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We live in a civilization where some madmen can sit in a government chair
telling everybody how bad it all is over there and so forth, then all of a
sudden get 30 million people killed, as one fellow named Hitler did. This
is an interesting civilization and that is because people don't know who they
are, or what they are, or where they are going or what they are doing.
- L. Ron Hubbard
In my opinion L. Ron said some loony things and I don't agree
with his gay bashing, but his quote is very appropriate. Is
pResident Bush the new Hitler?
In This Issue:
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
In reverence to those who lost their lives;
To those who lost their friends, husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, and
coworkers;
To the families and friends of those terrorized by the Anthrax spores developed on
Fort Detrick Army base in Maryland
with US taxpayer dollars;
To those in Afghanistan and elsewhere who suffer the same agony decade after
decade thanks to Henry Kissinger and his cronies;
To the citizens of the "Third World" who are ignored by the corporate
press, who are poor and powerless and want nothing but to finally live in peace;
To those who lost their livelihoods in the aftermath of an ashen Wall Street
made worse only by
Ken Lay and other
stupid
white men;
To those who lost their civil liberties in America due to their genetic makeup;
To the victims of hate crimes perpetrated by white American trash;
To all the victims of the violent Bush family and their co-conspirators, the
Republicans and the Democrats:
This space intentionally left the way I feel.
Lies, Lies, Lies
It's more than ironic that the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for lying about
sex in the Oval Office. Countless presidents have lied about far greater crimes and nobody,
not even the Democrats, has done a thing about it. What sort of lies do
you suppose Georgie is telling about Iraq today?
- Pappa Bush lied about Iraqis pulling babies out of incubators during the
1991 invasion of Kuwait. See
story. The end justifies the means eh?
- Broadcasts
of 9/11 Palestinian celebrations were actually shot in 1991
- When Enron declared bankruptcy, Georgie Bush denied
knowing Kenneth Lay, CEO of his single
largest campaign contributor. Georgie protected Lay and rest of
the corporate thieves such as himself.
- Georgie Bush continues to claim that he is a legitimate president when the
disputed votes in Florida were never counted thanks to the federal
Supreme Court which acted outside the law. Georgie likely didn't
earn those electoral votes.
Even if Georgie carried Florida, he still lost the popular vote. See
the facts.
We should eliminate the Electoral College as it is
inherently un-democratic. Why don't Democrats concur? What do
you think Republicans would have done if Georgie lost the election yet
won the popular vote?
Sometimes, progressives argue against the Right's policies in the defense of
Democracy. For example, media corporations are a threat against
Democracy. As if a Democracy actually existed on US soil.
The Right does the same thing. They also argue that "our"
Democracy should be protected above all else. The Right claims that
Democracy is not only in the United States but elsewhere throughout the world,
thanks, of course, to their unwavering goodwill towards men. Anyone who
has any knowledge of history knows that is a complete lie. United States
works tirelessly to dismantle any defenseless government that seeks to place
their citizens' lives above US interests.
The United States of America is a Republic, not a Democracy. Republics
have a representative form of government. In the United States, there is
roughly one Senator per 3 million people. Does that sound like
Democracy to you? If you think Americans' votes count for Presidential
elections, think again -- it's the Electoral College's votes that really count.
Furthermore, the United States government is inherently hierarchical with,
fortunately, some insightful separation of powers such as passing laws versus
enforcing them. But look at today's events and it's obvious that
patriarchy is alive and well in the US, with the President playing the role of
Daddy Dearest who always knows best.
In a true Democracy, everyone within reason has a say in every
decision. Thus there is no need for elections in a Democracy. There
are no Democracies on planet earth (and there never have been) because this form
of government is too inefficient.
Some countries are close to having the technology, such as the Internet, to
make Democracies almost feasible. But let's face it -- nobody has the time
or the expertise to have a say in everything. Otherwise, nothing would get
done.
Rather than Democracy or a hierarchical form of government, what humanity
really needs is a distributed form of rule in which power is shared by those who
are best qualified to deal with specific issues.
Decision makers should be close to the problems that they solve. Having
a central location of government like Washington DC is inefficient when it comes
to deciding how much water California farmers can buy to irrigate their
crops. DC is full of slime and parasites who think about themselves more
than the people who they supposedly represent, because they are conveniently out
of sight.
The US government has been undemocratic throughout its brief existence,
initially refusing to allow women and slaves to vote. Even worse, the US
government has committed unspeakable acts of terror against Africans, Hawaiians,
Palestinians, Cherokees, Apaches, Hopis, gays, etc. etc. etc.. When anyone
places the US Republic on a pedestal in order to make a point, one must turn a
blind eye towards history and the facts.
Make your point, but not in such a way that supports the status quo of the
United States leadership. Even if corporations weren't raping and
pillaging the world, the City on the Hill still needs remodeling. So put
away your American flags (or, better yet: burn them) and tell it like it
is.
FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH
SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER
The Guardian (London)
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Officials told to 'back off' on Saudis before September 11
by Greg Palast and David Pallister
FBI and military intelligence officials in Washington say they were prevented
for political reasons from carrying out full investigations into members of the
Bin Laden family in the US before the terrorist attacks of September 11.
US intelligence agencies have come under criticism for their wholesale failure
to predict the catastrophe at the World Trade Centre. But some are complaining
that their hands were tied.
FBI documents shown on BBC Newsnight last night and obtained by the Guardian
show that they had earlier sought to investigate two of Osama bin Laden's
relatives in Washington and a Muslim organisation, the World Assembly of Muslim
Youth (WAMY), with which they were linked.
The FBI file, marked Secret and coded 199, which means a case involving national
security, records that Abdullah bin Laden, who lived in Washington, had
originally had a file opened on him "because of his relationship with the World
Assembly of Muslim Youth - a suspected terrorist organisation".
WAMY members deny they have been involved with terrorist activities, and WAMY
has not been placed on the latest list of terrorist organisations whose assets
are being frozen.
Abdullah, who lived with his brother Omar at the time in Falls Church, a town
just outside Washington, was the US director of WAMY, whose offices were in a
basement nearby.
But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be
reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed
intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: "There were
always constraints on investigating the Saudis".
They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over
this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from
investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi
royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by
Pakistan.
"There were particular investigations that were effectively killed."
Only after the September 11 attacks was the stance of political and commercial
closeness reversed towards the other members of the large Bin Laden clan, who
have classed Osama bin Laden as their "black sheep".
Yesterday, the head of the Saudi-based WAMY's London office, Nouredine Miladi,
said the charity was totally against Bin Laden's violent methods. "We seek
social change through education and cooperation, not force."
He said Abdullah bin Laden had ceased to run WAMY's US operation a year ago.
Neither Abdullah nor Omar bin Laden could be contacted in Saudi Arabia for
comment.
WAMY was founded in 1972 in a Saudi effort to prevent the "corrupting" ideas of
the west ern world influencing young Muslims. With official backing it grew to
embrace 450 youth and student organisations with 34 offices worldwide.
Its aim was to encourage "concerned Muslims to take up the challenge by arming
the youth with sound understanding of Islam, guarding them against destructive
ideologies, and instilling in them level-headed wisdom".
In Britain it has 20 associated organisations, many highly respectable.
But as long as 10 years ago it was named as a discreet channel for public and
private Saudi donations to hardline Islamic organisations. One of the recipients
of its largesse has been the militant Students Islamic Movement of India, which
has lent support to Pakistani-backed terrorists in Kashmir and seeks to set up
an Islamic state in India.
Since September 11 WAMY has been investigated in the US along with a number of
other Muslim charities. There have been several grand jury investigations but no
findings have been made against any of them.
Current FBI interest in WAMY is shown in their agents' interrogation of a
radiologist from San Antonio, Texas, Dr Al Badr al-Hazmi, who was arrested on
September 12 and released without charge two weeks later. He had the same
surname as two of the plane hijackers.
He was also questioned about his contacts with Abdullah bin Laden at the US WAMY
office.
Mr Al-Hazmi said that he had made phone calls to Abdullah bin Laden in 1999
trying to obtain books and videotapes about Islamic teachings for the Islamic
Centre of San Antonio.
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At http://www.GregPalast.com
you can read and subscribe to Greg Palast's Observer column, Inside Corporate
America, and view his BBC television Newsnight broadcasts.
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