Anybody want to swap a Sabri for an Ouday?


** Fisk: 'A civilisation torn to pieces' - "And so the gun-fighting that broke out yesterday between property owners and looters was, in effect, a conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims. By failing to end this violence ­ by stoking ethnic hatred through their inactivity ­ the Americans are now provoking a civil war in Baghdad."



** 'Our Heritage Is Finished' - "At the National Museum of Antiquities, where priceless artifacts had been wrapped in foam and secured in windowless storage rooms to protect them against U.S. bombs, an army of looters perpetrated what war did not: They smashed hundreds of irreplaceable treasures, including Sumerian clay pots, Assyrian marble carvings, Babylonian statues and a massive stone tablet with intricate cuneiform writing."

Virtual Iraq Museum, Baghdad



** The photographs tell the story - Is This Media manipulation on a grand scale? - "April 6th: Iraqi National Congress founder, Ahmed Chalabi is flown into the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah by the Pentagon. Chalabi, along with 700 fighters of his "Free Iraqi Forces" are airlifted aboard four massive C17 military transport planes. Chalabi and the INC are Washington favorites to head the new Iraqi government. A photograph is taken of Chalabi and members of his Free Iraqi Forces militia as they arrive in Nasiriyah.

April 9th: One of the "most memorable images of the war" is created when U.S. troops pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Fardus Square. Oddly enough... a photograph is taken of a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to one of Chalabi's militia members... he is near Fardus Square to greet the Marines. How many members of the pro-American Free Iraqi Forces were in and around Fardus Square as the statue of Saddam came tumbling down?"



Syriaspeak

** Syria could be next, warns Washington - "The United States has pledged to tackle the Syrian-backed Hizbollah group in the next phase of its 'war on terror' in a move which could threaten military action against President Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus."



** But 'Syria denies helping Iraqis on run' - "Syria has reacted with defiance after being urged by the United States not to provide a refuge to associates of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein."

Syria linkage: Syria Times - Al Thawra - Syrian Ministry of Information - Syrian Arab News Agency



** Interesting regional analysis: 'Ripples of fear and friendship spread across Middle East' - "Whether they are anti-American or have good relations with the US, Arab nations must now face up to a region transformed. A leading Middle East expert presents an authoritative survey of how they will respond."



** Are tyrants shocked, awed or stocking up on nukes? - "The US wants to intimidate 'axis of evil' countries, but the plan could backfire." Freedland commentary on project 'rule the world and fuck everything up'.



Sick White Men

** PNAC - "The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them, been more absolutely required."

[...]

"According to PNAC, America must:
* Reposition permanently based forces to Southern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East;
* Modernize U.S. forces, including enhancing our fighter aircraft, submarine and surface fleet capabilities;
* Develop and deploy a global missile defense system, and develop a strategic dominance of space;
* Control the "International Commons" of cyberspace;
* Increase defense spending to a minimum of 3.8 percent of gross domestic product, up from the 3 percent currently spent."



** PNAC II - "Not since "Mein Kampf" has a geopolitical punch been so blatantly telegraphed, years ahead of the blow."

[...]

"Iran is next -- indeed, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the PNAC team say that Iran is "perhaps a far greater threat" to U.S. oil hegemony. Other nations will follow, including Russia and China. In one way or another -- by military means or economic dominance, by conquest, alliance or silent acquiescence -- they must all be brought to heel, forcibly prevented from "challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."

These texts spring from the Dominators' quasi-religious cult of "American exceptionalism," the belief in the unique and utter goodness of the American soul -- embodied chiefly by the nation's moneyed elite, of course -- and the irredeemable, metaphysical evil of all those who would oppose or criticize the elite's righteous (and conveniently self-serving) policies."



** Timely whitewash in NYT by CNN Baghdad correspondent.

"I came to know several Iraqi officials well enough that they confided in me that Saddam Hussein was a maniac who had to be removed. One Foreign Ministry officer told me of a colleague who, finding out his brother had been executed by the regime, was forced, as a test of loyalty, to write a letter of congratulations on the act to Saddam Hussein. An aide to Uday once told me why he had no front teeth: henchmen had ripped them out with pliers and told him never to wear dentures, so he would always remember the price to be paid for upsetting his boss. Again, we could not broadcast anything these men said to us.

Last December, when I told Information Minister Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf that we intended to send reporters to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, he warned me they would "suffer the severest possible consequences." CNN went ahead, and in March, Kurdish officials presented us with evidence that they had thwarted an armed attack on our quarters in Erbil. This included videotaped confessions of two men identifying themselves as Iraqi intelligence agents who said their bosses in Baghdad told them the hotel actually housed C.I.A. and Israeli agents. The Kurds offered to let us interview the suspects on camera, but we refused, for fear of endangering our staff in Baghdad."

This doesn't wash boss. This could have been THE legitimizing story. Why was it not reported?



** And finally, born today (no interesting deaths today):

Samuel Beckett, April 13, 1906 – December 22, 1989



Boston Globe obituary, December 27, 1989 - "In 1938, Mr. Beckett was stabbed in a Paris street brawl. A woman passing by on her bicycle stopped to help and had him taken to a hospital. That woman, Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, became his lifelong companion and they married in 1961."


but as I said... they didn't die today