Tony Blair: It is unprecedented for the Government to publish this kind of document. But in light of the debate about Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), I wanted to share with the British public the reasons why I believe this issue to be a current and serious threat to the UK national interest.

British Dossier on Iraq's WMD

WashPost editor: "It's a useful service, but it's not going to drive me to the unemployment office tomorrow."

All the News Google Algorithms Say Is Fit to Print

[ Originally from Hijexx ]

Well Rek, you just HAD to go and prod a recovering leftist cynic, didn't ya? :P

...

Citing top-secret satellite images, Pentagon officials estimated in mid-September [1990] that up to 250,000 Iraqi troops and 1,500 tanks stood on the border, threatening the key US oil supplier.

But when the St. Petersburg Times in Florida acquired two commercial Soviet satellite images of the same area, taken at the same time, no Iraqi troops were visible near the Saudi border -- just empty desert.

...

The White House is now making its case to Congress and the public for another invasion of Iraq; President George W. Bush is expected to present specific evidence of the threat posed by Iraq during a speech to the United Nations next week.

But past cases of bad intelligence or outright disinformation used to justify war are making experts wary. The questions they are raising, some based on examples from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, highlight the importance of accurate information when a democracy considers military action.

"My concern in these situations, always, is that the intelligence that you get is driven by the policy, rather than the policy being driven by the intelligence," says former US Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana.

...

"That [Iraqi buildup] was the whole justification for Bush sending troops in there, and it just didn't exist," [Jean] Heller[The journalist who broke the story --Hijexx] says. Three times Heller contacted the office of Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (now vice president) for evidence refuting the Times photos or analysis -- offering to hold the story if proven wrong.

The official response: "Trust us." To this day, the Pentagon's photographs of the Iraqi troop buildup remain classified.

...

"This is not a problem unique to George Bush. It's every president I've known, and I've worked with seven or eight of them," [Lee] Hamilton says. "All, at some time or another, used intelligence to support their political objectives.

...

The elites in society cannot be subtle any longer thanks to the scrutiny of collective consciousness. I disagree that elites have never enjoyed such incredible control in history.

[snip]

Please do not meme my commentary... Thanks.

[ Clarification: "incredible control" is not necessarily a reference to the level of control as much as it is a reference to the amazing manner in which it is gained now. Before it was so brute force. "Don't follow orders and you get shot." Now it's really crossed a serious threshold where people still feel that they are "free" and have some kind of say in the way the society runs. In fact, they are usually being led around by the nose. As this article quite accurately shows. --Rek ]

In war, some facts less factual

The draft resolution George W. Bush sent to Congress on September 19 might as well have said that, for much of the reasoning underlying the resolution -- the whereases -- seemed to be cover for an over-eagerness to go to war. "

Bush Draft Resolution Rings False

The straight dope on the nutrition of bananas and plantains.

Anyone for some Filipino Sinigang? It's good for you!

Nutritive Value of Banana

-=[DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!]=-

Ted Rall is an editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate. His latest book "To Afghanistan And Back" chronicles his time in Afghanistan while the bombs were dropping. Quite frankly, that book is a must read. www.rall.com for the detail...

Ted has graciously allowed Comic Book Galaxy to host his "PIPELINE" essay:

...

Ted's willingness to literally put his life at risk in the name of the truth is awe-inspiring. He has a passion for the politics of the region that makes him a true expert on what the U.S. government is doing in Afghanistan and other countries, and I'm honored that Ted's allowing us to show this essay to The Galaxy's readers. You might not be interested in this subject, but you should be -- the "War on Terror" has the potential to change the lives of every citizen of the United States of America, and threatens innocents abroad as well.

...

"American soldiers, oilmen, and diplomats are rapidly getting to know this remote corner of the world, the old underbelly of the Soviet Union and a region that's been almost untouched by Western armies since the time of Alexander the Great. The game the Americans are playing has some of the highest stakes going. What they are attempting is nothing less than the biggest carve-out of a new U.S. sphere of influence since the U.S. became engaged in the Mideast 50 years ago."

--"The Next Oil Frontier," Business Week, May 27, 2002

...

I grok nearly all of the geo-political happenings that have gone down within the last 12 years. I started to push my roots further into the soil of history until I realized I was depriving myself of other nutrients. I made a decision to regain my true spirit a few weeks ago. That decision was this:

IT DOESN'T MATTER.

Nothing matters. There is nothing that I can do to change the course of the American empire. It is a juggernaut. The thrall that the American populace seems to held in is a side effect of poorly executed capitalism. To wit:

ignorance: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

is: A prefix or combining form, indicating identity, or equality.

bliss: Extreme happiness; ecstasy.

IGNORANCE == BLISS

The IGNORANCE variable need not be global though :) You can choose what to be ignorant of. Geopolitics ceased to be interesting to me as soon as the latest sabre rattling started to look more serious. We are now on track to see a quite real end of life as we all know it. We probably all know this somewhere deep down inside.

One thing is sure about carnal life, and that is the end of said life. Everything in between the start of the cellular division (1,2,4,8...) to the last exchange of oxygen molecules from the air (last breath) is fraught with chaos. Fuck it, may as well enjoy the ride. I know I am.

[ Originally from Hijexx. I am getting cynical as well, but not this cynical yet. I have to keep believing that I can make a difference and keep pushing forward. In the meantime, a good read.

Ah, one last item: ignorance might == "mis-information." I think we have just entered an age where decades of PR, spin, thought control, and various other mechanisms for manipulation of the public mind have culminated in what is essentially almost an art-form: Mind control in a democratic society. Or, how the elites in the society manage to hold sway and even completely cement their actual power. I'm not sure that elites have ever enjoyed such incredible control in history. Ever. --Rek ]

My Government Went To Afghanistan And All I Got Was This Stupid Pipeline

But new deadly challenges have emerged from rogue states and terrorists. None of these contemporary threats rival the sheer destructive power that was arrayed against us by the Soviet Union. However, the nature and motivations of these new adversaries, their determination to obtain destructive powers hitherto available only to the world's strongest states, and the greater likelihood that they will use weapons of mass destruction against us, make today's security environment more complex and dangerous."

Sigh. More righteous BS designed to inspire "patriotism," nationalism, and create justifications for the U.S. government's continued world domination.

Ask yourself: Who really is the Rogue Nation here?

Looking at their bullet points about what constitutes a "Rogue Nation" we have:

- brutalize their own people and squander their national resources for the personal gain of the rulers;

Well, I suppose the first part of this statement doesn't apply for the most part, but you could probably argue that the latter applies to the U.S. Regardless, this is probably a minor point.

- display no regard for international law, threaten their neighbors, and callously violate international treaties to which they are party;

Ah, yes, this definitely sounds like the U.S. with the exception of threatening their neighbors. Mexico and Canada have been well in hand for over a century now so there really hasn't been a need. However, the U.S. seems ready to operate unilaterally, with no regard for treaties or international law at the drop of the hat. Certainly the U.S. categorically rejected the International Criminal Court. Also, numerous U.N. resolutions, particularly those involving Israel and Palestine. See here for additional information:

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/UN/usvetoes.html

- are determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction, along with other advanced military technology, to be used as threats or offensively to achieve the aggressive designs of these regimes;

In other words, anyone with a threat to the U.S.'s already established weapons of mass destruction and other advanced technology that have been used to aggressively maintain U.S. inter... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Bush's new manifesto

"A transparent token the size of a postage stamp and costing just a penny to make can be used to generate an immensely powerful cryptographic key."

Tom, your a security guru...what are your thoughts on this?

New Scientist - Transparent token is cryptographic key

"From the reader perspective, this changes news reading habits because (usually) you pick a source and pick the story that interests you," said Mayer, who developed the tool with five staff engineers over the last nine months. "With this service, you pick the story that interests you and then pick the news source.""

Google search gets newsier - Tech News - CNET.com

" A Jordanian college student who was detained as a material witness in the September 11 investigation last year is suing the United States government for violating his civil rights. "

CNN.com - Jordanian jailed last year sues U.S. - September 13, 2002