William Bowles – Essays
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There’s News, News and then there’s damn lies! By William Bowles
As Blair and co scramble to cover their tracks over just one of the more obvious fabrications created to justify the (illegal) invasion, the real issues still seem to escape examination by the media even when it runs them over. Continue reading
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Is a military junta ruling Iraq? By William Bowles
Why is it so difficult find out who the people are who are running Iraq? What does the Bush administration have to hide? We read the odd story in the press about these characters but you have to dig deep to find out much about their backgrounds. Continue reading
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Advertising private enterprise By William Bowles
At last, the truth is out. Bremer’s ‘state of the dis-union’ address this past weekend spelled out the real reason for the invasion of Iraq; the protection of private ownership as the best guarantee of political freedom. This was on BBC Radio 4 news but when I came to find this quote in the Guardian,… Continue reading
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Act Two: Victim enters stage right By William Bowles
Having successfully dehumanised them through turning them into victims, the media no longer has the problem of looking to causes, the ‘victims’ are the cause all by themselves. And particularly tear-jerking ones at that. Photographs of suitably sullen-looking, bandaged and resentful Iraqi ‘victims’ populate the pages of the Independent. Continue reading
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Scary Times By William Bowles
Ultimately, the only ‘solution’ may be the collapse of the US economy but this brings with it its own dangers. The vast disparity in military power between the US and the rest of the world could lead desperate measures on the part of the US, leading to an increasing likelihood of war on a general… Continue reading
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War Inc. – A $300 Billion Dollar Business By William Bowles
Up until the late 19th century, almost all wars were fought with mercenary armies but WWI changed all that. Once war became industrialised and seriously large-scale, relying on relatively small armies, hired from countries far and wide, was no longer practical, nor was it politically acceptable given the appeals to ‘patriotism’ emanating from the ruling… Continue reading
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Apologies – Remember to Remind Me By William Bowles
15 May 2003 ‘If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own…. For if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.’ — James Baldwin ‘First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak… Continue reading
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In bed with Bush – The Bechtel story By William Bowles
The ‘enemy’ is everywhere and nowhere. It could be you, it could be me. The upshot is, that it opens up the field for a major offensive by the state against virtually the entire US population, who are, at the end of day, the real ‘enemy of the state’ and of big business. Continue reading
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Knock-Knock! By William Bowles
11 May 2003 Land of the free and home of those who keep their mouths shut? “First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communists Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and… Continue reading
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The coup de grace By William Bowles
Whatever pronouncements USUK have made over the past months, all are exposed for what they are, utter shams. Shams moreover, that they have been forced to make under public pressure, though it’s of little comfort and makes little difference. Continue reading
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THE BUSH FAMILY SAGA: FRAUDS ‘R’ US By William Bowles
It’s as well to remember that the Web never forgets, at least the US pres should take note of this fact and be careful of his utterances and how they can come back to haunt him. In fact four generations of Bush family history and too many skeletons in too many closets to count are… Continue reading
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Normal By William Bowles
This morning, Garner’s #2 man in Iraq, Major General Tim Cross, told BBC listeners (Today programme) that the people of Iraq are ‘better off now’ than they’d ever been and that ‘80%’ of them were happy that the USUK had invaded. They are, amongst other things, ‘free to demonstrate’. He didn’t mention of course, that… Continue reading
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The personal versus the political By William Bowles
We are shaped by history and in turn, history shapes us, at least that’s the theory. This morning on the radio (BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme) the pundits were commenting on Tony Blair’s ‘messianic’ belief that what he was doing in invading Iraq was right and that he’d ‘squared’ his conscience ‘with his maker’, so… Continue reading
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Paul Bremer, new boy in town By William Bowles
George Bush has appointed Paul Bremer as the ‘civil administrator’ of Iraq in what the Independent calls ‘a victory for Colin Powell…in the running skirmishes with Mr Rumsfeld’s Pentagon…’. Continue reading
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THE PLOT THICKENS By William Bowles
A European Defence Force is something Tony calls ‘unhelpful’. Unhelpful to who? In any case, as the US realigns its global military ‘posture’, it’s clear that a large US military presence in Western Europe is no longer necessary. And in any case, there’s all those ‘newly freed’ Eastern European countries dying to become satellites of… Continue reading
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Damn Lies! By William Bowles
For months we’ve been bombarded with a never-ending stream of state propaganda utilising a vast array of techniques: satellite images, computer simulations, faked documents, ‘revelations’,‘pulpit pounding’ and pleading verging on the evangelical, dossiers, ‘expert analysis’ of one kind or another, exhultations to one’s patriotism, and threats of dire events if we, the people, don’t go… Continue reading
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The Real Terror Network By William Bowles
27 April 2003 Paul Bremer, the new ‘Gauleiter’ of Iraq George Bush has appointed Paul Bremer as the ‘civil administrator’ of Iraq in what the Independent calls ‘a victory for Colin Powell…in the running skirmishes with Mr Rumsfeld’s Pentagon…’. Continue reading
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How Long do Empires Last? By William Bowles
A good friend of mine in the US, not long after 911 wrote me and said, ‘It’s either socialism or barbarism’. Now I’m not sure what her timescale was but she was spot on, about the barbarism bit anyway. Methinks the socialism part is some way off however. Continue reading
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How New is the New Imperialism? By William Bowles
24 April 2003 Reagan-Thatcher, Bush-Blair, can you spot the difference? I hope you can still recall the days of Ronald Reagan and the ‘Evil Empire’, ‘Star Wars’ and all that other Hollywood-inspired propaganda crap. Well in any case, it’s around twenty years ago that we were subjected to the formative stirrings of the ‘neo-con revival’… Continue reading
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More About Conspiracies and Oil By William Bowles
I’m getting really fed up with being marginalised by the so-called media professionals who would decry all who oppose their spin on the facts regarding oil and its centrality to USUK foreign policy, so I thought it would be instructive to spend a couple of hours doing a little research of my own on the… Continue reading