1. “After 9/11, Bush gave orders to kill U.S. citizens abroad if suspected of “terrorist” links
In a striking admission from the Obama Administration’s top intelligence officer, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair announced Wednesday that the United States may target its own citizens abroad for death if it believes they are associated with terrorist groups.”
http://www.911blogger.com/node/22517
2. “Onward Christian Soldiers, Again
there is a broader question, which is to what extent people who call themselves Christians should be rejecting restraint and negotiation while advocating policies that will certainly result in suffering and quite likely will lead to war. It is not necessary to be a pacifist to be a Christian, but neither should Christians be cheerleaders for war. Christ’s teachings are clear. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Later in the Gospel of Matthew in the Garden of Gethsemane he warned his disciples that “all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Christ also told his followers “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies…”
I do not know what the positions of the various Christian leaders who signed the letter were on the issue of Iraq in 2002-3. I rather suspect that most supported sanctions, which killed half a million Iraqi children and that were dismissed by Secretary of State Madeline Albright as being “worth it.” I would also guess that most fully supported the subsequent US led invasion of a country which did not threaten the United States in any way. The lowest estimate of confirmed deaths by violence in Iraq since the American invasion is 95,000, a number that most investigators would agree is way too low as it relies only on official records of fatalities. Some estimates of deaths go as high as 650,000. And then there is the collateral damage that continues to take a toll. There are forty contamination sites in Iraq left behind by coalition forces that contain high levels of dioxins and nuclear waste, including the depleted uranium used in American artillery rounds. Several sites are near large towns and cities. Falluja, which was the scene of fighting between US forces and insurgents in 2004, is experiencing 15 times the normal rate of birth defects as well as a spike in cancer among adults. One baby was born with two heads and others have multiple tumors and spinal defects. Is it unfair to suggest that the innocent are suffering as a result of an invasion that did not have to happen and that was supported by the same Christian leaders who are now calling for sanctions on Iran?
And then there is the hypocrisy issue. I would suspect that all of the signatories of the letter are supporters of the right to life movement. Some may even have participated in the annual March for Life which draws hundreds of thousands to Washington every January 22nd. If life is sacred, a view that I share, surely the lives of Iranian children who would die if the United States or Israel attacks their country are just as precious as the unborn. Christian leaders should be working hard to preserve lives, not to destroy them and their values should be consistent with Christian teaching, not with a political agenda focused on a country that they have effectively demonized. As Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) stated in 2003, “There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war.’” I challenge Pat Robertson, Richard Land, and John Hagee to identify for me a part of the New Testament that justifies in any way punishing people because of what they might do. Or that approves of preemptive war. If Christ were to return to the earth today one might reasonably ask whether he would recognize those who preach in his name who have apparently abandoned the historic and deeply held Christian traditions of peace and reconciliation and instead are advocating a course that could well lead to war.”
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/02/03/onward-christian-soldiers-again/
3. “Global Military Spending ‘Recession-Proof’
Money Is Tight Everywhere, Until Its Time to Fund the Military”
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/02/03/global-military-spending-recession-proof/
4. “Foreign Handouts: More Harm Than Good
Perhaps you want to grant the benefit of the doubt that many of those who are distributing other people’s money have benign intentions. In some cases, it is no doubt true. Good intentions are not enough when one is causing more harm than good. The instigators and propagandists know just what they are accomplishing. And they are doing it not with their own money, but with ours.”
5. “Italy’s prime minister links Gaza war to Holocaust”
http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/02/03/italys-prime-minister-links-gaza-war-to-holocaust/
6. Hell yeah!
“Cynthia McKinney Receives Munich Peace Prize
“Clearly, the MAPC gave more thought to the significance of those whose struggle for peace is based on principle . . . than did the Nobel Peace Committee that rewarded our President for war.”
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17410
7. “Report: Israel Stole $2bn from Palestinian Workers 40-year Deception Exposed
Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed.
A new report, “State Robbery”, to be published later this month, says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 and part of the money was supposed to be transferred to a special fund on behalf of the workers.”
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17408
8. “The Militarization of Planet Earth: U.S. Extends Missile Buildup From Poland And Taiwan To the Persian Gulf”
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17405
9. “The Myth of Business Friendly Legislation
Legislators have demonstrated their inability to fix any pressing social problems over many decades. The reason is the status quo’s addiction to the notion that being friendly to the business community automatically enhances the welfare of all. Although all the empirical evidence invalidates this notion, it nevertheless still prevails. This notion needs to be abandoned, for as Amos Bronson Alcott wrote, “A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay.” There is nothing friendly about “business friendly” legislation.”
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17401
10. “Fake “War on Terrorism”: In Yemen the US is Fighting against Democracy, not against Al Qaeda”
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17402
11. “On the claimed “war exception” to the Constitution
That last point is the most important one here. Atrios wrote the other day that a central prong in the Washington consensus is that “all it takes to nullify the constitution is to call someone a terraist.” That’s absolutely true, but a close corollary is that merely uttering the word “war” justifies the same thing. That’s particularly dangerous given that, by all accounts, this is a so-called ”war” that will not end for a generation, if ever. To justify the abridgment or even suspension of the Constitution on the ground of “war” is to advocate serious alterations to our Constitutional framework that are more or less permanent. Several points about that “war” excuse:
First, there’s no “war exception” in the Constitution. Even with real wars — i.e., those involving combat between opposing armies — the Constitution actually continues to constrain what government officials can do, most stringently as it concerns U.S. citizens. Second, strictly speaking, we’re not really “at war,” as Congress has merely authorized the use of military force but has not formally or Constitutionally declared war. Even the Bush administration conceded that this is a vital difference when it comes to legal rights.
…
Here we are, almost four years later with a new party in power, and the President’s top intelligence official announces — without any real controversy — that the President claims the power to assassinate American citizens with no charges, no trials, no judicial oversight of any kind. The claimed power isn’t “inherent” — it’s based on alleged Congressional approval — but it’s safeguard-free and due-process-free just the same. As Gore asked of less severe policies in 2006, if the President can do that, “then what can’t he do?” As long as we stay petrified of the Terrorists and wholly submissive whenever the word “war” is uttered, the answer will continue to be: ”nothing.” We’ll have Presidents now and then who are marginally more restrained than others — as the current President is marginally more restrained than the prior one — but what Lithwick calls our “willingness to suspend basic protections and become more contemptuous of American traditions and institutions” will continue unabated.”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/
12. “Government Propagandists in Corporate Media
When independent journalists challenge US wars, government propagandists attack in the comments
The US Senate Church Committee disclosed in 1975 that more than over 400 government propagandists had infiltrated American corporate media to manipulate public opinion on key policies, including war. CIA Director William Colby testified that Operation Mockingbird had been operational since the late 1940s to control what was reported through American television, newspapers, and magazines. President Ford fired Colby after his testimony and replaced him with George H. W. Bush. Bush Sr. ended the CIA’s testimony, stating that there were no other programs of concern to disclose and promised that the CIA would no longer influence the media (for Bush Sr.’s lies to initiate the first war with Iraq, click here).
We know in the present that government propagandists appeared over 4,500 times as “experts” in the PR run-up to the current war in Iraq, corporate media refuses to clearly communicate the essential news that ALL the claims for war were known to be false at the time they were told and US wars are “emperor has no clothes” obviously unlawful. The American public is recognizing the propaganda in corporate media by deserting them to embrace alternative sources. Therefore, since we know that government-sponsored Operation Mockingbird propaganda is active today, and we know that people are abandoning corporate propaganda sources in favor of articles such as this one, put yourself in the shoes of Operation Mockingbird management and imagine your strategic responses to this type of article.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24593.htm
