FREEDOM FIGHTERS (those who are trying to liberate their lands from foreign occupation like the Palestinians and the Iraqis.)
TERRORISTS (those who are trying to destabilize legitimate governments like AlQueda)

September 11, 2005

NUCLEAR PRE EMPTIVE STRIKE - I have tried to keep my thoughts to myself over the last year.  But now, I must speak out.  The protocols have been put into place to allow George Bush to authorize a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran regardless of what the rest of the world does or does not do.  First, it is insane to think that Russia, China and India who have begun to have joint military operations and all of whom have nuclear weapons would not be ready to launch their own nuclear strikes to neutralize the US.  Second, such a strike would bring the money to bin Laden for a dirty nuclear bomb to be hand carried and set off in New York City or Los Angeles.  To unleash nuclear weapons would set a precedent from which there would be no turning back.  All my life I have seen Armageddon played out in my dreams and my thoughts.  However, I told myself that it would not happen in the post modern world.  Yet here we are.  In four short years, we have sped to the contemplation of nuclear war.  With the present actions of Iran, it is only a matter of time until George Bush launches a nuclear strike against Iran.  The die is cast.  George has a history of creating lies about weapons of mass destruction in the possession of Iraq.  No one challenged him.  No one with any knowledge of the madness of Adolph Hitler and the apathy and arrogance that supported his rise to power can deny the parallels between the excuses of George Bush and the excuses of Adolph Hitler.  The unilateral acts of the United States in the world gave birth to Al Queda.  The Christian attacks against the Muslim world on all fronts and its defense of Israel spawned Al Queda.  The creation of Israel and the refusal to give justice to the displaced Palestinians are the cause of the terrorism that exists in the world.  Justice for the Palestinians is the only thing that is going to end terrorism.  Nothing else.  As long as the Palestinians are ignored, so long will Al Queda recruit more criminals into its terrorist ranks.  Nuclear weapons cannot kill every terrorist.  And if one terrorist exists, no American will ever be safe again in the world: no American city will be secure from retaliation.  A nuclear strike by the US would bring an army of terrorist forward to attempt to bring America to its knees.  God help us.  The insanity must stop.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e050911a.htm

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For the most comprehensive and least edited news of Iraq from both US and Middle News go to Professor Juan Cole's web page at http://www.juancole.com .  Juan Cole is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. 

June 17, 2004

RELIGION - From the beginning to the end of this week's annual gathering of Southern Baptists in Indianapolis, the two themes filled the air — a celebration of their conservative movement within their denomination and a lament over social trends they decry as increasingly secular, hostile to Christianity and friendly to homosexuality.  As they concluded their annual meeting yesterday, Southern Baptists celebrated the 25th anniversary of the start of a political movement that shifted the nation's largest denomination to the right, along with its agencies and its seminaries in Louisville and elsewhere.  But speaker after speaker thundered against gay marriage, abortion, "secularism" and other social trends they view as signs of national decay. http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040617a.htm * The reality is that secular society is democratic and inclusive and Christianity is autocratic and exclusive.  In addition, the Christian bureaucracy, like all religious bureaucracies is more concerned with preserving the bureaucracy than with spreading the word of Jesus.  The teachings of Jesus was undeniably one of anti-bureaucratic religion. For an ongoing example of the evils of religious bureaucracies go to http://www.presbyterians-r-us.com

IRAQ - Guerrillas blew up one of Iraq's main oil-export pipelines yesterday for the second time in two days, forcing a shutdown of the country's economic lifeline. A spate of pipeline attacks has underscored the vulnerability of Iraq's economy to the guerrillas as they try to scuttle U.S. efforts to install an Iraqi government friendly to America.  In the middle of the night, saboteurs blew open a pipeline just outside the southern oil port of Basra, forcing a shutdown of the line that is likely to last for several days, officials in Iraq told reporters. The attacks this week have cut off exports via Iraq's two Persian Gulf oil terminals, while Iraq's other export route - a pipeline from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan - has been closed for several weeks.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040617b.htm * There can be no doubt that Bush's crusade in the Middle East is a diaster.  Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.  This is what happens when foreign policy is based on guns instead of diplomacy and when lies are told by the President of the United States for the sole purpose of manipulating the people.  The Zionist fundamentalist Christian influence in the White House and Washington in general is a detriment to democracy and an impediment to peace.  It is my hope that when we elect a President in 2008, he or she will be a younger man or woman who is not a product of the American wars of the 20th Century and is a believer in God and in a secular society without the influence of religious fanatics who spread lies and deceit and manifest wars allegedly in the name of God.

May 30, 2004

ENVIRONMENT - New research shows that much less sunlight is reaching the earth than 50 years ago. "Global dimming", as it has inevitably become called, has been suspected for nearly 20 years, since a Swiss geography researcher, routinely checking sunshine levels across Europe in 1985, found that they had dropped, even on the brightest days. Studies all around the world found similar results, showing drops in sunlight ranging from 2 to 37 per cent since the 1950s.  The research, published in Science, is the first to prove that the dimming is a global phenomenon. Scientists at the New Jersey and California Institutes of Technology remembered how Leonardo da Vinci had worked out that the dark side of the moon was illuminated by sunlight reflected from the Earth. By measuring this "Earthshine" they worked out that the world is about 10 per cent darker than half a century ago. Scientists are divided over whether global dimming is a natural phenomenon or caused by pollution, such as soot particles emitted from car exhausts, and global warming, which evaporates more water from the Earth, causing more clouds. Professor Philip R Goode, who led the study, told The Independent on Sunday that the way the dimming has varied suggests that it may be a natural phenomenon.  Whatever the cause, there could be massive effects on farming and on attempts to capture solar energy as the earth "dims down".

May 19, 2004

May 18, 2004

HUMAN RIGHTS - With America's reputation at its lowest ebb in years, the US State Department published its annual promotion of human rights report, conceding the prisoner abuse scandal was a huge "cloud" over its mission, the British Telegraph newspaper reported Tuesday.  The report summarizes actions in 101 countries to promote freedom and to end abuses, including torture, the very crime American soldiers are accused of in Iraq, the paper said.  The paper quoted Lorne Craner, US assistant secretary of state responsible for promoting human rights and democracy, as saying that the awful images of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison hampered America's ability to promote human rights.  "This was a cloud obscuring what we tried to do on democracy issues. And we want to punch through the cloud and say we are not going to give up on democracy and human rights promotion," Craner was quoted as saying.  "We got things wrong and we are going to fix it," Craner told the paper.  The paper also said that in an implicit rebuke for the neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, who promoted the idea of transplanting democracy to the Middle East, Craner made it clear that America's mission had to be less ambitious.  "We can't implant democracy everywhere," Craner said. * The arrogance of George Bush took America into an unprovoked invasion of Iraq based on the lie that there were weapons of mass destruction and an Osama Saddam link.  Only later did it become a war to promote democracy in the Middle East.  Military invasions can never be the source of peace and democracy when the invasion is unprovoked.  Such a concept is totally stupid and only the neo-Nazis in the Bush administration would try to feed such a ridiculous concept to the American people.  What is worse is that they were initially successful.

May 17, 2004

IRAQ - Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that what he had called "the most dramatic" element of his Feb. 5, 2003, speech to the United Nations was "inaccurate and discredited."  The presentation, considered a key in convincing allies and the American people that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, claimed the existence of mobile biological-weapons laboratories.  "When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me," Powell said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press."  "It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and, in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed, and I regret it," he said.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040517c.htm * And with that, Mr. Powell says he is sorry to the families of almost 1,000 dead American soldiers and close to 5,000 wounded and maimed in Iraq.  Mr. Powell is regretful.  Not sorry.  Just regrets it.  He is saying that the CIA is stupid or liars or both.  He just read what was given him.  George Bush is really a great guy.  And life is great at the White House.  I wish that he would have said that he is just stupid and that when he was the Chief of Staff we were not in danger of his inability to sort through data for the truth.  I wish that he would resign but since he is one of the few moderate voices in the Bush administration, he would be replaced by another neo-Nazi which would be detrimental for us all.  I guess we will have to accept his regrets.  Many of those dead soldiers can have that put on their grave stones.  "Colin Powell is regretful that I am dead".  And when the children of those dead soldiers go to school, they can tell their friends that Colin Powell is regretful that their daddies and mommies are dead.

AIDS - The U.S. government has opened a new front in the battle over getting cheap AIDS drugs to the poorest countries that need them, saying it will consider approving and providing cheap, multiple-dose generics.  U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said on Sunday the Food and Drug Administration would give fast-track approval to new ready-made, single dose cocktails -- even to copycats made in India.  U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randal Tobias said any drugs approved under the program could then be used in programs across Africa and the Caribbean, under which the United States is targeting $15 billion in aid to the countries hardest-hit by the epidemic.  Many groups, including some members of Congress, have been pressuring the U.S. government to use the cheap, multiple dose combinations. Medecins Sans Frontiers, known also as Doctors Without Borders, has been distributing them in 20 countries and say they are both cheaper and easier to take.  But the U.S. government has resisted, saying the copycats may not be safe. AIDS groups have accused the government of catering to big pharmaceutical companies that make the brand-name drugs under lucrative patents. http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040517b.htm  * It is a good thing that the Bush administration is finally doing something to provide cheap AIDS drugs to the world. However, the truth is that Bush is a liar and we can expect that the will renege on his commitment.  In the meantime, AIDS is spreading around the world and people are dying.   In the meantime, killing Iraqis is more important than saving AIDS victims.  If you are trying to do something about the world's population, one method of death is as good as another.  I guess this will help Bush get his foreign relations budget in line.  No people.  No budget.  

IRAQ - A suicide car bomber killed the head of Iraq's Governing Council Monday, increasing fears that instability will make a new Iraqi government unable to function when U.S. occupiers hand it power in six weeks.  The killing of Izzedin Salim dealt another major blow to the U.S.-led coalition, battling a Shi'ite Muslim insurgency and a growing scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.  Salim, a Shi'ite who edited several newspapers, was in the last car of a council convoy waiting to enter the "Green Zone" coalition headquarters when the bomb exploded at a checkpoint in central Baghdad, killing six people.  Governing Council members were clearly among the targets of increased terrorism in Iraq, said Mahmoud Othman, who sits on the U.S.-backed council.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040517a.htm  *  The message seems to be that anything imposed by America is to be killed.  Iraq is determined to rule itself, even if it means civil war.  In the end, Americans are going to have to clean up Bush's Iraq mess for decades to come.  There is no righteous way out of Iraq.  Nothing was learned from Vietnam because little George did not go to Vietnam.  The news from Iraq has been bad every since we defeated these people.  The only good thing that can come out of Iraq is the removal of Bush from office.  If we can remove Bush from office, peace may actually have a chance.  Get rid of Ariel Sharon and his neo-Nazi Zionists and tension in the Middle East will definitely reduce.

May 14, 2004

IRAQ - MORE MONEY MORE MONEY MORE MONEY - Top Pentagon and Bush budget officials faced a skeptical Senate committee yesterday as they tried to convince committee members to support an ambiguous $25 billion reserve fund to finance the Iraq war.  "It's unusual," conceded acting Pentagon comptroller Lawrence Lanzillotta in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.  "It's the first of a kind and we want to make certain that it is in conformity with the traditional practices to the extent we can so that we can maintain our oversight," said committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). "This is a very significant sum of taxpayers' money over which Congress must exercise its appropriate oversight."  Congress' main check on the White House's wide-ranging authority is its power to approve federal spending, and it jealously guards this right. The $25 billion reserve fund represents a departure from that constitutional arrangement. It would give the Pentagon the right to spend the money in any way it wants for Iraq and Afghanistan, with almost no input from Congress.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040514d.htm * The last thing we need to do is to give the Pentagon and its neo fascists a blank check.  To do that would almost guarantee an invasion of Syria and some kind of incursion into Cuba.  It is time for the idiocy to stop.  It is time to impeach the President for his lies and crimes against humanity.

May 12, 2004

IRAQ - BUSH AND DUE PROCESS - Michael Berg claimed yesterday that his son, Nick, was held by US authorities without access to a telephone or lawyer because of suspicions that he was an insurgent or terrorist. By the time he was finally released in early April, according to Mr Berg, the security situation had so deteriorated that it was difficult for him to make his way home.  "That's really what cost my son his life, the fact that the United States government saw fit to keep him in custody for 13 days without any of his due process or civil rights," Mr Berg said.  The family's accusation comes as the Bush administration struggles to fend off allegations that it has denied the civil rights of thousands of mostly Arab detainees it is holding in military prisons around the world on suspicion of terrorism.  Mr Berg was apprehended by Iraqi officials near the northern city of Mosul on March 24, according to his father, who claims that he was then interrogated by FBI agents.  Mr Berg was released on April 6, a day after his parents filed a lawsuit in federal court naming defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a defendant, and claiming that their son was being unlawfully held. They last heard from him on April 9. http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040512d.htm * The neo fascist in the Bush administration have gone a long way toward eroding the civil rights that is the foundation of American democracy.  All over the world and in America, no one is safe from the Bush Gestapo.  

CUBA - "The main impact is it puts the Cuban people on notice that the Cuban government may change its policies in response to increased sanctions from the United States," said Phil Peters, who has written about the Cuban economy for the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank. "It's no secret the Cuban government feels besieged. Part of their message has been to keep people on their toes against aggression."  Last week, President Bush announced new measures to limit the flow of dollars to Cuba by reducing the number of trips Cuban Americans can take to the island, slashing the amount of money they can spend here and prohibiting cash transfers to Communist Party members.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040512c.htm * George has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq and now is stirring up trouble in Cuba and talking like he is going to invade Syria.  Pretty soon he will be attacking New York City.  Anyone who says that George Bush is not a dangerous war mongering  idiot is just not reading the news.  And by the way, where is that pesky Osama bin Laden?

SYRIA - US President George W. Bush signed an order on Tuesday imposing sanctions on Syria to punish Damascus for allegedly supporting terrorism and failing to block infiltration of guerillas into Iraq, agencies reports said. http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040512b.htm * As if George has not stirred up enough trouble in the world, now he is going after Syria.  Who can doubt that if he is reelected the entire Middle East will manifest Armageddon?  

May 11, 2004

IRAQ - TORTURE - Amnesty International accused British soldiers in Iraq on Tuesday of killing civilians who posed no apparent threat, widening an Anglo-American scandal over the behavior of occupation troops.  The human rights group said in a report that Britain was undermining the rule of law in Iraq by failing to investigate properly the killings of up to 37 civilians over the past year, including an eight-year-old girl.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040511a.htm * The prisoner abuse issue is one that shows the hypocrisy of Bush and Blair.  In the name of democracy and Christianity, Iraqis are tortured and humiliated.  Iraq was not a threat to the US.  There were no weapons of mass destruction.  So why was there a need for this torture and humiliation.  It has to do with a lack of respect and an intolerance for certain categories of human beings.  It has to do with a belief that non Americans have no rights to Christian love or democratic principles.  It has to do with an arrogance that comes with a belief that might makes right and God loves the victor and hates the vanquished.  Fundamentalist Christians and Zionist are some of the most intolerant human beings on the planet and unfortunately they have a significant presence in the Bush administration.

May 10, 2004

Letters to the Editor Tariq A. Al-Maeena.

Prime-time George chose two regional networks to explain to the Arab world that he was unaware of the doings of his troops; of the butchery, the abuse, and the horrific torture at the hands of his men.

He appeared on Al-Hurra, a US-funded network that hardly anybody in the region cares to tune in to. Seen as a mouthpiece of an administration beset with lies and deceit, nobody bothers with this organ, which drains the US government of approximately $60 million annually, money perhaps better spent toward the development of schools or playgrounds in the inner cities in the US.

And on the Al-Arabiya network, he came off as unconvincing as the peddler trying to palm off the Brooklyn Bridge. He claims he didnt know that crimes were being carried out by his troops. Now when a commander in chief utters those words, alarm bells should ring. He didnt know?

This has become a familiar pattern with George. When faced with a distasteful situation, either a memory lapse occurs, or else he doesnt know. He didnt know that the FBI had advance knowledge of a terrorist  threat directed toward the US. Why they allowed it to happen remains unclear. He didnt know that the CIA was convinced there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but he still went ahead with the singular purpose as he stated then of finding them.

He didnt know of swirling allegations that his vice president, Dick Cheney, was profiteering from the incursion into Iraq, of fat rebuilding contracts being handed over to select companies with strong business ties to Mr. Cheney. He didnt know that his Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was reportedly an ardent supporter of Saddam Hussein back in the late 1980s. Mr. Rumsfeld apparently encouraged the strong-arm tactics of the ruthless dictator.

He doesnt know that school buses carrying children were bombed by his troops in Afghanistan. He doesnt know that civilian casualties in Afghanistan as a result of his orders far outnumber the victims of Sept. 11. He didnt know of the generously used cluster bombs that were dropped in heavily populated areas in the cities and towns in Afghanistan.

Apparently, he also doesnt know of the abuses much closer to home, in a place called Guantanamo, where men are being held without counsel in defiance of every known international law, under the pretext of being enemy combatants, and subject to the same abuses which are dominating headlines in the worlds press today.

STEM CELL RESEARCH - Former US First Lady Nancy Reagan has urged the Bush administration to support embryonic stem cell research.  Mrs Reagan said too much time had been wasted already discussing the issue.  She is said to believe the research could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's disease, which has afflicted her husband, Ronald Reagan.  The Bush administration has blocked public funding of this type of research because of his party's ethical reservations about embryo research.  At a fundraising dinner for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Hollywood, Mrs Reagan said her husband was now in "a distant place where I can no longer reach him".  "I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this... We have lost so much time already. I just really can't bear to lose any more."  She said she believed stem cell research "may provide our scientists with many answers that for so long have been beyond our grasp".  It is thought to be the first time that Mrs Reagan has made a public speech on the issue, although her views have long been known.  Mrs Reagan is the latest high-profile figure to criticise the Bush administration for its decision to limit funding for stem cell research.  Former Superman actor Christopher Reeve, left severely disabled following a riding accident, and actor Michael J. Fox, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, have both criticised the Bush administration for blocking research which they believe could improve their conditions.  Currently federal funds are not available for this type of work.  Mr Bush has told scientists he will not release US taxpayers' money for the production or investigation of new lines because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Correspondents say that with the Bush administration and anti-abortion groups strongly opposed to stem cell research, Mrs Reagan's comments add a powerful conservative Republican voice to the debate. * This is just another example of how the neo fascist (Fundamentalist Christians) are controlling George Bush.  All Bush is concerned about is his coalition of the self righteous that he has created by appealing to people's most conservative fears regarding change.  George Bush lost the popular vote in the last election; remember.  People are suffering and there is a potential cure in stem cell research. Yet in the name of  Jesus, George Bush has determined that scientific research must be limited.  In the name of Jesus, George discounts the lives of all Muslims.  George Bush is a very dangerous man.

IRAQ - Days after a military prison guard in Iraq placed a compact disk containing photographs of prisoner abuse on the bunk of an Army investigator, the military's top officer knew that the Pentagon, and the country, were facing a major crisis. The call to Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came via telephone from his four-star commander in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid. It was Jan. 14 or 15 — Myers can't recall the exact date. But he recalls the message: "There are reports of abuse" by U.S. guards at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, Abizaid said.  Over the secure line, Abizaid described the allegation of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners reported on Jan. 13 by Army Spc. Joseph Darby, a reservist from Maryland. He told Myers about the disk, "Here's what basically the pictures might show."  Abizaid added, "This is a big deal."  This was the Pentagon's first explicit, high-level warning, but by no means its first hint that something had gone drastically wrong at the largest U.S.-run prison in Iraq. The now voluminous public record shows that the Pentagon received repeated reports of prisoner abuse but put a higher priority on extracting information about terrorist or insurgent attacks.http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040510a.htm * There can be no denying that Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz and the other Christian Fundamentalist and Zionist that make up the core of Bush's top advisors are very much like Hilter's top men.  These people have a tendency to ruthless and inhumane acts in the name of God and in the name of nationalism.  There were no weapons of mass destruction.  There was no O'sama/Saddam link. All that was lies.  There was no threat to the United States.  But even after that was found out, the torture continued both in Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq.  Considering the bent of George Bush to violate human rights, (Remember his refusal to sign the global human rights declaration several years ago.  Only the US and Israel refused to sign.  Now you know why.  He intended to abuse human beings.) we have to have serious questions about the entire Homeland Security bureaucracy.  Remember Bush's pat on the back of Sharon for his assassinations?  George Bush and his henchmen are a very dangerous gang.  

May 9, 2004

IRAQ - On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq—troop strength, international support, the credibility of exiles, de-Baathification, handling Ayatollah Ali Sistani—Washington's assumptions and policies have been wrong. By now most have been reversed, often too late to have much effect. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw in the eyes of much of the world.  Whether he wins or loses in November, George W. Bush's legacy is now clear: the creation of a poisonous atmosphere of anti-Americanism around the globe. I'm sure he takes full responsibility.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040509b.htm  *  Those people who are running the White House at the moment are little more than neo-fascist.  They speak words like Democracy but their acts are an affront to democracy. They tout their Christian values yet treat the rest of the world in a most unChristian way.  On thing that can be said for George Bush, he is not afraid of making an ass of himself in front of the entire world.

IRAQ - As gruesome pictures of Americans taunting naked Iraqi prisoners hit the Internet and TV screens around the world this past week, grim-faced aides in the White House held onto a sliver of hope. Perhaps the king of Jordan, one of the country's few strong Arab allies, would help.  King Abdullah II had abruptly canceled an earlier visit to the White House last month after President Bush embraced the possibility of permanent Israeli settlements in the West Bank and suggested the Palestinians give up their claims to some lands in Israel proper.  The visit had been re-scheduled for Thursday, and perhaps the king could be persuaded to help cool the anger among Arabs and Muslims that had been ignited by the prisoner-abuse scandal.  Abdullah did his part. Standing in the Rose Garden Thursday afternoon, he expressed confidence that the United States would quickly investigate the prison abuses and prosecute those involved.  But the king exacted a price: President Bush dialed back last month's statements on Israel and the Palestinians, returning to the boilerplate U.S. stance that all outstanding issues would have to be resolved by Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040509a.htm *  As the days go by, there is less and less doubt about the fact that George Bush is an idiot.  He is totally overwhelmed by his job.  He is a Neanderthal backing the Zionist as if the Muslims in the world did not exists.  And then when he backs Sharon's unilateral withdrawal, he discovers that Sharon can't deliver.  The thing that bothers me the most is that the Bush Administration is still arrogant.  Donald Rumsfeld is undoubtedly a loose canon living in some kind of fanasty that the is the world's premeir war lord and that he can send American soldiers where ever he wants.  Well, again, the freedom fighters are showing America that big guns and big tanks are vulnerable to dedicated men and women operating in small cells.  Even with the increased troop levels, 140,000 American soldiers cannot control 25 million Iraqis. But as bad as things are, I pray every day that Dubya is not assassinated and DICK Cheney inherits the presidency. 

May 6, 2004

The Bush administration is seeking an additional 25 billion dollars for the Pentagon budget for next year because of the growing cost of US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional aides said Wednesday.  White House budget officials will discuss the proposal with top Republicans at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, CNN reported, quoting aides to Republican congressmen.  As US military encountered increasing insurgency in Iraq and was forced to keep higher-than-expected number of forces there, Pentagon officials have said the cost of the Iraqi military operation would grow.  The Bush administration has funded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplemental appropriations that are not includedin its budget requests for Pentagon.  Congress has passed two bills appropriating more than 160 billion dollars since the war started in March last year. The White House has said the administration does not expected to seek additional money before January.  Lawmakers said the US military will need at least 50 billion dollars to keep troops in Iraq for the next year, and the Bush administration is trying to avoid disclosing the price tag because of election-year politics.

May 3, 2004

ISLAMABAD, May 2: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has asked the nation to fight the evils of terrorism and sectarianism and to work for eliminating negative propaganda against Islam by highlighting its true spirit.  In his message on the eve of Eid Milad un Nabi 1425 Hijra, the president said: "Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, sectarianism, extremism and tyranny. "The great religion with its greatness and prudence considers these acts as ignorance."  He said: "We should promote love, affection and fraternity among ourselves, because it would result into a welfare society that conforms to the teachings of Islam." Felicitating the Muslim Ummah and particularly the nation on Eid Milad un Nabi, the President said the birthday of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) is the time to signify real fondness with him.  We are believers of the Last Prophet to whom Allah Almighty bestowed the title of 'Rehmatul Lil Alamin' which means that his personality is a source of blessings for the entire universe, he added.  He said the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave the lesson of love and brotherhood and clearly taught humanity about the sanctity of human life. "The affection with Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) involves one's obligation to follow the message of Islam and conform to the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).  One should work not only for the propagation of universal love and brotherhood, but also to struggle for the achievement of these great objectives. This should be the crux of the life of a true Muslim and a believer of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)," he said.  He said in this way, the Muslims can attain a respectable place at international level and help reflect the true spirit of Islam. -APP

April 23, 2004

FLAG DRAPED COFFINS - AND THE BUSH BAN censorship established by the White House on photos of the coffins of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq has been broken. Last Sunday, The Seattle Times newspaper rebelled against the Bush administration ban and published an article titled The somber labor of honoring the fallen, which began by describing the image of a pile of aluminum boxes draped in U.S. flags.  Last Monday, the popular news web site, Drudge Report, had as a front page headline, The media has corpses, over a photo of 18 coffins.  Footage of the inside of a cargo plane carrying coffins can be found on http://www.thememoryhole.org, where it is explained that a number of images are circulating on web sites and e-mail, sidestepping the U.S. military’s position. It also recommends sending on similar images.  Ever since the war on Viet Nam, according to thememoryhole.org, U.S. leaders have been concerned that their military actions would lose support once the body bags began to appear.  A brief article titled, Military coffins, the photos that aren’t supposed to be seen, on the same web site, says that the Bush administration has found a simple solution, prohibiting the public diffusion of such images on all the military bases.  According to The Washington Post, the policy dates from the year 2000, during the administration of Bill Clinton.  In March 2003, shortly before the war on Iraq, the Pentagon banned funeral ceremonies on military bases, as well as the presence of the media during the transfer of bodies from Ramstein, Germany to Dover, Delaware, in the U.S. During the height of the war, the measure was reinforced.  Some of the footage on the Internet dates from March 29, 2004, and was filmed from the Dover military base.  Up until this past Tuesday, the U.S. forces have suffered 100 casualties this month, making it the deadliest since the start of the war; at the same time, George W. Bush’s military decisions were being questioned by security officials.

April 22, 2004

ENVIRONMENT - An annual Earth Day poll by The Gallup Organization this week found that Americans are less worried today about the environment than they have been in the past. The shift "may reflect the tough economic situation facing the country in the past few years," noted Gallup's analyst, Lydia Saad.  Indeed, when asked whether environmental protection or economic growth should be given priority when the two interests conflict, a record low number of Americans have chosen environmental protection in each of the last two years -- 49 percent this year, 47 percent in 2003.  Moreover, in the latest poll, just 8 percent cited the environment as the most important issue facing the country in the next 25 years, down from 14 percent four years ago.  Nonetheless, Americans give the environment a more negative assessment now than in previous years. Fifty-seven percent rate the quality of the nation's environment today as "fair" or "poor," a jump of 5 percent since President Bush took office.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040422b.htm  I think fewer people care about the environment because the US is now an urban society.  People do not live on farms and they therefore cannot understand what is happening in nature.  The air is dirty in the big cities and getting worse but those who live there just consider it a natural event.  So the truth is that people agree the environment is getting worse but doing anything about it is low on their priority list.  Without clean air, there is more sickness and death.  Without clean water, there is more sickness and death.  Without food, we starve.

April 21, 2004

GENETICS - CLONING - PLAYING GOD - Tomohiro Kono and colleagues at Tokyo University of Agriculture said the mice were the first mammals born through parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction common elsewhere in the animal kingdom, in which an unfertilised egg gives rise to a viable embryo.  The achievement, published today in the journal Nature, is a landmark in reproductive biology, which may come to be seen in future as being of comparable significance to the birth in 1996 of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal. And it may prove almost as controversial.  Scientists say the procedure is far too difficult and dangerous for anyone to consider using it for human reproduction. But the Japanese paper will open up a new field of research that could eventually lead to improvements in medicine and animal breeding.  "This is an incredible achievement but the experiments used an extremely complex procedure - more complicated than cloning," said Azim Surani, professor of physiology and reproduction at Cambridge University in the UK. "From around 600 eggs only two [live] mice were born."  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040421c.htm  *  While the world focuses on war, science is quietly unraveling genetic secrets at an astounding pace.  The time is soon coming when the temptation to make a modified human being will be a reality.  Human with gills or very small humans for space travel.  To race and religion and nationality we are about to add a whole new dimension of generic prejudice, the modified human beings.

SAUDI ARABIA - At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded Wednesday when a car bomb destroyed a Saudi security service building in the capital, witnesses said.  Saudi officials described it as a "terrorist attack" and Arab television said the body of suicide bomber had been found.  "The front of a building is blown off and smoke is still rising," a Reuters correspondent said from the scene.  Local people said they saw 10 bodies and dozens of wounded being carried into ambulances.  "We believe it is a terrorist attack," a Saudi Interior Ministry source told Reuters. He said a car packed with explosives blew up in al-Murabaa district.  The kingdom, a key U.S. ally and the world's largest oil exporter, is battling a tide of Islamist militancy linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040421b.htm  *  The Christians are looking for an Anti-Christ to rise up in the Middle East.  Right now the two prime candidates are Al-Sadr the Iraqi and bin-Laden the Saudi.  Stay tuned.

ISRAEL - ASSASSINATIONS - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged today that Israel would keep killing Palestinian militants after the assassination of two top Hamas leaders in a month drew world condemnation and vows of revenge.  "We will not let up on them. We got rid of murderer number one and murderer number two and it isn't over, and the list is not short," Sharon said in a speech at the port city of Ashdod.  Angry at Israel's killing of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi on Saturday and its assassination of its spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin on March 22, militants fired rockets and mortars at Jewish settlements and an Israeli town.  Israeli soldiers shot dead four Palestinians during confrontations with stone-throwers in what the army called a thrust into the northern Gaza Strip to stop the attacks.  Hamas, an Islamist group behind scores of suicide attacks aimed at destroying Israel, has vowed to carry out "100 retaliations" for its slain leaders. A senior Hamas leader in its Gaza Strip stronghold dismissed Sharon's latest threat.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040421a.htm  The world seems to be ignoring the fact that Sharon intends to kill the Palestinian militants until he has killed every Palestinian.  And all this because the Palestinians want the land that was taken from them in 1948 and 1967.  The UN is too weak to impose justice and the US is bent on the injustice of leaving the Palestinians in a permanent state of limbo where they have to live on the subsistence from the UN.  

April 20, 2004

PRESIDENTIAL POLL - George Bush has stretched his lead over Democratic rival John Kerry to six points, according to a poll that shows the September 11 commission hearings have not harmed the president politically.  Bush leads Kerry, 50% to 44%, among likely US presidential election voters, according to the CNN-Gallup poll. Independent candidate Ralph Nader had 4%.  A separate ABC-Washington Post poll of registered voters gave Bush a 48% to 43% lead over Kerry, with Nader trailing at 6%.  * History may show that Ralph Nader is the reason America had to suffer under George Bushit.  Without Nader in the race in 2000, Gore would have won.  It looks like he may now give Mr. Bushit another four years.

ISRAEL - NUCLEAR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION - Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu will be barred from leaving Israel for a year for fear he will spill more state secrets once he completes his 18-year jail term on Wednesday.  The ban was due to "a tangible danger...that Vanunu wishes to divulge state secrets, secrets that he has not yet divulged and which have not been previously published," a Defense Ministry statement said.  Vanunu's brothers voiced fears for his safety during the year he will be forced to stay in Israel, where the former nuclear technician is widely despised as a traitor for revealing Israel's nuclear secrets to a British newspaper.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040420c.htm  * I think that it is highly possible that Mr. Vanunu will either be assassinated or he will be brought up on new charges of treason and sent back to jail for something he does after his release.  I doubt that he will find asylum in the US as long as little George is in control.

IRAQ - CHAOS ON THE ROAD - Although most of the world’s attention has been focused on what has been going on in the American-controlled areas, particularly around Baghdad and Fallujah, the situation in southern Iraq has gradually deteriorated, with militia forces becoming better organised and more confident.
Privately, British officers concede that their problems lie in the American handling of the situation in their areas. If the Maysan province, which contains al Amarah, Majar and Basra, were an autonomous entity, they believe they would have little difficulty in containing the trouble. But the national picture is having an adverse effect on everyone.  The upsurge in support for Sadr and the tensions surrounding his future have only added to the problems the coalition faces in the south.  As the Land Rovers reached the bridge, the traffic slowed almost to a standstill at the last checkpoint, but they crossed without incident.  Anyone looking back could not have failed to notice the fresh posters of Sadr pasted to the large green road sign over the arrow pointing north.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040420b.htm * There is little doubt but that Iraq is in chaos.  And there is little doubt but that the country is uniting behind Al-Sadr.  I do not think that the US is going to stay in control of Iraq in the long run.  

ISRAEL - ASSASSINS - Less than a month after several countries in the United Nations Security Council condemned the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the 15-member body met today to discuss the assassination by Israel of his replacement, Abdelaziz Rantissi, over the weekend.  Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, told an open meeting of the Council – during which some 40 speakers were scheduled to take the floor – that Israel continued its reign of terror against Palestinian people, as it had not ended its campaign of death and destruction in the occupied Palestinian territory and continued to carry out the extrajudicial executions of Palestinian leaders and kill, wound and maim defenceless Palestinian civilians in grave breach of international law.  The killing of Dr. Rantissi, as well as two other Palestinian men who had been with him, was the latest in a long series of war crimes committed by the occupying power, Mr. Al-Kidwa said. He added that it was carried out in fulfilment of repeated threats by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli Government and military officials to continue targeting Palestinian leaders for assassination in flagrant violation of international law and in complete and total disregard for the condemnation, pleas and demands by the international community for the cessation of such an illegal and barbaric policy.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040420a.htm  * The US endorses Sharon's assassinations.  So the discussion at the UN is a good thing but the reality is that it is falling on deaf ears.  The Palestinians have no rights and their Israeli masters have no compassion and the world at large could care less.  No oil, no power.  The Jews of Israel took the wrong message from Hitler: They have become more like him as opposed to refusing to become more like him.

April 19, 2004

IRAQ - SPAIN - Radical Islamic cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has welcomed Spain's decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq "in the shortest time possible," as U.S. officials braced for more possible pullouts.  According to a spokesman in the Iraqi city of Najaf, the Shiite cleric praised Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's decision Sunday to pull Spain's 1,400-plus troops from Iraq.  Al-Sadr also is asking that people from all coalition countries put pressure on their governments to follow Spain and recall their forces, spokesman Fuad al-Turfi said.  The cleric's supporters have been fighting coalition troops since the coalition closed their newspaper and arrested one of al-Sadr's deputies in connection with the killing of a rival cleric last year.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040419a.htm *  It looks like the warring policies of Mr. Bushit are coming apart like a cheap watch.  It looks like Al-Sadr has beaten the US and when added to the ten American soldiers that died this weekend, it seems like Al-Sadr is going to be raised right on up there with bin-Laden as someone who can stop the Christian Americans.  Maybe he is going to be the anti-Christ that the fundamentalist Christians have been talking about for the last five decades.  If the U S tries to assassinate him the way Sharon kills high ranking Palestinians, things in the Middle East will explode.  And it is all because of Mr. Bushit.  Go back and read my archives and see what I said about all this eighteen months ago.

IRAQ - The US army Monday reduced the size of the force it has built up outside the Iraqi city of Najaf. The Americans were said to be ready to wait for further negotiations before acting against Shiite leader, Moqtada al Sadr.  Colonel Dana Pittard, commander of the 2,500-strong 3rd Brigade Task Force outside Najaf, said the force would be withdrawn over coming days. It would be replaced by some 2,000 troops from the 1st Armoured Division.  Iraqi Shiite clerics have warned that if US forces move into Najaf to kill or arrest Sadr it could lead to a fresh eruption of unrest. "Because of where negotiations are right now, we can wait," Col. Pittard said, according to Reuters. "We still want Iraqis to solve the problem." * One of the first principles of power is that you never make a threat that you cannot back up.  So went Mr. Bushit.  But unfortunately it is not just Mr. Bushit who suffers a loss of respect and power, it is all Americans

IRAQ - Five U.S. Marines died in an ambush near the Syrian border, the military reported, triggering a battle with hundreds of guerrillas, and five other troops died elsewhere in Iraq on Sunday, pushing the number of Americans killed in combat this month to 99.  Insurgent attacks and kidnappers' roadblocks have forced the military to curtail supply convoys and are part of the reason commanders have boosted ground forces by more than 20,000 troops.  Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces are on the border to try to stop foreign fighters from entering Iraq. He said that Damascus was not doing enough to control the border.  "The Syrians need to take this situation very seriously," he told CNN's "Late Edition."I want them to cut off that flow of foreign fighters."  Meanwhile, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Sunday that Iraqi security forces will not be ready to protect the country against insurgents by the June 30 handover of power.  The unusually blunt comments came as Bremer said the fighting across the country this month exposed the depth of the problems inside the security forces.  The announcement Sunday that Spain would pull out its 1,400 soldiers came just hours after a new Socialist government was sworn in.  http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040419b.htm * The whole of Iraq is burning.  The freedom fighters have been quick to learn the lessons of guerilla warfare and have accomplished much.  They have required an admission that another 20,000 soldiers (more targets) be added to the forces in Iraq, the Spanish are leaving, and now Bremmer admits what everyone has always known, that the US will not be able to turn over power on June 30th.  Hello Vietnam.  Does any remember how we tried to train the South Vietnamese to fight.  Same thing in Iraq.  And by the way, the Iraqis do not have high tech weapons and bullet proof vests.  Lastly, it sure sounds like in response to all of this, General Myers is contemplating invading Syria.  Not only do we not have enough soldiers for that, we do not have that many soldiers period.  Mr. Bushit is capable of invading Syria as a response to losing the war in Iraq.

April 18, 2004  

April 16, 2004 

To be updated shortly.

April 15, 2004

To be updated shortly

April 14, 2004

April 9, 2004

IRAQ - CHAOS - American policy in Iraq is running deeper and deeper into trouble. Coalition forces are not only going head to head with insurgents in the so-called Sunni Triangle ... but they have also vowed to destroy the 10,000 Shia militia loyal to the fugitive cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Though the insurgents may represent extreme views ... moderate Iraqi opinion will be alienated as the US and its allies try to crush them ...http://www.johnworldpeace.com/e040409b.htm *  Nothing is going right in Iraq.  I am reminded of the biblical prophesy "If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."  So it goes in Iraq.  Each day things get worse. What I find most interesting is the body count.  During Vietnam there was a ten to one ratio of Vietnamese to Americans killed.  This seems to have carried over to Iraq.  There have been about 40 Americans killed this week and about 426 Iraqi murdered.

IRAQ - CIVIL WAR COMING SOON - The US army tried but failed to open talks with insurgents in the city of Fallujah on Friday, while Japan vowed to keep its forces in Iraq despite a threat to kill three of its citizens kidnapped there.  US forces also said they had recaptured the city of Kut, 160km south-east of Baghdad, from Shi'a Muslim militiamen, but fierce new fighting broke out in a Sunni Muslim town close to the capital.  
Russia, a leading opponent at the United Nations of last year's US-led invasion, meanwhile urged the United States to stay the course to avert all-out civil war and the break-up of Iraq along religious and ethnic lines.
The unidentified official told Russian news agencies that there was a danger that "the Shiite front will spread and the situation will worsen, which