CounterPunch: America's Best Political Newsletter: "June 14, 2004
Walls and Checkpoints | The Nightmare Comes True | By URI AVNERY
I thought it was terrible. I was wrong. It is far, far worse!--These words sum up my feelings at that moment.
I was standing on a hill overlooking the infamous Kalandia checkpoint.
Below me was a narrow road, packed with Palestinians in the blazing sun, 30 degrees centigrade in the shade (but there was no shade) trudging towards the checkpoint. Very soon this road will be transformed. It will be widened to three lanes and be reserved for Israelis: on both sides of it, 8-meter high walls will spring up. It will allow the settlers of the Jordan valley to reach Tel-Aviv in about an hour. The Palestinians living on either side will be cut off from each other.
This is a small part of the new reality that is rapidly being created on the West Bank and that is changing the country we knew and loved beyond recognition.
...
Since successive Israeli governments have prevented the Palestinians in East Jerusalem from building new homes, the severe overcrowding has forced a mass exodus to a-Ram, which has grown into a town of 60 thousand inhabitants. Most of them are officially still Jerusalem residents, carrying the blue identity cards of inhabitants of Israel. This allows them to come to Jerusalem, a drive of 10 minutes, work there, tend to their businesses, go to the hospitals and the universities there.
This is about to stop. ...
...
The sole exit from this walled-in area will be a narrow bridge connecting it with the adjacent area to its east, consisting of several Palestinian villages, which will be surrounded by another barrier. This enclave will have a narrow exit to the Ramallah enclave. Through this it will be possible for a person from a-Ram to reach Ramallah, God willing, by a roundabout route of some 30 kilometers, instead of the ten minutes or so it took before the occupation. ...
Monday, June 14, 2004
Top Lawyers Call Legal OK for Torture 'Preposterous': "Lawyers who are employed by the US government have a responsibility to uphold .. US laws"
t r u t h o u t - Top Lawyers Call Legal OK for Torture 'Preposterous': "Dismay at Attempt to Find Legal Justification for Torture | By Edward Alden | Financial Times | Thursday 10 June 2004
Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale University's law school and a former US assistant secretary of state, went to Geneva in 2000 to present the first US report on its compliance with the UN 1994 Convention against Torture. He says he told the global gathering the US was 'unalterably committed to a world without torture.'
This week's revelations that Bush administration lawyers had sought to find legal justifications for torturing terrorist detainees have left him dumbfounded.
'They are blatantly wrong,' he says. 'It's just erroneous legal analysis. The notion that the president has the constitutional power to permit torture is like saying he has the constitutional power to commit genocide.'
...
"There are serious ethical shortcomings here," he says. "Lawyers who are employed by the US government have a responsibility to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States," which include domestic and international legal prohibitions on torture. "To make an argument that the president's wartime powers give him the right to avoid these statutes is preposterous."
Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale University's law school and a former US assistant secretary of state, went to Geneva in 2000 to present the first US report on its compliance with the UN 1994 Convention against Torture. He says he told the global gathering the US was 'unalterably committed to a world without torture.'
This week's revelations that Bush administration lawyers had sought to find legal justifications for torturing terrorist detainees have left him dumbfounded.
'They are blatantly wrong,' he says. 'It's just erroneous legal analysis. The notion that the president has the constitutional power to permit torture is like saying he has the constitutional power to commit genocide.'
...
"There are serious ethical shortcomings here," he says. "Lawyers who are employed by the US government have a responsibility to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States," which include domestic and international legal prohibitions on torture. "To make an argument that the president's wartime powers give him the right to avoid these statutes is preposterous."
Sanchez, top U.S. commander in Iraq ordered prisoners hidden from Red Cross: "contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law."
USNews.com: How the military treated some inmates at Abu Ghraib like "ghosts" (6/21/04): "6/21/04 Hiding a bad guy named triple X | By Edward T. Pound
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, issued a classified order last November directing military guards to hide a prisoner, later dubbed 'Triple X' by soldiers, from Red Cross inspectors and keep his name off official rosters. The disclosure, by military sources, is the first indication that Sanchez was directly involved in efforts to hide prisoners from the Red Cross, a practice that was sharply criticized by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in a report describing abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
Taguba blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing "other government agencies"--a euphemism that includes the CIA--to hide "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, "was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." Taguba's report did not cite the November 18 directive issued by Sanchez to hide Triple X, identified as a high-ranking terrorist. It is not known if Taguba saw the directive. He declined to comment. The Army said it could not discuss a classified order. ...
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, issued a classified order last November directing military guards to hide a prisoner, later dubbed 'Triple X' by soldiers, from Red Cross inspectors and keep his name off official rosters. The disclosure, by military sources, is the first indication that Sanchez was directly involved in efforts to hide prisoners from the Red Cross, a practice that was sharply criticized by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in a report describing abuses of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
Taguba blamed the 800th Military Police Brigade, which guarded the prison, for allowing "other government agencies"--a euphemism that includes the CIA--to hide "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib. The practice, he wrote, "was deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." Taguba's report did not cite the November 18 directive issued by Sanchez to hide Triple X, identified as a high-ranking terrorist. It is not known if Taguba saw the directive. He declined to comment. The Army said it could not discuss a classified order. ...
The newly disclosed details about Pentagon contracts with Halliburton raise questions about assertions by VP Cheney
The New York Times > Washington > Procurement: White House Officials and Cheney Aide Approved Halliburton Contract in Iraq, Pentagon Says: "By ERIK ECKHOLM | Published: June 14, 2004
In the fall of 2002, in the preparations for possible war with Iraq, the Pentagon sought and received the assent of senior Bush administration officials, including the vice president's chief of staff, before hiring the Halliburton Company to develop secret plans for restoring Iraq's oil facilities, Pentagon officials have told Congressional investigators.
The newly disclosed details about Pentagon contracting do not suggest improper political pressures to direct business to Halliburton, the Houston-based company that Vice President Dick Cheney once led.
But they raise questions about assertions by Mr. Cheney and other administration officials that he knew nothing in advance of the Halliburton contracts and that the decisions were made by career procurement specialists, without involvement by senior political appointees....
In the fall of 2002, in the preparations for possible war with Iraq, the Pentagon sought and received the assent of senior Bush administration officials, including the vice president's chief of staff, before hiring the Halliburton Company to develop secret plans for restoring Iraq's oil facilities, Pentagon officials have told Congressional investigators.
The newly disclosed details about Pentagon contracting do not suggest improper political pressures to direct business to Halliburton, the Houston-based company that Vice President Dick Cheney once led.
But they raise questions about assertions by Mr. Cheney and other administration officials that he knew nothing in advance of the Halliburton contracts and that the decisions were made by career procurement specialists, without involvement by senior political appointees....
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Bush takes a tongue-lashing from the Pope ... [in the absece of] respect for basic human rights, "neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush takes a tongue-lashing from the Pope over Iraq: "John Hooper in Rome and John Aglionby in Singapore | Saturday June 5, 2004 |The Guardian
The Pope yesterday subjected George Bush to a very public, relentlessly critical assessment of the US administration's performance in Iraq, attacking 'deplorable' abuses of prisoners and calling for an international solution to the country's crisis.
During the president's visit to the Vatican, which the administration had hoped would help him win Catholic votes in November's presidential election, the Pope warned Mr Bush he would never succeed in the war on terrorism if he failed to ensure respect for basic human rights.
And he urged him to involve the United Nations in an oper ation for the swift return of sovereignty to Iraq.
In a clear reference to the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib jail, the pontiff said: "In the past few weeks _ deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values.
"In the absence of such a commitment, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome." ...
The Pope yesterday subjected George Bush to a very public, relentlessly critical assessment of the US administration's performance in Iraq, attacking 'deplorable' abuses of prisoners and calling for an international solution to the country's crisis.
During the president's visit to the Vatican, which the administration had hoped would help him win Catholic votes in November's presidential election, the Pope warned Mr Bush he would never succeed in the war on terrorism if he failed to ensure respect for basic human rights.
And he urged him to involve the United Nations in an oper ation for the swift return of sovereignty to Iraq.
In a clear reference to the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib jail, the pontiff said: "In the past few weeks _ deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values.
"In the absence of such a commitment, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome." ...
Second top official to quit CIA
BBC NEWS | Americas | Second top official to quit CIA: " Friday, 4 June, 2004, 14:07 GMT 15:07 UK
A second top CIA official is to retire from his post, less than a day after the surprise resignation of the agency's director George Tenet.
James Pavitt, deputy director for operations, is said to have made the decision some weeks ago. [Pavitt has been in charge of the CIA's spies for the past five years]
The departures come as the agency is braced for reports expected to criticise its conduct in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
The CIA says Mr Pavitt's decision was unconnected with Mr Tenet's departure.
But analysts say the move will mean more upheaval at a critical time for the agency. "
A second top CIA official is to retire from his post, less than a day after the surprise resignation of the agency's director George Tenet.
James Pavitt, deputy director for operations, is said to have made the decision some weeks ago. [Pavitt has been in charge of the CIA's spies for the past five years]
The departures come as the agency is braced for reports expected to criticise its conduct in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq.
The CIA says Mr Pavitt's decision was unconnected with Mr Tenet's departure.
But analysts say the move will mean more upheaval at a critical time for the agency. "
The CIA's Tenet resigns: "Was he pushed? to make him a scapegoat for failures in Iraq and elsewhere ...
Economist.com | The CIA�s Tenet resigns: "Was he pushed? | Jun 4th 2004 | From The Economist Global Agenda
George Tenet has resigned as head of the Central Intelligence Agency, citing personal reasons. But speculation is rife that the Bush administration wants to make him a scapegoat for failures in Iraq and elsewhere. Whether he jumped or was pushed, Mr Tenet will not take all the blame with him
... Mr Bush’s sorrow came under immediate suspicion. America's intelligence services, of which Mr Tenet is the most prominent member, have overseen enormous intelligence failures, most famously the lack of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and the failure to “connect the dots” of the September 11th plot. Many have called for his resignation in the past three years.
So why did he oblige now? The political calendar is sure to be central to speculation on the subject. The presidential elections are just five months away, and continuing violence in Iraq is making Mr Bush’s signature foreign-policy achievement look to more and more voters like a big mistake. Yet there has not been a high-profile resignation yet, fuelling criticism of pigheadedness in the administration. After the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal there were calls for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary. But for Mr Bush to sack Mr Rumsfeld would be highly embarrassing, as the defence chief is closely associated with the president and his administration’s style. ...
...
Recently, the Senate delivered yet another blow to the CIA, a 400-page report on the WMD intelligence before the Iraq war, which showers plenty of criticism on the agency. Some suggest that the report was the last straw for Mr Tenet. Or perhaps he really was shoved out by a calculating administration for one of the reasons above. ...
George Tenet has resigned as head of the Central Intelligence Agency, citing personal reasons. But speculation is rife that the Bush administration wants to make him a scapegoat for failures in Iraq and elsewhere. Whether he jumped or was pushed, Mr Tenet will not take all the blame with him
... Mr Bush’s sorrow came under immediate suspicion. America's intelligence services, of which Mr Tenet is the most prominent member, have overseen enormous intelligence failures, most famously the lack of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and the failure to “connect the dots” of the September 11th plot. Many have called for his resignation in the past three years.
So why did he oblige now? The political calendar is sure to be central to speculation on the subject. The presidential elections are just five months away, and continuing violence in Iraq is making Mr Bush’s signature foreign-policy achievement look to more and more voters like a big mistake. Yet there has not been a high-profile resignation yet, fuelling criticism of pigheadedness in the administration. After the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal there were calls for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary. But for Mr Bush to sack Mr Rumsfeld would be highly embarrassing, as the defence chief is closely associated with the president and his administration’s style. ...
...
Recently, the Senate delivered yet another blow to the CIA, a 400-page report on the WMD intelligence before the Iraq war, which showers plenty of criticism on the agency. Some suggest that the report was the last straw for Mr Tenet. Or perhaps he really was shoved out by a calculating administration for one of the reasons above. ...
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Bush May Hire Lawyer in Probe Over CIA Leak
Excite - News: "Bush May Hire Lawyer in Probe Over CIA Leak | Jun 2, 8:10 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has sought a lawyer to represent him in the criminal probe into who was responsible for a leak that was seen as retaliation against a critic of the Iraq war, the White House said on Wednesday.
'The president has had discussions with an outside attorney, and in the event that he needs advice he would retain him,' said White House spokesman Allen Abney, naming the lawyer as Jim Sharp."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has sought a lawyer to represent him in the criminal probe into who was responsible for a leak that was seen as retaliation against a critic of the Iraq war, the White House said on Wednesday.
'The president has had discussions with an outside attorney, and in the event that he needs advice he would retain him,' said White House spokesman Allen Abney, naming the lawyer as Jim Sharp."
Monday, May 24, 2004
Wolfowitz's blunders cost us dearly
Tallahassee Democrat | 05/23/2004 | Wolfowitz's blunders cost us dearly: "Sun, May. 23, 2004 | By Bronwyn Lance Chester | THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
It's a good thing the Pentagon didn't contract out the position of deputy defense secretary. Corporate America would have surely canned Paul Wolfowitz by now.
Almost every rosy prediction made by the Iraq war's architect has fallen flat. Instead of squandering company profits, however, Wolfowitz's high-stakes bungling and erroneous forecasts have helped sacrifice more precious commodities: thousands of lives, billions of taxpayer dollars and much of the global goodwill America enjoyed after Sept. 11.
How many strikes does this guy get before he's out? "
Blunder No. 1: Iraq as global threat.
Blunder No. 2: Troop strength
Blunder No. 3: Foreign troop participation
Blunder No. 4: Ahmed Chalabi
Blunder No. 5: Paying for the occupation ...
It's a good thing the Pentagon didn't contract out the position of deputy defense secretary. Corporate America would have surely canned Paul Wolfowitz by now.
Almost every rosy prediction made by the Iraq war's architect has fallen flat. Instead of squandering company profits, however, Wolfowitz's high-stakes bungling and erroneous forecasts have helped sacrifice more precious commodities: thousands of lives, billions of taxpayer dollars and much of the global goodwill America enjoyed after Sept. 11.
How many strikes does this guy get before he's out? "
Blunder No. 1: Iraq as global threat.
Blunder No. 2: Troop strength
Blunder No. 3: Foreign troop participation
Blunder No. 4: Ahmed Chalabi
Blunder No. 5: Paying for the occupation ...
Monday, May 17, 2004
After mismanaging the Vietnam War, LB Johnson rode turned tail and rode off into the sunset of his Texas ranch ... Bush too?
USATODAY.com - Should cowboy Bush ride into the sunset?: "Posted 5/13/2004 10:15 PM
...
Where? Iraq. He led us astray by falsely claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that threatened us. After the "Mission Accomplished" boast in May 2003, he put our troops in new jeopardy by taunting terrorists from other countries with his "Bring 'em on!" challenge last July 2. His anything-goes-against-the-bad-guys attitude and his total lack of postwar planning helped prompt the ongoing prison-abuse embarrassments and brutal retaliations.
Why? Because he believes he can be re-elected as a tough-talking, self-proclaimed "War President."
Maybe Bush should take a cue from a fellow Texan, former president Lyndon Baines Johnson, who also had some cowboy characteristics.
LBJ, after mismanaging the Vietnam War that so bitterly divided the nation and the world, decided he owed it to his political party and to his country not to run for re-election. So, he turned tail and rode off into the sunset of his Texas ranch. ...
...
Where? Iraq. He led us astray by falsely claiming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that threatened us. After the "Mission Accomplished" boast in May 2003, he put our troops in new jeopardy by taunting terrorists from other countries with his "Bring 'em on!" challenge last July 2. His anything-goes-against-the-bad-guys attitude and his total lack of postwar planning helped prompt the ongoing prison-abuse embarrassments and brutal retaliations.
Why? Because he believes he can be re-elected as a tough-talking, self-proclaimed "War President."
Maybe Bush should take a cue from a fellow Texan, former president Lyndon Baines Johnson, who also had some cowboy characteristics.
LBJ, after mismanaging the Vietnam War that so bitterly divided the nation and the world, decided he owed it to his political party and to his country not to run for re-election. So, he turned tail and rode off into the sunset of his Texas ranch. ...
Friday, January 16, 2004
Necconservatives causing nothing less than an inversion of its traditional self-undertstanding and sense of priorities
Appetite for Destruction: "January 19, 2004 issue
Copyright � 2004 The American Conservative | By Claes G. Ryn"
Neoconservatives have more in common with French revolutionaries than American traditionalists.
...
Virtually all Americans recognized the necessity of an emphatic response to 9/11. The reason this atrocity did not elicit focused action against the perpetrators but became instead the justification for war against Iraq and a worldwide battle against terrorism is that neo-Jacobin intellectuals and activists had long prepared to launch such a policy. After 9/11 they could push through policies whose full implications were not obvious to their less ideological bosses. President Bush had the excuses that he confronted wholly unanticipated and unsettling circumstances and was not an intellectual and historian able fully to understand the cause that he adopted.
...
America is witnessing nothing less than an inversion of its traditional self-undertstanding and sense of priorities.
Claes G. Ryn is Professor of Politics at Catholic University and Chairman of the National Humanities Institute. He is the author of America the Virtuous: The Crisis of Democracy and the Quest for Empire.
Copyright � 2004 The American Conservative | By Claes G. Ryn"
Neoconservatives have more in common with French revolutionaries than American traditionalists.
...
Virtually all Americans recognized the necessity of an emphatic response to 9/11. The reason this atrocity did not elicit focused action against the perpetrators but became instead the justification for war against Iraq and a worldwide battle against terrorism is that neo-Jacobin intellectuals and activists had long prepared to launch such a policy. After 9/11 they could push through policies whose full implications were not obvious to their less ideological bosses. President Bush had the excuses that he confronted wholly unanticipated and unsettling circumstances and was not an intellectual and historian able fully to understand the cause that he adopted.
...
America is witnessing nothing less than an inversion of its traditional self-undertstanding and sense of priorities.
Claes G. Ryn is Professor of Politics at Catholic University and Chairman of the National Humanities Institute. He is the author of America the Virtuous: The Crisis of Democracy and the Quest for Empire.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
O'Neill Says He Didn't Take U.S. Treasury Documents: all documents came from Treasury's chief legal officer
Excite - News: "O'Neill Says He Didn't Take U.S. Treasury Documents | Jan 13, 3:21 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, under fire for criticizing President Bush's leadership, denied on Tuesday he had taken secret documents from the Treasury.
On Monday, hours after O'Neill criticized the president on CBS television, the Treasury Department said its Inspector General was investigating how a document marked 'secret' was shown during the interview.
Speaking on NBC's 'Today' show, the ex-Treasury Secretary said the documents were given to him by the Treasury's chief legal officer after he requested them to help former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind write a book on O'Neill's time in the Cabinet.
'I said to him (the general counsel) I would like to have the documents that are OK for me to have. About three weeks later, the general counsel, the chief legal officer, sent me a couple of CDs, which I frankly never opened,' said O'Neill, who resigned under pressure a year ago in a shake-up of Bush's economy team." ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, under fire for criticizing President Bush's leadership, denied on Tuesday he had taken secret documents from the Treasury.
On Monday, hours after O'Neill criticized the president on CBS television, the Treasury Department said its Inspector General was investigating how a document marked 'secret' was shown during the interview.
Speaking on NBC's 'Today' show, the ex-Treasury Secretary said the documents were given to him by the Treasury's chief legal officer after he requested them to help former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind write a book on O'Neill's time in the Cabinet.
'I said to him (the general counsel) I would like to have the documents that are OK for me to have. About three weeks later, the general counsel, the chief legal officer, sent me a couple of CDs, which I frankly never opened,' said O'Neill, who resigned under pressure a year ago in a shake-up of Bush's economy team." ...
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Bush administration 'systematically misrepresenting' Iraq's WMD: repeated visits by VP Cheney pressed analysts to come to "more threatening" judgments
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Carnegie group says Bush made wrong claims on WMD: "Julian Borger in Washington | Thursday January 8, 2004 | The Guardian
The Bush administration will today be accused of 'systematically misrepresenting' the threat posed by 'Iraq's weapons of mass destruction' in a comprehensive report on post-war findings. "
...
The authors say the intelligence reports of Iraq's capabilities grew more shrill in October 2002 with the publication of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which included an unusual number of dissenting views by intelligence officials.
The intelligence community, the report says, began to be unduly influenced by policymakers' views "sometime in 2002". Repeated visits to the CIA by the US vice president, Dick Cheney, and demands by top officials to see unsubstantiated reports, created an atmosphere in which intelligence analysts were pressed to come to "more threatening" judgments of Iraq.
The report concludes that "administration officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD and ballistic missile programmes". ...
The Bush administration will today be accused of 'systematically misrepresenting' the threat posed by 'Iraq's weapons of mass destruction' in a comprehensive report on post-war findings. "
...
The authors say the intelligence reports of Iraq's capabilities grew more shrill in October 2002 with the publication of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which included an unusual number of dissenting views by intelligence officials.
The intelligence community, the report says, began to be unduly influenced by policymakers' views "sometime in 2002". Repeated visits to the CIA by the US vice president, Dick Cheney, and demands by top officials to see unsubstantiated reports, created an atmosphere in which intelligence analysts were pressed to come to "more threatening" judgments of Iraq.
The report concludes that "administration officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD and ballistic missile programmes". ...
Monday, November 24, 2003
Iraq appoints US citizen [neo-conservative] as its American envoy
: "Iraq appoints US citizen as its American envoy | By David Rennie in Washington | (Filed: 24/11/2003)
The Iraqi Governing Council has appointed an Iraqi-American woman and human rights lobbyist its first ambassador to the United States.
Rend Rahim Francke is little known in Iraq. As a young girl she was sent for an education at boarding school in England, followed by Cambridge and the Sorbonne. She left Iraq for good in the 1970s and has been a US citizen since 1987.
A former banker and currency trader, Ms Francke is better known in the think-tanks and political salons of Washington DC, where she has been a prominent and passionate advocate for Iraqi regime change.
She worked with neo-conservative hawks in pushing for more US support for exile and opposition groups.
Advising on post-war planning, she shared the faith of neo-conservatives that building a democratic Iraq, and holding Saddam Hussein to account for human rights abuses, could transform the Middle East.
The Iraqi Governing Council has appointed an Iraqi-American woman and human rights lobbyist its first ambassador to the United States.
Rend Rahim Francke is little known in Iraq. As a young girl she was sent for an education at boarding school in England, followed by Cambridge and the Sorbonne. She left Iraq for good in the 1970s and has been a US citizen since 1987.
A former banker and currency trader, Ms Francke is better known in the think-tanks and political salons of Washington DC, where she has been a prominent and passionate advocate for Iraqi regime change.
She worked with neo-conservative hawks in pushing for more US support for exile and opposition groups.
Advising on post-war planning, she shared the faith of neo-conservatives that building a democratic Iraq, and holding Saddam Hussein to account for human rights abuses, could transform the Middle East.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Chicago Tribune | 10 receive humanities prizes
Chicago Tribune | 10 receive humanities prizes: "Northwestern's Epstein joins Updike, Holbrook | Published November 17, 2003
Northwestern University English professor and essayist Joseph Epstein and novelist John Updike were among 10 people to be awarded on Friday the National Humanities Medal by President Bush.
Epstein, whose works include fiction and social and literary commentary, and the others were cited for contributions to the humanities. Updike's many works include novels, short stories, poetry and criticism.
The other recipients are:
- Robert Ballard, the deep-sea explorer famed for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic.
- Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the creators of the Children's Television Workshop and its 'Sesame Street' show.
- Midge Decter, a neoconservative writer and columnist. ... [... Her second husband, (neoconservative) Norman Podhoretz, is editor of Commentary. ed.]
Northwestern University English professor and essayist Joseph Epstein and novelist John Updike were among 10 people to be awarded on Friday the National Humanities Medal by President Bush.
Epstein, whose works include fiction and social and literary commentary, and the others were cited for contributions to the humanities. Updike's many works include novels, short stories, poetry and criticism.
The other recipients are:
- Robert Ballard, the deep-sea explorer famed for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic.
- Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the creators of the Children's Television Workshop and its 'Sesame Street' show.
- Midge Decter, a neoconservative writer and columnist. ... [... Her second husband, (neoconservative) Norman Podhoretz, is editor of Commentary. ed.]
Monday, November 17, 2003
DoD Statement refutes Fieth's letter to Senate Intelligence Committee about Qaida and Iraq Connections
DoD Statement on News Reports of al-Qaida and Iraq Connections: "United States Department of Defense | No. 851-03 | IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 15, 2003
News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.
A letter was sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee on October 27, 2003 from Douglas J. Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in response to follow-up questions from his July 10 testimony. One of the questions posed by the committee asked the Department to provide the reports from the Intelligence Community to which he referred in his testimony before the Committee. These reports dealt with the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida. "
News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.
A letter was sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee on October 27, 2003 from Douglas J. Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in response to follow-up questions from his July 10 testimony. One of the questions posed by the committee asked the Department to provide the reports from the Intelligence Community to which he referred in his testimony before the Committee. These reports dealt with the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida. "
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Investigation Clears Perle of Wrongdoing, Rumsfeld Says
Excite - News: "Investigation Clears Perle of Wrongdoing, Rumsfeld Says | Nov 16, 4:10 pm ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - An investigation by the Defense Department's inspector general has cleared Pentagon adviser Richard Perle of any violation of conflict of interest laws in his private consulting business, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday.
...
Perle, an architect of the Iraq war, remains as a member of the board, which is now headed by former Florida Republican Rep. Tillie Fowler.
Perle stepped down after facing allegations of a conflict of interest over his work as an adviser for the bankrupt telecommunications firm Global Crossing Ltd. .
...
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Perle was the focus of a new inquiry by Hollinger International, a media conglomerate where he serves as director. The inquiry is focusing on several transactions, including $2.5 million in payments made by the company into Trireme Partners, a venture capital company in which Perle is a managing partner, the newspaper said.
SEOUL (Reuters) - An investigation by the Defense Department's inspector general has cleared Pentagon adviser Richard Perle of any violation of conflict of interest laws in his private consulting business, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday.
...
Perle, an architect of the Iraq war, remains as a member of the board, which is now headed by former Florida Republican Rep. Tillie Fowler.
Perle stepped down after facing allegations of a conflict of interest over his work as an adviser for the bankrupt telecommunications firm Global Crossing Ltd. .
...
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Perle was the focus of a new inquiry by Hollinger International, a media conglomerate where he serves as director. The inquiry is focusing on several transactions, including $2.5 million in payments made by the company into Trireme Partners, a venture capital company in which Perle is a managing partner, the newspaper said.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Neo-conned: Case for war made up, say top names
Case for war made up, say top names: "By ANDREW GUMBEL in Los Angeles | 11/10/03: (The Independent)
An unprecedented array of United States intelligence professionals, diplomats and former Pentagon officials have gone on record to lambast the Bush Administration for its distortion of the case for war against Iraq.
In their view, the very foundations of intelligence-gathering have been damaged in ways that could take years, even decades, to repair.
...
They also reconstruct the way senior White House officials - notably Vice-President Dick Cheney - leaned on the CIA to find evidence that would fit a preordained set of conclusions.
"There was never a clear and present danger. There was never an imminent threat. Iraq - and we have very good intelligence on this - was never part of the picture of terrorism," says Mel Goodman, a veteran CIA analyst who now teaches at the National War College.
...
"The theory that you can bludgeon political grievances out of existence doesn't have much of a track record," he [George Bush snr's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas Freeman] says, "so essentially we have been neo-conned into applying a school of thought about foreign affairs that has failed everywhere it has been tried."
An unprecedented array of United States intelligence professionals, diplomats and former Pentagon officials have gone on record to lambast the Bush Administration for its distortion of the case for war against Iraq.
In their view, the very foundations of intelligence-gathering have been damaged in ways that could take years, even decades, to repair.
...
They also reconstruct the way senior White House officials - notably Vice-President Dick Cheney - leaned on the CIA to find evidence that would fit a preordained set of conclusions.
"There was never a clear and present danger. There was never an imminent threat. Iraq - and we have very good intelligence on this - was never part of the picture of terrorism," says Mel Goodman, a veteran CIA analyst who now teaches at the National War College.
...
"The theory that you can bludgeon political grievances out of existence doesn't have much of a track record," he [George Bush snr's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas Freeman] says, "so essentially we have been neo-conned into applying a school of thought about foreign affairs that has failed everywhere it has been tried."
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Barrage Blasts Wolfowitz's Baghdad Hotel: "I wish Wolfowitz had been killed" says grocer
Excite - News: "Rocket Barrage Blasts Wolfowitz's Baghdad Hotel | Oct 26, 5:35 am ET | By Carol Giacomo
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-American guerrillas blasted the Baghdad hotel where U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying with a barrage of rockets on Sunday, but the No. 2 Pentagon official survived unharmed, U.S. officials said.
The brazen attack killed a U.S. soldier but a defiant Wolfowitz vowed that the United States would not be cowed into abandoning Iraq.
Fifteen people were also wounded in the strike that is a setback for the Bush administration, undermining its insistence the United States is winning the guerrilla war in Iraq despite escalating violence.
...
Wolfowitz, a major force behind the United States invading Iraq, was led away by security forces. He appeared composed after descending a stairwell past thickening smoke and blood stains with a fire alarm blaring, witnesses said.
...
Angry at U.S. occupation, Iraqis expressed regret at what they saw as an assassination attempt had failed.
"I wish Wolfowitz had been killed. I wish all Americans here would be killed," said Ali Hussein, a grocer in central Baghdad. "The Americans are not human beings, they are monsters. They lied to the Iraqi people."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-American guerrillas blasted the Baghdad hotel where U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying with a barrage of rockets on Sunday, but the No. 2 Pentagon official survived unharmed, U.S. officials said.
The brazen attack killed a U.S. soldier but a defiant Wolfowitz vowed that the United States would not be cowed into abandoning Iraq.
Fifteen people were also wounded in the strike that is a setback for the Bush administration, undermining its insistence the United States is winning the guerrilla war in Iraq despite escalating violence.
...
Wolfowitz, a major force behind the United States invading Iraq, was led away by security forces. He appeared composed after descending a stairwell past thickening smoke and blood stains with a fire alarm blaring, witnesses said.
...
Angry at U.S. occupation, Iraqis expressed regret at what they saw as an assassination attempt had failed.
"I wish Wolfowitz had been killed. I wish all Americans here would be killed," said Ali Hussein, a grocer in central Baghdad. "The Americans are not human beings, they are monsters. They lied to the Iraqi people."
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Most censored stories in the media: #1 The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance
Project Censored: "#1 The Neoconservative Plan for Global Dominance
...
... Eventually labeled "neoconservatives," this circle of influential strategists played important roles in the Defense Departments of Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr., at conservative think tanks throughout the '80s and '90s, and today occupies several key posts in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department. Most principal among them are:
·Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, our current Vice-President and Defense Secretary respectively, who have been closely aligned since they served with the Ford administration in the 1970s;
·Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the key architect of the post-war reconstruction of Iraq;
·Richard Perle, past-chairman and still-member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board that has great influence over foreign military policies;
·William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and founder of the powerful, neo-conservative think-tank, Project for a New American Century.
...
Project Censored wishes to acknowledge that Jim Lobe, the Washington, D.C. correspondent for Inter Press Service (IPS), has been covering the ways in which neo-conservatives, using the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) among other mechanisms, used the 9/11 attacks to pursue their own agenda of global dominance and reshaping the Middle East virtually from the outset of the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.” For more information, please vist the following link: http://www.ipsnews.net/focus/neo-cons/index.asp
...
... Eventually labeled "neoconservatives," this circle of influential strategists played important roles in the Defense Departments of Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr., at conservative think tanks throughout the '80s and '90s, and today occupies several key posts in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department. Most principal among them are:
·Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, our current Vice-President and Defense Secretary respectively, who have been closely aligned since they served with the Ford administration in the 1970s;
·Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the key architect of the post-war reconstruction of Iraq;
·Richard Perle, past-chairman and still-member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board that has great influence over foreign military policies;
·William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and founder of the powerful, neo-conservative think-tank, Project for a New American Century.
...
Project Censored wishes to acknowledge that Jim Lobe, the Washington, D.C. correspondent for Inter Press Service (IPS), has been covering the ways in which neo-conservatives, using the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) among other mechanisms, used the 9/11 attacks to pursue their own agenda of global dominance and reshaping the Middle East virtually from the outset of the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.” For more information, please vist the following link: http://www.ipsnews.net/focus/neo-cons/index.asp
Monday, October 20, 2003
Neoconservative Web
Irving Kristol -- father of neo-conservatives, William Kristol
William Kristol -- "Weekly Standard"/editor, FOX analyst, AEI/Director, PNAC/chairman, AEI/PNAC/share same building
Norman Podhoretz -- Jewish "Commentary"/editor, Abrams/father-in-law, AEI/Irving Kristol award, PNAC/signatory
Richard Perle -- UofChicago/son-in-law/student/Wohlstetter, Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author, Pentagon/Rumsfeld's Defense Advisory Board/ex-chairman
Paul Wolfowitz -- Pentagon/Deputy Secretary of Defense, UofChicago/student/Wohlstetter, PNAC/signatory
Elliot Abrams -- Bush/NSC/director of Near Eastern Affairs, Reagan/pardonned for Iran-Contra/Co-worked with Kagan, Podheretz/son-in-law, PNAC/signatory
I Lewis "Scott" Libby -- Cheney/chief of staff, PNAC/signatory
John Bolton -- AEI-ex-SVP, Under Secretary of State
Dick Cheney -- VP, PNAC/signatory
Donald Rumsfeld -- Pentagon/Deputy for Defense, PNAC/signatory
Robert Kagan -- Cheney/wife is next deputy national security adviser, Reagan/Abrams co-worker
Douglas Feith -- Pentagon/Wolfowitz/deputy for policy, Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author
Michael + Barara Ledeen -- AEI/fellow
David and Meyrav Wurmser -- Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author, State Dept/Mideast policy
Paula Dobriansky -- Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs
Daniel Pipes -- U.S. Institute of Peace, Middle East Forum/President
Michael Rubin -- AEI, Pentagon/Mideast policy
David Steinmann -- Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)/Chairman
William Kristol -- "Weekly Standard"/editor, FOX analyst, AEI/Director, PNAC/chairman, AEI/PNAC/share same building
Norman Podhoretz -- Jewish "Commentary"/editor, Abrams/father-in-law, AEI/Irving Kristol award, PNAC/signatory
Richard Perle -- UofChicago/son-in-law/student/Wohlstetter, Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author, Pentagon/Rumsfeld's Defense Advisory Board/ex-chairman
Paul Wolfowitz -- Pentagon/Deputy Secretary of Defense, UofChicago/student/Wohlstetter, PNAC/signatory
Elliot Abrams -- Bush/NSC/director of Near Eastern Affairs, Reagan/pardonned for Iran-Contra/Co-worked with Kagan, Podheretz/son-in-law, PNAC/signatory
I Lewis "Scott" Libby -- Cheney/chief of staff, PNAC/signatory
John Bolton -- AEI-ex-SVP, Under Secretary of State
Dick Cheney -- VP, PNAC/signatory
Donald Rumsfeld -- Pentagon/Deputy for Defense, PNAC/signatory
Robert Kagan -- Cheney/wife is next deputy national security adviser, Reagan/Abrams co-worker
Douglas Feith -- Pentagon/Wolfowitz/deputy for policy, Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author
Michael + Barara Ledeen -- AEI/fellow
David and Meyrav Wurmser -- Israel/Likud/1996-Oslo-Iraq/Co-author, State Dept/Mideast policy
Paula Dobriansky -- Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs
Daniel Pipes -- U.S. Institute of Peace, Middle East Forum/President
Michael Rubin -- AEI, Pentagon/Mideast policy
David Steinmann -- Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)/Chairman
Sunday, October 19, 2003
The neoconservatives Crusade: 5 years, seven wars -- Iraq, Syria, ...
The Village Voice: Features: The Widening Crusade by Sydney H. Schanberg: "October 15 - 21, 2003
A few years later, in June 1997, a group of neoconservatives formed an entity called the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and issued a Statement of Principles. 'The history of the 20th Century,' the statement said, 'should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.' One of its formal principles called for a major increase in defense spending 'to carry out our global responsibilities today.' Others cited the 'need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values' and underscored 'America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity and our principles.' This, the statement said, constituted 'a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity.'
Among the 25 signatories to the PNAC founding statement were Dick Cheney, I. Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff), Donald Rumsfeld (who was also defense secretary under President Ford), and Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's No. 2 at the Pentagon, who was head of the Pentagon policy team in the first Bush presidency, reporting to Cheney, who was then defense secretary). Obviously, this fraternity has been marinating together for a long time. Other signers whose names might ring familiar were Elliot Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, and Norman Podhoretz.
...
In his new book, Winning Modern Wars, retired general Wesley Clark, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered a window into the Bush serial-war planning. He writes that serious planning for the Iraq war had already begun only two months after the 9-11 attack, and adds:
"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan. . . . I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."
A few years later, in June 1997, a group of neoconservatives formed an entity called the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and issued a Statement of Principles. 'The history of the 20th Century,' the statement said, 'should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.' One of its formal principles called for a major increase in defense spending 'to carry out our global responsibilities today.' Others cited the 'need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values' and underscored 'America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity and our principles.' This, the statement said, constituted 'a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity.'
Among the 25 signatories to the PNAC founding statement were Dick Cheney, I. Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff), Donald Rumsfeld (who was also defense secretary under President Ford), and Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's No. 2 at the Pentagon, who was head of the Pentagon policy team in the first Bush presidency, reporting to Cheney, who was then defense secretary). Obviously, this fraternity has been marinating together for a long time. Other signers whose names might ring familiar were Elliot Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush, and Norman Podhoretz.
...
In his new book, Winning Modern Wars, retired general Wesley Clark, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, offered a window into the Bush serial-war planning. He writes that serious planning for the Iraq war had already begun only two months after the 9-11 attack, and adds:
"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan. . . . I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."
Friday, October 17, 2003
AlterNet: All in the Neocon Family: an extended clan of spouses, children, and friends
AlterNet: All in the Neocon Family: "All in the Neocon Family
By Jim Lobe, AlterNet | March 27, 2003
What do William Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Elliot Abrams, and Robert Kagan have in common? Yes, they are all die-hard hawks who have gained control of U.S. foreign policy since the 9/11 attacks. But they are also part of one big neoconservative family - an extended clan of spouses, children, and friends who have known each other for generations.
Neoconservatives are former liberals (which explains the 'neo' prefix) who advocate an aggressive unilateralist vision of U.S. global supremacy, which includes a close strategic alliance with Israel. Let's start with one of the founding fathers of the extended neocon clan: Irving Kristol.
The son of this proud couple is none other that William Kristol ...
Irving Kristol's most prominent disciple is Richard Perle ... he wed the daughter of his professor at the University of Chicago, the late Alfred Wohlstetter – the man who helped both his son-in-law and his fellow student Paul Wolfowitz get their start in Washington ...
Perle's own protege is Douglas Feith, who is now Wolfowitz's deputy for policy and is widely known for his right-wing Likud position. And why not? His father, Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Dalck Feith, was once a follower of the great revisionist Zionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky, in his native Poland back in the 1930s ...
... A long-time collaborator with Perle, Michael Ledeen is married to Barbara Ledeen, a founder and director of the anti-feminist Independent Women's Forum (IWF), who is currently a major player in the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and another neo-con power couple – David and Meyrav Wurmser – co-authored a 1996 memorandum for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu outlining how to break the Oslo peace process and invade Iraq as the first step to transforming the Middle East.
Lynne Cheney also hangs her hat at AEI. Her husband Dick Cheney recently chose Victoria Nuland to become his next deputy national security adviser. Nuland, as it turns out, is married to Robert Kagan, Bill Kristol's main comrade-in-arms and the co-founder of PNAC.
... None other than Iran-contra veteran Elliott Abrams.
... [who] worked closely with Bob Kagan back in the Reagan era. He is also the son-in-law of Norman Podhoretz, long-time editor of the influential conservative Jewish publication Commentary, and his wife, Midge Decter, a fearsome polemicist in her own right.
... is also the father of John Podhoretz, a columnist for the Murdoch-owned New York Post and frequent guest on the Murdoch-owned Fox News channel.
[Norman's] proteges include former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Richard Pipes, who was Ronald Reagan's top advisor on the "Evil Empire," as the president liked to call the Soviet Union. His son, Daniel Pipes, has also made a career out of battling "evil," which in his case is Islam.
...
... Contrary to appearances, the neocons do not constitute a powerful mass political movement. They are instead a small, tighly-knit clan whose incestuous familial and personal connections, both within and outside the Bush administration, have allowed them grab control of the future of American foreign policy.
By Jim Lobe, AlterNet | March 27, 2003
What do William Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Elliot Abrams, and Robert Kagan have in common? Yes, they are all die-hard hawks who have gained control of U.S. foreign policy since the 9/11 attacks. But they are also part of one big neoconservative family - an extended clan of spouses, children, and friends who have known each other for generations.
Neoconservatives are former liberals (which explains the 'neo' prefix) who advocate an aggressive unilateralist vision of U.S. global supremacy, which includes a close strategic alliance with Israel. Let's start with one of the founding fathers of the extended neocon clan: Irving Kristol.
The son of this proud couple is none other that William Kristol ...
Irving Kristol's most prominent disciple is Richard Perle ... he wed the daughter of his professor at the University of Chicago, the late Alfred Wohlstetter – the man who helped both his son-in-law and his fellow student Paul Wolfowitz get their start in Washington ...
Perle's own protege is Douglas Feith, who is now Wolfowitz's deputy for policy and is widely known for his right-wing Likud position. And why not? His father, Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Dalck Feith, was once a follower of the great revisionist Zionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky, in his native Poland back in the 1930s ...
... A long-time collaborator with Perle, Michael Ledeen is married to Barbara Ledeen, a founder and director of the anti-feminist Independent Women's Forum (IWF), who is currently a major player in the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and another neo-con power couple – David and Meyrav Wurmser – co-authored a 1996 memorandum for Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu outlining how to break the Oslo peace process and invade Iraq as the first step to transforming the Middle East.
Lynne Cheney also hangs her hat at AEI. Her husband Dick Cheney recently chose Victoria Nuland to become his next deputy national security adviser. Nuland, as it turns out, is married to Robert Kagan, Bill Kristol's main comrade-in-arms and the co-founder of PNAC.
... None other than Iran-contra veteran Elliott Abrams.
... [who] worked closely with Bob Kagan back in the Reagan era. He is also the son-in-law of Norman Podhoretz, long-time editor of the influential conservative Jewish publication Commentary, and his wife, Midge Decter, a fearsome polemicist in her own right.
... is also the father of John Podhoretz, a columnist for the Murdoch-owned New York Post and frequent guest on the Murdoch-owned Fox News channel.
[Norman's] proteges include former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and Richard Pipes, who was Ronald Reagan's top advisor on the "Evil Empire," as the president liked to call the Soviet Union. His son, Daniel Pipes, has also made a career out of battling "evil," which in his case is Islam.
...
... Contrary to appearances, the neocons do not constitute a powerful mass political movement. They are instead a small, tighly-knit clan whose incestuous familial and personal connections, both within and outside the Bush administration, have allowed them grab control of the future of American foreign policy.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Amazon.com: Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions
Amazon.com: Books: Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions | by Clyde Prestowitz
...
His early use of Webster's definition of "Rogue" as "deviant, having an abnormally savage or unpredictable disposition" not only suits the unilateralist Bush team perfectly, but makes it clear that in objective terms, as perceived by the rest of the world--not just the Middle East, but the responsible Asian powers as well as what Rumsfeld revealingly denigrates as "old Europe"--the USA is indeed a "rogue nation."
...
At the top of page 277: "The imperial project of the so-called neoconservatives is not conservatism at all but radicalism, egotism, and adverturism articulated in the stirring rhetoric of traditional patriotism. Real conservatives have never been messianic or doctrinaire. The very essence of conservatism, which the neoconservatives constantly preach, is limited government. Yet the imperial project they are proposing will greatly increase the role of government both at home and abroad. ... This is not conservatism. It is Big Government."
...
As the worldwide outpouring of post-9/11 sympathy for America has given way to worldwide anti-American protests, Americans are asking why the world hates us. This nuanced but unsparing book gives a bill of particulars. American high-handedness has exacerbated tensions in hot spots from the West Bank to the Korean peninsula. American unilateralism has sabotaged a host of international agreements on such issues as land mines, biological weapons and the International Criminal Court. America preaches free trade while protecting its steel, textiles and agriculture from foreign competition. America, Atkins argues, runs a wasteful, SUV-centered economy while it rejects treaties on the environment and global warming. America's self-proclaimed role as champion of democracy flies in the face of its history of installing and supporting dictators in countries from Indonesia to Iraq. Most of all, Atkins says, the world fears America's overwhelming military might, now ominously paired with a doctrine of "preempting" the emergence of rival powers. These problems have been much discussed of late, but Prestowitz, author of Trading Places, pulls them together into a comprehensive and historically informed survey of contemporary U. S. foreign relations. Although he forthrightly calls the United States an imperial power, Prestowitz, a former Reagan Administration trade official, is by no means anti-American. He insists that America's intentions are usually good, and that the world likes and admires Americans when they live up to their own ideals. Still, his is a damning portrait of the United States as seen through the angry, bewildered eyes of foreigners: selfish, erratic, hypocritical, muscle-bound and a bad citizen of the world.
...
His early use of Webster's definition of "Rogue" as "deviant, having an abnormally savage or unpredictable disposition" not only suits the unilateralist Bush team perfectly, but makes it clear that in objective terms, as perceived by the rest of the world--not just the Middle East, but the responsible Asian powers as well as what Rumsfeld revealingly denigrates as "old Europe"--the USA is indeed a "rogue nation."
...
At the top of page 277: "The imperial project of the so-called neoconservatives is not conservatism at all but radicalism, egotism, and adverturism articulated in the stirring rhetoric of traditional patriotism. Real conservatives have never been messianic or doctrinaire. The very essence of conservatism, which the neoconservatives constantly preach, is limited government. Yet the imperial project they are proposing will greatly increase the role of government both at home and abroad. ... This is not conservatism. It is Big Government."
...
As the worldwide outpouring of post-9/11 sympathy for America has given way to worldwide anti-American protests, Americans are asking why the world hates us. This nuanced but unsparing book gives a bill of particulars. American high-handedness has exacerbated tensions in hot spots from the West Bank to the Korean peninsula. American unilateralism has sabotaged a host of international agreements on such issues as land mines, biological weapons and the International Criminal Court. America preaches free trade while protecting its steel, textiles and agriculture from foreign competition. America, Atkins argues, runs a wasteful, SUV-centered economy while it rejects treaties on the environment and global warming. America's self-proclaimed role as champion of democracy flies in the face of its history of installing and supporting dictators in countries from Indonesia to Iraq. Most of all, Atkins says, the world fears America's overwhelming military might, now ominously paired with a doctrine of "preempting" the emergence of rival powers. These problems have been much discussed of late, but Prestowitz, author of Trading Places, pulls them together into a comprehensive and historically informed survey of contemporary U. S. foreign relations. Although he forthrightly calls the United States an imperial power, Prestowitz, a former Reagan Administration trade official, is by no means anti-American. He insists that America's intentions are usually good, and that the world likes and admires Americans when they live up to their own ideals. Still, his is a damning portrait of the United States as seen through the angry, bewildered eyes of foreigners: selfish, erratic, hypocritical, muscle-bound and a bad citizen of the world.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
POLITICS: Bush Stance on Syria Hit Shows Neo-Cons Still Hold Sway
POLITICS: Bush Stance on Syria Hit Shows Neo-Cons Still Hold Sway: "Analysis by Jim Lobe | October 7, 2003
ROME, Oct 7 (IPS) - The neo-conservatives in and around the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush may be on the defensive, but Washington's reaction to the Israeli attack on Syria Sunday show that they remain in the driver's seat at the White House.
The fact that Bush has himself refused to in any way criticise the Israeli attack -- the first on Syria since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war -- shows how far the neo-cons have succeeded in aligning U.S. policy with the right-wing government in Israel, a key goal going back to the first Likud government of the late Menahim Begin and, more recently, since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won elections in early 2001.
...
Syria was also cited as a target in a public letter to Bush on Sep. 20, 2001 -- just 9 days after the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon -- ...
Among other measures, it called for Bush to take military action in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban and destroy al Qaeda, to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq ”even if the evidence does not link Iraq directly to the (Sep. 11) attacks; and cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority unless it puts a stop to all terrorist acts emanating from territory under its control.”
... ”We believe the administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial, and political support for Hezbollah and its operations. Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply, the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliation against these known state sponsors of terrorism.”
The letter was signed by 39 prominent right-wingers, almost all of them neo-conservatives, such as Kristol himself, Perle, Kirkpatrick, and Gaffney. ”Israel has been and remains America's staunchest ally against international terrorism, especially in the Middle East,” ...
Throughout the Iraq war, many of these same people, as well as their close associates in the administration, such as Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz and Feith, argued that Syria represented a serious threat to the United States and its troops in Iraq, at one point asserting that Damascus was sheltering senior Iraqi leaders and its WMD.
... former CIA director James Woolsey, was widely quoted on television as saying that the ”war on terrorism” should be seen as ”World War IV” that should include as targets ”fascists of Iraq and Syria”.
ROME, Oct 7 (IPS) - The neo-conservatives in and around the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush may be on the defensive, but Washington's reaction to the Israeli attack on Syria Sunday show that they remain in the driver's seat at the White House.
The fact that Bush has himself refused to in any way criticise the Israeli attack -- the first on Syria since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war -- shows how far the neo-cons have succeeded in aligning U.S. policy with the right-wing government in Israel, a key goal going back to the first Likud government of the late Menahim Begin and, more recently, since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won elections in early 2001.
...
Syria was also cited as a target in a public letter to Bush on Sep. 20, 2001 -- just 9 days after the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon -- ...
Among other measures, it called for Bush to take military action in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban and destroy al Qaeda, to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq ”even if the evidence does not link Iraq directly to the (Sep. 11) attacks; and cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority unless it puts a stop to all terrorist acts emanating from territory under its control.”
... ”We believe the administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial, and political support for Hezbollah and its operations. Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply, the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliation against these known state sponsors of terrorism.”
The letter was signed by 39 prominent right-wingers, almost all of them neo-conservatives, such as Kristol himself, Perle, Kirkpatrick, and Gaffney. ”Israel has been and remains America's staunchest ally against international terrorism, especially in the Middle East,” ...
Throughout the Iraq war, many of these same people, as well as their close associates in the administration, such as Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz and Feith, argued that Syria represented a serious threat to the United States and its troops in Iraq, at one point asserting that Damascus was sheltering senior Iraqi leaders and its WMD.
... former CIA director James Woolsey, was widely quoted on television as saying that the ”war on terrorism” should be seen as ”World War IV” that should include as targets ”fascists of Iraq and Syria”.