Churchill, Hitler, and Newt Bush

By Patrick J. Buchanan

02/20/06 "WND" -- -- You can always tell when the War Party wants a new war. They will invariably trot out the Argumentum ad Hitlerum.

Before the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam had become "the Hitler of Arabia," though he had only conquered a sandbox half the size of Denmark. Milosevic then became the "Hitler of the Balkans," though he had lost Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia, was struggling to hold Bosnia and Kosovo, and had defeated no one.

Comes now the new Hitler.

"This is 1935, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is as close to Adolf Hitler as we've seen," said Newt Gingrich to a startled editor at Human Events.

"We now know who they are – the question is who are we. Are we Baldwin or Churchill?"

"In 1935 ... Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini intimidated the democracies," Newt plunged ahead. "The question is who is going to intimidate who." Yes, a little learning can be a dangerous thing.

A few facts. First, when Hitler violated the Versailles Treaty by announcing rearmament in March 1935, Baldwin was not in power. Second, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald quickly met with Il Duce to form the Stresa Front – against Hitler. Third, when Mussolini invaded Abyssinia in October 1935, Baldwin imposed sanctions.

But Churchill did not wholly approve.

Abyssinia, said Churchill, is a "wild land of tyranny, slavery and tribal war. ... No one can keep up the pretense that Abyssinia is a fit, worthy and equal member of a league of civilized nations."

As late as 1938, Churchill was still proclaiming the greatness of Il Duce: "It would be a dangerous folly for the British people to underrate the enduring position in world history which Mussolini will hold; or the amazing qualities of courage, comprehension, self-control and perseverance which he exemplifies."

But back to the new Hitler.

The Iranians, said Newt, "have been proactively at war with us since 1979." We must now prepare to invade and occupy Iran, and identify a "network of Iranians prepared to run their ... country" after we take the place over.

"I wake up every morning thinking we could lose two major cities today and have the equivalent of the second Holocaust by nuclear weapons – this morning."

What about diplomacy?

"We should say to the Europeans that there is no diplomatic solution that is imaginable that is going to solve this problem." Newt's reasoning: War is inevitable – the longer we wait, the graver the risk. Let's get it over with. Bismarck called this committing suicide out of fear of death.

My own sense of this astonishing interview is that Newt is trying to get to the right of John McCain on Iran and cast himself – drum roll, please – as the Churchill of our generation.

But are the comparisons of Ahmadinejad with Hitler and Iran with the Third Reich, let alone Newt with Churchill, instructive? Or are they ludicrous? Again, a few facts.

In 1942, Hitler's armies dominated Europe from the Pyrenees to the Urals. Ahmadinejad is the president of a nation whose air and naval forces would be toasted in hours by the United States. Iran has missiles that can hit Israel, but no nuclear warheads. Israel could put scores of atom bombs on Iran. The United States, without losing a plane, could make the country uninhabitable with one B-2 flyover and a few MX and Trident missiles.

Why would Ayatollah Khameinei, who has far more power than Ahmadinejad, permit him to ignite a war that could mean the end of their revolution and country? And if we were not intimidated by a USSR with thousands of nuclear warheads targeted on us, why should Ahmadinejad cause Newt to break out in cold sweats at night?

Currently, the "nuclear program" of Iran consists of trying to run uranium hexafluoride gas through a few centrifuges. There is no hard evidence Iran is within three years of producing enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb.

And if Iran has been at war with us since 1979, why has it done so much less damage than Khadafi, who blew up that discotheque in Berlin with our soldiers inside and massacred those American kids on Pan Am 103? Diplomacy worked with Khadafi. Why not try it with Iran?

Yet, Newt and the War Party appear to be pushing against an open door. A Fox News poll finds Iran has replaced North Korea as the nation Americans believe is our greatest immediate danger. And a Washington Post polls finds 56 percent of Americans backing military action to ensure Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon.

Instead of whining about how they were misled into Iraq, why don't Democrats try to stop this new war before it starts? They can begin by introducing a resolution in Congress denying Bush authority to launch any preventive war on Iran, unless Congress first declares war on Iran.

Isn't that what the Constitution says?

Before we go to war, let's have a debate of whether we need to go to war.

Horrific New Torture Pictures Released

Horrific New Torture Pictures Released

MORE photographs have been leaked of Iraqi citizens tortured by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.

SBS Dateline - Australia

Warning

The pictures below should only be viewed by a mature AUDIENCE

See Also The photos America doesn't want seen: : MORE photographs have been leaked of Iraqi citizens tortured by US soldiers at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.

02/14/06

Arab Baath Party Statement

Baath Party Statement
On the anniversary of The Thirty Countries aggression against Mujahid Iraq: The US mess is a lesson to every evil force!

The Arab Baath Socialist Party

In the name of God the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful The Arab Baath Socialist Party One Arab Nation, with an eternal mission Unity, Freedom, Socialism On the anniversary of The Thirty Countries aggression against Mujahid Iraq: The US mess is a lesson to every evil force! Masses of Our Glorious Arab Nation On this very day on the seventeenth of January 1991, a war by substitution was launched by the US and with 28 states armies and the support of 33 small and not so small countries, against the Center of the Arab National Renaissance, Iraq, to destroy it and to blow off the light beaming from its ribs and loins to clear the Arab homeland night.. After a series of wars launched by the US by substitution either using the reactionary Arabs, the Zionist entity which crowned its aggression by bombing Tammuz Reactor, or through Safawi Iranians, during the shah Mohammad Reza Pahlawi, who used the Kurdish rebellion to wreck the pan Arab Renaissance Project or during the other Shah with a turban, Khomeini, who used his slogan 'exporting Revolution' to Iraq as a cover up for his expansionist and racist projects.. After these wars (by substitution) the US found out that Iraq of the Baath and Iraq of Saddam Hussein has bypassed all regional capabilities specially after defeating Iran… that is why it decided to enter directly the war arena on its own, and with its allies, be foreign, Arabs, or Muslims.. This is how the Thirty Countries Aggression was the trigger who started the Eternal Mother of All Battles, and opened the gates of a long and still ongoing war, which will not stop and in the light of its results will decide the fate of not only the Arab Homeland, but also that of humanity. You Mujahideens who are standing proud on the Eastern gate of the Arab Homeland! Yes indeed, the historic Decisive Battle which you are fighting since the Thirty Countries Aggression, evolved to become a total invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Iraq succeeded to break and totally foil the blockade foundations and started to launch its counter attacks on the economical, political, social, ideological and diplomatic levels. For these reasons the invasion of Iraq was decided to destroy its resources, and its Renaissance which are the Baath, its national leadership and its Iraq people support. But as you have wrecked the blockade plot and its objectives, you stood dignified, turning the US invasion of Iraq into (the greatest strategic disaster) in its history as admitted by some of the US warmongers themselves. And today while you are preparing for the dawn of liberty and dignity to break for Arabs, Muslims and for all the freedom loving humans… all hearts tend towards you and the fate of all humanity rests on your able wrists after you have buried the now deceased (new world order) set as the US global colonialist order to enslave humanity. The new colonialist era started with the collapse of the Communist world and the achievement of successes in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other parts of the World. Europe after declaring its unity started to back this order and help building its economical, security, political and technological foundations... While Russia, China and India as the remaining powers have also cooperated with colonialist ascension as (a necessary evil) adapting their state of affairs, and their relationships to avoid confrontation! This is how the Anglo-Saxon elite got lured that it was controlling the whole world and that the only remaining barrier was Iraq of the Baath, very easy to gobble, it will even be a military show, they thought, used to terrorize whom think to rebel against the empire, and making out of him an example on how they will chastise those whoever raises his voice protesting. Baath Militants! But this unwise thought about Iraq, as a People, as a Party and as a Leadership, draw the US in the worst of its evil and led it to its ascertained death; for it realized that it was trapped in a killer zone called Iraq. Iraq and Saddam Hussein are the invincible (historical force) because simply it is hidden in the Mujahideen consciences and in the Iraqi gun bearers, in the homes and the hearts of persevering and resisting Iraqis who have embraced, nurtured, and backed the Armed Iraqi Resistance defying the unilateral arrogant power which despised the International law, and which is being routed in Iraq.. And the sorcerer got caught by his on sorcery! The US mess in Iraq turned to be a lesson for any other evil forces which think in the future to aggress other peoples... and its is an example to follow for the Arab nation vanguard, freedom lovers and resisting people of the world against colonialism drawing the lesson from the Iraqi Resistance success. We see how the peoples of Latin America, the continent called US (back yard), because the US succeed to oppress all its revolutions accusing them of being either Soviet or Chinese inspired.. Today these countries are uprising again using popular support to elect anti US progressives, strengthening the Cuban revolution under the Militant Fidel Castro leadership, from one hand and consolidating the liberation foundations in Venezuela under the leadership of the Courageous President Chavez. Bolivia and its people have elected a proclaimed anti US, as Brazil did when electing a progressive President who led this great country to the freedom and Independence Camp. Last but not least, Argentina, another great country in South America, prepares itself to choose national anti US forces, thus turning the famous backyard as the US enemy backyard, with the total popular support. Arab Militants! The Northern American, European and global peace and anti war uprising against neocolonialism was not possible without the beaming lights of the Armed Iraqi Revolution which ascertained that who wants to combat colonialism is able to triumph if relying on his people and on the justice of his cause. For undergoes in Iraq right now, the greatest historical operation to establish a new regional and a global reality whose foundations are being set by the Iraqi Resistance. That is why the world intellectuals, leaders, and organizations reckon that the fate of the world is being set by the Decisive Battle which will establish its new realities participating strongly in its orientations. The Iraqi Resistance Jihad is knocking on the door of victory and the US is collapsing like a paper tiger. The US discovers every single hour that another trap in Iraq has again buried its expansionist and colonialist dreams, and that a strong and a free Iraq is being born, thanks to the Armed Resistance Jihad, that Iraq is carrying the good news of Arab Nation historical victory and it is preparing to take back its usurped rights particularly in Palestine. The National Leadership o f the Arab Baath Socialist Party renews its call to all the national, and Arab forces be it Islamist, Nasserite and leftists, popular organizations, unions, national leaders to set a national front covering all the Arab Homeland to back the progressive and liberation orientations following the example of Revolution Iraq backing and strengthening it in the course of the decisive triumph against Zionism, and western colonialism. This is the only way which can help the heroic and outstanding Mujahideen heroes, in great Iraq and in Palestine, to guarantee decisive victory, to heal the past wounds and to overcome crises and errors. Let’s make of the Decisive Battle a gate for unity, freedom and liberation of Arabs and Muslims! Long live heroic Iraqi resistance, the hope of the Nation and the symbol of its youth and its dignity! Glory to the Arab Nation martyrs and to the new proud dawn! Long live the detained Leader Mujahid, the General Secretary of our Party and the engineer of the eternal Mother of all Battles! Long live Palestine, Arab and free from the river to the sea! The National Leadership Arab Baath Socialist Party Culture and Publication Bureau 17 January 2006

15 years ago the mother of all crimes started

15 years ago the mother of all crimes started

Baghdad Dweller

January 18, 2006 You know, yesterday 15 years ago was the beginning of one the biggest US crimes against Iraq, yes it is the first Gulf war. I am sure many of the people involved in politics discussion now, were not mature at that time to remember, not interested to know or not even knew where Iraq is. As you know after Iraq occupied Kuwait (call it right or wrong but it is similar to what the US doing in Iraq right now), Bush senior was looking for a story to start a war against Iraq. Story…did I said story…I apologize I mean a "lie" and the "Bush family" are very good in this lying and I want you to compare the events between now and then. They hired a Kuwaiti girl with a name "Nayirah" (who is the daughter of the Kuwait ambassador in US) and taught her to shed tears before the congress claiming she saw Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti babies from the hospital’s windows. (The same inventors of Nayirah’s story later in 2002 came up with a story of Al-Qaeda tested chemical weapons on dogs for the same reason). to rally the public opinion in favor of the war. To be continued

Spy Agencies Warned of Iraq Resistance

Spy Agencies Warned of Iraq Resistance

Billions Stolen From Iraq?

Some $8.8 billion dispersed for reconstruction efforts in Iraq is unaccounted for, says the U.S. official in charge of tracing it.

02/09/06 "CBS" -- -- For a report to be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. ET/PT,

60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft investigates the billions spent on reconstruction-related work, particularly money paid to a contractor, Custer Battles, now being sued for fraud.

Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, says $8.8 billion is unaccounted for because oversight on the part of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the entity governing Iraq after the war, "was relatively nonexistent."

The former number two man at the Coalition's transportation ministry, Frank Willis, concurs. "I would describe [the accounting system] as nonexistent." Without a financial infrastructure, checks and money transfers were not possible, so the Coalition kept billions in cash to pay for its multitude of projects. "Fresh, new, crisp, unspent, just-printed $100 bills. It was the Wild West," says Willis.

Such an atmosphere made it possible for billions to go missing and companies to defraud the Coalition. Custer Battles, a company quickly formed after the war to get reconstruction contracts, goes on trial next week, accused in a whistleblower suit by an ex-employee of bilking the U.S. government out of $50 million.

"[Custer Battles] wanted to open fraudulent companies overseas and inflate their invoices to the U.S. government," says the ex-employee, Robert Isakson. He says he refused to go along with the scheme and "two weeks later, apparently I heard they began exactly the fraud they described to me," he tells Kroft.

Willis remembers Custer Battles, which was formed by former Army Ranger Scott Custer and a failed congressional candidate, Mike Battles, who claimed to be active in the Republican party and have connections to the White House. "They came in with a can-do attitude, whether they could or not," he says. "They were not experienced. They didn’t know what they were doing," says Willis.

They nevertheless got contracts and their work quickly drew complaints. "They failed miserably," says Col. Richard Ballard of a $16.8 million contract Custer Battles got to secure the Baghdad Airport. Col. Ballard, the inspector general for the Army in Iraq at the time, says the company failed to provide the X-ray equipment required by the contract.

"These were multi-million-dollar devices for which they received a considerable cash advance so that they could procure them, and then they never procured this equipment," says Col. Ballard. On a bomb-sniffing dog and trainer Custer Battles did procure, Col. Ballard says, "I think it was a guy and his pet, to be honest with you," he tells Kroft. The Colonel noted that the dog "would refuse to sniff the vehicles."

In a memo obtained by 60 Minutes, the airport’s director of security wrote to the Coalition: "Custer Battles has shown themselves to be unresponsive, uncooperative, incompetent, deceitful, manipulative and war profiteers. Other than that, they are swell fellows."

Instead of removing Custer Battles, the Coalition praised them and continued to give them contracts. One of those contracts involved procuring trucks for moving cash around the country – some of which were inoperative and had to be delivered via tow truck. "I don’t really know [how they got away with it]," says British Col. Philip Wilkinson, to whom the trucks were delivered. "The assumption that we had was that they had to have high political top cover...," Col. Wilkinson tells Kroft.

Custer and Battles are now under federal investigation and declined to be interviewed. But in taped depositions, they disavowed any knowledge of fraudulent invoices outlined in the lawsuit.

By Ira Rosen ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Iraq under occupation

US and British occupation of Iraq is regarded as the re-emergence of the old colonialist practices of the western empires in some quarters. The real ambitions underlying the brutal onslaught are still highly questionable - and then there are the blatant lies over weapons of mass destruction originally used to justify the war. There were no great victory marches by the occupiers, nor were they thrown garlands of flowers and greeted in triumph. More US soldiers have died in Iraq since George Bush declared an end to the war on 1 May 2003 prompting the question: Will Iraq turn into a new Vietnam eventually bringing the US to its senses ... or perhaps to its knees?

Iraq's history, and along with it that of the Arab Muslim world, speaks of several similar encounters. In the past, enemies attacked from East and West before they were swallowed by the moving sands of the region, or forced to retreat, leaving behind a phoenix-like people who adore life and still accept to die for their freedom.

The escalating Iraqi resistance seems to be setting the stage for another act which might usher in a new Arab World or set the clock ticking for the end of yet another empire.

Fore more info, click on the Title

The night the Americans came

Ali Fadhil
Wednesday January 11, 2006
The Guardian

Last weekend an American special task force unit raided my house. It was precisely the kind of terrifying experience I have had described to me over and over again by Iraqis I have interviewed in the past two-and-a-half years. My wife, Zina, described it as like something out of a Hollywood action movie.

It began at half past midnight on Saturday when explosives blew apart the three entrances to my house. We thought we had been caught in a bombing, but then a rifle sneaked round our bedroom door and shot a couple of bullets blindly; suddenly our room was filled with the wild sounds of US soldiers.

My three-year-old daughter Sarah woke to this nightmare. She pushed herself on to me and shouted "Daddy, Americans! They will take you! No, no, not like this daddy ..." She tried to say something to one of the soldiers but her tears stopped her from speaking. Instead of blaming the soldier I could see she was blaming me. I tried to calm her down but as I did so the soldier threw me on to the ground and tied me.

They then took me downstairs and made me sit in the living room while they smashed every piece of furniture we have. There were about 20 soldiers inside the house and several others on guard on the roof. A blue-eyed captain came to me holding my Handycam camcorder and questioned me aggressively: "Can you explain to me why you have this footage?"

I explained. "These are for a film we are making for Channel 4 Dispatches. There is nothing sinister about it."

But that was not good enough. He seemed to think he had found very important evidence. Hooded and with my hands tied I was taken to an armoured vehicle.

I was then driven to an unknown destination. I spent the entire journey thinking back on what has happened in the past two years of the occupation. I have so often heard of such things happening to others. But now I was experiencing it myself, and I too could feel the shame and humiliation. It is this kind of disrespect for the privacy of the home - that tribal people regard as a terrible humiliation - which Sunnis in the west of Iraq see as legitimising resistance.

When the journey eventually ended I found myself in a small room, two metres square, with wooden walls, a refrigerator and an oval table in the middle. Soon two men came in, civilians, wearing vests. "Do you know why you are here, Mr Fadhil?" they asked me.

I replied: "To be interrogated?"

With a broad smile, one of them said: "No. There was a mistake in the address and we apologise for the damage."

So that's it. They blew three doors apart with explosives, smashed the house windows, trashed all our furniture, damaged the car, risked our lives by shooting inside rooms aimlessly, hooded me and took me from my family who didn't know if they would ever see me again - and then, with a smile, they dismissed it as a small mistake.

So was this intimidation or just a typical piece of bungled repression? I don't know and cannot tell, though I have yet to have my tapes returned. I do know, however, the effect it has had on my daughter. Sarah hates all soldiers and calls them Americans even if they are Iraqis. There is no way she will change her mind about them after that nightmare. There are many Iraqis - Iraqis who welcomed the fall of Saddam - who feel exactly the same today.

· Dr Ali Fadhil's investigation for Guardian Films will be shown on Channel 4's Dispatches later this year.

Special reports
Iraq
The anti-war movement

'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'

Sometimes, a good documentary is all about being in the right place at the right time.

It does not get much better for Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain, who, in late 2001 began filming a documentary about Hugo Chavez, the controversial President of Venezuela. As they worked on their documentary, events in Venezuela reached a fever pitch and the duo was able to capture on film a coup from the perspective of the Chavez government.

The footage is remarkable, especially given that actual events were so clouded by propaganda on both sides. What is clear is that this was a coup orchestrated with the crucial help of the media. Without their support, it would not have been successful.

Please Click on the title to see the Documentary