De Oorlogsstaat 62

De International Herald Tribune zet het allemaal nog even op een rijtje:
'Image of U.S. falls again
By Brian Knowlton International Herald TribunePublished: June 13, 2006
WASHINGTON As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among publics in countries closely allied with the United States, a new global opinion poll has found.

Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in Spain, where only 23 percent now say they have a positive opinion, down from 41 percent in 2005, according to the survey, which was carried out in 15 nations this spring by the Pew Research Center. In Britain, Washington's closest ally in the Iraq war, positive views of America have remained in the mid-50s in the past two years, still down sharply from 75 percent in 2002.

Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56 percent, down from 71 percent since 2005); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent); and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent).

In Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, only 12 percent said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year.

Declines were less steep in France, Germany and Jordan, while people in China and Pakistan had a slightly more favorable image of the United States this year than last.

The ebbing of positive views of the United States coincides with a spike in feeling that the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place. This perception was shared by majorities in 10 of the countries surveyed, including Britain, where 60 percent said the world had become more dangerous since Saddam Hussein's removal from power in 2003.

Over the past year, support for the U.S.-led fight against terrorism also declined again, Pew found.

The latest declines came after a year in which anti-American sentiment had slightly receded, aided by good feeling over U.S. aid for tsunami victims and political progress in Iraq.

Many respondents distinguished between their largely negative feelings about President George W. Bush and their feelings about ordinary Americans. Majorities in 7 countries polled had favorable views of Americans, led by Japan, at 82 percent, and Britain, at 69.

But only in India and Nigeria did majorities express confidence in Bush. In Spain, just 1 in 14 respondents registered confidence in him, as did only 1 in 33 in Turkey, an important NATO ally.

After a tumultuous year in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism is now backed by more than 50 percent only in Russia and India, while support has virtually collapsed in Japan, the poll found. In Spain, deeply affected by the March 2004 bombings in Madrid, a scant 2 in 10 people back the U.S.-led fight.

Pessimism about the future of Iraq was widespread. The polling, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, was conducted in April and May this year - before the completion last week of the Iraqi government, or the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

All groups except Americans and Germans saw the U.S. presence in Iraq as posing a greater threat to world peace than the threat posed by Iran, which is pursuing a uranium enrichment program that the United States and other Western countries view as a prelude to developing its own nuclear weapons. Russians held that view by a 2-to-1 margin, and even the British did so by a narrow margin.

"Obviously, when you get many more people saying that the U.S. presence in Iraq is a threat to world peace as say that about Iran, it's a measure of how much Iraq is sapping good will to the United States," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center.' Lees verder:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/pew1.php

De NRC kwalificeert onmiddellijk weer in een summier bericht: 'Het anti-Amerikanisme in de wereld neemt weer toe. Dat blijkt uit de jaarlijkse enquête van het Pew Research Center onder 16.710 burgers in vijftien landen.' Anti-Amerikanisme? Wat is dat? Een besmettelijke ziekte? Spreek uit: Anti-Nederlandisme, anti-Lichtensteinisme, Anti-Groot Brittannieisme etcetera! Anti-Amerikanisme heeft meteen een negatieve connotatie, alsof kritiek op de Amerikaanse buitenlandse politiek onterecht is omdat het een totale afwijzing van de Verenigde Staten zou zijn. Net zo'n verwerpelijke neiging als, ik noem maar wat, anti-semitisme. Dat kwalificeren door de Nederlandse pers is een nationale kwaal.

Terrorisme 2

De Independent bericht over de aanhouding van twee Britten die abusievelijk werden verdacht van terreur: 'Mohammed Abdulkahar tells the story of terror raid that backfired.
'I just thought: one by one they're going to kill us.'

At about four o'clock in the morning, I was woken by screams that I had never heard before. My younger brother was screaming and, from upstairs, from my room, I could hear him screaming, so I got out of bed. I just had my boxer shorts on and a T-shirt. It was dark and I assumed a robbery was happening. As I made the first step down the stairs, my brother was still screaming and I turned round to look at the stairs. As soon as I turned round, I saw an orange spark and a big bang. I flew into the wall and I slipped down.
I was on the floor. I looked on my right, on my chest, and saw blood coming down my chest and saw the hole in my chest. At that moment, I knew I was shot. The first thing I was thinking was that an armed robbery was taking place. As I went down, I saw an object flying in my face, so I put my hand over my face. At that moment, I did not know what object it was, but I know now it was the gun.
He tried to hit me over the face with it. I saw the shotgun in my chest and I was begging 'Please, please I cannot breathe'. He just kicked me in my face and kept on saying 'Shut the fuck up'. I said 'Please, I cannot breathe'. One of the officers slapped me over the face. He was saying 'Just shut the fuck up, stay there, stay there'.
At that moment, I thought they were either going to shoot me again or shoot my brother, so I lay there and I heard them say 'Secure the room, secure the room'. One of the officers grabbed my left foot and dragged me down the stairs.
My head was banging down the stairs. He turned me around toward the front door and he threw me on the pavement. One of the men gave me a tissue and put it on my chest and put pressure on it. At that point, I knew it was the police because I saw police vans parked outside. Until that moment, I still did not know they were the police. They never said a word about police.
I heard them bringing my mum out. She was screaming and crying. I just thought, 'One by one they're going to kill us'. I was just shouting 'I ain't done nothing'. I was worrying about my brothers, everyone. At that time, I thought I was going to die and thinking of everything at the last minute.' Lees verder:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article994078.ece

Irak 90

Truthdig bericht: 'The Many Faces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A Dig led by Nir Rosen
Editor’s note: With the death this week of terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi, many experts are predicting that the Iraqi insurgency will find itself crippled and leaderless. But according to Nir Rosen, one of the only Western journalists to have reported extensively from inside the Iraqi insurgency, the ideologies that propelled Zarqawi into his leadership role will soon find another champion, and the sectarian conflict engulfing the country will continue to worsen. Who was Zarqawi? What drove him to his murderous ends? And what can we learn from his death? Rosen, who has spent the last three years covering the Iraqi conflict, lays out some answers.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the “Sheikh of the Slaughterers,” is dead. So dies an American myth—that of the “most wanted man” in Iraq. But other myths persist: that Zarqawi’s death will have positive consequences; or that “victory,” whatever that might mean, is possible in Iraq in the wake of Zarqawi’s death… Zarqawi's death was the greatest advertisement for his cause. He had already succeeded in provoking the civil war, the final spark being the Feb. 22 bombing of the Shia Askari Shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad. Zarqawi sought martyrdom and direct entry to paradise by fighting the infidels in Iraq. And in the eyes of his supporters, he succeeded --proving to aspiring jihadis around the world that Iraq is the place to go to if you want to enter paradise as a martyr slain by the infidels.' Lees verder: http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/20060609_abu_musab_al_zarqawi/

Wouter Bos

Kijkt u even naar dit geestige filmpje. 'Watch an original animated short by Mr. Fish on the Democratic party’s new secret weapon for winning back the hearts and minds of the American public.' http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20060613_mr_fish_democrats/ En vraag u dan af waar de PVDA nu eigenlijk voor staat, ik bedoel Wouter Bos, het gezicht en de stem van de Nederlandse sociaal democraten. Waar staat hij voor? Ik bedoel met betrekking tot de ware vraagstukken van onze tijd: Oorlog en Vrede, Klimaatverandering, de groeiende kloof tussen Rijk en Arm in de wereld. Laat u het mij even weten.

Het Nederlandse Staatshoofd 2

Waarom vergadert het Nederlandse staatshoofd, koningin Beatrix, niet met Al Gore over de gevaren van de klimaatverandering, in plaats van met een gangster als Henry Kissinger over het voortbestaan van het neoliberalisme, dat de klimaatverandering alleen maar versnelt? Common Dreams bericht:
'Gore to Train 1,000 to Spread Word about Climate.
by Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK - Al Gore hopes to train 1,000 messengers he hopes will spread out across the country and present a slide show about global warming that captures the essence of his Hollywood documentary and book.
The former vice president, a Democrat, said on Monday that by the end of the summer he would start a bipartisan education campaign to train 1,000 people to give a version of his slide show on global warming featured in the film "An Inconvenient Truth" and book of the same name.
"This moment cannot be allowed to pass," Gore told reporters in New York. "I have seen and heard times before when the awareness of the climate crisis has peaked and then a few months later it's gone. I think this time is different, but I have to say I'm not certain of that."
The book is an expanded version of the film. Both are based on a slide show he has given more than 1,000 times over the past 30 years on the dangers of global warming. He says climate change is a crisis that has become a moral issue.
Most scientists believe carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere leading to stronger storms and rising sea levels that could swamp low-lying islands by 2100.
Gore said all the profits from his film and the book will be donated to train the messengers. He said the carriers of the message will give the slide show at high schools and rotary clubs in the United States and around the world.
Gore said on Monday, as he has consistently, that he had no plans to run for president in 2008. He added that he would continue to give the slide show even as the messengers give their versions of it.' Zie: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0613-02.htm

De Britse journalist en hoogleraar Christopher Hitchens heeft in het boek 'De Zaak Henry Kissinger,' in de Nederlandse vertaling verschenen bij de Arbeiderspers, beschreven welke misdaden Kissinger begaan heeft. Hij concludeert dat Kissinger gerechtelijk vervolgd zou moeten worden 'wegens overtredingen tegen het geschreven, ongeschreven en internationaal recht, waaronder medeplichtigheid aan moord, ontvoering en marteling.' En dat allemaal op grote schaal. Net zoals het Nederlandse staatshoofd niet met Holleeder in een besloten bijeenkomst vergadert, zou ze dat ook niet moeten doen met Kissinger. Kennelijk geldt voor koningin Beatrix dat er twee soorten recht zijn.

Iran 53

De New York Times bericht: 'Nonaligned Nations Prepare to Back Iran.

Vienna, Austria - Western countries at a 35-nation U.N. meeting pushed Tuesday for consensus on the need for Iran to freeze uranium enrichment, but diplomats said that most nonaligned countries were preparing to endorse Tehran's right to continue the work.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were divulging confidential information, said the 16 International Atomic Energy Agency board members from the Nonaligned Movement were likely to issue a joint statement at odds with Western efforts on enrichment.
The language would be similar to a statement issued last month by foreign ministers of nonaligned nations in Malaysia, the diplomats told The Associated Press.
That declaration "reaffirmed the basic and inalienable right" of all countries to develop, produce and use atomic energy "for peaceful purposes, without any discrimination and in conformity with their respective legal obligations."
Iran says it has a right to enrich uranium for purposes of generating electricity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The United States and its allies assert the claim is a cover for attempts to develop a nuclear weapons program.
When asked Monday if Iran would suspend enrichment for the sake of negotiations, Iranian spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham repeated the government line that enrichment is Iran's "obvious right."
With the group statement decidedly favoring Iran, the United States and its allies were focusing on key nations with clout among nonaligned countries - such as Brazil, India and Argentina - that have sided with them in the past. They are urging them to put pressure on Iran in individual statements to accept an offer for talks on its nuclear program, said the diplomats.' Lees verder:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Of:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061306O.shtml

De Bush Bende 15

Op de bovenste foto ziet u Colleen Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, lid dus van de Bush Bende. Op de onderste foto ziet u zomaar een willekeurige onbekende dode Irakees, die volgens Colleen druk bezig is met een in haar woorden 'goede campagne om aandacht te trekken.'

In Truthout schrijft de onafhankelijke William Fisher: 'And the Oscar Goes To ...

You can only be bemused by the title of the lady at the US State Department who called the suicides of three prisoners a "good PR move to draw attention."
Her name is Colleen Graffy, and her title is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. That's Public Diplomacy.
Her official State Department bio says Ms. Graffy "coordinates efforts with Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes."
One has to wonder if she coordinated her suicide remarks with Ms. Hughes, the longtime Bush spinmeister whose job it is to "win hearts and minds" for America throughout the world, and especially in the Muslim world.
My brain tells me she didn't consult Ms. Hughes, but my gut tells me it's not beyond the realm of possibility. That's because since President Bush asked Ms. Hughes to take on this impossible job, she has also suffered from foot-in-mouth disease.
Like telling upper-class Saudi women that they ought to be able to drive cars, only to hear that, thank you very much, they'd much rather use their drivers.
But the Graffy gaffe takes the foot-in-mouth malady to a whole new level. In fact, if there were an Oscar for the dumbest remark made since 9/11, this lady's words would rank right up there with "bring it on" and "Mission Accomplished."
And even if she doesn't go home with the award, I predict her words will become as iconic as Rummy's comments that "stuff happens," "you go to war with the army you have," and all the people at GITMO are "the worst of the worst."
But wait - there's more. Apparently not content with one foot in her mouth, Ms. Graffy stuck the other one in as well. She told the BBC the suicides were part of a strategy and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause," but taking their own lives was unnecessary. The three men did not value their lives or the lives of those around them, she said.
Then she went on to explain that the three detainees had access to lawyers, received mail and had the ability to write to families, and so had other means of making protests. She said it was hard to see why the men had not protested about their situation.
Evidently she hadn't heard about the hunger strikes and the many previous suicide attempts.
We don't know a lot about these three men. They may indeed have been among the "worst of the worst.Ó One, we have since learned, was scheduled to be released but hadn't yet been told. And none of them were among the ten - out of close to 500 prisoners - who have ever been charged with a crime or had a trial.' Lees verder:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061306J.shtml