Don K Dyck
Devilish Don Downunder
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2002
- Posts
- 8,255
Good evening. Here is the news.
A classified U$ document is deeply sceptical that an AmeriKKKan invasion would bring democracy into the Middle East. One passage says, "Elected democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-AmeriKKKan elements". Thus the xenophobic quest to make the world in the AmeriKKKan image would be frustrated.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Democracy domino plan won't work: secret report
By Greg Miller in Washington
March 15 2003
A classified United States State Department report expresses deep scepticism that installing a new regime in Iraq will foster the spread of democracy in the Middle East - a claim President George Bush has made in trying to build support for a war - according to intelligence officials.
The report exposes significant divisions within the Bush Administration over the so-called democratic domino theory.
The report, which has been distributed to a small group of government officials but not publicly disclosed, says daunting economic and social problems are likely to undermine basic stability in the region for years, let alone prospects for democratic reform.
Even if some version of democracy took root - which the report casts as unlikely - anti-American sentiment is so pervasive, it says, that elections in the short term could lead to the rise of Islamic-controlled governments hostile to the US.
"Liberal democracy would be difficult to achieve," says one passage of the report, according to an intelligence official.
"Electoral democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-American elements."
The thrust of the document, the official said, "is that this idea that you're going to transform the Middle East and fundamentally alter its trajectory is not credible". Even the document's title - "Iraq, the Middle East and Change: No Dominoes" - appears to dismiss the Administration argument.
The report was produced by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the in-house analytical arm.
It is dated February 26, officials said, the day Mr Bush told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington: "A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region."
But the argument has been pushed hardest by a group of advisers who have been leading proponents of going to war with Iraq, among them Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary, and Richard Perle, the chairman of the Defense Policy Board.
Dr Wolfowitz has said Iraq could be "the first Arab democracy" and that even modest democratic progress in Iraq would "cast a very large shadow, starting with Syria and Iran but across the whole Arab world".
Mr Perle has said that a reformed Iraq "has the potential to transform the thinking of people around the world about the potential for democracy, even in Arab countries where people have been disparaging of their potential".
The domino theory also is used by the Administration as an argument to critics in US Congress who have expressed concern that invading Iraq will inflame the Muslim world and fuel terrorist activity against the US.
But the theory is disputed by many Middle East experts and is viewed with scepticism by analysts at the CIA and State Department, intelligence officials said.
Critics say that even establishing a democratic government in Iraq will be extremely difficult. Iraq is made up of ethnic groups deeply hostile to one another. Ever since its inception in 1932, the country has known little but bloody coups and brutal dictators.
"We'll be lucky to have strong central governments [in the Middle East], let alone democracy," one official said.
T
he official stressed that no one in intelligence or diplomatic circles opposed the idea of trying to install a democratic government in Iraq. "But to sell [the war] on the basis that this is going to cause 1000 flowers to bloom is naive," the official said.
Los Angeles Times
Meanwhile in Iraq where the civilian population passively awaits the U$ invasion during the War of Conquest to steal undeveloped oil reserves, the people continue to suffer the ravages of the U$ inspired Embargo. About 260,000 civilian casualties are expected during the U$ invasion, in an Iraqi population that has 50% children.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Bleak future awaits poverty-stricken Iraqis
By Mark Baker, Herald Correspondent in Amman, Jordan
March 15 2003
A few weeks ago Margaret Hassan visited the house of a primary school teacher in the southern Iraqi town of Hamza.
What Care International's country program director saw moved her to anger at the deprivation and indignity that years of war and a decade of international sanctions have wrought on the Iraqi people.
The once-comfortable home of a middle-class family no longer had even one piece of furniture, because all the possessions had been sold. The eight family members slept on old mattresses on bare concrete floors. The family survived on handouts provided under the United Nations oil-for-food program and the teacher's monthly salary of 18,000 dinars - about $13.
"I was shocked and embarrassed," says the British-born Ms Hassan, who has lived in Iraq for 30 years. "You can imagine how I felt standing there, as a Westerner, in front of someone who had nothing, literally nothing."
The family's plight was not an isolated case. The United Nations estimates that between 60 and 70 per cent of people in southern and central Iraq depend on official food rations.
It could get much worse. International relief agencies and the nations bordering Iraq are bracing for a humanitarian emergency when the fighting begins, and a potential catastrophe if the war drags on.
The UN is predicting about 2 million Iraqis could be left homeless by an allied invasion, with as many as 900,000 likely to flee the country. But with saturation bombing and a possible siege of Baghdad - home to an estimated 6 million people - that could be seriously understated.
"There could be a huge population movement in both the north and south if it is anything like the Gulf War in 1991. It's just impossible to predict," says Geoff Keele, a spokesman for the UN Children's Fund. "The people have no resources to fall back on."
Mr Keele says that most of the agencies are chronically ill-prepared. The UN's World Food Program has so far only been able to stockpile sufficient emergency supplies to feed 500,000 people for 10 weeks. Other UN bodies are hugely underfunded.
The fear of all agencies working inside Iraq is that the war could severely disrupt the oil-for-food program under which, since 1997, the regime has been permitted to export limited amounts of oil to pay for basic food rations and medicines. These are allocated through 45,000 centres across the country. While most Iraqis recently received an emergency allowance of two months' rations, agencies say the likely dislocation of the program once fighting begins could have devastating consequences, especially for children.
The oil-for-food program has seen a halving of child malnutrition rates. Mr Keele says "any disruption to food distribution would see a sharp rise in malnutrition levels".
Iran, Syria and Jordan are expected to shoulder the brunt of the expected exodus of refugees once fighting begins. Jordan, which had an influx of 1.5 million refugees during the Gulf War in 1991 - 500,000 of whom never went home - fears it will again be overwhelmed.
UN officials predict that up to 300,000 Iraqis will flee to Iran, which is still hosting more than 2 million refugees from the last Gulf War and the conflict in Afghanistan.
The only hope of alarmed relief officials is that the conflict will not be protracted. But Ms Hassan is not persuaded by confident American predictions of a short, sharp campaign.
"It doesn't matter how short it is, people will die and people will be handicapped for the rest of their lives and everyone will be traumatised," she says.
Out in the deserts of the Middle East, the U$ Invasion Force waits for their chance to experience the blood lust of national conquest. Journalists have been told that no provision for their security will be made. Indeed, it is likely that U$ forces will target journalists to suppress any unauthorised news sources.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Engulfed in the Gulf: soldiers battle choking dust storms
By Ron Martz in northern Kuwait
March 15 2003
When the late winter and early spring winds, known as shamals, begin to blow here, there is no escape from the dust.
It coats exposed surfaces with a tan film as fine as talcum powder and as sneeze-inducing as pepper, while seeking out the tiniest cracks and crevices in clothing and equipment.
It sneaks into ears, noses and eyes and makes life here on the edge of Iraq even more difficult for soldiers.
A shamal blew in from the north late on Wednesday. By midnight, canvas tents were rocking and popping in the sustained 100kmh winds. Soldiers said it was the worst they had seen in the six months they had been here.
Soldiers marking maps for the upcoming attack by the US forces' 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanised) strained to see through the film of dust that hung in the air inside the dimly lit tents. Those who ventured outside to the latrines risked getting lost if they stepped more than a metre from their tents.
Visibility was zero as the sand blotted out the moon and stung the eyes of those foolish enough to step into the darkness.
Those who did go out looked like they had been sprinkled with powdered sugar when they managed to find their way back.
Shortly after midnight, an order was given that there was to be no movement of vehicles for fear someone would wander into the desert and get lost.
Just before dawn, the winds subsided slightly, and soldiers awoke with a film of dust covering them, their sleeping bags and their equipment.
They wheezed and hacked up dusty phlegm as they made their way to breakfast.
By 8am the winds reintensified and within an hour a
white haze of blowing dust obscured the horizon. Clots of vehicles clearly visible in the distance the day before had
become blurry blobs behind the opaque veil of blowing dust.
Soldiers hunkered down in their vehicles; as soldiers everywhere so often have to do, they waited.
They waited for the weather to get better, for the wind to die down, for something to happen so they didn't have to think about how miserable it was to live with all the dust.
Cox Newspapers
Meanwhile in Ausralia, the Prim Monster Johnnie "Flakjacket" Howard is strutting his stuff in support of New South Wales Opposition Leader "Little Boy" John "It was my Company's Profit" Brogden in his futile attempt to wrest the government benches from the incumbent Labor Party.
Demonstrators are expected at the posh upper class election rally where the Prim Monster explains to the party faithful that wasting Australian resources on a war with an ally who steals $US 840 million per year wheat markets from aussie farmers is good local politics. This continues the established Liberal Party policies of buying third rate AmeriKKKan "attack?" helicopters built on 1965 Vietnam-reject air-frames.
The imminent U$ invasion of Iraq will have beneficial effects in New South Wales. for the Liberal Party wallowing in a dearth of political policies. "We will be able to excuse our dearth of inspiring leadership or meaningful political poliices by blaming the AmeriKKKans for their Invasion and War of Conquest to steal Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves for the Texan oil corporations. Consequently, there will be no need for us to change our policy of assertive inactivity before the next election when our incompetence will be further entrenched", said one Liberal Party official.
Long-odds John now in the wars
By Alex Mitchell and Andrew West
March 16 2003
The Sun-Herald
More than 5000 anti-war protesters will confront a wall of uniformed riot police when Opposition Leader John Brogden holds the official launch of the Liberals' election campaign today.
The security alert at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre threatens to blunt Mr Brogden's keynote message six days out from the NSW election and as he struggles in the polls.
The demonstration by the anti-war coalition is aimed at guest-of-honour Prime Minister John Howard.
The NSW Labor Council and high-profile Labor councillor Genevieve Rankin of Sutherland Shire Council have been identified as urging protesters to attend the rally, targeting Mr Howard and the Liberal launch.
With six days to polling and his rating as preferred premier down to a crushing 16 per cent, Mr Brogden will hammer the NSW Government's performance on law and order, health and schools.
Focusing on public transport, he will commit the Coalition to a "clean, safe and reliable" train system offering three specific policies:
20 teams of roving cleaners to be on duty keeping carriages clean;
Retraining rail security staff and giving them powers of special constables; and
Auditing train tracks and funding a track-maintenance program.
In a last-ditch move to raise his profile, the 33-year-old challenger has decided to take to the road tomorrow on a campaign bus to meet voters.
"John's strength is his ability to get on with people, to relate to people and to enjoy being face-to-face with people," Mr Brogden's spokesman Morgan Ogg said.
"With [Premier Bob] Carr it is all structured and stage-managed stuff."
The "Brogger bus" will tour electorates in greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Newcastle selling a "back to basics" message.
Appearing yesterday with Opposition police spokesman Andrew Tink, Mr Brogden also promised to abolish the system of on-the-spot fines for crimes such as house breaking and assault.
He said such offences should be treated as proper crimes and the perpetrators arrested and finger-printed.
"People who create havoc on our streets should not be handed the equivalent of a parking ticket," Mr Brogden said.
"Labor's on-the-spot fine system has proven to be no deterrent to crime, and people need to feel safe walking the streets."
He also said a Coalition government would end the policy under which police must issue up to two directives before they can search people for knives or move along loiterers or gang members.
Two hundred police would also be freed from desk duties and other police, formerly placed on light duties, would return to station-based administrative or strategic jobs.
Mr Brogden said all crime victims would have the choice of reporting to their local police station rather than simply calling the Police Assistance Line.
Elected to the Liberal leadership 12 months ago after a coup against Kerry Chikarovski, Mr Brogden needs a quality performance next Saturday to hold on to his job.
The loss of a significant number of seats could lead to a panic attack and the replacement of Mr Brogden with former NSW Liberal director Barry O'Farrell.
The party's hard-line right, led by monarchist and failed parliamentary aspirant Kerry Jones and Mrs Chikarovski's mother Jill Bartels, is already urging an anti-Brogden push.
The state executive elections, postponed from December to April, will be the battleground between the right and the reform group known as The Group, which supports Mr Brogden.
That ends the news. Hail Hitler-George!!
<edited to ad Brogden story from Sun Herald>
A classified U$ document is deeply sceptical that an AmeriKKKan invasion would bring democracy into the Middle East. One passage says, "Elected democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-AmeriKKKan elements". Thus the xenophobic quest to make the world in the AmeriKKKan image would be frustrated.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Democracy domino plan won't work: secret report
By Greg Miller in Washington
March 15 2003
A classified United States State Department report expresses deep scepticism that installing a new regime in Iraq will foster the spread of democracy in the Middle East - a claim President George Bush has made in trying to build support for a war - according to intelligence officials.
The report exposes significant divisions within the Bush Administration over the so-called democratic domino theory.
The report, which has been distributed to a small group of government officials but not publicly disclosed, says daunting economic and social problems are likely to undermine basic stability in the region for years, let alone prospects for democratic reform.
Even if some version of democracy took root - which the report casts as unlikely - anti-American sentiment is so pervasive, it says, that elections in the short term could lead to the rise of Islamic-controlled governments hostile to the US.
"Liberal democracy would be difficult to achieve," says one passage of the report, according to an intelligence official.
"Electoral democracy, were it to emerge, could well be subject to exploitation by anti-American elements."
The thrust of the document, the official said, "is that this idea that you're going to transform the Middle East and fundamentally alter its trajectory is not credible". Even the document's title - "Iraq, the Middle East and Change: No Dominoes" - appears to dismiss the Administration argument.
The report was produced by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the in-house analytical arm.
It is dated February 26, officials said, the day Mr Bush told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington: "A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region."
But the argument has been pushed hardest by a group of advisers who have been leading proponents of going to war with Iraq, among them Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary, and Richard Perle, the chairman of the Defense Policy Board.
Dr Wolfowitz has said Iraq could be "the first Arab democracy" and that even modest democratic progress in Iraq would "cast a very large shadow, starting with Syria and Iran but across the whole Arab world".
Mr Perle has said that a reformed Iraq "has the potential to transform the thinking of people around the world about the potential for democracy, even in Arab countries where people have been disparaging of their potential".
The domino theory also is used by the Administration as an argument to critics in US Congress who have expressed concern that invading Iraq will inflame the Muslim world and fuel terrorist activity against the US.
But the theory is disputed by many Middle East experts and is viewed with scepticism by analysts at the CIA and State Department, intelligence officials said.
Critics say that even establishing a democratic government in Iraq will be extremely difficult. Iraq is made up of ethnic groups deeply hostile to one another. Ever since its inception in 1932, the country has known little but bloody coups and brutal dictators.
"We'll be lucky to have strong central governments [in the Middle East], let alone democracy," one official said.
T
he official stressed that no one in intelligence or diplomatic circles opposed the idea of trying to install a democratic government in Iraq. "But to sell [the war] on the basis that this is going to cause 1000 flowers to bloom is naive," the official said.
Los Angeles Times
Meanwhile in Iraq where the civilian population passively awaits the U$ invasion during the War of Conquest to steal undeveloped oil reserves, the people continue to suffer the ravages of the U$ inspired Embargo. About 260,000 civilian casualties are expected during the U$ invasion, in an Iraqi population that has 50% children.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Bleak future awaits poverty-stricken Iraqis
By Mark Baker, Herald Correspondent in Amman, Jordan
March 15 2003
A few weeks ago Margaret Hassan visited the house of a primary school teacher in the southern Iraqi town of Hamza.
What Care International's country program director saw moved her to anger at the deprivation and indignity that years of war and a decade of international sanctions have wrought on the Iraqi people.
The once-comfortable home of a middle-class family no longer had even one piece of furniture, because all the possessions had been sold. The eight family members slept on old mattresses on bare concrete floors. The family survived on handouts provided under the United Nations oil-for-food program and the teacher's monthly salary of 18,000 dinars - about $13.
"I was shocked and embarrassed," says the British-born Ms Hassan, who has lived in Iraq for 30 years. "You can imagine how I felt standing there, as a Westerner, in front of someone who had nothing, literally nothing."
The family's plight was not an isolated case. The United Nations estimates that between 60 and 70 per cent of people in southern and central Iraq depend on official food rations.
It could get much worse. International relief agencies and the nations bordering Iraq are bracing for a humanitarian emergency when the fighting begins, and a potential catastrophe if the war drags on.
The UN is predicting about 2 million Iraqis could be left homeless by an allied invasion, with as many as 900,000 likely to flee the country. But with saturation bombing and a possible siege of Baghdad - home to an estimated 6 million people - that could be seriously understated.
"There could be a huge population movement in both the north and south if it is anything like the Gulf War in 1991. It's just impossible to predict," says Geoff Keele, a spokesman for the UN Children's Fund. "The people have no resources to fall back on."
Mr Keele says that most of the agencies are chronically ill-prepared. The UN's World Food Program has so far only been able to stockpile sufficient emergency supplies to feed 500,000 people for 10 weeks. Other UN bodies are hugely underfunded.
The fear of all agencies working inside Iraq is that the war could severely disrupt the oil-for-food program under which, since 1997, the regime has been permitted to export limited amounts of oil to pay for basic food rations and medicines. These are allocated through 45,000 centres across the country. While most Iraqis recently received an emergency allowance of two months' rations, agencies say the likely dislocation of the program once fighting begins could have devastating consequences, especially for children.
The oil-for-food program has seen a halving of child malnutrition rates. Mr Keele says "any disruption to food distribution would see a sharp rise in malnutrition levels".
Iran, Syria and Jordan are expected to shoulder the brunt of the expected exodus of refugees once fighting begins. Jordan, which had an influx of 1.5 million refugees during the Gulf War in 1991 - 500,000 of whom never went home - fears it will again be overwhelmed.
UN officials predict that up to 300,000 Iraqis will flee to Iran, which is still hosting more than 2 million refugees from the last Gulf War and the conflict in Afghanistan.
The only hope of alarmed relief officials is that the conflict will not be protracted. But Ms Hassan is not persuaded by confident American predictions of a short, sharp campaign.
"It doesn't matter how short it is, people will die and people will be handicapped for the rest of their lives and everyone will be traumatised," she says.
Out in the deserts of the Middle East, the U$ Invasion Force waits for their chance to experience the blood lust of national conquest. Journalists have been told that no provision for their security will be made. Indeed, it is likely that U$ forces will target journalists to suppress any unauthorised news sources.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
Engulfed in the Gulf: soldiers battle choking dust storms
By Ron Martz in northern Kuwait
March 15 2003
When the late winter and early spring winds, known as shamals, begin to blow here, there is no escape from the dust.
It coats exposed surfaces with a tan film as fine as talcum powder and as sneeze-inducing as pepper, while seeking out the tiniest cracks and crevices in clothing and equipment.
It sneaks into ears, noses and eyes and makes life here on the edge of Iraq even more difficult for soldiers.
A shamal blew in from the north late on Wednesday. By midnight, canvas tents were rocking and popping in the sustained 100kmh winds. Soldiers said it was the worst they had seen in the six months they had been here.
Soldiers marking maps for the upcoming attack by the US forces' 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanised) strained to see through the film of dust that hung in the air inside the dimly lit tents. Those who ventured outside to the latrines risked getting lost if they stepped more than a metre from their tents.
Visibility was zero as the sand blotted out the moon and stung the eyes of those foolish enough to step into the darkness.
Those who did go out looked like they had been sprinkled with powdered sugar when they managed to find their way back.
Shortly after midnight, an order was given that there was to be no movement of vehicles for fear someone would wander into the desert and get lost.
Just before dawn, the winds subsided slightly, and soldiers awoke with a film of dust covering them, their sleeping bags and their equipment.
They wheezed and hacked up dusty phlegm as they made their way to breakfast.
By 8am the winds reintensified and within an hour a
white haze of blowing dust obscured the horizon. Clots of vehicles clearly visible in the distance the day before had
become blurry blobs behind the opaque veil of blowing dust.
Soldiers hunkered down in their vehicles; as soldiers everywhere so often have to do, they waited.
They waited for the weather to get better, for the wind to die down, for something to happen so they didn't have to think about how miserable it was to live with all the dust.
Cox Newspapers
Meanwhile in Ausralia, the Prim Monster Johnnie "Flakjacket" Howard is strutting his stuff in support of New South Wales Opposition Leader "Little Boy" John "It was my Company's Profit" Brogden in his futile attempt to wrest the government benches from the incumbent Labor Party.
Demonstrators are expected at the posh upper class election rally where the Prim Monster explains to the party faithful that wasting Australian resources on a war with an ally who steals $US 840 million per year wheat markets from aussie farmers is good local politics. This continues the established Liberal Party policies of buying third rate AmeriKKKan "attack?" helicopters built on 1965 Vietnam-reject air-frames.
The imminent U$ invasion of Iraq will have beneficial effects in New South Wales. for the Liberal Party wallowing in a dearth of political policies. "We will be able to excuse our dearth of inspiring leadership or meaningful political poliices by blaming the AmeriKKKans for their Invasion and War of Conquest to steal Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves for the Texan oil corporations. Consequently, there will be no need for us to change our policy of assertive inactivity before the next election when our incompetence will be further entrenched", said one Liberal Party official.
Long-odds John now in the wars
By Alex Mitchell and Andrew West
March 16 2003
The Sun-Herald
More than 5000 anti-war protesters will confront a wall of uniformed riot police when Opposition Leader John Brogden holds the official launch of the Liberals' election campaign today.
The security alert at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre threatens to blunt Mr Brogden's keynote message six days out from the NSW election and as he struggles in the polls.
The demonstration by the anti-war coalition is aimed at guest-of-honour Prime Minister John Howard.
The NSW Labor Council and high-profile Labor councillor Genevieve Rankin of Sutherland Shire Council have been identified as urging protesters to attend the rally, targeting Mr Howard and the Liberal launch.
With six days to polling and his rating as preferred premier down to a crushing 16 per cent, Mr Brogden will hammer the NSW Government's performance on law and order, health and schools.
Focusing on public transport, he will commit the Coalition to a "clean, safe and reliable" train system offering three specific policies:
20 teams of roving cleaners to be on duty keeping carriages clean;
Retraining rail security staff and giving them powers of special constables; and
Auditing train tracks and funding a track-maintenance program.
In a last-ditch move to raise his profile, the 33-year-old challenger has decided to take to the road tomorrow on a campaign bus to meet voters.
"John's strength is his ability to get on with people, to relate to people and to enjoy being face-to-face with people," Mr Brogden's spokesman Morgan Ogg said.
"With [Premier Bob] Carr it is all structured and stage-managed stuff."
The "Brogger bus" will tour electorates in greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Newcastle selling a "back to basics" message.
Appearing yesterday with Opposition police spokesman Andrew Tink, Mr Brogden also promised to abolish the system of on-the-spot fines for crimes such as house breaking and assault.
He said such offences should be treated as proper crimes and the perpetrators arrested and finger-printed.
"People who create havoc on our streets should not be handed the equivalent of a parking ticket," Mr Brogden said.
"Labor's on-the-spot fine system has proven to be no deterrent to crime, and people need to feel safe walking the streets."
He also said a Coalition government would end the policy under which police must issue up to two directives before they can search people for knives or move along loiterers or gang members.
Two hundred police would also be freed from desk duties and other police, formerly placed on light duties, would return to station-based administrative or strategic jobs.
Mr Brogden said all crime victims would have the choice of reporting to their local police station rather than simply calling the Police Assistance Line.
Elected to the Liberal leadership 12 months ago after a coup against Kerry Chikarovski, Mr Brogden needs a quality performance next Saturday to hold on to his job.
The loss of a significant number of seats could lead to a panic attack and the replacement of Mr Brogden with former NSW Liberal director Barry O'Farrell.
The party's hard-line right, led by monarchist and failed parliamentary aspirant Kerry Jones and Mrs Chikarovski's mother Jill Bartels, is already urging an anti-Brogden push.
The state executive elections, postponed from December to April, will be the battleground between the right and the reform group known as The Group, which supports Mr Brogden.
That ends the news. Hail Hitler-George!!
<edited to ad Brogden story from Sun Herald>
Last edited:
