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People. People Who Don't Need People
2008-05-10 00:04:00
by Walter Brasch From a pool of about seven billion, those hard-working geniuses at People magazine have managed to find the hundred most beautiful people in the whole wide world. And—get ready for the surprise—almost every one of those beautiful people are rich American celebrities. For almost two decades, People's editors believe they have been given the divine right to anoint who they believe to be the most beautiful people on the planet. The ethnocentric celebrity-fawning People editors are so secure in their self-imposed knowledge that they don't even tell us what criteria they used to make their determinations. Not even an editor's note," common in most magazines. For the first few years, People etched their version of reality into our minds by attaching cutesy capsulated biographies to full page color pictures of the most beautiful. This year, the writing is minimal, the design is almost to the level that a good college journalism or graphics arts student could cre...

Obama’s Clarifying Win: The Fly on the Wall Is the Wall
2008-05-10 00:02:00
by Norman Solomon Barack Obama ’s triumph on Tuesday night was a victory over a wall that pretends to be a fly on the wall. For a long time, the nation’s body politic has been shoved up against that wall — known as the news media. Despite all its cracks and gaps, what cements the wall is mostly a series of repetition compulsion disorders. Whether the media perseveration is on Pastor Wright, the words "bitter" and "cling," or an absent flag lapel-pin, the wall’s surfaces are more rigid when they’re less relevant to common human needs and shared dreams. "We’ve already seen it," Obama said during his victory speech in North Carolina, "the same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn’t agree with all their ideas, the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives, by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy, in the hopes that the media will play along." And how, they’ve played along....
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Pity the Poor Mainstream Media!
2008-05-10 00:01:00
by Ernest Partridge It is very difficult for an old liberal like me to be sympathetic about the plight of the corporate media, given the way they have behaved of late. But the simple fact of the matter is that the commercial news media have fallen into a deep financial pit, and that is both good news and bad news for the political health of our republic. In 2005, newspaper circulation declined over the previous year by 2.6 percent, with the largest declines posted in the major newspapers. Still worse, in 2007, newspaper advertising revenue fell by 9.4 percent. As a result of this shrinkage, in 2007 2,400 journalists lost their jobs, and 15,000 have been canned in the last decade. The predicament of network TV evening news programs is still more desperate.  In 1980, the combined audience for the NBC, CBS and ABC newscasts was 53 million. Just last month, that audience tallied at 21.5 million: about seven percent of the US population. And the median age of that audienc...
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American Car-bombs Are Not Terrorism
2008-05-09 23:57:00
by Peter Chamberlin The US terror war is a plan of organized deception that is focused more upon the American people and our democratic allies than it is upon any enemy nation. The cycle of attacks and retribution is part of a psy-ops campaign of fear that is meant to frighten the people into complying with government demands. Everywhere, the American message is the same: "Join us in our crimes against humanity, or perish in our glorious shock and awe." The projected war on Iran is the central thesis in this campaign of fear. It may be true that our insane leaders are about to devastate Iran in a nuclear first strike, but it more likely that this is only what they want us to believe. This isn't to say that we are not planning to attack Iran, only that I don't believe that is the current plan. We will not know the truth until the passing of Bush ends these bullying threats. I believe that Bush's threats are real, only that the immediate target is ill...
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Beyond Media Revolutions: Is Arab Media Truly Free?
2008-05-09 23:45:00
by Ramzy Baroud On February 12, 2008, Arab League information ministers issued a communique outlining 'tough' guidelines for Arab satellite channels. The new guidelines specifically prohibited the broadcasting of negative reporting of heads of state, religious or national figures. In following days, a massive campaign of denunciation, led by those who felt targeted by the new policy, joined by various rights organizations, ensued. The communiqué was unfair, they argued, because it was largely political, and aimed at protecting from censure the very individuals and institutions that have brought about many of the ailments afflicting Arab societies and governments. Of course, they were correct. How can the media in the Arab world fulfil its duties - as a platform from which civil society is able to monitor the state, and hold to account those who deviate from the principles of the relevant social and political contracts – under such ‘guidelines’? While only two countries – Qa...
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Muqtada – Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and The Struggle For Iraq. Boo
2008-05-09 23:45:00
by Jim Miles An excellent work, Muqtada ends off right where current events pick up with the recent Iraq i army attacks ordered by Nuri al –Maliki in southern Iraq, Basra in particular. The media view that this was purely an Iraqi effort is put into place with one of author Patrick Cockburn’s closing comments that Maliki “had limited real power” and felt “that he could not move a company of troops without American permission.” This morning’s news on al-Jazeera fully demonstrates American involvement with the new surge into Sadr City - the Baghdad stronghold of Muqtada’s Mehdi army – supported by American Abrams tanks and aerial bombing. Patrick Cockburn has written a fascinating account of Muqtada al-Sadr, with his departure point being the long history of Shiism in the Middle East. Muqtada neither extols the virtues of his subject and the heroic valour of his resistance, nor does it denigrate the Shia beliefs or the man himself. There is a fully balanced p...
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Message to the next humanity
2008-05-09 23:37:00
by Roland Michel Tremblay My name is Mark Anthony I am 10 years old I live in Chislehurst in England Everybody has fled the country except me I ran away from the people running away This message is for the next humanity I am carving it on a gold tablet Made from melted jewellery I found in many houses My dad showed me how I am hiding it in the Chislehurst caves In hope it will be found in the future I survived the nuclear bombs It was the third world war within 100 years Some people lived long enough to witness them all Most of them did not survive the last one I am not expecting to survive the flood We managed to destroy the environment as well But this had nothing to do with the wars, I think I have about two weeks to live the radio says We had bad leaders They did nothing to stop the war They did nothing to save the environment My dad told me that it was because of the energy crisis We had no more petrol So we had to go to war Against bad people who would not give it to us Why ...
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Office Of Special Counsel Raided By Fbi - Agency Head and Staff Suspected o
2008-05-09 23:37:00
ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - Washington, DC — In a notably ironic turn of events, FBI agents raided the office of Special Counsel Scott Bloch this morning, seizing computers and documents as part of an ongoing obstruction of justice investigation. Bloch, who is charged with protecting federal whistleblowers, has been under investigation for, among other things, whistleblower retaliation within his own agency. Marshall Chriswell, Communications Director of the National Whistleblower Center issued the following statements on this issue: "It is shocking that the individual who is primarily responsible for investigating federal whistleblower complaints would be the target of an investigation in which he and his staff are suspected of obstructing justice." "The Bush administration must take whistleblower protection seriously, relieve Mr. Bloch of his position, and appoint a Special Counsel who possesses the necessary qualifications and integrity to do the job right."
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Attacking Earth Day and a Soap Opera Kiss (and the case of the missing “o,”
2008-05-09 23:31:00
by Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D. The “thinking” of Louis P. Sheldon, founder and chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, was once again vomited forth in a late April 2008 TVC diatribe titled “Earth Day: The Rantings Of Chicken Little Marxists”: The Earth Day speakers will do what they have done every year since 1970 when the first Earth Day was held: They will trash America as the fountain of all pollution; call for more government regulation of businesses; and continue fighting against energy independence for our nation. Ironically, on the first Earth Day, radical environmentalists were ranting about the alleged coming dangers of “global cooling.” Today, they’re ranting about global warming. So, which is it? As we will see, the jury is still out on how to interpret complex and incomplete scientific data on global climate changes. [italics added] If discredited “Lucky Louie” and the rest of the gnomes at TVC would read something other than their own preposterous propag...
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Is Media Power Real?
2008-05-09 23:14:00
by Dr. Haider Mehdi Media pundits convinced of the need for social justice in a democratic society strongly assert that “the mass media and individual journalists need to become the advocates for the politically homeless.” It is a powerful role that is assigned to the media by many prominent social and political critics. In fact, this concept, in no uncertain terms, argues that the media’s role in a democracy is essentially political. An eminent media ethicist suggests that “justice for the powerless stands at the centerpiece of a socially responsible press. Or, in other terms, the litmus test of whether or not the news profession fulfills its mission over the long term is the advocacy for those outside the socioeconomic establishment.” “… One of the ironies of democratic politics is,” writes a social scientist, “that in order to accomplish something, you first have to get elected. But accomplishing something, not getting elected, is the major work of politics.” ...
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People. People Who Don’t Need People
2008-05-09 23:08:00
by Walter Brasch From a pool of about seven billion, those hard-working geniuses at People magazine have managed to find the hundred most beautiful people in the whole wide world. And—get ready for the surprise—almost every one of those beautiful people are rich American celebrities. For almost two decades, People’s editors believe they have been given the divine right to anoint who they believe to be the most beautiful people on the planet. The ethnocentric celebrity-fawning People editors are so secure in their self-imposed knowledge that they don’t even tell us what criteria they used to make their determinations. Not even an “editor’s note,” common in most magazines. For the first few years, People etched their version of reality into our minds by attaching cutesy capsulated biographies to full page color pictures of the most beautiful. This year, the writing is minimal, the design is almost to the level that a good college journalism or graphics arts stu...

On The Anniversary of the Kent State Massacre
2008-05-09 23:05:00
by Steven Argue Thirty eight years ago, on May 4, 1970, at Ohio’s Kent State University, the National Guard opened fire on students protesting the US war in Vietnam. The students were shot from distances of 275 to 400 feet, giving lie to claims that the students posed a threat to the Guardsmen. Four students were murdered and nine were injured. Nobody ever did time for those murders. Before May 4, 1970, an anti-war movement had been building in the United States. The American people were increasingly impatient with the war, and an active anti-war movement helped build that kind of consciousness. People wanted an end to the war and Nixon kept promising a “light at the end of the tunnel.” On April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia. This was the opposite of what people wanted to hear. Protests erupted on campuses that had not had them in the past, like Kent State. For many, the cold blooded murder of students at Kent State and murders of students soon after at Jackso...
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Death's Factotum: Michael Gordon and the Times Pour Pentagon Poison into Na
2008-05-06 11:26:00
by Chris Floyd Judith Miller might have been the poster child for the corporate media's collaboration with the Bush Administration's war of aggression against Iraq — but her New York Times colleague and co-writer, Michael Gordon , was every bit as culpable and complicit, happily playing stovepipe to the bloodthirsty bullshit gurgling up from the White House and Pentagon cesspits.  Miller is gone from the mainstream heights, but Gordon soldiers on at the Times — literally. Although he is probably not paid directly by the Bush Regime to peddle their propaganda, he serves precisely the same function as the military brass that the Administration embedded as "independent analysts" on the network news shows — a nefarious practice most recently exposed in great detail by...the New York Times. But the Times, like most of our great institutions, piously follows the scriptural injunction, and lets not the right hand know what its left hand is doing. And so...
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America's Occupation Trumps the "Surge" and Petraeus' Counterinsurgency Man
2008-05-06 11:21:00
by Walter C. Uhler As three months of news reports of escalating violence in Iraq undercut widespread American propaganda about the "surge's" success, increasing numbers of Americans, once again, are reaching the conclusion that the Bush administration's illegal, immoral and incompetent invasion and occupation of Iraq is a war that never should have been fought. According to the results of CNN/Opinion Research Poll reported on 1 May 2008, 68 percent of Americans now oppose George W. Bush's war in Iraq. These Americans have (belatedly) gotten it right. Moreover, five years after viewing the sick "Mission Accomplished" propaganda, it's now becoming clear that the "surge" and the implementation of the counterinsurgency strategy detailed in General Petraeus ' Counterinsurgency Field Manual were last-ditch and largely propaganda gimmicks chosen by Bush to avoid admitting his stark defeat in Iraq. Thus, Bush and Cheney are sacrificing lives...
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Ashamed to be American
2008-05-06 11:20:00
by Mickey Z. I was reading Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo, by Murat Kurnaz, when I came across a passage about Kurnaz being subjected to gruesome electric shock torture at the hands of America's brave volunteer warriors. After passing out and being tossed back in his cell to sleep it off, Kurnaz was soon awakened by harrowing screams. He saw two valiant American soldiers hitting a man who was lying on the ground-his head wrapped in a blanket. Five more patriotic heroes eventually joined in on the beating, hitting the man's head with the butts of their rifles and kicking him with their heavy boots. "Then," says Kurnaz, "they walked away, leaving him lying there." The next morning, the man was still lying in the same spot: in a pool of blood. It wasn't until later that afternoon that four US officers came to inspect him and an escort team earned their yellow ribbons by taking away his lifeless body. "I wondered to myself if had an...

TH*NK*NG (REGISTRATIONS)
2008-05-06 11:17:00
by Fred Cederholm I’ve been thinking about registrations. Actually I’ve been thinking about the 2008 elections, the endless campaigns, the Supreme Court, endless payment increases, and a growing malaise affecting all US/us. It is really difficult to get fired up for the coming elections which are still some six months off into the future. This is no small observation coming from me – the all-time news and political junkie! I am not alone in this feeling of weariness as many of my readers agree on this. You see the Tuesday primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina “may” determine who will be the standard bearer for the Democratic Party in the 2008 Presidential election, but I am not counting on it. Both Senators Clinton and Obama claim they are in the fight until the 2008 Denver Convention. Senator McCain has “locked in” the Republican Party spot on the ballot. Campaigning has gone on for two years. The conventions, real debates, and podium combat still loom before us. I was...

The selling and shaping of our souls
2008-05-06 11:14:00
by Robert Jensen This is an edited version of a sermon delivered May 4, 2008, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. http://www.staopen.com/ The last time I was in this pulpit to deliver a guest sermon, I spoke of the need for each of us to take up the role of prophet, to not be afraid of speaking in the prophetic voice, even when doing so involves risk. Today I want to talk about the other kind of profit, the allure of which can so often quiet the prophetic voice within us. Living in the most powerful and affluent country in the history of the world, this is not mere word play with homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings). Can we resist the seductive nature of the material rewards that come with profit to find within us the spirit of the prophetic? If we cannot, what is the fate of this country? What is the fate of the world that this country seeks to dominate? And my subject today: What is the fate of our souls? Let’s start wit...
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Tomgram: Endless War - Descending into Madness in Iraq - and Beyond
2008-05-06 11:12:00
by Tom Engelhardt The last war won't end, but in the Pentagon they're already arguing about the next one. Let's start with that "last war" and see if we can get things straight. Just over five years ago, American troops entered Baghdad in battle mode, felling the Sunni-dominated government of dictator Saddam Hussein and declaring Iraq "liberated." In the wake of the city's fall, after widespread looting, the new American administrators dismantled the remains of Saddam's government in its hollowed out, trashed ministries; disassembled the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party which had ruled Iraq since the 1960s, sending its members home with news that there was no coming back; dismantled Saddam's 400,000 man army; and began to denationalize the economy. Soon, an insurgency of outraged Sunnis was raging against the American occupation. After initially resisting democratic elections, American occupation administrators finally gave in to the will of t...
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Sixty Years of Palestinian Displacement, Occupation and Suffering
2008-05-06 11:07:00
by Stephen Lendman On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their "War of Independence" and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering. The web site alnakba.org recounts the history: — from the late Ottoman empire period; to — the birth of Zionism; to — the early Jewish colonization of Palestine; to — the 1917 Balfour Declaration support for a "Jewish national home in Palestine;" to — the simultaneous British betrayal of the indigenous Arabs; to — the British occupation; to — its delayed promised end; to — the founding of the Haganah underground military organization; to — the first British (1922) Palestine census showing a population of 757,182 - 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish and 9.6% Christian; to — the official 1923 establishment of the British Mandate period; to — the 1920s Jewish population increase to 16% on 4% of Palestinian land; to — the terrorist Irgun (IZT) National Milit...
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Race in America - Today, Yesteryear and Obama's Moving on.
2008-05-06 11:02:00
by Michael O’McCarthy I love it. Obama being race baited by the Clintons – White Right Rush Limbau mounting his scum crusade to urge voters (read, Reagan democrats, and moderate and conservative working white middle class Wal Mart shoppers) to vote for Hillary. Obama making a 3/4s honest speech about "race in America " and his ex-pastor doing a stump dance to rap on national TV, talking about GOD and the election. And any number of currently "established" African Americans talking about not doing nonsense outside the convention if Obama is not chosen as the nominee. And Obama wants to move on! How can you "move on" when a great part of the body civic is being dragged behind the family mini-van of America with chains around its neck? And don’t come to me with this shitty notion that "white people" cannot talk about either racism or the effect of African slavery in America! We know that white people were not chained on ships, tos...
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Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Iran under the Gun
2008-05-06 10:57:00
by Tom Engelhardt It's like old times in the Persian Gulf. As of this week, a second aircraft carrier battle task force is being sent in — not long after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Michael Mullen highlighted planning for "potential military courses of action" against Iran ; just as the Bush administration's catechism of charges against the Iranians in Iraq reaches something like a fever pitch; at the moment when rumors of, leaks about, and denials of Pentagon back-to-the-drawing-board planning for new ways to attack Iran are zipping around ("Targets would include everything from the plants where weapons are made to the headquarters of the organization known as the Quds Force which directs operations in Iraq…"); and only days before the U.S. military in Iraq is supposed to conduct its latest media dog-and-pony show on Iranian support for Iraqi Shi'ite militias ("…including date stamps on newly found weapons caches showing that recently ...
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If it ain’t broke, it ain’t Bushed, yet
2008-05-06 10:49:00
by Ed Naha “Let’s not be too rough on our own ignorance. It’s what makes America great!” - Frank Zappa. Roaring Twenties nightclub queen Mary Louise “Texas” Guinan used to greet every new customer with a cheerful “Hello, Sucker!” Today, our political leaders think the same phrase when performing their various shell games on Americans, but they’re a lot less cheerful about it. President Bush, last week, confronting the writhing agony known as our economy, did the only thing a stand-up kinda leader could do…he blamed it all on the Democratic Congress. As Dana Milbank wrote in “The Washington Post,” “He faulted lawmakers 16 times in his opening statement alone.” And you could tell Bush was serious. He wore his patented “constipated ape” expression. Bush addressed America’s financial woes in lofty, technical terms. “And so I firmly believe that, you know, if there was a magic wand to wave, I’d be waving it, of course.” He later explained: “I think that if there was a mag...

There Will Be Blood - Book Review by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
2008-05-06 10:38:00
by Muhammad Idrees AhmadVoice of Hezbollah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, edited by Nicholas Noe, Verso, 420 pp., £12.99, 978 1 84467 153 3 Since the assassination in Damascus of Imad Mughniyeh, a leading Hizbullah operative, a sense of foreboding once again grips Lebanon. The Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says the bombing foreshadows Israeli aggression and has declared his willingness to wage 'open war' should there be another invasion. Fighting words are not uncommon to the region; leaders often compensate for lack of action with bravado. However, no one is ready to discount the significance of Nasrallah's statement. Why? As the Israeli Air Force decimated the exposed Egyptian infantry in 1967 Nasser's propagandists were forecasting success. When the US-UK air armada pummelled the hapless conscripts of the Iraqi army in '91, Saddam's propaganda mill promised imminent victory (which it duly claimed shortly after signing unconditional surr...
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How to derail 'imperial mobilization' and preempt the crossing of the Nucle
2008-05-06 10:35:00
by Zahir Ebrahim It appears that a majority of conscionable peoples opposed to their nation's war mongering for “imperial mobilization” in the guise of fighting the 'war on terrorism', have actually given up on the idea that they can preemptively prevent wars. The experience of the dismal failure of anti-war demonstrations since 911, and other inefficacious symbolic protests has taught many of us once again that this isn't the Vietnam era of the 1960s. The social control is enormous, the attachments to the pursuit of the elusive 'American Dream' even stronger, and hence all consuming, and despite tethering at the brink of financial bankruptcy, the nation still persists in participating in the 'war on terror', still persists in paying its taxes to fund the war, and still persists in shedding its own blood. But mainly the 'lesser' blood of economic conscription. Thus in a sense, with rising disparity in wealth and increasing unemployment in the American nation, t...
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Coffeecups and Gutterballs: A Precision Media Hit On Obama, A Pass For Clin
2008-05-06 10:35:00
by R.J. Eskow Let's start with a hypothetical situation: Suppose a small group of people controlled the press, and they wanted to ensure a Republican victory in November. A few weeks ago Obama seemed to be riding a wave of inevitability and positive perception. The Democrats seemed to have settled on a candidate, and he scored well against the Republicans because he was seen as post-racial and post-partisan. If this group were to write a memo to the media, what would it say? Their game plan would have very specific objectives: 1. Extend the Democratic primary race as long as possible. 2. Remind the public that the seemingly "post-racial" Obama is a black man; make him seem as scary-black as possible. 3. Strengthen Hillary Clinton's image with white working-class voters by making her appear populist, folksy, and one of them. Conversely, characterize Obama as an elitist who is out of touch with "real people." 4. Break down Obama's post-partisan...
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Four Palestinian media men were killed since the third of last May
2008-05-06 10:24:00
ATLANTIC FREE PRESS - As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day on third of May, we fell sad for the retreat of Palestinian media since the celebration of this day last year, due to the serious violations that occurred, especially the killing of four media men (Suleiman Al-A'shi, Mohammed Abdu from Felesteen newspaper, Isam Al-Jojou from Felesteen Mubasher site news, by Palestinian armed groups, and Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana'a, by the Israeli occupation forces, they also tried to kill Aqsa TV cameraman Imad Ghanem deliberately, which led to the amputation of his legs.   The Israeli occupation forces continued attacks on journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territories, which have been continuing for several decades, to withhold their crimes and continuous violations of the Palestinian people rights, including the arrest of journalists such as Hassan Abdel Jawad, Waleed Khalid, Muhammad Halaiqa, Tarek Abu Zeid, closed media outlets such a...
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Oh Obama - Why is so Wright so Wrong?
2008-05-06 10:17:00
by Michael O’McCarthy It’s not that you had an egomaniac poser for a pastor. Your belief in superstition, like that of every religious and spiritual person is your affair. It’s that Wright nailed the US for its imperialism when he said the "chicken coming home to roost." He merely quoted Malcolm X. Do you denounce Malcolm as well? Or when he likened the US troops placement "all over the world," to Rome that had troops "all over the world." As a learned person, do you not see the analogy? Tell us what’s is wrong with that? You can’t because it’s the truth. Or do you want us to believe that it’s a grandiose lie? The concoction of radical leftists, of which Wright is in some form? Aside from the ignorant or the jingoistic fanatics, US imperialism is prima facie if for no other reason than a world map of US military installations. Or count the number of wars that the US has engaged in its short, violent history. The truth is, the reason you will make a t...
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A Monument to Stupidity
2008-05-06 10:05:00
by Tom Chartier In the days of my youth I was lucky enough to have parents as teachers. No, they didn’t beat me for not doing my homework. What this meant is that the whole family had a three-month vacation during the summer. Rather different than today’s world where both parents have ten days personal leave per year and the kids must be tended to by strangers running mystery camps during the summer like… uh… law camp or thespian camp. Since my dad was a high school science teacher and we were from the Mid-West we’d take long cross-country camping trips. I saw the Great American West up close and personal time and time again. To this day, I am not actually at peace unless I am driving and camping around this magnificent part of the world. One year, we made the drive up to see Mt. Rushmore. You know the place. It’s that granite rock with the heads of four presidents hacked into it. What a lasting impression to American mentality it made on this lad. I will ever for...
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The Debate Over 9/11 - Notes from a Dying Nation #3
2008-05-06 09:48:00
by Eric Larsen   Debate ? Was that the word just used? Debate over 9/11? A patently mad idea, wholly pointless. The debate, after all, is long since over and done with—that is, if it's a debate about whether the "official" theory (nineteen guys with box-cutters, etc., etc.) is the true one or whether the "alternative" theory (inside job, long-planned tactical end, "false-flag op") is the genuine article—then the notion of "debate" is absurd, a waste of time, the issue settled a long, long time ago. The fact is that 9/11 was an inside job. It's a fact. And it's a fact by now so patently obvious that there wouldn't and couldn't be any point—couldn't or wouldn't be even any substance—in a debate on the question. I'll make a qualification. Any such debate about the "two theories" would be pointless and absurd for certain people. It would be pointless and absurd for those people, first, who have a genuine interest in t...
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Popcorn and Champagne - The Trial of Tareq Aziz
2008-05-06 09:44:00
by  Gabrielle Zamparini Getcha popcorn ready! The Green Zone Puppet Theatre in Baghdad is putting on a new show, The Trial of Tareq Aziz. The charges against the former deputy premier of Iraq – when Iraq was still free and a country – are related to the execution of 42 Baghdad merchants in 1992. At the time Iraq was under the genocidal embargo imposed by the United States and its British vassal through the United Nations. The New York Times reported on 5 August 1992: But the final straw came when the Iraqi authorities, facing mounting public anger at rising food prices brought about by the devaluation, arrested some 500 merchants on charges of speculation and profiteering and then executed 42 of them in an effort to force prices lower. It’s difficult to understand what the responsibilities of a deputy prime minister could be in such a case, but if the bloodthirsty puppets wanted to find the responsible they wouldn’t need to look further than their Washington an...
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