Iraq
-
Spinning out of control By William Bowles
Wonderful! Alistair Campbell accuses the BBC of ‘lying’ because, he asserts, the BBC accused the government of lying over the ’45 minute’ scenario. Is this a desert storm in a teacup? Whilst the two monopolies go at each other, the essential issues simply don’t enter into the discussion at all, from either side. Whilst they… Continue reading
-
Exaggeration By William Bowles
The farce of an ‘investigation’ into the ‘rush to war’ continues in the UK as does the media’s complicity in presenting the reasons entirely divorced from the context and history of the trajectory of Western imperialism. The main argument being advanced by ‘critics’ of the war in Parliament, is that the government ‘exaggerated’ the threat… Continue reading
-
Through a glass objectively By William Bowles
The idea that there is some kind of ‘objective’ ground from which to view events, particularly of the political variety, is a long-held fantasy, especially of British journalism. It’s still taught in British universities would you believe, that out there, somewhere, there’s a space that the journalist can occupy, which sits perfectly in the middle,… Continue reading
-
Iran: First it was ‘October Surprise’ – now it’s No Surprise By William Bowles
It’s a complicated story that requires an understanding of broader US and Israeli strategic objectives, as well as a recognition that many people, especially Americans, may find it difficult to swallow the fact that the leaders of the US were and are, quite prepared to sacrifice the lives of their own citizens, subvert the Constitution,… Continue reading
-
Instant Replay By William Bowles
As the war drums beat with ever greater insistence in Washington DC, once more we see the UN being used as a pawn in the USUK’s grand imperialist strategies to commandeer the key resources of the planet and to crush any and all opposition to its rule. We cannot allow an ‘instant replay’ of Iraq… Continue reading
-
While the US crows, Iraq resists By William Bowles
As with all the other US military adventures across the world over the past decades, the US operates on the premise that people fight US invasions because they’re forced to. Yet time and again, this view has proved to be self-delusionary and follows from the imperialist elite confusing their own largely domestically targeted propaganda with… Continue reading
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
The New Dark Age 