Shlonkom Bakazay?

Women are not the only ones that start wars...a male alcoholic liar provided the impetus for the most recent war on Iraq. His name was Curveball. And he was real close to Ahmed Chalabi. NO WAY!

He must have been greatly admired by the President and Vice President for his delusional thinking. Quite the man that Mr. Curve. He didn't quite make the curve, did he? You'll find him under some table drinking himself into a stupor while clamoring, "Saddam has these guns that look like porcupines, which inject meaning into life. He carries them around with him everywhere. He was a very suicidal man Saddam, so we had to take precautions, you know. Give me another double habibbi! Gjeass, you are very nice lady, thank you for your service honey...oh, I mean Dick." (I know this makes no sense...he was a drunk afterall.)

I could have told you this was going on years ago. Curveball would have still been this administration's "star witness" though. Drives me mad how these drunken war-mongering idiots were able to steer hundreds of thousands of people so blindly without proper preparation or adequete numbers. And I'm not even getting to the fact that it was an illegal war. And now look at the budding democracy in Iraq. Well done crooks. Enjoy the party because unless you're a cousin of Ahmed Chalabi, you can't get alcohol with little trouble. I doubt Curveball himself would be hangin in bars in Baghdad, though. It's unfortunate, because I'm sure he's a hoot. Oh but there's the Vilayet, excuse me, I mean Green Zone. Is that what they call those things these days

Between January 2000 and September 2001, Curveball offered 100 reports, among them the claims of mobile biological weapons labs that were central in the US evidence of an illicit weapons programme, but subsequently turned out to be trucks equipped with machinery to make helium for weather balloons.

The commission concluded that Curveball's information was worse than none at all. 'Worse than having no human sources,' it said, 'is being seduced by a human source who is telling lies.'

Oh anyhooo, I think the AI on this Cyborg source could have helped ol' Curve out. We should have at least employed him a couple to make him drinks while he worked on the plan to invade Iraq. Maybe that was it. He wasn't drunk enough! Has anybody every thought of that??? hmhmmhmm? hmmm??? I bet nobody has. See, so much could have been done differently.

Marans!

(heheeehee)

I'm laying off the computer as of late, but I had to say something about this because I think it is perhaps one of the more dispicable things I've read about somebody. Yes, former Mayor of NY, Rudolph Guiliani made money off of the tsunami. 80,000 dollars to be exact.

What a prick. Need I say more? I'll just put a quote here to spark your interest further.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A state lawmaker wants former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to return the $100,000 fee he received to speak at a tsunami relief fund-raiser.

Giuliani donated $20,000 from the fee to the event's tsunami relief fund - twice the amount requested by the benefit's sponsor, the South Carolina Hospital Association, said Thornton Kirby, the group's president.

But Rep. Tracy Edge said the full fee should be returned because the Feb. 9 speech in Columbia was publicized as a charity event.

``Nowhere was it disclosed that Mayor Giuliani was being paid for his appearance,'' Edge said.

This article at the Christian Science Monitor goes a long way in explaining the way I feel. I'm absolutely sick and tired of the hypocrisy whereby American governments support puppet regimes in the Arab world while calling for democracy. What they don't realize, indeed, is that if there truly was democracy in many countries...it would not lead to popular support for America and its errant foreign policy.

In Bahrain last week, the largest protests in memory saw the country's politically disenfranchised Shiite majority saying enough to pro-American King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's policies. And in Cairo Wednesday the chants included "Enough to Mubarak, Enough to Bush, Enough to Blair,'' along with "We will not be ruled by the CIA" and "Down with the White House."

It was a reminder that while the US has contributed to the shift in climate in the Middle East, a real democratic opening, in the short term at least, may not serve US interests. Most in the region appear angry at America's close relationship with Israel and its invasion of Iraq, and say that statements prodding allies to reform haven't overcome decades of support for Arab dictators.

"There seems to be this assumption that if you're pro-democracy then you're pro-US foreign policy, and that's incredibly misleading,'' says Marc Lynch, a political scientist and expert on the Middle East at Williams College in Massachusetts.

As a secular and modern Egyptian democrat, Jihan Shabaan is the very image of the Middle Eastern citizens President Bush hopes will take to the streets and demand the freedom.

She says a lifetime without political freedoms, in which she's watched average Egyptians drift deeper into poverty, has convinced her to risk everything at the forefront of Egypt's Kifaya movement, which is demanding that President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-time strong-man, step down and be replaced by a freely elected leader.

But for Ms. Shabaan and most of her colleagues in the movement, "enough" doesn't apply to President Mubarak alone. She expects a democratic Egypt would distance itself from the US, a long-time ally, and hit out at what she calls decades of "hypocritical" US policy in the Middle East.

"If things really change here, America's illusions that its interests in the region would be advanced by democracy will be laid bare,'' she says. "A real democratic government in Egypt would be strongly against the US occupation of Iraq and regional US policies, particularly over Palestine. We are strongly against US influence."

Despite apparently genuine sentiment, Kifaya organizers say there's also practical reasons to make the distance from the US clear. The government has tried to paint democracy activists as foreign puppets in the past, alleging they take foreign money. "The regime are the ones taking American money. But they always accuse us of having foreign money whenever there are calls for democracy," says Shabaan.

Attitudes like Shabaan's point to a frequently overlooked disconnect. America's conviction that its rhetoric will help secure its interests in the region often clash with the anti-US leanings of many of the Arab world's democracy activists, who generally belong either to Islamist parties or to left-leaning, anti-US groups.

Where I differ, I may outline, is being supportive of Islamic parties. And I AM NOT ANTI-US. I am against US foregin policy. It's literally killing us. Let me, once again, get this straight for those of you who may be reading. I think religion and politics should be separate. Plain and simple. I believe one of the weaknesses of the Bush administration's policies when it comes to the Arab world is that the only reason he is still in power is that he panders to Christian fundamentalists. On the other hand, call me what you will, I believe Islamic parties exist in a similar dynamic. Sure, Hizbullah helped kick Israel out of South Lebanon. But America helped kick Saddam out of Iraq. Let's be honest with ourselves. For the foreseeable future I don't see any way to separate Mosque and State in the Near East. Look at the Palestinian issue and how long it has dragged on if you want to see rhyme to your reason why. Nor do I see a manner in which to wise up millions of Christian Fundamentalists in the US. It's all so ironic how similar the problem is in each place. I can only keep voicing my opinion and trying to promote honest debate.

Though personally, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place this past month and a half because I've had to own-up to my personal thoughts when Lebanon is added to the equation. I'm feeling more and more marginalized. I always knew it would get 10 times as complicated to explain my thoughts about Lebanon and Iraq. Let me be clear about religion and politics, though. I despise Neocons/Christian Fundamentalists/Big Oil A-holes, and similarly, I am creeped out by Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah. I don't see peace coming to the Near East anytime soon. I have no hope for moderate voices any longer. They are being drowned out by extremists.

Thus, I'm sick of politics. It's exposing nerves I better leave guarded. Because all in all, I'm a peaceful person that only wishes success and some happiness in the lives of friends and family members. I can't help but feel passionate about certain matters. I'm not beginning to understand why I have to validate my opinions to people by repeating them in such a manner. So, I've decided to get more creative (by doing a podcast and other means). As time permits me, I'll continue to do this very thing.

Indeed there are so many injustices happening on our planet today. One of the over-arching ones is that so many people are being more radicalized directly and indirectly because of the war and occupation of Iraq. The other is the complete and utter failure of people addressing the Palestinian cause with urgency and a measured hand. Both of these problems appear to have no end in sight.

There are also other huge problems on the horizon that have been thrown into great relief because of energized interest in the Arab world. I hope more people see them. Dictatorial regimes still dominate the political landscape in most countries in the region. A young, jobless, and radicalized Saudi Arabia is not reforming, so it should be on top of the list. Jordan's Abdullah has no respect for freedom or human rights and is a part of the Axis of Hypocris. There is an increasingly uncertain future for Lebanon as May(?) elections approach and the intelligence chiefs continue to be reluctant to release their grip. And Egypt has no compass with regards to democracy and human rights while continues to be supported unconditionally on the basis that they have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The reality on the ground in Egypt couldn't be more different. People don't like Hosni Mubarak or America. And when will the violence end in Iraq? And who knows exactly what's going on in Yemen, Sudan, and the Horn in general? I could go on, but it saddens me deeply.

There are no limits to the continued hypocrisy. Yet I say "Enough!" in the face of all those that sustain it. Extremists feed extremists. I cannot say this enough.

...must go to prison for his crimes. It's amazing how Iraq has completely disappeared off the front pages of newspapers. Yet we find information like this out and nobody can do a damn thing about it.

What complete fffin idiot uses a thousand year old minaret as a lookout position? Do you know how stupid that is? Are you kidding me? And what? You think the fact that "insurgents did it" means jack shit to Iraqis. You'll only get increased ire from the resistance by doing such a retarded thing. I mean, why did this happen? Why were there American forces in the minaret? Isn't something like this illegal? WTF

I'm so angry. You bastards. Rage rage rage rage rage

You inspire rage only. And it is not fair to erase or maim the history of another country. You assholes. You're only making things worse. You idiots. Babylon now this? You FREAKS! Freaks of nature! You walking abortions. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. You destroy the oldest library in world! You have fun using Babylon as your battlefield! You do this too.

Well, look at it. Because the top part will never look the same. It took over a thousand years. You know something's wrong today. Do you know how proud Iraqis are of their history? It's like you're killing their mother.

Wake up assholes. You're getting nowhere. When something like this happens, I feel so Iraqi...I feel Iraqi like how the hulk transforms. This place was built in 852 AD. That means it's over almost 1,000 years older than America. But who gives a shit? I mean, it's just some building to use for lookouts.

Is this the price Iraq has to pay? Starving children, torturing and possibly raping prisoners, erasing history, bringing democracy in a jiffy. I could be wrong, but I could be right...this is a tragedy of insane proportions. I'm certainly close.

I feel like I'm going to implode. What part of Iraq's history is next?

Liminal Radio Presents: Irakast #5, Guest host Gollum brings it on your ear drums with part II of the DoD Arabic lesson. Once again, Shlonkom Bakazay here, offering you more cultural education than the US Army gives its recruits before sending them to Ramadi.

So, yes, you're a lucky of the proud few able to experience the medicinal musical masterpiece and urbane educational onslaught that continues the Department of Defense Series for Infidels (DoDSI). I have produced and curated this 8 minute presentation guest hosted by Gollum with the hopes that it will stir in its audience the movement toward peace and destruction of cultural barriers standing in the way of building bridges that will not bombed by impatient Iraqis sick of being occupied because these bridges shall be semantical and conceptual bridges of lustful musical entreaties of submission enducing words and notes. I had no idea Gollum likes Drum&Bass, much less that he's an aspiring wiki-wiki wheels-of-steel biatch. Golly, what a guy. He's got spunk, he's got verve, he's got the same can-do attittude of the little engine that could only if he had electricity and other essential services.

It's a mockery, a mockeracy

Anyway, the Arabic lesson is directly from some vinyl I found made in 1960 by the US Department of Defense. The music by Gollum kickin' crazy stylez with a 505. We dedicate this one to the children because they're are future. And if a few of them don't learn Arabic, we're in deeper shit than the already up-to-our-necks deal we've got now. Mr. Ereli at the State Department simply is not enough Arabic coming out of the US government. I don't think Karen Hughes will be learning any Arabic any time soon either. And I think there's more Arabic recorded on these two records than has been spoken publicly by American officials on Arabic TV stations in the past four years combined. A couple words of advice: when you plan on taking over a large swathe of land in a region whose major language you speak little of...well, on a public relations level, expect poor image in the eyes of this region's citizens as you also try to make their people like being tortured, starved, and treated as subaltern beings. So see this audio as compulsory or perhaps a penitant action after ripping babies bodies apart with precision weapons for the sake of forcing democracy in Iraq. I'm trying to appeal to my base, can't you see? And if you don't like Gollum's music, then you'll have to complain and beg for a different version. So, join in the fun. Let's make everything worth it. Let's ensure the safety of America by turning this mockery into a mockeracy that could then perhaps turn into a hypocrisy (like America) and aspire towards real democracy one day.

Peace to all y'all real habbibbis.
OUT,
lim

Irakast 4, Liminal Radio Presents Gollum making the Department of Defense his bitch

Show: 5.0
Length: 8:48
Format: mp3
Bit rate: 128 kbs
Size: 8.4 mb

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Watch a teach-in that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first teach-in against the Vietnam war at Ann-Arbor, MI.

I've spoken and attended several of these teach-ins in the past several years. The first was immediately after 11 September. I cannot count the number, though. And, I must say, they can be some of the most strange, schizophrenic, scintillating, depressing, frustrating, and uplifting experiences. I've been extremely depressed and negative about protests and their ineffectuality. Teach-ins are an opportunity to raise a magnifying glass to the problems, yet they're usually offered only to those who have both the time and access to higher education. This makes me angry. The one I linked to here is held at George Washington University.

Anyway, it's still certainly worth watching or listening to while you cook some Easter food. I'd like to think we can "End the war", but I see a lot of things already written on the walls that do not bode well for all no matter what anybody says or does. Again, as I'll always say, I hope I'm wrong. And I hope things may be reversed. We've got to continue speaking out against the occupation and its effect on Iraq and Iraqis especially.

All I know is that there are some wonderful speakers at this teach-in deserving of your attention: writer Naomi Klein, Phyllis Bennis from the Institute for Policy Studies, Celeste Zappala, founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace, Anas Shallal from Iraqi Americans for Peaceful Alternatives.

Perhaps I've just heard enough. Some of the speakers are new to me, though. Patrick Resta, the Iraq War Vet is intense, articulate. He's excellent actually. And of course, it's always great to hear a dignified Iraqi voice in Anas Shallal. He had a family member kidnapped and released for a ransom, too. Anyway...

Enjoy, Stop the Occupation, and Happy Easter.

Visit United For Peace and Justice.

As to Professor Cole's recent post:

The rightwing Zionists want to racialize the Sudan conflict in American terms, as "Arab" versus "black African" because they want to use it to play American domestic politics, and create a rift among African-Americans and Arab-Americans. Both of the latter face massive discrimination in contemporary society, and they should find ways of cooperating to counter it. What is happening in Darfur is horrible with regard to the loss of life and the displacement of persons, but the dispute is not about race. It is about political separatism and regionalism.

Hip-hop is the answer for the first part. Perception of visible racism is played on yet again. The irony on this Easter is that both groups tend to be on the more culturally Christian side of the fence. Most Middle Easterners in the US are Christian and Lebanese. Some numbers: 42% are Catholic (includes Roman Catholic, Maronite, and Melkite); 23% are Muslim (includes Sunni, Shi’a, and Druze); 23% are Orthodox (includes Antiochian, Syrian, Greek, and Coptic). 12% are Protestant. In contrast, 76 percent of Americans identify as Christian; 13 percent are secular; and 14 percent practice another or no religion and 1.3 percent practice Judaism in the United States. Where do they come from? 47% came from Lebanon, 15% came from Syria, 9% came from Egypt, 6% from Palestine, 3% from Iraq, 2% from Jordan, 18% from 16 other countries. And Darfur...well, I'm afraid nobody cares about Africa still. How do we change that simple fact?

And yes, Mosul's Abu Ghraib has been confirmed by reports steadily streaming out of most news-outlets. Most of us already knew all the stories about what was happening in Mosul. We didn't need this belated confirmation or weak-validation by western media.

"We have a great deal of responsibility to the people of Iraq. It doesn't start by continuing the occupation. It starts by ending it."
-Phyllis Bennis

I'm going to copy this faster than your pussycat runs on hot coals. [via Dave]

This is by far in the Department of WTF.

Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted - but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Miami Herald has learned.

Ex'squeeze me? Will this bish'ah face be gracing the presidency in our lifetimes? God help us all. But help them [and him] first.

Duh'Lay Off Dude:



Oh and did you know Tom Delay, faced with similar circumstances as the Schiav'asco, decided to have his father killed-off by removing his feeding tube. I mean, that is, if you interpret his actions then exactly as you interpret his actions as of late.

CANYON LAKE, Texas — A family tragedy unfolding in a Texas hospital during the fall of 1988 was a private ordeal -- without judges, emergency sessions of Congress or the raging debate outside Terri Schiavo's Florida hospice.

The patient then was a 65-year-old drilling contractor, badly injured in a freak accident at his home. Among the family standing vigil at Brooke Army Medical Center was a grieving junior congressman -- U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

More than 16 years ago, far from the political passions that have defined the Schiavo controversy, the DeLay family endured its own wrenching end-of-life crisis. The man in a coma, kept alive by intravenous lines and a ventilator, was DeLay's father, Charles Ray DeLay.

What a sanctimonious prick. He needs to be forcibly taken out of the Majority Whip position, then the Senate, once and for all. More at Kos. Bill Frist should be riding on his fake-Christian coat tails on his way out. The last thing I heard off the TV was that Schiavo's parents said that she had not taken communion and that she needed to do so before she died. What a low-blow.

If only TV-reality from this one show were as real as the American reality today. What if our politicians were this honest with us?

If I'm not mistaken Le Monde is the first major world newspaper to sponsor and host blogs. Check out their community page.

The multilaterism has already worn out according to an editorial from Le Monde last week.

The signs of political overtures to the world in general, and Europe in particular, demonstrated by George W. Bush after his re-election, have quickly reached their limits. To replace James Wolfensohn, the World Bank President who will leave his post on May 31st, the American President nominated the current number two man in the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, as the White House's candidate. In doing so, George Bush, having just returned from his European tour, is moving more towards the unilateralism of his first mandate than the willingness to engage in dialogue displayed at the beginning of his second.

Admittedly, Mr. Wolfowitz immediately acknowledged that he wouldn't do Washington's bidding at the World Bank (whose president is a North American, following a tradition that goes back to the end of World War II). But he has little chance of convincing anyone in the international community, since his personality suggests the exact opposite of American openness and humility. Mr. Wolfowitz is one of the best-known neoconservatives in the American president's entourage and one of the architects of the war in Iraq. The neoconservatives inspired George W. Bush's idea of a crusade of .good versus evil. which then served as the ideological basis of this intervention, and assured that American soldiers would be greeted with flowers.

The same people saying Wolfowitz might surprise some with success at the World Bank are the same people who said Iraqis would welcome American troops with flowers.

Maybe? Yes...No? Who knows? Who knows.

And go to Lebanese Blogger Forum for the latest of mine and many others' posts on Lebanon. Redundancy is for player-haters.

1) Guiliana Sgrena says that she was not on the main road to the airport. She was on a more secure access road.

2) The 300-400 shots fired that killed Nicola Calipari came from behind. The driver was the only person in the car that was not wounded. If the shots came from the front, the driver would have surely died.

Democracy Now! | Headlines for March 25, 2005

Because they set a good example?
No.

Because F16s make neighbors more friendly to one another?
No.

Because nuclear weapons are fun?
No.

Because the sky is blue?
No.

Because rain is wet?
No again.

Because there is NO LOGIC in US foreign policy! Please tell me where this one is going.

The United States unveiled plans Friday to help India become a "major world power in the 21st century" even as it announced moves to beef up the military of Pakistan.

Under the plans, Washington offered to step up a strategic dialogue with India to boost missile defense and other security initiatives as well as high-tech cooperation and expanded economic and energy cooperation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the Bush administration's outline for a "decisively broader strategic relationship" between the world's oldest and largest democracies, a senior US official said.

"Its goal is to help India become a major world power in the 21st century," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Oh, wait wait...I think there's an answer in this article.

The United States, he said, was prepared to "respond positively" to an Indian request for information on American initiatives to sell New Delhi the next generation of multi-role combat aircraft.

"That's not just F-16s. It could be F-18s," he said.

Arm both sides?

Isn't that what happened with Iran and Iraq?

You have got to be kidding me. If this is what turns out to be the case. Oh, "We'll give you the old planes, and we'll give you the newer ones. You know...so you can protect yourselves. (wink wink) You're not enemies are you?"

It smells like bullshit to me.

Update: More liquid doo doo on the matter. Rice: "We're just trying to help you both at the same time."

BBC reports: US will accept Israeli settlements.There will never be peace now. Well, the odds just got slimmer in the very least.

On the left is what should be a Palestinian state. On the right was the so-called generous Camp David (July 2000) agreement. If you don't recall, this is when Ehud Barak agreed to keep 20% of the illegally-occupied West Bank. Does that seem fair? I wonder what the map will look like after the main "populatoin-centers" are sliced out.



In other BS: After stalling for over 5 weeks and having no choice in the matter whatsoever, the Lebanese government have agreed to c-ooperate with an international investigation.

Yeah, they're essentially saying, "Min Zubitt'ak...don't you worry about a thing, we'll have that international investigation. But we insist it cannot be independent. We must be involved."

WHO ARE THEY TO MAKE DEMANDS?! WTF!?

Sorry, when the judge who was presiding over the UN inquiry resigned moments before the report was to be handed over, the Lebanese government/intelligence, thus Syria, smacks of guilt. They have implicated themselves in the crime through this last month. So, what now?

Again, I ask...When are the heads of Lebanese intelligence going to resign?

Check out what the report said:

"The Lebanese investigation process suffers from serious flaws and has neither the capacity nor the commitment to reach a satisfactory and credible conclusion.

"To find the truth it would be necessary to entrust the investigation to an international independent commission."

The report added that Lebanon's security services were unlikely to conduct an adequate inquiry under its current leadership.

No kidding. Why would they ever come to that conclusion?

Too little, too late.

What's going to happen now?

Dear Mohammed and Omar,

I hope you are keeping well and safe. I'd like to reach out now because I have many fears about the future for Iraq.

These are my personal opinions. I hope you will listen and not take it personally. I know many people think similarly. And so I want to help foster some debate, any debate, in the multiple vacuums that comprise the Iraqi blogosphere at the moment. Things are getting less interesting because of this exact lack of the interaction of differing opinions. And an alarm is going off in my mind, so I think now's the appropriate time to voice this concern in the spirit of debate.

275 thieves are dividing the booty as I type these words.

If this weren't the case, then why is it that there is no government yet?

If this weren't the case, why won't a technocrat that has no political affiliation be appointed to head the oil ministry?

I would support the Kurds completely if I felt like they were speaking for all of Iraq. Unfortunately, I feel they are concerned only for the independence and secular outcome in Kurdistan/N. Iraq. This is what I call the rise of deep sectarianism similar to what we had in Lebanon during the civil war.

Iraq is shaping up to be exactly as Lebanon was during that time and it breaks my heart.

Meanwhile, I cannot comprehend how you continue to say certain things you do here while blocking the other opinion completely. I would urge you to link blogs that have the opposing opinion if we want to address the possible rise of sectarianism in Iraq. I will, if you will.

Also, I am trying to get a similar forum, like the Lebanese Blogger Forum, together so that people of many different opinions may interact in a civil and measured manner.

On that note: Thank you for linking LBF. I hope this is a step in that direction.

Peace inside and out,

Liminal

Life is like a cucumber.
One day it's in your mouth, one day it's up your ass.