Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts

Friday, September 10, 2010

11 - 17 July 2008 Opit's LinkFest! on My Opera

Naomi Klein (b. May 5, 1970), Canadian journal...

17 July - Quick choice of topical articles

Friday, 18. July 2008, 05:17:57

Naomi Klein : Bush sees crises in fuel, food, housing and banking as chance to exploit us more
Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over
10 banks that could be the next to go under
Commanding Heights : the battle for the world economy
Can outsiders manage change in alien cultures ?
McCain in 2003 : We can just muddle through in Afghanistan
Why Karl Rove should go to jail
Probe finds abuses in Illinois jail
Climate change to cause irreversible health risks
( I was going to list AP's article on giving Iran a chance : then remembered they don't like free advertising. Just as well. The article was just more warmongers' propaganda. )
Law professor : Democrats let Bush get away with it
Berry St. Beacon
Monaco Coach to close 3 plants sending 1400 workers to the unemployment lines
Kashmir clash
Iraq to U.S. - we want you out
PADD this - petrroleum districts
Preserve, Protect, Defend
America's Medicated Army
Jonestown
The change we need ( Part 2 )
"For the United States to make the transition from a war society to a peace society..."
( We have met the enemy...and he is us )
Carol for Peace

13 July - Late News

Monday, 14. July 2008, 05:46:56

news views

I have decided I have 'Media Bias'. Enjoy.

KBR charged with 'homicide' by mother of eletrocuted soldier ( Blue Girl has comments on this )
Homeland Security violates 4th Amendment with warrantless laptop searches
Torture and warrantless surveillance are the same issue
A panel calls for new war powers legislation !
"thanks to Bush Europe faces new nuclear missile threat"
British soldiers accused of sickening sex assault on Iraqi boy
Iraq and Afghanistan : Dual Fronts "Why are the Taleban the enemy ?"

( I just asked something similar at Blue Girl )
Misconceptions about 'moral conduct' waivers
Standards in our society have changed over the years

( allegedly : and you know the unreliability of that )
Don't blame Bush, blame the last 60 years of American government
German papers say many have lost faith in America because of Bush
( The only tools Bush has are to lie and act stupid. That's right - 'act' )
'Breakthrough' in malaria fight
Iran discovers billion barrel oil field
8 new nuclear plants for Britain
Why is hemp off the biofuel menu ?
Regular cars can run on hydrogen
US court slaps down pollution law
Plan for healthier eating in America : ban GMOs
The people of Iran have chosen the path of reform

13 July - Postus Interruptus

Monday, 14. July 2008, 03:29:08

news views

If anybody knows how to retrieve unconfirmed data from the server, I have 3 posts lost to interrupted continuity. Here we go again.

Bastard Logic
Ego and ambition : privileges only white men can enjoy
"Constraint is Intolerable"
"...that fear should trump concern for due process and indeed for justice is a recurring theme in American history."
Citizenship and submission - another kind of extremism
Larry Wilkerson : what the next President should do about Cuba
Bill C-484 : Dion's official reply
The By-God toughest tool of the Patriarchy EVA ( health care in USA )
On Rite Aid's LGBTQI outreach program...
Bush's new BFF
Blue Girl Red State
U.S. base overrun in Afghanistan
No Status of Forces Agreement with you
So they can't agree on peace, but can come together to find solutions for the Dead Sea ?
( Jordan, Israel and Palestine co-operate on a joint project )
No, we don't need Hummers
Yes he will Cut and Run -- because he wants a legacy
David Martin catches the Army in a startling admission
Bush gives Israel a tentative 'OK' to strike Iran
McCain asked about PNAC and 9/11 at Town Hall

12 July - News

Saturday, 12. July 2008, 15:24:12

news

U.S. federal judge rules that Bush is a felon
BlueBloggin
Extraordinary passings
No end to Cheney mischief - blocks environment repair
Mounting sense of crisis over Iran
Food and oil shortage - politics and religion guilty
Pentagon authorizes Evangelists to proselytize in Iraq
Mixed signals confuse Iran-US confrontation - dangerous
No doubt about it
Bush signs spy bill, ACLU sues
Obama's pro-telecom immunity amnesty federal crime
Rush Limbaugh corporate welfare whore and thief
How the Senate voted
Shame !
Privnotes - send messages that will self-destruct after being read
Karl Rove flees the country
FCC says ComCast violated internet rules
Libertanarianism : a not so lunatic fringe
( This from the same media that pans 'libruls'. Another WTF moment )
Militarism is a feature of U.S. socioeconomic system
Follow the oil money
Vote up if you think Pelosi has been blackmailed or bribed ( How about threatened ? )
Singapore judge Earnest Lau becomes a net hero
Intellectual Property Restrictions at airports may make Johnny Mnemomics outta us
The brain hides information from us to prevent mistakes
Favthumbs : your del.icio.us bookmarks visualized
Knowing looks : Using gaze aversion to tell when children are learning
Empathy comes naturally to children
Turkey says to play active role in Mediterranean Union
China executes Uighurs for terrorist links
ex-U.S. defense analyst gets prison term in spy case
Egypt kills man at Israel border, 30 migrants held
Digital Inspiration
QR codes : share text and web addresses inside images
Free sounds to relax your brain or improve concentration levels
Google Docs - the perfect tool to live blog any event
Wi-Fi mapping and mobile social networking from WeFi
Computer stupidities
Computer enhancers Humour
Hamas, Hezbollah websites hosted by Canadian servers
Companies hurt while inventories waylaid at ports by CBSA rules
Mexico finds no salmonella in tomatoes
Roche to suspend HIV research , seeing no advances
Superfast vocal muscles in songbirds : hundred times faster than the blink of an eye
An American pastime : smoking pot
Newly discovered young galaxy creates 4000 stars per year

11 July - NewsBlogging

Saturday, 12. July 2008, 04:04:19

news views

Worse than Apartheid
Ten Percent
Friday! Adam Buxton - Today on Xantiar
Prisoner 650 - The Grey Lady of Baghram ( Woman held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan for more than four years, part of the Disappeared from Afghanistan )
More Israeli Poll madness
Failed Responsibility : Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon
U.S. opens Iraq to Israeli warplanes ?
John Howard used terror arrest for electoral ends
Mixed Messages ( Torture 'compensated', not prosecuted )
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
Total Wankers
No More Blank Checks for War
Israel plans to lobby Washington for an attack on Iran
Assad agrees on Syria's central role in the region : France agrees : US divided
Lebanon gets a government
As Paris boosts Assad, US adds sanctions
Assad : "Bush cannot make peace" ( No problem. He chooses war. )
Balneus
If you wish the U.S. ill, you'll love this New legal threat to school science in the U.S.
If Imams were like RC priests ( and Archbishops )
Carbon trading : why not join ETS ?
Bottled water : as terrible as we expected
Utilizing children's play for clean water
Dorval gets fluoride water back
Lead linked to violent crime and shrinks the brain
Prolonged sitting turns off fat-burning enzyme
Autism and a link to brain development
AMA admits decades of discrimination against black doctors ( opinion ) ( Heh. I often prefer 'fiction' because it says it's a lie - and illustrates abstract truth. Whereas 'nonfiction' seems an oxymoron. )
Lowering chloresterol in kids starts with diet, exercise
There are alternatives to statins, but check with a doctor first
Why dermatologists still deny the link between acne, diet
Believe in Jesus, or die
"There seems to be an inverse relation between George W. Bush's wars of liberation and the Bill of Rights at home. The longer our military fights in other countries to keep Americans free, the more freedoms Americans seem to lose. Why is that ?"
Libel and defamation law for bloggers
Physicians routinely protect incompetent colleagues : 45 per cent admit failure to report
More regrettable loss of innocent life ( After a while, constant repetition of a 'mistake' invalidates any plea of 'accidental/unavoidable/unforeseeable event' )
Usenet blocking intensifies
How various network access control technologies work
Internet users stop ComCast, Net Neutrality win on the horizon
Flipping the Linux switch, Linux web tools
All-In-One Media Player Classic Home Cinema Edition
Ethnic Indian Media in the US
AOL implements Vodoop's OpenID based authentication
Sudan's president to be charged as war crimes suspect
Ontario hardest hit as full-time jobs tumble in Canada
IndyMac BanCorp is seized
Global Economic Trend Analysis
U.S. taxpayer bailout of China over Fanny Mae
Brantford construction site closed down by Six Nations protest
Food before Fuel
In deal for Italian bike company, Harley seeks to broaden its base
Larry Wilkerson : what the next President should do about Cuba
Genetic link to teen tobacco addiction
Czechs see oil flow fall and suspect Russian ire on missile system
( Oho. They only 'suspect' Russian ire. It seems the message isn't clear enough. )

30 June 1 July 2008 - Opit's LinkFest! at My Opera

Collage of images taken by U.S. military in Ir...

Image via Wikipedia

1 July - Surfing

Wednesday, 2. July 2008, 05:43:46

news views

Warning to copyright enforcers : Three strikes and you're out ( Beautiful )
Monte Asbury has been busy at Clipmarks
Travel guide to man-made disasters ( Don't let George see these )
World's poor hit hard as disaster tally rises
Antro Solo gets 150 mpg
Iranian blogger with excellent photos
Data loss : the ultimate cluestick
Malware silently alters wireless router settings
Majikthise
American Family Association : "Tyson Homosexual" bound for Olympic Games
Fake federal agent fought phony drug war in Missouri
States designate police, firefighters and EMT's as 'terrorism liason officers' ( i.e. official snitches )
Rolling back the astroturf : PUMA founded by McCain supporter
High school 'pregnancy pact' is urban myth
Army doesn't check whether contractors are on arms trafficking watch list
Ezra Klein
In Praise of Senator Cardin remarks on transit
Mongolia calls state of emergency
France plans revolution in space
NASA satellites watch polar ice shelf break into crushed icemain sheet will slowly accelerate into the sea
Video of dying mental patient being ignored spurs changes at Brooklyn hospital
Diabetes underrated, insideous and deadly
The Existentialist Cowboy
John McCain is an unstable, hot-headed...
Scott McClellan : Bush misled Americans
Psychopaths rule the world
Buzzflash
Barr : GOP says one thing and does another
The candidates' idiotic debate over the War on Terror
McCain campaign continues GOP tactic of scaring Americans into voting Republican
Mentally ill Republicans
Iran-Contra's 'lost chapter': Reagan administration brought CIA tactics home to reshape the way Americans perceived the world
Bush is destroying America : Congress & MSM enable him
Vidal : Bush ended US as a republic
Bloomberg
Disorderly drop in US dollar can't be ruled out

Calif. firefighters battle more than 1400 blazes
Iran in the crosshairs : the threat may not exist

1 July - Intermittant Surfing

Wednesday, 2. July 2008, 02:46:55

views

Adobe advances rich media search on the web

How we read online
( With frustration, today. I've a solid connection and DNS errors all over the place, especially AlterNet - while listening to online radio ! And Firefox 3.0 is in too ! Plus I finally took the plunge and installed SP3 for Windows - after checking to see my AMD didn't have the glitch HP users have experienced. )

There is no Iraqi insurgency
Life under Muqtada : Inside Baghdad's Shiite slums
The war in Iraq is pure murder
$300 Billion down the tubes : wasteful spending on weapons systems

The media don't care about the other kind of terrorists
The Family's Values : America's most secretive ( and influential ) religious organization
U.S. federal telework legislation clears house

Arbitration is a corporate scam
Medical fraud tops $60 billion a year
The contraception failure

Is Iowa another Katrina ?
( Using material by Warren Street Blue Girl Red State )

Why are the world's lakes disappearing ?
Innovative outfit eSolar signs first deal for utility-scale solar plants

Kucinich's mammoth case for impeaching Bush

BooMan Tribune
Best Health Care in the World ! "Words fail me." Video
Can the Blogosphere please grow up ? ( Ouch. An Atrios/BooMan reminder it's possible to 'win' a battle and lose a war )
Obama : not yet the change we need ? Steve D

( I saw the last election as Americans running like mad from politicians promising war. Since neither Obama nor McCain clearly say 'we're getting out of there yesterday ! ' - and the Democratic majority has continued to fund the Occupation - I can't see John Q. Public figuring either one of them, candidate or party, is worth the powder to blow them to hell, regardless of how pretty the speech.

Put that against the disintegrating economy - all profits and sustenance gone - and Mr. Cheney will have his national emergency against the background of bitched infrastructure, spoiled crops, and ruined water supply and utilities. The basics of survival loom large, with loss of homes, jobs and power providing the scourge, along with water-borne disease and chemical pollution. Too much ? Iowa was June 10 and FEMA is MIA. )

Defending WesClark

New washing machine uses just a cup of water

1 July - Canada ( Dominion ) Day -

Tuesday, 1. July 2008, 14:36:39

news views

Canada was a choice, not an accident
( The title's a good point - that the article doesn't clearly make early on. Canada began as a voluntary association of semi-autonomous states in a mutually agreed framework. Also 1867 is only the year that started with four - on the same date as Germany - but Newfoundland, for instance, joined in 1949.
I hear ignorant comments about French and Indians. Mohawks, for instance, fought with British troops as allies. Neither they nor the Quebecois are subject nations, as Quebec entered into an arrangement which gave them specific rights and the government certain duties - such as access to federal government services in French throughout Confederation, a historical result of their treaty with Britain in acceding to British rule peaceably.
Former Acadia had been cleared and resettled with English speaking people by Britain to deprive France of a coastal ally. St. John, New Brunswick - N.B. and Nova Scotia being two provinces which had comprised that French colony, and many of whose descendants became Lousiana's 'Cajuns' - was a British-surveyed city established in 1852, and had a high proportion of United Empire Loyalists - refugees from the American revolution. A U.E.L. descendant from there myself, I had a teen girlfriend who claimed to be descended from Benedict Arnold, and she was quite proud of that. )

Truth is Sedition and Falsehoods are Patriotism
Delaware Watch
Injustice Served
That's why they call it Imperialism ( no-bid Iraq oil contracts mandated by US )
9 in 10 see rising gas prices causing family hardship ( results of an energy-intensive economy )
The Montana Legacy Project : 320,000 Acres preserved
Company designs and maintains organic garden in your backyard
Nazi Jews : a historical paradox
Multiple jabs have not made troops sick : study
Laser treatment could help kill superbugs
Outrage brews as Ottawa set to honour Morgenthaler
( Some obviously prefer their 'heroes' not be combative. There's a recipe for rot. )
Wind appears on verge of becoming power player
Study finds long benefit in illegal mushroom drug
Junk food substitutes
Feds may consider euthanizing wild horses in the WestUS
sync - MSN gadgets blog
Google quietly tests social network
Cloud computing - the future takes nebulous shape
Zytu - Search safe
7 people from around the world with real mutant superpowers
Smoking ban helps 400,000 to quit
New tool would help internet providers thwart file-sharing ( but is that a good thing ? )
Profile features are NOT going awayNetflix
BlueBloggin
Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly RoundUp ( blog posts catalogued )
House Committe hears transgender issue ( systemic workplace discrimination )
Blue Girl Red State
Boy Is Gerald's Face Red ! ( Absolutely incredible malfeasance - impersonating a federal officer con )
Scott Ritter goes after David Albright ( con on another scale - WMD )
The Existentialist Cowboy
George Bush is NO Thomas Jefferson
Sacrilege at Monticello
( Maybe he can formally piss on the statue while in the area )
John McCain is an unstable, hotheaded liar, unfit to be President
Carlin : 'We can bomb the shit out of your country'
Steve Kangas : the origins of the Overclass- the business origins of CIA crimes
Bombing Iran and the role of the expert pundits
CIA agent : Iran nuclear program evidence was ignored
Ten Percent
Abracadabra
Shame these wars and dangerous threats keep distracting us from democracy
Administrative Rape ( Gaza Gelhorn prizewinner harassed ) Israelis assault prize winning journalist
EARTHtimes
Peruvian miners ready for a national strike
Articles and Answers - News and Views
MotherJones
The Peoples' Voice - News and Viewpoints
'Surviving hell' is a reality of peace for Gaza civilians

30 June - Final

Tuesday, 1. July 2008, 06:37:59

news views

Reading the Newswrap at Blue Girl Red State
Magnetic device could zap migraines
Hunt for al Qaeda ineffective ( Stirs things up just fine )
Squeezing oil from a stone
A 2-billion-year window into the earth

I put up the UFO Map on Google - why not, right ? Current distribution puts almost everything over the continental USA in an unmistakeable concentration : almost exclusive.

Contrary Brin
So many ways Obama could use jiu jitsu - Candidates who agree on much
U.S. and Europe near agreement on data accessable by private firms
Secret law begs question : Is this America ?
David Brin Clipmarks
Mukasey has denied House oversight DoJ documents
( Another one who shouldn't let the door hit him on the way out )
Virtual Keyboard
WobZIP-Uncompress on the fly

30 June - Evening News

Tuesday, 1. July 2008, 02:47:22

news

Former Abu Ghraib detainees sue U.S. contractors
4 judges targeted by bombs in Iraq
Military to seek death penalty for USS Cole suspect
"It will use this information in a military commission proceeding that provides none of the safeguards that protect from an unjust conviction. These procedures--and the torture committed by our government--clearly violate both U.S. law and the moral standards that are the foundation of our country." ( In other words...no problem. )
Court rules in favor of Chinese Muslim held at Gitmo
Spy chief defends Peru's Fujimori
Local air quality advisories lifted due to offshore winds Vallejo, California
"Second-wave" HIV hits young black gays
Satellites pinpoint Earth's auroral radio chatter
Alzheimer's drug may prevent brain damage in preemies
Meet the steel-melting solar mirror
Gene editing could make anyone immune to AIDS
U.S. federal court rules it can't hear Arar's complaint "Foreigners have no Constitutional Due Process Rights in the U.S."
( Great tourism promotion )
Disabled veterans' families feel the strain on finances,health
Telecom Amnesty foes lobby Obama using Obama tech
Ontario boosts rights protection
Today's suburbs, tomorrow's slums ?
Trans-Canada buzzes after millions of bees spilled
Spain to give apes rights The UnPatriot Act : the law that gutted the U.S. Constitution
Silence like a cancer grows
13 FriendFeed tools for Twitter refugees
eBay has to pay $63m because a French court doesn't know a platform from a user
Tech companies team up to buy patents to keep them away from others
'Good' cholesterol dementia risk
Revealed : the infighting that has hobbled the hunt for bin Ladin
Canada, U.S. to team up on Arctic seabed mapping project
Rhapsody charges headlong into iTunes territory
WALL-E

30 June - Update

Monday, 30. June 2008, 23:44:50

views

New GI Bill passed into law
Senate passes no-strings funding bill
( I'm sure the 'Stop Loss'-ed can figure out the real 'benefit' of this bill )
Preparing the battlefield
"The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran"
"some Pentagon officials believe that bombing Iran is not a valid response to the nuclear proliferation issue"
"Gates warned of the consequences if Washington called for a 'pre-emptive' strike against Iran'
( 'pre-emptive' meaning unwarranted and illegal - again )
"June - Admiral Fallon on Iraq ...'Did I bitch about some of the things that were being proposed about Iraq ? You bet. Some of them were very stupid.' "
Search Results came from a comment made on a Blue Girl Red State thread
MyBlogLog adds more stuff
( I'm constrained on what I can put in my sidebar. I have an account, however. May 9. So slooow. )

30 June - Morning News

Monday, 30. June 2008, 19:28:02

news views

CBS finishes acquisition of CNet ; Quincy Smith addresses the troops
Australian crocs hit by cane toad 'wave of death'
Weak solar cycle may keep more space junk in orbit
Omega-3s are twice as important for girls as boys
Sample of Edutagger search
If the leaders don't get it - it's not going to happen
( That's got to be true in politics as well as education. Mostly we vote for lawyers - not educators ! One politician quipped to me : "Politicians have to be popular, not smart." He was referring to getting votes, of course. Oddity : Fidel Castro and Pierre E. Trudeau were history professors. You know the saying : "Those who don't know the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them." So when a government pushes secrecy, it destroys competence from lack of intelligent direction, and from lack of competent oversight via peer review. Crime doesn't care about anything except 'profit' : though if you destroy everything - "Where's the Profit ?" )
First Edublogger session
G.M. foods : The U.S. fights mandatory labeling in an untested human experiment
Dissecting a study disproving Vitamin B's role in preventing heart disease
Being physically active more important than being lean
Changing your thoughts can change your life
Fortified cassava could provide a day's nutrition in a single meal
Climate change causing significant change in composition of coastal fish communities
( Primitive lifestyles historically flourished best near the source of easy protein and transport. This could be hugely important. )
Limit sucrose as painkiller for newborns
Drought tolerance in potatoes
Zinc finger proteins put personalized HIV therapy within reach
Student credit cards : useful or a trap ?
( Is this a 'trick' question ? Financial marketing caused the mortgage crisis. Stupid policies can be very destructive. )
$162 billion bill : Legacy for war or education ?
( Who controls the purse strings ? The most corrupt administration in history. Answering that question didn't take long. It will be the rare [ undamaged ] vet who gains any real benefit. )
Mississippi flooding closes St. Louis to barges
Pentagon : Gay equals crazy
EPA didn't know anyone was still drinking water
( Any takers on the proposition FEMA utterly and completely fails to provide access to potable water for the flooded MidWest : in fact disrupts efforts to provide same ? )
Iraq in one minute
Further cut in U.S. interest rates

30 June - First Look at the Web

Monday, 30. June 2008, 16:51:53

Leaked screen shots of mythical Digg recommendation engine
Oil rises on concern Iran supplies may be disrupted
Goldman says demand, not speculators, behind oil gain
$200 a barrel oil : how it would change our lives
Questioning the Unquestionable
"John McCain presidency...has at best a strange understanding of the President to military relationship, and that he would cede his responsibilities of making the most important decisions to those people who are not, by their very function, supposed to make them."
Blue Girl Red State
Wes Clark didn't get it completely wrong
"Military experience and executive experience aren't the same thing"
"From day one in the Navy, McCain screwed up again and again" ( sounds familiar. Bush, too )
Chaos in Afghanistan
"What is the aim...of the 60,000 soldiers there ?"
( They go around getting in firefights, being bombed, retaliating with attacking settlements...and endure increasing amounts of, and intensity also, resistance which springs up because of, not despite, their presence. They provide a Target and irritant which destroys local control and initiates chaos. My take, anyway.
Destroying local graft doesn't justify changing things over to feed a fresh bunch of scoundrels - unless of course they are a 'cat's paw' to feed their sponsors 'at home'.
The 'sacrifice' of the troops, literally, doesn't make it a good idea nor a workable plan : something they say themselves. Nor is there an objective or end to it : the destruction is self-perpetuating indefinitely. Well, until or unless the outnumbered pains-in-the-ass are consumed in the fire they create, as Britain's expeditionary force of 12,000 was in the Khyber Pass in 1835. Yeah : almost two centuries ago.
This is not 'Peacekeeping', people. Of course, it is under NATO - not the UN. Funny about that. )
I see I have an Adobe updater to run, so here's post One.

Monday, September 06, 2010

TPM Cafe Blog

Climate Change Science & Technology Management...

Image via Wikipedia

Josh Marshall is advising that TPM Cafe Readers' blogs are holding back needed modernization/streamlining : so here are reposts

The International Tax on the Use of Fire

April 13, 2010, 11:39PM

Fitness Model posing with dumbell. Photo by Gl...

Image via Wikipedia
Posing with Dumbell - I couldn't resist.
Here's why it blew up.
Copenhagen destroyed by Danish draft leak,says India's environment minister
The outcome was determined by a failed "ambush", targeted at the leaders of emerging economies, by the host nation Denmark. This attempted to switch a new negotiating text for the existing UN texts.
Then there's notice to all and sundry that the US will impose a global tax on the use of fire
Confidential document reveals Obama's hardline US climate talk strategy
Reinforce the PERCEPTION that the US is constructively engaged in UN negotiations in an effort to produce a global regime to combat climate change.
Have you ever heard a psyops program described with more clarity than that ?
Background on the media circus trying to paint our options to a black and white choice by scientists who cannot model a chaotic open system but must pretend they can to avert our impending doom.
This from the people who have killed on all continents on a covert budget from flogging arms and smuggling drugs plus purloined public purse.
Climate in Contention

Nuclear Progress Report

March 20, 2010, 7:50PM

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Guidance
Declassified report reveals U.S. has drawn down stockpiles of nuclear arms 50%, unannounced and 5 years ahead of schedule

Document Updates

September 11, 2009, 12:59AM

I usually try to steer clear of dry documentation!
This file is an old 'find' from when Rumsfeld was exiting Defence : a War Game outlining the likely consequences of invading Iraq. I didn't realize at that time it was a Clinton-era plan. 'Post-Saddam Iraq : Desert Crossing' seems more like a cautionary tale than a pattern which can be repeated to overthrow governments.
New URL http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB207/
There is also an update from State to look over
New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB198/index.htm
Finally, the Search itself had interesting data surface
Search
Showing 1-10 of about 262 results.
Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game
Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game. "Desert Crossing" 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 207. ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB207/
Eyes on Saddam
... US Satellite Imagery, 1960-1999. Pre- and post-strike overhead imagery of an Iraqi military headquarters compound. Eyes on Saddam US Overhead Imagery of Iraq. ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB88/
[PDF] Iraq and Iran: Society, Politics, War and Peace
... at http://www.nytimes.com); The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost ... o Adeed Dawisha, "Identity and Political Survival in Saddam's Iraq," Middle East ...
www.gwu.edu/~imes/assets/docs/syllabi/IAFF-358.11.pdf
White House Ignored CIA Warnings on Iraq
... Washington, DC, October 13, 2005 - The White House disregarded intelligence projections on post-Saddam Iraq according to a newly-declassified CIA report, ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20051013/
State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack ...
... cable announces the establishment of 15 "Future of Iraq Project" working groups to prepare for the transition to a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, adding that ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB163/
Saddam's Iron Grip: Intelligence Reports on Saddam Hussein's Reign
... State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans for post-war Iraq security Planning for post-Saddam regime change began as early as ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB167/
New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project
... from the USG, which might have negative consequences both for the participants and for the interests of the US government in post-Saddam Iraq." (See 20020001 ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB198/
TOP SECRET POLO STEP - Iraq War Plan Assumed Only 5,000 US Troops ...
... "Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans," said National Security Archive Executive Director Thomas Blanton. ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/
The Communitarian Network
... Scott Feil (Ret.) at congressional hearings, to keep the peace in post-Saddam Iraq we may need 75,000 troops, which amounts to three divisions (the military ...
www.gwu.edu/~ccps/etzioni/B432.html
US Intelligence and Iraq WMD
... by December 2006. Post-Saddam Iraq: The War Game "Desert Crossing" 1999 Assumed 400,000 Troops and Still a Mess. New State Department ...
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB254/

Poor Iran

August 21, 2009, 10:44PM

Mousavi says government agents raped detainees

Mousavi, Celebrated in Iranian Protests, Was the Butcher of Beirut
He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.
Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.
The ambassador in turn hosted several meetings of the cell that would carry out the Beirut attacks, which were overheard by the National Security Agency.
"We had a tap on the Iranian ambassador to Syria," retired Navy Admiral James "Ace" Lyons related by telephone Monday. In 1983 Lyons was deputy chief of Naval Operations, and deeply involved in the events in Lebanon.
"The Iranian ambassador received instructions from the foreign minister to have various groups target U.S. personnel in Lebanon, but in particular to carry out a 'spectacular action' against the Marines," said Lyons.
"He was prime minister," Lyons said of Mousavi, "so he didn't get down to the details at the lowest levels. "But he was in a principal position and had to be aware of what was going on."
Lyons, sometimes called "the father" of the Navy SEALs' Red Cell counter-terror unit, also fingered Mousavi for the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Center in Naples, Italy, that killed five persons, including the first Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack.
Bob Baer agrees that Mousawi, who has been celebrated in the West for sparking street demonstrations against the Teheran regime since he lost the elections, was directing the overall 1980s terror campaign.
But Baer, a former CIA Middle East field officer whose exploits were dramatized in the George Clooney movie "Syriana," places Mousavi even closer to the Beirut bombings.
"He dealt directly with Imad Mughniyah," who ran the Beirut terrorist campaign and was "the man largely held responsible for both attacks," Baer wrote in TIME over the weekend.
"When Mousavi was Prime Minister, he oversaw an office that ran operatives abroad, from Lebanon to Kuwait to Iraq," Baer continued.
"This was the heyday of [Ayatollah] Khomeini's theocratic vision, when Iran thought it really could export its revolution across the Middle East, providing money and arms to anyone who claimed he could upend the old order."
Baer added: "Mousavi was not only swept up into this delusion but also actively pursued it."
Retired Adm. Lyons maintained that he could have destroyed the terrorists at a hideout U.S. intelligence had pinpointed, but he was outmaneuvered by others in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan.
"I was going to take them apart," Lyons said, "but the secretary of defense," Caspar Weinberger, "sabotaged it."
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/06/mousavi-celebrated-i n-iranian.html
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REVOLUTIONARY FLOWERPOT SOCIETY

Mir-Hossein Mousavi's Iran/Contra Connection?

They are all good friends and associates of Manuchehr Ghorbanifar (an Iranian arms merchant, an alleged MOSSAD double agent, and a key figure in the Iran/Contra Affair, the arms-for-hostages deals between Iran and the Reagan administration). In one or two, at most three, degrees of separation, these people hung out in the same circles and very likely drank to the same toasts.
You can find all kinds of trivia about Ghorbanifar in the Walsh Report on the Iran/Contra affair. In Chapter 8, for example, we learn:
    "Ghorbanifar, an Iranian exile and former CIA informant who had been discredited by the agency as a fabricator, was a driving force behind these proposals [for arms-for-hostages deal];" or, "Ghorbanifar, as broker for Iran, borrowed funds for the weapons payments from Khashoggi, who loaned millions of dollars to Ghorbanifar in "bridge financing'" for the deals. Ghorbanifar repaid Khashoggi with a 20 percent commission after being paid by the Iranians," (see: http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_08.htm).
Here is a bit from an article by Time magazine that shows Ghorbanifar's circle of associates; it is from a January 1987 cover story (The Murky World of Weapons Dealers; January 19, 1987):
    "By [Ghorbanifar's] own account he was a refugee from the revolutionary government of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, which confiscated his businesses in Iran, yet he later became a trusted friend and kitchen adviser to Mir Hussein Mousavi, Prime Minister in the Khomeini government. Some U.S. officials who have dealt with Ghorbanifar praise him highly. Says Michael Ledeen, adviser to the Pentagon on counterterrorism: "[Ghorbanifar] is one of the most honest, educated, honorable men I have ever known." Others call him a liar who, as one puts it, could not tell the truth about the clothes he is wearing," (emphasis added).
This second bit is from Chapter 1 of Walsh Iran/Contra Report: (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_01.htm)
    "On or about November 25, 1985, Ledeen received a frantic phone call from Ghorbanifar, asking him to relay a message from [Mir-Hossein Mousavi] the prime minister of Iran to President Reagan regarding the shipment of the wrong type of HAWKs. Ledeen said the message essentially was "we've been holding up our part of the bargain, and here you people are now cheating us and tricking us and deceiving us and you had better correct this situation right away.''
    [...]
    "In early May, North and CIA annuitant George Cave met in London with Ghorbanifar and Nir, where the groundwork finally was laid for a meeting between McFarlane and high-level Iranian officials, as well as financial arrangements for the arms deal. Among the officials Ghorbanifar said would meet with an American delegation were the president and prime minister [Mousavi] of Iran and the speaker of the Iranian parliament," (emphasis added).
And to remind how Michael Ledeen became involved in the Iran/Contra affair in 1985, here is a bit from Chapter 15 of Walsh Report (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_15.htm):
    "[McFarlane] authorized Michael A. Ledeen, a part-time NSC consultant on anti-terrorism, to ask Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to check on a report that the Israelis had access to good sources on Iran. By early August 1985, Ledeen's talks had led to a direct approach by Israeli officials to McFarlane, to obtain President Reagan's approval to ship U.S.-supplied TOW missiles to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages in Beirut. McFarlane said he briefed the President, Regan, Shultz, Weinberger, Casey and perhaps the Vice President about the proposal in July and August 1985.40 McFarlane said that Casey recommended that Congress not be informed of the arms sales."
There you have it. Now, I'm no investigative journalist, so I'll leave it to the professionals to dig deeper into this.
But, I do have to wonder aloud: Seeing how we cannot ignore his 'neo-con' credentials and that Michael Ledeen maintained his very good relations with Ghorbanifar, (who at least used to be) a good friend of Mir-Hossein Mousavi (the 'candidate of change' in the Iranian presidential elections); and given the support that Mousavi's candidacy has been receiving from the American 'moderates', maybe this kind of 'change' is the 'regime change' the Americans have had in mind for Iran?
werkshop said...
    I have felt alone on this too, but i know I'm not alone. This is another US backed Color Coup, and Mousavi is a stooge. I'm sure of it. And I too am furious with the left for not seeing both the classism of this whole fiasco, and the way people's genuine desires for freedom are being used and channeled into something very dark.
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A Tense Calm on Streets of Tehran

Iranian State Media Intensify Criticism of Mousavi, Protesters

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 22, 2009
TEHRAN, June 21 -- The Iranian government and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi stepped up their war of words Sunday after at least 10 people were killed in clashes on Saturday, while an uneasy calm prevailed on the streets of Tehran on Sunday for the first time since Iran's worst political crisis in 30 years began a week ago.
Government media lashed out Sunday at Mousavi, suggesting that some of his actions were illegal and blaming "terrorists" for Saturday's violence, in which at least 100 people were injured. The semiofficial Fars News Agency, which has strong ties to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, quoted a law professor at Tehran University as saying that Mousavi's actions were criminal.
"Through uncivil and illegal means, he created an environment for unrest and hooliganism," Firouz Aslani told Fars News. "Contrary to his claims of lawfulness, he acted against the security of the nation and the interests of the system."
Some analysts in Tehran said those comments and others carried in the state-run news media questioning the legality of Mousavi's actions could be the government's way of preparing the ground for his arrest.
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Paul Rahe: Iran's trajectory (powerlineblog.com)
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Which State Security Branch Rules Tehran's Streets? (time.com)

Dysfunction Junction

July 23, 2009, 12:33PM

I've been preoccupied with bringing Opit's LinkFest! to Blogger, recapping Indexes in some kind of order and posting all at the same time. Still, some links shrieked to be noted on a political site.
Paging Erin Brovkovich
This place has quite a good overview of water worldwide, of which this is only a part The Water Issue. I ran into the posts because of the pictorial essay 'Absence of Water' showing derelict public baths in Britain. It was a StumbleUpon recommendation.
Group News Blog feature 'Why Medical Care in the U.S.A. sucks ass' is upstaged by Blacklisted News' WHO moves forward in secret to accomplish forced vaccination and population agenda.
Punditry Conservative Democrats have all the qualities of a dog except loyalty is about shocking vet stats. R.I.P. is for Habeas Corpus and the contination of the worst of Bush...something moved to Bagram and expanded. Did you see Greenwald on that ?
$15 M from Michigan for factories to go renewable