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Global crisis: comment and news snips
Ian Henshall is the chair of the UK's alternative media umbrella group INK.
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1. The war against Iraq. Summary: this has been driven by the zionist lobby,
but it is equally a desperation measure to save Bush politically at home
from Enron and the spreading doubts over 911. We should be ready for a
massive popular backlash from right and left when the war fails, this could
even become a peaceful revolution.

2. Good news:
a. Senate announces investigation into what really happened on 911.
b. Historical UN resolution on Palestine. Extracts from text.

3. More good news. The time bombs threatening Bush/Blair: Enron, Michael
Moore letter, devastating leaked DEA report implies Israeli complicity in 911.

THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ

I argued a few weeks ago that Bush/Blair had decided to attack Iraq. I did
not mean to imply that the war was inevitable - just that Bush/Blair are
lying when they say there is no decision. I cited a seminal Washington Post
article by Walter Pincus which explained that they cannot start hostilities
for several months for logistical reasons.

Arguing for the war has involved a massive U-turn: Blair said repeatedly
that there would be no attack without proof (at one point `100 percent
proof`) that Iraq was involved in 911. The corporate media seem to have
forgotten Blair's statements.

However there are causes for optimism. Firstly we may be able to prevent the
war, and secondly if the war goes ahead it will end in disaster and this
disaster will likely destroy Bush/Blair. Assuming they are able to `defeat`
Saddam and occupy the cities in Iraq, the many enemies of US/UK in the
region will co-operate with the Iraqi resistance and US/UK will be bogged
down in two theatres, Afghanistan and Iraq, each larger than Vietnam in a
world much more sensitive to the war crimes that will inevitably ensue.

Already the war in Afghanistan is turning sour. America's crack troops were
beaten back and withdrew from the recent Anaconda battle. It is clear that
Taliban and Al Quaida are operating freely in large areas of Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and one US report had them better equipped than the US themselves.
Al Jazeera has reported Taliban claims that they are holding US prisoners,
and have brought down several aircraft.
ref: http://www.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2002/3/3-18-8.htm
This is apparently the Taliban's web site:
http://www.alneda.com/
Both these sites are in arabic.

The driving forces behind the war are
1. Israel's goal of maintaining its regional nuclear monopoly
2. Bush/Blair's need to distract attention from the ever-widening Enron
scandal (this is not just a cliche - see `the time bombs` below),
3. Bush's puerile desire to get revenge on Saddam for seeing off his father
in 1992,
4. The desire of Republican paymasters to make profits out of the war.

Note that there is very little in it for Blair. This suggests that he is a
fool, that he is corrupt, or that he is planning to rat on Bush at the last
minute (we can only live in hope).

The given reasons for the war are (currently) that something has to be done
about Saddam, that a `regime change` is needed, that Saddam `threatens our
security` (Blair), that Saddam may have nuclear weapons. These arguments are
sheer rubbish:
1. All the crimes cited against Saddam ocurred while he was a Western ally.
Since 1992 his behaviour has been relatively benign. (Members of the current
`good` Afghan government for instance are certainly involved in mass rape in
the North, the production of opium for the western heroin market, and the
holding of prisoners in conditions amounting to torture)
2. If Bush/Blair really cared about these issues they could start by
bringing criminal proceedings against Saddam's co-conspirators from the
Reagan and Thatcher administrations.
3. Israel actually does have illegal nuclear weapons and actively threatens
its neighbours with them. It is currently in flagrant breach of
international law with its war in Palestine.
4. The only country ever to have used nuclear weapons is the US, against
Japan, in breach of undertakings to the scientists who worked on the
Manhatten project. Official records show they nearly did in Korea as well.
Bush/Blair are now saying that they would use them against non nuclear
countries and NATO has always said that it would use nuclear weapons first.
5. There is no possibility that Saddam's military could threaten us. When
Blair says `us` he means Israel.

The giveaway that the war is a fraud comes from Bush/Blair's own propaganda.
Three months ago Al Quaida was a mortal threat in 60 counntries, now it is
suddenly an irrelelvance and Saddam is the threat. It is admitted that
Saddam had at most a marginal role in 911.

Paradoxically, the fact that they can even think of getting away with this
U-turn should terrify Bush/Blair. When politicians play the war card, they
are playing the highest card in the deck, but public opinion can be very
fickle, especially if the perception spreads that the war is not only wrong
but has failed. Failed wars lead to revolutions. A lot of bombs went off in
the US in the seventies after the Vietnam debacle.

If Bush/Blair are foolish or desperate enough to go ahead without a UN
resolution, the war will be a criminal enterprise. When it fails there will
be a groundswell of populist anger from right and left in Britain and the
US. Then the ringleaders will try to exit quietly while the hangers-on deny
they ever supported the war. We should not let them off the hook as happened
after Vietnam. A record is kept of statements and acts within the corporate
state. Politicians, commentators, editors, top military and corporate bosses
who are a party to the crime should be investigated, prosecuted and jailed.
There should be a root and branch reform of corporate and other law
amounting to a peaceful revolution.

THE GOOD NEWS 1. US senate proposes dramatic COMMISSION ON 911.

This text is taken from a news service report. Note the wide ranging nature
of the Commission, perhaps modelled on the Warren Commission which
investigated the Kennedy assassination. Lieberman is an arch zionist and
warmonger, but maybe it will all slip out of control...

WASHINGTON, March 21 - A Senate committee voted unanimously today to
create a commission with sweeping powers to investigate the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, setting the stage for a possible clash between Congress
and the White House.
Creation of a commission was backed by all eight
Republicans as well  as the nine Democrats on the
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The measure
now goes to the Senate floor. It would also require
passage by the House of Representatives and
President Bush's signature.

"The overriding purpose of this inquiry must be a
learning exercise, to understand what happened
without political interference or preconceptions
about the ultimate finding," said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman,
the Connecticut Democrat who heads the committee and
co-sponsored the legislation with Senators John McCain,
Republican of Arizona, and Robert G.Torricelli, Democrat of
New Jersey.

The commission would consist of 14 prominent citizens,
half of them Democrats and half Republicans, appointed
by the President and Congressional leaders. None could
be a current office-holder. The members would decide
which issues to investigate. Possible areas specified in the
bill include intelligence, law enforcement, border controls
and commercial aviation.

Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lieberman's committee,
said that the14-member commission might cooperate with the
intelligence panels but that the commission's inquiry would have
a far wider range.

Among other things the commission would
investigate "any relevant legislation, executive order, regulation,
plan, practice or procedure" in connection with the Sept. 11
attacks. The commission would have subpoena powers and
operate with an initial budget of $3 million.

GOOD NEWS 2. HISTORICAL UN RESOLUTION ON PALESTINE
Don't hold your breath, this resolution may be primarily designed to get
acquiescence from arab leaders for the war on Iraq. However it backs a
Palestinian state and confirms the view that Israeli reprisals and ethnic
cleansing actions are war crimes. Here are some extracts:
 
Affirming a vision of a region where two States, Israel and Palestine, live
side by side within secure and recognized borders,
Expressing its grave concern at the continuation of the tragic and violent
events that have taken place since September 2000, especially the recent
attacks and the increased number of casualties,
Stressing the need for all concerned to ensure the safety of civilians,
Stressing also the need to respect the universally accepted norms of
international humanitarian law,
Welcoming and encouraging the diplomatic efforts of special envoys from the
United States of America, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the
United Nations Special Coordinator and others, to bring about a
comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East,
Welcoming the contribution of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah,
1. Demands immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts
of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction;...

(text ends)
 
MORE GOOD NEWS - THE FIVE TIME BOMBS UNDER BUSH/BLAIR

TIME BOMB ONE - ENRON

There are several timebombs facing Bush/Blair. When I first mentioned Enron
in this newsletter it had exploded on the net but US Democrats had not yet
decided to fight back on the issue. Since then it has become a big
mainstream issue and seen the fall of John Wakeham in the UK.

The facts on Enron are even worse than the corporate media allows. The
pension fund rip-off is only half of it. Enron was used by a mafia-like
criminal conspiracy as a shell company through which to defraud the
financial markets of several billion dollars. The money was moved through
the `partnerships` in the usual tax havens, laundered, and will never be
recovered. Bush has lied about his involvement with Enron (the relationship
with `Kenny boy` in fact goes back to 1986), and Cheney seems to have so
much to hide that he will not even tell the Congress who he met from Enron.
The death of whistleblower Clifford Baxter was pronounced as suicide, but
only by an unqualified official with a history of gross incompetence - the
police still have the file open. Baxter is the second Enron whistleblower to
die in suspicious circumstances.

What is it they need to hide when one of the world's most famous
corporations flagrantly shreds documents, knowing that they will be caught
and the corporation likely be wound up as a result? This is what happened at
Arthur Anderson. Enron's accounting was overseen by Tory Mr Fixit John
Wakeham who now faces a criminal investigation. Wakeham accepted kickbacks
(described as consultancy fees) which is in breach of accounting ethics and
probably the law.

Blair has taken Enron money for the Labour Party, in return for the usual
favours. Blair made the extraordinary appointment of Wakeham to head the
committee on Lords reform. Blair seems to do everything that Bush wants even
if it will split and possibly destroy the Labour Party. It is time to
consider the hypothesis that Blair is a full member of the Bush/Enron crime
family. If it turns out that 911 was a fraud, part of a strategy of tension
(see below) Blair will also need to explain why he sacked Robin Cooke out of
the blue to replace him with `lifelong friend of Israel` Jack Straw, and why
one of his first acts as PM was to give Russian boss Putin support for his
own fraudulent `war against terrorism` in Chechenia.

TIMEBOMB TWO - US PUBLIC OPINION

In one of the stupidest comments so far Mathew Engel in The Guardian said
Bush was flying `higher than Abraham Lincoln` in popularity. The truth is
that Bush is President and Commander in Chief of a psychologically insecure
country now at war - as such his headline approval rating (curently falling)
is irrelevant to his role as politician. The Washington bubble distorts
reality as much as the Westminster bubble. Liberal ideologues like Engel are
probably oblivious to the most dangerous dissent: from the populist Right in
the US - see time bombs below.

A better indicator of US opinion is the public response to the brilliant
writer/broadcaster Michael Moore and his book Stupid White Men, top of the
Amazon best seller list and, astonishingly, 3rd place in the Wall Street
Journal list. His recent book signing tour has led to unprecedented scenes.
Here is an inspiring report from Michael Moore himself....

www.michaelmoore.com
Dear friends,
 
This is just a quick note of thanks for the support all of you have
given my book... By the fifth day of release, the book had gone into its 9th
printing.
 
Last night in Santa Rosa, at the local high school, they had a
thousand people packed inside and another 500 out on the lawn who
couldn't get in. It's like this in all the places I visit. Hundreds,
thousands, turning out to discuss all the sorry excuses for the state
of the nation.
 
People have had it with keeping silent for the past 6 months. They
resent having felt like if they chose to question what the government
is up to or, God forbid, dissent, they would somehow be considered
unpatriotic.
 
Let's get one thing straight -- this is what it means to
be "unpatriotic:"
 
1. When you shred our constitution and eliminate our civil liberties,
passing laws that make it illegal to encourage opposition to the
government's actions, THAT is un-American.
 
2. When you send our kids to go fight and die on a foreign land so
that you can finally build a pipeline for your oil backers across
that country, THAT is un-American.
 
3. When you use the dead of September 11 to try to get huge tax cuts
passed that will only benefit your rich benefactors, THAT is un-
American.
 
4. When you allow criminals who are stealing the pensions of workers
and retirees to come in and hand-pick the head of the agency which is
supposed to be regulating them, and then you place some of the
criminals' top brass in your administration to "serve" as the
secretary of the army and White House counsel, and then these
criminals turn out to be your number one financial backers -- and
their law firm turns out to be your #3 backer -- and, in spite of all
this you still haven't resigned in disgrace, THAT is un-American.
 
This tour has taken me to Ridgewood, New Jersey (area that always
returns its Republican congressman), Arlington, Virginia (a town
filled with military people), Grass Valley, California (in the middle
of nowhere in a congressional district represented by a right-wing
Republican). In each of these towns it's been a literal mob scene.
 
The Virginia bookstore says that "this crowd is an all-time record."
The line is out the door in downtown Ridgewood, and the store does
not have enough books. In Grass Valley, so many have come from
hundreds of miles across the Sierras that can't get in, so I tell the
hundreds out in the street that I'll stick around and do a second
show. Three hours later they are still there, and I do it all over
again... (ends)

TIME BOMB THREE - THE ISRAELI CONNECTION

You may have seen veiled comments in the corporate press along the lines
that Israel knew about 911 and didn't pass on the warnings. This is a
reference to another time bomb. In the summer of last year the DEA (Drugs
Enforcement Agency) and other agencies arrested a series of Israeli `art
students` for espionage. The US government denies this now but the very
detailed DEA report has been leaked and is available on the web. It is
devastating.

The main relevant facts are: the spy ring contained at least 30 operatives
who were discovered as they tried to penetrate US security establishments.
The Israelis admitted thay were acting illegally, and that several were army
explosives experts. Several of the addresses where they resided were within
hundreds of yards of addresses used by Bin Laden's alleged hijackers.

There are also reports of two other Israeli spy rings, one had penetrated
pretty much the whole of Washington with phone taps and had stolen state of
the art computer mass surveillance software (PROMIS). This was reported in
detail on Fox News, but the report was subsequently removed from Fox's web
site (it is widely available elsewhere on the web). Another ring is more
mysterious, the `movers ring`. It has been reported that several of these
were arrested while cheering and filming the collapse of the WTC.

There is also a report that Israelis were arrested with guns and bombs in
the Mexican Parliament shortly after 911.

Many US dissidents believe the 911 attack was a so-called false flag
operation by elements of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. Pilots have
argued that the manoevres carried out by the hijackers were impossible for
amateur flyers, and that the planes were guided by some sort of remote
control autopilot system. The anthrax attacks are now semi-officially
ascribed to a known zionist within the CIA. The evidence is accumulating
that 911 was part of a worldwide strategy of tension and that Bin Laden and
the hijackers were duped.

Ref for DEA report http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/fishwrapper.html

TIME BOMB FOUR - DISSENT WITHIN THE US LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITY

There have been numerous anonymous postings the web apparently from air
traffic controllers, military officials etc stating that the official
conspiracy theory of 911 (that bin Laden's people did it all by themselves)
cannot be true. The DEA report above was presumably leaked by people like
this. The FBI proved that Timothy McVeigh was responsible for the Oklahoma
atrocity when the rest of Washington was screaming about arab terrorists.
Much the same thing has happened over the anthrax attacks. There are reports
of rows in the FBI with Attorney General (and militant Christian Zionist)
John Ashcroft trying to get Israeli suspects released.

The problem for the sort of criminal gang that ran Enron and perhaps runs
Bush/Blair is that by definition most people are not in on it. This leaves
many high ranking powerful people who have no interest in defending either a
possible 911 fraud or any cover-up. My guess is that if and when the
official story does finally collapse it will come through whistleblowers
that The Guardian would call horribly right wing.

TIME BOMB FIVE - DISSENT ON THE WEB

When John Kennedy was assassinated only one useful independent film was made
of the events. The Zapruder movie, which proved that Kennedy was killed by
more than one assassin, was purchased by a media corporation but withheld
from the public for years and it was many more years before the official
lone assassin theory finally fell apart and the Senate found that there was
`probably` a conspiracy.

Fast forward to now. There are cameras everywhere. Virtually every frame
outputed by the media is recorded and can be posted around the web. Clumsy
attempts to remove information rebound (eg by Fox News above or the changes
to the web site for Andrews Airbase which should have scrambled planes to
intercept the Pentagon attack but failed to). Evidence can be ignored by the
corporate media, but now there is an awfull lot more of it and we have the
web to spread it. A small example: Mark Hosenball reported in Newsweek, in a
few lines tucked away, that several high ranking Pentagon officials
cancelled flights on September 10. Hundreds of thousands of people now know
this.

Recently the two web sites below have been flooded with visitors as people
discovered that the Pentagon's own footage of the 911 attack could be
enhanced and that the enhanced pictures appear to be inconsistent with a
large airliner crash.
http://www.bosankoe.btinternet.co.uk
http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm

Here are some more web sites which dispute the official story of 911:
http://www.public-action.com 
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/ (mirrored at www.tenc.com)
http://www.copvcia.com (ex-copper who helped unravel Iran Contra scandal)
www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.apfn.org (right wing populists)
http://www.rense.com
www.narconews.com
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/
www.truthout.com
http://www.humanunderground.com

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