INVASION OF IRAQ IS ALL ABOUT OIL, OIL, OIL

By BRIAN, Vancouver Is, B.C., Canada I am seeing more and more light come to this whole Oil gain, why Iraq was attacked and how the debt will be helped. Now that the US has liberated Afghanistan and pushed aside the Taliban, they can go ahead with the Afghan pipeline and the Taliban won't be getting rich from it as they no longer control Afghanistan. The only other thing that has ever impeded this WELL KNOWN AND LONG TIME goal of the USA was .... Saddam Hussein. I read where a while back, before the Gulf war, China had said that they NEED military control of the area and were worried/concerned that the US would show it's military superiority by getting THEIR dominance in the area, thus proving true global military CONTROL. Here are all the ACTUAL events to support it: *Firstly they KNOW that the US has wanted the Afghan pipeline for years, it's no secret. *Secondly, it has been proven that Russia and China wanted military dominance of the area. Remember when the Taliban fought off the Russians......with America's support? How nice of the USA to help the Taliban, while it's in their own best interests. *Thirdly, 9/11 was just opportunistic, sad but true, and Bush couldn't pass up on an allied coalition, to push the Taliban out of control (and away from profiting on a new pipeline)PLUS the US has bases in that area now, thus gaining true military power over the area as Russia had tried also ... yet they were alone with financial support from China. *Fourthly, next stop Iraq. Capture Saddam (Bin Laden wasn't a threat to oil control and thus the hunt went real quiet as a secondary objective). *Fifthly, get bases built North of Iraq for permanent military occupation, again showing true military dominance on the East of the continent. USA is paying TOP dollar to import oil from South America (everyone has always said, the US gets most of their oil elsewhere, that's why they don't feel Iraq is to gain oil). Well it's too expensive at the current source -- there is high demand and not enough resellers. Shipping from the Syria out and through Asian seas would be too costly. Shipping through the West of Europe wouldn't be beneficial as fuel consumption is low in Western Europe and supply is plentiful, so again there is no profitability. Shipping through a pipeline and out of the Middle East gives them a logistical and cost advantage, they would be selling tonnes through Pakistan and other more developed Middle Eastern Countries. So perhaps this is about oil, not from lack of supply from South America, but for lower cost and greater profit through the middle east.

IS ONE PERSON'S LIFE MORE EVIL THAN THAT OF ANOTHER ?

By MARGARET, Washington, USA. I believe that the major media is powerful, and the Bush administration sells a scary view of this wonderful world -- mixing religion with politics -- a religion which preaches evil -- that some are better than others. I disagree. From the movie “Fahrenheit 9/11,” war is just poor people killing poor people. As Carol Mosely-Braun said -- we should be rebuilding Baltimore not Baghdad. And so it goes. Are they fools that believe we need to draft our young people’s energy to service a regard that even one person's life is more evil than another's? If I believed that, I would be suffering. I find relief in believing everyone is doing their best. And who am I to judge what is good or evil for the masses, or the poorest people? I will most likely vote for Nader again. The 2 party system is antique. The information age should eventually leak past the major story tellers and the younger people can vote opinion. They may not need an electoral college to represent only geographical majority vote.

FAIR DINKUM NEWS FROM THE USA

You might already know of a maverick radio station DEMOCRACY NOW whose anchor lady is Amy Goodman -- and I have it from a very good source of mine in the States that this is probably the only remaining form of media in America where the not so pleasant or attractive truth gets an airing. They have tried numerous tactics of course to get it closed down but to no avail. The Americans I speak to are very refreshingly and unrelentingly opposed to Bush and his administration and what they might term their foreign policy with regard to stamping out terrorism world wide. Also the state of the nation is so poor -- with the zero crime policy and the obvious skewing of the law against the blacks and the poor -- legal rorts abound. One of my contacts is the chief defence attorney in death penalty cases and has been doing this job for over twenty five years. He is also a law professor and what he has to say against the entire regime is damning . Of course it is incredibly hard for Americans to decipher the truth when most if not nearly all the TV stations and radio stations, not to mention the papers, are owned by defence contractors -- and they even have ways of shutting up dissenting voices in Congress and the Senate. What chance then to be able to scrutinise fairly? This is in effect not a democracy. My contacts speak of it being a police state, their excuse being that they are in a situation of threat to national security. So personal freedom is eroded on a daily basis ....so absurd !!! And this is the country wielding the most control in the world at present. [Michelle, Adelaide]

MUSLIMS, JEWS and ZIONISTS

A big problem with the speech is in the penumbra and hyperbole. There is a tendency to identify Jews and Zionists, and there is indeed a tremendous overlap. But it is the Zionists who control the Rabbinical Jews, not the other way round. Rabbi Elmer Berger of Flint in Michigan traveled around the U.S. in the later 1940s and the early 1950s to dissuade his coreligionists from supporting Zionism. He describes this work in "Memoirs of an Anti-Zionist Jew". He was repeatedly told that American Jews would not be so stupid or so evil as to support Zionism, but his fears proved correct: once the state was founded the U.S. community identified with it. Still, they are dupes more than villains, and are now using their legitimately acquired influence for a purpose which at root is contrary to their faith, as most of them were aware before 1948. Assuming the identification, I do not think it true to say that Rabbinical Jews get others to fight all their literal wars; the only examples I can think of are the present Iraq business and the Suez Crisis, and there the British and French did have reasons of their own. But the U.S. taxpayer, including yours truly, is forced to contribute $3m/day to Zionism, not counting loan guarantees (which are NOT cost-free). The U.S. also does a lot of verbal warring for the Zionists, refusing to work with the International Criminal Court lest Israelis ever appear before it, refusing to ratify the Anti-Genocide Convention lest U.S. courts be used to prevent the subsidization of Zionism, arming Arab despotisms, etc. Your comments on the speech were sensible enough but are unlikely to persuade many people. But one must do one's best. JOHN WILLS, Oakland, California Commenting on an editorial published in the San Francisco Chronicle, John said: “We Muslims are morally, culturally, politically and economically marginal in the world. This is our own fault for not interesting ourselves in secular education, and in other ways. The Jews have done very well by their internal policies. We Muslims should copy them. Stripped of the hyperbole, I think that that is a fair summary of Mohathir Mohammed's recent speech. It is complimentary towards Jews. I agree with him: Blacks in the U. S., Kurds in Turkey, nearly all social groups suffering from inferiority, could do much better for themselves by taking the attitudes Rabbinical Jews, especially in Western Europe and North America, have taken towards their problems. Education, self-respect, a culture of intelligence: these are the way out of inferiority for a family, for a neighbourhood, for a large social group. Your condemnation (editorial, today) of the speech as anti-Semitism is absurd: he was obviously condemnatory of some of what Jews have done with their power, particularly of Zionism, the most virulent form of anti-Semitism extant. More importantly, a paean of praise for Jewish achievement under adversity does not constitute an incitement to Jew-hate.

NO CHANGE LIKELY IN MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

By JOHN WILLS, Oakland, California. February 11, 2005 The Zionists demonized Arafat, who was quite willing to work with them towards peace, but they kept breaking every truce made and, because they had demonized Arafat, got away with calling their killings "retaliation". Abbas is not politically different from Arafat, but they have not demonized him yet, so they have to work with them for a while. They have already broken the present truce several times without any reaction from Hamas etc., but eventually there will be a reaction and the Zionists will do some quite heavy killing and blame Abbas for being unable to keep the peace. The question is how long it will take to demonize Abbas as effectively as Arafat, how far towards peace they will get while working on the Road Map, and how long it will take the U.S. public to demand real progress towards peace (there is already a slightly greater number sympathizing with the Palestinians than with the Israelis, and eventually this may grow into the more powerful plurality.). The Israelis can have peace without the co-operation of the Palestinian leadership by starting to restore the private property they have stolen, which must include allowing many of the exiles home. This is in any case a prerequisite for peace, because the dispossession is the primal act of violence; once the process started Hamas etc. would sit back and watch, Recently some Hamas official was quoted in the SF Chronicle as saying that there was no point in a truce because the Israelis would just break it, as usual, but if real steps towards resolution were being taken I think there would be calm.

POLITICAL WOES IN BERLUSCONIAN ITALY

By PAOLA ROMEO, Campainia, Italy. In the last 4 years we have (and we are) been governed by a coalition of parties belonging to the “right wing” and the leader of this coalition is Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of the three most important private TV networks in Italy. He is a millionaire (in 1996, when he entered politics he had 3500 milliards of Italian Liras of debts with Banks!) who is acting as a boss and not as a Statesman. He has made many laws just for clearing his own jail record; he has his lawyers in the two Chambers of Parliament; he has a direct control on public TV being the First Minister. Anyone who just tries to say a word against his personal interests is immediately called “communist” and is discredited by all TV or magazines or newspapers. We had some nice satirical programs in TV conducted by some bright and very clever theatre actors or actresses who cannot appear any more in TV. We have very important journalists who are no more invited in TV and are only writing as “Mail to me” on some newspapers or magazines. At the same time, the Left Wing is completely divided and fighting on each question. It is a terrible period also because ideologies are changing, the thought, even the philosophic one, has become “weak”, everybody wants to have the leadership and we, the people, we are confused and we have been trying in these last three years to convince our small and great Parties to have a common behaviour, a common Leader, common strategy but in vain! There are also many young people belonging to the “no global” movements who could join the Left if it were able to find words and aims to share, but probably there is no courage or, perhaps, we need a long period of growth. I don’t know, really, but I strongly hope that next time (it should be in 2006) we will be able to obtain the majority and then to save our Country and the Constitution which is going to be changed by the “Berlusconian gang”.

GOODBYE AMERICA

By “PENTACLE,” [Melbourne, Australia, September 1, 2004] When I was at school, most of the world was still coloured red for the British Empire. I could say I was growing up during the dying days of its demise. Empires come and go as witnessed by history -- Assyria, Greece, Rome, Britain and now the USA. Yes, the USA. It would seem its zenith was during the Second World War as a champion of democracy from which it became the wealthiest nation on the globe, and the strongest. By means of its cultural imperialism, it managed to convince us that its lifestyle and ambitions were desirable things to aspire to. We now see the rot that has been there for a long time, the ends apparently justifying the means with power and control of all our lives, the aim. Many of the world's politicians pander to the whims and desires of its Republican President and subvert the truth to curry favour with this powerful nation. Why? What do they hope to gain by being dragged into another conflict hanging onto the coat-tails of the USA? America will always use us for its own ends, not ours. We only have to examine the evidence of what happened to Britain in WWII after the fiasco of Dunkirk to understand this. Britain was at the mercy of Hitler. With its artillery tanks and transport lying on the beach at Dunkirk, Winston Churchill, with Hitler at his doorstep, turned to our great American ally for material help and Lend Lease was born. The first American requirement was that all the gold in the Bank of England be transferred to the US; that is, what little was left after the disaster of the WW1 and the 1929 stock market crash. (Some would even say engineered by the Americans for their own ends.) This was followed by the technological developments -- British rayon, radar, Huff Duff (a device for locating submarines), and Frank Whittle's jet engine with all the plans. In fact, together with the Enigma Machine and all of the German and Japanese, diplomatic, military and naval codes, everything of commercial value but with no patent protection applied. Lend Lease was the next. This hire-purchase plan was to provide guns, aeroplanes, tanks and munitions and food to conduct the war. The war ended in 1945. In Britain on that day, Lend Lease ceased and the repayments began. It is estimated by the British Government that it will be another ten years before the debt is repaid, (2014) nearly 70 years after the war ended. This burden has effectively crippled Britain as the world power it once was, leaving the US to step into Britain's shoes. Now it would seem that China, effectively embracing a semi-capitalist system while still retaining its communist roots, will be ready to step into America's shoes when the US finally declines in the not too distant future.