zaterdag 3 juni 2006

Nederland en Pinochet




Wil een misdadiger succesvol zijn dan heeft hij handlangers nodig, anders blijft hij een kruimeldief. En zowel de boef als de handlanger hebben altijd een motief. Die kunnen uiteenlopend zijn, van liefde voor volk en vaderland tot ordinaire zakkenvullerij en combinaties daarvan. Deze misdadiger heet Pinochet. Geholpen door Amerikaanse concerns, de Amerikaanse regering en de CIA pleegde hij een militaire staatsgreep om zo de democratisch gekozen regering van president Allende ten val te brengen. Tijdens zijn regime zijn ongeveer 3.000 politieke tegenstanders vermoord, veelal jonge progressieve mensen. In de eerste drie jaar van Pinochets terreur bewind laat hij zeker 130.000 mensen arresteren. Aanhangers van Allende zijn hun leven niet zeker, tienduizenden verlaten hun land.

Vandaag onthult de NRC in een goed gedocumenteerd verhaal hoe destijds het Paarse kabinet via een Nederlands bedrijf tanks aan Pinochet verkocht en er vervolgens over loog tegen het parlement.

De NRC: '"Een ‘faire vergoeding" voor Pinochet.
Rotterdamse RDM was spin in het web bij verkoop van oude tanks aan Chili...

De Chileense ex-dictator Pinochet kocht overtollige Nederlandse tanks. Maar er moest wel flink geld aan verdiend worden. Onderzoek naar de slimme Chileense smeergeldconstructie, de steekpenningen van RDM en de dubbele moraal van de Nederlandse regering. „Ruchtbaarheid over het Pinochet-obstakel is niet aanvaardbaar.”
…Volgens planning was de deal, inclusief de garantie voor een exportvergunning, rond voordat Pinochet afscheid nam van zijn troepen. De Nederlandse staat verkocht de tanks voor 18,5 miljoen dollar aan RDM. Het Chileense leger betaalde RDM 77 miljoen dollar. Het was dus een lucratieve deal, ook al moest RDM een fors bedrag aan ‘commissies’ betalen. Dat waren steekpenningen voor de legertop, ontdekte justitie in Chili.
Dat uitgerekend ex-dictator Pinochet smeergeld krijgen, bezorgde een medewerker van RDM in 1998 gewetenswroeging, zegt hij nu: „Dat we commissie, smeergeld of hoe je het ook wil noemen, betaalden was gebruikelijk. Je weet vaak niet wie mee deelt. Maar in dit geval was het wél duidelijk: Pinochet. Dat ging voor mij over de ethische grens.”
De naam van deze oud-medewerker blijft onvermeld. Hij heeft een nieuwe baan en wil die graag houden. Zijn getuigenis wordt ondersteund door twee andere medewerkers. Zij bevestigen het vermoeden van justitie: RDM betaalde steekpenningen aan de legertop. In totaal zo’n 9 miljoen dollar...
Hoe verliep de parlementaire afhandeling van de tankdeal in Nederland? Volgens de regels moest de Tweede Kamer instemmen. Toenmalig staatssecretaris Gmelich Meijling (Defensie, VVD) stuurde in december 1997, voorafgaand aan de levering van de tanks, een vertrouwelijke brief aan de Kamer. Aanvankelijk had hij de eindbestemming van de tanks willen verzwijgen. Buitenlandse Zaken eiste echter dat Chili genoemd zou worden, blijkt uit een memorandum aan minister Van Mierlo.
De actie van Van Mierlo voorkwam niet dat de Kamer toch onjuiste informatie kreeg. Gmelich Meijling meldde namelijk dat de Leopards verkocht werden aan ,,RDM Technology Holding NV”. Maar dat bedrijf bestond helemaal niet. Koper was RDM Holding NV, het bedrijf van Joep van den Nieuwenhuyzen in het belastingparadijs Curaçao. Vlak vóór ondertekening stond nog de naam RDM Technology BV in de contracten. Dat Rotterdamse bedrijf had de deal voorbereid, zou de tanks aanpassen en daarna aan Chili verkopen. Op last van Van den Nieuwenhuyzen werd het Nederlandse bedrijf vervangen door het Antilliaanse bedrijf.
Is het van belang welke firma de tanks kocht? Ja, want de Nederlandse staat liep er miljoenen door mis. Door de wijziging betaalde Van den Nieuwenhuyzen over de winst (de lage) vennootschapsbelasting op de Antillen. Van den Nieuwenhuyzen zegt dat er „een fout” gemaakt was. Het was „altijd al” zijn bedoeling dat zijn Antilliaanse holding tekende.
Hoe het afliep? RDM Technology knapte de tanks op, maar deelde nauwelijks in de winst. Dat droeg bij aan de ondergang van RDM Technology, dat in de jaren daarna zijn financiële problemen zag groeien. Het bedrijf ging 23 april 2004 failliet, met achterlating van onbetaalde miljoenenrekeningen van de Nederlandse staat. In het rijtje schuldeisers ontbrak de Chileense tussenpersoon Ibieta. Het laatste deel van zijn ‘commissie’ was op de valreep wel uitbetaald.' Lees verder: http://www.nrc.nl/economie/article339433.ece





Het NRC-artikel schetst een haarscherp beeld van wie de Nederlanders eigenlijk zijn, half dominee, half koopman. De mond vol ethische praatjes terwijl men de beurs nooit uit het oog verliest. Misdadigers en handlangers. Frans Van Anraat kreeg 15 jaar gevangenisstraf voor de levering van grondstoffen voor chemische wapens aan Saddam Hoessein. Komende week is de uitspraak tegen Guus Kouwenhoven die ondermeer wapens leverde aan de Liberiaanse president Charles Taylor verdacht van oorlogsmisdaden. Gewone zakenmensen, net zo gewoon als de zakenmensen, ambtenaren en politici die tanks aan Pinochet leverde. Via een omweg weliswaar, zodat iedereen met een uitgestreken gezicht dominee kon blijven spelen, maar toch. En ondertussen wordt nu de vroegere socialistische premier van het Paarse kabinet, Wim Kok, als commissaris bij Shell en ING vorstelijk beloond voor zijn kennis, die hij als voormalige vakbondsman en politicus opdeed. En geen haan die ergens meer naar kraait. Want let u maar op: niemand zal in deze zaak worden veroordeeld. Politici en grote zakenmensen staan boven de wet. Maar dat wisten we al.

vrijdag 2 juni 2006

De Oorlogsstaat 58

Greg Grandin is author of The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War (University of Chicago), The Blood of Guatemala (Duke) and Empire's Workshop: Latin America, The United States and, most recently, The Rise of the New Imperialism (Metropolitan). He teaches Latin American history at New York University.

Voor TomDispatch schrijft hij: 'The Swift Boating of America.
An illegal war, torture rooms, warrantless wiretapping, manipulated intelligence, secret prisons, disinformation planted in the press, graft, and billions of reconstruction dollars gone missing: just when it seemed that the Bush administration had reached its corruption quota comes a new scandal. This one is a bribery case involving defense contractors, Republican congressmen, prostitutes, secret Hawaiian getaways, Scottish castles, and - wait for it - the Watergate Hotel. At its center is the just ex-Executive Director of the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, whose sole qualification for being appointed to that post by just ex-Director Porter Goss seems to have been his ability, while head of the Agency's Frankfurt post, to hand out bottled-water contracts to friends and show junketing politicians a good time.
Don't fret though if you are having trouble separating this particular crime from other Republican offenses. There's a good reason - they're all one scandal, part of the same wave of militarism, fraud, and ideology that has swamped American politics of late. While this wave of scandal seems now to be heading for tsunami proportions, its first swells date back decades. Just take a look at Dusty's rèsumè.
After his zealotry got him booted from Sears' security and the San Diego police department, Foggo drew on his collegiate Young Republican connections to land a job in the early 1980s with the CIA. His first mission was in Honduras, then the staging ground for Ronald Reagan's secret paramilitary war against Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government. In addition to his official duties, Foggo helped his old college buddy Brent Wilkes - the defense contractor now implicated in the ongoing bribery case involving former Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham - bring conservative cadres down to Central America. There, he introduced them to anti-Sandinista rebels, better known as Contras. It seems that, even then, a lot more than anti-Communist solidarity was on the agenda. Three of Wilkes' former friends now claim that these trips included partying with prostitutes.' Lees verder:
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=88057 Of: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060206O.shtml

Nederland en Afghanistan 84

Dit is 'm dan! het stoere en tegelijk geinige terreinwagentje waarmee de Nederlandse militairen in Afghanistan gaan crossen. Natuurlijk in het kader van de wederopbouw, nation building, het democratisch maken van dit land en nog veel meer van die mooie dingen heeft defensie besloten bomvrije karretjes bestellen. De NRC bericht: 'Defensie wil bomvrije jeeps voor Uruzgan.

Den Haag, 2 juni. Het ministerie van Defensie overweegt versneld speciale bomvrije jeeps te kopen, om de Nederlandse troepen in de Afghaanse provincie Uruzgan beter te beschermen.
Eventueel zullen de voertuigen worden geleend of geleast, zo zei de commandant der strijdkrachten (CDS), Dick Berlijn gisteren tijdens een persbriefing.
Volgens Berlijn vormen zogeheten improvised explosive devices (IED’s) een groeiend gevaar voor de Nederlandse troepen in Zuid-Afghanistan. Niet alleen neemt het aantal aanslagen met de geïmproviseerde bommen toe, de aanslagen zijn ook steeds beter georganiseerd. Volgens de CDS vraagt de „IED-dreiging om bijzondere maatregelen”. Een van die maatregelen kan de verwerving van gepantserde voertuigen van het type RG-31 Nyala zijn, die ook zware explosies moeten kunnen doorstaan. De jeeps van Zuid-Afrikaanse makelij worden al door de Canadezen in Afghanistan gebruikt.' Lees verder: http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article338769.ece

Sinds het eind van de Koude Oorlog is er kennelijk geld genoeg voor de strijdkrachten om van alles en nog wat te kopen. Voor de liefhebbers is hier wat meer informatie over de bomvrije jeep: 'The RG-31 Nyala is multi-purpose mine-protected vehicle made by Land Systems OMC in South Africa, based on the same manufacturer's Mamba APC. The vehicle’s V-shaped monocoque welded steel hull and high suspension are designed to resist a blast equivalent to two TM-57 anti-tank mines detonating simultaneously.
The RG-31 has become the multi-purpose vehicle of choice of the UN and other peacekeeping and security forces. It is finding favor with nongovernmental organizations requiring a vehicle with a non-aggressive appearance to protect their personnel against the threat of landmines.' Lees verder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RG-31

Nederland en Afghanistan 83


De Amerikaanse hoogleraar en Afghanistan-deskundige Marc W. Herold schrijft: 'Spinning Out of Control . The US Military's Virtual Reality about a deadly day in May.

A growing disconnect exists between the daily reality of war experienced by the common Afghan and how this war is represented to the American general public by the corporate media, many non-governmental organizations favoring "humanitarian interventions" around the globe (e.g., Human Rights Watch), and the U.S. military and its defense minions. The war in Afghanistan – as most other wars beginning with Vietnam – is waged both on the ground there and in the living rooms here. The recent midnight assault upon the small village of Hajiyan (also called Alizi) along the Arghandab River in Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province provides a case study to explore this disconnect.(1) No doubt many similar cases exist, but the U.S. military media strategy to contain, isolate and stonewall succeeded there.
A very graphic way – a picture is worth a thousand words – is simply to contrast photos of how the U.S. military is portrayed with Afghan children.
The above photo depicts U.S. Army Capt. John Pritchard of Combined Joint Task Force 16 giving a tee-shirt to a young boy in Panjwayi. Another type of interaction is shown in the following photo: the legacy of "precision fire" by A-10 Warthog attack jets upon the village of Hajiyan in Panjwayi, revealed on the body of three year-old Mohammad Imran (photo by Noor Khan, A.P.).

Both pictures are "true" and neither one alone represents reality. Both illustrate two images of modern war: the war to win hearts and minds and the war to kill the enemy. They are inseparable. But every effort will be made to keep images like that of Imran off pages and screens of America because the wars the U.S. carries out are represented as being the "good fights" where only the bad guys die in a hail of "precision" bombs and rockets... "in the rockets red glare."' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060106B.shtml

ABN/Amro

Een al wat ouder bericht, maar toch actueel. Inter Press Service bericht: 'ENVIRONMENT: Dutch Bank Urged to Pass on Russian Oil Project The giant Dutch bank ABN Amro, one of the world's largest financial institutions, is facing charges of "environmental hypocrisy" from green groups concerned over the bank's possible financing for a controversial Russian oil extraction project. The accusations came on the eve of a ceremony in which ABN Amro was scheduled to accept the 2006 Gold Medal Award for "International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development" from the World Environment Centre, a Washington-based industry-backed organisation. But three conservation groups, Rainforest Action Network, Pacific Environment and Sakhalin Environment Watch, ran a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post Thursday condemning the bank's bidding to fund the Sakhalin II oil and gas project , which they consider "one of the most environmentally and socially destructive projects in history". Sakhalin II is a 20-billion-dollar project that aims to extract oil and gas from beneath the coast of far eastern Russia's Sakhalin Island. The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is leading the investment on the island, which is estimated to have reserves of 45 billion barrels of equivalent oil and gas -- the same amount of remaining reserves in the North Sea. The company is seeking up to five billion dollars in financing for the project. Citing reluctance from other banks to fund the project for its potential environmental damage and a firestorm of criticism from green organisations, the groups called on AMN Amro not to fund the project. Environmentalists say that the project will harm marine life and several endangered species, including the world's 100 remaining western grey whales, as well as the local fishing community and indigenous people in the fragile area.' Lees verder: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33225

Klimaatverandering 38

Inter Press Service bericht: ' Conservation Lagging as Emissions Climb.


UNITED NATIONS - Late last week, representatives from 165 industrialised and developing countries -- excluding the United States -- agreed to extend a global plan to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming past its expiration date of 2012. But experts say a long-term energy strategy is not just about reducing greenhouse gases. It also requires programmes to boost conservation and energy efficiency, and shift economies toward renewable resources like biogas, wind, solar and hydrogen. According to statistics from the European Commission, if current policies remain unchanged, world energy demand will soar by over 50 percent by 2030. The World Bank's recently released "Little Green Data Book 2006" notes that the richest countries devour 51 percent of the world's energy production, and consume on average 11 times more energy per capita than low-income countries. "The book shows that high-income countries are not saving enough (energy) resources for the future," said Laura Tlaiye of the World Bank's environment department. Under the Kyoto Protocol, 36 highly industrialised nations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Meeting in Bonn this month, parties to the Kyoto pact agreed in principle that even deeper cuts in emissions would be needed after that deadline.' Lees verder:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0601-05.htm

Geronimo












De Independent bericht: 'Geronimo's Family Call on Bush to Help Return His Skeleton.


The great grandson of the Apache leader Geronimo has appealed to the big chief in the White House to help recover the remains of his famous relative - purportedly stolen more than 90 years ago by a group of students - including the President's grandfather.
The story that members of Yale University's secret Skull and Bones society took the remains - including a skull and femur - from the burial site in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, has long been part of the university's lore. But a university historian recently recovered a letter from 1918 that appears to support the story that members of the society did indeed take the remains while serving with a group of army volunteers from Yale, stationed at the fort during the First World War.
The students - among them, Mr Bush's grandfather Prescott - apparently returned with the remains and kept them in their society's headquarters at the university in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's initiation rite reportedly involves kissing a skull, referred to as "Geronimo", usually held in a glass case.
The letter from society member Winter Mead to fellow member F Trubee Davison, made public earlier this month, said: "The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club... is now safe inside the [tomb] together with his well worn femurs, bit and saddle horn."' Lees verder:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article622744.ece Of: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0601-02.htm

Iran 51

De onafhankelijke Amerikaanse journalist Mike Whitney schrijft: ' “The US is updating contingency plans for a strike to cripple Iran’s atomic weapon program if international diplomacy fails….The plan calls for a rolling, five-day bombing campaign against 400 key targets, including 24 nuclear-related sites, 14 military airfields and radar installations, and Revolutionary Guard headquarters.” Ian Bruce, “US spells out plan to bomb Iran”, The UK Herald

The Bush administration has no intention of peacefully resolving the nuclear dispute with Iran. They have consistently blocked all attempts by Iran to negotiate in good faith or to establish diplomatic channels for discussion. The current offer by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to talk directly with Iran is less a departure from the normal US’ belligerence than it is a means of enlisting support from Russia and China for future punitive action. In one particularly ominous comment, Rice said that the negotiations would give Iran “one last excuse” to resist American demands. This tells us that US diplomacy is a just a smokescreen for the eventual hostilities.

It took the United States months of behind the scenes wrangling to persuade the UN Security Council to even consider Iran’s “alleged” nuclear weapons programs. Iran tried to prevent this by offering to allow surprise inspections on any facility suspected of covert nuclear activity. Iran is not required to do this under the terms of the NPT, but volunteered as a way of building confidence among the member states. The Bush administration, which made this a vital part of earlier demands, rejected the offer outright saying that Iran’s concession would not be enough to end the standoff.

A similar incident took place just weeks earlier when Iran was finalizing the details of an agreement with Russia to enrich uranium outside of the country. Iran figured that this would allay US fears that it was secretively developing nuclear weapons.

Again, the Bush administration rejected this “good will” gesture as insufficient, while Condi Rice scoffed at the idea as a trick. These are just latest examples of Iran’s efforts to find a peaceful way to placate Washington. The administration is not interested in concessions or settlements. It is simply building the case for punitive action or war.' Lees verder:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13458.htm

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 16

Het persbureau Reuters bericht: 'In another town, Iraqis say US killed civilians) - U.S. forces denied on Wednesday a new accusation, from Iraqi officers, that American troops killed unarmed civilians in their home this month. Amid mounting public interest in the United States in an inquiry into a suspected massacre at Haditha, the allegations about the deaths of three people at Samarra are among many that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this week were trying his patience with the U.S. military's "excuses" over "mistakes".Iraqi army and police officers and several people who said they were witnesses and relatives of the dead said U.S. soldiers killed two women, aged 60 and 20, and a mentally handicapped man in their home on May 4 after insurgents fired on the troops.Spokesmen for the 101st Airborne Division, which controls Samarra and Salahaddin province north of Baghdad, said soldiers from its 3rd Brigade Combat Team killed two unnamed men and a woman in a house who had "planned to attack the soldiers". In an initial statement on May 5, the unit had said troops killed three people who had already fired on them from a roof.' Lees verder: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article13459.htm Of: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyid=2006-05-31T145905Z_01_
MAC149206_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L1-RelatedNews-3

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 15

Via Information Clearing House kunt u naar een BBC reportage kijken over nog meer Amerikaanse oorlogsmisdaden: 'New "Iraq Massacre" Tape Emerges The BBC obtains new video evidence that US troops may have deliberately killed 11 Iraqi civilians in March.
The BBC has obtained disturbing pictures of the aftermath of an alleged massacre of 11 Iraqis by American troops.
Iraqi police have accused US soldiers of killing the people in Ishaqi, north of Baghdad. John Simpson reports from Baghdad.' Zie: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article13473.htm

De Commerciele Massamedia 9

De Amerikaanse news dissector Danny Schechter schrijft: 'Media Crimes Sanitize War Crimes in Iraq.
New York, June 1, 2006 — As events in Iraq continue to slip from bad to worse, the good news brigade is scrambling for new stories— - ‘anything, give me anything’ - to shore up what’s left of public support for a bloody war without end.As some feared and many predicted, the war hovers over our politics and the president who “brought it on.” He is, as the journalist Sid Blumenthal puts it, stuck in a “paradigm” of his own making. The operative word is the title and refrain of an early Springsteen song: “TRAPPED.”Another tipping point seems to have tipped.Fear and exhaustion are evident in our TV newsrooms, along with a continuing failure to recognize what is going on. The lack of insight is stunning; the quality of most of the news, pathetic.Even CBS’s brave Kimberly Dozier—may she fully recover—was not only embedded in practice with the U.S. military when she was wounded and her crew killed, but she seemed embedded mentally, seeking out a ‘feel good’ story to cheer the home front that the Bush Administration wants so badly to stay the course of his “long war.”In an e-mail sent to CBS, and only discovered after she went from being an embed to being in a bed—at a military hospital in Germany no less—she described the story she was going to be doing before another IED did its awful damage.' Lees verder: http://www.mediachannel.org/affalert420.shtml Of:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13467.htm

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 14

De BBC: 'Iraq War Vets talk about random civilian killings.

Newsnight follow a group of former US soldiers who have returned from Iraq deeply affected by the experience. As they march across America to protest, shocking interviews emerge on the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians.
Veterans reveal they had been trained to see Iraqis as animals, shoot up the landscape and kill anything that moved. Shovels and guns were carried by patrols in order to give the false impression that innocent killed civilians were actually up to no good - supposedly killed whilst digging holes for IED's.
Inigo Gilmore for BBC - Excerpted from Newsnight - Runtime 6 Minutes 23 Seconds
Click here to watch the full length BBC program Windows Media' Zie:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13454.htm

Nederland en Afghanistan 82

Trouw bericht: 'Nederland moet in het onrustige zuiden van Afghanistan mogelijk meer troepen inzetten om de opbouwmissie te laten doorgaan.
De commandant der strijdkrachten, generaal Dick Berlijn, stelt dat „de heftigheid van het voorjaarsoffensief groter is dan we hadden verwacht’’. Als de aanvallen en aanslagen van Taliban-strijders op Afghaanse en westerse doelen aanhouden, kan het nodig zijn om meer militairen naar de provincie Uruzgan te sturen dan de beoogde 1400.' Lees verder: http://www.trouw.nl/hetnieuws/wereld/article337987.ece/
Mogelijk_meer_troepen_nodig_in_Afghanistan

Afgaande op de woorden van generaal Berlijn is het Nederlandse leger verrast over de grote inzet van de Taliban. Slechts 1 conclusie is dan gerechtvaardigd: de Nederlandse militairen en in hun kielzog de meerderheid van het Nederlandse parlement is niet op de hoogte van de achtergronden van de strijd aldaar. Daarmee wordt de vraag: wat doen Nederlandse militairen daar eigenlijk nog klemmender. Alle buitenlandse deskundigen weten dat de Taliban het product is van de Pakistaanse geheime dienst, de ISI. Zo schrijft Stephen Kinzer, oud-correspondent van de New York Times in zijn uitgebreid gedocumenteerde boek 'Overthrow' dat de ISI: 'recruited radical Afghan refugees from the thousands of religious schools in Pakistan, organized them into military units, and trained and armed their leaders. Because each of these recruits had been a talib, or religious student, they called their movement the Taliban. By the time it began capturing territory in Afghanistan, at the end of 1994, it had twenty thousand troops under arms and impressive amounts of weaponry. The Saudi government sent it millions of dollars, and whenever it needed more fighters, Pakistan recruited them from its Saudi-sonsored religious schools.' Hoe kwamen de guerillastrijders van de Taliban aan hun wapens en geld voor logistieke steun? Van de CIA. 'Despite the huge amounts of money the United States sent to Afghan guerillas, it never played or even sought to play a role in deciding who received its gifts. That was left to Pakistan, which had objectives far different from Washington's. The Pakistanis chose to support seven Afghan factions, all of them in vayring degrees fundamentalist and anti-Western, and also worked systematically to undermine and destroy others that were leftist, secular, or nationalist.' Wat deden de Taliban nadat de VS het land was binnengevallen? Die vluchtten massaal tezamen met Osama bin Laden naar Pakistan en zijn de afgelopen jaren weer teruggekeerd, daarbij nog steeds gesteund door de ISI, die hun fundamentalistische strijd tegen het Westen voortzetten. De Taliban heeft de oorlog nooit verloren, ze verloren slechts een slag en zijn nu klaar om de gewapende strijd voort tezetten. En de Amerikanen? Die zitten met enkele honderden militairen in Afghanistan. 'For the United States to embark on a sustained effort to pacify Afghanistan would have required a commitment comparable in scope to the multibillion-dollar, six year-long campaign it waged to throw the country into chaos during the period of Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Such an undertaking would have made it impossible for the United States to conduct any other major military offensive at the same time. It would have forced Bush to abandon the idea of invading Iraq, something he was not prepared to do,' aldus Kinzer. En dus moest de NAVO Afghanistan militair gaan beheersen. Daaraan besteedt Nederland honderden miljoenen euro's belastinggeld in een tijd van bezuinigingen. Dat alles wordt aan het grote publiek verkocht met het verhaal dat wij het totaal verwoeste land weer gaan opbouwen. Intussen profiteren alleen de corrupte krijgsheren van de Westerse steun, de rest van de bevolking is nog steeds even arm als altijd. En de krijgsheren, die het Westen in het zadel houden, worden al schatrijk door de opiumteelt. 'Afghanistan produced 3,200 tons of heroin in 2002, 3,600 tons in 2003, and 4,200 tons in 2004 - the last figure representing 87 percent of the world total.' Dat is het hele verhaal. En kennelijk zijn de Nederlandse strijdkrachten en een groot deel van de Nederlandse politici te onnozel om dit te beseffen. Ook de oppositionele PVDA 'staat niet afwijzend' tegenover het sturen van nog meer Nederlandse militairen.

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 13

De New York Times bericht: 'Iraqi Accuses U.S. of 'Daily' Attacks Against Civilians.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 1 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki lashed out at the American military on Thursday, denouncing what he characterized as habitual attacks by troops against Iraqi civilians. As outrage over reports that American marines killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha last year continued to shake the new government, the country's senior leaders said that they would demand that American officials turn over their investigative files on the killings and that the Iraqi government would conduct its own inquiry.
In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by many troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people."
"They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," he said. "This is completely unacceptable." Attacks on civilians will play a role in future decisions on how long to ask American forces to remain in Iraq, the prime minister added.' Les verder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/02/world/middleeast/
02iraq.html?hp&ex=1149307200&en=803814ac058b8fe6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

donderdag 1 juni 2006

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 12


Het BBC Nieuws berichtte net dat er een nieuw bloedbad is ontdekt in Irak, begaan door Amerikaanse militairen. Daarnaast meldt de BBC Worldservice: 'Ethics lessons for US Iraq troops.
US-led troops in Iraq are to undergo ethical training in the wake of the alleged murder of civilians in Haditha.
For the next 30 days, they will receive lessons in "core warrior values", a military statement said.
Correspondents say Haditha, where US marines are suspected of massacring up to 24 Iraqi civilians, could have a huge effect on US public opinion.
The Iraqi prime minister has condemned the suspected massacre, adding he would conduct his own investigation.' Lees verder: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5036686.stm

Het is een geruststellende gedachte dat de Amerikaanse militairen in hun 'strijd tegen het terrorisme en de opbouw van een democratisch Irak' geleerd gaat worden dat ze geen vrouwen, bejaarden, kinderen, en babies mogen vermoorden. Het is een verheugende eerste stap. Wordt het geen tijd voor de Nederlandse politici om te heroverwegen of ze nog meer Nederlandse troepen naar Afghanistan moeten sturen? Indirect steunen we daarmee de Amerikaanse terreur in het Midden Oosten. Of moeten we geloven dat we hier met wat rotte appels te maken hebben? Net zulke rotte appels als die in Vietnam die anderhalfmiljoen burgers om het leven brachten en honderdduizenden verminkten.

Tanya Reinhart


De Israelische hoogleraar Tanya Reinhart schrijft: 'THE HAMAS GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED.
Yediot Aharonot, May 31, 2006, translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall
(quotes and references added).

The Hamas government must be recognized, not only because recognition of
Hamas would be good for Israel, as the former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy
recently argued,(1) but because this is the right move by any criterion of
justice and international law.

The U.S. and Europe decided, despite Israel's opposition, to permit the
Palestinian people to hold democratic elections. According to Jimmy
Carter's report in the "Herald Tribune", the elections were "honest, fair,
strongly contested, without violence and with the results accepted by
winners and losers. Among the 62 elections that have been monitored by...
the Carter Center, these are among the best in portraying the will of the
people."(2)

In a just and well-ordered world, it would be unthinkable for a government
that was elected in this way to be disqualified because Israel does not
like the choice of the electorate in question. But in a world in which the
U.S. rules, might is right, and might can define democracy as it chooses.
Thus it was announced that the outcome of the Palestinian elections would
not be recognized until the three "mantras" were fulfilled: Hamas must
renounce terror, honour previous accords, and recognize the State of
Israel. Meanwhile the Palestinian people would be punished and starved
through an economic boycott, in the hope that this will lead to the
collapse of the elected government.

In January 2005, Hamas announced its resolution to replace armed struggle
with political struggle and agreed to a unilateral ceasefire ("calm"). In
the 17 months since then, Hamas has not perpetrated a single terrorist
attack. According to security sources, since the election, Hamas has not
even participated in the launching of Qassam rockets from Gaza, most of
which are carried out by Fatah.(3) What exactly is the substance of the
demand that Hamas renounce terror?

Regarding previous accords, Hamas PM Haniyeh explained that according to
the Oslo Accords of 1993, after an interim period of five years, a
Palestinian state was to have come into existence. But Israel violated
every clause of the Accords and continued to colonize and to dispossess
Palestinians of their lands. From now on, he says, his government will only
honour accords that are good for the Palestinian people.

Since the Oslo Accords, we Israelis have become accustomed to the idea that
negotiations with the Palestinian Authority always revolve around the sole
question of what is good for Israel - the extent to which the Palestinians
are prepared to recognize its existence as a Jewish state and to take care
of its security. Suddenly Israel is confronted with an elected Palestinian
government which is not willing to play that game any more. Haniyeh is
telling the government of Israel: From now on, you will represent the
position of Israel in the negotiations, and we will represent the position
of the Palestinians. At the Algiers meeting of the Palestine National
Council in 1988, the Palestinian people undertook to recognize the
partition of the country and to be satisfied with a state within the 1967
borders. Israel has not done a thing since then to prove that it is
prepared to accept such a compromise. The Palestinians will recognize the
right of Israel to exist only when Israel proves that it is prepared to
recognize the right of the Palestinian people to exist.

But that is precisely what the governments of Israel and the army have
never accepted. No Palestinian leadership has yet been found to be a
suitable partner for peace, but a leadership that announces that it
represents only the Palestinian people is in their eyes a real enemy that
must be destroyed.

Olmert may have succeeded in garnering a majority in the U.S. Congress for
a boycott of the Hamas government, but in Israeli society itself he does
not have a majority. According to a poll by the Truman Institute in March
of this year, 62% of Israelis are in favour of negotiations with Hamas.(4)
But for quite some time now, the majority in Israel has had no say. At the
moment, what remains to be hoped for is that Europe will come to its senses
and also influence the U.S. to accept the democratic choice of the
Palestinian people.

--------

(1) Interview in Yediot Aharonot Saturday Supplement, May 26, 2006. See
also Associated Press, 'Former Mossad chief calls for long-term deal with
Hamas' May 27, 2006.
(2) Jimmy Carter, 'Punishing the innocent is a crime', International Herald
Tribune
May 7, 2006
(3) Amos Harel, 'IDF and Qassams / Zero tolerance', Ha'aretz, April 7,
2006; Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, 'IDF: Hamas about to rein in Qassams',
Ha'aretz April 10, 2006.
(4) Poll conducted March 16-21, 2006, jointly by the Harry S. Truman
Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in
Ramallah, http://truman.huji.ac.il/upload/PressRelease-15-240306English.doc

http://www.tau.ac.il/~reinhart

Klimaatverandering 37

De Independent bericht: 'Anger at oil chief's $400m retirement package.
Lee Raymond, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has bowed out from the oil giant with a $400m pay and retirement deal that has caused outrage among environmentalists. In his 12 years at the top of the company, Exxon has pumped an estimated six billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere and has led the opposition to action on climate change
Investors and environmental campaigners condemned a $400m (£214m) retirement package for the boss of Exxon Mobil, the man known as the "Darth Vader of global warming" for his denial that carbon emissions cause climate change.
Protesters descended on the annual shareholder meeting of the world's largest oil company's in Dallas, Texas, amid fury over the lavish lifestyle that it plans to fund for Lee Raymond, who retired after 12 years as chairman and chief executive.
Exxon has been condemned by green groups for fuelling the world's addiction to oil by opposing the Kyoto treaty on reducing emissions and refusing to invest a penny in alternative energy sources. The total amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by the production and use of Exxon's oil and gas output is calculated at 500 million tons a year, or six billion tons during Mr Raymond's tenure.
Since becoming chief executive in 1993, Mr Raymond had become infamous for his dismissive response to environmental lobbyists at previous annual meetings. He has funnelled $19m of Exxon's money to groups that question the science of global warming. His package of pension and perks includes a bodyguard, a car and driver, and use of a company jet, plus a $1m-a-year deal to stay on as a consultant.' Lees verder:
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article622745.ece

De Oorlogsstaat 57

De onafhankelijke publicist Sidney Blumenthal schrijft:
'War is swell. Sept. 11 offered Bush a reason for being, and nothing will get in the way of his holy "war paradigm" -- not even the Constitution.

Something that senior officials call the "war paradigm" is the Bush administration's central organizing principle. They do not use the phrase publicly, just among themselves, but they bend policy to serve it. After Sept. 11, 2001, they instantly adopted the war paradigm without any internal discussion. George W. Bush, who proclaimed, "I'm a war president" and insisted that he made decisions "with war on my mind," assumed the war paradigm as his natural state and right. According to its imperatives, the president in his wartime capacity as commander in chief makes and enforces laws as he sees fit, in effect as a sovereign, overriding the constitutional system of checks and balances. Some of the paradigm's expressions include Bush's fiats on the treatment of "war on terror" detainees, domestic surveillance, and international law and treaties, and his more than 750 signing statements appended to laws enacted by Congress that he claims he can implement as he chooses.
In the beginning, the elements of the war paradigm appeared to be expediencies, conceived as a series of emergency measures in the struggle against al-Qaida. But, in fact, their precepts were developed in law review articles before Sept. 11 by John Yoo, promoted to deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, where Vice President Cheney's office assigned him to write key secret memos on torture, surveillance and executive power. Once Bush approved them, the clerisy of neoconservative lawyers, at least as tightly knit as Opus Dei, put them into effect. The war paradigm is Bush's "Da Vinci Code," the difference being that its high priests acknowledge in private that it is real.


They fervently believe that the Constitution is fatally flawed and must be severely circumscribed. The Bush administration's "holy grail," another phrase officials use in private, is to remove suspects' rights to due process, speedy trial and exculpatory evidence. The war paradigm, which they contrast with a caricatured "law enforcement paradigm," is to be constantly strengthened to conduct a permanent war against terror, which can never be finally defeated. There is no exit strategy from emergency.' Lees verder:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/06/01/bush_war/

Irak 81

Wat de Amerikaanse en Nederlandse televisie niet laat zien, maar wel getoond wordt door Al Jazeera en het Britse Channel 4: 'Iraq: The Hidden War. Iraq: The Hidden Story shows the footage used by TV news broadcasts, and compares it with the devastatingly powerful uncensored footage of the aftermath of the carnage that is becoming a part of the fabric of life in Iraq. Prod/ Dir: Christian Trumble; Exec Prod: Stephen Phelps; Prod Co: Zenith Entertainment Ltd - 200605/29/06 Runtime 49 MinutesImages of Iraq dominate our TV news bulletins every night but in this film, Channel4 news presenter Jon Snow, questions whether these reports are sugar-coating the bloody reality of war under the US-led occupation.05/29/06 - Run Time 49 Minutes.' Zie: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13420.htm De Nederlandse omroepen tonen ook niet wat er werkelijk in Afghanistan gebeurt. Dat laat men misschien zien zodra het daar fout loopt voor de Nederlandse militairen. Als die werkelijkheid dagelijks zou worden getoond, zoals men verwachten mag van zogeheten 'onafhankelijke' media, zou de publieke opinie de bezetting niet langer meer tolereren. Zelfs iemand als Charles Groenhuijsen zou dan tenslotte tegen de oorlog zijn.

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 11

Via Information Clearinghouse kunt u een getuigeverklaring horen en zien: 'Iraqi Girl tells of US Attack in Haditha.
Ten-year-old Iman Walid witnessed the killing of seven members of her family in an attack by American marines last November. The interview with Iman was filmed exclusively for ITV News by Ali Hamdani,our Iraqi video diarist.
05/30/06 ITV.' Zie: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13452.htm
Zie voor de consequenties van deze oorlogsmisdaad: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Killing-Crisis.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin En: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0531-11.htm

Propaganda 21

Uit CounterPunch: 'Embedded Journalism and the Disinformation Campaign for War on Iran
Now Introducing, the Office of Iranian Affairs (Formerly Doing Business as the Office of Special Plans)

By GARY LEUPP
According to Laura Rozen of the Los Angeles Times, the Office of Special Plans has been reincarnated as the Office of Iranian Affairs, apparently housed in the same Pentagon offices inhabited by its predecessor and involving some of the same slimy personnel. Notably, Abram Shulsky, who headed the OSP under Douglas Feith, is back. His crew will be reporting to none other than Elizabeth Cheney, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and daughter of the Vice President. Dick Cheney is generally understood to be the strongest advocate for an attack on Iran in the administration. (He is also, by the way, architect of Bush's "signing statements" appended to laws entitling him to ignore them. He is the man behind the throne, surrounded by neocon acolytes.)
As I wrote last November, "it is too soon to speak of the 'twilight of the neocons' while [John] Hannah, [Stephen] Hadley, [William] Luti, [David] Wurmser, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, John Negroponte and other neocons remain in power, with [Michale] Ledeen and [Abram] Shulsky still skulking about."
This was the same month that Democrats staged an abortive mini-rebellion in the Senate, demanding that the Intelligence Committee's long-delayed Phase II investigation focusing on Feith's OSP finally get off the ground. But this seems to have been deliberately delayed by the initiation of a separate in-house investigation of Feith's office by the Pentagon's inspector general. Feith's successor and fellow neocon Eric Edelman and Rumsfeld's intelligence chief Stephen Cambone are supposedly cooperating on that. I wouldn't expect any startling report detailing the disinformation campaign leading to the Iraq war anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Abram Shulsky, the neocon's neocon, a scholar of Leo Strauss and Machiavelli, who has written about the application of Strauss's thought to intelligence, is back. The Straussians of course uphold the use of disinformation ("noble lies") to prepare the public for the difficult choices they, the Wise, have made. Already there is evidence for the deliberate planting of bogus stories planted in the press, such as occurred in the months leading up to the Iraq attack. Amir Tahiri's report on the front page of Canada's National Post about a religious dress code adopted by the Iranian parliament was immediately, eagerly embraced by State Department spokesman Sean McCormick, who at a May 19 press briefing was asked by James Rozen of Fox News the following:' Lees verder: http://www.counterpunch.com/leupp05302006.html

Dear Mister President

















'Dear Mr. President - Live.

Pink performs Dear Mr President Live in NYC. It's a controversial song from her new album.' Zie:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12979.htm

Westers Terrorisme 10

Hier kunt u zien hoe de Verenigde Staten beulen, moordenaars en andere terroristen opleidt: 'School of the Americas: School of Assassins
"Here is the School of the Americas. It's a combat school. Most of the courses revolve around what they call "counter-insurgency warfare." Who are the "insurgents?" We have to ask that question. They are the poor. They are the people in Latin America who call for reform. They are the landless peasants who are hungry. They are health care workers, human rights advocates, labor organizers. They become the insurgents. They are seen as "the enemy." They are those who become the targets of those who learn their lessons at the School of the Americas." - Father Roy Bourgeois: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13436.htm.' Zie ook:
http://www.soaw.org/new/

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 10

De Washington Post bericht: 'U.S. Policy Was to Shoot Korean Refugees -- -- More than a half-century after hostilities ended in Korea, a document from the war's chaotic early days has come to light _ a letter from the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, informing the State Department that American soldiers would shoot refugees approaching their lines.The letter _ dated the day of the Army's mass killing of South Korean refugees at No Gun Ri in 1950 _ is the strongest indication yet that such a policy existed for all U.S. forces in Korea, and the first evidence that that policy was known to upper ranks of the U.S. government."If refugees do appear from north of US lines they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing they will be shot," wrote Ambassador John J. Muccio, in his message to Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk.The letter reported on decisions made at a high-level meeting in South Korea on July 25, 1950, the night before the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment shot the refugees at No Gun Ri.Estimates vary on the number of dead at No Gun Ri. American soldiers' estimates ranged from under 100 to "hundreds" dead; Korean survivors say about 400, mostly women and children, were killed at the village 100 miles southeast of Seoul, the South Korean capital. Hundreds more refugees were killed in later, similar episodes, survivors say.The No Gun Ri killings were documented in a Pulitzer Prize-winning story by The Associated Press in 1999, which prompted a 16-month Pentagon inquiry.The Pentagon concluded that the No Gun Ri shootings, which lasted three days, were "an unfortunate tragedy" _ "not a deliberate killing." It suggested panicky soldiers, acting without orders, opened fire because they feared that an approaching line of families, baggage and farm animals concealed enemy troops.' Lees verder:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/29/AR2006052900485_pf.html Of:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13432.htm

De Commerciele Massamedia 8

Deze foto illustreert de wijze waarop de massamedia vaak werken: ze geven een absurd beeld van de werkelijkheid, een vertekend beeld, niet gebaseerd op logica, of gezond verstand. Een dergelijke portretterring is natuurlijk nonsense, maar als men nonsense vaak genoeg herhaalt dan wordt het op den duur de werkelijkheid. Dan kan een appel omhoog vallen, een koe uit het zeewater springen, de Amerikaanse terreur in Irak het opbouwen van de democratie zijn, en het confisqueren van Palestijns land door Israel onderdeel zijn van het vredesproces. Zo worden ook Iran en de islam immense bedreigingen van het vrije Westen. Alles kan met propaganda. Overigens wordt deze foto voor iets heel anders gebruikt: 'The picture posted here has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at Loma Linda Medical Center.Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study of a group revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The number of differences observed matches closely to the amount of stress the observer is experiencing.Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may be experiencing stress.' Het is maar dat u het weet. Zie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tidewatermuse/134222791/

woensdag 31 mei 2006

De Oorlogsstaat 56

Een commentaar uit la Jicarita, een community advocacy newspaper uit Noord New Mexico. '"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. " - Hermann Goering, convicted Nazi war criminal

"The reason for fighting, I never did get,
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride,
'Cause you don't count the dead when God's on
your side." - Bob Dylan

Those of us who lived through the Vietnam War are all too familiar with the unscrupulous tactics our government used to "manufacture consent" for that immoral war that cost the lives of over 50,000 Americans, untold Vietnamese, and ruined the lives of millions. This calculated waste of lives and resources continues today at the expense of the American public and the entire world community. Once again we're engaged in a war that only benefits the corporate elite. While Halliburton, Bechtel, and oil interests reap billions of dollars, thousands of Iraqis have been senselessly murdered, maimed, or displaced and hundreds of Americans are coming home in body bags. While George W. Bush and Congress continue to channel billions of dollars to underwrite the occupation, they cut Medicaid benefits, threaten to cut social security, and allow millions of our own people to be grossly under-served. They suppress non-violent dissent with rubber bullets, mace, and truncheons and suspend freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution with legislation they ironically call the "Patriot Act."

Why then do so many Americans passively accept the lying, deception, and lack of accountability perpetrated by a federal bureaucracy and mainstream media who are both in the employ of the corporate dictatorship?

A recent New York Times editorial stated, "If facts mattered in American politics, the Bush-Cheney ticket would not be basing its re-election campaign on the fear-mongering contention that the surest defense against future terrorist attacks lies in the badly discredited doctrine of preventive war." Media pundits acknowledge that the current debate about who is going to better protect the country from "terrorists" - the tough guy who purportedly failed to fulfill his duty in the National Guard or the flip-flopper who won all those medals in the Vietnam War - is beside the point, but their papers and broadcast stations continue to push the propaganda that whoever is perceived as being tougher will get the vote.

Michael Moore posits in Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 that Americans think they need to protect themselves from all those "predators" out there who are jealous of their so-called freedoms and consumer economy - what they worked hard for and what the media constantly tells them they don't have enough of. So they're going to vote for George Bush because they think he's going to protect their privilege. They're going to vote for George Bush because they fear that someone else might actually check consumption in order that the rest of the world might have access to life's basic necessities.' Lees verder:
http://lajicarita.org/04oct.htm#editorial

Nederland en Afghanistan 81

Photo Gallery: Chaos in Kabul :
US troops reportedly shot dead at least four people when they opened fire on a crowd of Afghans demonstrating after an accident involving a coalition military vehicle.
http://tinyurl.com/ngyvf

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 9

Via Information Clearing House kunt u naar Democracy Now kijken: 'Haditha Massacre: Was it an Isolated Event and Did the Military Try to Cover it up?05/30/06 -Democracy Now!
An internal military investigation has found that U.S. marines killed as many as 24 Iraqis - including women and children - in the city of Haditha last November and then tried to cover it up. We speak with an attorney and researcher at Human Rights Watch, an independent journalist who spent months unembedded in Iraq and we go to Baghdad to speak with the bureau chief for Knight Ridder.' Zie: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13434.htm

Meer over Haditha:

'New details found in deaths of Iraqis.
Investigators say they have found drone video from the same day when Marines allegedly killed civilians after bombing.
By Thomas E. Ricks
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON - Military investigators piecing together what happened in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19 -- when Marines allegedly killed two dozen civilians -- have access to video shot by an unmanned drone aircraft that was circling overhead for at least part of that day, military defense lawyers familiar with the case said in interviews.
It is unclear whether the video obtained from that day's flight captured the violence, said the lawyers, who have consulted with Marines who were there.
One lawyer said investigators have reviewed surveillance footage taken hours after the shootings, which showed the Marines returning to the town to remove the bodies of the Iraqis.' Lees verder: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/14697475.htm

'Marines Haunted By Killings In HadithaFamilies Discuss Fallout From InvestigationBy NBC05/30/06 "NBC" -- -- HANFORD, Calif. -- Two Marines were severely traumatized after following orders to photograph corpses of unarmed Iraqi civilians whom members of their unit are suspected of killing, their families said Monday.The parents of Lance Cpl. Andrew Wright, 20, and Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21, both members of a Marine unit based at Camp Pendleton, said their sons were sent into the western Iraqi city of Haditha to help remove the bodies of as many as two dozen men, women and children who were shot.While there, the two were ordered to photograph the scene with personal cameras they happened to be carrying the day of the attack, the families told The Associated Press in separate interviews. Briones' mother, Susie, said her son told her that he saw the bodies of 23 dead Iraqis that day. It was horrific. It was a terrible scene," Susie Briones said in a tearful interview Monday at her home in California's San Joaquin Valley.'
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/9292100/detail.html Of:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13431.htm


'Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha appeared on CNN America Morning where he expressed outraged at military's handling of the massacre of innocent Iraq's by Marines in Haditha, Iraq.' http://tinyurl.com/oqr9x

'Iraq PM impatient with US troops killing civiliansBy Mariam Karouny05/30/06 -- - BAGHDAD, May 30 (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister said on Tuesday his patience was wearing thin with excuses from U.S. troops that they kill civilians by "mistake" and said he would launch an investigation into killings at Haditha last year."There is a limit to the acceptable excuses. Yes a mistake may happen but there is an acceptable limit to mistakes," Nuri al-Maliki told Reuters when asked about a U.S. investigation into the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the western town last November."We are worried about the increase in 'mistakes'. I am not saying that they are intentional. But it is worrying for us," he said in an interview in his offices in Baghdad.Newly confirmed as leader of Iraq's first full-term government since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein, Maliki has talked up the prospect of foreign troops leaving Iraq.He said a timetable of 18 months he mentioned last week for Iraqi forces having overall control of the whole country could even be shorter if U.S.-led forces were serious about giving support and training to the new Iraqi army.' http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=MAC048936 Of:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13430.htm

'Spreading Democracy in Haditha By Mike Whitney 05/30/06 "Information Clearing House" As details of the atrocities in Haditha continue to surface in the media, it is clear that George Bush is either completely divorced from reality or simply incapable of grasping the catastrophe he has created. In fact, he is as culpable in the deaths of the “24 unarmed Iraqis” as if he had put the gun to their heads’ and shot them one by one. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg established the model for prosecuting war crimes. Justice Robert H. Jackson ruled that military aggression constitutes the “supreme crime” because “it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”. Jackson’s findings form a direct link between George Bush and the “execution-style” murders of Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Until Bush provides a credible justification for the invasion, he must be held directly responsible for the war crimes perpetrated on the Iraqi people. The administration has dismissed the killings in Haditha with its “few bad apples” theory which it used in Abu Ghraib. It has also intensified its public relations campaign to connect the ongoing occupation with the hobgoblin of Islamic fanaticism. This appears to be a bad plan indicated by Bush’s dwindling approval ratings. All the same, the war on terror is now regularly invoked to justify the destruction of Iraqi society as well as an excuse for the skyrocketing civilian death toll.'
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13421.htm

Cabaretier Robert Newman














Als u drie kwartier de tijd heeft, kijkt u dan naar de Britse cabaretier Robert Newman met zijn: 'Rob Newman's History of Oil.
Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years - but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, the places oil centre stage as the cause of all commotion.' Geestig en informatief. Zie:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13416.htm

De Pro Israel Lobby 11















Michael Carmichael has been a professional public affairs consultant, author and broadcaster since 1968. In 2003, he founded The Planetary Movement Limited, a global public affairs organization based in the United Kingdom. He has appeared as a public affairs expert on the BBC's Today Programme, Hardtalk, PM, as well as numerous appearances on ITN, NPR and many European broadcasts examining politics and culture. He can be reached through his website: http://www.planetarymovement.org/

In CounterPunch schrijft hij: 'The DLC and Israel.
Zionist Democrats.
Last week the newly elected Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, visited Washington to meet with George Bush in order to endorse America's plan to attack Iran in his address to Congress. In his strident appeal to Congress, Olmert sought nothing less than to incite war between America and Iran. Prior to his stroke, Ariel Sharon was engaged in fomenting wars between America and Iraq, and he had promised his circle of admirers that he would move Iran into the cross hairs of America at the first opportunity. Olmert is Sharon's political heir, and he has inherited a legacy of incitement and fomentation of wars in the Middle East between America and Islamic nations that are militarily weak and rich in oil.
To coincide with Olmert's visit, the Democratic Leadership Council published a statement celebrating "Zionism" and condemning Islam. If their publication had not come from a man who purports to be a leader of the political opposition to the deeply unpopular right-wing Republican regime one might be inclined to surmise that it had been issued by the so-called Israel Lobby.
In what was meant to be a moving personal account of his fifth trip to Israel, Al From, the founding father and CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), defined Zionism as, "a good idea filled with hope." On his journey, Mr. From visited the summit of Mount Hadar where he experienced a moving vision of Israeli 'hope' locked in conflict with Palestinian 'anger.'
Inspired by this romanticized contrast of a black and white rendering of good versus evil, Mr. From witnessed what he described as the, "booms of Palestinian rockets and the Israeli retaliation." From his lofty summit, Mr. From failed to see the mounds of corpses mounting upwards in Israel and Palestine, where four Palestinians are killed for every one Israeli.
Mr. From's account is nothing more nor less than a paean to the Zionist faith that he sees as the force driving the engine of politics and shaping the culture of Israel. Nowhere does Mr. From pretend to deliver a balanced or objective analysis of the state of Israel or its lengthy and violent conflict with the Palestinian people. Quite the contrary, his account is dripping with disdain for Palestine and its people whom he describes as motivated by anger, dispirited and habitually driven to horrific acts of terror and suicide bombing.
Mr. From's reverie on his faith in Zionism occurs against a stark backdrop. The organization that Mr. From leads, the DLC, is clearly on the wane, and the current issue of their magazine carries an appeal for an "entry level Development Assistant" to help them raise much needed funds. That said, to borrow a phrase from cricket, the DLC did have one long and grotesque inning characterized by the consistent loss of elections by its major patron: the Democratic Party ­ which kept following Mr. From's advice to move relentlessly to the right to conform to the demands of his blatantly Zionist agenda: security for Israel as a means of providing security for America or conversely security for America predicated on security for Israel.
For a decade and a half, the DLC dominated the Democratic Party more thoroughly than any pressure group had ever controlled any political party in American history. After ten years of failure to regain the majority in Congress and abject failures in the two previous presidential elections, Governor Howard Dean led a grassroots movement of party activists to reclaim the levers of power for traditional Democratic policies: constitutional democracy, the open society, multilateralism, social welfare, a national health service, national security and homeland security realized through diplomacy rather than by military confrontation and many more substantive and socially progressive policies besides.' Lees verder: http://www.counterpunch.org/carmichael05302006.html

De Volkskrant 2











Er gebeurt van alles in de wereld: het milieu wordt ernstig bedreigd, een klimaatverandering is gaande, de oorlog in Irak en Afghanistan is onbeheersbaar geworden, de armoede neemt schrikbarend toe. En waar opent de Volkskrant mee in zijn 'Ochtendnieuwsbrief
woensdag 31 mei 2006


SportRapport pleit Armstrong vrij in dopingzaakHet wereldantidopingagentschap WADA heeft moedwillig geprobeerd Lance Armstrong in diskrediet te brengen. Dit stelt advocaat Emile Vrijman naar aanleiding van zijn onderzoek naar de beschuldiging dat de Amerikaan in de Tour de France van 1999 Epo zou hebben gebruikt....



EconomieLaurus doet Konmar over aan Ahold en JumboHet supermarktconcern Laurus verkoopt het merendeel van zijn Konmar-winkels aan Ahold en Jumbo. Met de verkoop is een bedrag van 133 miljoen euro gemoeid....




BinnenlandMeer geld nieuwe WAO’ersPvdA en CDA gaan minister De Geus dwingen de WAO-uitkeringen te verhogen...


Volkskrant 16:00: Middageditie Nieuw: Volkskrant 16:00, het laatste nieuws op pdf-formaat

Waar is mijn site: Versie 4.0 Versie 4.0 van volkskrant.nl. Een kleine wegwijzer.


BuitenlandVerspreiding van HIV voor het eerst stabielDe verspreiding van HIV is voor het eerst in 25 jaar gestabiliseerd...




BinnenlandHuishoudboekje rijk weer op orde Minister Zalm van Financiën is hard op weg een van de belangrijkste doelstellingen van zijn regeerperiode te halen: een overschot op de begroting....



BinnenlandBedrijf van WAO’ers wordt gekort Valid Express, de succesvolle koeriersdienst van gehandicapten en chronisch zieken, stuit opnieuw op bureaucratie bij pogingen het bedrijf uit te breiden....



Buitenland‘Erger dan de mishandeling in Abu Ghraib’VS-mariniers zouden 24 Iraakse burgers in koelen bloede hebben vermoord. De moordpartij in Haditha dreigt bekend te worden als het ernstigste wangedrag van Amerikanen in Irak....



BinnenlandMuskens: boeddhisme belangrijker dan islamBisschop Muskens van Breda noemt de dialoog met boeddhisten belangrijker dan het gesprek met moslims. De monseigneur zei dit dinsdag in de Utrechtse Jaarbeurs, waar hij Getuigen van de hoop die in ons leeft!...



BinnenlandKrakers-scene geen bolwerk van hasjrokende losersMinister Dekker wil kraken verbieden. De vier grote steden zijn tegen: kraken voorkomt leegstand en levert idealiter goedkope woonruimte op voor kunstenaars en studenten....



SportZware werkweek voor Oranje, maar ‘het loopt goed’‘Het loopt goed’, zei de bondscoach in Hoenderloo, op de tweede dag van wat hij ‘een zware werkweek’ noemde. De blessures van Rafael van der Vaart en Kew Jaliens brachten Marco van Basten niet op andere gedachten....



TV FILM VAN DE DAG






22:10 - 00:00Donnie DarkoBelgië 2


De slapeloze puber Donnie wordt 's nachts bezocht door een angstaanjagend konijn dat het einde van de wereld aankondigt. De debuutfilm van de 27-jarige Richard Kelly is een geslaagde mix van tienerdrama, sciencefiction en sociale satire, waarin tijdreizen even vanzelfsprekend is als een nieuwe verkering.


Vandaag op televisie Overzicht van de films op televisie met diverse selecties.



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Sport, amusement en veel binnenland, want dat is veilig voor een provinciaal.

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 8

De Independent bericht: 'US Marines to face trial over killings at Haditha.
US Marines will be court-martialled over the massacre of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha, it was reported last night.
The BBC said it had learnt that American soldiers would stand trial over the killings, on 19 November last year. The Pentagon is close to ending its inquiries into the deaths and seems likely to conclude that its troops have a case to answer.
The dead included women and children said to be as young as two.
The Wall St Journal quoted officials close to the investigation as saying several Marines will likely be charged with murder. A separate investigation is examining claims of a cover-up by senior officers.
The incident could deal a more serious blow to US credibility in the Arab and Muslim worlds than did the Abu Ghraib scandal, when American troops tortured Iraqi prisoners.
Human rights groups are already referring to the killings in Haditha as " Iraq's My Lai" after the cold-blooded murder by US soldiers of more than 500 Vietnamese civilians in 1968.
My Lai changed the American public's perception of the Vietnam conflict and criticism is mounting in the US about the conduct of its troops in Iraq, who are placed under increasing strain as attacks on them by insurgents, especially roadside bombs, rise.
Three senior US officers were relieved of their command on 7 April and the actions of about a dozen members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, are understood to be the focus of the investigation.' Lees verder: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article622118.ece

Irak 80

De Independent bericht: 'Bloodiest month: UK suffers largest post-war losses.
In May, 11 Britons were killed in Iraq. These are the worst losses since the war ended, prompting more calls for a British withdrawal.
If proof were really needed of the bloodbath that Iraq has come to represent for occupying British forces, then May 2006 has delivered it. The month which ends today has been the bloodiest for Britain since Iraq was occupied three years ago, leaving 11 Britons dead, many injured and the calls for withdrawal more urgent than ever before.
As the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, admitted yesterday that the "spike " in insurgent violence was a source of "major concern," two former defence ministers warned that withdrawal was imperative amid the signs of deepening chaos. Doug Henderson, a former defence and foreign minister, called for an "orderly withdrawal" of British forces. " It is very difficult for our troops. There is no sense of the job being done," he said. Peter Kilfoyle, a former armed forces minister, added: "A decision has to be made very shortly whether we are serving any useful purpose in Iraq any longer. I don't believe that is the case."' Lees verder:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article622117.ece

Arundhati Roy 3

















Boudine Berkenbosch emailde me: 'Een van de comments op de column van Charles Goenhuijsen bevatte deze link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4100322562082185221
Een documentaire van een uur, genaamd: We.. Unautorized Arundhati Roy.
Zeer de moeite waard!
Met vriendelijke groet,
Boudine'

Inderdaad een fascinerende documentaire waarin de macht in de wereld aan de kaak wordt gesteld. U kunt de documentaire ook hier zien: http://www.weroy.org/watch.shtml
Er is ook een Arundhati Roy website: 'This website documents a period in the life of Arundhati Roy when she became a world-renowned writer, first as the author of the Booker prize-winning 'The God of Small Things', and then as a campaigning activist and inspiration to all those who seek to support the poor and oppressed and to speak up against the powers that be. Although the website is no longer regularly updated, I hope it provides both a reference and an inspiration to all.' Zie: http://website.lineone.net/~jon.simmons/roy

Amerikaanse Oorlogsmisdaden 7

De onafhankelijke Amerikaanse journalist Dahr Jamail bericht: 'Countless My Lai Massacres in Iraq.
The media feeding frenzy around what has been referred to as "Iraq's My Lai" has become frenetic. Focus on US Marines slaughtering at least 20 civilians in Haditha last November is reminiscent of the media spasm around the "scandal" of Abu Ghraib during April and May 2004. Yet just like Abu Ghraib, while the media spotlight shines squarely on the Haditha massacre, countless atrocities continue daily, conveniently out of the awareness of the general public. Torture did not stop simply because the media finally decided, albeit in horribly belated fashion, to cover the story, and the daily slaughter of Iraqi civilians by US forces and US-backed Iraqi "security" forces had not stopped either. Earlier this month, I received a news release from Iraq, which read, "On Saturday, May 13th, 2006, at 10:00 p.m., US Forces accompanied by the Iraqi National Guard attacked the houses of Iraqi people in the Al-Latifya district south of Baghdad by an intensive helicopter shelling. This led the families to flee to the Al-Mazar and water canals to protect themselves from the fierce shelling. Then seven helicopters landed to pursue the families who fled … and killed them. The number of victims amounted to more than 25 martyrs. US forces detained another six persons including two women named Israa Ahmed Hasan and Widad Ahmed Hasan, and a child named Huda Hitham Mohammed Hasan, whose father was killed during the shelling." The report from the Iraqi NGO called The Monitoring Net of Human Rights in Iraq (MHRI) continued, "The forces didn't stop at this limit. They held an attack on May 15th, 2006, supported also by the Iraqi National Guards. They also attacked the families' houses, and arrested a number of them while others fled. US snipers then used the homes to target more Iraqis. The reason for this crime was due to the downing of a helicopter in an area close to where the forces held their attack."' Lees verder: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13427.htm

Noam Chomsky 9



















De Independent: 'Why it's over for America An inability to protect its citizens. The belief that it is above the law. A lack of democracy. Three defining characteristics of the 'failed state'. And that, says Noam Chomsky, is exactly what the US is becoming. In an exclusive extract from his devastating new book, America's leading thinker explains how his country lost its way.

-- -- The selection of issues that should rank high on the agenda of concern for human welfare and rights is, naturally, a subjective matter. But there are a few choices that seem unavoidable, because they bear so directly on the prospects for decent survival. Among them are at least these three: nuclear war, environmental disaster, and the fact that the government of the world's leading power is acting in ways that increase the likelihood of these catastrophes. It is important to stress the government, because the population, not surprisingly, does not agree. That brings up a fourth issue that should deeply concern Americans, and the world: the sharp divide between public opinion and public policy, one of the reasons for the fear, which cannot casually be put aside, that, as Gar Alperowitz puts it in America Beyond Capitalism, "the American 'system' as a whole is in real trouble - that it is heading in a direction that spells the end of its historic values [of] equality, liberty, and meaningful democracy".The "system" is coming to have some of the features of failed states, to adopt a currently fashionable notion that is conventionally applied to states regarded as potential threats to our security (like Iraq) or as needing our intervention to rescue the population from severe internal threats (like Haiti). Though the concept is recognised to be, according to the journal Foreign Affairs, "frustratingly imprecise", some of the primary characteristics of failed states can be identified. One is their inability or unwillingness to protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction. Another is their tendency to regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and hence free to carry out aggression and violence. And if they have democratic forms, they suffer from a serious "democratic deficit" that deprives their formal democratic institutions of real substance.Among the hardest tasks that anyone can undertake, and one of the most important, is to look honestly in the mirror. If we allow ourselves to do so, we should have little difficulty in finding the characteristics of "failed states" right at home. No one familiar with history should be surprised that the growing democratic deficit in the United States is accompanied by declaration of messianic missions to bring democracy to a suffering world. Declarations of noble intent by systems of power are rarely complete fabrication, and the same is true in this case. Under some conditions, forms of democracy are indeed acceptable. Abroad, as the leading scholar-advocate of "democracy promotion" concludes, we find a "strong line of continuity": democracy is acceptable if and only if it is consistent with strategic and economic interests (Thomas Carothers). In modified form, the doctrine holds at home as well.The basic dilemma facing policymakers is sometimes candidly recognised at the dovish liberal extreme of the spectrum, for example, by Robert Pastor, President Carter's national security adviser for Latin America. He explained why the administration had to support the murderous and corrupt Somoza regime in Nicaragua, and, when that proved impossible, to try at least to maintain the US-trained National Guard even as it was massacring the population "with a brutality a nation usually reserves for its enemy", killing some 40,000 people. The reason was the familiar one: "The United States did not want to control Nicaragua or the other nations of the region, but it also did not want developments to get out of control. It wanted Nicaraguans to act independently, except when doing so would affect US interests adversely."Similar dilemmas faced Bush administration planners after their invasion of Iraq. They want Iraqis "to act independently, except when doing so would affect US interests adversely". Iraq must therefore be sovereign and democratic, but within limits. It must somehow be constructed as an obedient client state, much in the manner of the traditional order in Central America. At a general level, the pattern is familiar, reaching to the opposite extreme of institutional structures. The Kremlin was able to maintain satellites that were run by domestic political and military forces, with the iron fist poised. Germany was able to do much the same in occupied Europe even while it was at war, as did fascist Japan in Man-churia (its Manchukuo). Fascist Italy achieved similar results in North Africa while carrying out virtual genocide that in no way harmed its favourable image in the West and possibly inspired Hitler. Traditional imperial and neocolonial systems illustrate many variations on similar themes.To achieve the traditional goals in Iraq has proven to be surprisingly difficult, despite unusually favourable circumstances. The dilemma of combining a measure of independence with firm control arose in a stark form not long after the invasion, as mass non-violent resistance compelled the invaders to accept far more Iraqi initiative than they had anticipated. The outcome even evoked the nightmarish prospect of a more or less democratic and sovereign Iraq taking its place in a loose Shiite alliance comprising Iran, Shiite Iraq, and possibly the nearby Shiite-dominated regions of Saudi Arabia, controlling most of the world's oil and independent of Washington.' Lees verder: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13426.htm

dinsdag 30 mei 2006

Yoram Stein

Vandaag waarschuwde de pro-Israel lobbyist Yoram Stein van het christelijke dagblad Trouw zijn lezers voor het in zijn ogen immense gevaar van de islam: 'Hoe de islam de wereld veroverde. Kritiek leveren op de islam is niet geheel ongevaarlijk. Bat Ye’or – Hebreeuws: ’dochter van de Nijl’ – schrijft daarom onder pseudoniem. In Den Haag sprak ze op een door het wetenschappelijk bureau van de LPF georganiseerde, zwaarbeveiligde conferentie over de islam. Gesprek met een omstreden historica.' Zie http://www.trouw.nl/deverdieping/religie_filosofie/article334291.ece/ Hoewel Stein geheimzinnig doet over haar naam kan iedere internetter in 0,13 seconden achterhalen wie Bat Ye'or is. De Engelstalige versie van Wikipedia meldt: 'Bat Ye'or (meaning "daughter of the Nile" in Hebrew; pseudonym of Giselle Littman) is an Egyptian-born British Jewish author and historian specializing in the Middle East, Islam, and non-Muslims in Muslim lands.' Maar in het kader van de immense dreiging van de islam schept Yoram Stein een sfeer alsof Littman anoniem en zwaar beveiligd door het leven moet. En dat past precies in de anti-islam propaganda van Stein en zijn krant. Zie voor Giselle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Ye'or

Uit een aantal reacties van lezers valt op te maken dat het propaganda bedrijven steeds lastiger wordt voor Stein en zijn compagnons. Ik ken Yoram Stein van een bijeenkomst twee jaar geleden aan de Universiteit van Tilburg waar ik op een vrijdagavond in een panel zat om de Amerikaanse buitenlandse politiek te bekritiseren. Ik werd daarbij herhaaldelijk vanuit de zaal onderbroken door een opgewonden schreeuwende kleine man, die ik in eerste instantie voor een Palestijn aanzag. Maar na afloop van de bijeenkomst vertelde 1 van de organisatoren me dat de bijna hyperventilerende man Trouwjournalist Yoram Stein was, en dat enkele aanwezigen haar hadden gevraagd Stein te verzoeken niet door het gesprek heen te schreeuwen of de zaal te verlaten. De daaropvolgende maandag verscheen in Trouw een verslag van de paneldiscussie, waarin Stein mij onder andere de volgende woorden in mond legde: ‘de terroristen [zijn] nog eigenlijk mild geweest. Amerika had erger verdiend,’ daarmee het beeld oproepend dat ik terrorisme goedkeur. Omdat ik bovendien niet het risico wilde lopen om ‘als terroristenvriend’ geen visum voor de VS te krijgen, eiste ik in een email gericht aan de hoofdredacteur van Trouw een onmiddellijke rectificatie en excuus in de krant en op de website. Ik wees de hoofdredacteur Frits van Exter erop dat in het recente verleden de VS kritische buitenlandse journalisten een visum had geweigerd en dat ik voor het schrijven van een boek nog enkele deskundigen in Amerika ging interviewen. Na nog wat druk te hebben moeten uitoefenen, verscheen de volgende dag onder het kopje ‘FEILEN’ een rectificatie in Trouw met als laatste woorden: ‘Onze excuses aan betrokkene,’ die ik - grootmoedig als ik ben - accepteerde. De vraag was alleen waarom Yoram Stein juist deze woorden in mijn mond had gelegd. Ik wilde hierover opheldering, vooral ook omdat de journalist van Trouw het debat niet gehaast in een notitieboekje had opgeschreven, maar volgens de hoofdredacteur op een geluidsband had opgenomen, die Stein in alle rust had kunnen afluisteren. Ondanks mijn herhaald verzoek bleef Van Exter een antwoord hierop schuldig. Begrijpelijk ook, want de enige verklaring voor deze vorm van verslaggeving is dat het geen journalistiek is, maar een ideologische hetze. Ik had het cliche doorbroken: Amerika goed, Israel goed, arabieren slecht, islam slecht.

Wie de officiele versie van de werkelijkheid doorprikt wordt te vuur en te zwaard bestreden, want waar het werkelijk omdraait in een massamaatschappij is wat Chomsky noemt: 'Manufacturing Consent.' Edward Bernays, de grondlegger van de public relations industrie en neef van Sigmund Freud omschreef dit als volgt: ´Regimenting the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments the bodies of its soldiers.´ In zijn klassieke handboek voor media manipulatie wees hij erop dat ´intelligent minorities´in een moderne massamaatschappij als taak hebben ´the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.´ Een dergelijke ´engineering of consent´ was volgens Bernays juist de ´essence of the democratic process.´ Daarbij was ´controlling the public mind´ van eminent belang voor de rijken en machtigen om het volk in het gareel te houden en in de juiste richting te laten marcheren. Het belang van propaganda begreep ook Sam Zemurray, die uitgestrekte bananenplantages bezat in Midden Amerika. Eerder al had hij een staatsgreep in Honduras gefinancierd om de president ten val te brengen, aangezien die erop had gestaan dat de rijken belasting betaalden over hun grondbezit en zich ook nog eens de Hondurese wet zouden houden. Begin jaren vijftig van de vorige eeuw werd Bernays door Zemurray ingehuurd om de democratische regering van Guatemala ten val te brengen omdat die van plan was grote stukken ongebruikt land van het concern van Zemurray, United Fruit, te confisqueren om het onder de arme boeren te herverdelen. Bernays adviseerde zijn client om ogenblikkelijk een mediahetze te starten. 'I have the feeling that Guatemala might respond to pitiless publicity in this country,' zo verklaarde hij later trots. Onder andere via een perscampagne werd de democratische regering afgeschilderd als communistisch. Tegelijkertijd werden prominente Congresleden bewerkt en tenslotte viel de regering dankzij een CIA-complot. Het gevolg was dat er een meedogeloze drie decennia durende oorlog burgeroorlog ontstond waarbij tenminste 200.000 doden vielen. 93 procent werd vermoord door het leger, de doodseskaders en andere door de VS opgeleide gangsters, aldus een officieel overheidsrapport. Het toont aan hoe dodelijk propaganda kan zijn. Maar daarvoor moet eerst de vijand goed in beeld zijn gebracht door leugens en vertekening van de werkelijkeid. Er moet natuurlijk een bedreigende vijand zijn, en iemand moet hem aanwijzen, anders lukt de propaganda niet.

En zo probeert Yoram Stein op zijn eigen, nog wat gebrekkige wijze, een steentje bij te dragen aan de anti islam hetze. Dat is goed voor Israel en wat goed is voor Israel is goed voor het Westen. Zie http://home.planet.nl/~houck006/filosofie4.html Vandaar zijn lang interview met Giselle Littman, volgens de New York Times een van 'the most extreme voices on the new Jewish right,' die - hoe kan het ook anders - waarschuwt voor het in haar ogen immense gevaar van de islam.

CNN Reporter Sniffs "Poison" On Air