When the show is called “Countdown: Iraq” where does a war critic fit in?
In the fall of 2002, week after week, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq in debates televised on MSNBC. I used every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers — no real threat, cost, instability. But as the war neared, my debates were terminated.
In my 2006 book Cable News Confidential, I explained why I lost my airtime:
There was no room for me after MSNBC launched Countdown: Iraq — a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. Countdown: Iraq featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.
It was bad enough to be silenced. Much worse to see that these ex-generals — many working for military corporations — were never in debates, nor asked a tough question by an anchor. (I wasn’t allowed on MSNBC unless balanced by at least one truculent right-winger.)
It is 1939 all over again. The world waits helplessly for the next act of naked aggression by rogue states. Only this time the rogue states are not the Third Reich and Fascist Italy. They are the United States and Israel.
The targeted victims are not Poland and France, but Iran, Syria, the remains of the Palestinian West Bank and southern Lebanon.
The American mass media is overjoyed. War coverage attracts viewers and sells advertising.
The neoconservatives are ecstatic. Hegemony uber alles is back on track.
The US Air Force can’t wait “to show what it can do.”
Defense contractors see no end of the profits.
Under cover of the mayhem and propaganda, Israel can grab the remains of the West Bank and have another go at grabbing the water resources of southern Lebanon.
Unlike the US and Israel, Iran is neither occupying any other country’s territory nor threatening to invade another country. Nevertheless, propaganda against Iran is spouting from US and Israeli mouths at an increasing rate. Lie after lie rolls off the tongues of leaders of the “two great democracies.”
On April 27 Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, blamed Iran for “increasingly lethal and malign influence” in Iraq. Has Admiral Mullen forgot that it is the US, not Iran, that is responsible for as many as one million dead Iraqis and four million displaced Iraqis, the “collateral damage” of a “cakewalk war” now into its sixth year?
An Arizona state Senator who went public with questions over the official government version of events on 9/11 has provided further details of her position and why she chose to make her views known.
“I guess I define myself as a truth seeker, that is what I want, I want to find the truth.” says Senator Karen Johnson, representative of Mesa’s District 18 for nearly two decades.
In an short interview (see video below), the Republican Senator explained that in the many in the Arizona legislature have privately told her they agree with her position but are too afraid or are unable to start asking the same questions themselves. Johnson echoed her previous statements when she told Capitol reporters “There are many of us that believe there’s been a cover-up.”
“By 2015, New York’s financial district will be wrapped in a thick web of security. The aim: Make a potential terrorist attack as difficult as possible to execute,” writes Noah Shachtman for Wired.
It’s something we best pay attention to, as this “thick web of security” will eventually reach Everytown, U.S.A. New York, following London, is America’s beta test site for all kinds of police state technology, including:
Helicopters in the sky with high-powered cameras, “looking for unusual activity.” Noah Shachtman does not tell us what this “unusual activity” might be, but let us hazard a guess: al-Qaeda guys in turbans, mounted on donkeys, casing Manhattan for targets. Minus that, the NYPD can use their big cameras to ferret out pot smokers and prostitutes, or as in the case of Britain, people who litter or engaged in what is considered anti-social behavior — determined by the state, of course.
Armed SWAT Teams. These will be a “highly visible deterrent,” in other words, if you live or work on Manhattan, get used to Darth Vader storm troopers in black prowling around, looking for Osama. Get accustomed to heavily armed men in black ski masks. It’s for your safety.
The former head of MI6 is backing controversial Government plans to hold terror suspects for 42 days without charge, saying it might prevent a dirty-bomb attack on Britain.
MI6 prides itself on avoiding political debates but former chief Sir Richard Dearlove warns that the UK would “regret” not bringing in longer detention for terror suspects.
Sir Richard, 63, who retired from MI6 in 2004, says that in some serious cases the current 28-day limit is not enough to build a case or to gather intelligence on the scale of the threat faced by Britain.
He says of Al Qaeda: “Should it ever obtain the means to blow away a complete city, I fear, with good intelligence that supports my fears, that it would not hesitate to try.”
His intervention comes after Director of Public Prosecution Sir Ken Macdonald warned MPs on the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday that any move to extend the period suspects can be held is unnecessary.
He said he had “managed quite comfortably” within the 28-day limit – and no suspect had been held longer than 14 days in the past nine months.
Nate from Portland caught up with Clinton during another campaign event. He ask the former president about his feelings on the Bush administrations efforts to investigate 9/11.
“Do you mean do I agree with all the reports’ conclusions? I don’t, but I don’t believe there’s any chance that 9/11 was an inside job,” Clinton responded.
After reiterating that 9/11 ‘is not an inside job,’ Clinton stares bizarrely into the bleacher bars, opting not to respond to a follow-up question.
Of course, part of the story of obfuscation and omission in the 9/11 Commission investigation includes episodes of non-cooperation from both the Bush and Clinton administrations– so it’s really no wonder that the reports’ findings cannot be trusted.
I chat with skype virgin Dean Puckett about the making of his recent film “The Elephant in the Room” (a documentary that explores some of the ideas and experiences of the 9/11 Truth Movement and First Responders). We discuss what it was like getting arrested during filming in New York, how it felt to win Best British Documentary at the London Independent Film Festival, why being exploited as a wannabee in the Media is both good and bad and how to begin enjoying the process of documentary making.
Apologies for the bizarre non-sync experience of this interview and it’s obscene length (it was a skype call and I just wanted to have a good long chat with Dean, so get over it… what is this? Some glossy film school promo about nothing for film execs who need to fill programming slots with Basal Ganglia?).
Disneyland goes to war-torn Iraq, with a multi-million dollar entertainment complex, to be built on a 50 acre lot adjacent to the Green Zone.
The American-style amusement park will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum.
The occupation forces are of the opinion that Baghdad is “lacking in entertainment”. General David Petraeus, is said to be a “big supporter” of bringing Disneyland to Baghdad.
Supported by the Pentagon, Los Angeles based company C3 will be developing the “Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience”. The park will be designed by Ride and Show Engineering (RSE),
RSE founders Eduard Feuer and William Watkins pioneered Walt Disney’s “Imagineering”, the design and engineering division of the Walt Disney Company, before setting up RSE as a separate corporate entity.
RSE has developed numerous large scale entertainment complexes around the world including a project at the Anaheim California Disney Complex.
In May 2005, FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism John Lewis told a Senate panel that ecoterrorism is “one of today’s most serious domestic terrorism threats.” Then the FBI’s James Jarboe estimated that two organizations (the Earth Liberation Front – ELF and Animal Liberation Front – ALF) committed over 600 criminal acts since 1996, causing over $43 million in damage. For his part, Lewis said both groups committed more than 1100 such acts since 1976, “conservatively” resulting in around $110 million in damages.
What’s going on, and is there anything to these charges? Coming from FBI sources makes them highly suspect, especially when there are two types of documented cases:
– people guilty of non-violent offenses called “terrorism” and given excessively harsh sentences; and most disturbing
– innocent people targeted, accused, convicted and sentenced to hard time for environmental activism or supporting animal rights; and that’s on top of hundreds of other political persecutions and many thousands of innocent people (or petty criminals) in US prisons.
This behavior isn’t new in America, but things heated up after 9/11 with the administration wasting no time getting going. That evening, George Bush addressed the nation and declared a “war against terrorism,” asked for world support, and began the government’s “emergency (preventive war strategy) response plans.” It was planned and ready before 9/11 as a “war of terrorism” to defile the law, wage aggressive wars, usurp unprecedented powers, destroy our civil liberties, and convince the public to sacrifice freedom for the security they never got. In addition, the October 2001 USA Patriot Act (written well before 9/11) created the federal crime of “domestic terrorism” that broadened the definition and applied it to US citizens as well as aliens.
member of We Are Change L.A. was assaulted and cursed at by former White House speech writer David Frum during a book signing, according to reports.
Frum– a neo-con policy maker who is often credited with coining the phrase ‘Axis of Evil’– allegedly lost his temper when he recognized Stewart Howe, of We Are Change L.A., from a previous book signing. Howe approached Frum to ask a question when Frum became angry, and then violent, reports indicate.
Frum told Howe, “The one thing I regret from our last conversation is that I didn’t say to you what my friend Christopher Hitchens said… which is, you should fuck off.” [expletive is reportedly a direct quote]
According to Howe, David Frum then got up from behind the book signing table and swung at Stewart and his camera while he was phrasing a question about the unraveling 9/11 cover-up and potential criminal charges.
