The links will open a new window. To return to this page, simply close the new window.

 

 

The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
Allan Bloom The Closing of the American Mind

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." - Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. --Voltaire--

Faith of consciousness is freedom
Faith of feeling is weakness
Faith of body is stupidity.
Love of consciousness evokes the same in response
Love of feeling evokes the opposite
Love of the body depends only on type and polarity.
Hope of consciousness is strength
Hope of feeling is slavery
Hope of body is disease. [Gurdjieff]

Life is religion. Life experiences reflect how one interacts with God. Those who are asleep are those of little faith in terms of their interaction with the creation. Some people think that the world exists for them to overcome or ignore or shut out. For those individuals, the worlds will cease. They will become exactly what they give to life. They will become merely a dream in the "past." People who pay strict attention to objective reality right and left, become the reality of the "Future." [Cassiopaea 09-28-02]

April 5, 2003 Today's edition of Brought to You by The Bush Junta, Produced and Directed by the CIA, based on an original script by Henry Kissinger, with a cast of billions....The "Greatest Shew on Earth," no doubt, and if you don't have a good sense of humor, don't read this page! It is designed to reveal the "unseen." If you can't stand the heat of Objective Reality, get out of the kitchen!

Flash Back - Just Terrible And now, The Owls will try to convince you all that war is absolutely necessary in order to insure peace. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Tomorrow night, Our Beloved Leader will appear on national television to assure us all that everything is going just fine, and we're going to bring the evil terrorists to justice. Maybe The Owls have discovered "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq, maybe not. At this point, it doesn't matter.

There is going to be a nuclear war.

See, there's more than one truth here. The fact that there are elements of truth in so many arguments leads only to confusion. Because that's how The Owls want you. They want you confused, and fighting amongst each other. They want to make sure that you believe your opponents are "the pro/anti war folks". It's also true that you want to believe. You want to believe in a free America. You want to believe in a land where we have freedom of choice, where we are free to speak our minds. You want to believe that all you have to do is worry about your own life. You want to believe that your greatest concern in life is to make sure the bills are paid on time and the kids get to school.

You want to believe you elected your government. You want to believe you're in control of your life. You want to believe that our government is doing their damndest to rid the world of terrorists. You want to believe that we live in a democratic society where each person has the same voice. You want to forget about all the inconsistencies and lies told to us by the media and our politicians. You want to believe in the system. You want to believe that it still works. The alternative is too scary to even think about.

So, those who believe in the system will yell at you until you're blue in the face. They'll repeat the mantras they've been given, to give them comfort. You know the mantras, right? "These colors don't run", "God bless America", "land of the free", "if you don't like it here, then leave", "it would never happen here", "you're a psycho", etc etc. We all know the mantras. Our schools indoctrinated us into the American way of life. We've all been taught how to be a good American. We all know about the proud history of our country and how the flag still stands for freedom.

But you're aware that something is wrong, aren't you? Maybe you know what's wrong, maybe you don't, but you know something is. Liberal-bashing has become the newest sport in America. It's gained quite a following over the last year, as they point out how hypocritical many of the liberal arguments are. Liberals are called anti-American because they oppose everything the government stands for. But it would seem that those who criticize liberals do have a couple of valid points. Many liberals have succumbed to elitism and fascism. Some have become the very things they seek to change.

But they're still correct on some level, aren't they? Something is wrong with the system. Most liberals just haven't figured out quite what it is yet. This explains the plurality of the liberal voice. Some believe the problem is America and capitalism. They know that a monetary system that rewards greed and punishes the poor must be to blame. They know that war is not good, and they know that Our Beloved Leader was not elected democratically. Isn't that the problem? Isn't that what's wrong?

Partially, yes. It is these partial truths that keep you focused on one aspect of the problem. You have been trained to have tunnel vision. You have been trained to be stupid. If you don't believe me, just turn on Entertainment Tonight. Nuclear war is imminent, yet Entertainment Tonight still airs every night all over the country. While the dogs of war are readying on the starting blocks, you're to be kept occupied with George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

We live in a country where stupidity is rewarded, where mediocrity is the goal, and where those who choose to stand out from the crowd are seen as absurd. What is the problem? The problem is that we have already been enslaved without our knowledge. While Entertainment Tonight airs, and anti-war protests go on, people believe that these are symbols of freedom. That these events represent what America stands for. That you are still free to dissent.

You're free to dissent as long as you don't stumble upon the truth. You're free to dissent as long as you follow the rules. You're free to dissent as long as you don't realize the predicament you find yourselves in. You're free to dissent as long as you don't actually accomplish anything. Did your anti-war protests work? Of course not. Why would they? The war is going to happen, whether you like it or not. You were allowed to protest so that you feel like you accomplished something. You were allowed to protest so you could spend all that pent-up rebellious energy. You were allowed to protest so that you could feel you actually made a difference.

You accomplished nothing. Because you have been enslaved. Because your voice has been taken away. Because your rights have been taken away. Because your freedom has been taken away. Because we are all slaves. Incarcerated without our consent or knowledge. We have been given the illusion of choice in order to keep us under control. The last thing Our Benevolent Leader wants is a revolt on his hands. That would be terrible. Just terrible. Comment: The above hits the mark pretty well, if you cant see it, then dont worry, there will be a time when you won't be able to miss it, but by then it will likely be too late for you to do anything about it. "To be forewarned is to be forearmed", the choice is yours. To see or not to see.

War at home lost by US. While most people are watching pictures of Baghdad and Iraq on TV for the latest war developments, they simply do not realize that the US has already lost the war. The US has a 6.4 trillion-dollar national debt which is growing. The monthly deficit of payments is about 35 billion. In the last 6 months the US dollar has fallen about 20% against all major currencies. The Euro has become the currency of choice for many nations, challenging the dollar for world financial domination. Bankruptcies are at an all time high. Many states are having the worst financial crisis in their histories. Conservative estimates reckon that an Iraqi war will cost US taxpayers between $200 and $300 billion dollars. This will occur:

* even as elderly Americans on fixed incomes live in poverty, unable to afford proper medications and care

* even as our environment, our schools, highways, mass transit, and railroads deteriorate from lack of funds

* even as the quality of American life sinks so that the quality of Israeli life, based on the illegal occupation of Palestinian land (condemned by U.N. resolutions), may improve.

* even as Red China continues to improve its industrial progress and offer more items including rockets and nuclear bombs to a world market for sale.

* even as US industry continues to shut plants and lay off workers.

* even while we give foreign aid of about 15 billion a year with new proposals to increase the foreign aid beyond that figure.

* even as the stock market continues its three-year slide with no bottom insight.

* even as petroleum prices are about as high as they have ever been

The United States is collapsing around our ears. It's mixture of politically correct lunacy, corporate fascism, media spin control and economic decay is simply not sustainable for much longer. What the whore media parades as strength is really weakness. What we are told is wisdom is simply stupidity. What we are told about economic prosperity is in reality a rigged fraud, careening into a black hole of bankruptcy. Our deliberately undermined economic system will soon come crashing down, just as our historic enemies have carefully planned.

The US Has Lost Its Soul: It is estimated that with the first Gulf War and the ensuing 10 years of bombing that Iraq h as lost about 1.4 million people. That will make some sickies happy but the US has told every lie, paid any bribe, killed any woman, child and non-combatant without regard for the sanctity of life or any of the basic values of Western Civilization. Rumsfield calls this freedom. I call it evil.

I have seen many news clips of thousands of Iraqis in the streets with automatic weapons. How many people in the streets in the US do you see with automatic weapons? For a couple of minutes maybe followed by 10 years in jail. Bush calls this liberty. I call it utter hypocrisy. We will see a long lasting guerrilla war to remove the alien occupation force from the land. You can bet your bottom dollar that if Bush rebuilds Iraq that no one will be allowed to have automatic weapons except the alien foreign masters who will be hated for their omnibus criminality.

Bush talks about ending terrorism. I thought that is what Afghanistan was supposed to do. Instead the US uses 'Shock and Awe' super MOAB (Mother of all Bombs) to terrorize a civilian population. Fortunately, it has not worked. If you or I were to try to bribe a government official it would be a violation of the Hobbs Act. Bush can offer bribes in the billions (of taxpayer's money) to many governmental officials and still be regarded as an honest Christian man. I can only conclude that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Bush talks about the weapons of mass destruction. Well, the US is the all-time world leader in this field. We nuked the Japs. We used Agent Orange and other herbicides in Viet Nam. Agent Orange was both a biological and chemical killer. Every shell used gunpowder or a substitute for its propulsion. That is the use of chemistry as an agent of destruction pure and simple.

We allegedly have a First Amendment in this country. When it comes to the proselytizing and furthering the aims of Zionism then nothing can come in its way. Just as Trent Lott spoke the truth only to sell his soul due to newspaper pressure, Jim Moran knew the score but he also would not stand up for his beliefs. Every other Congressman and Senator should have stood up for Moran but they knew what had happened to James Trafficant and were afraid. The Bible talks about the 'fear of the jews' five times. Some things never appear to change. The bottom line is that when the US fights for the Jews, we loose all sense of morality and decency and forfeit any right to call ourselves Christian.

US accused of hypocrisy on human rights State Department reveals double standards in annual global assessment of government treatment of citizens. The US State Department released its latest global report on human rights last week, inviting some ironic comment since the United States can now easily be perceived to have broken its own guidelines about the physical mistreatment of prisoners and suspension of judicial due process. "Stress and duress" interrogation techniques – condemned by the State Department as a form of torture when practised by others – secret detentions, closed hearings and lack of access to lawyers or the courts have all been features of the Bush administration's "war on terror".

While the report makes no mention of al-Qa'ida suspects killed in US custody in Afghanistan or so-called "enemy combatants" being held indefinitely without trial at Guantanamo Bay, the parallels between offending foreign governments and current US practice are there. At first glance one might think that the following statement – "Police occasionally resorted to torture and physical beatings of prisoners ... The government generally did not permit prison visits by local or international human rights groups ... Arbitrary arrests and detentions continued to be problems" – was describing US practices, but it is in fact a description of notoriously repressive Eritrea.

Strikingly, some of the countries lambasted by the State Department for their shoddy records – Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, as well as Eritrea – are also members of the "coalition of the willing" now supposedly fighting to stop repression and brutality in Iraq. The ironies were not lost on Human Rights Watch – the New York-based watchdog. Human Rights Watch agreed that the State Department report on Friday presented a generally honest assessment of the world situation, but it added that the administration was in danger of losing its "moral clarity" because of its own lapses.

"The Bush administration has not pulled many punches in this report," HRW spokesman Tom Malinowski said. "But it should also be troubled that some of its closest allies engage in repressive practices that fuel support for terrorists." The report cut noticeable slack to certain allies, noting "improvements" in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait while holding back on emotive descriptions of those countries' failings. The Pakistani government is described as "reasonably representative", even though key parties were banned from participating in last year's elections.

Of Israel the report declared that "there were no reports of political killings during the year". However, it transpired that a certain sleight of hand was used as this refers only to Israel itself. The occupied territories are dealt with separately, much further down in the fine print, along with a caveat that the Israelis "made every effort" to avoid civilian casualties. A further irony is that the "old Europe" which opposed the war in Iraq, notably France and Germany, get a much better bill of health on human rights than the "new Europe". Bulgaria, for example, is criticised for beatings of suspects and inmates, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and mistreatment of Romani street children.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, focused on some of these issues when he unveiled the report in Washington last week. "We do not believe it is inconsistent to work with nations who are willing to assist in this effort who, themselves, have some problems with respect to human rights," he said. "We candidly talk to them and encourage them to change." He was not asked about the United States' own record, but he did say: "America is proud to serve as a force for freedom across the globe." With the emphasis, some might say, being on the word "force". Comment: Hypocrite, liar and psychopath.

US Marines 'kill seven Iraqis after truck fails to stop' Seven civilians, including three children, were killed by US Marines last night after they opened fire on a truck that refused to stop at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, an American television network reported. The alleged incident was reported by an ABC News correspondent travelling with a marine unit early this morning.

The civilian Iraqis were in vehicles behind a military truck that refused to stop and tried to crash through the marines' roadblock. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate details of the incident. ABC reported that shots were fired first at a car that went through the checkpoint. A military truck that was following it was then fired upon and two civilian vehicles, apparently caught behind the truck, were shot at, leading to the deaths.

The incident appeared similar to what happened near Karbala on Monday when US Army troops opened fire on a four-wheel-drive vehicle which also drove through an Allied checkpoint. At least seven Iraqi women and children were killed. A Washington Post reporter with that unit claimed that a captain had blamed troops for not firing a warning shot soon enough. The captain had roared at his platoon leader: "You just ... killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!"

US Central Command this week backed the troops involved in that incident for their actions, although it appeared less likely that it had been a suicide attack. The Central Command spokesman Brigadier General Vince Brooks said that money would probably be given to relatives of those victims as an expression of regret on behalf of the Allies. The incident this morning appeared more deliberate. US troops have been on edge since the driver of a taxi detonated a car bomb in a suicide attack that killed four soldiers last week. Comment: "Would probably give them money"; this to a mother who saw her two daughters aged three and five decapitated by the US soldiers that fired on the vehicle with a 150mm cannon. One word - digust.

BBC REPORTER SAY US FORCES NOT IN CENTER OF BAGHDAD Acording to Ragi Omar (BBC Correspondent) speaking live on BBC NEWS 24 at 6:10am EST Saturday, he had driven all around Baghdad and saw no signs of US Forces, and encountered no civillians reporting presence of US forces or fleeing from areas under US control. He also said that in conversations with other correspondents who had also travelled around Baghdad and the outskirts of the city --NONE OF THEM HAD SEEN ANY US FORCES.

"The contradictions are enormous," according to the BBC NEWS 24 anchor. In earlier comments, a local US-UK commander describing his forces actions at the Baghdad Airport said their next objective was to "surround" the airport. He immediately corrected himself to say their objective was to take control of the areas "surrounding" the airport. The Iraqi Information Ministry is still maintaining that US forces have been expelled from the airport. Comment: At this stage we can take it pretty much for granted that EVERYTHING that is reported by the US approved "embedded" reporters is in fact an outright LIE

Robert Fisk: Reports of airport assault premature SADDAM HUSSEIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - So where are the Americans? I prowled the empty departure lounges, mooched through the abandoned customs department, chatted to the seven armed militia guards, met the airport director and stood beside the runways where two dust-covered Iraqi Airways passenger jets -- an old 727 and an even more elderly Antonov -- stood forlornly on the runway not far from an equally decrepit military helicopter.

And all I could hear was the distant whisper of high-flying jets and the chatter of the flocks of birds which have nested near the airport car park on this, the first day of real summer in Baghdad. Only three hours earlier, the BBC had reported claims that forward units of an American mechanised infantry division were less than 16km west of Baghdad -- and that some US troops had taken up positions on the very edge of the international airport.

But I was 27km west of the city. And there were no Americans, no armour, not a soul around the runways of the airport whose namesake, in poster form, sat nonchalantly in the arrivals lounge in a business suit, cigar in hand. Even more astonishingly, there was no sign of the 12,000 Republican Guards whom the US division expected to fight. Indeed, Saddam Hussein International Airport looked as if it was enduring an industrial strike (let us not conceive of such an event in Saddam's Iraq) rather than an imminent takeover by the world's only superpower. Was it true, the Iraqi minister of information was asked at his daily 2pm press conference (11pm NZT) - a routine institution of usually deadly tedium - that the Americans were at the airport? "Rubbish!" he shouted. "Lies! Go and look for yourself." So we did.

And, alas for the Anglo-American spokesmen in Doha and the US officer quoted on the BBC, the Iraqi minister was right and the Americans were wrong. But it's a good idea to take these things, if not with a pinch of salt, then at least with the knowledge that there are always two reasons for every decision taken in this violent, ruthless land. Sure, the Americans had been caught lying again - as they were about the "securing" of Nasiriyah more than a week ago - but was that the only reason journalists were permitted to visit Baghdad airport? We saw no Republican Guards - just as the Americans have themselves somehow failed to discover the 12,000 Republican Guards supposedly facing them.

Iraq said to have regained Saddam Airport. A top Iraqi official said Iraqi forces have expelled coalition forces from Saddam International Airport and regained complete control, despite the report of U.S. officials that no such thing had occurred. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said Saturday Iraqi forces from the Republican Guards attacked and repulsed the coalition forces during fierce overnight fighting a day after they landed in the airport.

U.S. forces said that such claims are "groundless." "Today, we slaughtered the force which dared and was at the runaway of the airport. Now they are outside the faraway airport fence," al-Sahhaf told reporters in Baghdad. "The heroic Republican Guards are now in control of the airport's land in full." He said the coalition soldiers were being surrounded in the area of Abu Graib where they are still trying to fire what's left of their light artillery and rocket-propelled grenades while "the other columns could not establish any contact with the besieged force."

"Now, we are pounding them with missiles and heavy artillery and we are surprising them with new operations," he said. "In fact, RG forces, Saddam Fedayeen combatants and Arab martyrdom (suicide) attackers carried out new innovative operations last night. I mean martyrdom (attacks) and new kinds of fighting." He said the coalition force at the airport was "crushed" and that their "losses, bodies and destroyed vehicles are numerous." He added that there were many killed among the coalition soldiers whose bodies are still in the airport's ground and he was to give more appropriate information later once the cleaning operations are over.

"The Republican Guards is now in complete control of the airport's ground. The battle continues outside the airport and this surrounded force will be slaughtered in full," al-Sahhaf said. He promised the journalists to escort them to the airport as soon as the Iraqi forces complete cleaning the area. Al-Sahhaf said another battle took place on the dam of Al-Qaddisiya near the al-Hudaitha area at dawn and in the morning whereby the other Iraqi forces attacked coalition troops and "surrounded them...." He said four armored personnel carriers were destroyed.

On the southern front, al-Sahhaf said two coalition columns tried to attack the city of Basra but were repulsed by Iraqi forces, tribesmen, Baath Party and Saddam Fedayeen combatants. Seven tanks were destroyed and the coalition forces retreated. He said Iraqis also shot down a combat jet but no additional details were yet available. "The whole trend has been changed. The operation is moving in our interests. We are going to finalize soon," al-Sahhaf said, promising to crush coalition forces outside the airport and in al-Hudaitha.

He invited journalists to go to the Baghdad's neighborhoods of al-Dora and Yarmouk which were reportedly entered by coalition forces. "Why not to go and visit the places. Nothing there at all. There are Iraqi checkpoints," he said. Al-Jazeera reported that foreign journalists in Baghdad have confirmed that no U.S. forces have been seen in central and western Baghdad

Mystery illness strikes 100 in U.S. At least 100 people in the United States, including 14 children, appear to have contracted the mysterious flulike illness that has been spreading in Asia, a federal report issued today says. No deaths have been reported in the United States from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Forty persons have been hospitalized for more than 24 hours, said the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SARS has been linked to at least 79 deaths in 17 countries and Hong Kong, 3.5 percent of the 2,270 suspected cases, the World Health Organization reports. Symptoms include high fever, dry cough and other flulike symptoms. Six deaths were in Canada; the rest were in Asian countries. Although 90 percent of SARS patients recover within a week, the infection has galvanized health officials because it spreads swiftly and kills people who are relatively young and healthy. This week, the WHO took the extraordinary step of asking travelers to avoid China's Guangdong province and Hong Kong. Similarly, the State Department and CDC have advised U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi. Comment: Seems to me that this is just creating the atmosphere for a future "code red" and "total lockdown". Kiss your "civil liberties" goodbye.

Red Cross horrified by number of dead civilians Red Cross doctors who visited southern Iraq this week saw "incredible" levels of civilian casualties including a truckload of dismembered women and children, a spokesman said Thursday from Baghdad. Roland Huguenin, one of six International Red Cross workers in the Iraqi capital, said doctors were horrified by the casualties they found in the hospital in Hilla, about 160 kilometres south of Baghdad.

"There has been an incredible number of casualties with very, very serious wounds in the region of Hilla," Huguenin said in a interview by satellite telephone. "We saw that a truck was delivering dozens of totally dismembered dead bodies of women and children. It was an awful sight. It was really very difficult to
believe this was happening." Huguenin said the dead and injured in Hilla came from the village of Nasiriyah,
where there has been heavy fighting between American troops and Iraqi soldiers, and appeared to be the result of "bombs, projectiles."

"At this stage we cannot comment on the nature of what happened exactly at that place . . . but it was definitely a different pattern from what we had seen in Basra or Baghdad. "There will be investigations I am sure." Baghdad and Basra are coping relatively well with the flow of wounded, said Huguenin, estimating that Baghdad hospitals have been getting about 100 wounded a day.

Most of the wounded in the two large cities have suffered superficial shrapnel wounds, with only about 15 per cent requiring internal surgery, he said. But the pattern in Hilla was completely different. "In the case of Hilla, everybody had very serious wounds and many, many of them small kids and women. We had small toddlers of two or three years of age who had lost their legs, their arms. We have called this a horror."

At least 400 people were taken to the Hilla hospital over a period of two days, he said -- far beyond its capacity. "Doctors worked around the clock to do as much as they could. They just had to manage, that was all." Comment: Lets be clear, each decapitated toddler, each disemboweled mother constitues a war crime, because this war is being fought by Bush and Blair for one thing only, economic gain.

BBC London confirms; Its the OIL: The advocates of war insist it's not about oil. But global oil production is on the brink of terminal decline and when the West begins to run short of supplies - could be a lifeline. After World War I, the oil companies carved up Iraq. Shell, BP, Exxon and Total all had stakes in the Iraq Petroleum Company. They paid pennies for each barrel of oil and built a pipeline to take it away. In 1972 the Iraqis nationalised the industry and threw the foreigners out. From then on Western oil companies could only dream of Iraq’s oil reserves - the second largest in the world. With Saddam Hussein came decades of war followed by sanctions and Iraq's massive reserves lay largely untouched. But with Hussein's regime under threat, at last there was a chance to get back in.

Dwindling discoveries: It's not greed that’s driving big oil companies - it's survival. The rate of oil discovery has been falling ever since the 1960's when 47 billion barrels a year were discovered, mostly in the Middle East. In the 70's the rate dropped to about 35 billion barrels while the industry concentrated on the North Sea. In the 80's it was Russia’s turn, and the discovery rate dropped to 24 billion. It dropped even further in the 90's as the industry concentrated on West Africa but only found some 14 billion barrels.

Shrinking production: In America, always the greediest consumer of oil, production has been falling for 30 years. Americans guzzle 20 million barrels of oil a day, but now they have to import over 60% of it. That pattern is being repeated elsewhere. Geologist Dr Colin Campbell predicted a decline in the North Sea several years ago and claims by 2015 Britain may have to import over half its oil needs. "In 1999 Britain went over the top and is declining quite rapidly," he says.

"It's now 17% down in just three years, and this pattern is set to continue. That means that Britain will soon be a net importer, imports have to rise, the costs of the imports have to rise, and even the security of supply is becoming a little uncertain," Campbell adds. In Norway the government forecasts that in the next ten years its North Sea production will halve. In Argentina oil production has been down for several years and in Columbia, which was a big producer in the 90's, production is now past its peak.

US energy security: When George Bush took power two years ago, his administration was already worried about the vulnerability of America’s oil supplies - the buzzword was ‘energy security’.

"I think it’s quite possible that the United States realises the key importance of the Middle East generally to world supply in fact, and especially its own, and that it sees Saddam Hussein as a ready-made villain," points out Campbell. "It finds this a convenient way in which to establish a military presence in the Middle East - aimed partially at Iraq by all means but with a wider significance to control the production elsewhere there." The US pushed its allies hard to support military action against Iraq. With resolution 1441 last November they seemed to be making progress. But in December America’s energy security took yet another turn for the worse. Venezuelan oil workers went on strike and oil prices soared - hitting $35 a barrel.

Iraqi oil for Iraqi people:

As preparations for war gathered pace there were massive demonstrations around the world. The widespread view that it was all about oil worried the US and British governments so much that they came up with a plan - they would safeguard Iraq’s oil for the Iraqi people. "We will make sure that Iraq’s natural resources are used for the benefit of their owners, the Iraqi people," President Bush told the world. But even if the post-Saddam regime retains control of oil exports, at least the boost in Iraqi output will provide a growing supply to the West.

For a war supposedly not about oil, military planners made a high priority of securing the oilfields. Apart from a handful of wells torched by Iraqi troops, the huge southern oilfields were taken largely intact. But other major oil-producing regions are still in Iraqi hands and there is still a danger that, as in Kuwait 12 years ago, massive sabotage may hit oil production for years to come.

Terminal decline: Whatever happens, rebuilding Iraq will be a huge job and only US companies have been invited to bid for contracts. Opposition leader Dr Salah Al-Shaikhly, of the Iraqi National Accord, admits Britain and America will benefit from helping remove Saddam. "Well definitely those who have helped us, all along, with regime change. Obviously they should have a little edge over the rest. I think even in economics, this is quite acceptable… as well as the politics."

But even if Iraq does boost its oil production ironically the effect could be short lived. Its vast reserves represent just four years of world consumption and by the time Iraqi oil is flowing freely, global oil production may already be in terminal decline. Campbell thinks the decline will start by 2010. "It starts with a price shock due to control of the market by a few countries, and it is followed by the onset of physical shortage, which just gets worse and worse and worse," he says. So if alternatives to oil are not found soon the changes could be radical. Unlimited use of cars and cheap flights around the world may well be a thing of the past. While international trade - the very basis of the global economy - will suffer.

 

April 4, 2003 Today's edition of Brought to You by The Bush Junta, Produced and Directed by the CIA, based on an original script by Henry Kissinger, with a cast of billions....The "Greatest Shew on Earth," no doubt, and if you don't have a good sense of humor, don't read this page! It is designed to reveal the "unseen." If you can't stand the heat of Objective Reality, get out of the kitchen!

Flash Presentation - Must see!

Who Cares About Dead Iraqis? Body counts, Rummy's plan, and the grisly stuff they don't want you to seeDang that pesky collateral damage. Darn those brutal civilian deaths. Hundreds and hundreds of 'em, bloody decapitated mutilated bombed-out burned-out women and children and families, over there in Iraq. Just another irritating little side effect, doncha know, of forcibly liberating a people who didn't really ask to be liberated and who are pretty much getting reamed from both ends and aren't exactly rushing out into the streets by the grateful thousands, as we had expected (except, finally, some in Najaf -- whew!) to toss flowers at the wide-eyed and confused U.S. troops and our well-armed Christian God and His almighty Starbucks franchises.

What happened there, anyway? Just bad PR? Someone miss a memo? Did no one tell them we are the Great Liberator, the bringer of peace and calm and nice big oil conglomerates that will soon help them "manage" all their hundreds of billions' worth of delicious natural resources? Haven't they seen the joy and happiness we have brought to Afghanistan? Oh wait. Please believe it's not happening. Please ignore the actual data, the brutality, focus instead on the patriotism and the soothing sound of the war drum and the idea of liberation, as opposed to, you know, invasion. We don't want you to see. We don't want you to know. And we certainly don't want to make it easy for you to find out.

The U.S. military doesn't even "do" body counts. They actually said as much. Don't keep track of those dang dead civilians. We've got a repressed Islamic rubble-strewn nation to annihilate, they say, and a puppet government to forcibly install afterward and a whole hell of a lot of petrochemical companies lining up. We're a little busy. And we've got lots and lots of sturdy and young and mostly poor mostly patriotically deluded U.S. troops to put in harm's way in the name of power and oil and Rummy's black-eyed sneer, many of our own troops dying from our own brilliantly termed "friendly fire," and what, you think we have time to keep track of how many foreigners we sort of accidentally blow up? Please.

Hell, a few dozen families, especially mothers and children, get themselves decapitated by a U.S. missile striking a civilian market -- hey, that's not our fault, is it? After all, if Saddam hadn't been so downright evil in the first place, we wouldn't have to be invading his country and blowing up everything and killing children in the name of freeing them, and none of this would've happened, now would it? Beautiful is the logic of the Great Liberator. All hail. Except that yes, it would have happened anyway, somehow, some way, because Dick and Rummy and Wolfie and about a dozen other ultra-conservative power-mad hawks had been planning and begging for this war for years. Yes, years. Before ShrubCo. Before 9/11. Before WMDs and Dick's defibrillator and Shrub embarrassing and humiliating this nation on a global scale, daily.

They had a plot all along. Oh yes they did. Overthrowing Iraq was to be merely the first step to forcibly restructuring the entire Middle East in the image of the U.S. and its corporate power interests. Their motto: First Iraq, then total power gluttony and empire expansion and big-ass cigars for everyone. More or less. Way back in 1997, Dickie and Rummy and friends got together and drew up a vile little plan, called it the Project for the New American Century, and it included lots of info about nailing Saddam and reshaping the Middle East, along with a few other pesky countries, for good measure. According to ABC News, 18 neo-conservatives signed on to the plan. Ten of them are now in Bush's Cabinet.

And the plan was ugly and violent and military thick and war happy and it only needed a catalyst to kick it into gear, which 9/11 awkwardly provided, and a president other than too-smart Clinton to give it the smirking thumbs-up. And, lo and behold, BushCo illegally steals the presidency, and, boom -- here we are. Empire expanding, Iraqis dying. Neat! We are on plan. The Iraqi civilian body count, at the moment, stands at somewhere between 600 and 800, so far, and climbing fast, and we haven't even finished annihilating downtown Baghdad yet, and guerrilla warfare is expected to last into the summer, so you can bet that number will jump exponentially in the days and weeks to come and you can bet that no one in the major media will really talk much about it or report on it or even show you the real pictures.

Especially not that, especially not the pictures, no horrific and grisly scenes of bombs falling on civilian markets, or homes, or schools. No shots of dead women and shredded limbs and crushed children's skulls, almost no actual blood at all. Amazing, isn't it? What a nice, clean war we are inflicting. How thoughtful we are. Instead, we get scruffy journalists riding in tanks. We get grainy patriotic videophone shots of soldiers marching through dust, soldiers donning gas masks, soldiers clutching Bibles, soldiers looking absolutely dumbfounded and sad and forcibly patriotic as deep down they wonder just what the hell we are really doing over there and why they hell they can't just come home.

Oh wait, right, Saddam, big bad guy who supposedly is killing his own people with chemicals we sold to him, who has all these nasty WMDs we still can't find, who is supporting terrorists we can't verify and that even the CIA denies exist. Oh right, him. The current coverage almost makes you think all those civilian deaths aren't really happening, that we aren't really killing hundreds, soon to be thousands, of innocents, that the scowling generals and sneering Ari Fleischer must be right when they stand up there and say we're trying to minimize civilian deaths, trying to bomb and crush as gently as possible. All claiming that a trifle of collateral damage is just an unfortunate side effect, making it sound like we broke a couple dishes while cleaning up after dinner. Whoops gosh sorry about your dead family, there there now, here have some money.

No, it's not easy to find the truth, to see the real numbers or to see the true pictures of war. But there are some honest reports trickling out. Ghastly scenes of a brutalized people. A handful of reporters actually reporting on something other than troop movements and food supplies. But you have to really look. And there are pictures. True images of war available. You need a steel stomach and hardened nerves to view them, but they are, in a way, required viewing, something almost everyone should see, especially those who wave flags and think we are so righteous and good and helpful. You won't see them on CNN, or on GOP-lickin' Fox News, or even on this Web site. It's just too much. But if you want to know what Bush's little war is really inflicting, you might want to take a look. Here's just one site, from New Zealand, that's collected a number of such grisly images from foreign presses. Also includes photos of dead U.S. soldiers. Warning: Graphic content. Warning: Perspective altering. Warning: Breakfast ruining.

Oh sure they're all brutalized. Or dying. Or mutilated. Or burned. Or bleeding. Or emotionally devastated at the loss of their entire families to a U.S. attack. Sure they're all, you know, dead. But hey, at least they're liberated. All hail.

Pirate Plunder "The initial data available so far reveals the dirtiness of U.S.-British warmongers, the fakeness of their claims about a clean war, as well as their indifference to the lives of innocent, unarmed Iraqi civilians." The indictment comes, not from Baghdad or Kuala Lumpur, but from the Foreign Minister of Switzerland. Micheline Calmy Rey, of the ruling Socialist Democratic Party, explained that her country has an obligation to document war crimes as "a founder and a sponsor of the Geneva Convention."

The entire globe is recoiling from the United States, a planetary phenomenon that will characterize the historical period we have now entered - if humanity survives it. In declaring war against international order, the Pirates at the helm of the Hyper-Power have profoundly frightened every economic and social sector of every nation on the globe. In self-defense, the world will be forced to reorganize itself, to create new mechanisms of trade and security in place of the institutions that the Bush men are deliberately savaging. The Americans will be left out of these arrangements.

The realization dawns on the assaulted consciousness of humanity that the would-be rulers and their society are worse than monstrously destructive - they are delusional, a danger to civilized endeavor, untrustworthy in any agreement, contemptuous of law and reason. A nation and people to be avoided, circumvented, conspired against for safety and survival's sake. These are the first days of the inevitable and soon to become dramatic decline of the United States. In what will be viewed as a supreme irony of history, the dream of a glorious and bloody leap to global omnipotence will collapse in incompetence and self-mutilation - not this year or the next, and not in time to save millions from death, disease, impoverishment and national humiliation. But it will happen, because the nations and peoples of the world will see no choice available to themselves but to make it happen.

It need not have been so. With the role of protector against an extinct Soviet Union long redundant, the United States' favored position in the world is based on the size of its economy and the unique role of the dollar as the sole denominator of oil prices - an artificial support. Over time, the growing strength of the European euro currency would have provided alternatives to banks and national treasuries that sought to diversify their holdings. The dollar's value would have shrunken, gradually, but without great drama. America's share of fossil fuel consumption could have been brought under control in collaboration with developed and developing nations, to guard against undue harm to the economies of all while alternative energy sources were brought on line - to the profit of innovative capital in the most developed nations such as the United States.

But this was not to be. The Pirate class personified by Bush, Dick Cheney and Richard Perle has no stake in the domestic economy of the United States or the stabilizing institutions of the world. They war against order, to transform the American military machine into a pirate armada to amass wealth through plunder. They are not really capitalists in the "normal" sense, at all. They "invest" in elections to seize control of state mechanisms to facilitate domestic crimes with impunity and terrorize the world militarily. And they award themselves contracts for that, too.

The Pirates operate within and are the products of a society made delusional through centuries of racist plunder. The most afflicted products of this society cannot recognize facts at variance with the racist imperatives of Manifest Destiny. They cannot negotiate because they are effectively blind to the humanity of others. Objectively incompetent at analysis of non-whites and only imagining the characteristics of foreign whites, they launch wars against "enemies" whom they cannot properly assess, with a cavalier cruelty that the civilized world reserves for animals. They have no sense of guilt because in their worldview they are the embodiment of good. Their wealth and power appear to confirm their self-assessment.

When frustrated by actual facts and peoples they escalate with fury and bewilderment, like an armed sleepwalker awakening in a crowd. They do great damage and feel harmed by their victims. But they cannot win in any protracted struggle, because they truly do not understand their surroundings or the people they have made antagonists - or even the Swiss, who are said to love order and prosperity most of all. A wired world is taking note of every pathological tick in the twisted American face. Even now, a myriad of plans are evolving to sidestep the dangerous, delusional United States as mankind goes about its collective business. A kind of international redlining will increasingly make itself felt, but not seen. The Bush men believe they are willing into existence a New American Century, while in reality they are creating an America-phobic planet in which the U.S. has earned an invisible but powerfully consequential non-favored nation status. Having invented the concept of globalism, the United States will be consigned to pariah status - and shrink, until it learns to live by human norms and scales.

How The Presstitutes Lie To America Example: How The Press Has Become A Tool Of Our Government: The following article entitled, She was 'fighting to the death ...' states: She was 'fighting to the death ...' By Susan Schmidt and Vernon Loeb Washington Post WASHINGTON - Pfc. Jessica Lynch, rescued Tuesday from an Iraqi hospital, fought fiercely and shot several enemy soldiers after Iraqi forces ambushed the Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance company, firing her weapon until she ran out of ammunition, U.S. officials said yesterday. Lynch, 19, a supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die in fighting 11 days ago, one official said. The ambush took place after a 507th convoy took a wrong turn in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

"She was fighting to the death," the official said. "She did not want to be taken alive." Lynch was stabbed when Iraqi forces closed in on her position, the official said, noting that initial intelligence reports indicated that she had been stabbed to death.

The Reality was quite different as revealed in this reportRescued POW had no gunshot, knife wounds: father.

WASHINGTON (AFP) Apr 03, 2003 The father of rescued POW Jessica Lynch said Thursday she suffered no gunshot or knife wounds at the hands of her Iraqi assailants, contrary to reports quoting a US official. While the first article is clearly a complete fabrication attributed to "official sources" it is convincing evidence of how our journalists have prostituted themselves and become a part of the propaganda machine, employed to lie and distort the truth.

Lies and other market forces "The size of the lie is a factor in causing it to be believed, for the masses are in their hearts more easily deceived than consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell a big one."—Adolph Hitler

Even that foremost demon of the 20th century might not have imagined the U.S. regime's capacity to both tell the biggest lies and deceive the public into believing them. Hitler might be dumbfounded at the extent of dishonesty the American people have been subjected to, though not at their "primitive simplicity" in swallowing the mental junk food they have been force-fed about Iraq.

Whether or not our court appointed government of fanatics have studied Hitler's work, they've done a Hitlerian job of telling the most outrageous lies to a gullible nation. None so ridiculous as the creation of a monstrously powerful enemy, out of a crippled people and a nasty tyrant. While most of the world has seen through the distortions and propaganda, a majority of Americans have been frightened into believing stories that make the supernatural seem down to earth by comparison.

Despite no evidence to prove such things, many citizens believe that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, has tons of weapons that threaten America, and is dominated by a demon who wants to rule Planet Earth. At this point, some may think that Saddam Hussein organized the holocaust and arranged the crucifixion of Jesus. The near miracle is that so many have not succumbed to a massive brainwashing that has feverishly promoted a rationale for insanity.

The morally degrading concept of war sanitizes mass murder, by implying it means a battle among equals, with one having threatened or attacked the other. But If a 500-pound ape who beats and rapes a 90-pound woman is having a "war" with her, then the USA is having a "war" with Iraq.

Invisible Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are breathlessly headlined by mass media, while more visibly dangerous economic and social problems are in small print or ignored. An intellectually challenged regime, a morally challenged media and a spinally challenged opposition are silent about our real problems. Such realities are hidden from national awareness with the cover of fantasy terror tales. This program of Hitler-style big lies masks a reality of truthful horrors, while also denying a reality of hope for humanity. Israel's ruling Repub-Likud party, and its miserably moderate opposition, are leading the nation, and the world, towards a chaos that has nothing to do with Iraq.

Our economy is dependent on an irresponsible consumer credit binge, with Americans spending money they don't have on products they don't need, but it has become more dangerous than ever. When people are maneuvered into treating their homes as ATM machines, renewing mortgages at ever lower rates, created in order to put cash back into the marketplace, artificial affluence is created out of very real debt. National book-juggling, beyond what the swindlers at Enron or WorldCom were capable of, has made it appear that we are solvent, when in reality we are broke, and have been for some time.

In a real democracy, such knowledge would lead to a government shakeup and a revamped political process to remove control from the wealthy corporados who have brought us into this fix. So, we hear massive lies about menace from an impoverished nation, allegedly representing a horrible threat to humanity. Most of the world understands that the menace originates in the USA, and that the court appointed regime and its spineless opposition are far greater dangers than the megalomaniac dictator of Iraq.

It is amazing that the nation hasn't already succumbed to mass hysteria, given the contradictory messages it has received. Iraq disregards the UN, we are told, and that is wrong, but we can disregard the UN, and that is right. Iraq has not honored UN resolutions, so it must be bombed; Israel has broken UN rules far more often, so it must receive more American tax dollars. Praise the lord, and pass the Prozac.

While our market fundamentalist leaders follow the patriotic teachings of the declaration of ignorance and the protocols of the elders of stupidity, the world grows more frightened, but hopefully aware that only international cooperation can stop this malevolent force that threatens the entire global community.

An America which was getting sympathy from much of the world after 9/11—at least, the official world—has transformed that support into deep rooted antagonism. As we further brutalize the suffering people of Iraq, and Palestine, the next bloody act of terror in the USA, whenever it happens, may be welcomed by the rest of the world. We owe this turnabout to a despicable leadership which shames us with its dishonesty, but our complicity makes it worse.

Americans may be the last to learn exactly what their government is up to, but a substantial minority of them are working to join with those worldwide who demand peace now and, in the long term, a better world for all of humanity. The present shattering of international and moral laws is nothing new, but its outright blatancy may lead to a greater urge for democracy and disgust with those who make it impossible.

This rogue regime continues a race war on nonwhite people, while it mortgages the global future to profit a rich, white minority. It "borrows" time, space and money it cannot repay, to support a system the world can no longer afford. Its big lies need to be countered by bigger truths that defeat the new Nazis of corporate capital, before they destroy all of us.

US firms slash 108,000 jobs; unemployment rate at 5.8 percent War-paralyzed US businesses slashed 108,000 jobs in March, but the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent. The job losses in the non-farm sector were about twice as steep as had been predicted by Wall Street analysts. The unemployment rate had been expected to edge higher.In February, companies cut 357,000 jobs, even more than first estimated, the Labor Department said.

Five die in checkpoint 'suicide attack' Five people died last night in what US officials have described as a suicide attack, it was announced today. A civilian vehicle blew up last night at a checkpoint manned by US-led forces in western Iraq. "Last night approximately 18 km (11 miles) from Haditha dam in Iraq, a civilian vehicle approached a coalition checkpoint. A pregnant female stepped out of the vehicle and began screaming in fear," a statement from central command in Qatar said.

"At this point the civilian vehicle exploded, killing three coalition force members who were approaching the vehicle and wounding two others. The pregnant female and the driver of the vehicle were also killed in the attack." The nationality of the troops was unclear. The incident was north-west of Baghdad in an area where special forces are present, but US-led forces are thin on the ground. "We are treating it as another desperate act of a dying regime that knows they're in trouble. It's unconventional warfare that continues to be used by the Iraqi regime," US marine captain Stewart Upton told Reuters. Comment: Who decides what is "conventional warfare"? Is it solely for the US to name its cruise missiles, that blow civilians to shreads, "conventional" and therefore acceptable, and to outlaw any other means that the Iraqis use as "unconventional" and therfore unacceptable? We should remember that the US and UK are an invading force, with massively superior firepower. Just like the Palestinains, it is the brutality of the Americans "surgical strikes" from 35,000 feet or miles away that force the Iraqis to resort to such drastic measures.

Police say man kept wife chained in yard A San Antonio man who allegedly padlocked his wife to a 30-foot dog chain in the backyard was in jail himself Friday. One end of the chain was padlocked to 45-year-old Patricia Thomason's neck, and the other end was attached to a car where her husband Jerry Thomason, 41, was sleeping when police arrested him Thursday at their home. Firefighters used bolt cutters to remove the chain that was wrapped around the woman's neck and padlocked. She was treated and released later at a hospital. Police are not sure how long she had been chained up.

Neighbors said the bizarre situation began when the woman told her husband she wanted to leave him. "He also had her in a cage, chained up in a cage, because he didn't want her to leave" neighbor Yolanda Esquivel told WOAI radio. Another neighbor who asked that his name not be used said Thomason had "said before he'd keep her in a cage if he had to." A neighbor had alerted police early Thursday that Patricia Thomason had a chain around her neck when the couple dropped off their two sons, ages 11 and 14, at a school. The arrest came later in the day at the couple's home. Thomason's children were staying with their maternal grandmother, police said. Jerry Thomason was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with bodily injury, and unlawful restraint. His bond was set at $35,000. Police said the couple had been married for 15 years.

Blair: coalition did not bomb market Tony Blair today categorically ruled out coalition responsibility for the first of last week's bomb attacks on Baghdad markets. The prime minister makes the claim in an interview tonight with Abu Dhabi TV, as part of a two-pronged attempt to win over the Iraqi public. Simultaneously in Iraq, the British army is handing out leaflets with a message from the prime minister, translated into Arabic, promising a "peaceful, prosperous Iraq which will be run by and for the Iraqi people".

Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports from one ITV journalist that an arrest has been made in connection with the alleged "execution" of two British soldiers. Mr Blair got himself in political hot water in his Camp David press conference with the US president, George Bush, last week when he denounced the supposed execution of the two men - despite the army having told their relatives that they died in active combat. In his TV interview, Mr Blair said British and US troops had done "everything possible" to minimise the number of innocent Iraqis killed in the conflict, adding that no civilian sites had been targeted.

At least 15 died and dozens were injured on March 26 in what the Iraqis said was a coalition missile attack in a suburban market in the north of Baghdad. The coalition has repeatedly said there was no evidence that one of its missiles had caused the destruction, and suggested it might have been an Iraqi air defence missile that missed its target and fell back to earth. Mr Blair urged people to be wary of the reports coming out of Iraq about civilian casualties. "I would ask people to be cautious of these reports.

"The Baghdad street market bombings, for example - we are sure that the first one is not coalition forces, we are still trying to check out the second one," he said. "I understand why, when people see the carnage and the bloodshed, they feel very angry about it. "But I ask people not to treat these reports as correct until they are actually proven. "There will be innocent civilians that are killed but we have done everything we possibly can to minimise this," he said. In his leaflet being handed out by troops on the ground in Iraq, the prime minister promises that: "Our troops will leave as soon as they can. They will not stay a day longer than necessary." Comment: Again we see the ability and willingness of these so called "leaders" to stand up in public and lie to the world without even a hint of guilt or remorse. Blair states "categorically" that he and Bush are not responsible for the deaths of the innocent civilians in the market bombings and asks people to "be cautious of these reports". I would like to state categorically that the fragment from the missle found in the market bomb of 28th march bore numbers that were traced back to a factory in McKinney, Texas owned by the Raytheon Company which produces a number of military weapons, among them AGM-129 missles, that are used in a released by B-52 bombers. In light of this I was ask the public to be VERY cautious of ANYTHING that comes out of Bush or Blair's mouth.

Allies' propaganda distorting the truth If we needed any evidence that the propaganda war between the U.S.-led coalition and the Iraqi regime was ratcheting up, the sight of U.S. Assistant Defence Secretary Victoria Clarke showing horrific footage of a victim of Halabja was it. If the Pentagon is forced to dredge up 15-year-old incidents to counter the heart wrenching scenes of Iraqi casualties, then it's surely showing its desperation. To some eyes, including mine, this repetitive demonising of the Iraqi regime could be construed as a cheap shot, but it is understandable from the point of view of the American administration. Its members flex their military muscles and boast about the thousands of coalition missiles and bombs, which have rained down on Iraqi towns and cities since the war began, but the harrowing outcome flashed across our television screens nightly is not for public consumption.

I suppose by the same token, Iraq's Minister of Information Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf could screen equally grotesque and distressing images of Iraqi babies, born with deformities due to America and Britain's use of depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War if he felt so disposed. Or he could go even further back to show Vietnamese civilians disfigured by American napalm. As it happens, Al Sahaf doesn't need to resort to historical perspectives. The televising of the suffering of more current victims of U.S. aggression speaks for itself. Against the "advice" of the U.S. administration, independent reporters–as opposed to those in bed with the coalition forces–are still reporting out of Baghdad. The result is not to the liking of the Bush/Blair camp.

We, the public, were not supposed to see a resolute young boy, victim of a market bombing, making a victory sign with his one remaining hand, his other arm having just been amputated–one of the bravest acts I've ever witnessed. Joe public was not destined to see the baby wincing while shrapnel was being removed from her face, the little girl who now has a stump instead of a leg, the infant which was burned over two thirds of its tiny body, or hear the despairing wails of those parents who had just seen the remains of their loved ones on the cold trays of a hospital morgue.

We were also not supposed to view the petrified expressions of the "invincible" American military personnel in the hands of the Iraqis, and we were not supposed to know that allied planes and helicopters have been downed, or see the corpses of British soldiers. Those corpses were used not only by the Iraqis as a propaganda tool but also by the British prime minister when, without a scrap of evidence, he accused the Iraqi regime of having executed the two unfortunates before launching himself into a tirade against the evils of Saddam.

Little did he know, the families of the two "executed" soldiers had already been informed by comrades-in-arms of their loved ones that the soldiers had lost their lives in the heat of battle. Blair left it to a junior minister to offer a half-hearted apology the next day. Theirs was to have been a sanitised war. In the same fashion as the liberating armies freed the city of Paris at the end of World War II and were greeted rapturously as heroes, we were to see the American and British occupying armies welcomed by the long-suffering Iraqis.

That hasn't worked out. The Baghdad-based international press corps didn't flee in terror and neither did the Iraqi information minister and, as a result, Iraq's television station has been pounded and the ministry of information destroyed, the former arguably a war crime. Hoping for a free rein in the propaganda stakes, George Bush tells us that an Iraqi woman who waved to allied troops was hanged. Other collaborators get their tongues cut out and are made to sit in market squares, he says. The idea of Iraqis hanging their womenfolk, for those of us who have spent time in the Arab world, requires a huge stretch of the imagination. For those who dance to sound bites, his words will resonate.

Sadly for Bush, Iraqi television manages to resurrect itself after every attack, the information minister pops up again with a wry smile and even during the times it is unavoidably off-air, its material is often re-broadcast by Al Jazeera, once again the subject of heated controversy. The embedded media tells us that the residents of Basra are being shot at by militias attempting to keep them within the city's parameters as human shields, but this does not explain how so many hundreds are walking out of Basra each day, and what is more to the point . . . eager to get back inside the city.

Let's cut to the bottom line. The Iraqis don't want to be "liberated". They don't want an invading western force stomping all over their land and dropping their state-of-the-art bombs, destroying lives, homes, and depriving them of water and electricity. The Shia population of the South was thought to be a pushover, but there has been a gross miscalculation. They rose up against the Iraqi regime during the Gulf War, but were later abandoned by the allies, left to face the bloody consequences of their insurgency alone.

This time around, the arrival of American and British troops on Iraqi soil is being seen, rightly or wrongly, throughout the Muslim world as the outcome of George Bush's unfortunate use of the word "crusade"–a war against Islam. A militant pan-Arab fervour is building on the streets of Cairo, Amman and Damascus. Shia clerics in Beirut, Baghdad and Najaf have issued fatwas telling their people to fight the infidel invaders. Hundreds, if not thousands of young Muslim men enthused with the call to jihad are crossing Iraq's borders prepared to offer their lives to the cause.

Saddam Hussein, once detested by all and sundry, has metamorphosed into Salah Eddin, his picture carried on high by demonstrators offering him their blood and even their souls. Nervous Arab leaders appeal to Bush and Blair to stop the war before it's too late. Do they listen? Do camels do pirouettes? Even while their front line cavalry members are reduced to one meal a day because its supply lines have been cut off, and their generals mutter that there are not enough troops in theatre for a successful outcome, it's carry on propaganda time.

They tell the frustrated reporters who dutifully turn up for Pentagon press briefings in Qatar that all is going swimmingly and victory is certain. When asked about their errant missiles killing innocents in Baghdad market places, they say that they're investigating. After incidents of friendly fire, their investigations are strangely speedier, nay, almost instantaneous. Apologies swiftly ensue. Naturally, while thousands of missiles have been targeted on Baghdad why, on earth would we suppose that two were responsible for the market explosions? Ah, yes. These are laser or satellite-guided smart bombs. Not smart enough to avoid falling down in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran but on a Baghdad souk? Impossible. Must have been that dastardly Saddam again.

The credibility of the American and British administrations is being severely eroded both in Iraq and around the world. Their leaflets promised the Iraqis in the south supplies of food and water and we were shown a distraught woman with four children waving one daily army ration, asking how could she feed her family on that. In the town of Safwan bordering Kuwait, aid packages were chucked out of the backs of lorries, rather like throwing dollar notes amid the shoppers of Manhattan, leading to an inevitable free-for-all scrum. Women, children and the elderly were left without.

We were regaled with the much publicised docking of the Sir Galahad into the port of Umm Qasr carrying just enough supplies to put a sticking plaster on the wound. Then what do we hear during an Iraqi briefing? "The British, not the Americans but the British," said Al Sahaf, destroyed warehouses in Basra containing baby milk, sugar, tea and cooking oil. This was confirmed by a Reuters' report, which said that an Al Jazeera cameraman went missing while he was filming this incident. Al Jazeera again! No wonder its Kabul office was bombed by the U.S!

If the British army did, indeed, destroy warehouses of food, then this is certainly one of the most shocking incidents of this unjust war. It means that the coalition is paying lip service to caring for the needs of the Iraqi people. It means that they are prepared to lay siege to Basra forcing its residents to quit the city so as to be rewarded with American and British largesse. The U.S. Assistant Defence Secretary can then put forward in one of her press briefings how Saddam Hussein had been starving his people, fortunately saved by the benevolence of the Americans and the British.

Like the elusive Osama bin Laden, Saddam's weapons of mass destruction could also be relegated to the annals of history. Judging by the comments of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, it could be next stop Syria. Now that Al Qaida has been "eliminated", and Iraq on its way to being "disarmed", Syria's night-goggle vendors should beware. And so should the rest of us.