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UNITED STATES TERRORISTS?

ISRAEL ATTACKS PEACEFUL HUMANITARIAN RELIEF SHIPS (VIDEO)

Israel has attacked peaceful protest ships engaged in a humanitarian aid mission. This outrageous attack happened on the high seas in international waters.

Apparently, nine (9) people have been killed by the Israeli stormtroopers; an unknown number of people have been wounded. One woman is reported to have lost her left eye. It was early in the morning in Gaza when high speed attack boats and helicopters swooped in. It is reported that commandos in riot gear boarded the ship or ships after a barrage of sound-bombs, tear-gas, and explosions. The Israeli government has released edited video clips showing men in black riot-gear, attacking the occupants of a ship with batons, guns and other weapons. The above video came from Al Jazeera.

This attack appears to have been done with total disregard for international law. There was no possible threat from the peaceful protesters on the high seas, yet they were boarded and attacked. With the support and assistance of the United States, Israel has been subjugating and holding the Palistinian people in a virtual prison for many years now.  There is little doubt that this act of piracy by the Israeli government will infuriate and inflame an already distrustful Muslim world.  

If this wasn't such a serious crime against humanity, it would be laughable that Israel stole the demonstrators recording equipment along with all of their other media devices such as cell-phone camera's etc, and then released a heavily edited video on Youtube. Here it is!

COST OF U.S. WARS NOW TOPS THREE TRILLION DOLLARS!

The cost of the United States' war against the Iraq and Afghanistan have now exceeded $$3 TRILLION DOLLARS$$ ($3,000,000,000,000)!!. Here is the link:

COST OF WAR

The Occupation - Johnny Punish

Gripping images from the Middle East are presented with original music.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma Hopes She "Won't See War In Her Lifetime..."

Assemblywoman, Fiona Ma, Representing California's 12th Assembly District was in attendance at the installation of a Veteran's flag pole in front of City Hall today. There was much beating of war drums and general military pomp. I was dumbfounded when, while being interviewed on live television, Assemblywoman Ma said, "I hope that we won't see war in my lifetime...[but I feel it is likely that I will]."

I would like to be the first to point out to the Assemblywoman that we are at war right now and have been in a constant state of war ever since the beginning of the Korean Conflict. I am shocked that an elected official of her stature would make such an outrageous and simple-minded statement. Please, do the world a favor and send the Assemblywoman an email, informing her that we are currently at war and have been for many years. Here is a convenient link to the contact form on her website:

Inform Assemblywoman Ma that we are at war!

World War III

How does one make a distinction between "occupation" and "invasion"? It should be obvious right? Most would immediately say that an occupation is temporary and an invasion permanent.  But, let us look more closely at these words.

My Encarta Dictionary tells me that the first definition of "occupation" is "1. the job by which somebody earns a living." That makes sense when I think about what the United States is doing in the Middle-East. But wait, we're talking about a military action, right? The traditional military use of  the word "occupation" according to Encarta, is "4. MILITARY the invasion and control of a country or area by enemy forces."  Hhmmn, there is nothing there about leaving the invaded country...

The order by which Encarta lists the definitions for any given word are supposed to be representative of the commonality of their usage, so I was not surprised when I looked up "invasion" to find that the first definition was perfectly military in its application, "1. a hostile entry by an armed force into a country's territory, especially with the intention of conquering it."  Again, there is nothing here about leaving the invaded country. I like this word better for a description of what our country has done in the Middle-East; there is no deception with this word.

Of course our troops in the Middle-East are planning to leave...just as soon as they are done building a few more permanent military bases. Just like in Viet Nam, our presence there will eventually change the culture into a more "American friendly" place to be. The US military never had a plan for "leaving" Iraq, because that is not what an "invasion" is all about.

Let us use words that convey the true meaning of our actions in the Middle-East when we talk about our "enterprises" there. And let us not pretend that we are conducting "police actions" or "occupations"--this is not a "war on terror." We are in the middle of nothing less than World War III! How many nations are involved in this global power struggle? I think they all are...

Please leave your comments below.  Especially if you disagree with me!

Mao Dollar

In order to pay for Bush and Cheney's illegal and immoral war, the United States borrowed trillions of dollars from the industrialized nations of the world (most notably, China). In essence, China (and the other industrialized nations) now own most of the United States' assets.

Thanks to neo-conservative policies the world's economy is in ruins; the reputation of the US has been seriously damaged all over the world (especially in Muslim nations); millions of US citizens are out of work; millions of innocent people are dead and things may still get worse before they get better. Now conservatives are complaining that President Obama hasn't "fixed the economy" yet!

I hate to say it, but it will take more than six-months to fix the mess the conservatives have created since Bush took office nearly nine years ago. To those critics of Obama, I say this: You had your chance and you were wrong. Now shut the hell up, while we try to clean up your mess.

Iraqis Celebrate US Troop Withdrawal

The news media has been so focused on the death of Michael Jackson that people in the United States may not have noticed that US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities today.

The Iraqi people noticed though, and they have been celebrating the event with great joy. In an article from the Associated Press, one Iraqi man, Waleed al-Bahadili, is reported to have said "All of us are happy _ Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day....the Americans harmed and insulted us too much." One Iraqi woman said that she "...finally feel[s] liberated."

A flagrant violation of international law, the invasion and occupation of Iraq has lasted over six years. It has destabilized the entire middle-east; caused the needless deaths of thousands (some say millions) of innocent Iraqi civilians, and seriously damaged the reputation of the United States all over the world; it has cost the US taxpayers trillions of dollars and destroyed the United State's (and the world's) economy.

The pullout is mostly symbolic, as some US troops will remain in the cities to "...train and advise Iraqi forces...," while the vast majority of them will be conducting operations from their newly built permanant military bases, outside of the cities.

Coincidental to the pullout, Iraq's oil interests were placed on the world market, allowing international investors to buy shares of Iraqi oil.

Iraqis Mark Sixth Anniversary of Invasion With Protests

Watching the news this morning I noticed that there was little to no mention of the thousands of Iraqis who turned out to protest the invasion and continued occupation of their country.

Even internet searches fail to produce results for the protest, which dwarfed the handful of paid protesters that were filmed pulling down Saddam Hussien's statue with the aid of US soldiers after the sacking of Baghdad in 2003. There are few people who don't remember the video footage of that event, which was aired over and over again.  

The failure of the US media to report on today's protest is reprehensible.  In fact there has been very little mention of Iraq in the news lately.  Meanwhile, US military spending continues to increase, despite the soaring national debt which has resulted from the illegal and immoral war in the middle east.

With some difficulty, I did manage to find this article on the protest. 

I welcome your comments, especially opposing viewpoints...