be just

Muslimedia.com : "or those who spend time observing and analysing the US’s policy toward Iran objectively, it is commonplace to point out that there always seem to be two entirely different trends to developments, which point in different directions and yet maintain an uneasy co-existence. This understanding is based on both what is happening now with regards to Iran, and parallels with what happened a few years ago, in the build-up to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003."

Basra fight pointless, says British commander - Telegraph : "One of the most senior British commanders in Iraq has claimed that there is no point in fighting on in Basra, likening British troops in the city to 'Robocop' and admitting that innocent people were hurt as a result of their actions."

Al Jazeera English - News - Fighting Rages In Mogadishu Fighting in Mogadishu has raged for a second day with Ethiopian troops clashing with Muslim fighters in the Somali capital's heaviest battles for weeks. Local media reported that at least 15 people have been killed in fighting in the last two days, including as many as seven Ethiopian soldiers.

blackagendareport.com - ‘Self-Help’: A Stolen Word Wielded as a Weapon Against Black Activism : "True Self-Help Earlier this year, Black Agenda Report and CBC Monitor circulated a petition with a list of seven demands for presentation to the Congressional Black Caucus. All were rooted in issues that lay at the core of the Historical Black Political Consensus; positions around which many generations of African Americans had coalesced. Most were related to existing legislation before Congress. 1. Dismantle racially selective mass incarceration. 2. Aid and empower those dispersed and dispossessed by Katrina. 3. End the war in Iraq now. 4. Get the U.S. military out of Africa. 5. Transform the cities and create millions of jobs. 6. Establish truly universal, single payer health care. 7. Ensure voting rights."

The End Of Civilization If I can see this, I would guess the United States Government, what with its thousands of full time experts, probably can too. Now, if you are the government (and I don’t mean Tom “I am the federal government” DeLay), and your experts tell you that civilization as we know it is doomed, what do you do? Well, for starters, you do not tell your population of sheeple. That would precipitate panic and result in premature doom, which would consume the government along with everything else. Above all, government seeks to survive, so you would maintain the facade of normalcy for the benefit of your population while you use what time you have left to prepare, as quietly as possible, for the inescapable future. ............... Elections are one such distraction. Elections arouse peoples’ passions and keep them entertained for weeks or months. Elections even give people the illusion of participation, when, in fact, elections mean absolutely nothing in a country like the Un...

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Neocons Embrace Islamic Terror Group : "The U.S. State Department officially considers the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) a Foreign Terrorist Organization. While those honors date back to 1994, they've been renewed during the Bush years. Indeed in 2003 Foggy Bottom went further, including the National Council of Resistance of Iran -- an MEK alias -- under the terrorist designation. (The MEK is also known as the People's Mujahedeen.)"

AlterNet: ForeignPolicy: Bush's Response to 9/11 Was Deadlier Than the Attacks Themselves : "They came in as unreformed Cold Warriors, only lacking a cold war -- and looking for an enemy: a Russia to roll back even further; rogue states like Saddam's rickety dictatorship to smash. They were still in the old fight, eager to make sure that the 'Evil Empire,' already long down for the count, would remain prostrate forever; eager to ensure that any new evil empire like, say, China's would never be able to stand tall enough to be a challenge. They saw opportunities to move into areas previously beyond the reach of American imperial power like the former SSRs of the Soviet Union in Central Asia, which just happened to be sitting on potentially fabulous undeveloped energy fields; or farther into the even more fabulously energy-rich Middle East, where Saddam's Iraq, planted atop the planet's third largest reserves of petroleum, seemed so ready for a fall -- wit...