December 2003 — Information Clearing House
Index December 2003 Part 5
Date: 31 Dec 2003
5 Killed in Blast at Baghdad Restaurant :
A large explosion ripped through a restaurant in central Baghdad on New Year’s Eve, killing five people. Witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3571770,00.html
30 December 2003
“The only solution is for the Bush administration to return to foreign policy sanity, starting with a more cooperative, less vindictive approach to European allies who could help share America’s military burdens. ” – New York Times, Dec 29 2003
What could be clearer than this NYT editorial of the dire straights of US strategy under Bush. And when the NYT speaks it is speaking to (and for) the power elite. But will its voice be heeded and are the major powers of Europe (France and Germany) even listening?
29 December 2003
There is a direct correlation between imperialism’s increasingly desperate economic state and its urge to go to war, only now it’s declared war on the entire planet, a sure indication of capitalism’s inability to deal with its inbuilt and rapidly escalating contradictions. Consider the wars it has declared over the past 100 years: the ‘war on communism’, ‘war on drugs’, the ‘war on crime’ and of course the latest war only now it’s called ‘terror’, a meaningless catch-all phrase that’s ideal for a propaganda campaign but useless as an explanation.
26 December 2003
Someone wrote me and asked if I knew when the phrase ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ was first used. A little research produced UN Resolution 687 that demanded that Iraq destroy its WMDs following the Gulf War:
3 Apr 1991 Security Council resolution 687 (1991),
Section C, decides that Iraq shall unconditionally accept, under international supervision, the destruction, removal or rendering harmless of its weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles with a range over 150 kilometres, and related production facilities and equipment. It also provides for establishment of a system of ongoing monitoring and verification of Iraq’s compliance with the ban on these weapons and missiles. Requires Iraq to make a declaration, within 15 days, of the location, amounts and types of all such items.
24 December 2003
So goes the Chinese curse and nobody can say that 2003 hasn’t been an interesting – and for many – a cursed year, not the least of which has been the 25 million or so Iraqis, cursed with being ‘liberated’ by a desperate imperialism on the rampage. Barbarians seems somehow an inadequate description.
22 December 2003 — The New Dark Age
“We’re going to be on the ground in Iraq as soldiers and citizens for years. We’re going to be running a colony almost,” – Source: Cincinnati Business Courier, L. Bremer III February 23 2003
Vengeance is costly but is easily quantified in barrels of oil and taxpayer’s dollars, but the moral and political consequences are incalculable. It is said that there is an urgency in establishing the Iraqi people’s faith in democratic justice. Their condition may be compared with post war Germany — the situation which Paul Bremer said was the first thing he looked at when given the task to lead post “liberation” construction, having evidently trashed the plans (if any) his short lived predecessor had.
22 December 2003
It seems that the ‘powers that be’ are upping the ante. So now we have the USUK imperium (such as it is) issuing ‘alerts’ and warnings that the ‘terrorists’ are about to do ‘something’ terrible. And no doubt, like all the previous ‘alerts’ this one will pass. And moreover, there seems to be some disagreement over whether there really is a major alert even as BBC Radio 4 news led with it this morning (22/12/03), all mention of it mysteriously disappeared completely from the 1pm and evening (5pm) editions. (See also “FBI agents say White House scripting ‘hysterics’ for political effect“[1] and “U.S. Concerned by Heightened Security Threats:[2] But counter-terrorism officials dismissed a report that there was credible information pointing to a possible imminent strike against New York City.”)
December 2003 — Information Clearing House
Index December 2003 Part 4
Date: 21 Dec 2003 19:19:16 -0000
233 DAYS … AND STILL NO WMD FOUND IN IRAQ.
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Saddam was held by Kurdish forces, drugged and left for US troops :
Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British Sunday newspaper said.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/62977/1/.html
20 December 2003
Oil and Empire, the euro, the dollar, Saddam as ‘ally’, Saddam as enemy, 9/11, convicted felons in charge of a nation…. Hey I could go on. The critical issue is not how long the list is but how could a nation’s media ignore the obvious for so long? How do they get away with it? Is it something I said?
17 December 2003
The UK government has just issued a White Paper on the reorganisation of the armed forces. It advocates a complete transformation of British military power in what can best be described as a mini ‘Project for the New American Century’. Geoff Hoon, the Minister of Defence has made it quite clear that the UK will perform a subsidiary role to the US, as the reorganisation will make UK military forces compatible on a technological level with US armed forces. Much as the Roman Empire had foreign armies on its payroll, in a pale parody of the British Empire of old, Blair’s ‘new’ imperialist army will no doubt perform in those areas of the world where the US imperium dares not set its hi-tech feet.
16 December 2003
Robert Fisk, who has a reputation for covering the occupation of Iraq with a humanity that escapes most of the mass media commentators seems to have reverted to type in his op-ed piece in the Independent(16/12/03 p. 31). Take the following extracts for example:
December 2003 — Information Clearing House
Index December 2003 Part 3
Date: 15 Dec 2003 20:06:03 -0000
227 DAYS … AND STILL NO WMD FOUND IN IRAQ.
Audio
Robert Fisk, Report From Tikrit:
Chief Middle East correspondent for the London Independent reports from the site where Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces in the village of Dawr near Tikrit. Audio
15 December 2003
What connects Saddam Hussein to Zbigniew Brzezinski? Well aside from the fact that Hussein can be considered one of Brezinski’s former ‘assets’, they both belong to the ‘Old School’, the era of the Cold War, and they both represent a world that no longer exists but which both must be wishing, did. Yet both in their own way are instrumental in giving birth to the ‘new’ imperium.
14 December 2003
Well that’s how the Economist described the ‘new imperialism’ in an article back in August (“Manifest Destiny Warmed Up?“[1]) predicating their analysis on the experiences of running the British Empire, that used I might add, very minimal military force by contemporary standards in order to maintain its rule.
11 December 2003
On BBC Radio 4 (10/12/03) a panel of pundits prognosticated on the progress (or otherwise) of the invasion of Iraq. One, whose name I failed to catch, commented that the USUK invasion of Iraq was probably the biggest foreign policy disaster since Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union before “finishing off” Western Europe. The question one must ask of course, is where (or whom) did the US have to ‘finish off’ first before invading Iraq?
December 2003 — Information Clearing House
Index December 2003 Part 2
Date: 10 Dec 2003 20:55:02 -0000
222 DAYS … AND STILL NO WMD FOUND IN IRAQ.
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Another Six Children Killed By U.S. Troops In Afghanistan:
Another six children were killed during an assault by US forces on a compound in eastern Afghanistan, an American military spokesman said.
9 December 2003
An essay I wrote last week on events in Samarra[1] brought a swift response from a journalist who works for the Independent, accusing me of distorting the Independent’s reportage.
December 2003 — Information Clearing House
[From the Archives. I’ve been archiving ICH digests since 2003. Unfortunately, an unknown number of the links are now dead, so I can’t guarantee that the link will take you where you want to go. WB]
Index December 2003 Part 1
Date: 5 Dec 2003 21:32:04 -0000
217 DAYS … AND STILL NO WMD FOUND IN IRAQ.
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WMD Plot Uncovered In East Texas:
At least one weapon of mass destruction – a sodium cyanide bomb capable of delivering a deadly gas cloud – has been seized in the Tyler area. Investigators have seized at least 100 other bombs, bomb components, machine guns, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and chemical agents.
4 December 2003
I often comment here on how the press cover events and the ‘firefight’ that took place in Samarra this past weekend is a textbook example of how both ‘academic’ as well corporate news coverage can get it all wrong, even when they appear to get it right.
3 December 2003
Much that has been written about the ‘division’ between the Sunni and Shia in Iraq is not only a total distortion of the demographics of the Iraqi population, it also feeds into the propaganda campaign of ‘divide and rule’ tactics that even opponents of the war and occupation can fall into the trap of accepting as true, including I might add, myself, when I used a ‘statistic’ gleaned from the Independent without first verifying it.
The New Dark Age 