William Bowles – Essays
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Banking on Terror – The NCS Pearson Story By William Bowles
You’ve probably not heard of NCS Pearson Inc. (now called Pearson Government Solutions), and neither had I until a former employee of one of the previously privately owned companies that used to do the work of screening passengers and baggage in the nation’s 429 commercial airports, wrote and asked me if I would do a… Continue reading
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Before it moves, nuke it By William Bowles
If anything should make people wake up and smell the coffee, it’s the US ‘posture’ on nuclear weapons. In a new round of accelerated development of so-called battlefield nuclear weapons, the US have signaled to the world that the use of nuclear weapons is a prerogative that they reserve entirely for themselves and that their… Continue reading
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The un-United Nations and the world as ‘victim’ By William Bowles
Every day, a dozen or so un-UN press releases pile up in my inbox which I scan for some nugget of news, some insight that might be of use to me, but it’s largely self-serving stuff. Hans Blix’s last report on Iraq’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ is as vague and non-committal as all the others… Continue reading
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We know what they knew and we know when they knew it By William Bowles
What will it take for the media and the politicos to face the fact, that invading Iraq was always on the cards, regardless of ‘evidence’, resolutions, facts or fiction. It was a done deal and probably decided on years ago regardless of Saddam’s compliance with this or that demand or otherwise. Continue reading
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Go for the Jugular! By William Bowles
Except of course, they won’t (the media that is). We’ll be lucky if they name and shame a pinky. On both sides of the Atlantic, the frantic search for scapegoats continues apace, one of the latest being Ahmed Chalabi of the INC (favourite of the Wolfie clan) on whose ‘intelligence’ both the Pentagon and the… Continue reading
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NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) William Bowles
3 June 2003 “We read a lot about how corrupt the decision makers and the corporations are. We read very little about the responsibility that we all share to the state of this world. Aren’t we the ones who don’t want to change our lifestyles and who would go absolutely ballistic if petrol (or access… Continue reading
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Unglued, unstuck, pear-shaped, wobbly…and sick By William Bowles
The more Blair’s government rolls out one mouth after the other, to utter the words, ‘just you wait, have patience’, ‘we’ve got the evidence’, ‘you’ll see, we didn’t actually say that’, ‘read what we really said’, the more the media and critically, the public, look on in disbelief and increasingly, disgust. Continue reading
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Haiti – Regime Change By William Bowles
Whilst the US tells the world of its desire to see freedom and democracy in Iraq, it’s busy starving Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere into submission by enforcing a complete embargo on economic aid through its control of the IMF, World Bank and the International Development Fund, unless the Aristide government bows… Continue reading
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The Great Pretender By William Bowles
As per usual, the corporate press are up to their old tricks of divorcing ‘facts’ from causes. So now, failing ‘smoking guns’, bland dismissals that the ‘it’s all about oil’ arguments as ‘nonsense’, imperialist strategies, possibly, et al, we arrive at the final ‘destination’ of the corporate media whereby, through some process known only to… Continue reading
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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
The New Dark Age 