Scott Ritter Says U.S. Plans June Attack On Iran

By Mark Jensen

02/19/05 –United for Peace of Pierce County (WA) - - Scott Ritter, appearing with journalist Dahr Jamail yesterday in Washington State, dropped two shocking bombshells in a talk delivered to a packed house in Olympia’s Capitol Theater. The ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector said that George W. Bush has “signed off” on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and claimed the U.S. manipulated the results of the recent Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.

This is insane.

Journalist group calls US to account over Iraq

Dominic Timms
Friday February 18, 2005

The US government was today accused of hiding behind a “culture of denial” over the deaths of at least 12 journalists who are alleged to have perished at the hands of the US military in Iraq.

Responding to what it said was the “hounding out” of the CNN news chief, Eason Jordan, the International Federation of Journalists called on the US administration to come clean over its “mistakes” in the region.

Hmm. Don’t expect any quick action on this…

Goodbye, you bastard.

Interesting look at the press, and musings on what a Watergate 2005 would turn out as.

Richard Reeves, here.

As this Gannon story keeps getting stranger and more detailed, ponder on this. At any point, the White House could simply go “We got fooled. This man lied to us. We’re going to tighten up our press pass system.” Or some such BS.

But they haven’t. They haven’t laid this entire scenario at JG’s feet. You have to ask yourself why not? We can excuse the obvious- that saying such a thing would be a lie, since it’s evident that this person gained access to the White House and POTUS before his “news organization” even existed. This administration has proven, since day 1, that lying is their standard response to any situation, so a sudden burst of honesty hasn’t swept over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

But perhaps fear has. What are they hiding?

If we follow the slime trail left by Gannon and his sponsors all the way to the end, we’ll stand face-to-face with the real authors of the Iraq war, and the full record of their crimes in the reckless pursuit of power and imperial glory. Gannon may be a minor player in all this, but then so was the Watergate burglary a minor escapade - the unraveling of which eventually led to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon and a general disillusionment with the neoconservative agenda of global interventionism.

Great stuff. Read it here.

Two House members ask for inquiry into questions about 9/11.

I’m not going to get my hopes too far up, but still…

Proudly stolen from a wingnut on Free Republic (rethug venom site that is currently in an uproar because one of their patron saints, Sean Hannity, dissed ‘em…ha!…):

It aint what you don’t know that kills you. It’s what you know that aint so”

Theodore Sturgeon

Ain’t that the damn truth, Ruth.

Why normal people laugh at the “Hate us for our freedoms” notion, read the following:

U.S. Intervention in the Middle East

“Why do people in the Middle East hate the United States,” people are asking, in the wake of the events of September 11.

This partial chronology of U.S. intervention in the Middle East illustrates the lengths to which the U.S. power structure has gone to gain and maintain U.S. domination of the Middle East–a region considered key to the U.S.’s standing as an imperialist world power. This is not a complete list of the invasions, bombings, assassinations, coups and other interventions by the U.S. government, its allies, or its client states, nor does it fully document the U.S.’s economic domination and exploitation of the region’s people and resources.

Since the west has been screwing with these people since at least 1920, I’d say they’ve been rather patient in smacking us back, wouldn’t you?

I’m not the only one who has grown tired of vague, threatening lectures from government officials on “looming” terror threats, such as this one, spouted yesterday:

Officials Warn of Future Terror Attacks

By KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaking with one voice, President Bush’s top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.

They said the best defense was for Congress to approve the president’s military and anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent Republicans, were questioning some of that spending.

Ok, why the dog and pony show? We have a Republican-controlled Congress who would rubberstamp anything our divine “leader” might toss them, so no need to strong arm those folks. Nope, this is purely a distracting action, to keep us from noticing:

1: Our guy didn’t win in Iraq

2: A gay prostitute was installed in the White House press corps under false pretenses

3: Bush’s approval ratings are heading steadly downward.

Just a thought.