Pro-American = Anti-Bush

I (and every single other individual on this planet working for peace and justice) am often accused of being "anti-American" for dissenting against my feral government that has gone wild with lawlessness and greed, even though dissent from our government is as American as apple pie. Some people believe that if one is critical of the Bush criminal regime, then one is anti-American.

I steadfastly believe that to be anti-BushCo means being pro-American, pro-life, and most of all, pro-peace.

In a recent editorial in the Boston Globe (Sunday, April 30, 2006) the Bush regime is blamed for breaking or giving itself permission to break over 750 laws. George is the only sitting president to have admitted to breaking laws and to openly disdaining the Constitution as an "old scrap of paper." How can we peaceniks be accused of being anti-American when the squatter in the Oval Office has no respect for the supreme law of the land? But of course, 9/11 changed the world and we are a nation "at war" so George thinks he can do whatever he wants, even though he is the one who made us a nation at war with his lies and deceptions. I will stipulate that the constitution is a deeply flawed document, but the founders realized this and gave us ways to amend it, and one of the ways to amend it is not just "cuz the president says so." He may be the decider but he is not the amender.

Extreme rendition and torture are being authorized from the top and carried out in the name of the American people. A recent Amnesty International report calls torture "widespread" for people in US captivity. CIA-trained black operatives have even bragged how inhuman and brutal water-boarding is and gave a high level terrorist his persecution props for being able to last over two minutes. In this particularly lovely form of torture, a person has cellophane wrapped around his mouth and nose and is tipped at an angle so water pours over his face - thus creating the feeling of drowning. To avoid choking, the prisoner succumbs. Our own torturers, who have to go through the ropes, can last for only a few seconds in this torture. Add the sexual depravation practiced on the prisoners with the tormenting of some prisoners by flushing the Koran and so forth: not only is the humanity of the tortured broken, but the torturer also becomes lower than an animal. I used to watch a lot of "Animal Planet" but I have never sen nor heard of a four legged creature torturing another four legged creature. However, as long as we Americans condone this behavior from the ones who authorize such viciousness from the top, we are the torturers also. We become the thing that we abhor.

George, Condi, Rummy, Dicky, Wolfie, Colin, et al. went on a media blitz of propaganda before the invasion. We all know now that they were lying and knew they were lying when they told us that Saddam had WMD and would use them on America - he had a fleet of remote control planes that could be deployed to the US at a moment's notice - the smoking gun could come in the shape of a mushroom cloud - Powell pointed out where the WMD were hidden on the map - Saddam was trying to buy yellow-cake uranium from Niger - on and on and on. By the time that the US military began to use WMD on the people of Iraq, we all knew that BushCo was full of camel manure and we watched in horrified near-silence as the people of Fallujah were burned beyond recognition by white phosphorous and enhanced napalm.

Not withstanding the crimes against our own constitution and the crimes against humanity that BushCo has executed, the assassins, with a governmental seal of approval attached, pay lip service to being anti-abortion. The people who run things into the ground for us have nothing to do with being pro-life. I wonder how our fellow citizens who say that they are pro-life reconcile the fact that their government has massacred thousands of innocent Iraqis, many of whom are mothers, children, babies and unborn babies. These harmless victims have not only been killed by bombs, bullets, and shrapnel, but they have been killed by a lack of clean water, medicine, and basic medical care. We can't expect the people who bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors to care about the babies of Iraq. They will even say: "We have to fight them over there, so we don't fight them over here." I have to believe that the average American, warnik or not, has to have compassion for the suffering of Iraqi citizens, whose only crime is to have been born in the wrong place at the wrong time. An Iraqi woman I have met here in the states is a doctor who works in the Baghdad morgue; she told me that at least 1,600 bodies come through her morgue per month. This is just in Baghdad.

Many of my friends voted for George in the 2004 election, telling me that he is "pro-life." My answer to them is that George is "pro-birth," and once the baby gets out, he has no problem with subjecting them to inadequate education, health care, environment, and job opportunities, and then, to boot, killing them in war. If George were truly pro-life, Casey and legions of people would still be alive. Life is life: born and unborn. The corporations in Iraq are the things that need to be aborted. Bring the war profiteers home. Save the children.

Dr. Martin Luther King said that if we do not practice non-violent co-existence, we will have to suffer mutual annihilation. With Bush being such a lame duck and under threat of the domino theory of indictment, I shudder to think of the continued war in Iraq and the future wars that he will begin just to bolster his sense of failure and lack of self confidence to insanely ensure his place in history. Even he must know that he will not be judged kindly by future historians. It is terribly frightening to think of what a person like this is capable, especially when there are so many bad men with their hands in the profitable cookie jar who are pulling his strings and when he is willing to go along as a puppet with the neo-con PNAC flow and as a corporate whore to the war profiteers.

If we want to have a viable future to leave as a legacy to our children and the children of the world, BushCo must be stopped, not supported and funded by a Congress who is getting their strings pulled by the same malevolent puppeteers that pull the chains of corporate greed of the executive branch.

We need to shut down the war machine and realize that to feed that monster our country has to be, and has been, at constant war with some country or the other, especially since WWII. It is a fact of life, whether a Republican or a Democrat is in power, that we are suppressing and killing other people to make the world safe for our corporations. To help facilitate the spread of the contaminated semen of "Planet America" the leaders of every country that stands up to corporate America are being demonized and are ripe for BushCo to bring them "freedom and democracy," which is really just a Trojan Horse carrying genocide and destruction.

How do we throw a monkey wrench into the war machine? We join boycotts, such as the one against Exxon Mobil. We buy gas from President Chavez and Venezuela's Citgo to help him in his struggle against corporate America - not against Americans. Hugo Chavez has done more to help the less fortunate citizens in our Northeast and Katrina victims than BushCo who have shown themselves quite adept at fiddling while the world is burning and enriching themselves in the blood-soaked process.

Unfortunately, BushCo does symbolize everything that America is about, but they do not have to. We the people of the United States, in order to secure a more perfect union, need to vociferously and with everything we have stand up to the traitors in power and redefine, if not reclaim, what it means to be Americans. For me, it means living in a country where health care, education, human rights, jobs, peace and prosperity are readily available, not just to the rich white ruling class, but to everyone! This is pro-American. Torture, committing atrocities on a helpless people, and honoring and protecting the life of corporate America above human life are not.

And, by the way, if an imminent attack on Iran does not frighten you, think WWIII.

Be pro-American. Urge your congressman, whether he/she is Republican or Democrat, to stand up for our country by supporting articles of impeachment against BushCo. November will be too late for too many people.

By Cindy Sheehan
05/04/0 "t r u t h o u t"

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050406Z.shtml

Casting Their Lot With The Damned

Not One Drop

“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen…Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” George Bush

George Bush has no intention of obeying international law or following the United Nation’s rules. After his Iran resolution fails in the Security Council, he’ll resume his belligerence while trying to cobble together a coalition for sanctions. The media has already begun the disinformation campaign; stressing the “serious concerns” of the international community about Iran’s nuclear programs.

It is 100% bunkum.

The “international community” has never cared a whit about Iran or its fictitious weapons programs. The driving force behind the hostilities is Washington. Even Bush’s allies on the Security Council (Germany, France and England) know the whole thing is a sham intended to elicit public support for a war.

Do they think we were born yesterday?

No one knows why the Europeans have allowed themselves to be manipulated by Bush. Whatever the reason may be, they’ve cast their lot with the damned. They may think they’re avoiding a conflict by placating Bush, but their brinksmanship has brought the Middle East one step closer to a regional holocaust.

The Bush resolution is a complete joke and an insult to the notion that every country deserves to be treated equally under the law. It requires Iran to “suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development” and it demands that Iran accept an “Additional Protocol and transparency measures” which make the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) meaningless.

Washington has rewritten the treaty completely and expects Iran to submissively sign on the dotted line.

Never.

Iran has not been found to be in violation of its treaty rights or in “noncompliance”. They’ve undergone the most extensive 3 year inspection-regime in the history of the IAEA.

The real reason Iran has been unfairly singled out is because they’ve committed the inexcusable crime of controlling their own resources. This makes them a potential threat to Israel’s ever-expanding territorial ambitions and America’s insatiable thirst for oil. The nuclear issue is a red herring with no merit whatsoever.

The resolution is going nowhere. The world is already sick of Bush’s war-mongering and neither Russia nor China will endorse this new provocation. It has no chance of passing the Security Council even though the wording was intentionally toned-down and contains neither threats nor sanctions.

The White House, of course, anticipated opposition at the UN. Now, they can begin their campaign to discredit the Security Council deriding it as “irrelevant” while preparing for a unilateral attack. The media will invoke the same stale slanders they used before the war on Iraq maximizing the fear of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Already in Iran?

There’ve been numerous reports ( Sy Hersh, Scott Ritter and Col. Sam Gardiner) that US forces are already inside Iran executing covert operations and locating sites for future US bombing raids. If this is true, we can assume that the logistical groundwork of moving troops and supplies to the region is already underway making war inevitable.

But Iran is not Iraq. Bush is making a colossal miscalculation that could dramatically reshape the global power-structure. That’s why core members of the American ruling-elite, like Brzezinski, Albright, Odom and Holbrook, have all spoken out against any plan of attack. These are not limp-wristed liberals who hesitate to use military force if America’s interests are at stake. These are hard-edged Machiavellians skilled in the bare-knuckle methods of maintaining the empire. Brzezinski is so alarmed that he’s composed more articles lately than Tom Friedman. In a recent article he stated:

"An attack on Iran would be an act of political folly, setting in motion a progressive upheaval in world affairs. With the U.S. increasingly the object of widespread hostility, the era of American preponderance could even come to a premature end." Zbigniew Brzezinski, "Been There, Done That,"

Bush’s blinkered strategy for Iran portends tragedy and, potentially, a global realignment of states opposed to America.

Not One Drop

A great deal has been written about what may happen if Bush goes ahead with his war on Iran. How will Iran respond? Will they retaliate? Will they fire their Russian-made missiles at America’s fleet in the Mediterranean? Will they bomb the Green Zone or launch their Shahab missiles at Tel Aviv? Will this result in a quick escalation triggering nuclear retaliation by the United States?

I don’t believe that the war with Iran will unfold as the prognosticators have predicted.

America has long been Iran’s primary nemesis. Ever since the CIA toppled the democratically-elected Mossadegh and replaced him with brutal Shah; Iran’s antipathy for the “Great Satan” has been justifiably strong. The Mullahs war plan will emerge from the “cauldron of animosities” that has been brewing for over 30 years. People in the Middle East have long memories; 25 years of oppression beneath the boot-heel of an American stooge is not easily forgotten. The US trained the notorious Savak, the Shah’s despised security apparatus. They also protected the murderous Peacock Regent from extradition when he was finally toppled during the revolution. The Iranian people have suffered greatly at the hands of western imperialists who only show up periodically to pilfer their resources. Iran’s battle-plans will undoubtedly reflect their resolve to finally prevail over their lifetime enemy.

Am I wrong?

Americans foolishly believe they have nothing to fear from Iran. They are mistaken. Iran will turn the war into a generation-long crusade that will transform the global-dynamic leaving the US without allies and without the ability secure the energy it needs to keep its economy running.

Iran’s strategy will focus on one basic principle: Not one drop. “Not one drop” means that Iran will plan to disrupt or destroy American oil installations, pipelines, platforms and shipping wherever and whenever it can; a global resource war directed at US interests.

This strategy has already materialized in Iraq, Nigeria and (soon) Sudan. In fact, this seems to be the war that Bush and Cheney wanted since they are its original architects.

It would be foolish for Iran to fight America on its own terms. Modern warfare is guerilla warfare writ large. Firing missiles at American soldiers in Iraq accomplishes nothing; taking out Saudi Arabia’s main oil-distribution platform changes the world energy-paradigm overnight.

The world oil market is already as jittery as anyone can remember. Every time a Kalashnikov-wielding dissident in Nigeria takes out a pipeline, oil futures shoot through the roof.

Imagine pipelines and refineries lighting up the night sky across the planet on a daily basis; sending oil skyrocketing to $350 per barrel and grinding the world economy to a standstill?

Not one drop!

Bush and Cheney unwisely believe that an attack on Iran will be a straightforward affair that will surgically remove weapons sites, radar installations, communications facilities, armories, missile silos, and parts of the civilian infrastructure.

In other words, another “cakewalk”.

Wrong.

Iran will mobilize according to traditional military doctrine by attempting to “destroy the enemy’s ability to wage war”; severing America’s oil life-line wherever it may be.

As soon as Bush launches aircraft over Tehran, government officials will convene in foreign Capitals across the world forming new alliances that will be the death-knell for the United Nations.

Good riddance.

Russia, China, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Iran will form a new block of rising stars that will align against Washington and its allies.

When the first bomb drops, oil-laden ships from Venezuela will change course and head back to port. Chavez will act preemptively realizing that he is next on Washington’s hit-list.

There will be a steep and sudden sell-off of the American greenback sending the dollar plummeting and markets gyrating wildly.

And, of course, the Straits of Hormuz, through which 40% of the world’s oil flows every day, will be shut down.

With oil depots smoldering in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Iraq and Iran, the Washington warlords and their clients in Israel may or may not rethink the wisdom of their adventure. After all, Bush might welcome the hellfire as fulfillment of his Biblical mission.

One thing is certain, however, America will not win an asymmetrical war with Iran, and it could very well be the biggest loser.

This war can be avoided. It is not too late to pull back from the brink.

Otherwise, we should expect “Not one drop”.

By Mike Whitney
05/06/06 "ICH"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12952.htm