Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
It occurred to me in one of my less cynical moments, deluded no doubt by the merriment of the season, that all of those responsible for the havoc and chaos of these past six years should face the wrath of the American people and, one might hope, the wrath of the God of Justice and Vengeance. Once before I had similar urgings, in July of 2004 to be exact, and I penned an article titled “Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons” that appeared in Counterpunch, wherein I placed our benighted leaders into the Inferno’s circles of Hell. The experience of the last two years heaped on that of the preceding four necessitates a reconsideration of the leniency of Dante’s punishment as it fits the crimes of our current horde that deserve an exclusive damnation prepared for their unique and heinous sins.
The urgency of this endeavor grows with time as these nefarious lunatics slither away from the public eye escaping to new positions and new offices beyond the glare of TV cameras and press conferences. Should one envision the Capital afloat in the marshes of the Potomac just beyond Jefferson’s Memorial, one might see the rats cascading down the gang planks and sliding down the ropes fleeing the Ship of State as it sinks into the muck led by William F. Buckley Jr. while Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, and Douglas Feith cling to his coattails in their mad rush to disclaim responsibility for the death and destruction they have wrought on the American people and the people of the mid-east. Behind them come the other “wormsmiths,” the crafters of polemics that enticed the American people and their clueless representatives to arms against innocent people that their ends might be achieved in wealth and power.
These men crafted their arguments in patriotic colors and ingenious innuendo that belied the deceit buried in obfuscation and omission. Their own conflict of interest -- working on behalf of another state, benefiting from the largesse of Abramoff and his cronies, gaining visibility that brought them renown and access to insider contracts that increased their wealth – went unmentioned as they sent our youth to slaughter and sent America’s good will into the gutter. As the American people express their displeasure, indeed their anger at the lies and deception that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead, almost 3000 American soldiers slaughtered and countless maimed and wounded, and in Palestine, thousands of innocent civilians savaged by missiles, cluster bombs, and chemical weapons of unimaginable kind, as the horrendous cost in infrastructure, commercial and cultural buildings and hospitals reaches into the billions of dollars, these pin-striped, coiffured and scented men scatter into the darkness of obscurity lest their vile words be resurrected and their guilt made transparent.
The war that Western powers – primarily US, Israel and Britain – began against the Islamic world after September 11, 2001, is about to enter a new more dangerous phase as their early plans for ‘changing the map of the Middle East’ have begun to unravel with unintended consequences.
Codenamed ‘the war against terror,’ the imperialist war against the Middle East was fueled primarily by US and Israeli ambitions. Britain’s participation is mostly a sideshow. US and Israel have convergent aims in the region. The US seeks to deepen its control over the region’s oil. Israel wants to create regional conditions that will allow it to complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
As a first step, both objectives would be served by removing four regimes – in Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan – that still resisted US and Israeli ambitions in the region. Once these regimes had been removed, the US and Israel would carry the war into Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to dismember them into smaller, weaker client states.
Iraq and Afghanistan were chosen as the first targets – the easy points of entry into the war. They had been ravaged by years of war, weakened by internal divisions, and, in the case of Iraq, hollowed out by sanctions. It was believed that occupation would be easy. With friendly regimes in power, the US could start working on regime change in Iran and Syria.
Occupation was indeed a cake walk. But little else has been easy. The Sunni-led insurgency that began within weeks of the fall of Baghdad has succeeded in derailing US efforts to stabilize Iraq. Indeed, as Iraq has moved closer to a civil war over the past few months, pressures within the US are mounting for an American pull out. In Afghanistan too, after a period of initial stability, a Taliban resurgence – operating from liberated areas in neighboring Pakistan – now threatens NATO forces through much of eastern and southern Afghanistan.
In the meanwhile, the US-led war against the region has changed the map of the Middle East, but in unsettling ways. Not only has Iran gained deep influence over Iraq and Afghanistan, it can leverage this influence to raise steeply the cost of the US occupation in both countries. In the meanwhile, with help from Russia and China, Iran has built a military capability that can threaten US clients on the Arabian peninsula, shut off the Hormuz Straits to shipping, and launch missiles that can reach Israel. In addition, last summer, Hizbullah demonstrated a new form of guerilla war – with low-tech rockets, anti-tank weapons, and sophisticated intelligence gathering – that neutralized a determined Israeli offensive.
There's a song from the legendary 1960 musical, "Bye, Bye Birdie," titled "Kids," which laments the peculiar behaviors of kids. It famously ponders, "Why can't they be like we were, perfect in every way? What's the matter with kids today?"
Those telling words were the lyrical musings of adults. And logically so, for the questionable behaviors of kids are never ending bemusement for adults. Kids are silly. They lack the logic and moral framework from which to make reasoned decisions and act in civil respectable ways.They lack the character building acquired through the process of aging.
But how do the young gain knowledge? Upon what and whom do they model adulthood?
The title of the BBC news report was suitably ‘balanced‘: ‘Iraqi Deaths.’ Not ‘American Massacre,’ or ‘American Massacre Of Iraqi Civilians.’
News anchor George Alagiah introduced the piece:
“The US military is preparing to announce charges against a group of marines accused of killing Iraqi civilians. More than 20 people, some of them children, died in Haditha a year ago. But it’s not clear whether they were killed deliberately.”
In May, the New York Times reported that the slaughter was "methodical in nature". (Thom Shanker, Eric Schmitt And Richard A. Oppel Jr., 'Military Expected to Report Marines Killed Iraqi Civilians,' New York Times, May 25, 2006)
The Los Angeles Times reported that many of the victims were killed "execution-style," shot in the head or in the back. A US government official accepted that the US marines had "suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership, with tragic results". (Tony Perry and Julian E. Barnes, 'Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style,' Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2006. See Media Alert)
Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the Haditha killings a "terrible crime". (‘US Marine captain to face Haditha charges - lawyer,’ Reuters, December 19, 2006)
The trial of Rashid Rauf is about to begin in Pakistan,
where last week the formerly alleged ringleader and/or mastermind
and/or explosives expert and/or al-Q'aeda connection of the currently
alleged Liquid Bombers saw all of his terror-related charges dismissed.
He is still held on non-terror charges, including impersonation and traveling with forged papers, and faces a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Rashid
Rauf may also face extradition to Britain. The British have been trying
to question him in connection with a 2002 murder as well as this
summer's alleged plot.
They haven't been successful, and there's no
extradition treaty between Britain and Pakistan, so they might never
get him to the UK.
Writings
It occurred to me in one of my less cynical moments, deluded no doubt by the merriment of the season, that all of those responsible for the havoc and chaos of these past six years should face the wrath of the American people and, one might hope, the wrath of the God of Justice and Vengeance. Once before I had similar urgings, in July of 2004 to be exact, and I penned an article titled “Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons” that appeared in Counterpunch, wherein I placed our benighted leaders into the Inferno’s circles of Hell. The experience of the last two years heaped on that of the preceding four necessitates a reconsideration of the leniency of Dante’s punishment as it fits the crimes of our current horde that deserve an exclusive damnation prepared for their unique and heinous sins. 
The war that Western powers – primarily US, Israel and Britain – began against the Islamic world after September 11, 2001, is about to enter a new more dangerous phase as their early plans for ‘changing the map of the Middle East’ have begun to unravel with unintended consequences. 
By Winter Patriot
