
Much of the work for U.S. Africa Command, the U.S. military’s newest geographic command, likely will be done by five teams, each deployed to and designed for a specific region of the continent.
The plans for these “regional integration teams” are still being laid, but Pentagon officials want a “split-based, tailored presence” there, not a one-size-fits-all approach that might produce dividends in one region but chaos in another, according to Defense Department documents prepared in mid-September.
One team will go to [each of] the northern, eastern, southern, central and western portions of the continent, mirroring the African Union’s five regional economic communities, the briefing documents say.
The idea is to “establish regional presence on the African continent which would facilitate appropriate interaction with existing Africa political-military organizations,” one of the Sept. 14 briefings says.
The regional teams will link to African Union organizations, “Africa stand-by force brigade headquarters [and] U.S. AID support hubs,” according to the slides.
Defense News obtained a copy of the DoD documents, which offer a window into the Pentagon’s planning of the much-anticipated new command.
…
Perhaps most importantly, the teams will give U.S. policy-makers a direct link with multinational African organizations involved in policy and security efforts, [CSIS’s Steve] Morrison said.
“That’s how the African Union is organized,” said Brett Schaefer, a fellow at the Washington-based Heritage foundation, “so [it] makes sense to mirror the AU.”
all this emphasis on the AU may be in vain, as news out of south africa today furthers the suggestion that the AU will line up w/ the SADC and just say no to foreign military installations on its member state’s sovereign territories.
from an article misleadingly titled Location of US Command in Africa to be announced, covering comments by SA’s deputy director-general in the dept of foreign affairs, ambassador gert grobler
..at a briefing of the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs in parliament on Wednesday … Ambassador Grobler repeated to MPs the position of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as previously stated by Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota recently, that the region did not welcome the hosting of the Africa Command centre of the US.
…
Ambassador Grobler on Wednesday indicated that it was not entirely clear whether the final position of the African Union on the matter was the same as that of the US, although he said South Africa believed that the majority of countries on the continent would follow a position similar to that of SADC.
…
In the context of the institution of the African Union, the former South African ambassador to Spain said, it seems to be that the “great majority” of its members would “probably” adopt the same position as that of the SADC on the issue of the location of Africom.
yea, not too definitive, but whatever the position of AU officials, they’ve kept mum on the issue for some time now. given that the AU is hq’d in addis ababa that’s understandable, as that’s one of the hubs of u.s. influence on the continent. maybe they’re waiting to see what the u.s.’ master plan is as october 1st rolls up.
but back to the armytimes article,
One team will have responsibility for a northern strip from Mauritania to Libya; another will operate in a block of east African nations -— Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania; and a third will carry out activities in a large southern block that includes South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola, according to the briefing documents. A fourth team would concentrate on a group of central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Congo; the fifth regional team would focus on a western block that would cover Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger and Western Sahara, according to the briefing documents.
wrt the proposed third team, the southern block, here’s word on u.s. efforts to bribe mozambique into serving as a base, a much more appealing candidate for the u.s. than hostile pretoria & the landlocked nations.
There are reports that the U.S. tried to engage Mozambique over the establishment of a permanent base for the Africom. The U.S. had set its eyes on Mozambique’s northern city, Nakala.
When U.S. President George Bush’s cheerleader Condoleezza Rice hosted Mozambican President Amando Guebuza in mid-July, she dangled the carrot of humanitarian aid to try to entice Mozambique to accede to militarisation of the region.
Mr Guebuza and Rice are said to have discussed the possibility of opening the U.S. Airforce and Navy bases in the northern territories. Washington released US$500 million, as humanitarian aid to entice Mozambique.
There are also reports that Washington pledged more investment from its corporations in the area of exploration of natural resources, including oil and gas.
To the U.S., Mozambique is strategic in that it has a vast coastal area for the marines and warships and has huge untapped natural resources, which can be used to the advantage of the Americans.
…
It remains to be seen whether Mozambique will fall for Bush’s tricks.
as the author of that piece concludes,
Most worrisome is the fact that the U.S. always tries to protect its interests by military means to the extent of pursuing illegal regime change on liberation movements, with the hope of replacing them with stooge regimes.
This is exactly what the U.S. is doing in the Middle East and if allowed to establish their permanent military force in Africa, the continent will be left stinking with endless conflicts.
Whichever country will be tricked into accepting to host Africom will automatically lose its sovereignty and integrity and will be judged harshly by history for contributing immensely to the Americanisation of Africa.
exactly.
the armytimes article continues,
The teams will contain planners, “area experts,” health capabilities, and command and control systems, though more details remain to be fixed, the documents said.
The area-specific teams will “direct and facilitate” organizations the Pentagon will dub “offices of security cooperation,” according to the slides.
notice the lack of references to any sort of collaboration w/ the host countries. that’s not some blunder on the part of the slide maker.
The new outfit [AFRICOM] will have substantially more than a military mission. Administration and Pentagon officials continue to stress AFRICOM officials will primarily work on diplomatic, developmental, economic and security projects.
we can get an idea of how “substantial” the non-military aspect of the combatant command’s mission will be by noting that, as the article points out, “[w]ith the initial operational capability date only weeks away, a U.S. transition team, composed of 80 military and 20 civilian personnel…”
that 20 percent (20 civies out of 100 team members) is largely USAID personnel. probably several PR consultants thrown in too, to help on the promotional front, unless PSYOP covers all that stuff inhouse.
i highlighted the emphasis on “economic” projects as one of the missions for AFRICOM, as this will be something to watch too, as pressure groups like the heritage foundation are strongly pushing for privatizing african entities, further deregulating national economies & opening more markets to western interests. i’ll try to write up a more specific post on this aspect of AFRICOM’s imperial adventures on the continent in the near future, since the impact of those moves will indeed be substantial.
Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2007 3:39 utc | 62
The article is frank about Africa importance – I’m surprised they didn’t just go ahead and add ensuring China/India don’t lock up our resources.
The United States has a number of strategic reasons for devoting an entire regional command to the troubled continent, experts said this week. For Washington, pushing responsible governance, ensuring access to certain natural resources — especially oil — and engaging areas that lack governance and could become staging grounds for terrorists is important, regional experts said.
Despite the noise coming from Nigeria and South Africa – each is pushing to get the best deal it can out of a done deal. I’m not sure the “majority” of AU states are as united as the South African implied. Ethiopia and Eritrea have been vying to be the primary US client, after long-time clients Kenya in the East.
Rwanda and Uganda have served their mercenary roles in central Africa faithfully and will continue to support AFRICOM.
Mali and Senegal are jumping over each other to attract US interest and squeeze more out it.
The main thing that ALL African States agree on is that the US can be crazy stingy but if you haggle you can also get paid – in cash, guns and really nice “they are really ‘transitioning’ to democracy although we are sad that 248 protesters were shot dead” PR.
Take tiny Djibouti – just after 9/11 it handed the US a foothold next to the French’s toehold overlooking the Strait of Mandeb through which a majority of European oil flows (its not even anywhere near Afghanistan – but let’s leave that aside – Good ‘ole “Steak House” Tommy Frank’s told Congress he smelled Al Qaeda) and in return
Djibouti’s take of U.S. taxpayer money in the three years after 9/11 stood at more than $53 million, a more than 30-fold increase from the $1.6 million in the three years prior. Last year, the Lemonier lease was again renegotiated, this time to expand the base to nearly 500 acres. The lease had been costing the U.S. about $30 million a year; the new terms were not disclosed. The State Department has not responded to an ICIJ Freedom of Information Act request seeking details of the lease payments.
And what is our tax $$’s claimed to be doing?
primary mission is “detecting, disrupting and ultimately defeating transnational terrorist groups operating in the region — denying safe havens, external support and material assistance for terrorist activity.”
And what is it reported to be doing?
A Somali guard at a modest-looking building outside of France’s current military installation near Camp Lemonier described for a reporter from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) how prisoners came and went from the building, including three Arab prisoners, accompanied by Americans, in 2005. Another source told of seeing two Somali warlords and five of their fighters spend a week of rest and relaxation at a middle-class downtown hotel during the height of the Somali civil war in 2006. At the end of the week, a car from the U.S. Embassy dropped off one of the warlords with an envelope full of U.S. dollars to pay for the rooms and to give to the fighters to pay their airfare back to the fighting in Somalia.
And what about the big fish just to the west – Ethiopia – what its ruling clique milking uncle sam for?
The financial and military aid Zenawi’s government has garnered for aligning itself with the Bush administration “war on terror” is a big boost for Ethiopia’s business and military interests. A flood of free U.S. military supplies has strengthened Ethiopia’s army and air force tremendously. Another big plus for the Zenawi government is that the war in Somalia diverts attention from the country’s internal economic problems, the government’s savage repression of political opposition to its neoliberal programs, and Zenawi’s failure to settle its ongoing dispute with Eritrea. The 2000 war with Eritrea and its subsequent independence disrupted Ethiopia’s unfettered access to seaports, a problem that may now be resolved by the presence of a pro-Ethiopian government in Mogadishu. Link to ACLU
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 21 2007 4:54 utc | 63
UN: Israel has added dozens of new roadblocks in West Bank
Despite repeated promises to reduce the number of roadblocks in the West Bank, Israel has in fact added dozens of new ones, according to the United Nations.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week to remove 24 roadblocks and consider additional alleviations of movement restrictions on the Palestinians. This followed a similar promise to alleviate movement restrictions that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
However, the number of roadblocks has now reached 572, an increase of 52 percent compared to 376 in August 2005, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In the past two months alone, Israel put up 40 new roadblocks, OCHA said.
In the past two months alone, Israel put up 40 new roadblocks, OCHA said.
Yeah, classic. Now of those they offer to take down 24… and then of the ones they offered to take down, only 3 actually get dismantled… This is exactly how the game goes. Every.single.time.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 21 2007 11:30 utc | 68
Israel and the US show their true colors
US, Israel only two states to vote against having nuclear-weapons-free zone in Middle East.
VIENNA – The UN atomic agency adopted a non-binding resolution on a nuclear weapons-free-zone in the Middle East with Israel and the US voting against and EU states except Ireland abstaining.
The lack of consensus weakened the impact of the measure, at a general conference of the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), diplomats said.
The Egyptian-sponsored resolution was backed by 53 votes, with two against and 47 abstentions.
The IAEA has a tradition of adopting resolutions by consensus but the Middle East issue is an exception.
The Iranian speaker blasted the vote as putting into question the views of “some members that full-scope safeguards” need be complemented by wider inspection measures, as Israel, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) seemed to be exempt from this.
An Irish diplomat said his country had voted for the text since Ireland favored a nuclear weapons-free-zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East. “It’s as simple as that,” the diplomat said.
The general conference approves broad policy lines for the 144-member IAEA, the verification arm of the NPT.
But the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors makes decisions for the agency on how policy is implemented.
The contested resolution contained two new paragraphs that were added to past texts and which Israel was unpleased with, diplomats said.
The first called on “all states of the region, pending the establishment of the zone, not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or permit the stationing on their territories … of nuclear weapons.”
The second new paragraph urged “nuclear-weapons states and all other states to render assistance in the establishment of the zone.”
Utter hypocrites.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 21 2007 12:11 utc | 69
Chalking up another success for the “surge”:
Nearly two million Iraqis have become refugees in their own land in the past year, redrawing the ethnic and sectarian map of Baghdad and other cities, a report by the Iraqi Red Crescent said yesterday.
In Baghdad alone, nearly a million people have fled their homes.
Last month saw the sharpest rise so far in the numbers of Iraqis forced to abandon their homes – 71.1%.
The forced migration raises questions about claims from the Bush administration that the civilian protection plan at the core of its war strategy is making Iraq safer for Iraqis.
Instead, data compiled by Red Crescent staff and volunteers in Iraq’s 18 provinces suggests many Iraqis have failed to find real safety or sustainable living conditions after being forced to leave their homes. Some families have been uprooted twice or even three times in search of safety, affordable housing, functioning water and electricity, adequate schools, and jobs.
More than three-quarters of the displaced were women, and children under 12, reducing families to poverty, and compounding the sense of social dislocation.
“The men who were the breadwinners are no longer part of the family. They either fled or joined armed groups,” the report said.
Yupper, we are really “kicking some ass” over there, don’t y’all agree?
Posted by: Bea | Sep 21 2007 12:24 utc | 70
Found this over at EuroTrib:
A LITTLE SCOOP ON BUSH, CHIRAC, GOD, GOG AND MAGOG
Posted by: Tantalus | Sep 21 2007 12:30 utc | 71
A Nation on the Edge of the Final Descent: A Glimpse of the Horrors to Come
What does the tasering of Andrew Meyer tell us about the “state of our union” and the prognosis for the future?
Recommended. (h/t Empire Burlesque)
Posted by: Bea | Sep 21 2007 14:08 utc | 72
@BenIAM
i’d read — in michela wrong’s book i didn’t do it for you — that the u.s.’ first choice for a new base on the red sea to (wink wink) ‘counter islamic extremism’ was actually in eritrea, however they were quickly shot down by isaias’ govt, none too eager to give the u.s. another foothold in their nation after being screwed over for so long by the big powers in their 30-year struggle for independence and still holding many negative memories of the previous u.s. base kagnew (largely sigint) in asmara. so, after first housing the JTF at sea on a ship, the next choice for a landbase was the french station in djibouti. that book is the only place i’ve read of eritrea being the first choice; no idea if wrong is wrong on that point.
for figures on increased u.s. military assistance to djibouti since 2001, see the recent cdi study i’ve linked to previously.
In the five years since Sept. 11, Djibouti received more than forty times the amount of military assistance it received in the five years prior. The largest influx of post-Sept. 11 military assistance to Djibouti has come through the FMF program. Since FY 03, Djibouti has received several million dollars in FMF each year, with $4 million estimated for FY 07 and $3.2 requested for FY 08. IMET appropriations have been on the increase over the past few years, and Djibouti is slated to receive roughly $350,000 in FY 07 and in FY 08.
Total military sales to Djibouti in the five years since Sept. 11 have totaled more than 18 times the value of arms sales in the five years prior. Post-Sept. 11 arms sales have included rifles and ammunition, trucks, construction equipment, and radar systems; the majority of these sales were concluded in FY 05. Arms sale projections for FY 07 and FY 08 include $8 million in FMS and an additional $1.5 million in DCS. Djibouti has not received any U.S. defense articles through the EDA program during this period.
there’s a rpt on ethiopia at the link too.
you are correct that overall african nations are not united enough to block the u.s. & so long as the USD still retains value, it’s a mighty tempting carrot for unscrupulous officials. that & the deceptive marketing pitches.
Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2007 14:53 utc | 73
@62
Whichever country will be tricked into accepting to host Africom will automatically lose its sovereignty and integrity and will be judged harshly by history for contributing immensely to the Americanisation of Africa.
this is the reality that any leader considering accepting an Africom base has to face.
but it looks like the new strategy may be to position Africom in 5 mini-bases rather than one major base. This is yet again another change in course that probably reflects the growing ddifficulties Africom is facing. And just like in Iraq, the planners are too proud to accept failure.
just how useful would an Africom base be anyways ? Whats the military benefit that a land base in Africa provides over a naval deployment. There is no particular adversary on the horizon for which a firmly-positioned land placed challenge provides much of an advantage over a naval force. The weird thing is how the USA has squandered so much goodwill over this base issue,
I suspect a large part of the motivation is to intimidate Africans, African leaders & China. But this reflects a very poor understanding of Africa. Not just poor but very condescending,
over time, Africom will seek to inflame trouble spots and to practice divide & rule. This may have worked in the past but this USA Africom strategy is really poorly thought out. Because Africans can see through it. And Africans unnanimously reject the arrogance, the heavy-handedness, the deceitfullness of it all. And the unaminous sentiment building across Africa now is — “No thank you. Please leave us to solve our own problems. And we can.”
and ironically, this is the exact same argument that opponents of Western/Eurocentric intrusion/intervention have been making for years. And the USA gives it to them free-of-ccharge.
This administration is looking for an enemy/bogey-man whare there is none, and importanntly, it is having serious ddificulties creating one. For example, in the Horn, the widespread belief (amongst Ethiopians, Somali & Eritreans) is that Ethiopia invaded Somalia on the instruction of USA. Even though Jendayi Fraazier strenously denies it, the Africans are not fooled. Hence in essence, the mission has completely failed to create a useful bogeyman or to divide the people. The Ethiopian invasion is in disarray. The Ethiopians are not following through to create enough of a massive divisive chaos-effect that would benefit the USA’s agenda. And tiny Eritrea seems to be successfully rallying strong opposition to the USA. This looks like a massive failure for the USA as the Africans are not following the plan.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 21 2007 15:30 utc | 74
from a new opinion piece by robert kaplan on increasing asian global hegemony at sea
Oddly enough, the Pacific, as an organizing principle in world military affairs, will also encroach upon Africa. It’s no secret that a major reason for the Pentagon’s decision to establish its new Africa Command is to contain and keep an eye on China’s growing web of development projects across the sub-Saharan regions.
Still, measuring budgets, deployments, and sea and air “platforms” does not quite indicate just how much the ground is shifting beneath our feet. Military power rests substantially on the willingness to use it: perhaps less so in war than in peacetime as a means of leverage and coercion.
That, in turn, requires a vigorous nationalism – something that is far more noticeable right now in Asia than in parts of an increasingly post-national West.
Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2007 15:37 utc | 75
BenIAM,
When you post a link, you can write anything you want in the space where it says “Link to ACLU,” although you are free to give them a plug if you wish.
Great contributions!
Posted by: Malooga | Sep 21 2007 15:45 utc | 76
video webcast (or just audio) now avail from yesterday’s AEI conference, AFRICOM: Implications for African Security and U.S.-African Relations
from an all-africa article on the conference
Linda Thomas Greenfield of the State Department said Africom will help address multi-faceted security threats in Africa, including “terrorism, wars and internal instability, the presence of militia, transport of narcotics and arms, religious intolerance, corruption, and poverty.”
“Africom is not about dropping military troops on Africa,” she added, or “competing with China.”
The announcement of Africom has been met with skepticism in Africa, and retired U.S. Air Force General James L. Jamerson of the Lockheed Martin Corporation acknowledged that “the key is acceptance in Africa” but that “we have a ways to go.”
Lieutenant General Tsadkan Gebretensae of the Center for Policy Research and Dialogue in Addis Ababa said the skepticism is “legitimate” and warned that African and American security priorities are not necessarily the same.
General Tsadkan warned against a “huge military presence” that could “bring [back] memories of colonialism.” It would be best to “go slow” and “build trust,” he said.
Former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said the announcement of Africom “took me completely by surprise.”
He was, he said, “still not absolutely convinced that it’s a good idea, but it is there and I believe it can be made into a good thing,” citing the “success story” of the United States’ part in peacekeeping in Liberia.
Wolfowitz addressed African skepticism to Africom by noting that “it wasn’t Africans themselves who brought all this horrible conflict to the subcontinent… the U.S. and the Soviet Union had a fairly big role in supporting their various allies in the Cold War.”
Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2007 15:47 utc | 77
the Africom plan is in complete dissarray. It is driven not only by a complete misreading of Africa, but also poor strategic sense, as well as arrogance, and an increasing measure of the rogue-cop mentality — “if they wont let me in their house without a search warrant, they must have something to hide so I’m going in through a back window”
ordinarily, an Africom base might not be such a big deal. But the USA has clearly telegraphed its intentions with its recent conduct – Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, Somalia, and its desperate quest for resource (oil) grabbing/control by any means.
this is the real concern that the Africom planners are too hubrised to understand. And they will be dropping bombs from the air all over Africa as soon as they have useful “reasons” to or can create “reasons”. And thats looking harder & harder for them everyday.
the other option is to “do as the Romans” — scorched earth, kill-zones, mass-depopulation …
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 21 2007 15:57 utc | 78
Catherine Austin Fitts, – good, can’t read her right now, sorry -, yet the first purpose of US and other Western ‘drug laws’ is to have laws on the books that permit the arrest of innocent people, to send them to prison, to participate, work, in the prison industry, a version of modern slavery, or in its milder set up as a system to give the law and order types, the servants of the Gvmt., status and salaries, a lot to do, paid by yr righteous, if somewhat oblivious, tax payer. (If tax payers realized what the costs and returns were, where the money went, etc. they would not put up with it.)
Somehow, some groups of ppl have to face a shackled and humiliated fate for society to be pure, for ppl (specially in the US amongst the OECD) to feel safe, righteous, triumphant, powerful. Poison must be expelled. The social order demands it. There is an enemy within, and we can deal with that. Gipsies, Jews, homosexuals (formerly), vagabonds, drunks, prostitutes, disorderly children, single mothers (always) drug takers (since 1960-70 about -that is particularly handy as one can blame some esoteric substance), must be controlled. Now, muslims, terrorists which includes rabid greens, peacenicks, etc. …
The torture, ongoing btw, in Iraq, was set when US citizens did not object to 2 and more million prisoners in the US.
Posted by: Tangerine | Sep 21 2007 16:33 utc | 79
The struggle for African resources will unite China and the US in supporting the corruptest leaders, those easiest to buy off. The US has to emphasize the stick, as China has far more carrots to hand out, and carrots are far tastier and will win out in the long run. Against this scenario we have the will of the people to be heard and have their needs met.
Posted by: Malooga | Sep 21 2007 17:47 utc | 80
mo money for meles
US gives ‘strategically important’ Ethiopia $97 million
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – The United States said Friday it is donating 97 million dollars (69 million euros) to Ethiopia in recognition of the Horn of Africa country’s “strategic importance.”
The money, channeled through USAID, is to fund agricultural and private sector development, health care, primary education and good governance, a statement said.
Ethiopia received US backing last year when it deployed troops to neighbouring Somalia to overthrow an Islamist movement accused of harbouring extremist elements.
USAID mission director Glenn Anders said: “The agreements … fulfill and even exceed the commitments in our five-year strategic development plan …”
c’mon meles… just keep your troops in somalia for a few more months. we already got the u.n. to buy you some more time for clearing the ogaden before the oil & gas teams commence to ‘a scrambling
Posted by: b real | Sep 21 2007 18:34 utc | 81
as for African leaders, many have a sorry record off corruption. And sometimes brutality. But they are not stupid or suicidal.
the question is — what is the real mission of USA/Africom and to what extent is it dependent on the cooperation of corrupt African leaders. Its not enough to have an African leader on the payroll. He/she has to be in the right country or next to the right country, at the right time.
times have changed. That another Mobutu or Idi Amin in Africa can emerge in Africa cannot totally be excluded but it is not any more likely than that another Pinochet or Duvalier might emerge in the Americas.
also, there has been an explosion of awareness worldwide, with Africa as perhaps the greatest beneficiary, acceleratinng its catch-up after hundreds of years of imperial economic/intellectual/political/cultural oppresion/blockade. These have been really bad-times for dictators
every country goes through a period or periods when it is highly vunerable to manipulation of its leaders. But this is no more a norm in Africa than it is in Europe. Leaders in Europe may not be enticed by bags of money, but they may have embarassing indiscretions in the past that an African leader might laugh away. And because a leader is corrupt, does not always mean he/she is any more prone to being manipulated. There is such a thing as honor amongst thieves.
but its really simple. Only stupid people will accept bribe from someone they would not trust in their neighborhood, especially if briber has the means to hurt them really bad.
regardless, its doubtful that the USA/Africom planners are going to get a higher level of assistance & cooperation from any other African leader than whats coming forth from Ethiopia & Uganda. And thats been pretty disapointing so far. The Ugandans spend their time watering flowers & directing traffic at the Mogadishu airport. And it seems the Ethiopians would go home if the USA would let them.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Sep 21 2007 22:51 utc | 82
fragging
Earlier this month, two of seven soldiers who had penned an Op-Ed for The New York Times that expressed skepticism about the war in Iraq were killed in a vehicle accident there. Now another soldier whose writings on the war, but with a more pro-war view, were widely circulated has died in another non-combat related incident.
He is Sgt. Edmund “Eddie” Jeffers. He died on Wednesday in Taqqadum of injuries suffered from an unspecified accident that is under investigation, the Army said.
Posted by: annie | Sep 21 2007 23:27 utc | 83
Welcome to Planet Gaza
Excellent piece by Pepe Escobar in the Asia Times:
Planet Gaza may be our contemporary Congo – the heart of darkness, especially when taken in conjunction with that other heart of darkness, Iraq. There’s nothing about a “Korea model” in Iraq – as much as Washington will try to keep an array of permanent military bases in Mesopotamia.
The logic of the US in Iraq is pure Planet Gaza. French geopolitical master Alain Joxe, in his book L’Empire du chaos, has been one of the few who have identified Palestine as the ultimate live textbook on urban repression – a “technical experiment” in the ultimate red zone carefully studied by the Pentagon, with all its known attributes (blast walls, checkpoints, pinpoint military incursions and “acquisition of targets”, collective punishment, etc).
The Israeli wall penetrating the “friendly” West Bank like a dagger has been replicated by mini-walls in Baghdad. As much as Israeli armed settler/missionaries do their ethnic cleansing in slow motion in Palestine, mercenary Blackwater and their ilk do the dirty work in Iraq. “Friendly” West Bank Fatah and “hostile” Gaza Hamas are mirrored in Iraq by the “good” (Sunni tribes, collaborator Shi’ite parties Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Da’wa, the Kurds) and the “bad” (Sunni guerrillas, al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, the Shi’ite Mahdi Army).
Iraq is actually Planet Gaza redux. According to British polling organization ORB, no fewer than 1.2 million Iraqis may have died violent deaths, most of them caused directly or indirectly by the occupation, since 2003. That’s close to the entire population of Gaza.
Recommended.
Posted by: Bea | Sep 22 2007 4:09 utc | 84
Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader’s death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
“It’s out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive,” Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush’s comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration’s Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
“I heard somebody say, Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas,” Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
…
References to his death — Mandela is now 89 and increasingly frail — are seen as insensitive in South Africa.
nelson mandela, 1958, on america imperialism. [i’m unable to find the complete article online — the first five paragraphs, reviewing imperialism in africa, is missing here, but this is the meat]
A New Menace in Africa
A New Danger
Whilst the influence of the old European powers has sharply declined and whilst the anti-imperialist forces are winning striking victories all over the world, a new danger has arisen and threatens to destroy the newly won independence of the people of Asia and Africa. It is American imperialism, which must be fought and decisively beaten down if the people of Asia and Africa are to preserve the vital gains they have won in their struggle against subjugation. The First and Second World Wars brought untold economic havoc especially in Europe, where both wars were mainly fought. Millions of people perished whilst their countries were ravaged and ruined by the war. The two conflicts resulted, on the one hand, in the decline of the old imperial powers.
…
..The U.S.A., taking advantage of the plight of its former allies, adopted the policy of deliberately ousting them from their spheres of influence and grabbing these spheres for herself. An instance that is still fresh in our minds is that of the Middle East, where the U.S.A. assisted in the eviction of Britain from that area in order that she might gain control of the oil industry, which prior to that time was in the control of Britain.
Through the Marshall Plan the U.S.A. succeeded in gaining control of the economies of European countries and reducing them to a position analogous to that of dependencies. By establishing aggressive military blocs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the U.S.A. has been able to post her armies in important strategic points and is preparing for armed intervention in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations.
…
Today, American imperialism is a serious danger to the independent states in Africa, and its people must unite before it is too late and fight it out to the bitter end.
…
Imperialism in Disguise
American imperialism is all the more dangerous because, having witnessed the resurgence of the people of Asia and Africa against imperialism and having seen the decline and fall of once powerful empires, it comes to Africa elaborately disguised. It has discarded most of the conventional weapons of the old type of imperialism. It does not openly advocate armed invasion and conquest. It purports to repudiate force and violence. It masquerades as the leader of the so-called free world in the campaign against communism. It claims that the cornerstone of its foreign policy is to assist other countries in resisting domination by others. It maintains that the huge sums of dollars invested in Africa are not for the exploitation of the people of Africa but for the purpose of developing their countries and in order to raise their living standards.
…
The American brand of imperialism is imperialism all the same in spite of the modern clothing in which it is dressed and in spite of the sweet language spoken by its advocates and agents. The U.S.A. is mounting an unprecedented diplomatic offensive to win the support of the governments of the self-governing territories in the continent. It has established a network of military bases all over the continent for armed intervention in the domestic affairs of independent states should the people in these states elect to replace American satellite regimes with those who are against American imperialism. American capital has been sunk into Africa not for the purpose of raising the material standards of its people but in order to exploit them as well as the natural wealth of their continent. This is imperialism in the true sense of the word.
mandela on bush, 2003
“It is a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing in Iraq … What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.”
Posted by: b real | Sep 22 2007 4:16 utc | 85
what’s in a name…
New National Nigerian Oil Co to be Called Napcon
Nigeria’s new national oil company, formed through the restructuring of the country’s oil and gas sector, will be known as National Petroleum Co. of Nigeria, or Napcon, press reports said Friday.
Posted by: b real | Sep 22 2007 5:01 utc | 86
In the year 1999 and seven months,
From the skies shall come an alarmingly powerful king,
To raise again the great King of the jacquerie,
Before and after, Mars shall reign at will.
The year seven of the great number being past,
There shall be seen the sports of the ghostly sacrifice,
Not far from the great age of the millennium,
That the buried shall come out of their graves.
Nostradamus Predicts Global War 3 in Iran, 2008
The “sports” are the Blackwater shechitah eaters.
“Ghostly sacrifice” a holocaust we dare not name.
The “buried” are primieval animals turned to oil.
Their “graves” are our childrens’ graves, as well.
Not far now…not far at all.
Posted by: Tele Machus | Sep 22 2007 5:08 utc | 87
Q & A with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
Jewish Journal: You wrote in The New Yorker in the spring of 2006 that the United States might not have much more time to focus on Iraq because they had started planning to bomb Iran. That hasn’t happened yet. Do you still think it will?
Seymour Hersh At that time it was considered far out. But it’s not anymore. I’m still writing about Iran planning. It is very much on the table. And I can tell you right now that there are many Shia right now in the south of Iraq, in the Maliki party, that believe to the core that America is no longer interested in Iraq, but that everything they are doing now is aimed at the Shia and Iran.
…
JJ: That’s all [your stories] are? Marginal?
SH: With these stories, if they slow down or make people take a deep breath before they bomb Iran, that is a plus. But they are not going to stop anybody. This is a government that is unreachable by us, and that is very depressing. In terms of adding to the public debate, the stories are important. But not in terms of changing policy. I have no delusions about that.
State Department hires trolls: At State Dept., Blog Team Joins Muslim Debate
So Mr. Jawad, one of two Arabic-speaking members of what the State Department called its Digital Outreach Team, posted his own question: Why was it that many in the Arab world quickly condemned civilian Palestinian deaths but were mute about the endless killing of women and children by suicide bombers in Iraq?
…
The team concentrates on about a dozen mainstream Web sites such as chat rooms set up by the BBC and Al Jazeera or charismatic Muslim figures like Amr Khaled, as well as Arab news sites like Elaph.com. They choose them based on high traffic and a focus on United States policy, and they always identify themselves as being from the State Department.
They avoid radical sites, although team members said that jihadis scoured everywhere.
The State Department team members themselves said they thought they would be immediately flamed, or insulted and blocked from posting. But so far only the webmaster at the Islamic Falluja Forums (www.al-faloja.info) has revoked their password and told them to get lost, they said.
Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented
The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.
The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country.
…
[N]ew details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf.
…
War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says
The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute, according to the group’s analysis of the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard public finance lecturer Linda J. Bilmes.
The estimates made by the group, which opposes the conflict, include not only the immediate costs of war but also ongoing factors such as long-term health care for veterans, interest on debt and replacement of military hardware.
mr fujimori will have a great deal to tell about his relation with u s intelligence service in his murder campaingns in peru.
like blackwater, i imagined the u s would tell the chile supreme court who is really the boss & stop the extradition
however, fujimori will die of illness before saying a word
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 22 2007 11:10 utc | 92
Some days ago I wrote about Market Confidence and Iraq
The financial/commercial world has paid the U.S. for delivering international stability by putting money into Dollar assets. This allowed the U.S. to live beyond its homegrown financial income capacity.
Now the U.S. is no longer able to deliver stability, especially for the big oil exporters in the Middle East.
Now Stirling Newberry at The Agonist agrees
Krugman says he has been predicting a dollar fall for a long time but that it keeps not arriving. The fundamental issue is not the trade deficit, nor the budget deficit.
The issue is confidence.
The simplest way to put this is also the bluntest. The United States exports global security. It also exports the global model for consumption. This creates two very credible threats in the global world. One is that should the United States find it expensive to run a big military, then it will stop, and the resulting political and economic instability will be worse than whatever the difference in interest rates is. The second is that the United States, to some extent because of research that flows out of the defense establishment, and to some extent because of the ability of consumers in the United States to consume, will be the home of another technology boom, and thus dollars will be in short supply again. …
Sounds stupid, but for some Arab sheik, investing a billion here and there, it does make sense …
what a stupid fucking country what a sad fucking world
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 22 2007 15:18 utc | 94
not being an expert on such matters but this you tube video appears very recent
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Sep 22 2007 16:06 utc | 95
From the BEEB: Blackwater ‘arms smuggling probe.’
I’m not entirely sure they’ve thought this one through…
Posted by: Tantalus | Sep 22 2007 17:22 utc | 96
Col. Lang
The resumption of State Department use of Blackwater protection answers the question as to whether or not there is any reality to the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. Maliki declared Blackwater’s business license to be suspended and ordered the company out of Iraq. The US Government has defied that decision. The egregious Rice has now declared that the situation will be reviewed. What a joke. Whatever credit the Iraqi government may have had in the Arab World is now finished.
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So much for purple fingers. pl
WaPo op-ed (?!) on Victor Bout: War and Terror Inc.
Consider a July report from the Government Accountability Office that tens of thousands of weapons purchased by the U.S. military and destined for delivery to Iraq remain unaccounted for. Actually, they’re not just “unaccounted for.” Bout may have swiped some of them. According to a 2006 Amnesty International report, Aerocom, a Moldovan-registered company linked to Bout, obtained a U.S. military contract in 2004 to fly 200,000 AK-47 assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition from Bosnia to Iraq. The day before the first Aerocom flight that August, the Moldovan government canceled its air-operations certificate, making any flights illegal. Bout was already on a U.N. and Treasury Department blacklist and was wanted by Interpol; Aerocom had been publicly cited in U.N. reports for illicit weapons trafficking. The flights took off nonetheless, but there are no records showing that they ever actually landed in Iraq. In other words: An international outlaw using unlicensed aircraft took control of U.S. government-purchased weapons — which then disappeared.
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After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Bout’s air-freight services were used by the U.S. military and by Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR, Federal Express and other contractors, according to flight records and U.S. military and civilian officials who monitored the flights. In the process, Bout raked in millions of dollars, even though Bush signed an executive order in July 2004 that made it illegal to do business with the Russian and his companies. In May 2005, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control froze the assets of Bout, three of his associates and 30 of his companies, again making it explicitly illegal to do any business with him. But while the Treasury and State departments, as well as parts of the Pentagon, tried to shut off Bout’s access to U.S. tax dollars, portions of the military and intelligence communities kept feeding him business — for almost two years after such contacts became a direct violation of a presidential directive.
i’ve seen commentaries online suggesting that bout is running weapons into both somalia, to the TFG forces, and the congo. maybe that’s where some of those weapons from iraq are ending up.
Posted by: b real | Sep 22 2007 19:29 utc | 99
b’s link @ 98:
The flights took off nonetheless, but there are no records showing that they ever actually landed in Iraq.
When I was posting at Today In Iraq regularly that item came up. They did indeed land in Iraq but not in Baghdad for the Iraqi government but the Kurdish north. Only Europe carried that little bit of info at the time. We never did see anything mentioned in the US.
Posted by: Sam | Sep 23 2007 0:01 utc | 100