IRAQ: BODY COUNT

Washington Post: Study Claims Iraq's 'Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000

- A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.

The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.

It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.

The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.

click here for the Full Report (PDF)

ROBERT FISK

Independent: The Age of Terror - a landmark report
by Robert Fisk

With chaos stretching from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, we have never lived in a more dangerous time. Over the next 15 pages and 7,000 words, our man in the Middle East looks back over a lifetime of covering war and death, and lays out a bleak future for all of us - one that even those living in the comfort of the Home Counties cannot escape

NORTH KOREA

Asia Times: Kim's message: War is coming to US soil
By Kim Myong Chol ("Unofficial" spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.)

The Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on October 3 that the DPRK planned to conduct a nuclear test. The Foreign Ministry stated that the planned nuclear test was in response to the grave situation created by the US, where "the supreme national security interests of the DPRK are at stake with the Korean nation standing at the crossroads of life and death".

The nuclear test, once conducted, will have far-reaching implications for the Koreas and the rest of the world. It carries five messages.

NORTH KOREA

Reuters: North Korea says conducted nuclear test

SEOUL (Reuters) -
North Korea said on Monday it had safely and successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, flying in the face of a warning from the
U.N. Security Council.


South Korea's military ordered army units to step up their state of alert after the announcement by the reclusive communist state, which came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude quake in North Korea at 10:35 local time (0135 GMT) on Monday, confirming a similar report from South Korea.

U.S. defense officials were still saying they could not confirm a nuclear test, however.

IRAN: COUNTDOWN TO WAR

CRG.com: The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The probability of another war in the Middle East is high. Only time will tell if the horrors of further warfare is to fully materialize. Even then, the shape of a war is still undecided in terms of its outcome.

If war is to be waged or not against Iran and Syria, there is still the undeniable build-up and development of measures that confirm a process of military deployment and preparation for war.

The diplomatic forum also seems to be pointing to the possibility of war. The decisions being made, the preparations being taken, and the military maneuvers that are unfolding on the geo-strategic chessboard are projecting a prognosis and forecast towards the direction of mobilization for some form of conflict in the Middle East.

ISRAEL/SYIRA

Counterpunch: Lunch in Damascus
by Uri Avnery

Once while, traveling in a taxi, I had an argument with the driver--a profession associated in Israel with extreme right-wing views. I tried in vain to convince him of the desirability of peace with the Arabs. In our country, which has never seen a single day of peace in the last hundred years, peace can seem like something out of science fiction.

Suddenly I had an inspiration.
"When we have peace," I said, "You can take your taxi in the morning and go to Damascus, have lunch there with real authentic Hummus and come back home in the evening." He jumped at the idea. "Wow," he exclaimed, "If that happens, I shall take you with me for nothing!""And I shall treat you to lunch," I responded. He continued to dream. "If I could go to Damascus in my car, I could drive on from there all the way to Paris!"

IRAN: COUNTDOWN TO WAR

FPIF.org: War or Rumors of War?

What's going on with the current bustle around U.S. naval stations? According to Time, the Navy has issued “Prepare to Deploy Orders” (PTDOs) to a strike group including minesweepers, a submarine, an Aegis class cruiser, and a mine hunter. Taken alongside disclosures that the chief of naval operations asked his planners for a rundown of how a blockade of Iranian oil ports would work, these military preparations led Time to conclude cautiously that the United States “may be preparing for war with Iran.”
Military officials downplay these recent moves as routine. But given the administration's recent history of manufacturing threat, misreading intelligence, and misrepresenting war plans, it is tempting to read between the lines—especially when increasingly hot rhetoric is coming from Washington.

USA

ICH: War is Peace
By Irene Rheinwald

“Imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions . . . and the deportation of whole populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.”

George Orwell penned these words over five decades ago, yet the sentiments are sadly germane to today’s “war on terror”. Israel and the United States, as self-styled purveyors of democracy and freedom, have ironically fallen into their own propaganda trap. In seeking to rationalize aggressions towards Arabs and Muslims, collectively termed “terrorists”, both nations employ techniques reminiscent of totalitarian regimes, and decry the “enemy” as fascist, irrational “evildoers” naturally bent upon violence. To a certain extent, the techniques succeeded. Inflammatory, racist, rhetoric cultivates a climate of xenophobic paranoia. Entire groups are ostracized and reviled without just cause. Recall how Nazism made scapegoats of minorities, most notably the Jews. Today we have the vaguely defined “terrorist”. What is a “terrorist”? Someone, anyone, who loathes freedom, liberty, the God given pursuit of materialism, and democracy as practiced by George W. Bush with the assistance of the Patriot Act.

USA

ICH: Woodward’s 60 Minutes bloodbath
by Mike Whitney

-- Veteran journalist Bob Woodward can always be counted on to tell the truth… after all the other options have been exhausted. His new book doesn’t veer too far from the pattern he’s followed his entire career; one minute he’s the “kingmaker” dishing up hearty-helpings of literary tripe like “Bush at War” and “Plan of Attack” and the next minute he’s ramming a scimitar into the lower lumbar region of his prey.

That’s Bob, the consummate insider and part-time assassin whose real job is not to maintain an “informed public” or preserve the free flow of information, but to use the privately-owned media in a way that serves the exclusive interests of the ruling elite.

Most of what Woodward said on 60 Minutes was accurate and interesting. Bush has deceived the American people about the slow-rolling catastrophe in Iraq. He’s obfuscated the truth about the 800 to 900 attacks on American troops per week and, yes, Rumsfeld is the greatest bungler in the history of the Republic. But why has Woodward decided to spill the beans now? And, how long has he been withholding this information from the public? (some of the crucial details date back to 2003!?!) And why would Woodward organize a book tour that is clearly designed to obliterate Bush’s credibility just 6 weeks before the election?

Online Video: State Of Denial
Bob Woodward 60 Minute Interview

CHAVEZ AT THE UN

Rense: Rise Up Against The Empire
Speech At The UN General Assembly
by Hugo Chavez

The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today.

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.

IRAQ

IPS: U.S. Resorting to 'Collective Punishment'
By Dahr Jamail

RAMADI, Sep 18 (IPS) - U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents and officials say.

IRAN: ROAD TO WAR

Time: What Would War Look Like?
By Michael Duffy

A flurry of military maneuvers in the Middle East increases speculation that conflict with Iran is no longer quite so unthinkable. Here's how the U.S. would fight such a war--and the huge price it would have to pay to win it

USA

Independent via ICH: The American Military's Cult of Cruelty
by Robert Fisk

In the week that George Bush took to fantasising that his blood-soaked "war on terror" would lead the 21st century into a "shining age of human liberty" I went through my mail bag to find a frightening letter addressed to me by an American veteran whose son is serving as a lieutenant colonel and medical doctor with US forces in Baghdad. Put simply, my American friend believes the change of military creed under the Bush administration--from that of "soldier" to that of "warrior"--is encouraging American troops to commit atrocities.

RETAIL

Spacehijackers.org:A-Z Retail Tricks To Make You Shop

A - Aisle Order – Some customers, particularly men, tend to simply shop for what they want, walking down an aisle grabbing what they want, turning back and walking the way they came, this is called the 'Boomerang Effect'. In order to maximise shopper and produce contact time, shops therefore place major items and brands in the middle of aisles ensuring that from any direction the customer has to walk the furthest to reach them.

B - Baby Powder – Some UK baby shops now add Baby Powder to the air conditioning to remind people of new-born’s and relax them.

ISRAEL

ICH: State of Chuzpah
by Uri Avnery

THE PRESIDENT of Israel is supposed to symbolize the common denominator of all our citizens. Therefore it is proper for him to symbolize this trait, too. And indeed, it is difficult to imagine a more quintessential chutzpah than the behavior of His Excellency, President Moshe Katzav. He is the supreme symbol of Israeli chutzpah. Katzav has been accused of the sexual harassment of several women who worked for him in the President's office, as well as in his earlier public offices. At least three of them accused him of rape. Such accusations are, of course, far from a conviction

CENSORED

Project Censored: Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007

#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media

#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran

#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger

#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US

#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo

SECRET CIA PRISONS

NBC: Bush Admits, Defends Secret CIA Prisons

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush on Wednesday said for the first time that some suspected terrorist leaders have been held by the CIA outside the United States in secret locations.

His comments marked the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.

IRAQ WAR

Mother Jones: Lie by Lie

Mother Jones has a very interesting Flash Timeline with all the lies in the build up to the Iraq War.

Check it out

IRAN, SYRIA NEXT?

Global Research: The Next Phase of the Middle East War

Israel's war on Lebanon is an integral part of a US sponsored "military roadmap".

The war on Lebanon, which has resulted in countless atrocities including the destruction of the nation's economy and civilian infrastructure, is "a stage" in a sequence of carefully planned military operations.

Lebanon constitutes a strategic corridor between Israel and North-western Syria. The underlying objective of this war was the militarization of Lebanon, including the stationing of foreign troops, as a precondition for carrying out the next phase of a broader military agenda.

onfirmed by official statements and military documents, the US in close coordination with Britain (and in consultation with its NATO partners), is planning to launch a war directed against Iran and Syria. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton has already initiated the draft of a UN Security Council resolution with a view to imposing sanctions on Tehran for its alleged (nonexistent) nuclear weapons program.

BANKSY DOES PARIS

BBC: Paris Hilton targeted in CD prank

Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.

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