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No wonder America has so many enemies
By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor
Toronto Sun
September 28, 2003
President Bill Clinton was impeached by a Republican-controlled Congress for lying about sex. President George W. Bush and aides lied the United States into a stupid, unnecessary colonial war that has so far killed more than 305 Americans and seriously wounded more than 1,400. It has also cost many thousands of Iraqi dead, and $1 billion US weekly.
Lying about sex is an impeachable offence; lying the nation into war apparently is not.
I was no Clinton fan, but give me his iffy morals any day over Bush's Mussolini-like strutting. Sen. Edward Kennedy is absolutely correct when he calls Bush's Iraq war a "fraud" concocted to win the next elections.
A fraud and an epic blunder.
Last week, Bush received a glacial and scornful reception at the United Nations that symbolized the world's contempt and disgust for his administration. Not since Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on the speaker's rostrum has a major leader so embarrassed himself and his nation before the world body.
In his UN speech, Bush again claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and "ties" to terrorism. Days later, U.S. intelligence teams that scoured Iraq for four months reported no traces of weapons or terrorism links - the pretext used by Bush and his neo-conservative handlers for unprovoked war against Saddam Hussein.
The White House was left choking on its own grotesque lies.
Incredibly, VP Dick Cheney, a prime architect of the Iraq war, actually claimed recently that Iraq still had mobile germ labs, though U.S. and British inspectors debunked this claim last June. The "special" intelligence network created by neo-conservatives is still apparently feeding disinformation to America's leadership.
This latest humiliation came only days after Bush finally admitted Iraq was not, as most Americans were misled into believing, behind the 9/11 attacks.
No wonder world leaders gave Bush the cold shoulder, and even usually timid UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned against "dangerous acts of unilateralism" - a pointed reference to the bellicose Bush administration.
Unfortunately, many Americans still do not understand how gravely the Bush White House has damaged and sullied their nation's once noble reputation.
Dangerous aggressor
Recent polls show that even among traditional friends abroad, America is no longer regarded as a champion of freedom, democracy and human rights, but increasingly as a dangerous aggressor bent on imperial domination and exploitation.
America's most precious and proudest asset, its moral reputation, has been gravely damaged by the Bush White House. The only positive note: rising anti-Americanism is largely associated in the eyes of non- Americans with the persona of George Bush, a man who projects almost all the negative stereotypes foreigners hold of Americans.
Bush's blinkered core supporters in middle America simply don't understand or don't care what the rest of the world thinks of their nation, which, since 9/11, has wrapped itself in a cocoon of xenophobia and self-righteous rage.
The White House's mouthpiece media, led by Fox News, have simply blanked out world opinion and endlessly chorused administration war propaganda.
A fascinating March study of network TV news by New York's Fairness and Accuracy in Media shows how Americans were misled into war by outrageously biased programming on Iraq.
The analysis found: a) 76% of all commentators about Iraq on TV were present or former government officials; b) only 6% of commentators expressed skepticism regarding the need for war - when 61% of the public supported more time for diplomacy and inspections; c) on the four TV networks, less than 1% of sources were identified with anti-war groups.
And more than two-thirds of commentators were from the U.S., 75% either present or former government or military officials. The small number of foreign commentators mostly came from nations like Britain and Israel which were backing Bush's war policy.
In short, the major networks, under White House prompting, beat the war drums and blatantly excluded commentators with contrary views, giving Americans a badly warped view of world events.
No wonder so few Americans understand what is going on abroad, how the outside world really sees them, or why America has so many enemies overseas. Small wonder many Americans are turning for balanced news to the CBC, BBC and the Internet.
Citizens of the old Soviet Union suffered the same information isolation. Like Americans since 9/11, they were force-fed agitprop and patriotic pap disguised as news, and deprived of all knowledge of the real world around them.
Back to reality. Bush's UN speech was another attempt to mislead Americans into believing the horrid mess in Iraq - entirely the creation of Bush and the neo-cons - is somehow the fault of the UN.
French President Jacques Chirac proposed the U.S. hand Iraq over to UN control. But Bush, still lusting for Iraqi oil and fearful his family foe, Saddam Hussein, would return to thumb his nose at him, foolishly scorned this wise proposal.
Bush is praying his hit teams will assassinate Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein before next year's elections. But even that may not save him from the growing anger of defrauded Americans who are slowly realizing that his Iraq war was a political version of the giant Enron swindle.
Eric can be reached by e-mail at margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com.
November 14 Speak-Out by Iraq Humanitarian Travelers
-----Original Message-----
From: Judith Karpova [mailto:dahlia@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 6:38 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: November 14 Speak-Out by Iraq Humanitarian Travelers
Dear Friends and Supporters,
For those new to my informational support list, my name is Judith Karpova. I was a US Human Shield in Iraq. I did not stay thorugh the war, but left Iraq on March 9 and worked for the next several weeks in the Human Shields office in Amman, Jordan, to assist other Shields leaving Iraq in contacting their national media. During the time the two of us spent together in Iraq I became good friends with Faith Fippinger, a US retired schoolteacher who stayed through the bombing and volunteered at several Iraqi hospitals. She, Ryan Clancy and I all received letters from the Treasury Department, and Faith and Ryan received follow-up calls from them threatening to seize their business assets, pensions, social security; to ruin them. I am assisting in publicizing her targeting by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Following is a two-part message. The first part concerns a speak-out of pre-war US travelers to Iraq, who have not thus far come to the attention of the Treasury or Justice Departments. They are stepping forward publicly to support those humanitarian travelers who are currently being threatened or prosecuted, such as Faith Fippinger, Ryan Clancy, and Voices in the Wilderness. The second part is in response to those who have offered donations and sent queries as to how they may help in the defense of these enlightened, brave people.
Apologies for any duplications. Please let me know if you want further background information or if you do not wish to receive future messages on this topic. Please distribute.
Judith Karpova
dahlia@ix.netcom.com
I – November 14 Speak-Out
The U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments insist on pursuing charges against several individuals and groups that have traveled to Iraq. In support of these people, and to assert the right of US citizens to be informed and to communicate information, others who have travelled to Iraq but have not thus far been targeted are stepping forward to fully acknowledge that they have also traveled to Iraq and are standing in solidarity with those charged.
On Friday, November 14, 2003, 10 press conferences will take place in various cities throughout the U.S., where humanitarian travelers to Iraq will stand in solidarity with their fellow travelers who have been targeted by the U.S. government on charges of breaking the sanctions before and during the war and occupation. Press conferences will take place across the country on Friday, Nov. 14th in the following cities (10:00 AM WEST COAST, 1:00 PM EST, etc):
New York City, NY
Syracuse, NY
Chicago, IL
Minneapolis, MN
Montgomery, AL
Seattle, WA
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Washington, D.C.
At these press conferences, individuals who have traveled to Iraq for humanitarian purposes will gather and read a joint statement of solidarity with their fellow humanitarian travelers. We're looking for individuals who would like to join the list of signers, as well as people who would like to support us in other ways: organizational endorsements, publicity help, press conference attendees, etc. If you or someone you know might be interested in attending and/or participating in this action and/or signing the joint statement, please respond to BJohns99@aol.com.
Thank you for your time. Also, to receive a copy of the text of the joint statement, please contact BJohns99@aol.com.
II – Offers of Funds for the Defense of Faith and Iraqi Travelers
In response to people who have offered to contribute to the defense of these travelers, Faith and Ryan have stated that though they thank people for such offers, they categorically decline to receive any money from anyone. They urge people to write to their Congresspeople, and participate in the ongoing call-in campaign to OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control) and the Justice Department (contact me for information on this if needed: dahlia@ix.netcom.com).
However, there are several projects related to Human Shields activities people can support.
One is a very powerful 22 minute documentary by a Debra Hussong, a Florida filmmaker which features Faith Fippinger and the mother of another US Human Shield, Ben Joffe-Walt, a young man I also knew personally in Iraq. I have seen it and it makes a profound impact. Funds sent to her will be used to publicize her film and defray travel expenses for US humanitarian travelers to Iraq to accompany showings. For more information contact Debra Hussong, DAH Media, at dhm7@infionline.net
Another is the establishment of a childrens' shelter in Iraq. Below is the email I received yesterday from fellow Shield Donna Mulhearn of Australia. I personally know and completely trust the people she refers to who will be initiating that project; these people stayed through the bombing and I believe that because of them, the humanitarian infrastructure where they were sited was not destroyed:
From Donna Mulhearn
Hello human shields, friends and supporters,
Have you heard about Our House - Iraq? It is a project that some former human shields will be pioneering in Baghdad very soon.
It will be a children's shelter which will provide accomodation in houses and day-to-day care for the many orphans and street kids of Baghdad who have fallen through the cracks and ended up sleeping on the street.
The project will work in partnership with a local orphanage which is bursting at the seams. The wonderful Iraqi staff will help us set up houses close to the orphanage and we will work together.
The project will be funded totally by public donations by friends and supporters. An appeal has been launched in the UK and Australia. The support has been fantastic.
With so many aid agencies withdrawn from Iraq, this is a way to support direct work on the ground in Iraq.
There are a few ways that you can help:
1. Remember all those Iraqi dinar notes that you carried around in bundles? Well did you end up having leftovers that you still have? You might want to keep one or two as a souvenir, but why not donate the rest to us? You can send them to me, and I can take them with me when I leave on November 18. The old currency will be used for another 3 months and will be very useful for us. You can send it to: Donna Mulhearn, 27 Lenton Parade, Waterloo, NSW, 2017 Australia. Thanks!
2. You could come and join us as a volunteer.
3. You could make a donation to our funds. In the UK: Lloyds TSB sort code: 30-97-07 Account name: Our House - Iraq, account number: 00723748. In Australia you can deposit into Commonwealth Bank account named: Our House - Iraq, account number: 2231 10207377
4. Is there anyone in America who can set up an account for us and do an appeal there?
5. Please pass this on to all your e-mail lists and networks.
This is an exciting project that will provide help and hope to the children in Baghdad.
It is being driven and will be staffed by Uzma, Rory, myself, Helen and Kevin and I'm sure others I don't know about. Many other volunteers are keen to come.
It will probably begin in mid-November.
Thanks for your support. I will be sending out regular stories from Baghdad. Please let me know if you'd like to go on my list.
peace and solidarity
Donna
donnamulhearn@yahoo.com.au
