-- Bolster security for air, road and rail travel and prevent undesirables from crossing into the United States

If you are not afraid, you should be. 1984 is upon us. Look at what the FBI did with COINTELPRO. This is scary stuff.

Yahoo! News - Bush Proposes Major Overhaul of Homeland Security

Wondering about Pakistan and India? Check out the CIA World Fact Book!

CIA World Factbook 2001 - Pakistan

... The unpublicized meetings provide a rare glimpse at the influential but largely unreported role General Wayne A. Downing, former commander of all U.S. Special Operations forces, has assumed since he joined the White House after Sept. 11 to head its counterterrorism efforts. ... A possible invasion of Iraq could involve several roles for the Iraqi opposition ... Also exploring the option of encouraging elements of the Iraqi military to mutiny against Hussein ...

[Originally from Jeremy. Sadly, no mention of the fact that while the U.S. courts Kurds in Iraq it continues to arm Turkey who has been waging a long ethnic-cleansing war against Kurds there.]

Talks With Iraqi Opposition Intensify

"The end game is now clear," Erekat told CNN. "This war is not against terror but...to continue ruling 3.3 million Palestinians. It is very dangerous and I hope it will be an eye opener to the world to show them who we are dealing with."

The Israeli government shows it's stripes.

Yahoo! News - Israeli Ruling Party Says No to Palestinian State

The squalid, corrupt little dictator of Ramallah, Mr Arafat, and the brutal, merciless leader of the Middle East's mightiest army, Mr Sharon, have nothing to offer each other. Mr Arafat cannot fulfill his required role of colonial governor - to "control his own people" - while Mr Sharon cannot fulfill his promise to provide Israelis with security.

ZNet | Mideast | Sharon the merciless and Arafat the corrupt have nothing meaningful to offer each other

Great Noam Chomsky interview. If he offends you on the basis of what he professes, don't bother. If, on the other hand, you want a reasonable analysis, please read on. Snippets follow:

The basic situation remains as before. It is not a confrontation between two local adversaries, and even between those too there is nothing remotely like symmetry. Israel is a major military power, backed fully by the global superpower. For 35 years, it has occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are alone, defenseless....the US-Israel coalition has been settling the areas of the occupied territories they intend to integrate within Israel, and acting to ensure Israeli control over the major resource of the West Bank: water.

...

The US demands that Arafat, imprisoned in a dungeon where he cannot even flush the toilet, must produce yet another condemnation of Palestinian terrorism, which everyone knows to be completely meaningless. No one even suggests that Sharon should condemn his much worse ongoing atrocities, or that the US government, which provides the crucial support for them them, should do so.

...

Military industry has some role but not a dominant one. Twenty years ago, the Reagan administration came into office proclaiming that a "war on terror" would be the core of US foreign policy, and we need not review how they fought that war. "Terrorism" plays a role similar to "Communism," "crime," "drugs," and other devices to frighten the public into supporting policies undertaken to serve the interests of the state and domestic power centers; when one pretext loses its efficacy (like "Communism"), others take its place at once, with scarcely a murmur from the educated classes.

None of this, of course, is peculiar to the US. This is the way states and other power systems operate. Surely these are among the clearest lessons of history.

...

The US is far too powerful to have any need to submit to an international authority. That is why it blithely rejects World Court condemnation, vetoes or ignores Security Council resolutions, and in general disregards international law and treaties when it chooses. As the world's most powerful state, it guards its sovereignty zealously, while ignoring the sovereignty of others as it chooses. Again, there is nothing new or surprising about this.

...

No sane person is opposed to globalization, that is, international integration. Surely not the left and the workers movements, which were founded on the principle of international solidarity - that is, globalization in a form that attends to the rights of people, not private power systems.

...

To speak of "abandoned socialism" presupposes that there was some socialism that was abandoned. That is quite an exaggeration. There have been moves towards traditional socialist ideals of the kind described by Dewey - who I quoted not because the observations are original, but because... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

ZNet | Terror War | Noam Chomsky Interviewed

"'We do not get that large a percentage of our oil from the Middle East... And one of the reasons that we are sort of assuming this role of policeman of the Middle East has more to do with making Japan and some other countries feel that their oil flow
is assured... so that they don't then feel more need to create a great power, armed forces, and security doctrine, and you don't start getting a lot of great powers with conflicting interests sending their militaries all over the world.'"

Originally recommended by Decius this is an interesting article, but there are a few flaws. It's claimed that only 25% of U.S. oil comes from the Gulf, but it is poorly assumed that that is insignificant, which is not true. Also, what is missed is that large parts of the Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) are effectively U.S. supported governments and the ability to influence them and their oil allows the U.S. significant influence with these same countries that have dependence. So, I basically agree, but I think that there is a certain viewpoint that has been ignored.

IP: With a friend like this...

"Most U.S. citizens are unaware that the effect of U.S. power abroad has nothing to do with the "values" celebrated at home, and indeed often serves to deprive people in other countries of the opportunity to attempt to enjoy them should they care to do so."

Powerful. An excellent and short document that puts into perspective American might. Although point #2 is a bit weak in that it makes assertions that some might be uncomfortable with this document speaks for itself in it's clear thinking and outspoken message. I urge you to read it and think about what you can do to take action.

ZNet | Mideast | U.S. Letter to Europeans

News clip directly from one of the three major media outlets in Israel in violation of their censorship agreement with the government. This is a must watch [RealAudio required].

What the Israeli Army doesn't want you to know.