MISSISSIPPI BURNING - 41 YEARS LATER

THE “STRANGE FRUIT” FROM THE RECENT MISSISSIPPI TRIAL OF A CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST MINISTER

LOCAL PRINT NEWS OF THE TRIAL

Pictured at left, during a late 1964 police booking - Preacher Edgar Ray Killen who was sentenced this June 24, 2005 to 60 years for triple manslaughter charges of three civil rights workers.

The local Mississippi newspaper, the Neshoba Democrat, has a web site page dedicated to the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/dvjrq and another local newspaper, the famous Clarion Ledger covered the Klan’s attendance at the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/87s72 ; and another article from seven years ago details that during the 1967 trial against “Preacher” Killen which interviewed the surviving members and families of the jury discussing the 11 – 1 vote for Killen’s mistrial.

A single female juror who held out against his guilty verdict because she "couldn't send a preacher to prison." The exclusive article is located at: http://tinyurl.com/aa7vq ; and this article captures the local history of cross burnings, threatening phone calls and other forms of jury intimidation the jurors received at their homes.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Another very helpful background report is at: http://tinyurl.com/7a8t and a photograph of Killen during the time of the murders at: http://tinyurl.com/8zq9n in reference to the immediate historical context of the crimes. The report details a number of attempts to kill Michael Schwerner known among local Klan members as “Goatee” or “Jew Boy” which was overlooked by mainstream media covering Killen’s recent trial:

“The Klan's first attempt to eliminate Schwerner came on June 16, 1964 in the rural Neshoba County community of Longdale [LINK TO MAP]. Schwerner had visited Longdale on Memorial Day to ask permission of the black congregation at Mount Zion Church to use their church as the site of a "Freedom School."

The Klan knew of Schwerner's Memorial Day visit to Longdale and expected him to return for a business meeting held at the church on the evening of June 16. About 10 p.m., when the Mount Zion meeting broke up, seven black men and three black women left the building to discover thirty men lined up in military fashion with rifles and shotguns. More men were gathered at the rear of the church.

Frustrated when their search for "Jew-Boy" was unsuccessful, some of the Klan members began beating the departing blacks. Ten gallons of diesel fuel were removed from one of the Klan members cars and spread around the inside of the church. Mount Zion Church was soon engulfed in flames.”

– from the University of Missouri (Kansas City) authoritative web site MISSISSIPPI BURNING which has a very good account of the period in Neshoba county at: http://tinyurl.com/bt732

See also: http://tinyurl.com/assuk

And Truthout (dot) org have a great series of articles about the trial at: http://tinyurl.com/aq6hp coverage includes contemporary photographs and “on the ground reports” of the courthouse and the surrounding countryside by John Sugg.

TRIAL NOTES FROM C-SPAN’S BROADCAST of CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Judge Marcus Gordon, 8th Circuit Court District presided in the Philadelphia, Miss., Neshoba County courthouse.

Pastor Killen officiated at the double funeral for Judge Gordon’s parents several years ago. It was reported by Sugg that Killen was visibly happy and motioned a thumbs up to the judge during one of the earlier hearings.

17 others were also tried in 1967, in Killen’s case the jury was 11 – 1 for acquittal and resulted in the criminal conviction of less than half, with jail sentences of less than ten years each.

TERROR – “IN THE NAME OF GOD”

Closing arguments by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood included statements like: “He did it with the word of God.” … “It was done by that man right over there,” and “He wants one of you to get weak.”

He pointed out that Killen ceremoniously had the other members of the party during the night of the murders take an oath to swear. He recalled how later during the 1967 trial of the 17, including the county sheriff and a deputy had a large mob gathered outside the courthouse that heckled and threw garbage at the “eight FBI agents” when they left the building in 1967.

James McIntyre, an attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, during his closing statement appealed to the sentiments of those residents to the “outside politics” and “done nothing but agitate all the citizens of Mississippi” or “a complete distraction” over a wound that “healed over 40 years ago”.

He beseeches jurors to think of protecting their homes. He points to “all these people out here” and claims it is nothing but a “show.”

Mitch Moran, another attorney for Pastor Edgar Ray Killen, claimed that another klavern or chapter “put the orders out” to kill the three and that Sam Bowers “approved it.” Killen’s known association with Sam Bower’s was well established during the 1967 federal trial when Bower’s was among the 7 convicted. More background information on Bowers is available at: http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/21/klan/

Moran said, that there were “75 to 80 members of the Klan” in Neshoba County during that time in Mississippi.

Moran said, “it is very hard to defend someone when the evidence is read into the record.” He is referring to testimony of other Klansmen and government informants that was read from the witness box. The testimonies were from people who have died since the 1967 trial.

Miss. 8th Circuit District court Mark Duncan, the local county attorney, described the court’s instructions on arriving at the verdict. He recites a story about Neshoba County – hearsay and “folklore” about the three civil rights workers.

He said the three were helping people to register to vote and build a community center where children could read books and of Schwerner’s surviving wife who recalled earlier in the trial from the witness box of living at that time in a shack with no running water, and having to enter a black owned hotel through the back door.

Duncan’s voice raised as he called to the jury to look at the “main instigator,” pointing to Pastor Killen.

“He [Killen] was the man who directed the killings” and didn’t have “the gumption or guts to carry out the murders himself,” claimed Duncan.

“You won’t have anymore trouble from Goatee.” – Pastor Killen to Deputy Hatcher referring to Schwerner on the day after the murders.

Killen smirked and grinned from his wheel chair throughout much of the statements by the prosecutors. On several occasions he mouthed inaudible words to the jury.

"What you do in life - echoes through eternity."

- Neshoba County Attorney Mark Duncan

According to the prosecutors the burial site of the three civil rights workers had already been dug prior to their murders “waiting to be used” at the local dam construction site, located a few miles northeast of Philadelphia, Ms.

Five witnesses testified against Killen, that he “originated, planned and directed the organization of the murders.”

“There is another story – and that was the description of our home and the way it was for Neshoba County.“

Duncan recalls watching a movie at his home and with his voice cracking in emotion quotes a character, “what you do in life echoes through eternity.”

The jury is sent to deliberate and return a verdict, in less than four hours the judge calls them back for a report on the last vote. The foreman to the jury reported that the last vote was 6 – 6 when it was recessed till the following morning.

The jury was sequestered at a local motel over the evening. The judge admonished the jurors about avoiding discussion or watching any news.

The following morning the judge thanked the news media for their professionalism; Killen sits in a wheel chair with an oxygen hose in his nose. The jurors and victims at no time were clearly visible to the cameras throughout the trial.

All twelve jurors were required to acknowledge with their voices to Judge Gordan their agreement with the verdicts 6 times; three for each charge before the reading of the verdict, and three times each after the reading of the guilty verdict.

The following day Gordan sentences Killen to three consecutive maximum sentences of twenty years for each of the three counts of manslaughter.

FAST LANE TO FASCIST USA

Marching to Victory!

Halliburton (KBR) investigation reveals outrageous overcharges, bloody business competition practices with rivals and more at (the article did omit a total of over 32 billion dollars in audited shortages.
At: http://tinyurl.com/ct29x

Encouraging amnesia abroad
U. S. embassy officials encourages international newspapers to not run news articles and op/ed pieces critical of Iraq War and Bush lies: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062405N.shtml

Italian police searching for CIA agents
13 U. S. intelligence operatives have arrest warrants issued in Italian court. CIA kidnaps people in foreign lands and transports them to torture: http://kurtnimmo.com/blog/?p=770


Matt Simmon's Twilight in the Desert
BOOK REVIEW OF ENERGY EXEC PUTS BIG OIL IN TROUBLE – WORLD ECONOMY WILL SHAKE
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062705N.shtml

Sliding on the slope to fascism
California National Guard collecting intelligence on local anti – war groups, “Mission Creep” http://tinyurl.com/dlcoe

"ANOTHER TREE HOUSE HERO" (Part three)

ANOTHER

BUSHZARRO WORLD

TELEPHONE FUNDRAISER

FOR CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS TELEVISION

"Yeah, I'd knowd that, the war on dem Iranians has already begun. Sure just in time too, we been winning the Iraqis and liberatin' so many since the President won deh re - election!

I hope we jest bomb'em dis time, we got the troops next door, but bombs is best.

It's a gewd time to bomb dem Iranians, jest in time for their elections over there. We'll teach dem some shit.

I knowd it, I been calling dat C - Span channel tellin' how full of shit dhey are about dem Limey Downing Street memos!!! T'ain't Right! Damn straight! Dhose nitwits ought to git their lights turned off - jes like we did dhat damn Dan Rather. Yuck! Yuck! Sure sign me up, I'm good for $50 bucks.

I don't care if yeh pray fer me....

And dhat damn commie pinko PUBLIC BROADCASTING channel - see how we gonna shut them down - make me a member of dheir Board of Snirectors, too!

I knowd dhat, ain't that funny, talk about sneaky. I tell yah our President is sooooo smart!

We ain't 'leavin' no kid behind' - except for dem military recruiters - uh huh,

We ISSS WINNING AGAIN!

I knowd it, I knowd it, uh huh, uh huh .... so let me ask yeh somethin' When is we gettin' dem Social Security refund checks? "

See also:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9199.htm

PHOTO COURTESY: FREEWAYBLOOGERS.COM

DOOR CITY, WISCONSIN

FREE SPEECH RESISTANCE

Jobs, a sense of Dignity, a clean Environment & Peace in our Time!

VIVA VENEZUELA! THE NEOCON'S NIGHTMARE.

PRE - ELECTION 2005, AUSTIN, TEXAS

FREE SPEECH - RESISTANCE

PHOTO COURTESY: FREEWAYBLOGGERS.COM

Neocon Nightmare: Oil, Socialism, and Chutzpah in Venezuela

BY

Jason Miller

Driven by obscene greed and hubris, the Oligarchs ruling America attempt to mercilessly crush those who stand in the way of their imperialistic ambitions.

John Steinbeck once wrote:

"It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second."

The plutocrats rule America behind the clever guise of a constitutional republic rife with corruption. With an unmatched ferocity in embodying the “traits of success” discerned by Steinbeck, their Neocon representatives in the government vigorously protect the interests of the wealthy and tirelessly push the American system of corrupt avarice on the rest of the world. Strategies they typically employ include economic pressure, psychological manipulation through propaganda and media control, covert intervention by the CIA, and in cases like Iraq, invasion and occupation. What the proletariat has needed for a long time is a champion for their cause. Plebeians of the world, meet Hugo Chavez.

Yes, there is a viable alternative to plutocracy

With America’s government fiercely advancing the interests of avaricious corporations around the world, Hugo Chavez has emerged in Venezuela as a welcome antithesis. While there is little doubt that Chavez is complex, acts with a degree of self interest, and has a multi-faceted agenda, he has remained steadfast in his promise to provide for the poverty-stricken in Venezuela. His open defiance of US imperialism and nascent attempt to implement a social democracy make him a rare breed in this world. As they sustain blows to their economic security, civil liberties, and intellectual freedoms almost daily under the Bush administration, people around the world can look to Chavez as illumination in a very dark age.

Chavez has tenacity. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998 and again in 2000 by significant margins of victory. Contrary to claims of corruption by the Bush administration and its media lap-dogs, international observers declared both elections to be free. Chavez survived a coup attempt in 2002, which was openly supported by the Bush administration. Dogged by the opposition of the Oligarchs in his own country, Chavez overcame a recall election in August of 2004. His approval margin was a comfortable 59%. The recall was organized and supervised by the Organization of American States and the Carter Center. Jimmy Carter, noted for his sterling integrity, helped supervise the referendum process. Carter himself confirmed the legitimacy of the procedures. Unlike Americans, Venezuelans can rest assured that their recent elections have not been rigged. Having tenaciously survived several rigorous tests, Chavez is a president who truly represents a majority of his people, and has the chutzpah to go toe to toe with the Neocons.

In 1998, Chavez inherited a nation of extreme "haves" and "have nots". For years, corrupt Oligarchs had plundered the revenue from Venezuela's rich oil reserves. Chavez rode to office on a wave of populist support for his promises to bring social and economic justice to his nation. When he took the reins of leadership, 3% percent of the population (mostly of white European descent) owned 77% of the country’s land. About 80% of the Venezuelan population was of black and Indian descent. They comprised most of the 21 million poverty-stricken people in a nation with a population of 25 million. Widespread poverty in a nation that sits atop the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere? The word unconscionable could only begin to describe the situation. Enter Hugo Chavez with his grand designs to beat back the economic disparity.

Hollow rhetoric or real promises?

In Venezuela, just under a million children who live in the many shameful shanty towns now receive free education. Three new universities offer a secondary education to 250,000 who would not have had the opportunity for further education under the Oligarchs. By the end of 2006, there will be six more universities. In exchanged for subsidized oil, Chavez has arranged for the immigration of 10,000 Cuban doctors to operate free clinics for the poor. He has tripled the health care budget. Under Chavez, over 100,000 families have received land under his Agrarian Reform Act, despite stiff legal and sometimes violent resistance from landlords. State subsidized markets offer necessities to poor consumers for as little as fifty percent of market cost. In 2004, 84% of the poor in Venezuela saw their income increase 33%. Unemployment decreased from 17% in 2004 to 14% by February of 2005.

How has America fared under the Bush Oligarchy?

In a poll conducted in February of 2005, Chavez's approval rating in his country was 70%. Bush’s approval rating in April of 2005 was a paltry 45%. The numbers demonstrate who is acting in the interest of their electorate, and who is not. Despite victory (by landslide popular votes) in two presidential elections and the recall, Bush still questions Chavez's legitimacy. Tremendous controversy surrounded both of Bush’s presidential “victories”, and he lost the popular vote in 2000. Who is in a position to question whom?

Since the Bush Oligarchy came to power, over 1600 Americans have died in an imperialistic war which the Neocons initiated by flagrant lies. The Patriot Act placed stunning restrictions on the civil liberties of Americans as Bush and the Neocons leveraged the fear inspired by 9/11. Theocracy has crept into what is left of America’s democracy through Bush’s "faith based initiatives". Corporate interests predominate over the welfare of individuals. At $5.15 per hour, the pitifully low minimum wage has not increased since 1997. Organized labor continues to weaken as union membership has declined to about 12% of the workforce. Greedy, profiteering corporations like Wal-Mart grow exponentially as they strip-mine the American economy. 45 million Americans do not have health insurance and the Oligarchs are deepening the problem by slashing Medicaid’s budget. Under Bush, the wealth gap has become a chasm. The top 1% of Americans own 40% of the nation's assets, and lay claim to as much wealth as the bottom 95%. The American government is infested with Neocon disciples of Leo Strauss like Paul Wolfowitz and Karl Rove. American leaders are driven by a Machiavellian lust for power and practice deceit like an art-form.

Wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth

Treading in deep water in Iraq, America’s Oligarchs do not have the resources to deal with Chavez in their usual ways. He has fostered a close relationship with long-time "enemy of the state" Fidel Castro. Venezuela is the fifth largest oil producer in the world and accounts for 15% of US oil imports. Chavez has led a resurgence in the power of OPEC to influence the world oil market. Under his leadership, oil-rich developing nations are increasingly demanding a just price for their precious resource to enhance the quality of life for their populaces. Having learned to wield oil as an economic weapon to subdue the Neocons, Chavez presents a tremendous challenge for Rumsfeld and company.

Chavez also represents a growing threat to the Neocon agenda to advance the cause of "freedom and liberty" around the globe. His philosophy of government is that of a "new socialism", which carefully balances democratic principles, a constitution, government intervention in economic matters, and the existence of a private business sector. In contrast, America espouses laisez-faire capitalism and media-induced psychological tyranny masquerading as "freedom and liberty". As evidenced by the occupation in Iraq, George Bush has vowed not to take "no" for an answer. Chavez is forcing Bush to face rejection.

Bush's media loyalists like Fox have attacked Chavez's sanity, reputation, competence, and legitimacy. The Neocons have tried to unseat him by supporting a military coup in 2002. Accusations from Chavez, leaks from the CIA, and US history in Latin America all point to a potential CIA assassination attempt against Chavez in the near future. What the Neocons would not give to use their military might to crush Chavez and seize the bountiful oil fields of Venezuela. With Saddam Hussein, the Neocons did not need to throw too much mud to turn public opinion against him. Chavez is another matter. Even the masters of deceit do not lie well enough to discredit him in the court of public opinion. How galling for them that Chavez's devotion to the poor inspires such fierce loyalty in his supporters, Venezuelan or otherwise.

Undaunted by coups, recall elections, or the $500 million of US military aid to Colombia (his neighbor), Chavez persists in aggressively pursuing his agenda. With unflinching devotion, he works to strengthen his nation, tend to the needs of the poor, and advance his "Bolivarian Revolution". To defend his people, he recently purchased military hardware from Russia, which included 100,000 AK 47s and 10 military helicopters. He is utilizing PDVSA, the state-run oil titan, to finance his social programs for the poor. To the tune of $4 billion per year (drawn from a company with estimated profits of $6.5 billion), Chavez is making good on his promise to share the oil wealth of his nation. He is expanding his profit base by finding new markets for Venezuelan oil in Brazil and China. Chavez has increased the royalties that foreign oil companies (like Chevron) pay to Venezuela. Having raised them from 1% to 16.6%, he is now pushing for 30%. Following the example of Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America from European powers, Chavez's ultimate goal is to form a coalition of independent South American nations to reject US leadership and intervention.

“Hello, Mr. President”

Despite drawing the wrath of the Bush administration for his courageous defiance of their insidious agenda, Chavez remains faithful to his causes. In his weekly addresses to his constituents called "Hello, Mr. President", he continues to express his views opposing the American government quite candidly:

[US government advisers and planners are] "not only planning the death of the world, but are executing it. They are killing the world, our world, and our grandchildren's world.....(in reference to US imperialistic and environmentally damaging policies)

"....because we have generals, commanders and soldiers who are patriots, and who will not bend their knees before the US empire; they know that there are people with a conscience who they will not be able too confuse through the media they control."

"Look at the example of Iraq; there was a campaign against Saddam Hussein, accusing him of having chemical weapons, accusing him of being a menace, by presenting evidence that resulted to be false, to justify the aggression."

...."poisoned medicine..." and "That is what is killing the peoples of Latin America....This is the path of destabilization, of violence, of war between brothers." (Chavez's condemnation of Bush's capitalist free-trade policies)

The world needs him

Controversial as he may be, Hugo Chavez has a spine, and he has stood by his devotion to economic justice. He has weathered multiple political storms. Regardless of the lies perpetrated by the Neocons and their lackeys in the media, Chavez ascended to the presidency, and has maintained office, through legitimate means. Too little time has passed to judge the long-term efficacy of his economic or political ideologies, but his ideals are admirable, and he has done much to enhance the quality of life for the poor of his nation.

His successes notwithstanding, Mr. Chavez has many forces working against him. His fortunes are inextricably linked to the volatile crude oil market. He inherited an economy that was in shambles, and robust economic health is still years away for Venezuela. The wealth gap remains wide despite his programs that have provided desperately needed assistance to the impoverished. Chavez bears the universal burden of being human, all too human, and could fall prey to the corruption that often accompanies power. As a substantial obstacle to Neocon expansionism in Latin America, Chavez has a highly visible target painted on his back. He is in the cross-hairs of a well-armed and experienced hunter. It is a steep grade, but Chavez has the juice to keep climbing.

Bush and his Neocons have the deck stacked in their favor. However, Hugo Chavez is no light-weight and will not go down easily. America's Oligarchs need to learn their place in the world community, and Chavez appears poised to teach them. The real hope for the perpetuation of human civilization is the success of Chavez, and others like him. We need leaders who will champion the rights of the poor and the plebeians. Strauss’s disciples offer humanity the misery of perpetual war, poverty for the masses, tyranny, and desecration of our planet.

Bush and his Neocons long to awaken from their nightmare in Latin America, but fortunately for the plebeians, their real angst has just begun. Thank you, Mr. Chavez!

Jason Miller is a 38 year old free-lance activist writer with a degree in liberal arts. He is a husband and a father to three boys. He earns his living as an account representative for a finance company. His affiliations include Amnesty International, the ACLU and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com. He is a fellow Kansan!

His blog is located at: http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/

Bill Blum's Anti - Empire Report

Photo courtesy: "The Blade"

The Anti-Empire Report:

Some things you need to know before the world ends

Originally published - June 13, 2005

by

William Blum

Gee, how can we ever find out why they don't like us?

The Pentagon awarded three contracts this past week, worth up to $300 million, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into US psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly their opinion of the American military.

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element.

Dan Kuehl, a specialist in information warfare at the National Defense University, added: "There are a billion-plus Muslims that are undecided. How do we move them over to being more supportive of us? If we can do that, we can make progress and improve security."{1}

And so it goes. And so it has gone since September 11, 2001. The world's only superpower has felt misunderstood, although co-existing with this feeling at times, and expressed more than once by Bush administration officials, has been oderint dum metuant, a favorite phrase of Roman emperor Caligula, also used by Cicero -- "let them hate so long as they fear".

"How do I respond when I see that in some Islamic countries there is vitriolic hatred for America?" asked George W. (aka jerkus maximus) a month after 9-11. "I'll tell you how I respond: I'm amazed. I'm amazed that there's such misunderstanding of what our country is about that people would hate us. I am -- like most Americans, I just can't believe it because I know how good we are."{2}

Psychological operations, information warfare, cutting-edge media ... surely there's a high-tech solution.

But what if it's not a misunderstanding? What if the problem is that people in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world understand the Pentagon and US foreign policy only too well?

In short, what if they don't know how good we are?

What if they -- in their foreign ignorance and al-Jazeera brainwashing -- have come to the bizarre conclusion that saturation bombing, invasion, occupation, destruction of homes, torture, depleted uranium, killing a hundred thousand, and daily humiliation of men, women and children do not indicate good intentions?

Last week, as well, Zalmay Khalilzad, nominated to be US ambassador to Iraq, appeared before the Senate. "The degree of support for our policies, opinion polls indicate, is not very high," he said.

It has partly "to do with the perception that what we are about in Iraq is occupation, what we're about is to gain control of Iraqi resources. I think what we need to do is a better job of explaining our goals, the goal of an Iraq that's self-reliant, an Iraq that's successful. We want Iraq for the Iraqis, an Iraq that works for the Iraqi people. It's the insurgents who don't care about the Iraqi people."{3}

Yes, it is remarkable indeed how misinformed some people can be.

The Cold War is dead. Long live the cold war.

In last month's report, during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, I commented about three enduring tales which the West exploited to win Cold War points against the Soviet Union: the Soviets signing a pact with Nazi Germany in 1939; their occupation of the three Baltic nations in 1940; and their occupation of the rest of Eastern Europe after the war.

My purpose was to show that there were ways of looking at these events radically different from the ways Americans are taught to look at them.

This greatly upset a number of my readers; not because what I wrote was historically incorrect, but because to them it seemed to excuse the crimes of the Soviet Union. The idea that the Russians could have legitimate reasons, self defense for one, for doing some of what they did is too painful to acknowledge for committed anti-communists. To them, any attempt to correct a myth concerning the Soviet Union is tantamount to ignoring -- if not approving -- Stalin's crimes and the sufferings of the people in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Progressives of my generation became anti-anti-communists because the powers-that-be in the United States, for decades and decades, used the sins -- real and (often) fabricated -- of the Soviet Union as a justification for US foreign policy. Thus, the horrors carried out by the US in Korea were justified because "we're fighting communism". Thus, the horrors carried out by the US in Vietnam were justified because "we're fighting communism". Ditto the horrors of Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Chile, Guatemala, Salvador, Nicaragua, etc., etc., etc. (Now, of course, "we're fighting terrorism", but it's for the exact same imperialist reasons.)

It's no wonder that people with a social conscience, who suffered over the horrors of US foreign policy, it's no wonder that so many became anti-anti-communists. And still are. I've written a concise history of American anti-communism, which can be read online.{4}

Another myth I should have added in last month's report: The Yalta agreement of 1945, in planning for "the establishment of order in Europe", affirmed "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live." We've been told ever since that it was the evil commies that caused this noble agreement to fall apart.

But, in fact, it was the United States and the United Kingdom who cynically violated this affirmation before Stalin did. In Greece. Before the war in Europe even ended! By grossly interfering in the civil war, taking the side of those who had supported the Nazis in the war (sic), thus enabling them to defeat those who had fought against the Nazis. The latter, you see, had amongst its number some who could be called (choke, gasp) "communists".(5)

Anti-communism still holds a death grip on the American psyche. Witness the screams of pain -- from Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the media -- over Amnesty International's recent characterization of US torture sites as "the gulag of our times". Could anything be more infuriating and humiliating to an inveterate cold warrior than for the United States to be compared to Stalin's Russia?

Yet another patriotic myth (sorry to burst so many bubbles)

August 6 and 9 will mark the 60th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. We can expect the usual speeches and editorials telling us how the use of the bombs obviated the need for a land invasion of Japan, thus saving a huge number of US servicemen's lives.

"Omission," wrote George Orwell, "is the most powerful form of lie." The principal omissions from the a-bomb story is that Japan's military capability had been hopelessly destroyed and the Japanese government had been frantically sending peace feelers to the United States for a long time before those fateful days of August; peace feelers which Washington completely ignored because they wanted to use the atomic bombs. The full story can be read online.{6}

But to American government and media leaders, it doesn't matter much if the official a-bomb story is only a legend. It's a higher truth.

Why does NATO exist?

NATO is preparing an "ambitious" expansion into southern Afghanistan next year, announced its Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, on June 1. Eventually, the alliance will take charge of foreign security in "the whole of the country", he said.{7}

NATO has been taking ambitious steps for years -- bombing Yugoslavia; patrolling the Balkans like a Governor-General; training Iraqi security forces; putting itself into the war on terrorism; providing security for the 2004 Olympics in Greece; expanding its membership, which now stands at 26 nations plus 20 others brought into the NATO fold under the reassuring name of Partnership for Peace; and much more. Time out.

Where does NATO get all this authority?

What body of citizens has ever voted for them to do any of this?

Why does NATO routinely ignore the UN Security Council?

Why, indeed, does NATO even exist?

We were told during the Cold War that NATO was needed to protect Western Europe from a Soviet invasion. As some may have noticed, the Soviet Union no longer exists, (It's been suggested, plausibly, that NATO was created originally to suppress the left in Italy if the Communist Party came to power through an election.)

We were also told that NATO was there to counter the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact folded its tent in 1991, calling upon NATO to do the same.

If NATO hadn't begun to intervene outside of Europe it would have highlighted its uselessness and lack of mission. "Out of area or out of business" it was said.

If NATO had never existed, what argument could be given today in favor of creating such an institution? Other than being a very useful handmaiden of US foreign policy.

Reforming the Indonesian military, for 40 years

On May 25, President Bush stated that it makes sense for the United States to maintain close military ties with Indonesia, despite the objections of human rights activists who say such coordination should be withheld until Indonesia does more to address human rights abuses by its military.

"We want young officers from Indonesia coming to the United States," said Bush. "We want there to be exchanges between our military corps -- that will help lead to better understandings." Bush made his remarks after meeting with the Indonesian president, who, Bush added, "told me he's in the process of reforming the military, and I believe him."{8} (In May 2002, Indonesian Defense Minister Matori met with US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. Matori said his government had begun to "reform the military". Rumsfeld believed him enough to call for "military-to-military relations" to be "re-established".){9}

Indonesian officials saying they're going to reform the military is like officials in Nevada saying they're going to crack down on gambling. For 40 years the Indonesian military has engaged in mass murder and other atrocities, in Jakarta, East Timor, Aceh, Papua, and elsewhere, taking the lives of well over a million people, including several Americans in recent years. For 40 years relations between the US and Indonesian militaries have been one of the very closest of such contacts in the third world for the United States, despite the occasional objections and prohibitions from Congress.

For 40 years, American officials have been saying that they have to continue training and arming Indonesia's military because the contact with the American military will have some kind of ennobling effect. For 40 years it has had no such effect at all.

As Senator Tom Harkin (D.-Iowa) observed in 1999: "I have seen no evidence in my 24 years in Congress of one instance where because of American military involvement with another military that the Americans have stopped that foreign army from carrying out atrocities against their own people. No evidence, none."{10}

Yet the pretense continues, for what else can an American official say? Something like this? -- "We don't care how brutal the Indonesian military is because they got rid of Sukarno and his irritating nationalism for us, and for 40 years they've been killing people we call communists, killing people we call terrorists, and protecting our oil, natural gas, mining, and other corporate interests against Indonesian protestors. Now if that's not freedom and democracy, I don't know what is."

"Liberals: conservatives -- How meaningful the distinction?

Kenneth Tomlinson, the dogmatically conservative chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, has been trying to remove what he sees as a liberal stain on the airwaves and replace it with what he calls "objectivity and balance".

This endeavor has been heating up of late, resulting in all the old discussions about liberal vs. conservative. As I've mentioned before in this report, these discussions are usually less than satisfying or enlightening due to a very common misunderstanding in the mainstream media and among the public -- the idea that conservatives (far to the right on the political spectrum) and liberals (ever so slightly to the left of center) are ideological polar opposites.

This is particularly not the case with the current, omnipresent breed of neo-conservatives. Thus, a radio or TV program with one of these conservatives and a liberal maintains that it is "balanced", when in fact a more appropriate balance to a conservative is a left-wing radical, progressive or socialist. Liberals, at least those of the genus Americanum, are often closer to conservatives, especially on foreign policy, than they are to these groupings on the far left. In this light, the never-ending debate about whether the media has a conservative or a liberal bias takes on much less significance.

Tomlinson, it should be noted, was appointed to the corporation board by President Clinton. He was chosen as chairman by President Bush in September 2003.

The other Watergate mystery

The Watergate mystery has been solved, we've been told again and again in the wake of the exposure of Deep Throat. But I'm confused. Doesn't the much more important mystery still remain?

Why was the office of the Democratic National Committee burglarized in the first place? Did I somehow miss that piece of news?

I've read a number of theories about the break-in over the years, but as far as I know nothing has been substantiated or settled upon as the official, correct explanation. I'd appreciate it if anyone could enlighten me.

NOTES

{1} Washington Post, June 11, 2005, p.D1

{2} Boston Globe, October 12, 2001, p.28

{3} Federal News Service, June 7, 2005, Hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee)

{4) http://members.aol.com/bblum6/intro2004.htm; also see William Blum, "Freeing the World to Death", chapter 12 ("Before there were terrorists there were communists and the wonderful world of anti-communism")

(5) See Blum, "Killing Hope", chapter 3, Greece

{6} http://members.aol.com/essays6/abomb.htm

{7} Washington Post, June 2, 2005

{8} Washington Post, May 26, 2005, p.10

{9} Associated Press, May 14, 2002

{10} New York Times, September 20, 1999, p.6

William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir

Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

< http://www.killinghope.org/ >

Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.

FEAR BUSH - BUCK FUSH 

WHAT TO SAY TO KANSAS BUSHITES ABOUT GETTING OUT OF IRAQ

http://stangoff.com/index.php?p=134

HOW DO WE RESPOND TO THE STATEMENT…

The United States should not have invaded Iraq, but now that we are there, aren’t we responsible to clean it up and ensure that there is no bloodbath when we leave?

Much of the answer to this question begins with a critical look at the premises hidden inside the question.

Premise 1: The “United States” invaded Iraq.
Premise 2: “We” are the United States who did it.
Premise 3: The invasion was a “mistake.”
Premise 4: “We” are better suited to “clean up” Iraq than the Iraqis by themselves.
Premise 5: The violence in Iraq is a reflection of divisions existing inside Iraq.
Premise 6: Iraqis cannot be trusted to guide the reconstruction of Iraq without US supervision about HOW to do reconstruction.

Reply to Premise 1:

“The ‘United States’ invaded Iraq.”

The decision to invade Iraq was not made by any democratic process in the United States. It was made by the executive branch without consulting Congress for a declaration of war, as mandated by the Constitution.

Many millions of Americans opposed the war and still oppose it.

Reply to Premise 2:

“’We’ are the United States who did it.”

The United States did not conduct the invasion, the United States military did, under orders from the Bush government.

The larger “we” has never seen anything but snapshot of this war, and has no real experience of it. The use of the term WE serves to purposes: it masks those who are responsible and transfers responsibility to the whole American people; and it implants in our thinking a sense of “us & them”,” the US being a privileged category.

Reply to Premise 3:

“The invasion was a ‘mistake.’”

This premise ties into the preceding ones, by suggesting WE conducted this invasion out of some sense of righteousness, that was merely misguided. The President was mistaken, or even exercised bad judgment, and we share in this “mistake.” But the invasion was not a mistake or an accident. It was carefully conceived by a group of people in the executive branch, as we now know from the Downing Street memo and a host of other sources, and the reasons for the war were not miscalculations, but carefully calculated deceptions. It was based on those deceptions that large sections of the US were convinced of the need to invade Iraq.

A deception is not a mistake! A deception is something someone does on purpose.

If the reasons given for the war are lies, then we have to ask what are the reasons for the invasion and occupation. There is an overwhelming body of evidence available to show the real reasons for the war, much of it written over the past decade by the architects of the war itself, to show what the real reasons were and are.

Their purpose is to reconfigure the US military from its former Cold War disposition to retain US global power in the future. Their method is to establish permanent US military installations in this critically strategic region to (1) ensure American access to continued flows of cheap oil for American corporations, and (2) to use control over the region as strategic leverage against global competitors, like China, Western Europe, and India.

Reply to Premise 4:

“’We’ are better suited to ‘clean up’ Iraq than the Iraqis by themselves.”

If the reasons for being in Iraq are to control the region with a permanent military presence, and this agenda is determined not by a collective “we,” but by the corporate-controlled American government, why do we believe that the vandal is the person most suited to get the contract to rebuild the house? And by what magical process of transformation will the leopard, the US government in this case, change its spots?

Governments, especially imperial governments, do not make decisions based on morality. They base their decisions on the question of getting and keeping power. The decision to invade Iraq was made with the goal being conquest. The goals later stated by the occupation, like stability and democracy, are no more honest than the weapons of mass destruction. It is still a deception. The goal is still US power and permanent military bases there.

So “clean-up” is not on the agenda, unless clean-up includes American military and financial power there.

More importantly, perhaps, what is the additional premise hidden in this premise? That the Iraqis are somehow less-than, somehow inferior, to us, and thereby incapable of self-governance. In the period of the British empire, there was a similar argument that was more open with its racism; it called this the “white man’s burden to bear civilization to the darker races.” And it was, of course, civilization that included British political, financial, and military oversight.

The same argument by Americans now, for Iraq, fails to remember that Iraqis were civilized for thousands of years before the British or the Americans.

Reply to Premise 5:

“The violence in Iraq is a reflection of divisions existing inside Iraq.”

On of the impressions that the Bush administration has fostered throughout this aggression has been the idea of sharp division between Iraqis. The American corporate press has dutifully echoed this simplistic notion, which supports the related idea that these “violent, irrational Arabs,” if left to themselves, will immolate themselves in an orgy of blood and iron.

Yet when one looks at the various faces of violence in Iraq, the most prominent an d lethal source of violence is the American military itself – which has killed more than 100,000 Iraqis just since the March 2003 invasion.

One segment of the resistance, so-called foreign fighters (that comprises less than 15 percent by reputable estimates) are drawn to Iraq precisely because the Americans are there.

The attacks on Shia leaders in the South and on Kurdish leaders in the North are not “sectarian,” “religious,” or “ethnic.” Statements from various groups within the nationalist resistance – both secular and Islamist – have specifically stated that their attacks are directed at those who are collaborating with the Americans, because of that collaboration… NOT based on ethnic or religious rivalry. In fact, the rates of intermarriage between these groups has always been very substantial, and Shias, Sunnis, Islamists, and secular nationalists have expressed the desire from the very beginning to find a framework for political cooperation and co-existence.

The Anglo-American military presence is the cause of most of this violence. If the occupation ends, no one will be targeted for collaboration, because there will be no one to collaborate with. And it must be restated with emphasis that the American presence is not there to ensure what is best for Iraqis, but to ensure what is seen as best for the American corporate-controlled government.

Reply to Premise 6:

“Iraqis cannot be trusted to guide the reconstruction of Iraq without US supervision about HOW to do reconstruction.”

First of all, who says the Iraqis will decide to remain a unified Iraq? Those boundaries were drawn by British imperialists. Iraqis may decide to become a regional federation, an ethnic federation, or to split into autonomous regions and nations.

That process may involve some fighting, but it cannot be fighting on the scale we have seen with the Americans, if it happens at all.

History sometimes leaves people little choice. The question of slavery in the United States was resolved, after all, by what was at the time the bloodiest war in human history. Nothing of this scale will happen in Iraq, and whatever happens, the history of Iraqis must be left in the hands of Iraqis – not a foreign imperial power.

The main question preoccupying the Bush administration is not “reconstruction” at any rate, but how to ensure that Iraqis don’t have public control over their own oil wealth, and how to prevent – what is already happening despite US attempts to control Iraqi politics – Iraqi and Iranian cooperation in the region.

The notion that the Iraqis CAN not or SHOULD not be left to their own initiative to determine their future is another display of “white man’s burden.”

THE SOLUTION IS TO END THE OCCUPATION AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW.

 

 

After the "AfterDowningStreet" campaign - Watch, encourage C-span coverage of Conyer's June 16 forum.

Grassroots Mobilization Works

C – Span

&

 Us the Proggy Flogging Bloggers

 

“I say ‘subversive’ not only because C-SPAN is apt to take interesting books seriously but also because of its live coverage of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the only look we are ever allowed at the mouthpieces of our masters up close and, at times, most reflective of a government more and more remote from us, unaccountable and repressive. To watch the righteous old prophet Byrd of West Virginia, the sunny hypocrisy of Biden of Delaware—as I write these hallowed names, I summon up their faces, hear their voices, and I am covered with C-SPAN goose bumps.

At any rate, wondrous C-SPAN has another string to its bow. While some executive was nodding, C-SPAN started showing us Britain’s House of Commons during Question Time. This is the only glimpse that most Americans will ever get of how democracy is supposed to work.

These party leaders are pitted against one another in often savage debate on subjects of war and peace, health and education. Then some 600 Members of Parliament are allowed to ask questions of their great chieftains. Years ago the incomparable Dwight Macdonald wrote that any letter to the London Times (the Brits are inveterate letter writers on substantive issues) is better written than any editorial in the New York Times.”

GORE VIDAL, “Something Rotten in Ohio”

writing in The Nation, June 9, 2005

 

And GORE VIDAL who I consider one of the greatest living critical writers in America today, despite his advanced age; will make any libertarian, conservative, liberal or radical progressive person think critically about our country, and he has it dead on target.

 

Most Americans addicted to consumerism; plastic money, oil and refined sugar products – cannot think critically for themselves without a media saturated bombardment leading all to moronic behavior.

 

Why not instead of stupid constitutional amendments mandating “God Hates Fags” a “President’s Question Time” on C – Span every week in a full attendance of the House of Representatives.

 

Why not get the lazy assed, lobbyist soaked and wealthy elected officials to do their jobs in front of us?

 

I have watched much to the chagrin of my family the “Prime Minister’s Question Time” segment on C - span for several years and in slack jaw envy wondered how so many Americans could not wish a similar honest spectacle every week on any president, Republican or Democrat.

 

It is nationally televised in Britain, with mandatory attendance, micro phoned to hear the whole House of Commons and available to any Brit wanting to watch it every week.  It is not always perfect, I understand the questions are screened for answers in advance – at least it is open and transparent.

 

They boo, hiss and yell dissent.  Go to: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page306.asp for a UK listing of the program on the internet.

 

C – Span has done it again – making Americans take a big “Heads Up” about the reality – based journalism that is overlooked by the large corporate centered media machines.  The now famous “Downing Street Memo” is snowballing through the internet and slamming into the beltway.

 

First the June 4^th segment with Steve Cobble and Robert Aylward on a morning segment of Washington Journal complete with shrieking hysterical Bush callers, then the following day Ralph Nader making the case for impeachment while wading through more hostile callers.

 

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/3um6u  to get the listing of “most watched segments” mentioned above.  Also check out Ralph Nader’s June 5^th, 2005 segment on the same program.

 

The debate is like Nader said in commenting on one foaming caller, “people getting on television and try to convince us that the moon is made of blue cheese.”  These Bush supporters are nuts.

 

Go to the Washington Journal section of C – Span’s website and take the time to watch these segments.

 

However much people deny it is the beginning of a “Resolution of Inquiry” leading to impeachment hearings against the Bush administration the information is convincing many to start just that process.  The After Downing Street website (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org) was so swamped with hits that it shut down for two days. 

 

Progressive bloggers are rolling against the mainstream media – by not only giving an outlet for independent investigative reporting that is not financed, but by the disclosure of criminality in political office – and “quickening the pace” toward stopping this disastrous war.

 

Anyone with half a brain can now know about the “Downing Street Memo” which first broke in the London based Times newspaper May 2, 2005.  When it first appeared in print, PM Tony Blair’s campaign was in full swing and quickly denounced it as a campaign spoiler and nothing more.

 

The spoiler remarks from Blair’s campaign staff did not prevent his re – election.  Yet, that was before MP George Galloway’s stunning statement before the Republican dominated committee in Washington.

 

Yet the disclosure hasn’t went away by a long shot and in fact it has mushroomed into a major media break – check out the “recent program” listing at the C – Span home site for their morning segments of Washington Journal.  Washington Journal aired 45 minutes of Steve Cobble and Robert Aylward last Friday, June 10, 2005 and witness the viewers calling in screaming “seditious Left” at them. 

 

Grassroots Bush supporters who call in programs like Washington Journal are shrieking mad.  One can only imagine what is being said within the White House as the outcry is being embraced by many “I like Ike” conservatives and libertarians across the country.

 

Readers of the Fightin’ Cock’s email news circuit received my special Memorial Day message linking them to sign the letter from 88 members of Congress and John Conyers. 

 

He is pledging to deliver which was signed by over 100,000 in less than two days and now with the addition of Move On (dot) org’s mobilization will soon reach over 500,000 by June 16^th, 2005 when Conyers plans to “hand deliver” it to the White House.

 

Check out these programs listed and encourage C – Span to cover Conyers forum.

 

The latest is at the “overwhelmed” site: http://johnconyers.com/ .

 

 

 

 

"DEMOCRACY THROWN INTO A BLACK HOLE"

A DARK DAY THAT THREW
“DEMOCRACY INTO A BLACK HOLE.”

“THE CHAIR NOW RECOGNIZES HIMSELF,”
… AND SHUTS DOWN THE HEARING!!!

MULTIMEDIA REPORTS ON
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R – WIS)
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
SHUTTING DOWN FRIDAY’S HEARING.


THE RAW STORY COVERS

THE OUTRAGE AT THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
YESTERDAY!
http://tinyurl.com/aarc9


AUDIO BACKGROUND EXCLUSIVE REPORT FROM

PROJECT FOR THE OLD AMERICAN CENTURY
{COURTESY RANDI RHODES & AIR AMERICA!}

PART ONE (14 MINUTES)
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/rndi_cspan6-10-05.mp3

PART TWO (3 MINUTES)
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/rndi_cspan2Jun10-01.mp3

AVAILABLE VIDEO CLIPS OF THE RESPONSES
TO THE OUTRAGE OVER THE PATRIOT ACT AT THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
THIS LAST FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2005. ACTUAL C-SPAN2 CLIPS AS MICS ARE TURNED OFF!
http://www.dembloggers.com/story/2005/6/10/54149/5115

Please remain calm ...

The Flyer’s

New

“Deep Throat”

I have forwarded this extremely important message from a law enforcement officer in North Jefferson County, Kansas, USA. Ironic since in our area of the woods, little if any law enforcement is needed and most southern Jefferson countians consider us a lawless breed of vigilantes up here. In short, we are about as close to an anarchist utopia as can be gotten in Bush Amerika. Please remain calm and seated … the show is about to begin.

“I just wanted to let you know that the new Homeland Security Bill has passed. Things will be different now and Internet surfing will be tracked by what the FBI calls a 'non-intrusive method.'"

The FBI says you will not notice anything different.

For a demonstration, click on the link below.

Homeland Security