PressInfo 2003

Proliferation and Full Spectrum Dominance “The horror scenarios of the Cold War have disappeared, but the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has not.  Like the monstrous Hydra of Greek mythology, modern weapons of mass destruction are sprouting new heads faster than anybody can cut them off.” So wrote Anna Lindh and Erkki Tuomioja, the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland respectively, in an article in The International Herald Tribune, whose title gives their answer to the threat:  “Slaying the Hydra – together”.  As they conclude: “Even Hercules could not kill the many headed monster alone.  Only by acting together will we safeguard the security of all.” In spite of strenuous combined efforts, the hydra of proliferation remains very much with us, and it has certainly not been caged by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  The most recent NPT preparatory conference, held in Geneva, between April 28th and May 9th 2003,...

Originally posted on the ‘AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list’ It is now a matter of public record that immediately after the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001, U.S. Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and his pro-Israeli “Neoconservative” Deputy Paul Wolfowitz began to plot, plan, scheme and conspire to wage a war of aggression against Iraq by manipulating the tragic events of September 11th in order to provide a pretext for doing so.(1) Of course Iraq had nothing at all to do with September 11th or supporting Al-Qaeda. But that made no difference to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, their Undersecretary of War Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, and the numerous other pro-Israeli Neo-Cons inhabiting the Bush Jr. administration. These pro-Israeli Neo-Cons had been schooled in the Machiavellian/Nietzschean theories of Professor Leo Strauss who taught political philosophy at the University of Chicago in its Department of Political Science. The best...

News Poem 1 Fresh wave of sabotage and violence took its toll on Iraq on Sunday Baghdad (Reuters) A second blaze hit a crucial oil export pipeline,A water pipeline was blown up,Six Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack on a Baghdad prison,A Danish soldier was killed. A Reuters cameraman was shot dead while working near a U.S.-run prison,Iraq’s governor (Kissinger-associate and terror expert L. Paul Bremer)said on Sunday: the country was losing$7 million a day due to the attack on the pipeline, 59 wounded in a mortar bomb attack on a U.S.-guarded prison,500 Iraqi detainees,including common criminalsand suspected anti-American guerrillas,are being held at Abu Ghraib prison,which was one of Saddam Hussein’smost notorious jails. [President Bush cites progress in Iraq.] News Poem 2 Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, 43 (Perhaps his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher) New York Times/Reuters Mazen Dana, a Palestinian working for Reutersfilming outside Abu Ghraib...

1. Fulfill Existing Obligations. The nuclear weapons states have made solemn promises to the international community to negotiate in good faith to achieve nuclear disarmament. The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China accepted this obligation when they signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and extended their promises at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference and again at the 2000 NPT Review Conference. India and Pakistan, which are not signatories of the NPT, have committed themselves to abolish their nuclear arsenals if the other nuclear weapons states agree to do so. The only nuclear weapons state that has not made this promise is Israel, and surely it could be convinced to do so if the other nuclear weapons states agreed to the elimination of their nuclear arsenals. The International Court of Justice, the world’s highest court, unanimously highlighted the obligation to nuclear disarmament in its 1996 Opinion: “There exists an obligation...

Oprindeligt publiceret 26. juni 2003 1. For at opfylde allerede eksisterende forpligtelser. Kernevåbenstaterne har afgivet højtidelige løfter til det internationale samfund om af forhandle redeligt for at opnå kernevåbenafrustning. De forenede Stater, Rusland, England, Frankrig og Kina accepterede denne forpligtelse, da de underskrev Ikke-Sprednings-Aftalen (NPT) og de udvidede deres løfter på NPT revisions- og udvidelseskonferencen i 1995 og igen på NPT revisionskonferencen i 2000.Indien og Pakistan, som ikke har underskrevet Ikke-Sprednings-Aftalen, har forpligtet sig til at afskaffe deres kernevåben, hvis de andre kernevåbenstater afskaffer deres. Den eneste kernevåbenstat, som ikke har afgivet et sådant løfte er Israel og de må kunne overbevises til at gøre det samme, hvis alle andre kernevåbenstater bliver enige om at afskaffe deres kernevåbenarsenaler.Den internationale Domstol i Haag (International Court of Justice), verdens højeste retsinstans afgav en udtalelse i 1996, som understregede forpligtelsen til kernevåbenafrustning: “Der eksisterer en forpligtelse til at forhandle redeligt og til at...

What kind of education will Iraq’s children get under US occupation? We’ve heard it time and again and we know it’s an old truth: our kids are the future. These weeks, the media focus almost exclusively on the war, on military people who “rebuild” Iraq (after having destroyed it) and they focus on politics. But together with security, no aspect of post-war reconstruction, reconciliation and development is more important than the education system in a broad sense. It certainly deserves more media attention than it gets. What the US occupation administration does these very weeks is intended to have a long-term impact on the Iraqi society – that is if they succeed. Naturally, therefore, I get very curious when, a few days ago, a friend sends me an e-mail asking whether I have seen that Washington-based Creative International Associates Inc, CAII, has been awarded a contract worth US$ 62 million to re-build...

Vad slags utbildning kommer Iraks barn att få under ockupationen? Vi har hört det gång på gång och vi känner det som en gammal sanning: våra barn är vår framtid. Under dessa veckor inriktar sig medierna nästan helt på kriget, på militären som “återuppbygger” Irak (efter att ha förstört Irak) och inriktningen är på politik. Men förutom säkerheten är det ingen sida av återuppbyggnaden, försoningen och utvecklingen efter kriget som är viktigare än utbildningsystemet i bred mening. Det förtjänar verkligen mer uppmärksamhet från mediernas sida än vad det får. Det USA:s administration gör just dessa veckor är avsett att få långvarig inverkan på det irakiska samhället – det vill säga om de lyckas. Jag blir därför givetvis mycket nyfiken när en vän för ett par dagar skickar mig en epost och frågar om jag har sett att ett företag som heter Creative International Associates Inc, CAII, och som är baserat...

By If Usama bin Laden is still alive – and the indications are that he is – he must be feeling very pleased with himself, because his terrible terrorist activities are beginning to bear fruit, and his main aim of polarising the world and creating a clash of civilisations is on the point of fruition. His call to the Muslims of the world “you are either with the faithful believers or with the infidels”, seems to have been echoed by President Bush’s insistence that “you are either with us or with the terrorists.” Last summer I visited the United States after many years. I was very pleased to find that the Americans have regained their composure after the dreadful events of 11th September and that they are the same positive, optimistic, friendly and hospitable people that they have always been. At the same time, I found some signs of hardening...

There are basically three wars or struggles in the Iraq conflict. There is the war the media is waging for the hearts and minds of people. Second, there is the military war and the promised removal of the Iraqi regime. And, third, there is the war to control and run post-war Iraq and live up to the official motives of bringing freedom, democracy, welfare and prosperity to its 24 million citizens. War # 1: The public relations war The public relations war is aimed at the hearts and minds of people around the globe. It attempts to demonise the Baghdad regime while contrasting it with the noble, altruistic goals to be achieved by the war. Heads of state and governments that were in favour of war have promoted these aims through propaganda, public relations campaigns, psychological warfare, etc, in an effort to sell the war to audiences in the West,...

PressInfo # 183 – Part 2 Continued from Part 1. DONALD RUMSFELD, PAUL WOLFOWITZ & RICHARD PERLE Secretaries.Ideologists with their own Special Plans. Masters of a war meaning peace and other “Newspeak” With the illegal war on and occupation of Iraq, the first two personalities need no further introduction. They are Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secreary of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz. Then there one of the leading architects of the whole Iraq imbroglio, “The Prince of Darkness”, Richard Perle of the American Enteprise Institute and of the Defense Policy Board. It’s objective is to “serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. Nine members of the Board have ties to defense contractors. Further, Perle is well-connected to the international media world through Hollinger Digital Inc., the media management and investment arm of Hollinger International Inc. whose online newspapers and...

/0214prepare.htm”>Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance that comes under Pentagon. Here are the backgrounds and profiles about some of them. Interestingly, there are very few questions asked in the free press about this completely undemocratic, ambiguous method to take over a country and shape its future. JAY GARNER Governor – Co-ordinatorRetired US general, pro-Israel from the defence industry, with a past job in Northern Iraq, supposed to be the highest authority Sometimes called the new “viceroy” of Iraq, Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner is the man in charge of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. Here is how the New York Times presents Jay Garner. And here follows a critical background from The Guardian: “There is no argument among Arab opinion formers, who with rare unanimity have been condemning his appointment as another sign of American contempt for Iraqi feelings,” “One is the general’s work since retiring from the army as president of defence contractor SY Coleman, now...

PressInfo # 183 – Part 1 By They are people with a background in the far-right of the Republican Party, the Israel lobby, Perle and Wolfowitz henchmen, central to the war on terror, to the Homeland Defence authorities, to anti-ABM and pro-Ballistic Missile Defence (Star Wars), close to conservative think tanks, affiliated with mercenary companies, the military-industrial complex (MIC) and CIA. They are former “stabilisers” in Bosnia and Kosovo, and Marine Corps-people (many in Vietnam); they are private consulting firm executives affiliated with the inner circles of power in Washington. And, of course, several are associated with the oil industry, the computer industry as well as the media and public relations industry. With a few exceptions they are Pentagon and not State Department people, they are generals and technocrats. Less than a handful have any prior experience in Iraq or in nation-building, conflict-resolution, reconciliation, post-war trauma healing, civil society empowerment...