January 31st, 2007 by CD
The old saying “you learn something new everyday” is certainly true. I would like to post an interview clip courtesy of Democracy Now. This is a must listen. The interview is of Barry Lando, a former 60 Minutes producer who examines how the United States has meddled in Iraq dating back to the Eisenhower administration. He also looks at how the Reagan and Bush administration helped arm Saddam Hussein at a time when he was committing his deadliest atrocities
Listen to Interview
Excerpt:
The trial that is going on right now is for the genocidal attacks against the Kurds in Iraq in the late 1980s by Saddam and his military commanders. And what is forgotten, though, is the complicity of the United States, and if we’re dealing with chemical weapons, it’s also the case some American and basically European companies, in supplying some of the weapons to Saddam. When the genocidal attacks began in the late 1980s — and one of the most notorious was the attack in the village of Halabja, when chemical weapons were used in — I think it was in March 1988 — when that happened, the United States turned its back on those crimes. They tried to pretend that they hadn’t happened. The US Congress wanted to condemn Saddam for using chemical weapons, and the Reagan and then the Bush administrations attempted to protect Saddam to prevent the Congress from initiating sanctions against him.
Thoughts, comments are greatly encouraged.
January 30th, 2007 by CD
I often urge my readers to read news around the globe. By only reading American news which to say the least is lacking and biased you are only receiving part of the puzzle. One needs to put the pieces together to get the final picture. Of course, if you only speak English that may be a bit of a problem! However, there are dozens of international newspapers available in English.
Unfortunately, globally recognized French newspaper “Le Monde” is not one of them. So I will do my best to sum up this very interesting article. Le Monde conducted an interview with former ambassador John Bolton in Paris on January 29, 2007 which was published.
Mr. Bolton said that “he still continues to believe the fundamental decision to topple Saddam Hussein was a good one.” 
However, later in the interview he said that the U.S. has made several mistakes in the Iraq War. One of them being that he believes the U.S. was too slow in transferring control over to Iraq leaders. He later said that “the U.S. has no strategic interest with stabilizing Iraq whether it be one or three Iraqs. However, we do have a strategic interest in making sure that whoever is in control of Iraq does not have it completely collapse thus becoming a refuge for terrorists or a terrorist state.”
Well Mr. Bolton, the U.S. has done a pretty poor job of that. Before the war, Iraq was not a safe harbor in which Al Qaeda operated nor was it a terrorist state in the sense that it conspired with Al Qaeda to plot attacks against Americans. Today, it is a terrorist state thanks in part to U.S. policies which brought humanitarian, social and economic devastation to the Iraqi people.
January 30th, 2007 by CD
First reported by CBS News in 2002, American citizens could be killed by a “secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11 attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said.”
So you might ask yourself, “I have nothing to do with Al Qaeda, I’m not worried….” Well, who is to say that someone might not just deem you part of Al Qaeda, then what? Do you remember Jose Padilla? He is an American citizen who has been in jailed for over four year. He was not granted the legal rights expressed in the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He finally was charged in 2005 but not much has changed since then.
Reverend Martin Niemoller, a survivor of the holocaust said this:
First they arrested the Communists - but I was not a Communist, so I did nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats - but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then they arrested the trade unionists - and I did nothing because I was not one. And then they came for the Jews and then the Catholics, but I was neither a Jew nor a Catholic and I did nothing. At last they came and arrested me - and there was no one left to do anything about it.
January 30th, 2007 by CD
Welcome back to another edition of Tuesday’s Music where I introduce international singers to my readers. Today’s singer is a singer that I actually stumbled upon recently. Ever since the explosion of K-drama, Korean singers have been gaining fame around the world. To further perpetuate that, I would like to introduce Han Kyung Il. There isn’t that much information about him even though he has 4 really good albums out. But in anycase, take a listen and if you want more, send me a request.
Here are his albums except Vol 1:
Vol. 2 ????
Vol. 3 New Wave
Vol. 4 Because of You (B.O.Y)
Audio Samples/Download
Please note the names of the songs are not correct
Download Sample 1
Download Sampe 2
Want more, send me a comment. As always enjoy the music.
January 29th, 2007 by CD
Today, I have a very informative and interesting audio clip that everyone should listen too. The clip is of an interview of Scott Ritter discussing U.S. strategies in Iran and Iraq. If you are not familiar with Scott Ritter, here is a brief introduction of him.
Bio
Scott Ritter was a former United Nations weapons inspector (resignation letter) in Iraq who repeatedly told the U.N. an
d U.S. officials before 2003 that Iraq possessed no WMD. The U.S. quickly dismissed his findings that Iraq posed no serious threat to the U.S. He also said Iraq “did co-operate to a very significant degree with the UN inspection process” and blamed the US and the UK for the breakdown. Mr Ritter essentially repeated those views during his trip to Baghdad last year. He said the US seemed “on the verge of an historic mistake”. “My government is making a case for war against Iraq that is built upon fear and ignorance,” he added. “The truth of the matter is that Iraq today is not a threat to its neighbors and is not acting in a manner which threatens anyone outside of its own borders.”
Scott Ritter states that one of the U.S. strategies in the Middle East is to dictate the growth of China and India. The growth of China depends largely on the Middle East to fuel its growing population. That is common knowledge. However, Mr. Ritter gives us more indepth reasons on US foriegn policy in Iraq and Iran.
Listen to the clip here
January 28th, 2007 by CD
Perhaps, one of the most troubling effects of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is that both are plagued with humanitarian disasters. The leaders of these countries have chosen to enrich themselves, rather than to support social issues (i.e. jobs, infrastructure projects etc…). We see this everyday in American in different forms where politicians are at 
the mercy of big businesses. However, we can see how much power money has even when your country and your citizens are being horribly killed each day. Telegraph UK, reported that corruption is on the rise in Afghanistan. Tribal leaders and the police have been stealing international aid that is supposed to be directed to reconstruction efforts. Up to one half of all aid earmarked for Afghanistan is being stolen by the police and tribal leaders.
James Arbuthnot, chairman of the Commons Defense Select Committee in the U.K. had a weak statement in which he said that “corruption is something we will be examining.” The issue of corruption has been a daily reason why Afghanistan looks no different than the day U.S. and international forces ran the Taliban out. And as the U.S. and the European Union announced plans for an additional 1.5 Billion Euros to be spent on reconstruction projects, we can expect half of that money to be in the hands of corrupted offices and the Taliban.
U.S. and European officials need to take a harder stance on millions of dollars that are being stolen. Benchmarks need to be set into place and if those are not place, the withdrawal of economic support must be on the table as an option.
January 28th, 2007 by CD
Since it is Sunday, I thought we could all use some humor and take a look back as Jon Stewart reviews the State of the Union Address. Although he is a comedian, his review is just 100% spot on, so true and so funny! So before Monday rolls around take a look at his review and enjoy!
Watch it now
January 26th, 2007 by CD
Paul Begala of CNN has some strong words for VP Dick Cheney over his tenure as VP. It’s simply a miracle that not even one congressman has not called for the impeachment of President Bush and/or the resignation of VP Dick Cheney. In any event, Paul Begala had this to say after Cheney’s interview with Wolf Blitzer.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Really, it’s stunning. It’s a great interview, and — because we saw the real Dick Cheney, you know, a really remarkable, probably historic, combination of arrogance, incompetence and dishonesty.
This is a man who, when he took office, Richard Clarke, the chief counterterrorism czar, told him that bin Laden was going to try to attack America. He ignored it. The president told him to chair a task force on terrorism. He 
refused to even convene it until after 9/11. He was too busy helping his friends at Enron and Exxon with his energy task force.
He told the country that Iraq was an imminent threat. He was wrong. He told us that they had a nuclear program — he was wrong — biological stockpiles, chemical stockpiles, that there were links to al Qaeda, that there were secret meetings between Mohamed Atta, the leader of the hijacking ring that attacked us on 9/11, and Saddam Hussein’s government; they had a secret meeting in Prague. That was a fabrication as well — on and on.
It really is staggering, the — the level of this man’s mendacity and arrogance, in the face — if he had any decency, he would simply resign, Wolf. He would give you an interview. He would say: You know, I give up. I have ruined — I have ruined the country in my first term. I’m ruining the world in my second term.
