From 

War comes to the heart of Europe by Pepe Escobar

BRUSSELS - The battle over the future of global Islam will be fought and decided in Europe. Whether or not it is responsible for the attacks on London, the al-Qaeda nebula is now configured as a relentless jihadi recruitment mechanism, profiting from the fact that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has been added to its original mix of extreme Wahhabism and Silicon Valley (which al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, visited in the early 1990s). "Al-Qaeda" is a mutating virus, proliferating secretly in unexpected places. It used to thrive on subterfuge, evasion and deception. Now, the virus is attacking on three fronts. The Internet spreads the lethal, remixed Koran of jihad's aims and ideology; Iraq has become the university for a new, deadly generation of internationalist jihadis; and Europe is the latest battleground where the new generation is bound to strike. The Euro-jihadi is here to stay. "Al-Qaeda" is now a metaphor for global, deterritorialized jihad - indeed a "database" (as its original name implies) that strives to represent the microcosm of the whole Islamic umma (community). This is a political war conducted by a revolutionary vanguard. It is also a social war. It is definitely not a religious war. Whether religious war may succeed it depends to a large extent on the Muslim population of Europe, and whether it can isolate the Euro-jihadis. No one is innocent The killing of innocents, or massacre of infidels - as in London's attacks - is not considered terrorism by either Osama bin Laden or Zawahiri: as bin Laden himself has made clear, it is seriously regarded as only a minor reparation for all the crimes committed against Islam since the end of the 600-year-long Ottoman Empire in 1923. ... Over 10 million immigrants from Muslim countries now live in Western Europe. Their children were born in Europe, speak one or more European languages, carry EU passports, are well educated and technology-savvy, and are familiar with the maze of European institutions. Internationalist jihadis are fighting to capture the hearts and minds of these 10 million. ... Instead, thanks to Pentagon propaganda regurgitated by corporate media, we now have a cipher, a man nobody is sure even exists - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - elevated to supernatural status. EU analysts despair: we may be entering the age of one thousand Zarqawis coming from the shadows to haunt not the US, but western Europe. It's as much a war at the heart of Europe as a war at the heart of Islam.

-- Add the fuel of metempsychosis (also here) to this mix, and the global situation is on the edge of explosion. Bush, Blair, and Howard have probably been scared shitless by the multimedia presentation on the aims and methods of those who pursue "life through death". Transmigration of souls is (or should be) a philosophy that is totally foreign to the West. Anyone brought up on the tenets of individual responsibility (and achievement), whether in a religious or secular setting, will find it very difficult to deal with the consequences of belief in transmigration. The political leadership is dealing with the conflict at the political level, it's the best they can do. But, faced with an eruption of 'killing of the innocent', where will they turn? More study required

More study required... I do not mean to sell product on this site but since I quote directly from "The Independent Institute" I might give 'em a plug... Buy for $24.95 (hardcover) The Empire Has No Clothes U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed By Ivan Eland Highlights The United States maintains more than 700 military bases worldwide, spanning an area that dwarfs the great empires of world history. Although many conservative and liberal leaders today support a policy of foreign interventionism, extensive military engagement around the world is a policy deeply at odds with principles of the republic’s founders—and deeply at odds with the economic, political, and security interests of the American people. The United States has military dominance but no longer has the economic dominance to match; it accounts for nearly 40 percent of the world’s military spending but only about 30 percent of global GDP. The United States is so dominant today only because other empires declined as a result of losing wars (Germany and Japan) or becoming overextended overseas relative to their frail economies (Britain, France, and the Soviet Union). If the U.S. empire stays the course, America’s economic dominance and political influence will likely decline. Why is the United States disproportionately attacked by terrorists? Although in America the president, other high-level policymakers, the foreign-policy\ elite, the media, and even large segments of the public are in a state of denial, the key factor is obvious to the rest of the world: the interventionist U.S. foreign policy in support of the informal American global empire. The United States has received unfavorable ratings from people in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries around the world, not because of its political and economic freedoms or its culture, but because of its policies—particularly toward the Middle East. and plenty more....

Yes Gus, the greatest 'racket' on earth.

And, with the end of the Cold War & the death of Communism, ask yourselves why the US needs an annual military budget in excess of US$440 billion in 2006, representing more than 50% of global expenditure on armaments, with some members of Congress even then suggesting that this amount should be doubled.

 

And note that the above budget EXCLUDES the proposed US$50 billion appropriations for the ongoing wars in Iraq & Afghanistan & the US40 billion for 'Homeland Security'.

 

Is America really that afraid of Usama bin Laden?

 

What the hell are Americans afraid of when their military budget is 30 times as large as the combined expenditure of those countries it has frequently referred to as 'rogue states' - Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan & Syria?

 

And where are America's priorities when she spends more than 51% of her annual budget on her military & only 13% of her budget on health & education?

 

Figure it out: almost US$1,800 on military expenditure for every man, woman & child in America, versus US$194 per person for health & US$170 per person for education.

 

And this is on top of the 10,000 Hiroshima-sized nuclear warheads that the US already has stockpiled to 'keep her safe'.

 

Are we really looking at a 'warfare state' or, as Benito Mussolini suggested & Eisenhower waned against, the 'ultimate flowering of fascism'?

 

Whatever your belief, there is a common thesis abroad in the world today is that America, champion of 'freedom & democracy', the world's 'beacon for liberty', has been hijacked by the military-industrial complex & has morphed into a fascist state.

 

Evidencing an unabashed determination to act unilaterally & outside the bounds of International Law, with her democratic institutions seemingly rendered impotent & with her people seemingly content to stand by & do nothing, America's behaviour helps make that perception a reality.

 

Is it really any wonder that so many in the world have come to fear America?

 

And what does fear breed?

The Governments of European countries are starting to be extremely worried that their own defence enterprises are being massively overtaken by US money from many private investment enterprises. According to European ministers, who have launched investigations in the matter, the investments although private seem to smell of a push by Washington (who has the biggest deficit on record) to infiltrate Europe armament manufacture “as instruments of geo-strategical politics of the US

George Galloway's comments in the British House of Commons on the London bombings.

Man on Fire

I think the beacon of liberty has been sullied, a little, by the contortions of the Bushites in keeping the traitor Karl Rove out of jail.

If there's any truth in Medicating The Dead, it could be Dr Stranglelove's hand hovering over the button.

If you’re sitting high above the roadway inside an SUV, with a mind brimming with antidepressants, a belly stuffed with high fat, high carbohydrate “comfort food,

I have tried to source original material re Bush being on drugs and it all comes back to one source —a satirical circular letter — that is most likely making it up and has no means of confirmation. It does not mean that Bush is not some sort of anti-depressant but there is no official (or even unofficial denial) confirmation of this. My guess is that he could be...

The average taxpayer is grateful for the inspirational work of Peter Costello. It's good to know our earnings are redistributed to worthy causes. Top of list are improvements to the rural assets of rich donors. I, for one, am glad that granny has to wait a bit longer for her knee replacement, as long as the roadworks in sensitive marginal electorates are kept up to standard.

When the mogul, cattle king or magnate invests in a new Nissan Pathfinder, to get the polo ponies to the weekend gymkhana, it's only natural that he should be able barrel long at a fair clip, without having the horse-float put under stress. The squatter's lady also needs a smooth ride, to apply her Giorgio Armani cosmetics while tooling her Merc E-Class Sports Pack into town. Her frock shop is integral to the fabric of rural life. It's a long enough drive, even on a first-class strip of bitumen, so she enjoys the chance to chat with the stockbroker, and the children in the top Sydney boarding schools, using her Nokia 8800.

Much of their driving occurs after dark, flat-chat, and the night fauna feels the impact. It isn't only cane toads that end their days under the wheels of the Merc. Daylight reveals the toll of bilby, quoll, numbat, rat-kangaroo, nightjar, frogmouth, boobook, moths and tiny little bats.

The squattocracy isn't concerned by little creatures, especially ones that are silly enough to get in the way. Australia's elite thinks big. They know how globalisation works, and it starts by paying $5000 per plate to listen to a brace of American powerbrokers. The latest project is centred on Africa, and is being spruiked up by a multimedia billionaire and an ubergeek squillionaire. Shareholders are being introduced to a fresh concept, the planting of a sustainable outpost of democracy, that will be a win-win for Africans and rich westerners.

Everyone agrees that poor African nations need educational resources. This plan is to build a complete new town, it's centrepiece a technical college, right on the coast. The site has been carefully chosen, within easy road distance of a huge mountain of gems and minerals, and alongside deep anchorage for a whole nuclear-powered US fleet. It will not have a university, instead higher level learning will be thorugh an online, Australian university, all by distance education. This feature of the plan is specifically to avoid the cultural disruption undergone by Africans who would have to leave their country to go to university, and also avoids the embarrassment of Aussie families coping with the sight of African students in their suburbs.

The audience is attracted to the idea, are certain that democracy can be planted this way, and they open their cheque-books to give up tax-deductible donations. The new town will be named Port Freedumb.

Twenty years on, and the watchword at Freedumb is security. It's surrounded by an impenetrable concrete wall, constucted by an Israeli contractor, and protected inside by a permanent battalion of crack US marines and ultra-smart weaponry. Geostationary satellites are positioned overhead, one for communications, one with laser deathrays, and one with nuclear warheads set on hairtrigger. The latter is in case of last resort, or any other contingency in the Rumsfeldian quiver of tactics, if it becomes necessary to obliterate the town. The populace move in and out by Learjets, and by helicopters from the gunboats. The town has a school, for the expatriates and selected African children. It is not so much a college town, as a garrison for servicing the nearby mining complexes.

The perimeters of Freedumb, outside the wall, are guarded by a multi-national force. The contractors emply local peoples, who also receive the benefit of the latest western knowhow. They are vaccinated against malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and all the other infections that pose a risk to US expeditionary forces. They are supplied with unlimited Toyotas, fuel and automatic weapons.

The mercenaries travel into the villages regularly, to rescue pre-pubertal girls from poverty and AIDS, so they can be educated in the town. More than half the number of girls do not make it though the wall, though, but stay in the mercenary camps, so they can help out in the kitchens and gardens. And assist with other chores, in their spare time.

Several times each day, a Toyota pulls up at a checkpoint, and explodes. These suicide missions are carried out by young indigenous people who have learnt to make explosives from cookbooks and manuals obtained over the internet.

Why do they hate us?

In my article, I quoted a claim by an Iraqi humanitarian organization, ‘Iraqivun, that 128,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US invasion in March 2003.

 

Given an earlier study published by The Lancet in October, 2004, which cited Iraqi civilian casualties as being in excess of 100,000, this latest claim seemed credible, particularly given the further passage of time & the upsurge in the insurgency since it was conducted.

 

I’ve since been referred to another study, which was undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme in the period March - August, 2004 UNDP: Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004

 

Whilst there are some differences in the time periods covered by the studies, the UNDP study would nevertheless appear to be more authoritative than the Lancet study, in that it was larger & canvassed a wider area (UNDP surveyed 21,600 households across 18 provinces vs 808 households across 11 provinces surveyed by the Lancet).

 

In the interests of honest debate, I want to highlight the UNDP study – in particular its estimate of the number of civilian deaths as a result of the invasion as being in the range of 18,000 – 29,000: with the actual number probably close to 24,000.

 

In light of this, it is clear to me that the civilian casualty report cited in my article can only be regarded as completely unreliable & I apologize for not checking it more thoroughly.

 

I don’t believe that the lower casualty figure in any way weakens my thesis however, that is obviously something for others to judge.

The real figure of civilian death in Iraq is most likely to be between the two analysis, as a third report points out that 14 per cent of US troops on the ground have reported at least one civilian death caused by their small guns. This does not account for those killed by bombs from plane and of those not registered. Even if the number of death were only 500 it could not hide the fact that we went in Iraq on a lie of massive proportion with great elements of grand delusion.... it has been an exploitation of our greater ability to lie to ourselves, individually and collectively

The elusive white powder you seek is here Gus George W. Bush - Substance Abuse Controversy

Mark Fiore's view: Super-Secret

Apparently, there is great play in Sydney town at the moment I have been told... "STUFF HAPPENS" by David Hare... Go and see.... If my sources are correct, Gerard Henderson was there last night but left at half time... (er... at the interval) unless he relinquished his good seat to moved to the back so he could not hear as well. So it must be real good... The play basically expose in clinical and sharp form all of what we've known and discussed for yonks — the lies and machinations of the Bush administration to go to war, including the Blair foibles. The funny part is that apart from the narrative and a few short scenes, it looks the whole play has been written with REAL dialogue extracted from minutes of meetings and speeches... you know the stuff, Bushism and all and it's so really-sick funny... sick because people died... and the price of oil is only mentioned once... but Wolfowitz pulls a few strings... Ah... If I had the boots of god on my feet I'd kick a few arses... But then as my sister comrad Kalena says: "The problem with humanity is that our animality was corrupted by religious beliefs, not the other way around..." This one — a clip on the ear — was for Miranda... You know who I'm talking about.

The Lord Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, yesterday blamed western policies for contributing to the spread of the extremist beliefs that inspired the London bombers.

 

The mayor of London highlighted the West's role in the creation of al-Qa'eda by saying: "We created these people. We built them up. We funded them."

 

Western Policies Are To Blame

The 7:30 report interviewed Mr Robert Pape on 20/7/05. He has studied terrorist bombers over the last 25 years and he says this:

"There's a faulty premise in the current strategy on the war on terrorism. That faulty premise is that suicide terrorism and Al Qaeda suicide terrorism in particular is mainly driven by an evil ideology Islamic fundamentalism independent of other circumstances. However, the facts are that since 1980, suicide terrorist attacks from around the world over half have been secular. What over 95 per cent of suicide attacks around the world [are about] is not religion, but a specific strategic purpose - to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland or prize greatly and this is in fact a centrepiece of Al Qaeda's strategic logic, which is to compel the United States and Western countries to abandon military commitments on the Arabian Peninsula."

The full interview is here

‘An FBI agent warned superiors in a memo three years ago that US officials who discussed plans to ship terror suspects to foreign nations that practice torture could be prosecuted for conspiring to violate US law, according to a copy of the memo obtained by NEWSWEEK.

 

The strongly worded memo, written by an FBI supervisor then assigned to Guantanamo, is the latest in a series of documents that have recently surfaced reflecting unease among some government lawyers and FBI agents over tactics being used in the war on terror.

 

This memo appears to be the first that directly questions the legal premises of the Bush administration policy of "extraordinary rendition" - a secret program under which terror suspects are transferred to foreign countries that have been widely criticized for practicing torture.’

 

Secret Memo: Send to Be Tortured

‘Torturing prisoners, making people pile up naked, electric shock in private areas, using vicious dogs to bite, holding people in secret in perpetuity and denying them access to their families and the legal process are not the human rights values this nation stands for.

 

As prisoners' families, colleagues and countrymen hear of the abuses, support swells rather than diminishes for Jihad against us. We have dramatically reduced our national reputation as a human rights leader.’

 

Prison Torture Decisions Came From The Top

’My country is in the grip of a president surrounded by thugs in suits.

It has quickly become clear that Iraq is not a liberated country, but an occupied country. We became familiar with that term during the second world war. We talked of German-occupied France, German-occupied Europe. And after the war we spoke of Soviet-occupied Hungary, Czechoslovakia, eastern Europe. It was the Nazis, the Soviets, who occupied countries. The United States liberated them from occupation. 

 

 

Now we are the occupiers. True, we liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein, but not from us. Just as in 1898 we liberated Cuba from Spain, but not from us. Spanish tyranny was overthrown, but the US established a military base in Cuba, as we are doing in Iraq. US corporations moved into Cuba, just as Bechtel and Halliburton and the oil corporations are moving into Iraq. The US framed and imposed, with support from local accomplices, the constitution that would govern Cuba, just as it has drawn up, with help from local political groups, a constitution for Iraq. Not a liberation. An occupation.’

 

 

An Ugly Occupation

There's a new batch of photos from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, and these are reportedly far worse than the sickening originals. Naturally, the Pentagon is trying to block their release.

 

The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2003 to make public 87 photographs and four videos depicting prisoner abuse in Iraq. The Pentagon originally argued that releasing the images would violate the Geneva Convention rights of the detainees; a supreme irony considering that the US originally denied these very prisoners Geneva Convention protections. 

 

The ACLU agreed that the Pentagon could black out "identifying characteristics," but a federal judge in New York ruled last week that DoD must explain publicly why it's concealing the images. "By and large, I ruled for public disclosure," said US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. A final ruling is expected on August 30.

 

More Images Of Abu Ghraib

 

‘Whoever advised President George Bush to escape the storm of criticism he faces over Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and the Libby CIA case by flying to Argentina for a free trade summit should be sent in chains to Guantanamo.  

 

Bush’s venture was an embarrassing diplomatic failure and the most humiliating fiasco faced by a US president in Latin America since Vice President Richard Nixon got mobbed in 1958. Bush was left looking isolated and confused, while his nemesis, Venezuela’s boisterous merangue-marxist leader, Hugo Chavez, rallied Latinos to his side and gleefully mocked the US president. 

 

Now, Bush has returned to Washington rent by factional warfare, growing outrage over Bush-Cheney’s defence of torture, and new polls showing a majority of Americans believe the president deceived the US into war. 

 

Americans Are Running Out Of Patience With Their `War President’

 

 

‘In fact, George Bush lied over and over. He may have believed his lies would somehow turn out to be true. But, nonetheless, he stated as fact assertions that he had no evidence for.  

 

He said Hussein had WMD; he didn't say Hussein might have WMD, or that it was his opinion that Hussein had WMD. He said he knew that Hussein had WMD.  

 

That was a lie.’ 

 

Lying About Lies About Lying