More Comments, Part One, by:
Wolf Britain, Poet and Activist
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Prescript: I'm looking for someone to go 50/50 with me and move to either Ecuador, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico where we can make a very low income go much further with a lower cost, and higher standard, of living (than living in the States on such a low income). This includes an only income of Social Security Disability (SSDI) and/or Retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration most definitely DOES allow SSDI and/or Retirement benefits, but not Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, to be sent to recipients in most other countries! There are many books about moving and living abroad available at the public library and/or at Amazon.com . Naturally, I realize we would probably have to spend some time getting to know eachother, and finding out if we're compatible, before moving abroad together. We could even have our own separate "spaces" by choosing to rent or purchase a house or apartment with separate quarters, and still save considerable money in monthly costs compared to living in the States on the same income. If you might be interested, want to ask me some questions, and/or want to discuss it, please e-mail me at the address below.
CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE
(Click on the link to go to that part of the page):
9-11-2001
Continued
"Apocalypse Now"
By Edward W. Said
"Rogue States"
By Noam Chomsky
"On The Fiftieth Aniversary Of
The Universal Declaration Of
Human Rights"
By Ramsey Clark
MORE OF MY COMMENTS AND FAVORITE QUOTES IN RESPONSE TO THE ATROCITIES OF SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001, AND ON VARIOUS TOPICS, INCLUDING TERRORISM, EVIL, HATE, INJUSTICE, RACISM, BIGOTRY, PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, INEQUALITY, REVENGE, RETALIATION(S), INVASION, WAR, MORE TERRORISM, MURDER, GREED, MONEY-MONGERING, WAR-MONGERING, "AMERICAN" FOREIGN POLICY(IES), CONQUEST, OCCUPATION, CONTROL, FALSE IMPRISONMENT, CAPITALISM, GLOBALISM, IMPERIALISM, COLONIALISM, HYPOCRISY, CORPORATE FASCISM, TOTALITARIANISM, DESPOTISM, DICTATORSHIP, OPPRESSION, REPRESSION, GENOCIDE, EUGENICS, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, TRUE PEACE, FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, LIBERATION, EQUALITY, JUSTICE, AND LAST BUT THE GREATEST, LOVE, ADDED TO THE SITE ON 11-11-01 AND 12-23-01 RESPECTIVELY:
9-11-2001
Continued
(Added to the site on 11-11-01)
As the quote I've quoted before says, "The majority is usually wrong"! (Robert A. Heinlein from his great book, Stranger in a Strange Land.) The alleged majority that supposedly is in favor of the present major war against Iraq is wrong! Look at how many people from many very different "walks of life", including many "conservatives" and veterans, are already carrying out anti-war protests clear across our allegedly "free country", and all over the world (hundreds of thousands all over the U.S., and millions of people world-wide), against this "new" war; and how the Office of Homeland Security (DHS) has been created, like something right out of George Orwell's also great book, 1984, and right out of a totalitarian police state! We are living in a time when the majority of "Americans" think "it can't happen here", and "the minority can't be right"; but the so-called majority is wrong about what is happening, AND about what is coming!
Most people need to get a true and quick education on what true freedom is, and wake up, if it isn't too late, before "we" destroy ourselves! I've long been saying that the U.S.A. is becoming more and more of an "authoritarian police state"; and I was so right! Look up the word, 'authoritarian', in the dictionary; as the definition reads like a prediction that has already come true! Believe me, there's no ego involved in this on my part; I didn't make most of the correct predictions concerning what's now happening in our country and world; they were already made by others', in many cases long before me!
If it were possible for "America's" True founding-fathers to turn over in their graves, they would have done so many times already! Thomas Jefferson, and others', said we must not let our government get too big and out of control; and the U.S. government has been much too big and out of control for a long time; and now the majority of Americans are blindly willing to give up their civil liberties in order to supposedly and completely destroy what we cannot possibly completely destroy, the Middle Eastern extremists, "terrorists" and al those who are "evil" of this very crazy, insane, and bizarre world!
By supporting this "new" war, "we" are playing right into the hands of what our government "leaders" have wanted for a long time, more control over We, The People, those ONLY for True Freedom, who are supposed to be the ONLY ones who are running this country! Think about this with the deepest part(s) of your heart(s), instead of with your "follower" mind(s), wake up, stand up only for True Freedom, and stand up against ALL threats to that True Freedom!!
LOVE ONLY TRUE AMERICA, NOT MURDER FOR MURDER, TWO WRONGS SUPPOSEDLY MAKING ONE RIGHT, THE ENDS SUPPOSEDLY JUSTIFYING MOST MEANS, RETALIATION(S), AND REVENGE!! THAT IS NOT TRUE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND/OR FREEDOM AT ALL!!
Let's hope, and pray if we do so, that we don't end up in WW3; because that's where this entire situation is heading; and G.W. Bush and others should truly decide that "we" are truly NOT (going to be) at war with Islam and its nations! He hypocritically claims that the U.S. government is not at war against Islam; but IT IS; and, very sadly, the cooler heads are not prevailing!
We, the "American" people and our allies, are being manipulated into letting our emotions control us, and running headlong into a full-scale war that "the powers that be" want us to be in for "the love of war", "a war economy", to protect economic interests, and to do away with more of "American's" civil liberties, and world-citizens', human rights; and, like all of the wars that the U.S. has had a hand in starting, supporting and/or ending, the majority of people, who are usually wrong, are being convinced that two wrongs supposedly make one right, and that the ends supposedly justify the means, both of which are not true at all!
Truly look at, consider and realize how inhuman and inexcusable United States, and/or support of allied, actions were in Mexico, Cuba, Hawaii, Samoa, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Chile, East Timor, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Columbia, West Papua (New Guinea), and other places (not necessarily in that order), and the slaughter, devastation and havoc they wreaked, and are continuing to wreak, for decades and generations of offspring thereafter, and to come! Consider the fact that many, if not all, of these military actions were carried out by the United States and/or its allies in violation of international law(s); and consider the minority who warned us that "America" and its people would be very sorry if they got involved in those atrocities, and who were so very right! Wake up, "America", and all of the Allied Governments, before it is too late; for, if we don't do so, "we" will very likely bring nuclear missiles down upon ourselves as "we" continue to seek further and further vengeance against "our enemies"; as vengeance just breeds more and more vengeance, in a vicious, unending circle! Please God, or some Higher Power other than evil, help us ALL!!!!!
It bears repeating, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather avoid wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink: for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21; in fact, read the entire chapter!) Once more, it is NOT humankind's responsibility to seek or obtain revenge; and it is COMPLETELY against God's will for humankind to do so!! It is ONLY God's responsibility to seek and get revenge; and VERY SOON He WILL get revenge against ALL those who violate, or have violated, His will, including self-righteous "America" and "Americans"!! So we must leave it up to Him; and not take it upon ourselves IN ANY WAY AT ALL!!
The "anti-war doves" are far from an extinct species; and we aren't simply a few that have "risen from the ashes"! There are many of us; and those of us, like myself, who protest violence, non-violently, are the minority that is right, compared to the majority which is wrong about virtually everything!
People in favor of vengeance and retaliation(s) accuse people like me of being "alarmists" who can't be right; but throughout history, people like me have been right many, many times; and most others' found out too late that such was the case! We are giving people like yourself warning after warning that you should heed; but, do you? No, you "mock" us to your, and the majority's, grave detriment!
"If we mock what we do not understand, we may learn when it's too late that the penalty for such arrogance is annihilation." (Author Unknown.)
Maybe you'll stop bitching about those who "bitch" about so-called Americans who are allegedly a threat to our very Freedoms, when those Freedoms no longer exist; but then it will be too late! Wake up, BEFORE it's too late!! It is not about WHO is right, but about WHAT is Truly Right!!
I believe that everyone has a right to their opinion(s); and I truly believe in Freedom of Speech; but, the problem is, most non-pacifists act like pacifists don't have just as much right(s) to Freedom of Speech, or just as much right(s) to their opinion(s), as they do! The non-pacifists act like they have a right to their opinion(s), and that they have Freedom of Speech, but that pacifists have little or none of those rights; when we pacifists have just as much right(s) to Freedom of Speech and our opinion(s) as non-pacifists do; and, thank God, we will not allow our True Freedoms to be taken away without standing up and being heard against it, without sitting idly by while they are abrogated with impunity!
There have to be voices of "reason" who stand up against all wars and excessive government, to be a "check and balance" on potential threats to Freedom, and to protect True Freedom(s)! The majority falsely believe that "Americans" are superior to everyone else on this Earth, which is the ultimate in bigotry! Remember, our own Declaration of Independence says, "ALL (people) are created equal"; and that includes EVERY person on the face of this globe! The "great" ego-centric U.S. government has brought a lot of what happened on September 11th, 2001 on ourselves by what "we" have done to provoke the extremists of the world; now we are reaping what we have sown; and we're going to make it worse by running in and getting revenge and retaliation(s)! “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a (person) sows, that will (they) also reap....” (Luke 11:52.)
If "we" continue to seek retaliation(s) and revenge against such "powers", like the extremists and terrorists who carried out the unconscionable and inexcusable attacks of September 11th, 2001, they will get even more revenge and retaliation(s) against us, and seriously harm us much more than we have already been harmed; therefore, "we" should completely stop all provocation(s) of them, before we bring any more irreparable harm down upon ourselves than we already have; as there is no more excuse for "our" returning evil for evil, than there is for their doing so!! We must end the vicious cycle of violence before it escalates out of control any more than it already has!!!!!
At the same time, though we have been amply warned against it, "we" are giving "our" government free license to be able to control us like NO government should EVER be allowed to do! The blindness and ignorance of the majority is exactly what "the powers that be" want; because the only people they want to have any true freedom and/or power, are the lover's of money, the root of all evil(s), and those who blindly do their bidding!
We are hearing a great deal of war-mongering rhetoric and propaganda right now; and most of what we're hearing in the "American" media is the U.S. government's promotion of, and support for, the so-called "War Against Terrorism", "Operation Enduring Freedom", etc.; but what they really mean is, 'The War of Terrorism Against So-called Terrorism', and 'Operation Endure Their Version and/or Definition of What Freedom Supposedly Is', etc.! "Our" government and mainstream media definitions and/or versions of "freedom" and "justice" are retaliation(s) and revenge, terms that are NOT synonymous with eachother, and don't go together AT ALL! We The People, and the rest of the world, are being heavily propagandized to support more and more violence, revenge and retaliation(s), all of which are against what True Freedom and True Democracy, our True American Democracy, stand(s) for, or is supposed to stand for!
Because of "our" government's claim(s) that we "must" propagandize the world with escalating propaganda to convince more people in other countries, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan, to be in favor of this "war" and support it, we are being falsely and fraudulently convinced that such evil propaganda is supposedly okay, a "good" thing, and a "necessity"; but ALL such evil propaganda is brainwashing, and is also contrary to True Democracy and Freedom!
Many Americans, and citizens of countries in other places of the world, are very much against this new "war"; and the percentage(s) of "Americans" claimed to be in favor of this "war" are extremely inflated! In fact, even a high percentage of New Yorkers in New York City, as well as all over the State of New York, are very much against it; but do we hear about that on the mainstream media?! No!! Most non-extremist Middle Easterners are against it, too; but do we hear that in the mainstream media?! No!! And millions of people in England and many other countries are very much against this war, also, and have carried out huge mass protests against it; but do we hear about that in the mainstream media much, if at all?! No!!
"We" are also being told by "our" government and media to go back to living our "normal" lives, while they are continually scaring us with bogus terror threats; but, since the atrocity on September 11th, 2001, nothing will ever be truly "normal" or the same again! In fact, in this highly evil world, nothing has ever been truly normal since humankind fell from Grace in the Garden of Eden! What "our" government really wants is for "us" to go back to burying our heads in the sand, so they can perpetrate further wars of aggression, violations of human rights, and abrogations of our civil liberties, right under our noses, without our even realizing and/or really caring if it's happening! We must not go back into denial and allow this to happen without standing up against it in any way we can, to slow down the trend towards eradication of human rights and freedoms, in the U.S. and all over the world!!
And what about the great many innocent men, women, children, and little babies that are being murdered by the "American" government, right now, in Afghanistan and Iraq; what is "normal" about that; and how can we go about leading our "normal" lives while this is going on, without standing up against it?! Are we hearing much, if anything, about that in the mainstream media?! No!! Please don't allow yourself to be evilly propagandized, and thereby your conscience to be quieted and/or silenced about ANY such violations of human rights and crimes against humanity!! The United States government is NOW violating many international human rights laws by murdering these innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan; and it must not be allowed to continue!!!!!
Believe me, I well-know that what appears obvious that we should do, seems so right; but, "It is written....", "(t)hus says the Lord (God)", "Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto (L)ife, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 4:4; Exodus 4:22; and Matthew 7:12-13.) In other words, the obvious way usually isn't the right way; and the "narrow" way is usually the right way. Most people choose the "wide" way and destruction; and the minority are the only ones who choose the harder, more difficult way and avoid destruction.
"But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." (Matthew 19:30; 20:16; Mark 9:35; 10:31; and Luke 13:30.) "(Wake up and get your lives totally right with God), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17); quit following along with the majority; and quit, if you do, supporting these "new" wars!!!!!
"You have heard that it has been said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth': But I (Jesus the Christ) say unto you, That you resist not evil: but whoever will smite you on your right cheek, turn to (them) the other also. And if any man (or woman) will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let (them) have your cloak also. And whoever will compel you to go a mile, go with (them) two. Give to (them who) asks you, and from (them who) would borrow of you turn not away. You have heard that it has been said, 'You will love your neighbor, and hate your enemy'. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the publicans (do the same)? Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:38-48.)
The foregoing makes VERY CLEAR that when Jesus the Christ walked this Earth, HE COMPLETELY DID AWAY WITH "AN EYE FOR AN EYE"! And yet we constantly hear a misinterpretation of those verses, which I quoted the entire context of above! He said, "(RETALIATE) NOT (AGAINST) EVIL: BUT WHOEVER WILL SMITE YOU ON YOUR RIGHT CHEEK, TURN TO HIM YOUR OTHER (CHEEK) ALSO.... LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU, DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU, AND PRAY FOR THEM WHICH DESPITEFULLY USE YOU, AND PERSECUTE YOU"! So, obviously, the opposite is also true: 'DO NOT RETALIATE FOR BEING HIT ON THE RIGHT CHEEK, BUT LET THEM STRIKE US ON THE OTHER CHEEK TOO IF THEY WANT TO; DO NOT HATE OUR ENEMIES; AND DO NOT DO BAD TO THEM WHO HATE US'! BUT DO THE OPPOSITE AND CARRY OUT PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS!!!!!
What might some peaceful solutions be? Go to our enemies and apologize to them for all the millions of innocent people that the U.S. government has falsely and hypocritically murdered all over the world in the name(s) of God, "freedom", "democracy", "justice", money, and corporate interests; apologize for "our" being so egotistical as to think that "our" country and people are better than any other country and people on the face of the Earth; make, as much as possible, complete reparations for all of the injustices and violations of human rights that "we" have committed; and NEVER commit such violations and injustices EVER again in ANY way, shape or form WHATSOEVER!!!!!
That is what we should do; but, believe me, I have no illusions that we will do so!! As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I have a dream...."; and there is nothing wrong with having a dream for a better society, hoping for and seeking after COMPLETE respect for all human rights, all over the world, and to end ALL crimes against humanity; as, like I've said before, it is the Duty of EVERY PERSON to do, even if it may appear hopeless to do so!!!!! Keep in mind that it is NEVER a waste of time to stand up against the evils of this world, or to stand up for NOTHING but what is right!!!!!
"....Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, 'With men (without truly having God in their lives) this is impossible; but with God all things are possible'"! (Matthew 19:26; and Mark 9:23, 10:27 and 14:36.)
[Added on 1-11-02: National Public Radio (N.P.R.) so rightfully says, calling one of their programs that 'tells it like it is' by this name, True "Democracy (is now) In Exile", and calling Afghanistan, which is and has been at the time of this writing, and for the previous several months, "the second ground zero"! We, as "Americans", very wrongly tend not to exert, or even consider exerting, much if any compassion, even "simple" expressions of same, for the many thousands of innocent men, women, children, and little babies in Afghanistan and Iraq who are being murdered by the U.S. government, and, if they haven't already died, that are suffering untold degrees of suffering due to starvation, disease and frostbite in the middle of winter there, or are yet to die from continued "American" bombing and infantry attacks! This is totally inexcusable! The Americans, and those from several other allied nations, who died in the World Trade Center Towers, and in the Pentagon, are no better than, or in any way superior to, our fellow -men, -women, -children, and -little babies who are dying in droves in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere! No man, woman or child, whether impoverished, uneducated or condemned, and no matter the color of their skin, is in any way inferior to ANY American(s); nor is there ANY excuse for their extermination!
Please scroll down and read excerpts of the writings of True-American experts on the U.S. government foreign policy that has been carried out in racist extermination of millions of innocent people all over the Earth for well over five decades, and is continuing to be carried out in several countries by the U.S. government, in ways that we don't hear much if anything about in the mainstream media, or only in such a way as to represent that such evils are supposedly justified! Thank you again for all of your time and Truly-thoughtful consideration with all of YOUR True-heart(s)!]
THE FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS FROM WRITINGS OF EDWARD W. SAID, NOAM CHOMSKY AND RAMSEY CLARK ON ISSUES OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY(IES) THAT ARE IN VERY SERIOUS CONFLICT(S) WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW(S), AND THAT WERE ADDED TO THE SITE ON 12-23-01:
"APOCALYPSE NOW"
by Edward W. Said
(Old Dominion Foundation Professor in
the Humanities at Columbia University,
and a former member of the Palestine
National Council)
from Acts of Aggression,
Policing "Rogue" States,
Copyright © 1999 by Edward W. Said,
Noam Chomsky and Ramsey Clark
"It would be a mistake, I think, to reduce what is happening between Iraq and the United States simply to an assertion of Arab will and sovereignty versus American imperialism, (the latter of) which undoubtedly plays a central role in all this. However misguided, Saddam Hussein's cleverness is not that he is splitting America from its allies {which he has not really succeeded in doing for any practical purpose[s]} but that he is exploiting the astonishing clumsiness and failures of U.S. foreign policy. Very few people, least of all Saddam himself, can be fooled into believing him to be the innocent victim of American bullying; most of what is happening to his unfortunate people who are undergoing the most dreadful and unacknowledged suffering is due in considerable degree to his callous cynicism... Be that as it may, U.S. vindictiveness ([re]vengefulness), whose sources I shall look at in a moment, has exacerbated the situation by imposing a regime of sanctions which, as Sandy Berger, the (then) American national security advisor (under Clinton) has proudly said, is unprecedented for its severity in the whole of world history. It is believed that (more than) 567,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the (first) Gulf War, (and the twelve years of sanctions which cost the lives of more than a million and a half innocent Iraqis, half a million of them children, as well as the loss of over 100,000 innocent lives during and since the second Iraq war) mostly as a result of disease (radiation exposure[s] and very high rates of cancer[s] from U.S. depleted uranium tipped bombs and missiles, and their exploded debris, spread all over Iraq and Afghanistan), malnutrition(,) deplorably poor medical care (invasion, occupation, and slaughter). Agriculture and industry are at a total standstill. This is unconscionable of course, and for this the brazen inhumanity of American policy makers is also very much to blame. But we must not forget that Saddam is feeding that inhumanity quite deliberately in order to dramatize the opposition between the United States and the rest of the Arab world; having provoked a crisis with the United States {or the United Nations dominated by the United States} he at first dramatized the unfairness of the sanctions. But by continuing it, the issue has changed and has become his non-compliance, and the terrible effects of the sanctions have been marginalized. Still the underlying causes of an Arab/U.S. crisis remain. A careful analysis of that crisis is imperative. The United States has always opposed any sign of Arab nationalism or independence, partly for its own imperial reasons and partly because its unconditional support for Israel requires it to do so... Arab policy was never backed up with coordination, or collective pressure, or fully agreed upon goals (except for the recent 'appearances' of same) on Israel (that they without a doubt know the U.S. 'secretly' leads them to believe they can ignore with impunity). The more extreme Israeli policy becomes the more likely the United States has been to support it. And the less respect it has for the large mass of Arab peoples whose future and well-being are mortgaged to illusory hopes embodied, for instance, in the Oslo accords.
"Moreover, a deep gulf separates Arab culture and civilization from the United States, and in the absence of any collective Arab information and cultural policy, the notion of an Arab people with traditions, cultures and identities of their own is simply inadmissible in the United States. Arabs are dehumanized, they are seen as violent irrational terrorists always on the look out for murder and bombing outrages. The only Arabs worth doing business with for the United States are compliant leaders, businessmen, and military people whose arms purchases {the highest per capita in the world(!)} are helping the American economy keep afloat. Beyond that there is no feeling at all, for instance, for the dreadful suffering of the Iraqi people (and the Afghani people except for nothing but the appearances of caring about their freedom[s] and welfare) whose identity and existence have simply been lost sight of in the present situation. This morbid, obsessional fear and hatred of the Arabs has been a constant theme in U.S. foreign policy since World War Two. In some way also, anything positive about the Arabs is seen in the United States as a threat to Israel. In this respect pro-Israeli American Jews, traditional Orientalists, and military hawks have a played a devastating role. Moral opprobrium is heaped on Arab states as it is on no others. Turkey, for example, has been conducting a campaign against the Kurds for several years, yet nothing is heard about this in the United States. Israel occupies territory illegally for thirty years, it violates the Geneva conventions at will, conducts invasions, terrorist attacks and assassinations against Arabs, and still, the United States vetoes every sanction against it in the United Nations. Syria, Sudan, Libya, Iraq are classified as "rogue" states. Sanctions against them are far harsher than against any other countries in the history of U.S. foreign policy. And still the United States expects that its own foreign policy agenda ought to prevail ... despite its hostility to the collective Arab agenda. In the case of Iraq (and Afghanistan) a number of further extenuations make the United States even more repressive. Burning in the collective American unconscious is a puritanical zeal decreeing the sternest possible attitude towards anyone deemed to be an unregenerate sinner. This clearly guided American policy towards the native American Indians, who were first demonized, then portrayed as wasteful savages, then exterminated, their tiny remnant confined to reservations and concentration camps. This almost religious anger fuels a judgmental attitude that has no place at all in international politics, but for the United States it is a central tenet of its worldwide behavior (for decades). Second, punishment is conceived in apocalyptic terms (for all those who do not bow to the United States government's extremely misguided and inhuman will)(!) During the Vietnam war a leading general advocated---and almost achieved---the goal of bombing the (so-called) enemy into the stone age. The same view prevailed during the Gulf War in 1991 (and now prevails in the war in Afghanistan, the second Iraq war, and in the "War Against Terrorism" to be carried out all over the world)(!) Sinners are meant to be condemned terminally, with the utmost cruelty regardless of whether or not they suffer the cruelest agonies. The notion of "justified" punishment for Iraq (and now the so-called "terrorists") is now uppermost in the minds of most American consumers of news, and with that goes an almost orgiastic delight in the power used to confront Iraq in the Gulf (and the "terrorists" in Afghanistan, and wherever they and their so-called "supporters" are).
"Pictures of immense U.S. warships steaming virtuously away punctuate breathless news bulletins about Saddam's (and the so-called "terrorists", "insurgents", and/or "rebels", much more accurately called "resistance fighters" and defenders of the sovereignty and True Freedom[s] of their people[s]) defiance, and the crisis (being criminally furthered and escalated by the U.S. government). President Clinton (and now "President" Bush) announce(d) that (they and the "American" people cannot) tolerate (their) threat(s) to use biological warfare even though {this is unmentioned} it is clear from the United Nations Special Committee {UNSCOM} reports that (Saddam) neither ha(d) the missile capacity, nor the chemical arms, nor the nuclear arsenal, nor in fact the anthrax bombs that he (wa)s alleged to (have) brandish(ed)(.) Forgotten in all this is that the United States has all the terror weapons known to humankind, is the only country to have used a nuclear bomb on civilians, and as recently as (1991) dropped 66,000 tons of bombs on Iraq. (How many more tons of bombs have we now dropped on Afghanistan and Iraq since? There is no doubt that it greatly surmounts the number dropped on Iraq in 1991!) As the only country involved in this crisis that has never had to fight a war on its own soil, it is (much too) easy for the United States and its mostly brain-washed citizens to speak in apocalyptic terms(!) A report out of Australia on Sunday, November 16 (1998?) suggests that Israel and the United States (were) thinking about a neutron bomb on Baghdad(!) Unfortunately, the dictates of raw power are very severe and, for a weak state like Iraq, overwhelming (and devastating)(!) Certainly U.S. misuse of the sanctions to strip Iraq of everything, including any possibility for security, is monstrously sadistic(!) The so-called U.N. 661 Committee created to oversee the sanctions (wa)s composed of fifteen member states {including the United States} each of which ha(d) a veto. Every time Iraq passe(d) this committee a request to sell oil for medicines, trucks, meat, etc., any member of the committee c(ould) block these requests by saying that a given item may have military purposes {tires, for example, or ambulances}. In addition, the United States and its clients---e.g., the unpleasant and racist Richard Butler, who says openly that Arabs have a different notion of truth than the rest of the world---have made it clear that even if Iraq is completely reduced militarily to the point where it is no longer a threat to its neighbors {which was the case before the 2003 Iraq war} the real goal of the sanctions (wa)s to topple Saddam Hussein's government (now that the U.S. government has finished using him as a CIA asset for its own purpose(s) and advantage(s), much like it used Manuel Noriega before it kidnapped him from Panama, tried him in an illegal U.S. court, railroaded and illegally convicted him, and threw him in a U.S. federal prison)(!) According to the American government, very little that Iraq can do short of Saddam's resignation or death will produce a lifting of sanctions(!)... Moreover, the increase in military expenditure for new investments in electronic "smart" weaponry, more sophisticated aircraft, mobile forces for the world-wide protection of American power are perfectly suited for display and use in the Gulf (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), where the likelihood of visible casualties {actually suffering... civilians} is extremely small, and where the new military technology can be put through its paces most attractively (to our corrupt and evil government leaders and allies, and the brainwashed majority of "Americans")(!) For reasons that need restating here, the media is particularly happy to go along with the government in bringing home to domestic customers the wonderful excitement of American self-righteousness, and proud flag-waving, the "feel-good" sense that "we" are facing down a monstrous (enemy). Far from analysis and calm reflection, the media exists mainly to derive its mission from the government, not to produce a corrective or any dissent. The media, in short, is an extension of the war(s) against Iraq (and Afghanistan, and the so-called "War Against Terrorism")(!)
"The saddest aspect of the whole thing is that Iraqi (and Afghani, as well as other) civilians seem condemned to additional suffering and protracted agony. Neither their government(s) nor that of the United States is inclined to ease the daily pressure(s) on them, and the probability that only they will pay for the crisis is extremely high. At least---and it isn't very much---there seems to be no enthusiasm among Arab governments for American military action(s), but beyond that there is no coordinated Arab position, not even on the extremely grave humanitarian question(s). It is unfortunate that, according to the news, there is rising popular support for Saddam (and bin Laden) in the Arab world, as if the old lessons of defiance without real power have still not been learned (and "bombing them into the stone age" is not going to stop them from seeking greater and greater revenge against us for our huge war crimes against them; as we cannot scare them out of it)(!) Undoubtedly the United States has manipulated the United Nations to its own ends, a rather shameful exercise given at the same time that the Congress once again (in 1998?) struck down a motion to pay a billion dollars in arrears to the world organization. The major priority for Arabs, Europeans, Muslims and Americans is to push to the fore the issue of sanctions and the terrible suffering imposed on innocent Iraqi (and Afghani) civilians. Taking the case to the International Court in the Hague strikes me as a perfectly viable possibility, but what is needed is a concerted will on behalf of Arabs who have suffered the U.S.'s egregious blows for too long without adequate response." (And now the so-called "Arab-terrorist" attacks on the U.S are being used by the U.S. government and its allies to supposedly justify more covert and open aggression(s) on the Arab world; and I predict that we will see even more egregious violations of the Arab countries international human rights in favor of U.S. government tyranny, imperialism and multi-national corporation interests that they are inseparable from.) [({Most words and/or emphasis within these symbols added by me.})]
Continued below:
Continued:
THE FOLLOWING ARE MORE EXCERPTS FROM WRITINGS OF EDWARD W. SAID, NOAM CHOMSKY AND RAMSEY CLARK ON ISSUES OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY(IES) THAT ARE IN VERY SERIOUS CONFLICT(S) WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW(S), AND THAT WERE ADDED TO THE SITE ON 12-23-01:
"ROGUE STATES"
by Noam Chomsky
(activist, writer, and professor of
linguistics at Massachusetts Institute
of Technology [M.I.T.], where he has
taught since 1955)
from Acts of Aggression,
Policing "Rogue" States,
Copyright © 1999 by Edward W. Said,
Noam Chomsky and Ramsey Clark
"The concept of "rogue states" plays a pre-eminent role today in policy planning and analysis... But discussion (has been and continues to be) kept within rigid bounds that exclude(d) the obvious answer: the United States and Britain should act in accord with their laws and treaty obligations(!)
"The relevant legal framework is formulated in the Charter of the United Nations, a "solemn treaty" recognized as the foundation of international law and world order, and (is,) under the U.S. Constitution, "the supreme law of the land(!)"
"The Charter states that(,) "The (U.N.) Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42," which detail the preferred "measures NOT involving the use of armed force" and permit the Security Council to take further action if IT finds such measures necessary to maintain international peace and security(!)" Apart from these exceptions, member states "shall REFRAIN in their international relations from the threat or use of force(!)"
"There are legitimate ways to react to the many threats to world peace. If Iraq's neighbors feel threatened, they can approach the Security Council to authorize appropriate measures to respond to the threat. If the United States and Britain feel threatened, they can do the same. BUT NO STATE HAS THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE ITS OWN DETERMINATIONS ON THESE MATTERS AND TO ACT AS IT CHOOSES; the United States and Britain would have NO such authority even if their hands were clean, (which is) hardly the case(!)
"Outlaw states do not accept these conditions: Saddam's Iraq, for example, OR THE UNITED STATES(!)... The Security Council unanimously endorsed (U.N. Secretary-General Kofi) Annan's agreement, rejecting U.S./U.K. demands that it authorize their use of force in the event of non-compliance. The resolution warned of the "severest consequences," but with no further specification(s). In the crucial final paragraph, the Council "decides, in accordance with its responsibilities under the (U.N.) Charter, to remain actively seized of the matter, in order to ensure implementation of this resolution and to ensure peace and security in the (Middle-Eastern) area." The Council, NO ONE ELSE; in accordance with the Charter(!)
"The facts were (very) clear and unambiguous(!)... "It HAS to be the Security Council who determines when to use armed force," the Ambassador of Costa Rica declared, expressing the position of the Security Council(!)... "And the other nations of the world have NOT assigned Washington (D.C.) the right to decide when, where and how their interests should be served {Ronald Steel}(!)"
"The Constitution (of the United States) DOES happen to provide such mechanisms, namely, by declaring valid treaties "the supreme law of the land," particularly the most fundamental of them, the U.N. Charter(!) It further authorizes (the U.S.) Congress to "define and punish... offenses against the law of nations," UNDERGIRDED BY THE CHARTER IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA(!). It is, furthermore, a bit of an understatement to say that other nations "have not assigned Washington the right"; THEY HAVE FORCEFULLY DENIED IT THAT RIGHT, following the {at least rhetorical} lead of Washington, which largely crafted the Charter(!)....
"Contempt for the rule of law is deeply rooted in U.S. practice and intellectual culture(!)... The open contempt for Article 51 (of the U.N. Charter, and the "creative interpretation of [same]" to supposedly justify the U.S.'s unilateral decisions to exercise armed force against other nations) is particularly revealing(!)... The United States proceeded to define "aggression" to include "political warfare, or subversion" {by someone else, that is (even though the U.S. does it all the time, and has done so for decades---it's supposedly okay for them to do; but it is definitely not okay for any other country to do, which is a gross and intolerable double standard)}(!)....
"The record lends considerable support to the concern widely voiced about "rogue states" that are dedicated to the rule of force, acting in the "national interest" as defined by domestic power; MOST OMINOUSLY, ROGUE STATES THAT ANOINT THEMSELVES GLOBAL JUDGE AND EXECUTIONER (LIKE THE UNITED STATES)(!)....
"....A secret 1995 study of the Strategic Command, which is responsible for the strategic nuclear arsenal, outlines the basic thinking (of the United States government at the present time). Released through the Freedom of Information Act, the study, Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence, "shows how the United States shifted its deterrent strategy from the defunct Soviet Union to so-called rogue states such as Iraq, Libya, Cuba and North Korea," A(ssociated) P(ress) reports. The study advocates that the United States exploit its nuclear arsenal to portray itself as "irrational and vindictive ([re]vengeful) if its vital interests are attacked." That "should be a part of the national persona we project to all adversaries," particularly the "rogue states." "It hurts to portray ourselves as too fully rational and coolheaded," let alone committed to such silliness as international law and treaty obligations. "The fact that some elements" of the U.S. government "may appear to be potentially 'out of control' can be beneficial to creating and reinforcing fears and doubts within the minds of an adversary's decision makers." (But it isn't working, is it?!) The report resurrects Nixon's "madman theory": our enemies should recognize that we are crazed and unpredictable, with extraordinary destructive force at out command, so they will bend to our will in fear. The concept was apparently devised in Israel in the 1950s by the governing Labor Party, whose leaders "preached in favor of acts of madness," Prime Minister Moshe Sharett records in his diary, warning that "we will go crazy" {"nishtagea"} if crossed, a "secret weapon" aimed in part against the United States, not considered sufficiently reliable at the time. In the hands of the world's sole superpower, which regards itself as an outlaw state and is subject to few constraints from elites within, that stance poses no small problem for the world(!)....
"The criteria are fairly clear: a "rogue state" is not simply a criminal state, but one that defies the orders of the powerful (like the U.S. government does)---who are, of course, (supposedly) exempt(!)....
"These are tendencies of considerable import, relating to the background concerns that motivate U.S. policy in the (Arab) region: its insistence, since World War II, on controlling the world's major energy reserves (at the expense of virtually every other nation in the world)(!) As many have observed, in the Arab world there is growing (remember, this was written in 1998, three years before the Arab-terrorist attacks on the U.S.) fear and resentment of the long-standing Israel-Turkey(-United States) alliance (and others)... now greatly strengthened (as well as other issues which have built resentment among the greater Arab "world", and brought about the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001)(!)....
"The respite (since the Iraq affair[s]) is temporary(!) (How's that for a prophetic statement on the part of Noam Chomsky that things were going to get worse as they have?!) It offers (offered?) opportunities to citizens of the warrior states (including the U.S. in particular) to bring about changes of consciousness and commitment that could make a difference in the not too distant future(!)" (Of course, Mr. Chomsky did NOT mean changes in consciousness and commitment in the wrong direction(s), leading to the U.S. further provoking and bringing 9-11-01 on themselves and our country; but what he DID mean was changes in consciousness and commitment in the right direction(s), that very well could have prevented the terrible events that occurred then, and will no doubt continue to occur as the U.S. government continues to escalate their provocations of the Middle East and the world at large!) [({Words and/or emphasis added by me.})]
[Further notes by me: Please get a hold of and read this publication for yourself, to take notice of the many flagrant examples of human rights abuses by the United States government for over fifty years! The U.S. government subverts democracy all over the world, including in the U.S., while claiming to "Americans" that it is murdering millions of innocent people all over the world for the sake of preserving our democracy! What a load of crap! Please don't believe it! The U.S. government is not justified in doing whatever it pleases without the authorization(s) of the United Nations General Assembly, the U.N. Security Council, and/or the World Court! The Truth is, the U.S. government is taking away U.S. citizens' inalienable right(s) to think for themselves, and to speak out against their tyranny(ies), which it is our God-given right and duty to do!]
"ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS"
by Ramsey Clark
(attorney, teacher, writer,
former Attorney General during
the Johnson Administration, and
founder of the activist organization,
International Action Center, founded
in 1991 to protest U.S. military
aggression and foreign policy[ies])
from the Appendix of
Acts of Aggression,
Policing "Rogue" States,
Copyright © 1999 by Edward W. Said,
Noam Chomsky and Ramsey Clark
""The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty, but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing." So observed Abraham Lincoln at, for him, the darkest moment of the American Civil War. He had just received reports of the massacre of 800 Union soldiers, former slaves whose ancestors were brought from Africa in chains. They were the first such unit to be engaged in combat. Caught and overwhelmed at Ft. Pillow, Tennessee on the Mississippi River by a much larger Confederate cavalry force under Nathan Bedford Forrest, every man was killed. Forrest reported the river ran red for hundreds of yards. After the war Forrest was a founder of the Ku Klux Klan and engaged in racist violence for two decades.
"Four score and four years (eighty-four years) after the Ft. Pillow massacre, in the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, the U(nited) N(ations) General Assembly found "a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance," and proclaimed its declaration in order to provide "a good definition."
"The Universal Declaration was dominated by the experience, concerns, interests and values of a narrow segment of the "people of the United Nations," primarily the United States, England and France. It emphasized political rights developed over centuries from their histories with little concern for economic, social and cultural rights. Still it was and remains an important contribution in the continuing struggle for justice.
"In the fifth paragraph of its preamble the Declaration notes the United Nations has affirmed "... the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom." Article 1 provides "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Article 5 states, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Article 25 declares, "(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care...."
"The United States government pays lip service to the Declaration, but its courts have consistently refused to enforce its provisions reasoning it is (supposedly) not a legally binding treaty, or contract, but (allegedly) only a declaration. This ignores the fact that international law recognizes the provisions of the Declaration as being incorporated into customary international law which is binding on all nations.
"The most fundamental, dangerous and harmful violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its fiftieth birthday is economic sanctions imposed on entire populations. The United States alone blockades eleven million Cubans in the face of the most recent General Assembly resolutions approved by 157 nations condemning the blockade, with only the Unites States and Israel in opposition. The entire population of Cuba and every Cuban has had the "right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being... including food, clothing, housing and medical care" deliberately violated by the United States blockade.
"Security Council sanctions against Iraq, which are forced by the United States, have devastated the entire nation, taking the lives of more than 1,500,000 people, mostly infants, children, chronically ill and elderly, and harming millions more by hunger, sickness and sorrow. The sanctions destroy the "dignity and rights" of the people of Iraq and are the most extreme form of "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," which are prohibited by the Declaration.
"Despite the cruelest destruction of the most basic human rights and liberties of all the people in Iraq, including rights to medicine, safe drinking water and sufficient food, the United States government, with the major mass media in near perfect harmony, proclaims itself the world's champion of liberty and human rights. The problem as Lincoln surely knew is not merely one of definitions. It is a problem of power, will and accountability. The United States intends to have its way and serve its own interests with Iraq, Cuba, Libya, Iran, the Sudan and many other countries whatever the consequences to the liberties and rights of those who live there.
"The United States control over and its concerted action with the mass media enables it to demonize such countries, its victims, for "terrorism," threats to world peace and human rights violations at the very time it rains Tomahawk cruise missiles on them and motivates and finances armed insurrections and violence against them. At the same time the United States increases its own staggeringly large prison industry, with more than a million persons confined, including 40 percent of all African-American males between 17 and 27 years old in the State of California. Simultaneously the United States spends more on its military than the ten largest military budgets of other nations combined, sells most of the arms and sophisticated weapons still increasing worldwide while rejecting an international convention to prohibit land mines and an international court of criminal justice. And the United States maintains and deploys the great majority of all weapons of mass destruction existent on Earth, nuclear, chemical, biological and the most deadly of all---economic sanctions.
"It is imperative that clear definitions of all fundamental rights of people, be clearly inscribed in international law, including economic rights which are most basic to human need and on which all other rights are dependent, and rights to freedom from military aggression by a superpower or its surrogates.
"But without a passionate commitment by the people of the United States and other major powers to stop their own governments from violating those definitions of human rights, hold them accountable for their acts and to prevent their own media from seducing them into acceptance or complacency, there will be no protection for the poor and powerless and no correspondence between the words of rich and powerful nations and their deeds.
"We can be thankful for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but together the people of the world must do better to define and protect the humanity of the people." [{(Words and/or emphasis added by me.)}]
[Further notes by me: Now do you see why the Arab peoples justifiably hate the United States and Americans so much, and want to hurt us so badly as they allegedly did on 9-11-01?! There is of course no justification for evil for evil, as I stated earlier; but the inhuman United States government is responsible for bringing terrorism to our very shores, and for bringing what has already happened, and any further terrorist acts perpetrated in our country by international terrorists, upon us! The real Truth is inescapable, except for those who continue to live in denial, fall for the propaganda perpetrated by the U.S. government and mainstream media, in virtually complete concert with one-another, and who blindly follow the false, so-called "patriotic" support for the corrupt U.S. government and it's corrupt allied governments, like most so-called "Americans" do!]
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Postscript: I'm looking for someone to go 50/50 with me and move to either Ecuador, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico where we can make a very low income go much further with a lower cost, and higher standard, of living (than living in the States on such a low income). This includes an only income of Social Security Disability (SSDI) and/or Retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration most definitely DOES allow SSDI and/or Retirement benefits, but not Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, to be sent to recipients in most other countries! There are many books about moving and living abroad available at the public library and/or at Amazon.com . Naturally, I realize we would probably have to spend some time getting to know eachother, and finding out if we're compatible, before moving abroad together. We could even have our own separate "spaces" by choosing to rent or purchase a house or apartment with separate quarters, and still save considerable money in monthly costs compared to living in the States on the same income. If you might be interested, want to ask me some questions, and/or want to discuss it, please e-mail me at the address below.
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