Deception Reaches New Heights – Troops Being Pulled Back To Feign Success

Excerpt from:

The Tethered Goat Strategy

Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday April 6, 2006
The Guardian

....

"The Bush administration's preferred response to increasing disintegration is to act as if it has a strategy that is succeeding. "More delusion as a solution in the absence of a solution," said a senior state department official. Under the pretence that Iraq is being pacified, the military is partially withdrawing from hostile towns in the countryside and parts of Baghdad. By reducing the number of soldiers, the administration can claim its policy is working going into the midterm elections. But the jobs the military doesn't want to perform are being sloughed off on state department "provisional reconstruction teams" (PRTs) led by foreign service officers. The rationale is that they will win Iraqi hearts-and-minds by organising civil functions.

The Pentagon has informed the state department it will not provide security for these officials and that mercenaries should be hired for protection instead. Internal state department documents listing the PRT jobs, dated March 30, reveal that the vast majority of them remain unfilled by volunteers. So the professionals are being forced to take the assignments in which "they can't do what they are being asked to do", as a senior department official told me.

Foreign service officers, as a rule, are self-abnegating in serving any administration. The state department's Intelligence and Research Bureau was correct in its scepticism before the war about Saddam Hussein's possession of WMDs, but was ignored. The department was correct in its assessment in its 17-volume Future of Iraq project about the immense effort required for reconstruction after the war, but it was disregarded. Now its reports from Iraq are correct, but their authors are being punished. Foreign service officers are to be sent out like tethered goats to the killing fields. When these misbegotten projects inevitably fail, the department will be blamed. Passive resistance to these assignments reflects anticipation of impending disaster, including the likely murder of diplomats."

Read the entire article...

Iran's Oil Bourse Goes Poof

Iranian Oil Bourse Is History...But Oil's Still Dangerous For Dollar
by Kathy Lien & Boris Schlossberg, editors of The Money Trader.


"On March 21st Iran was scheduled to launch the world's first oil trading exchange that would have set prices in euros rather than dollars. Many analysts feared this would have spelled disaster for the greenback since oil is the world's most popular commodity and requires most nations to hold vast reserves of dollars in order to purchase it. If oil were to be suddenly settled in euros, the global need to hoard dollars would diminish considerably, eliminating one of the key supports for the US dollar in the currency market.

The doomsday scenario did not come to pass, as Iran failed to construct the necessary infrastructure for a successful launch of the exchange. It is still insisting on opening a Persian Gulf oil bourse with the southern Iranian island Kish as its base of operations according to a report by Iranian state- television on Saturday.

'The issue has already been agreed upon and the oil ministry has been instructed to open this bourse in the Persian Gulf island of Kish,' Economic and Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari said. However, at this point, the issue of an Iranian oil exchange to challenge the New York and London markets appears to be more of a P.R. stunt rather than a viable competitive threat.

Even if the Iranians managed to open up for trading, the key question remains: who would trade with them? Given the recent antagonistic rhetoric of the country's political leaders, many investors would likely shun the bourse for fear of not having their trades honored. Successful financial markets require trust and cooperation and Iran's antagonistic actions over the past several months (especially their insistence on developing nuclear capabilities) have engendered little goodwill in the world community. But dollar bulls should not be so quick to breathe a sigh of relief.... "

Now Here's a Clever Idea

Kill 90% of the world's population with the Ebola virus, and then we have a sustainable planet.

"Professor Pianka said the Earth as we know it will not survive without drastic measures. Then, and without presenting any data to justify this number, he asserted that the only feasible solution to saving the Earth is to reduce the population to 10 percent of the present number.

He then showed solutions for reducing the world's population in the form of a slide depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War and famine would not do, he explained. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved.

Pianka then displayed a slide showing rows of human skulls, one of which had red lights flashing from its eye sockets.

AIDS is not an efficient killer, he explained, because it is too slow. His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population is airborne Ebola ( Ebola Reston ), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs.

After praising the Ebola virus for its efficiency at killing, Pianka paused, leaned over the lectern, looked at us and carefully said, “We've got airborne 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that.”

Read more...

Even Better

A while back I insisted that you watch "9/11 Revisited" which was the best I had seen. Now there is an even better one. I know you've had enough, and with the current flood of information about our Imperial President and his crew, you propably have a barf bag near your TV.

But to understand where we are now, you must go back, back to the stolen election of 2000, the coup that empowered the current warmongers, and back to 9/11, their kickoff for the whole "One Superpower" takeover of the world.

There is now no lingering doubt...

Watch This Movie

Hitting Home

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to have been a "protester" during the Vietnam War. One of the popular ways we protested was to refuse to pay the then newly-instituted telephone tax, created expressly to "help pay for the Vietnam War". This amounted to about 86 cents per month on my family's bill.

Each month the unpaid balance would be carried forward to the next month. After a few months it might be $2.86 (all numbers approximate). Eventually I got a notice saying that if I didn't pay the tax, they would take measures. They wouldn't turn off your phone, because then you wouldn't have to pay the tax. But they would take measures.

Eventually, two agents showed up at my door who wanted to discuss this with me. We sat in my living room while they tried to get me to pay the $12.72 now due. I explained that I saw a direct connection between my paying .... and napalm burning the bodies of innocents. My dollars were buying the napalm which was frying the bodies of little children and I couldn't go along with that. I did not want their blood on my hands.

We were all very polite. They said they understood, but that they wanted me to understand that they would take the measure of garnishing my University stipend check. We all agreed that we would "do what we had to do".

When they stood up to leave, I asked what it was costing to collect each dollar . He said that it was about $100 cost per $1 collected, but that THE PRESIDENT (Nixon) was insisting that every dollar be collected, regardless of cost.

My next check listed a $13.66 deduction.

I went to the payroll office the following day and inquired as to who the actual person was who entered the data to deduct the napalm money from my check. I asked if I could speak to that person and they led me to a back desk where an innocuous middle-aged lady asked if she could help me.

I sat down in the chair next to her desk and explained that her last keystroke in the sequence that sent my money to Washington was linked directly to the actual release of the napalm on the children, and she would have to think about that every time she pressed that key ... that the blood would be on her hands. Keystroke = blood on hands.

She freaked and said she would do no such thing and that I should leave. I said I was going to sit there until she agreed to stop napalming the children.

"We'll see about that", as she called security.

Two security guards came and escorted me out of the building.

Each month thereafter (and the tax continues today) 86 cents of my money went to burn little children.

If you have the ability to comprehend, I would strongly recommend that you click on this (flash movie) link to see what your money is buying in this current war. This is strong medicine and, incidentally, the best and most powerful flash movie I have ever seen.

Bad Science and the FCC

I like to try to keep up with the frontiers of "the next big thing". You know the myth that the people own the airwaves and the FCC just regulates it for us, by fining certain broadcasters for violating indecency rules, so "the children" won't see body parts and hear bad language? David Reed explains why all that is unnecessary, and it appears that we don't need an FCC afterall.

Internet architect David Reed explains how bad science created the broadcast industry.

By David Weinberger
March 12, 2003

There's a reason our television sets so outgun us, spraying us with trillions of bits while we respond only with the laughable trickles from our remotes. To enable signals to get through intact, the government has to divide the spectrum of frequencies into bands, which it then licenses to particular broadcasters. NBC has a license and you don't.

Thus, NBC gets to bathe you in "Friends," followed by a very special "Scrubs," and you get to sit passively on your couch. It's an asymmetric bargain that dominates our cultural, economic and political lives -- only the rich and famous can deliver their messages -- and it's all based on the fact that radio waves in their untamed habitat interfere with one another.

Except they don't.

"Interference is a metaphor that paints an old limitation of technology as a fact of nature." So says David P. Reed, electrical engineer, computer scientist, and one of the architects of the Internet. If he's right, then spectrum isn't a resource to be divvied up like gold or parceled out like land. It's not even a set of pipes with their capacity limited by how wide they are or an aerial highway with white lines to maintain order... read more.

In Depth Interview with Bob Chapman, International Forecaster

Apparently only about 1% of Americans have started to take heed of the impending financial upheaval towards which we are headed. This is a good thing. It means that if you haven't taken heed, there is still plenty of time for you to "get in on the ground floor." Don't make the mistake of not investing now because you didn't invest earlier.

I'm starting to use my computer as mp3 player. If frees you from the desk and you can be doing something productive while you listen. Like old-time radio.

Give this guy a listen. I think he knows what he's talking about.

Their Words Say It All - The Dixie Chicks

Click on title to hear the latest song "Not Ready to Make Nice".

Oil Geopolitics, Iraq, Eurasia and the Debt-Bloated US Economy

Your cash ain't nothin' but trash. (Editor's comment)

Thanks to reader Byrne for the following link and comments. If you want to know the history of the current situation re: US and Iran, I join in his recommendation that you listen to the audio (mp3) file.

Byrne adds, "I have listened to it and he mentions the Iranian Oil Bourse within his discussion and the associated US military response. Strange though, that Engdahl does NOT mention what happened to the general trend of the Euro vs US Dollar graph after October 2000. The value of 1 Euro then was 85 US cents. The Euro then continued to strengthen (even past March/April 2003 when the US reverted Iraq's oil sales back to the US Dollar), up to a high in March 04 when 1 euro was worth 124 US cents. Part of the reason for the rise was the sluggish US economy and the use (from Jan 2002) of the Euro in circulation.

I found it interesting that he made no reference to this. Engdahl is correct inasmuch as it is the US military might that supports the dollar, as much as it hegemonic power (the two are obviously related). But the buck must stop somewhere.

Watch for China/Russia to stroll in when the US/Dollar is further weakened after the altercation with Iran. We will not get a chance to see if the Iran Bourse would affect the dollar, because the US/ISRAEL WILL make a military strike, I believe. "

And if You Still Need Convincing ...

From Yahoo!: Finance

Investing: Go for Gold and Silver, Not Green
by Robert Kiyosaki

March 21, 2006
....

Impending Financial Disaster

My concern is that very soon, citizens of the world will tire of America's gross fiscal mismanagement and hesitate to take U.S. dollars. In order to keep the world interested in the greenback, interest rates must rise. When that happens, U.S. assets, especially paper assets such as U.S. stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and savings will drop in value. Some real estate prices will increase because replacement costs are high, but overvalued real estate will drop.

At the risk of sounding like a politician who flip-flops, there will still be paper assets and real estate that will rise in value. The secret to surviving in paper assets and real estate is to be very careful and very selective. People who diversify will lose. People who focus will win.

Americans Are Still Asleep

The secret to surviving the next few years is keeping your wealth in real money, not in the U.S. dollar. Buy things that hold their value and are exchangeable all over the world. Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions, and race. A person may not like someone else's religion, but he'll accept his gold.

One of the reasons why I'm bullish on gold and silver is because the American public is still sound asleep to this asset class. Most Americans have no idea how or where to buy physical gold and silver. The outlets that sell gold and silver I have visited are already low on inventory.

If and when the American public wakes up to the reality that their dollars are not money, but a currency, the panic and stampede will begin. Should that happen, today's prices for gold and silver will look like bargains.

Read the entire article...

This just in ...

Another step forward for silver ETF
SEC approves rule change
Silver rallies on speculation

By John Spence
CBSMarketWatch
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

BOSTON -- A controversial exchange-traded fund tied to silver prices moved a step closer to reality Tuesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a rule change for a silver ETF in registration from Barclays Global Investors that would allow the product to list on the American Stock Exchange, although the fund has not yet been cleared to launch by regulators.

Click title for more...

Slippin' and a Slidin' ...

Cano's Castle - Antonito, Colorado

Oh me oh my ... could this be the beginning of the long slow slide?

... this past week saw the greenback's biggest weekly loss in six weeks.

"This is the most serious assault on the dollar since January," said Steven Englander, chief currency strategist for the Americas at Barclays Capital in New York. "This feels different."

Why the decline? First, there was a dramatic downshift in the market expectations of how high interest rates will go. Most in the interest rate futures market believed that the Fed would raise rates to 4.75 percent by the end of the month, with a chance that they would raise to 5.25 percent by the middle of the year.

"Now, however, markets have taken all bets of a hike beyond five percent off the table, and are pricing in only three in four chance the Fed will even reach five percent," reports Reuters.

"This helped compress the spread between two-year U.S. and euro zone government debt to its narrowest level in favor of the dollar in 10 months."

Another factor conspiring against the dollar is the U.S. trade deficit. A U.S. Treasury Department reports shows that foreign purchases of U.S. securities were less than the amount needed to finance the trade deficit for the second month in a row."

Have you bought your gold/silver yet?

Coming Soon to a Reality Near You ...

1. Another “terrorist” attack, brought to you by the same forces of evil that demolished the three buildings of the WTC on 9/11. But don’t look for planes crashing into buildings, and don’t look on the East coast.

2. Another “War on Terror” campaign brought to you by the current administration. Another surge of patriotism by the sheeple: red and orange lights flashing - more warrantless spying, more torture, more rendition.

3. Another pre-emptive attack on a country that had nothing to do with #1. This time around, it’s Iran.

4. Another day, another quagmire

5. Bankrupt America.

How long ….. can this keep goin’ on.

P.S. I thought this might be a little extreme until I read this (from Cannonfire) ...

"Let's face it -- a new terror attack is the only thing that can salvage the neocon experiment.

Such an attack is therefore inevitable. We already know who the perps will be (the neocons) and who the fall guys will be (the Iranians). Afterward will come the great round-up of the "America-haters" -- defined as you and me and anyone else who considers Big Brother doubleplusungood.

There will also be war with Iran. Nuclear war. The signs are unmistakable. Come and see:

1. The far-right continually assails anyone who criticizes Bush as working with the terrorists. This accusation seems inane now, but it will take on quite an ominous tone after Big Wedding II.

2. Official propagandist Jerome Corsi, who is surely on the inside, has warned of an Iranian nuclear terror strike within the United States -- even though (as a moment's thought will tell you) Iran has nothing to gain and everything to lose from such an event.

3. No one doubts that the adminstration is gearing up for war with Iran, even though no political will exists in this country to prosecute such a conflict. Obviously, Cheney and co. know full well that an event will soon take place which will create sufficient backing.

4. Bush himself has repeated the false claim that Iran is arming the insurgency in Iraq. (Why would Shi'ite Iran want to undermine the most Shi'ite-friendly neighboring government they've ever known?)

People get ready, there's a train acomin'...

Do Yourself a Favor

Do you still believe that JFK was killed by a lone gunman? If so, you'll probably never understand that the collapse of the three WTC buildings was a controlled demolition. The scientists are proving it now, and you owe it to yourself to

watch this movie.

Week of March 20 Said to be Arriving Soon

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...


Why Iran's oil bourse can't break the buck

By F William Engdahl

A number of writings have recently appeared with the thesis that the announced plans of the Iranian government to institute a Tehran oil bourse, perhaps as early as this month, is the real hidden reason behind the evident march to war on Iran by the Anglo-American powers.

The thesis is simply wrong for many reasons, not least that war on Iran has been in planning since the 1990s as an integral part of the United States' Greater Middle East strategy.

More significant, the oil-bourse argument is a red herring that diverts attention from the real geopolitical grounds behind the....continue reading.

Civil War Test Kit

Let's see, On the question of Civil War in Iraq, we have the following descriptions:

Teetering on the Brink
Poised On The Precipice
Rumsfeld Sees Potential
Iraq Civil War Likely
Civil War In Iraq?
Civil War Looms
Iraq Edges Toward Civil War
Possibility Of Iraq Civil War Looms Large
Iraq Civil War Brews
Virtually On The Brink Of Civil War In Northern Iraq
General Raises Spectre Of Iraq Civil War ...
Fall Into A Full-Blown "Civil War"
What Civil War Could Look Like
Looking For Signs Of Civil War In Iraq


and then we have George Will: “This Is A Civil War”

Okay, I think we can now conclude that we have a freaking Civil War in Iraq.

And why?

However, from the outset of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the U.S. objective was conspicuous; to destroy Iraq, install a puppet government and pillage the nation's resources.

Class dismissed.

Stentman - The Truly Evil

Vice-President Dick Cheney has so many stents in him, he can hardly sit down. Stentman. He has an ambulance that follows him everywhere, complete with an array of new stents. What do you think that does to his head?

As this Administration has trashed this country over the past 5 years, I began to wonder if mere incompetence could account for the complete fuck-up of everything (FUE) which has been going on unabated since the theft of the first election. This couldn't be by accident, could it? They couldn't be doing the wrong thing 90% of the time without trying really hard, could they?



Once I learned that 9/11 had been a building demolition exercise (if you haven't seen the new evidence, go here), I knew that naked evil was running wild through the halls of power. Knowing that Cheney runs the neo-con cabal inside the government, he seemed the most likely candidate

And then I learned this:

Of greatest concern, the condition of the Vice President's cerebral vasculature is unknown. Small-vessel cerebral atherosclerosis could produce insidious, difficult-to-recognize degradation of mental faculties.

And the truth struck me: this country is being destroyed by a madman....STENTMAN.

This is a Dip

People ask me when to buy, and I always pass on the conventional wisdom "buy on the dips." This is a dip - perhaps not the last dip or the lowest dip, but it is a dip.

From Time to Time ...

you must step out of yourself and take a look. Thanks to Cenk Uygur by way of The Huffington Post for the help.


We are infinitesimally small.

We are miniscule animals on a tiny planet circling a small star in a giant galaxy. There are at least 200 billion stars just like ours in our galaxy alone. And there are anywhere between 10 to 100 billion other galaxies.

When you zoom out from a single person to the Earth to our sun to the 200 billion other stars in our galaxy and to the billions of other galaxies, you realize we are entirely irrelevant.

The Universe is approximately 12 to 15 billion years old. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Homo sapiens have been around for roughly 100,000 years. Earliest recorded history of humans dates back to at most 30,000 years ago (counting cave art here).

100,000 years among 15 billion years is a cosmic joke. It doesn't even qualify as a hiccup in time. The average life expectancy for humans is under 80 years. The insignificance of that period time within 15 billion years cannot be overstated. Our lives go by quicker than a cosmic second.

We are so small as to be nearly nonexistent. Yet we are led to believe that we are the center of the damn universe. Everything we do is so important. We lead these careful, guilt-ridden, cautious lives only to die abruptly and disappear into cosmic insignificance.

I don't know where it came from. I don't know what it is or what it means. But we have this incredible gift of life for a very short period of time - and we spend it arguing and worrying and fighting and waiting.

What are we waiting for? What - heaven? Hell? You have got to be kidding me. Please don't tell me that you are wasting the one precious life you have waiting around for the fairytales of our ancestors. Our ancestors thought the stars were holes in the sky. They thought the Earth was flat, that the Sun revolved around us and that there is a man with a gray beard up in the sky.
My guess is that if you brought back anyone who wrote our ancient religions, they would be amazed at what we have found out since the time they lived. But they would be even more amazed that people still believed what they had written in their utter ignorance.

I can see them shaking their heads now, "But why would you believe things we wrote thousands of years ago when you have already proven they are not true? Are you nuts?"

"We wrote that woman came from the rib of man because we had no fucking idea where women came from. You've traced back the origin of life and you're still wondering if we knew something you don't know? We were practically cavemen. We knew less science than your average third grader now. We thought natural disasters happened because God was angry at us. You think we would have written such nonsense if we knew about tectonic plate movements? Please don't tell me you still believe what we wrote when we simply didn't know better."

You are going to die one day and on your deathbed you are going to think, "What have I done with my life?" What will you answer? Have you lived enough? Have you truly tasted life? Will you be able to tell yourself that you gave life your best run?

Look, I'm not telling you to quit your accounting job and run off into fields of flowers. Life might be a flash in the pan in cosmic time, but it lasts quite awhile from our perspective. You have to have balance. Enjoy the short term while planning for the long term. Enjoy yourself without infringing on others. Hedonism is not the answer. But a stodgy, unadventurous life isn't either.

There is something liberating about meaninglessness. We are cosmically insignificant, so who cares what we do? If you conquer the world and a comet runs into our planet three and half million years from now and wipes us out of history, your conquest will mean nothing. If you were a pauper who did nothing particularly grand with your life, history will not record that either. If you are gay or straight, an artist or a banker, a doctor or a patient, a cheater or a victim, a king or a peasant, history will not care. The steamroller of time and space will roll over your existence. No one is keeping a ledger. So, for the love of God, just please live the life you want to live, not the one you think you should live.

There is no cosmic judge of your life. You will not be given extra credit at the end. You will only have what you have lived.

Life is not a pop quiz. You will not graduate on to another life based on your score in this one.
I am reminded of the story of the drowning priest: A priest is on a boat that starts to sink. Everyone gets on a lifeboat and they invite the priest on the boat. He declines, "God will save me, I don't need a lifeboat." As the ship sinks further, another shipping vessel comes by and offers to rescue the priest. The priest again turns down the offer, "God will save me, I don't need your ship." Finally, as the situation becomes precarious, a helicopter is sent in to take the priest to safety. But again he refuses saying, "God will save me ..."

As the water is about to overtake him, the priest shouts out to God in anger, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" God replies, "I sent you a boat, a ship and a helicopter. What else did you want me to do?"

If you believe in God, it is an insult to Him to not cherish the life He has already given you. He has sent you a boat, a ship and a helicopter and you're still wondering when salvation is going to come around. You have been given life so that you may live it.

Our very insignificance is our salvation. If there is no meaning to life, there is also no pressure. Meaninglessness is liberating. The universe is indifferent to your tiny existence, so you might as well live it up. There will be no cosmic retribution or redemption. So, you are free to live as you choose.

Enjoy.

Global Systemic Rupture

Sometimes I think I'm just being paranoid about the world falling apart soon. Especially when my friends tell me to "quit talking like that. Can't you talk about something pleasant for a change?"

And then I run across this:

The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020 (LEAP/E2020) now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929.

This last week of March 2006 will be the turning-point of a number of critical developments, resulting in an acceleration of all the factors leading to a major crisis, disregard any American or Israeli military intervention against Iran. In case such an intervention is conducted, the probability of a major crisis to start rises up to 100%, according to LEAP/E2020.

Read more....

And then start getting ready.

Cheney was Clearly Inebriated

I'm not sure how this got by me...was it covered in the MSM? Or did it go into the memory hole? For your assessment....





From Capitol Hill Blue

The Rant

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer

By DOUG THOMPSON

Feb 22, 2006, 07:35

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was "clearly inebriated" at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited "visible signs" of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting "accident" and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the "one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.

"This was a South Texas hunt," says one White House aide. "Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it."

One agent at the scene has been placed on administrative leave and another requested reassignment this week.

A memo reportedly written by one agent has been destroyed, sources said Wednesday afternoon.

Cheney has a long history of alcohol abuse, including two convictions of driving under the influence when he was younger. Doctors tell me that someone like Cheney, who is taking blood thinners because of his history of heart attacks, could get legally drunk now after consuming just one drink.

If Cheney was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, he could be guilty of a felony under Texas law and the shooting, ruled an accident by a compliant Kenedy County Sheriff, would be a prosecutable offense.

But we will never know for sure because the owners of the Armstrong Ranch, where the shooting occurred, barred the sheriff's department from the property on the day of the shooting and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III agreed to wait until the next day to send deputies in to talk to those involved.

Sheriff's Captain Charles Kirk says he went to the Armstrong Ranch immediately after the shooting was reported on Saturday, February 11 but both he and a game warden were not allowed on the 50,000-acre property. He called Salinas who told him to forget about it and return to the station.

"I told him don't worry about it. I'll make a call," Salinas said. The sheriff claims he called another deputy who moonlights at the Armstrong ranch, said he was told it was "just an accident" and made the decision to wait until Sunday to investigate."We've known these people for years. They are honest and wouldn't call us, telling us a lie," Salinas said.

Like all elected officials in Kenedy County, Salinas owes his job to the backing and financial support of Katherine Armstrong, owner of the ranch and the county's largest employer."The Armstrongs rule Kenedy County like a fiefdom," says a former employee.

Secret Service officials also took possession of all tests on Whittington's blood at the hospitals where he was treated for his wounds. When asked if a blood alcohol test had been performed on Whittington, the doctors who treated him at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi or the hospital in Kingsville refused to answer. One admits privately he was ordered by the Secret Service to "never discuss the case with the press."

It's a sure bet that is a private doctor who treated the victim of Cheney's reckless and drunken actions can't talk to the public then any evidence that shows the Vice President drunk as a skunk will never see the light of day."

Connecting the Plots ...

Thanks to Jane Stillwater for this interesting post...

Drug smuggling made easy: Why GWB wants to sell America's ports to his friends

Profits from the heroin trade are astronomical. Those of us who work for a living just to keep on top of paying the rent can't even grasp the amount of money involved. It's a lot. In 2004, Prof. Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa stated that, "The Afghan trade in opiates constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the order of $400-500 billion."

Prof. Chossudovsky goes on to state that, aside from oil production and weapons sales, the sale of opiates is the largest producer of revenue in the world. And everybody who listens to KPFA or even reads the New York Times knows that 85% of the world's heroin supply now comes from American-occupied Afghanistan. Just Google "Heroin/Afghanistan" and see what shows up. This is NOT a closely-guarded secret.

Okay. We now understand that the heroin drug trade represents big bucks. And we also understand that most of the world's heroin supply is coming from American-occupied Afghanistan. But what we don't understand is, with all those drug-sniffing dogs poking around American airports, how can all these billions of dollars worth of heroin sneak their way into our country?Through the ports!

And now George W. Bush is insisting that our ports are to be handed over to his friends. Think about it. Now George and his friends -- the very same people who control the country where the heroin is being produced -- are now in control of the ports where heroin enters America. How convenient for them. Now they have a monopoly on the production AND the distribution of drugs.

This is a perfect example of the free enterprise system at work.Only it's only free for Bush and his friends. We who work for a living -- and our drug-vulnerable children -- still have to pay.

PS: Am I saying that the Bush group will do anything to make a profit, even sell hard drugs to children? Yeah, duh. Never forget that the Bush bureaucracy's motto is, "We will do ANYTHING for cash."

These guys did market research. They found out what sells best: Guns, drugs and oil. These are their products. And they have just been voted "Salesmen of the Year".

You gotta admit that the Bush bureaucracy's sales campaign is brilliant. Their "divide and conquer" jingle is being hummed on every street corner in the world.These super-entrepreneurs have turned red state Americans and blue state Americans against each other. They've turned the American middle-class against the poor. They've turned Jews, Christians and Muslims against each other. They've even turned Muslims against Muslims. And in the resultant confusion, they make trillions of dollars in profit on drugs, guns and oil.

Drugs, guns and oil. Is that what we want our troops to die for? Is that what "Christians" value most? Are "Muslims" willing to soil the words of the Prophet (PBUH) by killing non-Muslims who have done them no harm? And by killing other Muslims? Are the CEOs of Bush Incorporated creating a whole world of avid consumers, zealously killing for drugs, guns and oil?

Is this what the human race has come to?

We are being used.

Another Crack in the Wall

Syria Switches To Euro Amid Confrontation With US
Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:31 AM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria has switched all of the state's foreign currency transactions to euros from dollars amid a political confrontation with the United States, the head of state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria said on Monday.

"This is a precaution. We are talking about billions of dollars," Duraid Durgham told Reuters.

The bank, which still dominates the Syrian market although private banks have been allowed to set up in the last few years, has also stopped dealing with dollars in the international foreign exchange flows of private clients.

The United States has been at the forefront of international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri a year ago. Damascus denies involvement in the killing.

"It looks like a kind of pre-emptive action aimed at making their foreign assets safer, preventing them from getting frozen in case of any conflict," said a Middle East economist who requested anonymity.

Keeping Track of Iran Attack

Thanks to reader Byrne for the following:


Petrodollars and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: Understanding the Planned Assault on Iran
by Michael Keefer

February 10, 2006

Iran has been in the gun-sights of George W. Bush and his entourage from the moment that he was parachuted into the presidency in November 2000 by his father’s Supreme Court.

A year ago there were signs, duly reported by Seymour Hersh and others, that the United States and Israel were working out the targeting details of an aerial attack on Iran that it was anticipated would occur in June 2005 (see Hersh, Gush Shalom, Jensen). But as Michel Chossudovsky wrote in May 2005, widespread reports that George W. Bush had “signed off on” an attack on Iran did not signify that the attack would necessarily occur during the summer of 2005: what the ‘signing off’ suggested was rather “that the US and Israel [were] ‘in a state of readiness’ and [were] prepared to launch an attack by June or at a later date. In other words, the decision to launch the attack [had] not been made” (Chossudovsky: May 2005).

Since December 2005, however, there have been much firmer indications both that the planned attack will go ahead in late March 2006, and also that the Cheney-Bush administration intends it to involve the use of nuclear weapons.

Continue reading ....

Eclipsed by Reality

The above photo shows Vice President Dick Cheney speaking to reporters at the bedside of the man who he "accidentally" shot this weekend while on a hunting trip in Texas (full story).

A spokesman for the vice president identified the shooting victim as Harry Whittington, but sources close to the incident suggest "Harry Whittington" is a Secret Service code name for Cheney's indicted former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

"Honestly, I didn't mean to shoot Scoot-- I mean, Harry Whittington," the vice president told reporters in "Mr. Whittington's" hospital recovery room.

Thanks to Bob Cesca at The HuffingtonPost.com for a hearty laugh!

9-11 (continued)

There seems to be more and more coming out about the "controlled demolition" of the 3 buildings on 9-11. To my mind, these are no longer theories. Thanks to 911Blogger.com


9/11 Videos Available Online

Its never been easier to spread the truth, every bulletin board, blog, and email address on the web can be cheaply and easily infected with 9/11 truth. No better time than now, let it rip:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498980438587461603&q=eyewitness

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5137581991288263801&q=loose+change

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9124194186333362123&q=9%2F11+reopen

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1336167662031629480&q=painful+deceptions

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8797525979024486145&q=9%2F11+ruppert

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6529813972926262623&q=the+great+conspiracy

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=alex+jones&so=0

9-11

Bush brings up 9-11 so much that we have grown immune to even thinking about the actual facts of that day. Although I’ve frequently been drawn back to the theory sites (I refuse to call these theories conspiracies), I’ve tried to avoid getting sucked into the mire of paranoia swirling at their bottom. As I did when I started a film project about the assassination of John Kennedy many years ago – but that’s a story for another blog.

That said, here’s a new lecture by Dr. Stephen E Jones, a scientist, that states many facts and draws the conclusion, that 9-11 was, and still is, a neo-con sponsored event.

Watch it for yourself (1 ½ hr). It’s worth it. Also, spread the word.

"Zen" Games

I previously recommended GridGame as a computer activity that may soothe your fevered brow. If you liked that one, you may also find this one, Falling Sand Game, to be pleasing.

Rumsfeld Pops Up

As we turn the pages of the "pop-up book" on the impending attack of Iran, who should we find but old Rummy.

February 6, 2006 - 12:56PM
Defiant Iran to ignore West's threats

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says all possibilities are still open in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, including military action, a German newspaper reports.

"All options - including the military one - are on the table," the daily Handelsblatt quoted Rumsfeld as saying in an interview.

"Any government that says Israel has no right to exist is making a statement about its possible behaviour in the future," added Rumsfeld, who attended a weekend security conference in Munich, Germany.

At that gathering, Rumsfeld accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism - a point that he underlined in the Handelsblatt interview.

Iran is the "main sponsor of terrorist organisations such as Hizbollah and Hamas," he was quoted as saying.

Special Thanks to Readers

As you may know, site counters such as the one I have installed at the bottom of this page, keep track of where the readers come from. BTW, your names are not included.

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest. Special thanks to the reader(s) in Erie, Colorado and others who keep coming back for more. Leave me a comment now and then to give me some feedback on your thoughts.


Bednesti, British Columbia, Canada
Paris, Ile-de-France , France
Everdingen, Zuid-Holland , Netherlands
Linda-a-Velha, Lisboa , Portugal
Madrid, Spain
Lancaster, Blackpool , United Kingdom
Bracknell, Bracknell Forest , United Kingdom
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire , United Kingdom
Oxton, Nottingham , United Kingdom
Phoenix, Arizona , United States
Palo Alto, California , United States
Petaluma, California , United States
San Diego, California , United States
San Francisco, California , United States
Sunnyvale, California , United States
Arvada, Colorado , United States
Crestone, Colorado , United States
Denver, Colorado , United States
Erie, Colorado , United States
Washington, District of Columbia , United States
Waldorf, Maryland , United States
Rochester, Minnesota , United States
Oshkosh, Nebraska , United States
Las Vegas, Nevada , United States
Mount Laurel, New Jersey , United States
Cincinnati, Ohio , United States
Portland, Oregon, United States
Houston, Texas , United States
Seattle, Washington, United States
Kopperston, West Virginia , United States
Lochgelly, West Virginia , United States

The Tax Man Cometh

This is a partial list of the various ways in which citizens of the U S of A are taxed:

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License TaxFood License Tax
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise Tax (started to pay for Vietnam War)
Telephone federal universal service fee Tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge Taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge Tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges Tax
Telephone state and local Tax
Telephone usage charge Tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer Registration Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

The Train is Leaving the Station

Back in September of 2005 I recommended taking a look at gold as a hedge against inflation. It is not too late by any means. Read on...

Credit Agricole's Brokerage Declares "Start Hoarding" Gold!
By Jon A. Nones02 Feb 2006 at 06:00 PM EST

St. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Cheuvreux, the equity brokerage house of the French bank Credit Agricole, distributed a 56-page report today endorsing the findings of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) that the price of gold has been surreptitiously suppressed by Western central banks and that those banks do not have the gold they claim to have. The report, written by Cheuvreux's mining sector analyst in London, Paul Mylchreest, is titled "Remonetization of Gold: Start Hoarding." It repeatedly cites GATA by name and foresees an "unprecedented" rise in the gold price. But what is more, the report accuses central banks of “covert selling.”According to the report, Cheuvreux has raised its mid-cycle gold price estimate to $900/oz from $750/oz, and sees the possibility of a spike to $2,000/oz, or higher.
“Covert selling (via central bank lending) has artificially depressed the price for a decade,” wrote Mylchreest.

According to the IMF, the official figure for gold held by central banks in their vaults is 31,000 tonnes, but the reality is much lower, asserts Cheuvreux.“Central banks have 10,000-15,000 tonnes of gold less than their officially reported reserves of 31,000,” Mylchreest wrote.
This gold has been lent to bullion banks and their counterparties and has already been sold for jewellery, etc., according to the report.

Bush: Use Painted Planes to Instigate Attack

(After frying my computer with a large shock of static electricity to the side of the case, I learned, once again, how sensitive our computers and data are to the dry air of winter. Warning - discharge your static before you even touch your computer.)

With scandal and allegations piling up faster than ice balls in a hail storm, Bush and Co continue on with delusional speeches filled with meaningless rhetoric. But the latest “Downing Street Memo Part 2” nails it to the wall.

Even the talking heads are using the word “lie” to describe his squirming can of words. Can a sitting President be indicted?

Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse to Have No Effect on USD

You’ve heard me mention the idea that the internet is huge enough to include all sides of every argument. It is in that spirit that I present below the views that the new Iranian Oil Bourse will have no (or little) effect on the USD, will not incite the US to bomb Iran, and that alarm over this is even silly. There are more thoughtful comments posted here, and I suggest that you read them to further edify yourself on this upcoming event.

Even if the USD does not fall off a cliff, and continues instead its slow drift downward, many of the results will be the same, but at a slower pace. More time to get ready!

Your Turn

What the future looks like.

The global chess game continues, with Iran making two bold moves to counter the Bushboy's drum beat of "we're going to attack you because of your nuclear ambitions".

The Times, London
Saturday, January 21, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2003034,00.html

Iran is transferring its assets from European accounts to other foreign banks to try to pre-empt possible United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official said. The official confirmed comments from Ebrahim Sheibani, the governor of the Central Bank, which were carried on the Iranian ISNA student news agency, that Iran had started transferring funds. There were no details as to where the funds might be heading. Mr Sheibani said: "We transfer foreign reserves to wherever we see as expedient."

The Asharq al-Awsat Arabic daily said that the Supreme National Security Council had ordered that $8 billion (£4.5 billion), about a quarter of its overseas assets, be moved to Singapore, Shanghai, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Iranian overseas holdings are thought to top $30 billion, of which $4.1 billion was in Britain at the end of September, according to Bank of England data.



Iran Calls for Oil Output Cut
By Gareth Smyth and Najmeh Bozorgmehr
Financial Times, London

Friday, January 20
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a5f70e7e-89ac-11da-86d1-0000779e2340.html

Iran has called for a cut in global oil production while simultaneously preparing to shift its foreign assets out of Europe. The moves were widely interpreted as a signal that Iran is preparing for a long stand-off with the west and sees oil production as a counter weight to international economic pressure.

Tehran's call on Friday for the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce production by 1m barrels a day helped take prices up to a four-month high of more than $68 a barrel, even though Iran is the only Opec member to call for the cut and is unlikely to find much support for the measure at Opec's meeting in Vienna on January 31.

Some traders said Iran's comment was a sign that Tehran might be willing to use the threat of halting its substantial oil production as a political tool in its nuclear spat with the west. Iran is the fourth biggest oil exporter and main supplier to Japan, South Korea, France and Italy.

The media in Iran this week has highlighted the upward pressure on oil prices simply through talk of sanctions. Just hours earlier, Ebrahim Sheibani, the Central Bank governor, said Iran would transfer the foreign exchange reserves "wherever we consider expedient" and confirmed a shift from Europe had begun.

Analysts say Iran is fearful that its deteriorating relationship with Europe could lead to a seizure of assets. Mr Sheibani refused to give details or to say where Iran's funds were going, although several local news agencies reported the destination was southeast Asia. The Central Bank manages Iran's "windfall" oil revenue in the Oil Stabilisation Fund, which Mr Sheibani said would contain about $15bn (?12.4bn) by the end of March. Iran keeps an unknown amount of this in Europe.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran's foreign exchange reserves are $30.6bn in hard currency. Tehran has another $9bn in foreign assets (but not necessarily liquid) abroad, it says.

A court in Rome last month ordered Banca Nazionale del Lavoro to freeze an account held by the Iranian government, pending a lawsuit over the deaths of three Americans in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Iran has protested that its official accounts were protected by the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations. But families of US citizens killed in the bombing of its Beirut embassy in 1983 by Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, plan to follow suit -- asking European courts to seize Iranian assets after a US ruling that Iran should pay $126m in damages.

39 days until the Iranian Oil Bourse is set to open. Will Iran be able to move its funds? Cut oil production for a little leverage? Stay tuned.

Letter From Iraqi Hell

Oh noooo! What can we expect when they come home? From the Insomnia Blog.

"One of the soldiers I know in Iraq recently posted something that concerns me. I don't want to reveal who they are, but I did want to share it, as it documents some of what soldiers sometimes have to deal with psychologically, and how isolated they can be with what they are going through. I hope they're going to be okay, both for the remainder of their tour of duty, and later, when they're back home again.

"One thing that I have realized is that in a lot of ways the military has drained me of what little confidence that I once had. You can only be told that you are wrong and useless for so long. You can only be threatened and punished for so long before you snap. I feel on edge and most days it takes everything I have not to snap at some point or another. On the one hand this is a really good thing because I have shown a remarkable amount of restraint here. Most of you that know me know my temper and my propensity to explode. I have not done that here. Now I have developed another “bad” habit which mom knows about, and that I don’t want to talk about. My worry is that the only reason that this has not happened is the trouble that I would get into if it happened. My worry is that when that is no longer in effect will I lose it worse because of everything that has been repressed for so long.

I am so angry inside. It is a black pit inside of me - an evil daemon inside of me that is chained but barely. Isza you know of what I speak, and mom you know it too - well imagine that only a thousand times worse, and imagine him armed, not yet fully capable of doing all things that it wants to. I have already done those things. And there is a part of me that enjoyed it, revels in it - it is more scary than you can imagine. Because I know what I am capable of. The guilt, the... I don’t even know how to express it. I don’t sleep and my nightmares are worse than ever.

It is strange. Mom says that there are all these people that want to congratulate me, to have a celebration when I get back. That want to interview me. Why? I am nothing special. I am nothing special. I did not go out every day and deal with things here, and almost every time I went out something bad happened. I have seen too much. I know what death smells like, what it looks like, what it is to be in abject terror because you are being shot at. That is nothing special, and I don’t know if it is something to be celebrated. I have seen things that I don’t ever want to remember.

I want to fall to darkness. There are so many times that I want to kill and kill and kill and never stop. I want to hear the dying screams, that sound that sticks in your soul, that you can hear in your sleep. . . I will stop… This should never be let out, not even here. I am filled with hatred.

It has no end…I am so fucked up."

Interesting Point of View

Cick on the picture (from Google Earth) to reveal the name of the city at the top of the globe.

A Bourse of Course

Thanks to Anonymous for the link.

"The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate “nuclear” weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam’s, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system."

Read entire article.

Iran Target.jpg

When you start to see pictures like this, you know what's coming next.

Iran Scenario Unfolding Like a Bad Pop-up Book

I was planning on writing a recap of the current “US Bombs Iran in March Over Oil Bourse” story, but “telecidal tendencies” has already done a great job, which I reprint here.

Unfortunately, the next page in this book is $100 per barrel oil and $5.32 per gallon gasoline.

The Truth Behind The Iraq Invasion And A Possible US Conflict With Iran

It is now openly obvious why the US (and its 'coalition of the willing') invaded Iraq (without UN backing) in 2003 under the banner ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’. It wasn't for the reasons the Bush administration maintained at the time (suspected WMD, a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda, etc. etc.) but to do with the petrodollar. Many people suspected that oil was the underlying reason but few were aware of the more important need to maintain the 'petrodollar recycling' system.

Petrodollar recycling was introduced by the US in the early 70's, when Middle Eastern countries were beginning to produce oil of their own under the OPEC group of nations. Previously, most of the worlds oil was supplied by the US and all trading in this market was carried out using US dollars. When OPEC came into competition with the US oil giants, the Americans struck a deal with their Middle Eastern counterparts in which they would supply Saudi Arabia, etc. with arms as long as OPEC traded their oil in dollars. This meant that if a country wanted oil, for example Japan, they had to sell to the US their home-produced products (Toyota cars for example) in order to raise the necessary dollars to buy their oil from an OPEC country. These dollars were then invested back into the US by, for example, Saudi Arabia and this left the US in a great position. As long as they could print enough dollars to meet demand they would continue to dominate the worlds oil markets and would (and did) make a fortune doing so. This is what ultimately has made the US into the worlds only superpower, with the ability to afford the necessary military might to match.

Thirty years later, at the turn of the millenium, this cosy arrangement came under threat. Saddam Hussein announced his intention to begin trading oil in the other world currency - Euros - and began doing so before the US invasion in 2003. This gave the US serious concerns. With a massive dept of trillions of dollars (made worse by the habit of the average US citizen to spend far more than they saved, using credit to do so) the US could not afford to stand by and watch the petrodollar recycling system be undermined. The risk to the country's status as sole superpower was massive and with the debt the prospect of US economic collapse was very much a reality.

When elected into office, George Bush had as priority #1 to sort out this petrodollar threat by gaining control of Iraq and in 2003 he invaded. One of the first post-war actions was to revert the country's oil trading currency back to the US dollar, even though this meant that approximately 13% of Iraqs trading value was instantly lost (because the Euro was worth more than the dollar at the time). The invasion was also to serve as an example to neighbouring oil producers not to go down the same 'petroeuro' route.

Unfortunately, Iran has plans to begin trading its oil in Euros and Saudi Arabia is giving serious consideration to the idea. Should this happen the US is likely to economically implode, with its massive military very quickly becoming an unaffordable asset. America would become little more than just another country and its global influence would be consigned to the history books, something that is regarded as unthinkable by the corporate elite.

So the US looks increasingly likely to carry out an attack on Iran, probably involving tactical 'battlefield' nuclear weapons (in an attempt to destroy underground installations there). It is not because the Iranians are close to producing their own nuclear arsenal (the Washington Post reported that the most recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of Iran’s nuclear program revealed that, “Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years.” (see source) but rather to keep the petrodollar on track.

Wargame simulations carried out by the US resulted in the following conclusion being reached by Sam Gardiner, the retired Air Force colonel who has run war games at the National War College for the past two decades: “After all this effort, I am left with two simple sentences for policymakers: You have no military solution for the issues of Iran. And you have to make diplomacy work.” The problem is, as was highlighted in the Iraq invasion and post-war years, that the neo-cons in the Bush administration are prone to acting illogically and against advice provided by people who know far better than themselves.

Internationally-respected reporter Seymour Hearsh wrote the following in The New Yorker one year ago:

"In my interviews [with former high-level intelligence officials], I was repeatedly told that the next strategic target was Iran. Everyone is saying, ‘You can’t be serious about targeting Iran. Look at Iraq,’ the former [CIA] intelligence official told me. But the [Bush administration officials] say, ‘We’ve got some lessons learned – not militarily, but how we did it politically. We’re not going to rely on agency pissants.’ No loose ends, and that’s why the C.I.A. is out of there."

However, a disturbing article by intelligence analyst Philip Giraldi who, in an article entitled “In Case of Emergency, Nuke Iran,”, said:

"The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing – that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack – but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.

Should the US decide to carry out such an attack on Iran, China would undoubtedly become involved, since its massive economic expansion is heavily reliant on oil from the region. With Iran planning on introducing its Euro-based trading system in March this year (coinciding with Israel accelerating its US-backed strike plan - see source) events are likely to come to a head very soon.

The US is leading us down a road to potential global conflict in order to protect its dominance in the world oil markets and is seemingly likely to bring about the pre-conditions to justify an attack regardless of the consequences. Hopefully there will be no 'coalition of the willing' giving Bush and Cheney some kind of international credibility and this may help to deter them from following their plans through, but we're surely in for a bumpy year, one in which the spectre of the US administration and its shadowy backers showing its true colours is quite horrifying.

Oil Mouth

As Others See Us

As big as the internet is, I suppose it covers most points of view to varying degrees. For fun and enlightenment, I often seek out the “opposite” POV from mine just to see what the other bozos are saying. That’s what I thought when I first ventured into Al Jazeera. Instead, I found it usually had refreshingly straightforward reporting. I recommended it on this blog saying something like “be brave” and don’t worry about being put on a NSA list (see Echelon). Maybe not so sure about that these days, so I’m reprinting this article in its entirety here so you won’t have to go there. Am I the only one who went to school for 19 years and didn’t learn any modern history? Give this a try for a brief course.

Iraq oil - the target for years
By Ahmad Quni
Sunday 10 August 2003

US policy towards Iraq has always been shaped by the country’s rich oil resources, its strategic location on the Gulf and its regional weight.
...

Roots of ambitions

The roots of US ambitions in Iraq go back to the aftermath of World War I (WWI) which put an end to Turkish presence in the region. Then the Sykes-Picot agreement, signed by the British and the French, re-carved the Middle East creating new entities ruled either directly by the colonialist powers or by puppet regimes. Despite the underlying differences, Britain and France agreed to divide the Fertile Crescent encompassing Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, between them as areas of influence.

France got Lebanon and Syria, while Palestine, Jordan, and the two southern provinces of Iraq-Baghdad and al-Basra went to Britain.

However, the status of the province of Mosul, an integral part of Iraq for thousands of years, remained unresolved.

Though it was part of the French sphere of influence, as agreed, the British were determined to keep Mosul within their new Iraq colony.

Immediately after Turkey was defeated, the British army occupied Mosul and the imperialist struggle between Britain and France over Mosul heralded the beginnings of US ambitions in Iraq.

The apparent cause of rivalry between Britain and France, and at a later stage the US, over Mosul was its known but largely undeveloped oil resources.

Though its effort in WWI was very limited, the US, emerging as a super power, was keen to ensure that its economic and political interests were taken into account in the post-war world of the Middle East, as it came to be called by the imperialist powers.

Oil was at the top of these concerns as the importance of the Gulf Region was mounting in view of its huge oil reserves.

Open-door policy

Faced with the British and French domination over the region’s huge resources, the US at first demanded an “open door” policy allowing US companies to freely negotiate oil contracts with the puppet monarchy of King Faisal whom the British had installed in Iraq.

In 1927, major oil explorations were undertaken and huge oil deposits were discovered in the Mosul province, which fuelled the rivalry among competing colonialist oil companies even further.

However, a settlement was arranged and Iraqi oil was divided up into five portions, 23.75% for each of several companies from Britain, France, Holland and the United States.

The Iraqi people were left with virtually nothing of their oil wealth, and this unfair situation continued until 1958 when the Hashemite monarchy was toppled in a military coup.

The Iraqi petroleum company, shared by British Petroleum, Shell, Mobil and Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon) was established. Within a few years, this company had a total monopoly of Iraqi oil production.
Yet, the US oil companies and their government in Washington, were not satisfied since their target was to achieve complete control of the Middle East oil by displacing the British.

Growing US role

Following the end of WWI, the British Empire was greatly weakened by the war in which it lost key colonies in Asia. On the other hand, the US grew increasingly powerful throughout the world.

The administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman dominated by big banking, oil and other corporate interests, were determined to restructure the post-war world to ensure US domination.

Thus, one of the key elements of the US domination strategy was aimed at controlling global resources, particularly oil.

Within this context, the US threw its full weight behind the Shah of Iran who was one of its closest allies in the region.

By mid 1950, US influence in Iraq was almost as powerful as that of Britain which was the actual colonising force on the ground.

In 1955, the Baghdad Pact , including in addition to Iraq Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and the UK was set up to counter the rise of Arab and other liberation movements in the Middle East and Asia.

The 1958 revolution

By July 1958, a military coup overthrew the Iraqi monarchy, a development that the US regarded as detrimental to its vital interests and immediately landed 20,000 marines in Lebanon in the context of what was known as the “Eisenhower doctrine.”

In accordance with that doctrine, the US would intervene directly and even go to war to protect its interests in the Middle East.

The Eisenhower administration then considered the idea of invading Iraq, to overturn the new regime and to install a new puppet government in Iraq.

But the US was forced to abandon that plan due to several regional and international factors including the support given by China and the Soviet Union to the revolutionary government in Iraq.

The US however, never stopped targeting Iraq as one of its adversaries in the region and rendered unlimited support to the rebel right-wing Kurdish insurgency in the north of the country.

In the eighties when the US lost its main ally in Iran, its relations with the Saddam regime in Baghdad thawed to a considerable extent and it even supported Iraq in its war with Iran.

However that honeymoon ended when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and the US hurried to protect and preserve its interests in the oil-rich region.

I Strongly Recommend That You Listen Up!

The new "normal" rush of Bush Bad News is hard to keep up with. The guy is stumbling badly. Did you see his Alito intro? Harhar. He can't even repeat what's sent into his ear!

Like It Is

"America's long slide towards authoritarianism has greatly accelerated since our version of the Reichstag fire on 9/11, and I see no prospect of it even slowing, much less reversing. It makes me nostalgic for the days of Reagan; even if the reality was two steps backward for one step forward, he at least seemed good-hearted. The Baby Bush, on the other hand, appears to be stupid, ignorant, stubborn, and mean-spirited. I don't know whether or not to credit the reports that he's hitting the bottle again and flies into fits of rage when his will is challenged. Is it possible Bush is also psychologically imbalanced? That is certainly possible, given his stated views on torture. But, looking to the bright side, at least he's not Dick Cheney, who appears to be a genuinely degraded being."
- Doug Casey, today's Daily Reckoning

Scandal creeps like a New Orleans mold through the corrupt walls of a befouled Republican house.

Still to come. the "Cunningham" stuff, fake defense-industry companies sucking off of black budgets and distributing monthly payments to our Representatives. Direct in your face Agnew type really stupid graft (Many of the fake companies had the same address.)

But in the meantime, don't forget the really freaky, once in a life time, big blow to the head which is about to hit you from your blind side, the upcoming degradation of the US dollar. Read back 3 or 4 posts if you want the gory details, but buddy, this is coming up soon.

Some of my friends, including the guy who said this blog was "nothing but bad news that I can't do anything about”, are now asking, "Okay, suppose you are right, what am I supposed to do?"

1. Start reading. Educate yourself with Google. Subscribe to newsletters and news feeds. I strongly recommend that you get “The Daily Reckoning”. I’ve been reading it for years and I think the contributors are very perceptive. I fact, I just signed up for Doug Casey’s newsletter on gold and silver investing.

2. Buy some CEF stock. This Canadian company does nothing but hold gold and silver. You own the stock, not the metal. Check its trend and buy if it dips.

3. Buy GLD stock. This is a fund that tracks the exact price of gold.

(Digression) Unfortunately, there is as yet no similar silver fund. The mention of it sent the Silver Users Association into shock. They screamed that this “hoarding” would drive the price up! Duh! There is more silver being consumed yearly than is being produced. Silver could easily quadruple, even without a dollar meltdown. But buying silver producers means relying on good management.

4. Buy some gold or silver Eagles – 1 oz coins produced by our Mint. Very beautiful. Go to http://www.kitco.com/. Put them in a safe, or safe deposit box.

5. Sell any real estate you own, including your house, and rent something nicer, preferrable something off the grid, with its own water supply. Okay, this an extreme move, and you may not be ready for it yet, but my house is on the market right now.

I could go on about laying in supplies, planning your vegetable garden, defending yourself, and so on, but I’ll leave that to you.

Countdown
49 days until the Iranian Oil Bourse is set to open. Will Bush be able to run to the U.N. for sanctions and still have time to start the bombing? Stay tuned.

Tipping Point Sighted on Horizon

German media: U.S. prepares Iran strike

By MARTIN WALKER
UPI Editor

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The Bush administration is preparing its NATO allies for a possible military strike against suspected nuclear sites in Iran in the New Year, according to German media reports, reinforcing similar earlier suggestions in the Turkish media.
The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel this week quoted "NATO intelligence sources" who claimed that the NATO allies had been informed that the United States is currently investigating all possibilities of bringing the mullah-led regime into line, including military options. This "all options are open" line has been President George W Bush's publicly stated policy throughout the past 18 months.

But the respected German weekly Der Spiegel notes "What is new here is that Washington appears to be dispatching high-level officials to prepare its allies for a possible attack rather than merely implying the possibility as it has repeatedly done during the past year."

The German news agency DDP cited "Western security sources" to claim that CIA Director Porter Goss asked Turkey's premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide political and logistic support for air strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets. Goss, who visited Ankara and met Erdogan on Dec. 12, was also reported to have to have asked for special cooperation from Turkish intelligence to help prepare and monitor the operation.

The DDP report added that Goss had delivered to the Turkish prime minister and his security aides a series of dossiers, one on the latest status of Iran's nuclear development and another containing intelligence on new links between Iran and al-Qaida.

DDP cited German security sources who added that the Turks had been assured of a warning in advance if and when the military strikes took place, and had also been given "a green light" to mount their own attacks on the bases in Iran of the PKK, (Kurdish Workers party), which Turkey sees as a separatist group responsible for terrorist attacks inside Turkey.

2006 Part 2 - Doomsday for the Greenback.

I know these last two articles are long, but I felt it necessary to publish them here with minimal editing because of their importance.

Mike Whitney: 'Doomsday for the greenback'
Thursday, December 29

A preemptive attack on Iran would "provoke other industrial nations to strategically abandon the dollar en masse"... "in an effort to thwart the neoconservatives from pursuing their desperate strategy of dominating the world's hydrocarbon energy supply." William R. Clark "Petrodollar Warfare; Dollars, Euros and the upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse" (see last post).

The Federal Reserve is the financial headquarters for the cartel of multinational banking establishments. The confederation of banks in the Fed underwrites the exploitative activities of the world's main industries and sets rates in a manner that best serves their objectives. This is how the bankers perpetuate the system of economic hegemony and apply the shackle of debt and dependence to the planet's most destitute countries.

The Federal Reserve is every bit as critical to the maintenance of the empire as its political counterparts in Washington or its blood-brothers in the US Military. It is the largest of the empire's three gears; economic, political and military, which mobilize the mighty wheel of state terror.

If we look carefully at the Iraq war, the main financial institutions stood squarely behind the hostilities and did their best to create a hospitable economic environment for aggression. The Federal Reserve dropped the prime rate to a paltry 1.5% just 6 months before the Iraq invasion to keep the American economy purring along while Bush dragged the nation to war. The bloody footprints for Iraq lead straight to the oak-panel doors of America's primary lenders even before they trail off to the bastions of America's energy giants.

There's a reason for this. The main impetus for the war was not petroleum, but greenbacks and the future of a currency that is underwritten by $8 trillion of debt. The only way to safeguard its dominance is to back up the listing dollar with boatloads of oil. And, that is exactly the plan.

The Capital of Empire America's capital is not in Washington DC. In fact, it is not geographic location at all. It is the greenback, the epicenter of the global rule. The dollar is the cornerstone upon which the mighty pillars of empire rest.

At the same time, the greenback is the greatest swindle in human history; a worthless scrap of paper buried beneath a mountain of debt. It is only through the skillful mix of politics, diplomacy, and brute force that the grand deception is maintained. As America's fortunes grow more tenuous, the probability of attacks on the dollar will increase exponentially.

Even now, nations are conspiring to knock the dollar from its towering summit and introduce a more equitable system. At present, the greenback serves as the world's reserve currency, the main medium of exchange. This allows the US to pile up enormous debt while avoiding the pitfalls of skyrocketing interest rates or hyper-inflation. The $2 billion of borrowed wealth that props up the faltering empire every day comes primarily from the exporting powerhouses Japan and China. This means that America's profligate spending is financed by the labor of some of the most poorly paid workers in the world. Ironically, sweatshop workers in Kwantung Province are now bankrolling the criminal occupation of Iraq by facilitating America's massive trade deficits.

Every greenback carries with it the accumulated weight of two centuries of war, slavery, and ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. It is the flaccid script that has fueled 50 years of covert activities, coup d'etats, and third-world death-squads. It churns through the arteries of the empire to the furthest most extremities where torture and abuse are carried out beneath the tri-colored standard. It is strewn across the empire like the myriad gulags that now speckle the planet. It is the heart of the beast; a venom-pumping organ with arteries strung across the globe like the concertina-wire that surrounds Falluja, Samarra and Tal Afar.

....

As the empire extends its withering grip to the world's last resource-centers, the dollar is coming under increasing scrutiny. It is the dollar that facilitates the perennial war and the vast expansion of military force; just as it is the dollar that binds together the constellation of American colonies that function exclusively in the interests of their Washington overlords. The asymmetrical warfare that is approaching will put the greenback squarely in the crosshairs; the weak-link in America's coat of mail.

Hugo Chavez knows this, as did Saddam; that's why he switched to the euro 6 months before "Shock and Awe". Now, Putin is trading oil in euros and Iran will open an oil bourse in petro-euros in March. For Iran, its actions are tantamount to a declaration of war. Already, America's proxy Israel has threatened to attack in March. Is it merely coincidence that Iran's oil bourse is scheduled to open at the same time?

No, it's not.

The empire requires a steady diet of petrodollars to maintain its gluttonous appetite for debt. If the oil-producing nations switch to euros, the dollar would freefall like a wingless gull and America would be trapped in a bottomless vat of red ink.

America's prodigious dept has made the war for the world's remaining resources an existential struggle. A retreat from Iraq is no longer possible. If America's debt is not propped up with oil reserves the anemic dollar will crumble with the economy following right behind.

In William R. Clark's "Petrodollar Warfare; Dollars, Euros and the upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse", Clark outlines the problems the dollar faces if Iran proceeds with its plan to use a euro-based oil trading exchange. The new Iranian bourse would compete head-on with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and London's International Petroleum Exchange IPE) giving international buyers an option of "buying a barrel of oil $60 on the NYMEX or IPE or 45 to 50 euros via the Iranian bourse." Clark calls this the Federal Reserves "biggest nightmare" as it would precipitate a face-off between the dollar and the euro and would fundamentally change the dynamics in the world's largest market. "

In essence, the US will no longer be able to effortlessly expand credit via US Treasury Bills, and the dollars demand-liquidity will quickly fall." This will "challenge the hegemony currently enjoyed by the financial centers in both London and New York."

In other words; doomsday for the greenback.

Clark also notes that "both Russia and China significantly increased their central bank holdings of the euro, which appears to be a coordinated move to facilitate the anticipated ascendance of the euro as a second world reserve currency." This would effectively end the petrodollars hegemony as the "monopoly oil currency".

The world is preparing for a seismic shift in the global power-structure, but Washington believes it can forestall that change through military force. The prospect of a competing Iranian oil-exchange greatly increases the likelihood of a unilateral attack by the US. Clark anticipates that this may "provoke other industrial nations to strategically abandon the dollar en masse"..."While central bankers throughout the world community would be extremely reluctant to 'dump the dollar'"... "They would likely move in tandem on the currency exchange markets in an effort to thwart the neoconservatives from pursuing their desperate strategy of dominating the world's hydrocarbon energy supply."

A strategy to "dump the dollar"? Some variant of Clark's scenario will undoubtedly transpire pending an American attack on Iran. The world will not confront the empire militarily, but neither will they stand idly by while vital oil resources are put at risk. A coordinated assault on the dollar is an extreme, but probable consequence.

The vulnerability of the dollar, skittering atop an ocean of red ink, has become the Achilles heel of the empire. Washington may believe that its weakness is well-concealed behind a wall of high-tech weaponry and media propaganda, but potential adversaries will certainly know where to strike if they are forced to respond. America's future has grown increasingly uncertain due to the reckless militarism of its leaders. An attack on Iran is sure to incite an asymmetrical war that will target the greenback; dislodging it from its lofty perch.

When the dollar collapses, the baling-wire of economic coercion that keeps the empire sewn together will quickly unravel.