First Jewish president of the US; best for Isreal

President Bush is leading with moral clarity in the fight against terror around the world.
His leadership is exhibted by concrete actions, often making bold changes to U.S. policy in favor of Israel. President Bush, like no U.S. president before, has acknowledged Israel's right to certain West Bank settlements, completely changed U.S. treatment of Yasser Arafat, and no longer uses the moral equivalency language, "cycle of violence."
....Now more than ever, Israel needs the U.S. to have a president who is not just "also good" for Israel, but one who has demonstrated that he is best for Israel.

Read it here.
Also, see why Bush is the first Jewish President of the United States.

More Americans uninsured under Bush

More Americans Were Uninsured and Poor in 2003, Census Finds
The ranks of the poor and those without health insurance grew in 2003 for the third straight year, the government reported on Thursday, in a sign of the lingering pain being caused by a long slump in the job markets.

Graph from New York Times
In 2003 for third straight year? Oh, that would be since.... year 2001. It reminds me of George Bush's S/election year.

Also, about 1.3 million Americans slid into poverty in 2003 as the ranks of the poor swelled to almost 36 million.

What about thousands of un-known "Gordon"s?

The righteous rage that powers Rose Gentle these days visibly drains from her face when she enters her late son's bedroom.
The room isn't much bigger than a walk-in closet, and her son Gordon's coffin filled much of it when his body was brought back from Iraq last month. He was 19 years old....

...With a mixture of Glaswegian working-class hard talk and a mother's grief, Gentle has become the vocal symbol of latent anti-war feeling in Britain.

The mother is rightfully outraged. The son has a name. The name is known; Gordon Gentle. Everybody is learning about this loss of life of a young man and his unfulfilled dreams. Everybody is saddened for him and for his mother..... . But, there are aslo thousands of Iraqi "Rose Gentle"s with their own lonely grieves and devastations. There were also thousands of Iraqi "Gordon"s who lost their lives. Sadly, we will not even know their names; they will remain only as numbers and no more.

Canceling the trip to avoid embarrassment

Colin Powell has cancelled plans to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games this weekend, citing a busy work schedule..... . The announcement came only hours after clashes erupted in Athens as protesters rallied to condemn the planned visit. Read it here.

Who is he kidding? Powell who has become not more than a clown in the US administration has in fact cancelled his trip because he knew what was waiting for him in the closing ceremony. Too bad he isn't going otherwise he, as a symbol and representative of the criminal Washington gang would be facing protests by thousands of people present in the ceremony. I wish he would go, even better, I wish he would go hand in hand with Tony Blair; the other clown. Then I would make sure to watch the closing ceremony so not to miss the laugh.

Spying for Isreal at the White House? Is there any need for that?

The FBI is investigating a Pentagon official suspected of spying for Israel and providing the country with classified materials including secret White House plans on Iran, according to reports.... Read the rest here.

It can't be true. Is there really any need to spy for Israel at the White House? I thought White House belonged to Israel.

Hypocricy or incapability of minds? Both feeding the international criminals.

Every time more evidence of mistreatments, abuses, tortures and violation of human rights by the US forces surface, there are some people quick to down play those criminal activities as "necessary" in fighting against "terrorism".

Here, without trying to discuss who the real terrorists are, I believe the above reaction by some rightwingers is just an indication of either their lack of capability to realize that a crime is a crime, or their hypocricy that has stripped them from their humanity. This article can parhaps provide more explanation of how the criminal neo-cons stage all their war crimes while managing to use the inefficient brains of many idiots to justify the crimes they commit. Indeed, as long as there are so many idiots or hypocrites in the world, the top criminals can and will continue implementing their murderous agendas around the world:

...The Bush administration chose Guantanamo Bay because, while it's controlled by our military, it's off American soil. It was intended to be a legal black hole, where detainees would be beyond the reach of U.S. law. And because they were designated enemy combatants instead of prisoners of war, they'd be beyond the protection of international laws governing the treatment of soldiers....

Rumsfeld linked to `brutal' prison abuse, but no resignation required

This is the conclusion of the high-level inquiry looking into Abu Ghraib scandal:
"The U.S. chain of command from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld down created conditions for the abuse last year at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison". But it also concludes that Rumsfeld should not resign because "His resignation would be a boon to all of America's enemies''.

This is how the US deals with negelgance at best and criminal actions at worst. This is how the US deals with the failure in ethical responsibilities. This is in fact nothing but the behaviour of an arrogant empire that is increasingly desliked by the people around the world.

The secret wars of the CIA

Watch/listen to John Stockwell, former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976 and what he says about how 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars against third world countries.

When soldiers and doctors both kill!

Have you heard about these cowboy pigs who call themselves doctors?

Government documents show that the US military medical system failed to protect detainees' human rights, sometimes collaborated with interrogators or abusive guards, and failed to properly report injuries or deaths caused by beatings," he said.
"In one example, soldiers tied a beaten detainee at the top of his cell door and gagged him.
"The death certificate indicated that he died of 'natural causes...during his sleep'. After news media coverage, the Pentagon revised the certificate to say that the death was a 'homicide'."

Whp knows how many of these "deaths by natural causes" have happened on the hands of American soldiers and doctors, sorry, I mean hands of "natural causes".

Iraqi soccer players angered by Bush ads

It seems that George Bush and his gang do not miss any opportunity to praise themselves as the saviours of Iraqi people for their bid for re-election. This time, he and his gang has used the success of the Iraqi Olympic soccer team to promote themselves and as part of the justification for invading Iraq.

The latest opportunism of the Bu$hCo received an angry reply from the members of Iraqi Olympic team. Here are some of what they said about the hypocrisy of the Washington gang:

Midfielder Salih Sadir said the team was angry it had been used in Mr Bush's re-election campaign ads.

One accused the US leader of committing "many crimes", and another said he would be fighting US troops if not for Athens.

Salih Sadir said he was angry at Mr Bush's campaign adverts showing pictures of the Afghan and Iraqi flags with the words: "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations - and two fewer terrorist regimes".

He called for US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. "We don't wish for the presence of the Americans in our country. We want them to go away."

Another star player, 22-year-old Ahmed Manajid, asked: "How will [Mr Bush] meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women? He has committed so many crimes."

Mr Manajid, from Falluja - a hotbed of armed opposition to the US-led occupation in Iraq - said if he was not playing football "for sure" he would be fighting as part of the resistance.

"I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?" he asked.

I guess they are politely saying: F*** you Mr. Bush.

Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu defies Israel's jail threats and continues speaking up

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu defies Israeli government's threats to jail him if he spoke to Democracy Now! for the first time to a national audience in this country.

He spent 18 years in Israeli prisons, for 11 years of which he was kept in solitary confinement. He is the first to show the world that despite Israel's promise and insisting that it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East, it had in fact secretly developed an extensive nuclear program... .

In response to the question as "what is your reaction to Israel's accusation of you being a trator", he says: It is Israeli government who is trator to the humanity". He wishes to leave Israel but he is not allowed to.

Don't miss the interview.

Chavez's victory, another defeat for the US in the international stages

After many years of US interfering in Venezuellan affairs, after a failed US-backed Coup against the loved-by-the-poor leader of Venezuella, after the unlawful interference in the politics of Venezuella, the loved-by-the-rich-and/or-stupid leader of the US suffers another humiliating defeat from the poor Venezuellans who voted AGAIN in favour of their democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez. There is no doubt that the Washington criminals have already started searching for new ways to interfere in the affairs of Venezuella.

After receiving approval of over 58% of the "mostly poor" Venezuellans, President Chavez had this to say: "The ball has landed in the dead centre of the White House... A gift for Bush."

Chavez's triumph is a devastating setback to the opposition, which had been
campaigning for his recall for more than a year after failing to force him from office in an April 2002 coup and in a two-month business owners' lockout later
that year.
Also stung by the outcome is the United States government, which had endorsed the coup, and helped finance the opposition groups that campaigned for the recall through the National Endowment for Democracy, funded by the U.S. Congress. Before the vote, Chavez had promised to connect on a "home run against the gringos."

Read the rest here.

And as Tariq Ali points them out, here are some of the great achievemnts of Venezuella mainly under the leadership of Hugo Chavez:

Venezuela, under its new Constitution, permitted the right of the citizens to
recall a President before s/he had completed their term of office. No Western
democracy enshrines this right in a written or unwritten constitution.

And

Just under a million children from the shanty-towns and the poorest villages now obtain a free education; 1.2 million illiterate adults have been taught to read and write; secondary education has been made available to 250,000 children whose social status excluded them from this privilege during the ancien regime; three new university campuses were functioning by 2003 and six more are due to be completed by 2006. As far as healthcare is concerned, the 10,000 Cuban doctors, who were sent to help the country, have transformed the situation in the poor districts, where 11,000 neighbourhood clinics have been established and the health budget has tripled. Add to this the financial support provided to small businesses, the new homes being built for the poor, an Agrarian Reform Law that was enacted and pushed through despite the resistance, legal and violent, by the landlords. By the end of last year 2,262,467 hectares has been distributed to 116,899 families. The reasons for Chavez' popularity become obvious. No previous regime had even noticed the plight of the poor (Thanks to Robert for pointing these out).

I wonder what the achievment of the US president has been during his 4 years in power even with no foreign abuse unlike the case in Venezuella.

Israeli authorities are now officially downgraded to animals

Israel has launched a psychological war against hundreds of Palestinian inmates on hunger strike for better conditions.
Prison officers are setting up barbecues outside cells and have told guards to eat in front of prisoners....
..."They can strike for a day, a month, until death. We will ward off this strike and it will be as if it never happened," said Tzahi Hanegbi. Read the rest here.

Also read:

JERUSALEM—Palestinian prisoners launched a hunger strike yesterday, in what is shaping up to be the biggest showdown between thousands of inmates and the Israeli authorities since the outbreak of fighting in 2000.
The prisoners want more family visits and telephone access. But an Israeli cabinet minister said he'd rather let them starve and prison officials imposed more sanctions. Israeli Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said over the weekend that Israel would not give in to the prisoners' demands, adding "The prisoners can strike for a day, a month, even starve to death, as far as I am concerned." Read the rest here.

Yeah, this is the response Israeli authorities give to legitimate demands of their captives. Once again, Israeli authorities display how inhumane and animal like they are....and world remains silent.

Natural disaster vs man-made disaster

Although unfortunately almost all victims of the devastating Florida hurricane are from poor American families and not the rich, this disaster will at least (to much lesser extend though) provide the American public with the opportunity to feel how it feels to experience massive destruction, how it feels to lose loved ones. Let the Americans feel what their army has done and continues to do in Iraq. Let them feel what the impact of their government's support towards Israel has been in non-stop and deliberate destruction of Palestinian houses. I wish there was no such hurricane, but now that it has come and gone and it has left its devastating impacts, let the Americans feel how it feels to become devastated.

Champion eliminated without a defeat

Iranian Judo world champion, Arash Esmaili, who bears two world championship in 2001 and 2003, was eliminated from the Athens Olympic games for refusing to play against an unknown Israeli athlete. This is not the first time Iranian athletes are refusing to play against the Israelis eventhough the Israelis were usually considered with having no chance of winning in most games/matches against the Iranians.

Arash has said that he refused to play against the Israeli athlete as a protest to Israeli policies and to show his solidarity with the Palestinians. I am not sure how much of this decision was his own and how much was dictated to him from Iranian government officials. But I think, the best and most effective way for Arash would have been to enter the match and beat the hell of the Israeli athlete, become the champion again, and then dedicate his gold medal to the Palestinians. By doing that, first, he would prove that Israelis cannot bully on the real one on one matches, second, he would continue adding to his medal collection, third, it would be huge boost to Iran's medal standing, and last but not least, he would bring some smile to the faces of the oppressed Palestinians who are suffering from Israeli occupation on a daily basis.

The tragedy of a (courageous) murderer's suicide

The parents of Jeffrey Lucey, a U.S. soldier who killed himself after returning home from military duty in Iraq, spoke publicly for the first time on Democracy Now!

Lucey signed up for the Marine Reserves straight out of high school. In February 2003, one month before the invasion, he was shipped out to Iraq. He was deployed there for five months, during which he fought in the battle of Nasiriyah. He returned to the U.S. later that year.

...Three weeks later on June 22nd, Jeffrey Lucey took his own life. He was 23 years old. His father, Kevin came home to find his son had hung himself with a hose in the cellar of their house. The dog tags of two Iraqi prisoners he said he was forced to shoot unarmed, lay on his bed.

KEVIN LUCEY (Jeff's father): My understanding was that there was a higher ranking official who told Jeff, and this is the quote that is etched in my mind, “pull the [bleep] trigger, Lucey.” And it was two unarmed Iraqis. He shot them from about five feet away, and he watched them die. It was the first time, well, that he shot anybody. He told me those deaths he knew he did. That's what he said.
JOYCE LUCEY (Jeff's mother): One of them, he--Debbie just told me on the phone that he said he was looking at this boy's eyes and the boy was shaking. He was shaking.
KEVIN LUCEY: He told me about how that haunted him. “It's somebody's son, it's somebody's brother, pa. It's somebody’s father.” Jeff, I think was writing down when he came back, he didn't see dead soldiers. He saw dead people. That was one of the things that I guess concerns somebody. That's where--that was the beginning of the cancer--the Post-Traumatic Stress.....

.....AMY GOODMAN: What did he say in the suicide letter?
KEVIN LUCEY: It was hard for me to remember. I’m the only one that read them. I was holding Jeff’s body, I was cradling him as I’m trying to read the letters…and he stated that he hoped that we would understand. He wanted to apologize…for…everything he did. He didn't want us to hurt.
KEVIN LUCEY: ....I read newspapers. I’m a news fanatic. And you know, I never
thought about the human cost. I never thought about--I would read statistics and
I would say, god, that's, that's horrible, but that was it. And now it's thrown us into a huge chaotic thing,...

Blindly obeying the order of his superior, Jeffry Lucey committed a cowardic murder. What he did was wrong, was inhumane, was...., but he at least had the courage to admit the crime he committed and he chose to show how regretful he was by taking his own life.

Only disgareed on HOW and not WHY!

As it has been clear for more than a year now, Iraq had destroyed its nuclear weapons programme in 1991 and never restarted it. Now that all the successful and well-organized efforts of decepting the American public and selling them the war policy, is exposed and is known as nothing but lies, George Bush says: Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq". Well, what do you expect him to say? ...that he was wrong? ....that he has caused over 15000 civilian death? ...that he was and is a mass murderer?

Now, let's see why George Bush is so happy that his presidential rival, John Kerry, is practically confirming the crimes that George Bush committed by creating this war: "After months of questioning my motives and even my credibility, Senator Kerry now agrees with me that even though we have not found the stockpiles of weapons we all believe were there ... he would have voted to go into Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power", Bush said.

On Monday, Kerry said he would have voted to authorize the war knowing what he does now, but that he would have used the power more effectively than the current commander in chief. More effectively? What does it mean? Does it mean that he would have killed even more of Iraqis? Does it mean he would have used more effective weapons? What the hell does Kerry mean by that? The fact is that Kerry's problem with Bush is not WHY Bush created this war. He is just upset of HOW Bush went to this war. As I've said before, at least in terms of foreign policies, Democrats and Republicans are both the same with slight differences in tactics as HOW to screw the world, not whether to do so.

On a related note, read Toronto Star's editorial: Kerry fails Iraq test.

Just for laughs

Just listen to the guy!

Even "I", feel good about my English when I listen to him. Thank you George!

Also, watch/listen how Jesse Jackson reacts to the normal but embarrassing event above.

Higher Ups stop the humane action of some US soldiers

Oregon Army National Guardsmen responded to reports of what appeared to be prisoner abuse June 29 at the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. The Guard soldiers disarmed the Iraqi policemen and gave first aid to the detainees. The Oregon guardsmen were later ordered to stand down, handing the prisoners back over to the Iraqi officials. Many of the prisoners had fresh welts and bruises. Soldiers also found metal rods, rubber hoses, unknown chemicals and exposed electrical wires that appeared to have been used to torture the prisoners.....

...and yet, they were ordered to return the detainees back to their torturers. Yeah, Rumsfeld and his fellow criminals don't want to see some good US soldiers act humanely. Who the hell these soldiers are to act against the principals and traditions of the US army? They should act according to orders; creating new Abu-Ghraib prisoner abuses/torture. Why not? US is the biggest exporter of the torture devices in the world.

A fake and staged event looked quite true!

See how easy it is! An American faked his own decapitation in tape and made the world believe it. If one person (with limited resources) can fool others, even the mainstream media, to believe what is not true, imagine how easily the resourceful elements such as government organizations, or the mainstream media can use the technology to make people swallow a fake and staged event as a genuine one.

Just don't easily believe what you hear and/or what you see.

"Golden" words of a PRESIDENT!

Ladies and gentlemen,
PRESIDENT of the United States of America:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we".

Thank you for your "honesty" Mr. President!

And in another note:

"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."
George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

Thanks to Jamak for reminding us of how "brilliant and knowledgeable" George Bush is.

Worth Repeating: Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki - It was 59 years ago, today.

The following was originally posted on my blog on August 6, 2003. However, I do believe it is still relavant to today's nuclear threats against our planet and its citizens:

In a conversation between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the 70's and during Vietnam war, Nixon expressed his desire to use atomic bombs against the Vietnamies; "I don't give a damn about their lives": he said. Kissinger being concerned about the effect of this on world public opinion (and not the humanitarian aspect of it), objected and disagreed with it. May be Nixon just had a bad day, May be he had a fight with his wife, may be he was just too angry at something when he expressed this horrifying desire, on the other hand, may be he was serious about it Let's say he was just upset and he didn't really mean it (but remember, you can go to jail if you threaten to kill somebody even if you don't mean it). Anyhow, What if his anger would increase by something else (let's say another fight with his wife or, his mother-in-law coming for a visit ) to even higher level so he would make an even harsher comment; but he still wouldn't mean it. Then again, what if something really bothered him and his administration to esculate his anger to an even more critical level so the order to use atomic bomb would be issued? (Don't laugh, it can be as simple as that). These days, all the talk is about Iran and its Nuclear programs. Sounds like it is no good if Iran developes nuclear bombs but it is alright for Israel to have it. Why do I keep talking about Israel, why not the US, Russia, France, England, China and even the new kids in the block: India and Pakistan? One might say: "Iran and even North Korea should not have these kinds of weapons because the leaders of those countries are crazy enough to use them". Well, I agree, but if using these weapons comes from the crazyness of the leaders, so it is crazy to use them, period. Unless, somebody says: "No, your leaders should not have those weapons, so they cannot kill hundreds of thousands of people but it is alright if our leaders have them, because the way we kill is more civilized. Killing is bad and evil if you kill, but what we do is just saving the humanity when we kill." Who knows who the judge is to say who is right and who is wrong. BTW, North Korea? After witnessing what happened to Iraq after it became clear the WMD did not exist, who can blame North Korea for not wanting to destroy the weapons it might have or even for wanting to continue developement of WMD? If Iraq had Nuclear weapons, US and Britain would not have dared attacking that country. Without giving too much credit to Iran leaders, I have to admit, they did not use chemical weapons against Iraqi army during the 8 year Iran-Iraq war while Iranian soldiers were being chemically bombed on almost daily basis by Saddam's army which had the blessing of the civilized US leaders and of course British, French and Russia. Atomic bombs are dangerous enough to not consider them safe in the hands of some countries and their prosumed controlling system to make sure they are not going to be used where they should not be used. Then again, who can determine about these Should(s) and should not(s)? By the way, another answer to the issue of Iran and North Korea's leaders being crazy is: "Yes, they are crazy but so is George Bush and his adventurous oily gang". We cannot just hope that these people will not make wrong decisions whether they should or should not use nuclear weapons. If you travel in time to the past to 1944, you would not even imagine what was going to happen to two Japanies cities (and yes, to all their civilian population) in less than a year. You would perhaps make fun of the comment such as "warning of the nearing tragedy", but that did happen. We cannot let that happen again (for any B.S. reason). We cannot wait and hope that the Nixon(s) would not make crazy decisions. we cannot leave our lives and our childrens' lives in the hands of bunch of bussiness-oriented politicians. If we do not care enough about our own lives, we have the responsibility to make sure these things do not happen to our children. We have to destroy all these weapons, no matter where they are, and who controls them. We have to tell those who are obssessed with these weapons, to pack up, take your weapons with you and get lost from the face of the earth, go away to the places far from earth and far from our lives, and then play with these toys as much as you want. Am I looking at this in a very simplistic way? You bet I am. It really is simple but we are making it too complicated. It is as simple as saying no-one (and I mean no-one) should have these weapons what so ever. You might react to this piece either positively or negatively (if you understand my writing that is), but whatever you do, please continue talking about it and let this issue be talked about before another tragedy hits. Just one more note: with the money that is spent on these monsterous weapons, every member of the humanity can live the way a human being deserves, with no starvation, no poverty, and you name it. Let's begin talking about this issue today (You might wonder how stupid Faramin is! Yes, I might be stupid but I am also worried, even stupids have the right to worry about things).

Media's guilt, or individuals' guilt, or both?

How much American public knows about Israeli/Palestinian conflict? This CBS NEWS article might help answer the question. Is CBS admitting its own partial guilt in keeping the Americans mis-informed? Here are some excerpts:

In a new study of media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a group of American college students was asked, "Who is occupying the occupied territories, and what nationality are the settlers?” Fairly simple questions, but only 29 percent knew the correct answers. The Israelis are both the occupiers and the settlers. Some thought the Palestinians occupy the occupied territories, but the Israelis are the settlers. Others thought the Israelis occupy the occupied territories, but the Palestinians are the settlers. A smaller number thought the Palestinians were both the settlers and the occupiers. The rest simply could not answer....

The study points out that the Americans questioned were journalism and media students and some had even done projects on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. So their answers clearly overstated the public’s level of knowledge about the Middle East.....

...They point to the way Israeli and Palestinian combatants are labelled in television reports. Palestinians are "activists," "militants," "extremists," "assailants," "gunmen," "bombers," "terrorists," "killers," "assassins," "fundamentalist groups," "attackers," "self-styled Palestinian martyrs" and "fanatics." Israelis are "soldiers" or "troops," and even when an Israeli group tried to bomb a Palestinian school, they were not "terrorists" but "vigilantes."....

Please read the whole article... . Isn't it sad?

Please help flood victims of Bangladesh

Rezwan at The 3rd World View has some information regarding the relief efforts for the recent flood victims of Bangladesh. Rezwan provides information as how we can help the victims. Please be generous in helping as this might happen just to anyone. I am sure in similar unfortunate situations like that, we, too, would expect help from other fellow-citizens of the world. Rezwan recommends channeling the donations through the joint efforts of HSBC and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of Bangladesh (IFRC) .

Iran... or Persia?

I came across an article about Iran or Persia. Without confirming or rejecting the entire content of the article, I thought to share it with you.

Here are some excerpts:

..."Iran" as represented in the "news", a two-dimensional imago of oil wells and atomic reactors under the control of evil fanatics in black robes... Is this "Iran" any more real than the "Persia" in which I tried to travel and even to lose myself, the Persia of roses and nightingales that impinges so sensibly on my memory? Or are both equally real and unreal? The truth must certainly be more complex even than such paradox could suggest. But since "Iran" is now (as I write in the summer of 2003) being pumped up in the media as the next spoke of the Axis of Evil, I doubt that "Persia will get much airplay over the next few years. Hence this essay. "Persia" has become part of The World We Lost. Its perfume lingers even as it recedes into a past that's half imaginal. It leaves behind it only something that might be called difference. How else to define that which we feel is leaving us?

Read the whole article here.

Iraq Jail Chief Says Prisoner Abuse Covered Up

LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. general formerly in charge of Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison said on Tuesday abuse of Iraqi captives was hidden from her in a cover-up that may reach all the way to the Pentagon or White House. Speaking on the same day a U.S. soldier at the center of the prisoner abuse scandal is due to face a military court, Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski said she was deliberately kept in the dark about abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners.

"A very reliable witness has made a statement indicating that, not only was I not included in any of the meetings discussing interrogation operations, but specific measures were taken to ensure I would not have access to those facilities, that information or any of the details of interrogation at Abu Ghraib or anywhere else," Karpinski told Britain's BBC radio.

..She said that those with "full knowledge" of what was going on in Abu Ghraib worked to keep her from discovering the truth.

Asked if a cover-up meant involvement of the White House or Pentagon, she said: "I have not seen the statement but the indication is it may have."

Read the rest here.

Who really is behind the killings?

The beheading or other means of executing foreigners who are directly or indirectly helping the occupation of Iraq has continued. The latest victim has been a Turkish truck driver. I saw the execution of this man on Internet:

Someone reads from a prepared statement which is in Arabic. All I can understand from it is is the words God, Islam, occupation, infidels and afew more. Then after the statement ends, the Turkish driver who is sitting in front of the gunmen starts reading from his prepared statement in Turkish. Understanding a bit of Turkish, I realize that he is asking his fellow drivers not to help the US in its occupation of Iraq. Being a Muslim himself, he talks about greatness of Islam and about how the occupation of Iraq is hurting Iraqis.

After his statement ends, he receives three bullets in his head while the sound of Allah-o-Akbar (God is Greater) fills the air.... .

While it was approaching to the last seconds of the clip and to his execution, I could feel my heart beating much faster, I could feel the sudden increase in my blood pressure. I was so nervous and in disbelief I started asking why? Why he had to die? I also felt angry at the Iraqi resistance forces to the occupation. Yes, I was really angry.

..then, suddenly some questions crossed my mind: Who are these killers? Who are the ones who can so easily execute their own fellow Muslim? Are they that stupid not to realize that this can eventually create anger against their own struggle against the occupation and thus, make it even more difficult for them? Is this really beneficial to their cause? Are they not hurting themselves by these killings? Who is really benefiting from all this? and then the big question came: Are they really part of the Iraqi resistance against the occupation or they are deliberately serving the occupiers by tarnishing the images of the resistance to the occupation? And WHO REALLY IS BEHIND ALL THIS?

Edwards war-speech

Fanni at Terrette has an interesting commentary about John Edwards and his recent speech at Democratic Convention in Boston. It is well worth reading.