Peter Klashorst

Om drie uur vanmiddag begon bij Gallery Donkersloot aan de Amsterdamse Leidsegracht 76, in de volksmond 'Dronk en Snoof' geheten, de expositie van Peter Klashorst's nieuwe werk. De opening werd verricht door niemand minder dan oud-voetbalinternational Willy van de Kerkhof, die blij verklaarde dat hij Klashorst 'in de markt wil zetten,' ondanks of misschien juist wel dankzij het feit 'dat ik niets van kunst afweet.' Willy 'ik doe in Golf en zit in de Horeca, en mijn broer renteniert' ziet wel iets in de Tempelier en lijstduwer van Huisje, Boompje, Beestje Peter Klashorst. Tout Amsterdam was aanwezig, van verhuurders van skyboxen tot lui die uw zwart geld wel willen witten. Buiten beeld waren er ook talloze gevluchte al dan niet homoseksuele kunstenaars die op het lijstje van Rita Verdonk staan. De bril met donkere glazen die de schilder opheeft is vanwege zijn verbrande oogleden nadat hij van de week drie jaar oude zonnebrandolie op zijn gelaat smeerde.


Van collega schilder en fan Sylvester kreeg Peter Klashorst een zelfportret vanwege de inspiratie die Peter oproept. 'Klashorst veroordeelt niemand, dat is zo mooi van hem.' Sylvester weet niets van Iran, maar wil er wel een keertje heen om eens te kijken.


Vriend en filmmaker Mattias Ylstra heeft zijn camera even weggezet om de vers aangevoerde door miss Libanon 1974 tevens beeldend kunstenaresse zelf gemaakte humus te kunnen keuren. Volgens Rita Verdonk is humus in Iran geen enkel probleem. Kan onmiddellijk teruggestuurd worden.


Robbie van Erven Dorens, inderdaad de oom van, bijgenaamd mister Golf. Wil niet naar Iran om onduidelijke redenen. Heeft nog niets van Rita Verdonk gehoord.


Een recent olieverf schilderij dat Peter Klashorst in Afrika maakte. Kan niet! naar Iran teruggestuurd worden.

Het Amerikaans Corporatisme

De essayist Lewis Lapham behoort tot de oude intellectuele elite van de Amerikaanse Oostkust. Dertig jaar lang was hij hoofdredacteur van het gerenommeerde Harper’s Magazine. Een tijdje geleden sprak ik hem en toen zei Lapham: 'Het hele streven achter de oorlog tegen het terrorisme is niet bedoeld om het Amerikaanse volk tegen een buitenlandse vijand te beschermen, maar om de Amerikaanse plutocratie te verdedigen tegen de Amerikaanse democratie. Het juiste woord hiervoor is natuurlijk fascisme, maar dat woord is in onbruik geraakt omdat het wordt beschouwd als een te opruimende term die geassocieerd wordt met Nazi-Duitsland. Daarom zal ik een citaat geven van Franklin Roosevelt die in 1938 verklaarde: "ik ben zo vrij de uitdagende stelling te poneren dat de Amerikaanse democratie als een levende kracht ophoudt voorwaarts te gaan… als fascisme en communisme - geholpen misschien onbewust door het reactionair Republikanisme - in ons land aan kracht zullen winnen." De democraat Roosevelt was zich bewust van de Amerikaanse versie van het fascisme, een fascisme dat in de woorden van Mussolini beter ‘corporatisme’ kon worden genoemd "omdat het een fusie is tussen de macht van de staat en die van de grote ondernemingen." Roosevelt herkende dit soort fascisme in de oppositie van vooraanstaande Amerikaanse kapitalisten tegen zijn New-Deal beleid. Hij was vooruitziend, want onze huidige Nationale Veiligheids Staat met zijn toenemende geheimhouding, beperking van de vrijheid van het individu, voortdurende oorlogen en verregaand corporatisme is geen democratie meer. Het is het fascisme dat de harten en geesten heeft veroverd van de generatie die nu in Washington aan de macht is.' Het corporatisme speelt ook nu weer een doorslaggevende rol bij de grote en omstreden havendeal in de Verenigde Staten. Vanochtend kreeg ik een email van Jan van Kampenhout waarin hij me op het volgende wees: 'Beste Stan, Op boingboing.net staat een artikeltje over rijke Lobbyisten voor de Dubai Group, die zonder veel controle hun wensen doordrukken. De familie Bush blijkt daar weer eng verwant mee. video hier:
http://www.wnymedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1090&Itemid=35 en over de carlyle group: http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html' Verhelderend om naar te kijken. Hierover horen we nooit iets van de neoliberale propagandisten, die de mond vol hebben van democratie en mensenrechten en rechtstaat en vrijheid van meningsuiting en persvrijheid enzovoorts, etcetera...

Peter d'Hamecourt

Propaganda werkt sluipenderwijs, via terloopse opmerkingen, nonchalante tussenzinnen, tendentieuze adjectieven en als men propaganda maar vaak genoeg herhaalt dan wordt het op den duur de waarheid in een massamaatschappij. In het achtuur Journaal van de NOS gaf Peter d'Hamecourt gisteravond weer een goede illustratie van het bijna onbewust propaganda bedrijven. Het ging hier om wat beelden van de Hamas-delegatie die op uitnodiging van president Poetin Moskou bezocht. De Moskou-correspondent strooide met kwalificaties zodat de kijkers goed beseften dat we hier met een stelletje Palestijnse gangsters te maken hadden. Hij had over 'het extremistisch pad' en 'radicale Palestijnen' zonder duidelijk te maken waar hij het nu precies over had. De leider van Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, verklaarde na afloop: 'Wij zeggen tegen Moskou: Als Israel bereid is de troepen terug te trekken uit de bezette Palestijnse gebieden dan zijn de Hamas-beweging, de Palestijnen en de Arabieren bereid om serieuze stappen te zetten voor vrede in dit gebied.' Geenszins een radicaal standpunt, dit is precies wat de VN-wereldgemeenschap sinds 1967 van Israel eist, terugtrekking uit de bezette gebieden in ruil voor een gegarandeerde vrede. Dat moet d'Hamecourt allemaal niet weten of hij bedriegt zijn kijkers, want aan het slot van het item sprak hij de suggestieve woorden dat Hamas vertrok 'zonder veel van zijn radicale standpunten op te geven.' Welke radicale standpunten? Hij zweeg erover, maar in elk geval had hij zijn tendentieuze berichtgeving uitgezonden gekregen. Het is een dagtaak om de absurditeiten en propaganda van de Nederlandse journalistiek aan de kaak te stellen.

Frits Abrahams

Op de achterpagina van NRC/Handelsblad staat vanavond een wonderlijk stukje van Frits Abrahams. Het gaat over de onlangs overleden journalist Willebrord Nieuwenhuis. Abrahams meldt over het pro-Amerika standpunt dat Nieuwenhuis tijdens de Vietnam oorlog innam: 'Later, te laat, beseft hij dat hij naief met de Amerikaanse oorlogspropaganda is omgegaan. "Ik kon me niet goed voorstellen dat het machtige en idealistische Amerika zich van die tactiek (van de leugen - F.A.) zou bedienen," schrijft hij dan.' Dat is niet zo vreemd omdat het provincialisme van de Nederlandse journalistiek, geschoold in het poldermodel-denken, het moeilijk zo niet onmogelijk maakt om te beseffen dat in de grote mensenwereld macht uit de loop van een geweer komt en niet aan een borreltafel ontstaat. Ook op dit moment weer blijkt hoeveel moeite Nederlandse journalisten hebben om in te zien dat de Irak-oorlog een geopolitiek machtspel is om de olie en om het beperken van de groeiende invloed van China. Maar daar gaat het Frits Abrahams niet om. Hij verbaast zich over iets anders. Ineens voert hij de dichter Lucebert op die al in een in 1968 herdrukt boekje (toen Nieuwenhuis dus nog pal achter de Amerikaanse genocide in Vietnam stond) het volgende constateert: 'De overgrote meerderheid van het Amerikaanse volk is politiek onmondig en daardoor ook zondermeer bereid een agressieve politiek te volgen die zowel op binnen- als buitenland is gericht...' Wat Abrahams nu zo frappeert is niet de politieke onnozelheid van de latere chef-buitenland van de NRC, maar de 'diepe afkeer van de Westerse politiek' van de dichter/beeldend kunstenaar Lucebert. Voor de NRC-columnist is het 'opvallende verschil' tussen Nieuwenhuis en Lucebert het volgende: 'Lucebert, de schrijver nota bene, wist alles zeker, Nieuwenhuis, de journalist, zocht de nuance.' Een nuance die naar schatting tussen de 2 en 3 miljoen Zuid-Oost Aziaten het leven heeft gekost en nog steeds talloze slachtoffers in Vietnam veroorzaakt als gevolg van de massale verspreiding van het chemische wapen Agent Orange, een ontbladeringsmiddel dat een aanzienlijk deel van het landbouwgebied en bossen daar heeft vergiftigd. Willibrord Nieuwenhuis zocht dus de nuance door de Verenigde Staten journalistiek te steunen, terwijl het 7.6 miljoen ton bommen op Indo China liet vallen, meer dan drie keer zoveel als tijdens de gehele Tweede Wereldoorlog op Nazi Duitsland terecht kwam. Daar tegenover staat 'Lucebert, de schrijver nota bene,' die onmiddellijk zeker wist dat de Amerikaanse agressie onmenselijk was. Hij had de waanzin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog meegemaakt en wist uit eigen ervaring zeker dat oorlogsmisdaden verwerpelijk waren en sprak zich daar tegen uit, in tegenstelling tot Nieuwenhuis die deze oorlogsmisdaden intellectueel steunde in zijn zoektocht naar de nuance, als we tenminste Frits Abrahams moeten geloven. Lucebert was immuun voor de ongenuanceerde boodschap van propaganda. Na de dood van de kunstenaar en de journalist probeert de columnist alsnog de kunstenaar te betuttelen voor diens menselijkheid en zijn NRC-chef te prijzen voor diens onnozelheid. Ziehier het fundamentele verschil tussen kunst en journalistiek. Niet voor niets zei Milan Kundera, de schrijver nota bene, dat journalisten 'de termieten van de reductie' zijn die zelfs de grootste liefde weten terug te brengen tot een geraamte van schrale herinneringen. Later wees Kundera erop dat 'de moderne dwaasheid niet de onwetendheid (betekent), maar de gedachteloosheid van pasklare ideeen.' En voor dat gevaar waarschuwde hij toen hij in zijn Jeruzalem-rede over de roman en Europa verklaarde: 'als de Europese cultuur mij vandaag de dag bedreigd lijkt, als ze van buitenaf zowel als van binnenuit bedreigd wordt in het kostbaarste dat ze heeft, haar respect voor het individu, respect voor zijn oorspronkelijke denken en voor zijn recht op een onschendbaar prive-leven, dan meen ik dat deze kostbare essentie van het Europese individualisme als in een zilveren schrijn gebed ligt in de geschiedenis van de roman, in de wijsheid van de roman.' En dat oorspronkelijke denken, dat niet ontvankelijk is voor de grofheid van welke propaganda dan ook, staat onder druk van de termieten van de reductie, zoals Frits Abrahams die deze houding ongenuanceerd vindt, zoals hij impliciet laat weten. Hoe durft die Lucebert zo uitgesproken tegen de waanzin van de Westerse wereld te zijn. Wie denkt die man wel dat hij is? Op die onuitgesproken gedachte berust het ressentiment van de kleine journalist. De grootsheid moet omlaag om de laagheid nog enig niveau te geven. We hebben in de geschiedenis gezien waartoe dat leidt.

Nederland Tegen Terrorisme?

Ik heb vanmiddag voor het eerst van mijn leven anoniem gebeld met het nummer 0800-7000, en dat op verzoek van de Nationaal Coordinator Terrorismebestrijding die een kleine brochure vol grote dikke letters in mijn brievenbus heeft laten stoppen. Daarin werd mij geadviseerd om misdaden ogenbikkelijk aan te geven. Ik heb als plichtsgetrouw burger subiet de naam doorgegeven van de man die helemaal rechts op de foto door een kalkoen wordt bepikt. Deze man roept op tot het plegen van terrorisme zoals in mijn weblog omonstotelijk wordt aangetoond. De mevrouw aan de lijn vroeg of het een grap was. Ik antwoordde haar dat dit volstrekt geen grap was. Immers in de brochure staat: 'Terrorisme: het plegen van zwaar geweld met als doel politieke of gosdienstige standpunten aan anderen op te leggen.' Welnu, als er 1 figuur op aarde is die dit doet, dan is het wel die man rechts op de foto. Overigens lijkt de definitie in die lullige Nederlandse brochure verdacht veel op de definitie uit het Amerikaanse Leger Handboek, waarbij terrorisme omschreven wordt als ‘het bewust geplande gebruik van geweld of dreiging van geweld om doelen te bereiken die politiek, religieus, of ideologisch van aard zijn.’ Zie: http://home.planet.nl/~houck006/filosofie2.html Ondanks mijn oprechte klacht werd ik door de telefoniste afgewimpeld waardoor ik nu weet dat er helemaal niets wordt gedaan tegen het terrorisme. En het enige dat ik kan is via mijn weblog ervoor waarschuwen. Enfin, u hoeft dat nummer dus niet te bellen, want het is allemaal nonsense.

Nederland en Afghanistan 46

Hier kunt u informatie vinden over Afghanistan, informatie van de Amerikaanse hoogleraar Marc Herold. Informatie waarover de Nederlandse politici niet beschikken en ook niet wensen te beschikken. Dit is het verhaal dat men niet wil horen. 'Four years after the U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan, the true meaning of the U.S occupation is revealing itself. Afghanistan represents merely a space that is to be kept empty. Western powers have no interest in either buying from or selling to the blighted nation. The impoverished Afghan civilian population is as irrelevant as is the nation's economic development. But the space represented by Afghanistan in a volatile region of geo-political import, is to be kept vacant from all hostile forces. The country is situated at the center of a resurgent Islamic world, close to a rising China (and India) and the restive ex-Soviet Asian republics, and adjacent to oil-rich states. The only populated centers of any real concern are a few islands of grotesque capitalist imaginary reality -- foremost Kabul -- needed to project the image of an existing central government, an image further promoted by Karzai's frequent international junkets. In such islands of affluence amidst a sea of poverty, a sufficient density of foreign ex-pats, a bloated NGO-community, carpetbaggers and hangers-on of all stripes, money disbursers, neo-colonial administrators, opportunists, bribed local power brokers, facilitators, beauticians (of the city planner or aesthetician types), members of the development establishment, do-gooders, enforcers, etc., warrants the presence of Western businesses. These include foreign bank branches, luxury hotels (Serena Kabul, Hyatt Regency of Kabul), shopping malls (the Roshan Plaza, the Kabul City Centre mall), import houses (Toyota selling its popular Land Cruiser), image makers (J. Walter Thompson), and the ubiquitous Coca-Cola1. The "other," the real economy -- is a vast informal one in which the Afghan masses creatively eke out a daily existence.2 They are utterly irrelevant to the neo-colonist interested in running an empty space at the least cost. The self-financing opium economy reduces such cost and thrives upon invisibility. The invisible multitudes represent a nuisance -- much like Kabul's traffic -- upon maintaining the empty space. Only the minimal amount of resources -- whether of the carrot or stick type -- will be devoted to preserving their invisibility. Many of those who returned after the overthrow of the Taliban are now seeking to emigrate abroad, further emptying the space.3.' Lees verder: http://www.cursor.org/stories/emptyspace.html En hier: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/

Nederland en Afghanistan 45

Dit is verhelderend om even te lezen zodat we weten hoe de Nederlandse militairen in Uruzgan ontvangen gaan worden en wie er de dienst uitmaakt. 'No one wants them there. They don't talk to anyone. They drive around maybe six or seven vehicles together in a convoy stopping to search houses. Everyone is afraid of them."
-- Abdul Ahmed Safi, official of the provincial Konar government. The Americans are no different from the Russians, one hears in Uruzgan and Kandahar. U.S. Army Special Forces were first deployed in Afghanistan on October 19 in northern Afghanistan to serve primarily as spotters for U.S. bombing missions. On that same day, in a very embarrassing start to their Afghan ground campaign, the elite Delta Force suffered 12 casualties when ambushed by Taliban troops using machine guns and RPGs.(3) The Delta team had landed by helicopter on Mullah Omar's summer retreat in the hills above Kandahar. According to The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, several of those who participated in the raid called it a "total goat fuck" - which, we are told, is "military slang meaning that everything that could go wrong did go wrong."(4) Special Forces units played a key role in directing deadly U.S. airstrikes [using lasers and GPS coordinates] upon Taliban front lines around Mazar and Taloquan between Nov. 5 and 10.(5) By mid-November a couple hundred such elite troops had been inserted into the battlefields around Mazar and Kunduz working with Dostum's and Mohammad Atta's Northern Alliance troops. On November 14, a U.S. Special Forces team is sent into Tarin Kot to protect Hamid Karzai. In late November, they participated in the slaughter of prisoners in the Qala-i-Janghi prison fort in Mazar-i-Sharif. Recent evidence reveals that also they were involved at least as passive observers, in the infamous container convoys of death bringing prisoners from Mazar to Sheberghan.(6) Luke Harding recently noted, "Dostum has been on the US payroll for nearly a year."(7) An elite team from the 5th Special Forces Group first met up with Dostum last October, when its members were dropped by Chinook helicopter at his mountain redoubt. The 595 A-team coordinated the Northern Alliance assaults upon Mazar and later Kunduz. Harding reports that this unit paid repeated visits to Sheberghen prison. Reportedly, a dust-covered Special Forces vehicle pulled up 500 meters away from where Dostum's bulldozers were burying the Taliban prisoners who had been executed.' Meer verhalen kunt u hier lezen: http://www.cursor.org/stories/vietnam_redux.htm En hier: http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Afghanistan/stop.html

Martelen 23

Onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror' mag martelen. Turkisch Press bericht: '''War on terror'' trials could allow evidence obtained through torture. GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AFP)
US military officers, breaking with domestic and international legal precedent, said that "war on terror" military tribunals at the Guantanamo naval base could allow evidence obtained through torture.
The US military officer presiding over the trial of an alleged aide to Osama bin Laden said he was not ready to rule out such evidence.
The officer, who wields power similar to a judge, was asked by the defense lawyer representing Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul, a Yemeni accused of plotting terror attacks for bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, if he was ready to exclude all evidence secured through torture. After a long pause, Colonel Peter Brownback declined to commit to a blanket ban on evidence obtained as a result of torture.
"What you and I mean by torture could be different," Brownback told defense lawyer Major Tom Fleener. He said "a red-hot needle in the eye" constitutes torture but was not ready to commit to a prohibition in advance of the trial. "My personal belief is that torture is not good," he added. But he said it would depend on the circumstances and how the prosecution presented the evidence.' Lees verder:
http://www.turkishpress.com/nw.asp?s=i&i=060302072952.hmzo6xg1&t='War%20on%20terror'%20trials%20could%20allow%20evidence%20obtained%20through%20torture&sl=US-attacks-rights-trial-Guantanamo%204thlead Is er nu niemand in Nederland die de Nederlandse regering voor het gerecht wil dagen vanwege het direct en indirect meewerken aan martelingen? Want de door onze militairen gevangen genomen verdachten in Afghanistan lopen het grote gevaar door onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror' te worden gemarteld.

Jan Tromp van de Volkskrant 3

Het probleem met correspondenten is dat ze teveel achter hun computer zitten om de zienswijze van de autoriteiten, die op dit moment aan de macht zijn, over te pennen. Het voetwerk, het gewone journalistieke voetwerk doen ze te weinig. Jan Tromp van de Volkskrant had gisteren niet achter zijn pc moeten zitten, maar in Washington moeten lopen, op weg naar Ray McGovern. 'Ray McGovern and 15 others took action today in the halls of Congress. The 16 donned orange jumpsuits similar to those worn by detainees at Guantánamo Bay. They wore gags over their mouths decorated with one word - torture. Not another word needed to be said as they walked the halls of Congress. McGovern, a 27-year veteran of the CIA, also returned his Intelligence Commendation Award medallion which was given to him for "especially commendable service." He delivered the medal to Congressman Pete Hoekstra along with the letter below. "I Do Not Wish to Be Associated With Torture. Hon. Pete Hoekstra, Chair House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Washington, DC.
Dear Congressman Hoekstra:
As a matter of conscience, I am returning the Intelligence Commendation Award medallion given me for "especially commendable service" during my 27-year career in CIA. The issue is torture, which inhabits the same category as rape and slavery - intrinsically evil. I do not wish to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.
Reports in recent years that CIA personnel were torturing detainees were highly disturbing. Confirmation of a sort came last fall, when CIA Director Porter Goss and Dick Cheney - dubbed by the Washington Post "Vice President for Torture" - descended on Sen. John McCain to demand that the CIA be exempted from his amendment's ban on torture. Subsequent reports implicated agency personnel in several cases of prisoner abuse in Iraq, including a few in which detainees died during interrogation.
The obeisance of CIA directors George Tenet and Porter Goss in heeding illegal White House directives has done irreparable harm to the CIA and the country - not to mention those tortured and killed. That you, as Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, show more deference to the White House than dedication to your oversight responsibilities under the Constitution is another profound disappointment. How can you and your counterpart, Sen. Pat Roberts, turn a blind eye to torture - letting some people get away, literally, with murder - and square that with your conscience?
If German officials who were ordered to do such things in the 1930s had spoken out early and loudly enough, the German people might have been alerted to the atrocities being perpetrated in their name and tried harder to stop them. When my grandchildren ask, "What did you do, Grandpa, to stop the torture," I want to be able to tell them that I tried to honor my oath, taken both as an Army officer and an intelligence officer, to defend the Constitution of the United States - and that I not only spoke out strongly against the torture, but also sought a symbolic way to dissociate myself from it.
We Americans have become accustomed to letting our institutions do our sinning for us. I abhor the corruption of the CIA in the past several years, believe it to be beyond repair, and do not want my name on any medallion associated with it. Please destroy this one.
Yours truly, Ray McGovern' Lees verder:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030206A.shtml Meer over Ray McGovern:
http://faculty.schreiner.edu/tomwells/ray_mcgovern_bio.htm Beste Jan Tromp, wij als lezers van een krant in Nederland kunnen niet aanwezig zijn bij een dergelijke illustrerende gebeurtenis in Washington. Daar hebben we jou voor nodig of de progressieve journalisten van bijvoorbeeld Truthout die erover berichten, in tegenstelling tot de commerciele massamedia die erover zwijgen. De rest, over bijvoorbeeld India en Bush enzovoorts, kunnen we zelf wel van het internet plukken of zien we zelf wel op televisie. Laat die berichtgeving maar aan de grote persbureau's over, die beschikken over meer mensen en meer kennis en meer professionele propaganda. Maar aan de dwarsliggers, de oppositie op straat, de oprechte tegenstem besteden ze geen aandacht. Dat kun jij als 'onafhankelijke' journalist wel. Dus rennen Jan, naar McGovern die 27 jaar lang voor de CIA werkte en nu zijn medaille teruggeeft. D'r is iets aan de hand onder fatsoenlijke Amerikanen waarover we niets van jou vernemen. Aan de slag kerel. Het voetwerk. Met vriendelijke groet, je collega Stan van Houcke.

Jan Tromp van de Volkskrant 2

Dit schreef de Volkskrant correspondent in New York: 'Atoompact VS-India is ‘mijlpaal’. Van onze correspondent Jan Tromp. NEW YORK. Met opmerkelijke welwillendheid is internationaal gereageerd op een Amerikaans-Indiase overeenkomst die India enerzijds in staat stelt zijn nucleaire opwekking van energie fors uit te breiden, en anderzijds geen regels stelt aan het kernwapenprogramma van het land. Wel zal India inspectie toestaan van een aantal kernreactoren dat het land als niet-militaire objecten heeft aangemerkt.' Lees verder:
http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article236008.ece En dit schreef de correspondent in India van de Britse kwaliteitskrant de Independent: 'White House criticised for agreeing to share nuclear technology with India. By Justin Huggler in Delhi. President George Bush has finalised a deal to share nuclear technology with India even as the US leads international attempts to rein in the nuclear programme of Iran… Critics argue that it amounts to rewarding India - which has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty - for developing its own nuclear weapons in defiance of world opinion… Many observers believe the deal is also partly motivated by the US desire to make India a strategic ally, a counterweight to the growing power of China.' Lees verder: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article348911.ece Wie dichter bij de waarheid zit blijkt al snel als u beide artikelen leest. Bovendien valt dan meteen op wie van de twee correspondenten de feiten in een bredere contect zet, waardoor het nieuws ook begrijpelijker wordt. Jan Tromp moet zijn huiswerk doen. Nu past zijn berichtgeving naadloos in de propaganda tegen bijvoorbeeld Iran. De VS wil Iran gaan bombarderen in verband met nucleair onderzoek, terwijl India die daarwerkelijk nuclaire wapens bezit geholpen wordt door de VS. Dat wringt. Hoe zou dat toch komen Janneman? Bovendien verwoordde Nobelprijswinnaar en directeur-generaal van de International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei het treffend toen hij in 2003 zei: 'The very existence of nuclear weapons gives rise to the pursuit of them. They are seen as a source of global influence, and are valued for their perceived deterrent effect. And as long as some countries possess them (or are protected by them in alliances) and others do not, this asymmetry breeds chronic global insecurity.' Bovendien had Jan Tromp ook het verhelderende rapport 'Het Nucleaire Non-Proliferatieregime' erop na kunnen slaan van onze eigen Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken, een raad bestaande uit deskundigen die de Nederlandse regering adviseren. In dat rapport staat op pagina 33: 'Het voornemen van de Amerikaanse regering om India te helpen bij de opbouw van zijn civiele nucleaire industrie, druist in tegen het bestaande non-proliferatieregime.' Iets waarop onder andere Duitsland en Nederland fel tegen zijn. Maar ook die tellen voor onze Jan Tromp van de Volkskrant niet mee, want hij checkt de feiten niet. Zie daarvoor: http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2006/01/jan-tromp-van-de-volkskrant.html

Nederland en Afghanistan 44

De Afghaanse warlords die door de Nederlandse en Amerikaanse militairen aan de macht blijven, worden via de opiumhandel schatrijk. Door corruptie, geweld en natuurlijk de Westerse steun blijven ze aan de macht. Human Rights Watch bericht: 'Four years after U.S. forces ousted the Taliban from Kabul, Afghanistan faces an increasingly violent insurgency in southern and southeastern areas, while in the rest of the country regional military commanders—warlords—further entrench themselves by subverting the political process and controlling the country’s drug trade. Insecurity hampers development in much of Afghanistan, one of the least developed countries in the world. Economic growth remains mostly limited to urban areas, and in particular, Kabul. Human rights abuses, poverty, and insecurity increase markedly with distance away from city centers. Women and girls continue to suffer from discrimination and restrictions. Only 35 percent of school-age girls are in school. According to 2005 U.N. and Afghan government figures, most marriages continue to involve girls below the age of sixteen, many of them forced. The election of a parliament completed the process initiated by the Bonn Agreement in 2001. Election day was free of serious violence or technical problems, but during the campaign period Human Rights Watch documented pervasive intimidation of voters and candidates, in particular women. Over half the members of the new parliament are linked to armed groups or have records of past human rights abuses. In early May 2005, sixteen protesters were killed by police and army troops during violent demonstrations in several cities in response to reports of U.S. interrogators desecrating a copy of the Koran during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. Afghanistan again produced nearly 80 percent of the world’s heroin, and narcotics production and trafficking brought in an estimated U.S. $3 billion to the Afghan economy, far and away the largest single source of income for the country and a significant source of criminality and resistance to the rule of law.' Lees verder:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/afghan12266.htm

De Oorlogsstaat 24

Sidney Blumenthal schrijft in Salon. Com over het opperhoofd van onze bondgenoten in de 'war on terror': 'A deluded king and his court lickspittles. Cut off from reality and surrounded by flatterers like Rice and Cheney, Bush clings to grandiose illusions of heroism. Bush's immovability was previously perceived as the determination of a man of simple but clear convictions. But as his policies have unfolded as disastrous, his image has been turned inside out. Instead of being perceived as secure, he is seen as out of touch; instead of being acknowledged as a colossus striding events, he is viewed as driftwood carried away by the flood. Within the sanctum of the White House, his aides often handle him with flattery. They tell him that he is among the greatest presidents, that his difficulties are testimony to his greatness, that his refusal to change is also a sign of his greatness. The more is he flattered, the more he approves of the flatterer. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has risen along with her current of flattery. She is expert at the handwritten little note extolling his historical radiance. Karen Hughes, now undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, was a pioneer of the flatterer's method. White House legal counsel Harriet Miers is also adept. But it is Vice President Dick Cheney who has sought and gained the most through flattery. While Bush is constantly and lavishly complimented as supreme leader, Cheney runs the show. Through his chief of staff, David Addington, he controls most of the flow of information, especially on national security, that reaches the incurious president. Bush seeks no contrary information or independent sources. He does not delve into the recesses of government himself, as Presidents Kennedy and Clinton did. He never demands worst-case scenarios. Cheney and his team oversee the writing of key decision memos before Bush finally gets to check the box indicating approval.' Lees verder:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/03/02/bush_flattery/

Nederland en Afghanistan 43

De Amerikaanse journalist William Fisher schrijft in een artikel voor Inter Press Service over een nieuw martelkamp van onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror.' Een gevangenis in Afghanistan waar te zijner tijd gevangenen van de Nederlandse militairen in Uruzgan ongetwijfeld in zullen verdwijnen zodra de Amerikanen dit bepalen. Fisher: 'Noah S. Leavitt, an attorney who has worked with the International Law Commission of the United Nations in Geneva and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, took issue with the US military's chief spokesman in Afghanistan, who is quoted as saying the US is "providing the best possible living conditions and medical care in accordance with the principles of the Geneva Convention." That statement, Leavitt charged, "highlights the administration's ignorance of or cavalier attitude toward long-established international law." He added, "The world will always be in catch-up mode when it comes to investigating, discovering and challenging the many ways the Bush administration has undermined international legal norms. Just as they did for Guantánamo, concerned lawyers, journalists and researchers will have to figure out how to gain access to Bagram in order to bring the harsh treatment of the prisoners to the attention of the US judicial system and the international community before any improvements are seen." Leaders of the religious community have also weighed in on the Bagram issue. George Hunsinger, McCord professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and coordinator of Church Folks for a Better America, told us, "America must lead by example. If we continue to shame our country through secret prisons, torture and abuse, the world will no longer look to us as a beacon of hope, but as a dungeon of despair. The only way to defeat terrorism is by upholding our ideals not by trampling on them." Meanwhile, in a related development, a new round of reviews of the Guantánamo Bay detainees is set to begin, but attorneys say the US government is flouting military and international law by preventing any meaningful consideration of proposed evidence and denying information to the detainees' lawyers. Experts from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which is currently overseeing 450 pro-bono attorneys representing the detainees, expressed "outrage about this violation of due process" and pointed to a new federal court decision vindicating their calls for transparent and fair hearings.' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030206Z.shtml Zie voor William Fisher's weblog: The World According to Bill Fisher.

De Oorlogsstaat 23

Zolang de militairen de slachtoffers van hun slachtpartijen niet van nabij zien, is de oorlog nog lekker spannend, maar zodra ze geconfronteerd worden met ontplofte hoofden, uit elkaar gerukte rompen, rondvliegende ledematen, uitpuilende darmen is de kick er gauw vanaf. Zeker als ook nog eens hun eigen kameraden verminkt worden. En dan komen de herinneringen, een leven lang. De Los Angeles Times bericht: 'Study Details Mental Health of War Veterans. More than one-third sought psychological help in the year after their return from Iraq. One in eight soldiers returning from service during the first year of the Iraq war was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or some other mental illness, according to the most comprehensive study yet of the effects of war on the mental health of veterans More than one-third of the veterans had sought psychological help in the year after their return, but the majority required only one or two visits to resolve their concerns, said the team at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research that conducted the study.The results, reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are based on a study of computerized medical records of 300,000 soldiers and are thought to be the most accurate indicator to date of the percentage of soldiers requiring mental health services.The results did not surprise those involved in the care of veterans."I think it's probably on a par with what you would expect," said Dr. Charles W. Hoge of Walter Reed.In the Persian Gulf War, he said, the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among combat soldiers was about 10% to 12%.Nonetheless, the new study shows that mental health issues represent a problem for many veterans."The study confirms what we've heard from our members for the last two years — that mental health issues and [post-traumatic stress disorder] are among the No. 1 issues facing Iraq veterans," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.' Lees verder:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-sci-veterans1mar01,1,6022835.story Of:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0301-06.htm

De Israelische Terreur 9

De mensenrechten organisatie Defense for Children International bericht: 'Over 200 Palestinian children arrested in two months. Occupation forces are arresting scores of Palestinian children each week, bringing the number of juveniles currently held in appalling conditions in Israeli detention centres and prisons to new record levels. Information gathered by the DCI/PS Research & Information and Legal Units shows that since the start of 2006 over 230 Palestinian children have been arrested, with the Israeli army appearing to target in particular youths from the Bethlehem Nablus and Jenin areas of the West Bank. The scale of arrests over the past two months brings the number of Palestinian children in Israeli custody to almost 400. This represents a significant increase on the already-inexcusably high numbers of recent years and marks a further indication of the scant regard Israeli pays to Palestinian children's rights and to international legal instruments. In interviews with DCI/PS lawyers, children have told how upon their arrest they are handcuffed and blindfolded before being bundled into a military jeep and taken to interrogation centres in nearby settlements or military camps. Still dazed and confused from the arrest, and often having been beaten by soldiers inside the jeep, the children are taken immediately for interrogation in which police and soldiers hurl abuse, threats and sometimes kicks and punches to extract some form of admission from the terrified child. Confessions obtained from this brutalising procedure, which contravenes every legal and moral guideline regarding the questioning of suspects, are deemed sufficient evidence by the Israeli military authorities not only to charge the child, but to charge others implicated in the confession. Following interrogation, child detainees are incarcerated in cramped and squalid conditions in detention centres across the West Bank to await trial – only a handful of cases are granted bail despite clear and universally-accepted international laws stating that the detention of juveniles should “be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”. Although such centres are classified as temporary holding facilities, DCI/PS lawyers note that increasingly children sentenced for six months are serving the entire prison term in these detention centres, lacking even the most basic needs such as access to adequate food and washing facilities, and deprived of contact with family and healthcare professionals. DCI/PS deplores the systematic abuse of the basic human rights of these detainees, first as children and secondly as prisoners. We call on Israel to cease at once its policy of targeting, arresting, abusing and imprisoning Palestinian children and to release immediately all Palestinian children held illegally in Israeli prisons and detention centres.
We urge you, members of the international community, to take a stand on this urgent humanitarian issue. We call on you and your governments to intervene immediately and demand Israel's compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law and to ensure these violations of Palestinian children's rights cease at once.' Ondertussen blijft Europa de terreur van de 'joodse natie' financieel en militair steunen. Vervolgens is men verbaasd zodra de Arabische wereld in woede uitbarst. Europa is niet in staat zich in de positie van de vernederden en onderdrukten te verplaatsen. Dat heeft het nooit gekunt. Alleen hebben de Arabieren nu de rol van de Joden gekregen. Tot het straks te laat is. Zie:
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=464&CategoryId=1

Het Moderne Fascisme

In de moderne tijd loopt het front overal dwars doorheen, door steden, eilanden, continenten, de zee, de lucht en nu ook de buitenaardse ruimte. Dat wordt bewaakt door de 'Guardians of the High Frontier.' Overal en altijd is er oorlog. In 'VISION FOR 2020,' uit Feb 1997 van de Amerikaanse Space Command staat letterlijk: 'A Historic Perspective—the Evolution of Space. Historically, military forces have evolved to protect national interests and investments -- both military and economic. During the rise of sea commerce, nations built navies to protect and enhance their commercial interests. During the westward expansion of the continental United States, military outposts and the cavalry emerged to protect our wagon trains, settlements, and railroads. The emergence of space power follows both of these models. Over the past several decades, space power has primarily supported land, sea, and air operations--strategically and operationally. During the early portion of the 21st century, space power will also evolve into a separate and equal medium of warfare. Likewise, space forces will emerge to protect military and commercial national interests and investment in the space medium due to their increasing importance. As air power developed, its primary purpose was to support and enhance land and sea operations. However, over time, air power evolved into a separate and equal medium of warfare.' Overal en altijd moeten de belangen van de rijken tegen het verzet van de armen beschermd worden. En de buitenaardse ruimte wordt de nieuwe lanceerplaats voor geleide projectielen tegen de miljarden have-nots die in opstand beginnen te komen tegen de terreur van de rijken en machtigen. Opnieuw uit de 'Vision For 2020': 'Although unlikely to be challenged by a global peer competitor, the United States will continue to be challenged regionally. The globalization of the world economy will also continue, with a widening between “haves” and “have-nots.” Accelerating rates of technological development will be increasingly driven by the commercial sector -- not the military. Increased weapons lethality and precision will lead to new operational doctrine. Information-intensive military force structures will lead to a highly dynamic operations tempo.' Nu de Westerling steeds minder bereid is voor het vaderland op het veld van eer te sneuvelen, wordt steeds meer gebruik gemaakt van raketten die vanaf grote afstand de vijand kunnen uitroeien. Leest u zelf maar verder, alles verluchtigt met fraaie plaatjes om de propaganda voor het moderne fascisme nog effectiever te maken: http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usspac/visbook.pdf

George en Katrina

Het persbureau Associated Press beschikt over opnamen waarop duidelijk te zien en te horen is hoe onze betrouwbare bondgenoot in de 'war on terrorism' zijn eigen bevolking bedriegt. Truthout bericht: 'Video: Bush, Chertoff Warned before Katrina In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage. Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared." The footage - along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press - show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster. Linked by secure video, Bush expressed a confidence on Aug. 28 that starkly contrasted with the dire warnings his disaster chief and numerous federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm. A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome. "I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.' Lees verder:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030106Y.shtml De video-opnamen zijn hier te zien:
http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

De Israelische Terreur 8

Dit is Tzipi Livni, de Israelische minister van Buitenlandse Zaken. Ze is een extremiste en dochter van een terrorist. De Independent bericht: 'Israeli 'ruler-in-waiting' plans to starve Hamas. She is already being spoken of as an Israeli leader in waiting. Today the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni brings to London the campaign to destabilise the incoming Hamas Palestinian government by starving it of cash.
Israel's policy - described by a spokesman as putting "the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger" - has left London feeling squeamish. Tony Blair and Jack Straw will today undoubtedly show solidarity with Israel, saying Britain is not in the business of funding terrorists. But in private there is anguish that the policy will bring malnutrition to innocent Palestinians and punish them for taking part in a democratic election. The Palestinians are completely dependent on foreign aid for their survival and Israel's campaign to put 3.6 million people on starvation rations is foreboding…Ms Livni, 47, has made a considerable political journey from her early support for a Greater Israel to realisation that the country cannot remain a democracy while occupying Palestinian lands and ruling over a population that despises it. A teenager born to a nationalist family, she was nearly arrested for violently protesting against Henry Kissinger's ill-fated shuttle diplomacy. Despite her closely held dream of a Greater Israel, she maintains that she has long been a centrist on the national question. Raised in a hardline Likud household, Ms Livni has an ideological pedigree that is hard to top… "My family is part of the founding history of Israel," she has said. Her father's gravestone bears the inscription, "Here lies the head of operations of the Irgun" - refering to a pre-independence military organisation set up to fight the British and the Arabs. The stone also bears a carved map of Greater Israel extending to the opposite side of the Jordan river. A former Mossad officer, Ms Livni is the daughter of Zionists - classified as terrorists by the British authorities. Her father, Eitan, was the Irgun's head of operations when it blew up the King David hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, killing 28 Britons, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews and five others. The subsequent wave of terror attacks he led outraged British public opinion, leading the government to abandon the Palestinian Mandate and turn the problem over to the UN, with disastrous consequences for the Palestinians.' Lees verder:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article348712.ece

De Israelische Terreur 7

Het immer dappere Israelische leger treedt hier kordaat en heldhaftig op tegen deze levensgevaarlijke Palestijnse terroristen. De Palestijnse chirurg Tariq Shadid schrijft: 'Media Silent when Palestinians Die. The relative media silence about the recent Israeli military onslaught in the Balata refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus, is playing straight into the hands of Israeli occupation politics. This is nothing new. It has been common practice in Western media, throughout the history of Israel, to pay significantly more attention to violence from the Palestinian side than the other way around, and to portray Israel as a democracy that is simply protecting its citizens. Because of the media’s uneven representation, few are aware of the fact that Israel has killed 31 Palestinians since January 25th, when Hamas was elected. However, it is quite likely, that this past week of Israeli violence, in which 8 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded, has not been marginally reported in the media as a sheer coincidence, or out of force of habit. While the operation against Balata constitutes the largest Israeli military operation since the highly publicized ‘Gaza disengagement’, the press remains virtually silent about the issue, reporting about it sparingly. If Hamas, which has been observing a unilateral truce for over a year now, would choose to respond to this aggression, it is highly unlikely that the media would maintain the same level of silence. In fact, any Palestinian retaliation, even if done by other Palestinian resistance movements, would discredit Hamas in mainstream Western media, accusing it of inability or unwillingness to exercise control, regardless of whether it is currently in a position to indeed influence the actions of other Palestinian factions. With this military aggression aimed mainly at the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, instead of at Hamas itself, Israel is displaying its mastery of Machiavellianism, increasing pressure upon Hamas from other Palestinian factions to respond in a satisfying way. During the rule of Fatah, Israel often applied the same tactics, also assisted by Western media by underreporting the Israeli attacks that preceded the Palestinian retaliation, and highlighting the Palestinian response on the front pages of all major newspapers. In this way, Israel was able to vilify the late Yassir Arafat among Western audiences, bringing him down from a position of Nobel-prize winning respected politician, into being seen as the main cause of the lack of advancement in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and even as someone who ‘harbors’ terrorists.' Lees verder:http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=022706203809 Lees meer over de tendentieuze pro-Israel verslaggeving: http://home.planet.nl/~houck006/israel.html

De Oorlogsstaat 22

De oorlogsstaat moet overal alert blijven. Voor een imperium loopt het front overal. Overal worden zijn belangen bedreigd. De Guardian bericht: 'The US will send an extra 15 diplomats to China, 15 to Latin America and 12 to India as part of a major rethink of its foreign policy for the next few decades. US embassies in Europe will lose 38 diplomats, including one in Britain, a reflection that the economic, political and religious frontlines have moved elsewhere.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, who is accompanying George Bush on a visit to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan that begins today, said in January that hundreds of diplomats would be moved from Europe and Washington to Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The shift of Washington's diplomatic weight comes after a Pentagon report last month which envisaged a "long war" against terrorism in which a major propaganda effort would be needed to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. The Associated Press news agency has obtained a list of the proposed changes. The new postings indicate the countries identified by Washington as economic and political rivals or partners, such as China and India, as well as potential flashpoints… The increase in diplomats in China is an acknowledgement by Washington not only of its importance but its possible military threat to US interests in the Pacific Rim countries and elsewhere in Asia, and the danger posed by unresolved territorial issues such as Taiwan.
The other priority for the US is India, not least as a counterbalance to China. Relations between the US and India have frequently been strained since independence, with New Delhi a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and often closer to Moscow than to Washington.' Lees verder:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1720297,00.html

Irak 38

Onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror' is herhaaldelijk vergeefs gewaarschuwd voor het gevaar van een burgeroorlog in Irak. Ook John Negroponte, die het Latijns-Amerikaans terrorisme tegen de Nicaraguaanse bevolking financierde, wist van dat gevaar. Het Amerikaanse persbureau Knight Ridder bericht: 'Intelligence agencies warned about growing local insurgency in late 2003. U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the White House beginning more than two years ago that the insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war, according to former senior intelligence officials who helped craft the reports. Among the warnings, Knight Ridder has learned, was a major study, called a National Intelligence Estimate, completed in October 2003 that concluded that the insurgency was fueled by local conditions - not foreign terrorists- and drew strength from deep grievances, including the presence of U.S. troops. The existence of the top-secret document, which was the subject of a bitter three-month debate among U.S. intelligence agencies, has not been previously disclosed to a wide public audience. The reports received a cool reception from Bush administration policymakers at the White House and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, according to the former officials, who discussed them publicly for the first time. President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and others continued to describe the insurgency as a containable threat, posed mainly by former supporters of Saddam Hussein, criminals and non-Iraqi terrorists - even as the U.S. intelligence community was warning otherwise. Robert Hutchings, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council from 2003 to 2005, said the October 2003 study was part of a "steady stream" of dozens of intelligence reports warning Bush and his top lieutenants that the insurgency was intensifying and expanding. "Frankly, senior officials simply weren't ready to pay attention to analysis that didn't conform to their own optimistic scenarios," Hutchings said in a telephone interview. The office of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte declined Tuesday to comment for this article.' Lees verder:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/13984788.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Amerikaans Terrorisme 4

Democracy Now bericht over onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror': 'The U.S. government has agreed to pay an Egyptian man $300,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the man was illegally detained during the round-up of hundreds of Arab and Muslim men inside the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. The man, Ehab Elmaghraby, was detained on Sept. 30, 2001. Federal agents came to his apartment in Queens New York in search of his landlord who - years earlier - had applied for pilot training. Even though he wasn't the original target of the investigation, Elmaghraby was detained. He would spend nearly the next year in jail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. In the end, Elmaghraby was deported after pleading guilty to the white-collar crime of credit card fraud. But for his year in detention he was treated like a wanted terrorist. He was kept in a maximum security section of the jail reserved almost exclusively for Muslim or Arab men. Conditions were so bad that the New York Daily News described the site as "Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib." According to a lawsuit filed by Elmaghraby, he was beaten by prison guards. Threatened with death. Accused of being a terrorist. Repeatedly stripped search. Dragged on the ground while chained and shackled. Denied basic necessities like a mattress, pillow and toilet paper. In one instance, he accused, a prison guard of making him bleed after a guard inserted a flashlight into him rectum. At other times they used pencils. Elmaghraby wasn't alone in claiming abuse inside the Metropolitan Detention Center. Two years ago the Justice Department's Inspector General Glenn Fine issued a damning report implicating 20 guards in carrying out widespread abuse against the jailed men. The report read, "Some officers slammed and bounced detainees against the wall, twisted their arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods of time." The government actually videotaped much of the abuse but has so far resisted calls for it to be publicly released. However the public has seen images from the video showing the prison guards beating detainees. The $300,000 settlement is believed to mark the first time the government has agreed to pay out money to a Muslim or Arab man jailed in the post 9/11 sweeps. Other lawsuits remain pending in court.' U kunt via deze link naar de uitzending luisteren: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/01/1446254

VS en Mensenrechten

De Verenigde Staten saboteert een nieuwe VN-overeenkomst betreffende de bescherming van de mensenrechten. De New York Times bericht: 'US Causes Delay in UN Vote on New Rights Council. United Nations - U.S. opposition to a draft resolution on a new U.N. Human Rights Council led to a delay of a General Assembly vote this week and intense consultations on Tuesday on whether to reopen the text. Jan Eliasson, president of the 191-member General Assembly, who drew up the resolution, said a majority of U.N. members supported the draft and warned new talks might endanger the entire effort. A renegotiation, he said, "most probably would lead to a result which is far below what we already have achieved." He told reporters he had wanted a vote as soon as possible, preferably this week "but we now have a situation where we have a clear message about going ahead and for that I need to continue my consultations." U.S. Ambassador John Bolton announced on Monday that Eliasson's resolution, circulated last week, had "manifold deficiencies" and did not ensure that major human rights violators would be banned from the new rights council. Bolton said he was under instructions from Washington to reopen talks or postpone a decision for several months on a new rights body, which is to expose abusers and help nations draw up human rights legislation. Eliasson and leading rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, fear reopening talks would lead to line by line negotiations, with amendments from nations opposed to a strong rights council. "I don't think there's anything wrong with line by line negotiations," Bolton told reporters on Tuesday. He also said he was concerned about a provision saying nations could only serve two consecutive three-year terms, then take a break before running again. "My concern now with the term limits is that America would go off, and I think that would be to the detriment of the process," Bolton said.' Lees verder: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-un-rights-usa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Of: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030106M.shtml

Nederland en Afghanistan 42

De man op de voorgrond is John Negroponte, de huidige 'director of National Intelligence,' die als Amerikaans diplomaat in Honduras de doodseskaders hun werk liet doen en deze terroristen bovendien financierde in hun strijd tegen de progressieve democratisch gekozen regering van de Sandinisten in het naburige Nicaragua. De Washington Post bericht: 'Growing Threat Seen In Afghan Insurgency. DIA Chief Cites Surging Violence in Homeland
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority "than at any point since late 2001." "Despite significant progress on the political front, the Taliban-dominated insurgency remains a capable and resilient threat," Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples said in a statement presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee at its annual hearing on national security threats.
Appearing with Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, Maples said attacks within Afghanistan were up 20 percent between 2004 and 2005, suicide bombings increased "almost fourfold" and use of makeshift bombs, similar to those used in Iraq, had "more than doubled."
Negroponte, in his prepared remarks, acknowledged that "the volume and geographic scope of attacks increased last year," but he added, "the Taliban and other militants have not been able to stop the democratic process" being undertaken by the central government of President Hamid Karzai.' Lees verder: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022800874.html?referrer=email Meer over Johnny Negroponte, de bondgenoot van de Nederlandse regering in de 'war on terror': 'And that is why the appointment of John Negroponte as DNI has raised eyebrows inside and outside of Washington. At the time, in a previous incarnation as a diplomat in Honduras between 1981 and 1985, Negroponte turned a blind eye to atrocities and political assassinations carried out by US-funded Contra fighters during the illegal war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government. Throughout the period, Honduras receive huge funding and military assistance from the US in what CIA director William Casey called "the ultimate covert operation" which culminated in the discredited "Irangate" policy of channeling funds and weapons through Israel and Iran. According to Human Rights Watch, Negroponte and other US officials "looked the other way when serious atrocities were committed". Although Negroponte has denied involvement in the scandal and described the allegations as "old hat" when he was appointed ambassador to the UN in summer 2001, the Contra scandal is one of the most shameful episodes in US diplomatic history. Backed by the US, albeit secretly, Honduran forces were accused of torture and assassination and Contra fighters were repeatedly discovered perpetrating atrocities on civilians. When the scandal was revealed, it was discovered that CIA teams had instructed the Contras in the art of political assassination as well as taking part in the illegal mining of Nicaraguan ports. According to critics, all this would have been known to Negroponte but he kept his silence and the cover was not blown until October 1986, when Sandanista forces shot down a CIA aircraft carrying arms to Contra forces inside Nicaragua.' Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines05/0220-02.htm In elk geval weten we nu precies wie onze bondgenoot is in de zogeheten strijd tegen het terrorisme.

De Israelische Terreur 6

Dit is Matah Cohen, een dappere joods-Israelische jongen, die beschoten werd omdat hij tegen de Muur van zijn landgenoten protesteerde. 'Matah Cohen has sustained eye injuries while protesting the security fence near Ramallah; Says: "I feel like the blood of Left-wing activists is cheap." Matan Cohen, 17, from Tel Aviv, and a member of the “Anarchists Against the Fence” organization, was injured while demonstrating against the security fence near Ramallah. “My feeling is that the blood of Left-wing activists and the Palestinians is cheap,” he said. Cohen was shot by Border Police and injured in his eye, and has been hospitalized in the Tel Hashomer Medical Center since Friday. If bleeding does not stop within 24 hours, Cohen will undergo surgery. In either case, doctors believe his eye has sustained damage. In the best case, his visual range will be affected, and in the worst case, he would lose complete vision in the eye. “Up until now I can’t see out of the eye, and they’ll be able to see if there’s damage only in a few days. I’m worried about damage in my eye and I really hope the bleeding stops,” said Cohen.
Members of the organization have begun documenting their demonstrations due to past experiences with violence. “We have recordings of an army commander who said that he doesn’t want the situation to turn violent, and who tried to calm things down, saying not to shoot. But a Border Police is also heard saying ’shoot everyone one of them with a rubber bullet.’ When I was shot I was standing with three people, within around a 20 meter range from a Border Police force. We said: ‘Don’t shoot, we are not threatening you and we are not endangering you,’ but they opened fire, and also directed it to the head, violating all of their rules of engagement. I felt the impact in the eye, and with the remainder of my strength, I managed to run from them. My entire hand and head were filled with blood,” said Cohen.' Lees verder: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/02/25/injured-anti-fence-anarchist-speaks-out/

De Oorlogsstaat 21

De oorlogsstaat heeft een tekort aan kanonnenvoer. (Ook daarom moeten de NAVO-bondgenoten van onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror' de klus gaan overnemen.) De Herald Tribune bericht: 'America's principal ground fighting force is stretched to breaking point. Both the active and reserve components of the U.S. Army have nearly reached their recruiting limits in strength, given attitudes in America. Fighting international terrorism simply does not have the same appeal for the post-Baby Boom generation as fighting fascism did for the generation of World War II. Understanding that the draft was no longer viable in the post-Vietnam era, the army leadership developed the All Volunteer Army in the 1970s in order to meet the defense challenges of the late 20th century, which were mostly short- term conflicts. This approach served well in Grenada, Panama and the first Gulf War. That same leadership also foresaw future situations involving protracted conflict, and determined that the army would only go into prolonged combat with the National Guard and army reserves fighting alongside the active component. The army felt that this would not only assure that manpower would be available for land warfare contingencies, but also that civilian soldiers would share the sacrifices required, thus giving some pause to the White House prior to making the decision to commit forces to combat. This arrangement has managed to delay the onset of manpower shortages in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it has not resolved the issue, and potential for conflict in Iran or Syria or elsewhere only exacerbates the problem. The United States does not have enough ground troops now, and the pace being set poses a grave risk to the army in terms of both morale and readiness. Some propose that the United States resolve this problem by simply getting out of both Iraq and Afghanistan unconditionally. But most Americans with any logical strategic perspective of U.S. defense interests know that such a decision would be seen as a victory for international terrorism, bolstering our enemy's image and morale in a major way, enabling them to recruit more volunteers, and encouraging them to strike us again elsewhere. So we must remain committed until Iraq and Afghanistan can shoulder their own internal defense burdens. There can be no repeat of a Vietnam-type face-saving withdrawal in this conflict. The stakes are simply too high.' Lees verder:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/28/opinion/edlong.php

Irak 37

Ondanks de onvoorstelbare chaos die in het Midden Oosten is veroorzaakt door onze bondgenoot in de 'war on terror' blijft de Nederlandse regering dit terreurbeleid onverstoorbaar steunen. Democracy Now bericht: 'The Washington Post is reporting 1,300 Iraqis have died in violence since Wednesday’s bombing of the Askariya shrine in Samara. In his first interview since returning from Iraq, John Pace, the human rights chief for the the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, reacts to the mass killings on the ground. Pace says he believes the U.S. has violated the Geneva Conventions, is fueling the violence through its raids on Iraqi homes and is holding thousands of detainees that are for the most part innocent of any crimes. We turn now to the War in Iraq. In the latest news at least 31 people have been killed and 75 wounded in three bomb blasts in Baghdad. The attacks come a day after the lifting of a daytime curfew imposed to curb widespread violence over the past few days. The Washington Post is reporting 1,300 Iraqis have died over the past week making this one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S. invaded the country nearly three years ago. The mass killings began on Wednesday after a bomb destroyed the gold dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra - one of the holiest sites to Shiite Muslims. While the bloodshed appears to have at least temporarily subsided, the outbreak of violence last week has raised new concerns about where Iraq is headed. Most of those killed in the past week did not die in roadside bombings or suicide attacks but at the hands of militias and death squads including some units working out of the Ministry of the Interior. The Washington Post published this dispatch out of Baghdad: "Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday -- blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies were sprawled with their hands still bound." Meanwhile the Independent of London is reporting that hundreds of Iraqis are being tortured to death or summarily executed every month in Baghdad by death squads working out of the Ministry of the Interior. John Pace, Former U.N. Human Rights Chief, Iraq. Up until earlier this month he was the human rights chief for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq. He has worked at the United Nations since 1966 and is the former Secretary to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He joins us on the phone from his home in Sydney Australia. AMY GOODMAN: It is good to have you with us. First, your reaction to what has taken place in these last few days in Iraq. JOHN PACE: Well, I'm not surprised at all, as a matter of fact, because we have been trying to explain to the world at large that there has been a generalized deterioration in the situation of protection of people in Iraq. There is a breakdown of law and order which is characterized by, technically by the nonfunctioning of the police, of the judiciary, and of the penitentiary institutions. Not to mention the military intervention and the various other factors that provoke a breakdown in protection in Baghdad and most of the country. So I think it is a problem related to the relay of accurate information on the -- how serious the situation is in regard to the person in the street in Iraq. The ordinary Iraqi. Who has absolutely no protection whatsoever from the state or from the authorities.' De uitzending van Democracy Now kunt u hier beluisteren:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/28/1427244

De Nieuwe Rijken

Het gaat allang niet meer om islam of christendom en ook niet om democratie versus dictatuur, patriottisme of landverraad speelt geen enkele rol van betekenis. Waar het om draait is geld en vriendjespolitiek en corruptie. De Bush familie en de Bin Laden familie onderhouden niet alleen vriendschappelijke betrekkingen maar hebben ook hechte financiele banden. En niet alleen deze families zijn onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden. De nieuwe rijken uit het oude Zuiden van de Verenigde Staten, die van beneden de Mason-Dixon lijn, zijn in zee gegaan met de moreel en financieel al even corrupte nieuwe rijken uit de Golfstaten en Saoedie-Arabie. De Amerikaanse auteur William Rivers Pitt schrijft in Truthout over de rel rond de verkoop van Amerikaanse havens aan de nieuwe rijken van de Verenigde Arabische Republieken: 'this UAE deal is also about standard issue straight-out-of-central-casting Bush administration cronyism. Two major players in the establishment of this deal were John Snow and David Sanborn. Snow, the Treasury Secretary, was chairman of the CSX railroad firm before joining the administration. In 2004, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World, the UAE-backed company tapped to run our ports, for $1.15 billion. Sanborn used to run Dubai Ports World's European and Latin American operations. He was tapped last month by Bush to head the US Maritime Administration. Convenient, that. So there's some economics, some national security concern, and some good old fashioned insider horse trading going on here, but none of these alone or combined tells the whole story here. The administration has swallowed a 45-day "review" of this deal, so as to temporarily avoid the need for Bush to veto any legislation blocking it, and so as to avoid the very real possibility that his veto could be overridden in Congress. In the interim, we can take a look at what is truly motivating the noise surrounding this issue. The true basis of the scandal is based upon two things: politics, and the boomerang. The politics part is easy. Democrats, ever fretting over looking "weak" on national security, are going full hawk on this deal to make Bush and Congressional Republicans look weak on the issue of protecting America. Given the fact that very few Americans know much of anything about how our ports are managed - it bears noting that a large number of our ports are already managed by foreign countries like China and Singapore - it is a tactic that has some traction. There is also a legitimate security concern that cannot be overlooked. The deal, when originally announced, had Dubai Ports World taking control of six major ports. In point of fact, DP World will be taking control of 21 American ports: 11 on the East Coast from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Corpus Christi, Texas. Calls to ensure that security will not be compromised in this process are well founded.' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806Z.shtml

Dr. Gideon Polya

Dit is de Australische academicus Gideon Polya uit Melbourne. Mijn kameraad en hoofdredacteur van de Humanist Boudewijn Chorus stuurde me een email van dr. Polya met daarin een formele aanklacht die deze wiskundige heeft ingediend bij het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag. Een aanklacht vanwege oorlogsmisdaden begaan door de onder aanvoering van de Verenigde Staten in Irak en Afghanistan opererende coalitietroepen. 'On 14 October 2004 I made a formal complaint against the Australian Government and its Coalition allies over war crimes in Iraq, specifically illegal invasion and subsequent horrendous civilian mortality in contravention of international law (for details of this complaint and a prior complaint sent to the 2 dozen top law officers of Australia see: http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1019). Since that complaint was made, it can be estimated from the latest UNICEF reports (see: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html) that a further 560,000 under-5 year old infants have died in US Coalition-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan in gross contravention of the Geneva Conventions for the protection of civilians in time of war (1949). I am accordingly renewing and extending my formal complaint of egregious war crimes against the US-led Coalition leaders responsible for (1) the irresponsible and illegal invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan; (2) deliberate conduct of military operations to minimize politically-sensitive invading military deaths at the expense of the lives of utterly innocent civilians; (3) subsequent horrendous civilian mortality in these occupied countries in gross contravention of the Geneva Conventions (1949); and (4) collateral damage involving mass mortality elsewhere in the world as a consequence of Coalition actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.' Lees verder:
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-polya211205.htm Meer over dr. Polya kunt u op zijn website lezen: http://www.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?contributor=Dr.%20Gideon%20Polya

Misverstanden

Op Elqalem. nl schrijft Mohammed Faizel Ali: 'Als we dadelijk willen dat Nederlander van Turkse afkomst die nu ontkent dat er ook maar één Armeniër is omgebracht subiet wordt gebombardeerd tot een brutale, ongecultiveerde holocaustontkenner, dan hebben we eerst een strafrechter nodig die vaststelt dat de genocide op de Armeniërs een onweerlegbare historische feit is geweest. Dat zou knap zijn als je bedenkt dat het publieke debat over dit onderwerp nog in volle gang is. De wet wordt dan niets meer en niets minder dan een willekeurige inperking van het publieke debat. Het publieke debat wordt dan verplaats van het publieke domein naar de rechtszaal waar een rechter als een postmoderne Alexander van Macedonië gordiaanse knopen moet doorhakken over thema’s waar academisch geschoolde geschiedkundigen al decennialang hun gebit op stuk bijten. Daardoor ontstaat het gevaar dat in essentie historische, religieuze en politieke controverses door de strafrechter moeten worden beslecht, zonder dat de wetgever hem daarvoor afdoende beoordelingscriteria heeft aangereikt. Het zwaard van Damocles bungelt dan vervaarlijk boven de rechtstaat. De rechter wordt dan immers gedwongen politieke uitspraken te doen en moet met een mond vol kaviaar een u-vraagt-wij-draaien rechtspraak in stand houden om zo het morrende plebs en canaille tevreden te houden. Jammer genoeg ben ik clairvoyant genoeg om in te zien dat er eerder een gevangenisstraf boven het hoofd van deze ongecultiveerde, holocaustontkennende Turk hangt, dan bij bijvoorbeeld een respectabele VPRO opiniemaker en radiojournalist als Stan van Houcke die de terreur van Bin Laden op 11 september vergoelijkte en in een boekje over die aanslag schreef: ’De ontheemden, de machtelozen, de geterroriseerden, de onmondigen slaan terug met terreur’. En wat te denken van Maarten van Rossem die stelt dat de gevolgen van 9/11 schromelijk overdreven zijn. Moet hij dan ook in de gevangenis omdat hij bagatelliseert? Neen, natuurlijk niet want iedereen voelt instinctief aan dat het wetsvoorstel niet is geschreven voor onze Van Houcke’s en Van Rossems. De wet heeft als doel imams te verbieden ferme, flinke, stevige en machtskritische uitlatingen te doen. De wet heeft als doel Marokkaanse pubers af te laten schrikken met een gevangenisstraf die nu nog met foto’s van de moordenaar van Theo van Gogh naar school gaan. De tsunami-terreur van het omgekeerde dogma zal er dan voor zorgen dat de wet juist dat doet wat hij beoogt tegen te gaan, namelijk:” ….groepen tegen elkaar op te zetten en onlustgevoelens in de samenleving (verder) aan te wakkeren.” De dijken zullen dan definitief doorbreken en de strafrechtelijke apartheidswerkelijkheid zal uiteindelijk young and angry, verongelijkte allochtonen uitnodigen straatbarbecues en burgermaatschappelijke crematies in besloten kring in onze eigen banlieues te houden. Dit omdat net als bij terrorisme de oorlog ter bestrijding ervan immers gekenmerkt wordt door nogal veel non-combattanten onder de slachtoffers.' Lees verder: http://elqalem.nl/elqalem/aspx/template.aspx?group_id=5&category_id=35&item_id=681 Ik wil voor alle duidelijkheid graag twee misverstanden rechtzetten, namelijk 1. dat ik door te schrijven: ’De ontheemden, de machtelozen, de geterroriseerden, de onmondigen slaan terug met terreur,’ terrorisme 'vergoelijk.' Het zoeken naar een verklaring is niet tegelijkertijd het vergoelijken van een misdaad. Ik ben en blijf een fel tegenstander van welke vorm van terrorisme dan ook, en door wie dan ook gepleegd. En de reden is heel simpel: terrorisme keert zich tegen mensen die zich niet kunnen verdedigen, vrouwen, kinderen, bejaarden, mannen. Geen enkele profeet, of die nu Mohammed heet of Jezus rechtvaardigt het vermoorden van onschuldigen. Geen enkele democraat rechtvaardigt het vermoorden van onschuldigen. Alleen fanatici die overal, altijd en in elk systeem naar de macht streven, rechtvaardigen het onrechtvaardige. Dat gesteld hebbende blijft het noodzakelijk voor intelligente mensen om te zoeken naar de oorzaken van terreur. Terreur ontstaat ook vaak als contra-terreur. Op de achterflap van het boek waaraan Mohammed refereert schreef ik: 'Een vijfde van de wereldbevolking bezit 86 procent van de geproduceerde goederen op aarde, de overige viervijfde bezit de resterende 14 procent. Meer dan de helft van de wereldbevolking is jonger dan achttien jaar. Het overgrote deel van hen groeit in armoede op in respressieve maatschappijen. Tegelijkertijd worden ze onder invloed van de massamedia gedreven door dezelfde aspiraties en hoop als hun leeftijdgenoten in het rijke Westen. Worden hun verwachtingen gefrustreerd, dan zullen hun gevoelens van wrok onherroepelijk eindigen in extreme vromen van terrorisme. In de islamitische wereld is de ware voedingsbodem van de haat niet de godsdienst, noch de verschillen in beschaving, maar de armoede, onmondigheid, machteloosheid en vernedering van alledag en het terrorisme van de grootmachten zodra hun economische belangen bedreigd worden. De feodale houding ten opzichte van de arme landen is na 11 september 2001 onhoudbaar geworden.' Dat was de strekking van '11 september. Het Keerpunt.' Dat is tegelijk ook de reden waarom Mohammed's argument niet opgaat dat ik niet vervolgd zal worden en 'Marokkaanse pubers' wel. Het tweede misverstand is dat de Armeense holocaust een academische kwestie zou zijn. Dat is de opvatting van de Israelische politicus Shimon Peres, die de Armeense holocaust ontkent. 'On April 11, 2001, Peres was quoted in the Turkish Daily News as saying:"We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide." Peres' motives were, of course, transparently political. Turkey is probably Israel's most important ally after the US. It's certainly its only Muslim ally. And Turkey lets Israel station part of its airforce there and probably serves as a base for Israel to infiltrate northern Iraq. So Peres believes that Israel's significant interests (see the post about Bill Clinton below) make it necessary for him to behave in the most vile way possible. However, there is a hero in this story -- Israel Charny, a professor at Jerusalem University and perhaps the world's foremost scholar of the psychology of genocide. When Peres said this, Charny wrote a letter to him saying: ...you have gone beyond a moral boundary that no Jew should allow himself to trespass...as a Jew and an Israeli I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust. And this wasn't Charny's first run-in with the Israeli government. As this Jerusalem Post profile of Charny explains:Charny's advocacy of the Armenian cause led him into a more serious confrontation with the Israeli government in 1982. He had invited several researchers to deliver papers on the Armenian genocide at the first international conference on the Holocaust and Genocide which he organized, together with Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Under pressure from Turkey, the Israeli government urged the organizers to cancel the conference or hold it outside Israel, but Charny refused. The incident led to a brief falling out with Wiesel, who ultimately withdrew from the conference, which was held in Israel and attracted some 300 participants. Charny also believes the affair may have cost him his job at Tel Aviv University, where he lost his bid for tenure shortly after the controversy.' Zie: http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/000117.html Kortom, de joodse holocaust is helaas geen unicum in de geschiedenis van de mensheid geweest. De Armeense holocaust is uitgebreid gedocumenteerd. Of die holocaust heeft plaatsgevonden is geen academische kwestie waarvan de juistheid alleen door een rechter kan worden bepaald. Sla de literatuur erover er maar op na.

De Oorlogsstaat 20

Bijna drie jaar na de Amerikaanse aanval op het Midden Oosten beginnen de Amerikaanse commerciele massamedia langzaam maar zeker bewust te worden van de geweldige fout die de neoconservatieve Bush-bende heeft gemaakt. De New York Times bericht: 'Chaos in Iraq Sends Shock Waves Across Middle East and Elevates Iran's Influence. CAIRO - Shortly before the American-led invasion of Iraq, Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, warned that the attack would "open the gates of hell." Now, three years later, there is a sense in the Middle East that what was once viewed as quintessential regional hyperbole may instead have been darkly prescient. Even before the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in Samarra set off sectarian fighting last Wednesday, the chaos in Iraq helped elevate Iran's regional influence — a great concern to many of the Sunni led governments here — while also giving Al Qaeda sympathizers a new a foothold in the region. But the bombing, and the prospect of a full-blown civil war driven by sectarian divisions, is even more ominous for the Middle East. Nine Middle Eastern countries have sizable populations of Shiites living side by side with Sunnis, and there is concern in many of them that a split in Iraq could lead to divided allegiances and, perhaps, conflict at home. "The spillover of this is of concern for everybody in the region," said Ali Shukri, a retired Jordanian general who for 23 years served as an adviser to King Hussein. "When you take western Iraq, Anbar Province borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia; the southern part of Iraq borders Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. If there is a conflict, a surge in violence, it becomes contagious in the region." The rising tensions in Iraq are also happening at a time when two other powerful dynamics are at work: the rise of Islamic political parties, like Hamas in Gaza and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the effort of the Iran's leadership to once again try to spread its ideas around the region. How all these forces combine and ultimately influence each other has become a source of deep worry.' Lees verder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/international/middleeast/27arab.html Of:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0227-03.htm