Yesterday (4-20-11) Juan Cole (Informed Comment) did a great post about a leak of British documents
that show how the US was planning in 2002 to exploit Iraqi and hopefully Iranian oil resources through the Iraq war. This is all thanks to "Lady Kensington" who could no longer abide the Khadaffi family when they
started using tanks against their own people in Tripoli. (Thank God for those wonderful British Christian
sensibilities!.. or maybe it just means we have to keep women out of sensitive positions?)
So now we know why Blair was never going to be left behind in the Iraq thing and also that the Russians and the French couldn't be bribed to support a UN resolution for war. We know why Tony was in Libya
praising Khadaffi in 2007 and we know what BP means (Blair Policy). We also know how Blair has made $32 million since leaving office... and don't call that crony capitalism!! (Te He) Isn't it sad to think the UK
is the only place to go these days to find some sunshine? What am I saying?? When Andrea Mitchell gets wind of this it will be all over the airwaves!! GWB
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Debate Well Done.... Is Rare
Yesterday (4/20/11) C-Span showed a debate in London on the question: Do Whistleblowers Make
the World A Safer Place? It featured Julian Assange (Wikileaks), Aljazeera's new head of a similar service
and a third "Pro" speaker versus someone from the US Defense Security Agency and an MI-5 guy. The Anti-Whistleblower side had essentially nothing to say on the question and ceded about 3/4 of the time to the other side. It was an excellent debate with lots of fireworks and self-expression.
The "security guys" tried to emphasize that elections the free press and the rule of law were the public's recourse against harmful, criminal or excessive secrecy. This was countered by probably the best example of the night: The story of the soldier who was handed the DVD's of the Abu Ghreib pictures and had to decide
what to do with them. He did "the right thing" and turned them over to his superiors. As a "snitch" in an army sense he soon had to be hustled home to keep his "mates" from killing him. At home he required an armed guard for months or years because Pennsylvanians didn't much care for a guy who would expose military wrongdoing in Iraq. Of course the Army did it's best to both protect him AND cover-up the scandal.
This leads me to the Bradley Manning case. He also "did the right thing" with a video showing a helicopter gunship team mowing down innocent civilians in Baghdad. For his trouble he was harassed
and threatened. But if you ask the question: Did Bradley Manning's actions make the world a safer place
there is a lot of evidence that it did. (for Iraqi civilians) Wikileaks in 2007 published the US Army
secret rules of engagement in Iraq. It showed that US forces were allowed to enter Iran. Iran thought that was a big deal. A couple months later the rules had been changed in that regard and the Neo Con push
for war with Iran was stymied. Did that make the world a safer place? Probably.
It is rare that the secret war makers venture into an open debate about their record of lying us into
secret wars for secret purposes but April 20th was a great example of that rare thing. Thanks C-Span!
the World A Safer Place? It featured Julian Assange (Wikileaks), Aljazeera's new head of a similar service
and a third "Pro" speaker versus someone from the US Defense Security Agency and an MI-5 guy. The Anti-Whistleblower side had essentially nothing to say on the question and ceded about 3/4 of the time to the other side. It was an excellent debate with lots of fireworks and self-expression.
The "security guys" tried to emphasize that elections the free press and the rule of law were the public's recourse against harmful, criminal or excessive secrecy. This was countered by probably the best example of the night: The story of the soldier who was handed the DVD's of the Abu Ghreib pictures and had to decide
what to do with them. He did "the right thing" and turned them over to his superiors. As a "snitch" in an army sense he soon had to be hustled home to keep his "mates" from killing him. At home he required an armed guard for months or years because Pennsylvanians didn't much care for a guy who would expose military wrongdoing in Iraq. Of course the Army did it's best to both protect him AND cover-up the scandal.
This leads me to the Bradley Manning case. He also "did the right thing" with a video showing a helicopter gunship team mowing down innocent civilians in Baghdad. For his trouble he was harassed
and threatened. But if you ask the question: Did Bradley Manning's actions make the world a safer place
there is a lot of evidence that it did. (for Iraqi civilians) Wikileaks in 2007 published the US Army
secret rules of engagement in Iraq. It showed that US forces were allowed to enter Iran. Iran thought that was a big deal. A couple months later the rules had been changed in that regard and the Neo Con push
for war with Iran was stymied. Did that make the world a safer place? Probably.
It is rare that the secret war makers venture into an open debate about their record of lying us into
secret wars for secret purposes but April 20th was a great example of that rare thing. Thanks C-Span!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
TO TSB: Afghanistan, 20 Year War For A Pipeline ? Bad Idea!
US troops in Saudi Arabia after the war for Kuwait. Why not respect the Saudi government and leave?
Until recently I didn't understand that the real money in oil is in the contracts the oil companies make with the government. Of course our government works to promote those interests and our military works to promote it's interests. Pepe Escobar's 2007 book "Liquid War" describes a long term war over
oil and gas that the US and it's allies seem to be losing. I'm against the whole thing mainly because it's
NOT in our best interest and it was done behind my back. As far as I can tell the one thing we MIGHT gain from 20 years in Afghanistan is a pipeline to INDIA? .. and China? Why don't we just pull out of there so Karzhai can make peace with the Taliban and they can both protect out precious pipeline and profit from it? Then the Taliban can stop the heroin trade like they did before and we can get it from Mexico.
Dick Cheney was the real genius with his secret "Energy Task Force", I suppose modeled after Hillary's secret "Health Care Task Force". Have you noticed you've never heard a peep from anyone who participated in either?? Now we have health care And oil nobody can afford and a President who can't negotiate successfully with even his wife!! I don't know about you but this reminds me of the time I was
3 years old and our housekeeper was cooking SPINACH with a PRESSURE COOKER. I still remember the explosion and the spinach hanging down from the ceiling. I've tried to stay out of the kitchen ever since. (Too dangerous!) Dan
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