America's Next 9/11
By Paul Craig Roberts24/03/08 "ICH"
--- - The investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein has taken up the Litvinenko case.
The media used the Litvinenko case as sensational propaganda against Russian President Putin and then tossed it aside. For those whose memories of the case have faded, Alexander Litvinenko was a former KGB officer living in England who died in 2006, apparently from the radioactive isotope Polonium-210.The British government encouraged the tale that Russian President Putin had sent Andrei Lugovoi to poison Litvinenko's tea at a meeting on November 1, 2006. The story appealed to people brought up on James Bond thrillers, but the story never made any sense. Polonium 2-10 is a rare and tightly controlled substance as likely to contaminate the assassin as the victim. There are far easier and more effective ways of killing someone.Moreover, there is no evidence to connect Russia to Litvinenko's death. But this didn't stop the British government from grandstanding, sending an extradition request for Lugovoi in July 2007. The British government sent the request despite the facts that there is no extradition treaty between Britain and Russia and the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian citizens. Epstein suggests that the purpose of the extradition request was to block the Russian government from investigating Litvinenko's death in London. Litvinenko had a false passport provided by the British government. A real investigtion might have opened up the shadowy world of security consultants in which Litvinenko rubbed shoulders with former British police and intelligence officials.The Russians asked to see the evidence. The case file delivered by the British contained nothing of substance. Not even the autopsy report was provided to the Russians. Epstein managed to convince the Russians to let him see the file and to question them about the case. In brief, if the British have a case, they are withholding the evidence.The charge that Putin was behind Litvinenko's death seems to have originated with Boris Berezovsky, one of the Russian Jewish oligarchs who had grabbed the lion's share of privatized Soviet assets during Yeltsin's presidency. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/Berezovsky.htm Epstein reports that Berezovsky's protector in Russia was Litvinenko, the deputy head of the organized crime unit of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB. When Berezovsky fled Russia to escape fraud charges, Litvinenko followed. Epstein reports that Berezovsky has declared an agenda of "overtrowing the regime of his archenemy, Mr. Putin." According to Epstein, "Alex Goldfarb, the executive director of Mr. Berezovsky's foundation, prepared for Litvinenko's end by writing out his 'deathbed' statement, which, according to Mr. Goldfarb, was drawn from statements Litvinenko had dictated to him." Epstein writes: "A few hours after Litvinenko died on November 23, 2006, Mr. Goldfarb arranged a press conference and released the sensational deathbed statement accusing Mr. Putin of the poisoning." Web sites supported by Berezovsky spread the story that Litvinenko was murdered by the FSB.The effort to link Putin and the FSB to Litvinenko's death might be a tale designed to cover-up a more serious crime in the making. Polonium-210 is an indication that someone is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Epstein finds reasons to suspect that Litvinenko had, and perhaps Berezovsky has, connections to a Polonium smuggling scheme, and Litvinenko's death resulted from accidental or careless exposure to Polonium-210. Who would be trying to build a secret nuclear weapon or perhaps only a "dirty bomb" that would serve to spread some radiation and massive amounts of fear and hysteria? The public has been carefully prepared to suspect Iran. If such a device were exploded somewhere in the United States, Bush, Cheney, and the neocon nazis would have their second new Pearl Harbor to justify their planned attack on Iran. We know that the Bush regime wants to attack Iran. Despite the NIE report that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program several years ago and despite no signs of a weapons program having been uncovered by IAEA inspectors, Bush, Cheney, and the neocon nazis continue to agitate for striking Iran "before it is too late." Their politicized military commander in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus, keeps insisting that Iran is training Iraqi insurgents and supplying weapons that are killing US troops. Bush and Cheney themselves have made trips to Europe and the Middle East trying to marshall support for an attack on Iran. Anyone who is not deaf, blind and stupid knows that the Bush regime is doing everything it can to create circumstances that will permit a US attack on Iran.We know for a fact that the Bush regime created false evidence, lied, and deceived in order to attack Iraq. All the reasons given for the US invasion have proven to be false. The real agenda has never been declared. Yet, five years later the traitors in high office who deceived Americans into a war in behalf of a hidden agenda have not been held accountable. As Agatha Christie said, getting away with one murder makes it easy to commit another.There is so much that Americans do not know about secret schemes serving undeclared agendas. Those who have attempted to clue in fellow citizens are invariably frustrated, because Americans have been trained to dismiss the messenger who brings news of "false flag" events as a "conspiracy theorist."Best-selling author Steve Alten in his recently published book, The Shell Game, attempts to reach Americans with a thriller that mixes fiction with fact. Alten describes a conspiracy, beginning in 2007 and ending in 2012, by a Black Op group in a Republican administration to set off nuclear weapons in two American cities, with planted evidence pointing to Iran. It is a historical thriller predictive of our immediate future by an author who has no illusions about the US Government or the interest groups that control it.Alten's book is a first class thriller set in the real world of today. It is a perfect read for Americans who need their dose of reality to be watered down with fiction and delivered as entertainment.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
clips of liberation
watch the video, click below
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History of RSS
to read please follow the link
http://lifestyle-india.blogspot.com/2008/02/history-of-rashtriya-swayemsevak-sangh.html
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Beware an Attack on Iran
By Prof. Marjorie Cohn
Global Research, March 17, 2008
Is the Bush administration ramping up for an attack on Iran? The signs seem to point in that direction. On March 11, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, retired early because of differences with Washington on Iran policy. And now, Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour may be designed to prepare our Arab allies for an imminent "preemptive" war against Iran.Bush and Cheney have long been rattling the sabers in Iran's direction. The disaster they created in Iraq isn't going well, no matter how they spin it. They may feel that engaging the United States militarily in Iran would make it harder to elect anyone other than the seasoned military man, John McCain. The Republican presidential candidate just happens to be touring Iraq with Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the strongest advocates of a U.S. military strike on Iran. Lieberman is likely on McCain's short list for a vice-presidential running mate.Admiral Fallon took early retirement after making comments that contradicted the Bush administration's aggressive stance on Iran. Fallon told the Arab television station Al Jazeera last fall that a "constant drumbeat of conflict" from the administration against Iran was "not helpful and not useful." After Fallon announced his retirement, the New York Times reported a senior administration official as saying Fallon's comments about U.S. Iran policy "left the perception he had a different foreign policy than the president." If Fallon wants to talk to Iran rather than attack it, then his policy differs from Bush's.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, however, has downplayed the significance of Admiral Fallon's abrupt retirement. Admiral Miller proclaimed recently, "In my view, this should not be seen as a sign – at all – towards any kind of conflict with Iran." Perhaps the chairman doth protest too much.The White House has been spewing pugilistic rhetoric toward Iran. In spite of the unanimous conclusion of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran is not developing nukes, Bush immediately declared, "I have said Iran is dangerous, and the NIE estimate doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world - quite the contrary."
(See http://marjoriecohn.com/2007/12/bush-still-spinning-nukes-in-iran.html).News reports on Monday announced that Dick Cheney is on a surprise weeklong visit to Iraq, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey. High on Cheney's agenda is the topic of U.S. policy toward Iran.Connect the dots. They paint a very frightening picture.Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the President of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." Her articles are archived at www.marjoriecohn.com.
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Global Research, March 17, 2008
Is the Bush administration ramping up for an attack on Iran? The signs seem to point in that direction. On March 11, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, retired early because of differences with Washington on Iran policy. And now, Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour may be designed to prepare our Arab allies for an imminent "preemptive" war against Iran.Bush and Cheney have long been rattling the sabers in Iran's direction. The disaster they created in Iraq isn't going well, no matter how they spin it. They may feel that engaging the United States militarily in Iran would make it harder to elect anyone other than the seasoned military man, John McCain. The Republican presidential candidate just happens to be touring Iraq with Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the strongest advocates of a U.S. military strike on Iran. Lieberman is likely on McCain's short list for a vice-presidential running mate.Admiral Fallon took early retirement after making comments that contradicted the Bush administration's aggressive stance on Iran. Fallon told the Arab television station Al Jazeera last fall that a "constant drumbeat of conflict" from the administration against Iran was "not helpful and not useful." After Fallon announced his retirement, the New York Times reported a senior administration official as saying Fallon's comments about U.S. Iran policy "left the perception he had a different foreign policy than the president." If Fallon wants to talk to Iran rather than attack it, then his policy differs from Bush's.Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, however, has downplayed the significance of Admiral Fallon's abrupt retirement. Admiral Miller proclaimed recently, "In my view, this should not be seen as a sign – at all – towards any kind of conflict with Iran." Perhaps the chairman doth protest too much.The White House has been spewing pugilistic rhetoric toward Iran. In spite of the unanimous conclusion of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran is not developing nukes, Bush immediately declared, "I have said Iran is dangerous, and the NIE estimate doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world - quite the contrary."
(See http://marjoriecohn.com/2007/12/bush-still-spinning-nukes-in-iran.html).News reports on Monday announced that Dick Cheney is on a surprise weeklong visit to Iraq, Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Turkey. High on Cheney's agenda is the topic of U.S. policy toward Iran.Connect the dots. They paint a very frightening picture.Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the President of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law." Her articles are archived at www.marjoriecohn.com.
Please support Global Research Global Research relies on the financial support of its readers।
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8371
9-11 EVIL
The Most Dangerous 9-11 Book Ever Written!
9-11 EVIL: Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacksby Victor Thorn
$6.99 plus $2.99 for S&H.For Orders in U.S. only
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John Kaminski Reviews 9-11 EvilThe whole truth of the real storyThorn's '9/11 Evil' first major book to implicate Israel in 9/119-11 EvilFinally, a book about 9/11 that actually talks about the real perpetrators of that bloody swindle!
Victor Thorn's new blockbuster "9-11 Evil" bills itself as "the most dangerous 9-11 book ever written" and is exactly that, because it blows the lid off the media suppression of Jewish involvement in the greatest crime ever perpetrated against the American people.Thorn, who with his partner Lisa Guliani have propelled their WING-TV Internet newscast into one of the most reputable on the web, is fast becoming the Ralph Nader of the 9/11 movement, after his many a celebrated outings of corporate shills Mike Ruppert and Alex Jones. Thorn writes:"The attacks on New York City and Washington DC nearly five years ago were only the beginning, and if we don't fully recognize who the real enemy is and stop it dead in its tracks right now, I guarantee that at some point in the near future, we won't have another opportunity such as this to save ourselves."What does Thorn's book do that all the other voluminous examinations of 9/11 don't do?It points the finger squarely at the Mossad, at Israel, and Jews in general. The crime of the century has many co-conspirators.What did happen on 9/11? Thorn writes:1. The WTC Towers did not collapse due to plane hits or fire. " ... they were crippled by controlled emolitons that were well planned in advance."2. Flight 77 did not strike the Pentagon.3. The crash site in Pennsylvania was not caused by Flight 93.Thorn lists the best 9/11 books that form the core of his research, and sources the most reputable empirical 9/11 researchers, those who don't wander into fanciful high-tech explanations. Prominent among his sources are author Michael Collins Piper and webmaster Michael Rivero, whose whatreallyhappened.com website has provided a news package as reliable and focused as any site on the web.With the same everyman panache that made his previous 9/11 book, "9/11 on Trial" such an easy and valuable read, Thorn creates composite dialogues that flesh out the utter ludicrousness and savage betrayal that the official story inflicted on free people everywhere.
Why are Israel and the Mossad and Jews in general all behind the 9/11 caper? Thorn answers with a thorough survey of all the existing evidence, beginning with Netanyahu's snide comment on the day of the tragedy. "It's very good," he said, referring to the event's benefit to Israel.Why were so many Israelis apprehended around the U.S. shortly after the attacks in suspicious circumstances all magically released and flown home to Israel?And why does the 9/11 skeptics movement, anchored by commercial, pro-Israel shills like Alex Jones and Meria Heller, remain silent on this all-important question?Thorn's interpretation of how the entire 9/11 skeptics movement has been "diverted in an array of convoluted directions" provides an important checklist of hazards awaiting new researchers.1. Vague descriptions of the masterminds of permanent war like "New World Order" deflect from identifying the real perps.2. Popular media personalities insert their agendas into mass movements.3. Use a religious figure to accurately describe what happened on 9/11, but he fails to mention the most important point, namely, who did it.4. "Use paid back-room moles to infiltrate every possible 9/11 chatroom, message board, and forum to create as much din, disruption, "noise", and chaos as possible which constantly litters and pollutes the soup, effectively preventing most people from focusing on Israel's central role in 9/11."5. Minutia, rhetoric, and circular arguments "to lead people down a maze of endless rabbit holes."So who did 9/11? Thorn writes:" ... 9/11 was an intricately planned act of state-ponsored terrorism concocted by a foreign government (Israel) in unison with an ardently loyal faction of neocon crazies who had burrowed their way into the Pentagon."This book is all you need to know but were afraid to ask. It will help you realize that if you don't ask that question, it will soon be too late.
Like no other 9/11 skeptic I know, Thorn pulls no punches."9/11 evil is Israel," he flatly declares, and concludes his broadside with an extremely long list of Israeli atrocities, concluding with ...."The Talmud granting permission for Jews to cheat, steal from, kill, and deceive non-Jews."Of all the 9/11 analyses I've read to date, this book comes the closest to telling the whole truth of the real story, and puts the gory details into their proper historical context. You won't read this stuff anywhere else in the so-called 9/11 skeptics movement.John Kaminski is the author of: America's Autopsy Report, The Day America Died, The Perfect Enemy, and Recipe for Extinction. His website can be found at: John Kaminski website===============================9-11 Evil Overview• Find out how Israel-firsters were actually responsible for the Pentagon's "stand-down."• Who infiltrated Air Force One and threatened President Bush on the morning of September 11, 2001 with electronic capabilities even more sophisticated than that of the NSA?• Identity of the true 9-11 mastermind revealed with extensive, highly-incriminating documentation.• Who is George Bush's real guru (it's not Karl Rove), and where do his loyalties lie?• Learn which entities operate behind-the-scenes at the Pentagon and are never mentioned by the mainstream media (and for that matter, the alternative media as well).• What role did the notorious "Prince of Darkness" Richard Perle play in 9-11?• Ascertain for yourself how Israeli-owned companies controlled corporate and government phone banks, wiretapping, instant messaging, computer equipment, and backdoors to their firewalls.• Who covered-up the massive spy operations which took place in America before (and after) 9-11?
• Check out how every major player in the sale of the WTC complex to Larry Silverstein was Jewish, including the CEO, mortgage holder, owner, and negotiator.• Discover how the 9-11 terrorist attacks lead all the way to Rothschild Inc., and how they've used it to protect their "number one priority."• Revealed: a cabal of alternative media figures who deliberately use obfuscation, deceit, and misdirection to maintain a well-crafted Zionist Protection Racket.• Who was truly behind the post 9-11 staged anthrax scare?• Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu: key players in the 9-11 saga (and other terror-related events) whose role has been ignored by the controlled corporate press.• A plethora of damning evidence against "The Dancing Israelis," as well as their direct link to Michael Chertoff.• Numerous cover-ups fully exposed in regard to suspicious activity, terrorist ties, and foreknowledge by a variety of Israeli companies.• Israel's passport spy scandals, the military sale of classified weaponry to China, and direct espionage against the United States.• Foreign military men speak out about 9-11 being Israeli-engineered.• What firm was contracted to perform security at each airport terminal involved in the 9-11, and the fact that many of their former workers were employed by the IDF and Shin Bet.• The architect for our current perpetual war (i.e. the "Clash of Civilizations") and his New World Order anti-Arab leanings.• Exposed: how Nazi symbolism has been very deceptively used to divert attention away from the real culprits behind 9-11 and our multiple wars in multiple theaters.• Read how Israeli Mossad operatives trailed fall-guy Arabs across several nations and states to set them up as the new "Lee Harvey Oswalds."• What did Osama bin Laden really say about 9-11 and who controls the United States government?• Finally, a crescendo of evidence proving that 9-11 was not only an
inside job executed by Zionist-loyal neo-cons within the U.S. government, but also an outside job leading directly to the nation of Israel.===============================American Free Press Reviews 9-11 Evil: by John TiffanyWho was really behind the controlled demolition of three buildings of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, along with the other incidents in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon? In his new book, 9-11 Evil: Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, Victor Thorn points his finger at the one entity that most other authors (even in the so-called 9-11 truth movement) prefer not to even mention: Israel.Thorn and his co-author Lisa Guliani make a convincing case that Israel-firsters were responsible for the mysterious Pentagon stand-down that allowed the "attack on America" to proceed.Thorn and Guliani also contend that Zionists infiltrated Air Force One and threatened President Bush on the morning of September 11, 2001 with electronic capabilities even more sophisticated than those of the NSA.Many patriots, who rightly dismiss the impossible official 9-11 explanation as a mere conspiracy theory, alas, are convinced that the real 9-11 plot was hatched with the selection or election of George W. Bush in 2000. In reality, writes Thorn, it is an integral part of a Zionist cluster of conspiracies going back at least to the 1960s, and Bush is merely a puppet playing his small part in the overall scheme.In one gem from the book, the authors point out that a series of power-downs occurred in the WTC towers on the weekend prior to 9-11. With the electricity knocked out, the security cameras, electric locks and other security devices were disabled. This means an ideal opportunity existed for agents to go through the buildings, planting bombs. Thorn says the evidence for this comes from the statements of Scott Forbes, a computer analyst for WTC occupant Fiduciary Trust.
Thorn adds that the first suspects arrested within hours of the attack were the "Dancing Israelis," the Israelis on the roof of the buildings who were seen laughing and pointing to the WTC as it was falling. The man who eventually freed them was Michael Chertoff, whose family was involved in the creation of the state of Israel.Also involved is a demented wealthy-beyond-wealthy rabbi, Dov Zakheim, say Thorn and Guliani. Zakheim, they tell us, is the man who filched more then $2 trillion (yes, that's trillion) from the Pentagon, making him the biggest thief in history.Zakheim, former comptroller in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, was one of the architects, along with some other rabid Zionists, of a document called Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century, published by the Project for a New American Century. This document, which has been dubbed the blueprint for the 9-11 attack, called for "some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor" as being necessary to foster the frame of mind needed for the American public to finance and die in a war in the Middle East that would politically reshape the region for the benefit of Israel and Zionists in power in the United States.Israeli firms were in charge of security at the WTC and airports on 9-11, writes Thorn. The media involved in covering everything up is dominated by Zionists. The lease on the World Trade Center complex had been purchased not long before the attack by Larry Silverstein, a Zionist, whose mortgage holder in turn was a Zionist. Silverstein had direct ties to two of Israel's most hawkish prime ministers: Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. The man who arranged the deal was a Zionist, plus the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which was heavily involved, was a Zionist.After reading 9-11 Evil – which is dedicated to AFP correspondent Mike Piper – it is hard to deny Israel's involvement in this act of state-sponsored terrorism. Thorn and Guliani offer a crescendo of evidence demonstrating that 9-11 was not only an "inside job" executed by Israeli-loyal "neo-cons" within the
U.S. government, but also an "outside job" leading directly to the doorstep of the nation of Israel.===============================Comments from Professor Jim Fetzer - Scholars for 9-11 TruthOn October 18, 2006 WING TV interviewed Professor Jim Fetzer of the Scholars for 9-11 Truth where he made the following comments in regard to Victor Thorn's 9-11 Evil:Fetzer: I am very glad to tell you that it seems to me that there is a wealth of information here. I felt I was learning from almost every page. It tends to provide a very substantial case in support of the proposition you have just enumerated, where the key thesis of your book appears on page 70:"9-11 was an intricately planned act of state-sponsored terrorism concocted by a foreign government, Israel, in unison with an ardently loyal faction of neocon crazies who had burrowed their way into the Pentagon, State Department, and White House. Assisting them were a host of defense contractors, computer gurus, and explosives experts who made the whole thing happen on the morning of September 11, 2001."Fetzer: Now I think the way you patiently lay out your case, including the 'Dancing Israelis' and the Urban Moving Systems and the connections between Larry Silverstein and Benjamin Netanyahou and Ariel Sharon and all of this, is extremely persuasive.Fetzer: I would encourage anyone who wants to take a serious look at the hypothesis that Israel, that the Mossad in particular, played a key role in 9-11 as you're suggesting, ought to take a good look at this book and that additional support (at st911.org) under the category of Foreign Perspectives. I think I would recommend every serious student of 9-11 needs to read your book, Victor. And let me just explain why, from the point of view of scientific reasoning, I think your book is so important. This, of course, is my principal area of research. I've published 27 books, and a lot of them have been on the theoretical character of scientific knowledge. So, scientific reasoning, in general, is a pattern that falls into four steps or stages. First, there's puzzlement. You encounter a phenomenon you don't readily understand, you're not able to integrate with your background knowledge and beliefs. A puzzlement in this case would arise over the events in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville on 9-11. Then there's speculation. Speculation is the crucial stage of considering the full range of alternative of possible explanations. Now, one possible explanation that the government has given us is that the plane impacts plus the jet fuel fires led to the weakening or melting of the steel, which led to a pancake collapse, and the buildings fell. That's a hypothesis. An alternative hypothesis would be that the buildings actually came down by controlled demolition – not of, in this case with regard to the Twin Towers, of a conventional kind where you're blowing buildings – blowing them up or bringing them down from the bottom up; but in this case from the top down, for which there's an enormous amount of evidence. And then of course we have Building 7, which was a conventional kind of controlled demolition, a building blown up from the bottom up.
Now, once we establish that the events in New York in particular, and the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania do not accord with the government's account, when you adapt them to the evidence - which is the third stage – you're taking the alternative hypotheses and adapting them to the available evidence, where the government has been going way out of its way to make sure that we don't have all the evidence that ought to be available. Just reading through that petition (on ST911.org) you realize how massively the government has withheld evidence. And past the stage of adaptation, once you establish which hypothesis receives strongest support than the alternatives, once the evidence settles down, you're entitled to accept the preferable hypothesis, albeit in the tentative and fallible fashion characteristic of science, which means if new hypotheses are advanced or new evidence becomes available or you discover some of your old evidence really turned out to be fabricated, faked and has to be jettisoned, then you can revise the situation based on logic and the new body of evidence. Fetzer: Now, what's crucial about your book, there's been an utter failure to take very seriously the hypothesis that when it comes to those who were involved in bringing about the events of 9-11, that the Mossad or the Israeli government could have had a key role to play. And that seems to me to be extremely important and very well investigated in your book. So when I recommend your book, it's not that I'm saying I think everyone should believe everything you have to say. I have a few questions I would hope to pose to you today, but I am saying this is extremely important in giving what I would call a very nice preliminary outline of evidence that tends to suggest that, even in some cases, strongly supports the hypothesis that the Mossad and the Israeli government had a very intimate role to play in the events of 9-11. Fetzer: I want to say I'm very proud of you for authoring this book, Victor. I think it's very, very well done; and even though I wouldn't imply that it's the last word, I think you have done some tremendously important work in opening up an area of investigation that we cannot shy away from. If we want to understand the truth, we have to confront the full range of alternatives, and frankly I don't see how we can have a complete explanation of what happened on 9-11 without taking into account the role of the Israeli government in contributing to bringing about these events.
Fetzer: I would encourage everyone with a serious interest in 9-11 to read your book. Your book is mind expanding. It requires you to stretch your intellect to encompass alternatives you might prefer to ignore. ===============================Review: Michael LangstonVictor Thorn's new book, 9-11 Evil, Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, takes 9-11 research and reporting to a whole new level by providing much-needed answers to the most crucial questions regarding the attacks of September 11: exactly WHO planned and carried out this abominable crime against humanity, and WHY in God's name would anyone do something this horrible? What was the psychology and the psychopathology involved? How did the perpetrators rationalize these unconscionable acts of mass murder? What were their sinister and evil motivations? And who - above all others - stood to benefit most from this heinous crime against all of humanity? For when we answer that one critical question of who benefited most, we most likely have answered the ultimate question: who was the perpetrator?We already know the "how" of September 11. Other researchers, including Victor Thorn himself in a previous book, 9-11 on Trial, which discussed the collapse of the WTC towers and Building 7, have thoroughly exposed the forensics of 9-11, such as the fact that the Twin Towers were brought down in a controlled demolition, that no Boeing 757 impacted the Pentagon, and that Flight 93 - or whatever it was - was most likely shot down and did not strike the ground intact in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as we were told by government and media sources.These are relatively easy questions to answer, and the 9-11 "Truth Movement" has done a fairly good job of answering them, but the question of "who" is a much more difficult one to deal with, because it involves actually pointing the finger of blame at the actual perpetrators themselves, at the specific, ruthless individuals and entities that were criminally liable. This takes tremendous courage to directly confront evil of this magnitude, and the author of this book should be commended for doing so.
Too often when we ask this vital question of who the actual 9-11 perpetrators are, we are offered vague, nebulous, non-specific answers, such as the "globalists" did it, or the "New World Order" was to blame. Either that or we're told that "Bush," "Cheney," or the "Bush Administration" are the individuals or entities that were ultimately responsible. This serves only to muddy the water and to distract our attention away from the actual perpetrator.The cold, hard facts laid out in this book, which may very well turn out to be the most important ever written on the subject of 9-11, lead the reader to only one conclusion:Israel did it, and ISRAEL ultimately is the 9-11 Evil.===============================Review: Mark GlennChatter, chatter, chatter? Talk, talk, talk? It is incessant and part of this thing known as the Western culture. It would be fine were it not for the fact that there is so much pointless talk taking place--Which movie star has just spent a fortune on a new wardrobe for a pet monkey? Which politician in Washington is introducing a bill that would require institutions of higher learning that receive taxpayer funds to offer courses in the proper way to scrub toilets?And of course, the whole business involving the 'war on terror' and everything that took place on 911... Go to such-and-such website and they lump this thing known as WW III in with aliens from outer space, Bigfoot, 'Nessie' and the reptilians. Read this book written by this 'expert' wherein he claims that EVERYBODY but himself and his mother are working for the CIA?Like I said, chatter, chatter, chatter? talk, talk, talk, and nothing of any substance gets said, and in the meantime, the world burns and innocent people suffer.But not all is lost. In this search for the 'golden nugget' of truth, it is unavoidable that we are going to run into a lot of 'fool's gold' along the way. It is all part of the business. But now, after finding about a thousand pieces of this junk within the 9-11 truth movement, we who are choosy shoppers for the truth have found a nice little gem--honest to goodness stuff that can be used as valuable currency, and it is a new book written by Victor Thorn of
www.wingtv.net entitled 9-11 Evil.What makes this book so much different from all the other books that have been written in the last five years? Simple--it goes to the root of the problem, not the symptoms. While everyone else is chattering on about big oil, Dick Cheny, George Bush and all the other pustule sores that have erupted on the body, 9-11 Evil goes right to the virus, which just so happens to be the most taboo of all subjects these days, and it is Israel and the Pharisaical principles that form the lifeblood of this terrorist nation. Thorn pulls no punches in putting the blame where it belongs for the present circumstance known as Armageddon that is taking place right now. It is the nation of Israel and the Pharisaical mindset that governs her that is the fountain from which all these troubles flow. Without her there would be no war in the Middle East and without her there would have been no 9-11. Without her and her scheming, conspiratorial agenda, the world would live in relative peace and people could get on with the business of just being people and directing their lives in relative prosperity.But all because of one nation, one tiny little nation, the whole world has to be thrown into chaos. Innocent people must die horrible deaths and live with the memories associated with indescribable tragedy. One little nation of people who consider themselves above everyone else, and Thorn does not quibble about this fact as virtually all other 'investigators' have done. While others cower in fear over the prospect of going up against the beast and of exposing the real mechanics of what is taking place, Thorn goes right to the heart of the matter, and the consequences be damned. He understands that what is taking place is deadly business and does not waste time in sounding the alarm for his fellow man. He is one of only a few doctors in town who will tell the truth--that smoking causes lung cancer--while all the others (who have been bought off by big tobacco interests) council their sick and dying patients to eat an apple a day and who mention nothing about cigarettes.
All persons of good will who genuinely want to rid the body of this cancer that is making life hell for so many people owe it to themselves to deal with the facts of this situation in a straightforward way. Thorn's 9-11 Evil is one of those ways of beginning the process of flushing this evil cancer out of the body of mankind that will destroy everything if it is not stopped. Details of acquiring this book can be found by going to the following link or by writing to 9-11 Evil.Sisyphus Press P.O. Box 10495State College, Pa.16805-0495 Do yourself a favor and take the bitter medicine contained in this book. Given all the chatter that is taking place these days, it may be hard to swallow, but what is going on here is deadly business and we don't have the luxury of wasting time by ingesting the myriad of worthless suger pills that are out there, no matter how good they may taste.Mark Glenn is the author of No Beauty in the Beast and Hear No Evil. His website can be found at:Crescent and Cross===============================Review: Vincent SammartinoVictor Thorn pulls no punches in this blockbuster must read. But then again Victor has never been known to pull any punches. Anyone who thinks Cheney & Co. are the masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks is in for a rude awakening. All the pieces of the 9/11 puzzle are in this book. The why's and who's are clearly outlined, and the all important Dancing Arabs are exposed for who they really were, as well as the dual citizenship members of the neocon cabal. When you're done with this book, you're going to ask why this book wasn't named 911-ZION.
Vincent Sammartino is the author of The 9-11 Passenger List Oddity===============================WING TV monologue: August 4, 2006This is the book that many influential 9-11 organizations and individuals don't want you to read … or talk about.And, once they receive it, this is the book the ADL and Jewish Lobby don't want you to read … or talk about.This is the book the government, mainstream media, gatekeepers, 9-11 Commission, distracters, obfuscators, deceivers, and those who want to keep a lid on 9-11 don't want you to read.This is the most dangerous 9-11 book ever written – the final taboo – the book that Lisa Guliani described as "an atomic bomb" after she finished reading it.This is the book that forever changes the way we'll look at 9-11. Of course there will be those who try to conceal, cover-up, and ignore this information – even those in the 9-11 truth movement itself – but here it is at long last.And yes, this data has been available in different locations for nearly five years – a little bit here, a little bit there – but never before has it been culled together all in one place so convincingly … and so damningly … and it hits harder than anything ever written on the subject of 9-11. This book doesn't play nice, and it's not lightweight in the least. Instead, this is hard-core, heavy-duty reality.We already know why 9-11 was done, and we already know how the WTC towers were destroyed (via controlled demolitions).But for some reason, most everyone wants to shy away from Who ultimately did 9-11. Oh sure, there are those who never go beyond the Bush-Cheney cabal, or those who blame it on faceless, shadowy entities like the "New World Order," "globalists," or the "Illuminati."But these individuals all belong to a massive protection racket that will do anything humanly possible to keep the finger of blame from being pointed in a certain direction. And after seeing the atrocities being committed in the Middle East, we know what direction I'm talking about. These people have even created pre-approved Orwellian "scripts" as to how we should speak about 9-11 in a politically-correct way.
But the truth – as pointed out in 9-11 Evil – is far more brutal and immediate. The nation of Israel played a central, key role in the 9-11 terrorist attacks on our country, and now there is overwhelming proof – beyond any reasonable doubt – contained within the pages of 9-11 Evil.It's been nearly five years now. The big question is: do you have the guts to confront the TRUTH about 9-11, or will you opt to be an ostrich with its head in the sand, just like those who sit in front of their TVs watching CNN, FOX, and CBS; refusing to accept the fact that 9-11 was not only an inside job, but also an outside job … and the actual terrorists didn't reside in Afghani caves, or belong to a non-existent Nazi cult.No, al-Qaeda and the swastika are merely smokescreens conveniently used to mask another symbol – the Star of David.Israel is 9-11 EVIL, and once you read this book, you'll never view this event in the same way again.===============================9-11 Evil, A Book Review September 7, 2006I have been reading 9-11 EVIL: Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorists Attacks by Victor Thorn. As I am reading the way this writer exposes the Zionist communist Jewish plot to bomb the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, I feel like I am reading things that I have been saying for over forty years. I am not taking anything away from this book, because it is great reading and we recommend that every person in America read this book. What Mr. Thorn is saying could be said about many other events that the Zionist Jews have been responsible for in the last 250 years in this country. The ink was barely dry on the Constitution when they began to unravel what good men and women died for.The names change over the years, but ALL of this country's problems – since the Revolutionary War – have been caused by the Zionist Jews as they have, for hundreds of years, been trying to control the entire world. The destruction of the Twin Towers and Pentagon were just the latest in a long string of disasters that have befallen this country. The Zionists have grabbed complete control of our government and placed their puppets in positions of power all the way to the White House. These evil bastards sit back in the shadows and pull the strings of their puppets and allow them to take all the heat. The Zionist Jews have absolute control of the major media and rush in to protect one of their puppets when he gets into trouble. If the case against the puppet is hopeless, they will throw the puppet to the wolves and protect themselves from any exposure.
Victor Thorn has done a great job of putting all the facts together, and we will now quote a portion of the book that you will find very interesting. Victor is saying that these evil conspirators are causing all our problems:"Remember, these individuals don't exist in a vacuum, and they're not above leaving a paper trail. (How do you think we know so much about them?) We also need to examine the inner workings of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19, 1995. Here we're allowed an insight into the precursor, or dry run for 9-11 where the perpetrators' modus operandi was nearly identical, with outside agencies such as the ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center working in unison with the CIA, BATF, and FBI. (Remember: there were no BATF or FBI children in the child care center that day. What does that tell you? ED)."The faces and names changed over a decade, but unfortunately, 9-11 was ratcheted many levels higher, for the new implements consisted of defense contractors, the NSA's Puzzle Palace, deep-cover Mossad operatives (Israeli Secret Service), and a slew of techno-demolition-computer wizards. Amazingly, they botched the job even worse than they did OKC and the JFK assassination."With this foundation in mind, let's peer behind-the-scenes at a conversation that must have taken place somewhere in time, possibly in the backroom of a 1990's Bilderberg meeting where shadowy luminaries met in private:Mr. A.: (eyes bulging): We need to push our agenda forward to reach the next level of control.Mr. B.: What are you suggesting, sir?Mr. A.: (leaning forward): I'm recommending a scenario where we combine Operation Northwoods with the OKC Bombing.Mr. B.: Where would this event take place?Mr. A.: Events ... plural ... multiple events in New York City and Washington DC. This time we're targeting the USA in a big way.
Mr. B.: What specifically do you envision?Mr. A.: (excitedly): This event has to be larger than life, like something straight out of Hollywood. What we want is a new Pearl Harbor that will traumatize everyday Americans to such an extent that they'll allow us to do anything, including the removal of their rights, wars started on nothing but lies, and placing them in debt beyond their wildest dreams.Mr. B.: When will this chaos take place?Mr. A.: The date has to be easily remembered, and very symbolic. We're thinking something like 9-11. Not only is this number indicative of an emergency (9-11), but when we strike the WTC towers in Manhattan we'll bring even more numerology into the equation. (This is very good, ED).Mr. A.: The Twin Towers, our modern-day equivalent of Babel, built by Nimrod and the first freemasons. Can't you see? The Twin Towers of Babel, each phallic structure represents the number "1." Side-by-side they equal 11, as in 9-11. Plus, these towers were erected in New York City; the New Babylon … land of many tongues, while the number 9 signifies completeness, which is what this operation is meant to initiate – a final push for unity in our New World Order. All placed together, the occult ramifications are undeniable – emergency, chaos, secret societies, wholeness, and a covert symbolism that strikes at the heart of our Hegelian Dialectic. And from all the mayhem which will naturally ensue, guess who'll be there to bring order? Us! Ordo Ab Chao."It's hard to imagine that such a conversation actually took place, but upon further consideration, it must have! After all, 9-11 didn't just "happen" by accident. It didn't simply pop into thin air without any impetus. But let's take it a step further."Mr. B.: What will these attacks entail?Mr. A.: (focused): We're finally going to implement Operation Northwoods where we fly airplanes into the World Trade Center towers, Pentagon, and the White House or Capitol Building. Then we'll blame it on "Muslim terrorists" and say they struck at the heart and soul of America – their financial, military, and political centers.
Mr. B.: (hesitantly): Sir, I'm completely behind your plan, but what about our peripheral members who aren't completely up to speed? There will be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of deaths. How will we explain?Mr. A.: (enraged): DAMNIT! (pounding his fist on the table) If the value of human life matters to any of our members, then they don't belong in our organization. One of our operatives – Timothy McVeigh – summed it up best after the OKC bombing. He said the casualties were nothing more than "collateral damage."Mr. B.: I understand, but…Mr. A.: (a maniacal look in his eyes): 168 people were killed, many of them children. We didn't care. Likewise, we allowed 2,403 men to die at Pearl Harbor when FDR turned a blind-eye to the Japanese tora toras. Hell, we still slaughter a million babies a year via abortion, and that's just in the U.S. alone. Then there was WW I & II … tens of millions of dead bodies strewn across Europe, Russia, and the Orient; plus the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Vietnam was another bloodbath, with 58,000 dead U.S. soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of little slaughtered yellow people. Don't they get it? We don't give a damn about the dead, and we don't give a damn about the living. The only ones we care about are us!Mr. B.: (reeling backwards): Sir, we've never undertaken anything of this magnitude before.Mr. A.: You don't even know the whole story.Mr. B.: I don't?Mr. A.: (shouting): No. After we careen those planes into the towers, any idiot with an ounce of sense will know that their impact and the resulting jet fuel fires couldn't bring them down, so we'll need to help them along a little bit.Mr. B.: Help them along?Mr. A.: Sure. Those towers are going to be loaded to the gills with enough explosives to … (momentary pause) … and we're going to need an energy source in the sub-basements that is as powerful as the Sun … or the blast over Hiroshima.
Mr. B.: What are you saying?Mr. A.: (rising to his feet): After the planes strike each tower – complete with fiery pyrotechnics – we'll bring those buildings to their knees via a controlled demolition. People will be crushed like pancakes, they'll die from smoke inhalation, burns, and some will even jump to their deaths and splatter on the streets. Firefighters and police officers will die, as will those in search & rescue. It'll be horrific, but the more gruesome it is, the greater it'll lend itself to furthering our agenda. There's an old motto in TV news: if it bleeds it leads. We want 9-11 to be bloody, gory, with body bags, rivers of tears, and a general state of chaos and pandemonium. That should send a message that we mean business.The Zionist communist Jew is the most evil man that has ever lived. We did an article called How to Murder Your Enemy for Lewis News. In this article we explain how the evil Zionist Jews deliberately murder people using our food supply and the major drug companies. They poison our food supply and our water supply. They know what they are doing and do so just to kill as many people as they can.Victor Thorn is one of the very few men who knows the truth and is willing to tell us who the enemy is. Victor says this on page 15 of his blockbuster book: "We're at war, yet the only ones who realize it are the Talmudic plutocrats who have no compunction whatsoever about taking human lives. And who is the war between? Them and us! Why do you think it's always us being manipulated to kill our own – Christians vs. Muslims, Americans vs. Russians, and blacks vs. whites etc. all the way back through history?"These men and women are not human; they kill just for the pure pleasure of killing. They are far worse then animals; an animal only kills to eat or to keep from being eaten, while these evil bastards kill for pleasure. They kill because they hate every one that is not a Zionist Jew. They had just as soon kill a Jew that is not a Zionist as they would anyone else. They feel that they are the only people that are fit to live. Go here:
The Truth Hurts to see how they hoped to start a war between the Soviet Union and NATO forces; you will see this in their own words, not ours. Having failed there, they are now working to start a world war between the Arab Muslims and the Christian nations. They expect to be able to move in and rule the world after the war is over.Mr. Thorn continues on page 15: "To understand the criminally insane, one must begin thinking (or at least viewing the world) like they do. If you're not willing to make that leap, you'll never comprehend the machinations surrounding you."The first elemental truth is as follows: those who were behind all the atrocities listed a few pages earlier are the enemies of mankind. The reason why is simple: these men and women are outside us … modified … imprinted with an entirely different set of values and lack of morals (all via their twisted DNA). Their nature – so alien to ours – is undoubtedly a source of power; but in the same breath also their greatest fear. Imagine: if their crimes against humanity were exposed for all of humanity to see, the masses (hopefully) would finally swell with such fervor that we'd rip those bastards to bloody pieces."A few months ago, Greg Szymanski wrote an article about this writer that appeared on the front page of the AMERICAN FREE PRESS, a great weekly out of Washington D.C. He quoted me as saying that the major media in this country was our enemy. The paper thought so much of the idea that they made it a major part of an advertisement they sent out to get new subscribers. (You can see who owns the media by going to: The Populist American clicking on FEATURE STORIES and then look for articles on the media in the left hand column.) The enemy has a name and we must work to expose that enemy to the public. But most websites and commentators are afraid to even mention that the Zionist communist Jews own the media. But REMEMBER THIS FACT, the Zionist could not get away with what they are doing unless they controlled most of the information going out to a sleeping and gullible public.
Victor Thorn and Lisa Guliani know this and are working at WING TV to expose the evil Zionist communist Jews for what they are: BASTARDS.We urge you to get this book. You can get it here: 9-11 Evil. If you only read one book this year, you should make it this book.Bill Gibbons website can be found at: Lewis News===============================This explosive little book is subtitled Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. Victor Thorn has previously written some excellent books on 9-11 demonstrating conclusively that, among other things, the twin towers could not possibly have been brought down by crashing airplanes and the resulting jet fuel fires. But while Thorn's previous efforts concentrated on the "what" and "how" - that is the mechanics and physics of what happened that fateful day - 9-11 Evil takes on the far more daunting task of explaining the "why" and the "who".Just as Michael Collins Piper's definitive book on the Kennedy assassination, Final Judgement, did not go into such minutiae as whether or not shots were fired from the famous grassy knoll, so has Victor Thorn avoided speculation about such details as exactly what kind of missile hit the Pentagon or the fate of the passengers on those allegedly hijacked airliners. For those who want to investigate the details, he points to some good sources of information. What you will find here, however, is a clear compilation of facts that lead to the inescapable conclusion that Israel and its jewish allies in the
U.S. masterminded and executed the single largest act of terrorism in history.Yes, Thorn pins the tail on schnozzim in no uncertain terms. I have long believed and written that 9-11 was a jewish conspiracy, but I admit that this belief was in part wishful thinking. Now, we have solid evidence that is frankly beyond anything I ever expected to see in print. It is ironic that this information is coming from Victor Thorn, because I have in the past been critical of him for his failure to name the jew. Well, he names the jew in spades in this book and without using such irritating euphemisms as "Zionists" and "Jewish Supremacists".Since Thorn wrote his book on the New World Order in 2003, he seems to have undergone a definite sea change in his thinking. When I reviewed that book last year, I came down on him pretty hard for his obligatory Holocaust affirmation and Hitler bashing. It's only speculation, but I think that Thorn's recent association with American Free Press, The Barnes Review and Michael Collins Piper (Thorn credits Piper for much of the research in this book) has educated him about jews. He's now firmly in the revisionist camp as he correctly blames the jews for WWII and calls the Holocaust a hoax. At any rate, I noticed that Thorn, much to his credit (and with no prompting from me), posted my critical review on his website.Is there a smoking gun? Unfortunately, as with all conspiracies, there really never is, which is why so many people are quick to dismiss "conspiracy theory" advocates as nutcases. However, as with the JFK assassination, there are just so many facts that point to Israel's central role that no other reasonable explanation is possible. The 9-11 conspiracy was such a monstrous act, however, that even I have a hard time truly believing that the jews who did it could really be that supremely evil. Think how hard a sell the truth will be, then, for an American lemming public conditioned and manipulated daily by jewsmedia lies. Which is why I'm not optimistic that this book - short, hard-hitting, and to the point - will have all that much of an impact.
I wrote a short blog the other day in which I updated some of my thoughts about 9-11. I mentioned the primary objection to conspiracy theories in general, namely the impossibility of large numbers of people being able to keep a secret. One of the things I neglected to point out, and which Thorn does so well in this book, is that only a very few people at the top of the pyramid need have knowledge of the whole conspiracy. Others, those who actually pull it off, are informed only on a "need to know" basis. It is doubtful that even President Bush knew the magnitude of the operation until the morning he was informed that a plane had hit the tower. Anyway, it was the Rothschilds, not the Bushes and Cheneys, who conceived the evil deeds.Thorn spends a good deal of time emphasizing the utter immorality of the deed and the psychopathic nature of the jewish perpetrators and suggests this evil may be genetic. In fact, he ends up condemning judaism itself as a hate cult, something easily demonstrated by quoting from the Talmud and the Torah. He also has some strong words for those in the so-called "truth movement" who are silent about the Israeli connection - the controlled "alternative" media intentionally planted to spread disinformation. 9-11 Evil is the first book I'm aware of that so explicitly points the finger at Israel and the jews. That is why the claim on its cover as "The Most Dangerous 9-11 Book Ever Written!" is no exaggeration. Thorn names names, too, unlike some writers who speak only about such vague entities as the "New World Order" and "The Illuminati". I'd highly recommend this very readable little book, especially if you have friends who still think the Arabs did it.Rich Brooks is the editor of White AlertThis review can be found at: 9-11 Evil
Sisyphus Press P.O. Box 10495State College, Pa.16805-0495
9-11 EVIL: Israel's Central Role in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacksby Victor Thorn
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
dear friends,
plz follow the link
http://polidics.com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication.html
and think.........
plz follow the link
http://polidics.com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication.html
and think.........
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Hindutva Experiment: From Lab To Factory?
By Mukul Dube
In the months and years following the Gujarat genocide of 2002, many from the camp of Hindutva characterised that province as the "laboratory" where an "experiment" had been carried out. They proclaimed that the success of the experiment meant that the process could be replicated in other parts of the country so as to achieve their ultimate goal, a "Hindu Rashtra".
Such talk became restrained after the defeat of the NDA in the general election of 2004, but it did not cease. Since then, every success of the BJP and its allies has led to its resurgence. Not surprisingly, Narendra Modi's victory in the recent assembly election in Gujarat brought about elation in the ranks of the Sangh Parivar: for they could claim that the success of the original laboratory experiment had been shown to be lasting and to have defied the "anti-incumbency factor" as well as apparent divisions within the Hindu Right in Gujarat.
The genocide of 2002 has been described, and most convincingly, as state sponsored. It was not just that the state apparatus of Gujarat either looked away while the mobs rampaged, or else aided and guided the mobs, or even on occasion itself became part of the mob: what was crucial was that the federal Indian State, whose capital is Delhi, gave the state of Gujarat and its mobs the freedom and the time to loot, kill, rape and pillage.
In power in Delhi at the time was a coalition led by the ideological kith and kin of those who were in absolute power in Gujarat. Not only did the elders of the Sangh Parivar fail to use the considerable powers vested in them by the Constitution of India, they brazenly lied in Parliament. The key functionary, the Home Minister - who by then was also the Deputy Prime Minister - said that Narendra Modi was "in control of the situation." The real meaning of this was not lost on many: what Advani meant was, "Our boys are in control and we will let them get on with the job." The media coverage which caused so much anguish across the land only made the hearts of Hindutva beasts swell with pride. The Opposition in Parliament could do nothing.
That Opposition has been, since 2004, the UPA alliance which has ruled India from Delhi. Before the general election, the Congress, its leading partner, made loud noises about bringing Gujarat back to the path of secularism and about righting the wrongs done to such a large number of Gujaratis. Once in power, though, it looked the other way while things in Gujarat remained as they were and, in some respects, became worse. Possibly the most glaring instance of this was the repeal of POTA, which was a token repeal in that it was not retrospective and in that the people who had been arrested under that law, almost all able-bodied, earning Muslims, continue to languish in the prisons of Gujarat without trial while their families starve.
Several commentators have described Gujarat as being, in effect, no longer a part of India. It is a rogue state which has achieved the distinction of becoming a "Hindu rajya". There is much truth in this. However, the rest of India remains notionally secular and the coalition in power in Delhi describes itself as secular. What is alarming in these circumstances is the persistence and rise of Hindutva bigotry in several parts of the country. It would be understandable if discrimination and violence against Muslims and Christians were limited to states ruled by BJP governments: but such discrimination and violence continue to be seen even in states in which the BJP is not in power. Certainly they have not become less in the nearly four years of UPA rule.
Most people attribute this to the "soft Hindutva" of the Congress and its allies. More than anything else, this seems to refer to fear of alienating the Hindu voter. The fallacy in this line of thought is that it implicitly accepts the Sangh Parivar's claim to represent all Hindus. It equates criticism of Hindutva with an attack on Hinduism.
A more rational and convincing explanation can be found by looking at the past. Two things which had long been known were brought sharply into focus sixty years ago when M.K. Gandhi was assassinated. One was the large numbers of RSS sympathisers - and perhaps some members - in the ranks of the Congress. The other was the extent to which the RSS had infiltrated not just the apparatus of State - police, administration, judiciary - but also all or most spheres of life which are ordinarily secular, that is, without any relation to religion.
It has been observed that the RSS thinks not of proximate goals but in the truly long term. It follows a policy of "Catch 'Em Young" and begins to mould individuals when they are scarcely more than infants. The inculcation of the core ideas of Hindutva begins with the games that little children are made to play and the songs that they are made to sing. The "education" of those somewhat older, and that of adults, follows the same pattern: seemingly normal, everyday, "natural" activities and remarks are the means by which minds are corrupted. Hindutva is pervasive, there is no part of life that it does not touch. The proliferation of Sangh Parivar branches - covering children, women, tribal peoples, culture, history and so on - is evidence of this.
In the months and years following the Gujarat genocide of 2002, many from the camp of Hindutva characterised that province as the "laboratory" where an "experiment" had been carried out. They proclaimed that the success of the experiment meant that the process could be replicated in other parts of the country so as to achieve their ultimate goal, a "Hindu Rashtra".
Such talk became restrained after the defeat of the NDA in the general election of 2004, but it did not cease. Since then, every success of the BJP and its allies has led to its resurgence. Not surprisingly, Narendra Modi's victory in the recent assembly election in Gujarat brought about elation in the ranks of the Sangh Parivar: for they could claim that the success of the original laboratory experiment had been shown to be lasting and to have defied the "anti-incumbency factor" as well as apparent divisions within the Hindu Right in Gujarat.
The genocide of 2002 has been described, and most convincingly, as state sponsored. It was not just that the state apparatus of Gujarat either looked away while the mobs rampaged, or else aided and guided the mobs, or even on occasion itself became part of the mob: what was crucial was that the federal Indian State, whose capital is Delhi, gave the state of Gujarat and its mobs the freedom and the time to loot, kill, rape and pillage.
In power in Delhi at the time was a coalition led by the ideological kith and kin of those who were in absolute power in Gujarat. Not only did the elders of the Sangh Parivar fail to use the considerable powers vested in them by the Constitution of India, they brazenly lied in Parliament. The key functionary, the Home Minister - who by then was also the Deputy Prime Minister - said that Narendra Modi was "in control of the situation." The real meaning of this was not lost on many: what Advani meant was, "Our boys are in control and we will let them get on with the job." The media coverage which caused so much anguish across the land only made the hearts of Hindutva beasts swell with pride. The Opposition in Parliament could do nothing.
That Opposition has been, since 2004, the UPA alliance which has ruled India from Delhi. Before the general election, the Congress, its leading partner, made loud noises about bringing Gujarat back to the path of secularism and about righting the wrongs done to such a large number of Gujaratis. Once in power, though, it looked the other way while things in Gujarat remained as they were and, in some respects, became worse. Possibly the most glaring instance of this was the repeal of POTA, which was a token repeal in that it was not retrospective and in that the people who had been arrested under that law, almost all able-bodied, earning Muslims, continue to languish in the prisons of Gujarat without trial while their families starve.
Several commentators have described Gujarat as being, in effect, no longer a part of India. It is a rogue state which has achieved the distinction of becoming a "Hindu rajya". There is much truth in this. However, the rest of India remains notionally secular and the coalition in power in Delhi describes itself as secular. What is alarming in these circumstances is the persistence and rise of Hindutva bigotry in several parts of the country. It would be understandable if discrimination and violence against Muslims and Christians were limited to states ruled by BJP governments: but such discrimination and violence continue to be seen even in states in which the BJP is not in power. Certainly they have not become less in the nearly four years of UPA rule.
Most people attribute this to the "soft Hindutva" of the Congress and its allies. More than anything else, this seems to refer to fear of alienating the Hindu voter. The fallacy in this line of thought is that it implicitly accepts the Sangh Parivar's claim to represent all Hindus. It equates criticism of Hindutva with an attack on Hinduism.
A more rational and convincing explanation can be found by looking at the past. Two things which had long been known were brought sharply into focus sixty years ago when M.K. Gandhi was assassinated. One was the large numbers of RSS sympathisers - and perhaps some members - in the ranks of the Congress. The other was the extent to which the RSS had infiltrated not just the apparatus of State - police, administration, judiciary - but also all or most spheres of life which are ordinarily secular, that is, without any relation to religion.
It has been observed that the RSS thinks not of proximate goals but in the truly long term. It follows a policy of "Catch 'Em Young" and begins to mould individuals when they are scarcely more than infants. The inculcation of the core ideas of Hindutva begins with the games that little children are made to play and the songs that they are made to sing. The "education" of those somewhat older, and that of adults, follows the same pattern: seemingly normal, everyday, "natural" activities and remarks are the means by which minds are corrupted. Hindutva is pervasive, there is no part of life that it does not touch. The proliferation of Sangh Parivar branches - covering children, women, tribal peoples, culture, history and so on - is evidence of this.
The RSS and its ideology are now over eighty years old. It can be said that the work that was begun so many decades ago is now coming to fruition in that ideology is finally being expressed through violent action on an almost country-wide scale. If the phenomenon is seen as an on-going process, it becomes clear that violence can only increase.
Many people, including this writer, have argued that Gujarat 2002 was possible because the political wing of Hindutva ruled both in Gandhinagar and in Delhi. The persistence - and, indeed, the growth - of Hindutva in the period since the general election of 2004, suggest that that argument is limited and perhaps flawed. What we are seeing today may well be the repetition across the country of the successful experiment, promising lab processes being carried out on an industrial scale.
14 March, 2008Countercurrents.org
Friday, March 14, 2008
Was Fallon Set Up?
By Chris Gelken
The sudden resignation of Washington's top military officer in the Middle East is shrouded in claim, counter-claim and denial.
Whatever the truth may be behind Admiral William Fallon's decision to step down as Central Commander, with responsibilities covering the entire Middle East, very few pundits are buying the official line.Since taking up the post about a year ago, Fallon has often been portrayed as being at odds with White House policy on how to conduct the war in Iraq, and of being firmly opposed to any military adventures against Iran.
It is no secret that Fallon was in favor of diplomacy and engagement rather than confrontation in dealing with Tehran's nuclear issue. Once quoted as saying a war with Iran "would not happen on my watch," the former Navy fighter pilot earned the respect of his staff and the men and women in uniform he commanded, but according to Washington insiders, he also earned a bitter enemy in Vice President Dick Cheney.
Matters came to a head last week when Esquire magazine published an extensive article on Fallon titled, "The Man Between War and Peace." The article credited Fallon as being almost solely responsible for thwarting Vice President Cheney's and President George Bush's plans for a preemptive strike against Iran.
Describing the Esquire feature as "poison-pen journalism" Fallon said the reports of his differences with the White House were wrong, but had become a distraction.
Michele Steinberg, a Washington-based political analyst and Counter-intelligence Editor for the Executive Intelligence Review, says Fallon's disputes with Bush may have been exaggerated, but she left open the possibility that rather than resigning, Fallon was probably fired.
"I absolutely agree with Admiral Fallon's characterization of the Tom Barnett piece in Esquire," Steinberg told PressTV News, "It vastly overstated Fallon's role in being part of a very important policy establishment that wants to keep the United States safe, keep the world safe, without war."
In an almost prophetic article for the EIR, "Iran Warmongers Launch Operation To Oust Admiral Fallon" Steinberg wrote, "Don't be fooled. The upcoming March 12 article in Esquire magazine by former top policy adviser to warmonger Donald Rumsfeld, Tom Barnett, that pretends to praise Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon, head of the Central Command, is an attempt to get Fallon – a major, clear-headed opponent to a flight-forward war against Iran – kicked out."
And that, Steinberg told PressTV, "Is maybe what happened behind the scenes."
If the stories were false or exaggerated, then a simple joint statement would have put the controversy, and any of Fallon's "distractions' to rest. Instead, however, Fallon's resignation was quickly accepted and announced by a troubled looking Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at a Pentagon press conference. Steinberg pointed to the most likely culprit behind Fallon's fall.
"I think Fallon's differences were with Vice President Dick Cheney," Steinberg said, "who is very displeased with President Bush's Annapolis meeting, he is very displeased with the National Intelligence Estimate which came out in December and pretty much took the wind out of Cheney's sails. The fact that Cheney wants to go to war with Iran before he leaves office in January 2009 is a well-known fact around Washington, and that is really the story behind the resignation of Admiral Fallon."
According to Steinberg, Gates and Fallon shared many of the same opinions on how to deal with Iran, and that may account for the downbeat appearance of the Secretary at the press conference. Fallon's departure, she said, has left the region in a more dangerous situation.
"But let's be clear on this, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is also a strong believer in diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy, and a tool of getting a road to peace in a very unstable region. Bob Gates was a leading member of the Iraq Study Group which said very clearly that if the United States wants to seek a peaceful solution in Iraq and wants to stabilize the region, first of all you have to come to a peace between Israel and Palestine, and secondly, full engagement leading to diplomatic relations with Syria and with Iran," she said, "So that is Gates' view as well. So Fallon was not alone in this. However, it is a much more dangerous situation with a clear headed thinker like Fallon removed from command."
New York-based political analyst Ian Williams was also cautious about accepting the official line that Fallon had simply resigned over a piece of trashy journalism.
"It is quite clear that if you had a rational presidency and a rational White House, then having genuine disagreements with your high military would not necessarily be a bad thing," he told PressTV, "But it is also clear that this administration doesn't brook any discontent and there is a terrible sense of déjà vu."
In the months before the Persian Gulf War, Williams said, the same things were happening.
"High military commanders were being forced to resign and being replaced with more pliable, more amenable, less worthy generals and admirals who would do what they were told without raising the issue of sanity or diplomacy," he said.
Many of Fallon's remarks, alleged or otherwise, would not have gone down well at the Pentagon.
"Well it depends on which part of the Pentagon," Williams said, "I mean the politically appointed civilian officials and the high ranking officers who have been appointed by the Bush administration would find him very unpopular. But for many of the more serious US military, they know just how overstretched the forces already are. They know there is no conceivable way the plans that are being hatched by the same dreamers who gave you Iraq would work in the case of Iran."
Williams said, however, with his resignation Fallon will now be free to speak his mind in public.
"If he feels that with a lame duck president who has no sort of accountability in the short nine months left of his tenure, then perhaps he needs to be in a position to speak out publicly about this, unconstrained by alleged loyalties to his Commander-in-Chief, the President," he said.
Steinberg shared the sentiment that as a civilian, Fallon could become even more effective in preventing the Vice President and the White House from embarking on any ill-advised military adventures.
"I certainly hope so," she said, "I would hope that is the case and he would join very outspoken individuals in the military who have been critical of the rush to war. Also it is possible that Congressional committees may call upon him, retired Admiral Fallon, and other retired military and diplomatic officials to give their advice in terms of what direction the United States should take."
13 March, 2008Countercurrents.org
The sudden resignation of Washington's top military officer in the Middle East is shrouded in claim, counter-claim and denial.
Whatever the truth may be behind Admiral William Fallon's decision to step down as Central Commander, with responsibilities covering the entire Middle East, very few pundits are buying the official line.Since taking up the post about a year ago, Fallon has often been portrayed as being at odds with White House policy on how to conduct the war in Iraq, and of being firmly opposed to any military adventures against Iran.
It is no secret that Fallon was in favor of diplomacy and engagement rather than confrontation in dealing with Tehran's nuclear issue. Once quoted as saying a war with Iran "would not happen on my watch," the former Navy fighter pilot earned the respect of his staff and the men and women in uniform he commanded, but according to Washington insiders, he also earned a bitter enemy in Vice President Dick Cheney.
Matters came to a head last week when Esquire magazine published an extensive article on Fallon titled, "The Man Between War and Peace." The article credited Fallon as being almost solely responsible for thwarting Vice President Cheney's and President George Bush's plans for a preemptive strike against Iran.
Describing the Esquire feature as "poison-pen journalism" Fallon said the reports of his differences with the White House were wrong, but had become a distraction.
Michele Steinberg, a Washington-based political analyst and Counter-intelligence Editor for the Executive Intelligence Review, says Fallon's disputes with Bush may have been exaggerated, but she left open the possibility that rather than resigning, Fallon was probably fired.
"I absolutely agree with Admiral Fallon's characterization of the Tom Barnett piece in Esquire," Steinberg told PressTV News, "It vastly overstated Fallon's role in being part of a very important policy establishment that wants to keep the United States safe, keep the world safe, without war."
In an almost prophetic article for the EIR, "Iran Warmongers Launch Operation To Oust Admiral Fallon" Steinberg wrote, "Don't be fooled. The upcoming March 12 article in Esquire magazine by former top policy adviser to warmonger Donald Rumsfeld, Tom Barnett, that pretends to praise Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon, head of the Central Command, is an attempt to get Fallon – a major, clear-headed opponent to a flight-forward war against Iran – kicked out."
And that, Steinberg told PressTV, "Is maybe what happened behind the scenes."
If the stories were false or exaggerated, then a simple joint statement would have put the controversy, and any of Fallon's "distractions' to rest. Instead, however, Fallon's resignation was quickly accepted and announced by a troubled looking Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at a Pentagon press conference. Steinberg pointed to the most likely culprit behind Fallon's fall.
"I think Fallon's differences were with Vice President Dick Cheney," Steinberg said, "who is very displeased with President Bush's Annapolis meeting, he is very displeased with the National Intelligence Estimate which came out in December and pretty much took the wind out of Cheney's sails. The fact that Cheney wants to go to war with Iran before he leaves office in January 2009 is a well-known fact around Washington, and that is really the story behind the resignation of Admiral Fallon."
According to Steinberg, Gates and Fallon shared many of the same opinions on how to deal with Iran, and that may account for the downbeat appearance of the Secretary at the press conference. Fallon's departure, she said, has left the region in a more dangerous situation.
"But let's be clear on this, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is also a strong believer in diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy, and a tool of getting a road to peace in a very unstable region. Bob Gates was a leading member of the Iraq Study Group which said very clearly that if the United States wants to seek a peaceful solution in Iraq and wants to stabilize the region, first of all you have to come to a peace between Israel and Palestine, and secondly, full engagement leading to diplomatic relations with Syria and with Iran," she said, "So that is Gates' view as well. So Fallon was not alone in this. However, it is a much more dangerous situation with a clear headed thinker like Fallon removed from command."
New York-based political analyst Ian Williams was also cautious about accepting the official line that Fallon had simply resigned over a piece of trashy journalism.
"It is quite clear that if you had a rational presidency and a rational White House, then having genuine disagreements with your high military would not necessarily be a bad thing," he told PressTV, "But it is also clear that this administration doesn't brook any discontent and there is a terrible sense of déjà vu."
In the months before the Persian Gulf War, Williams said, the same things were happening.
"High military commanders were being forced to resign and being replaced with more pliable, more amenable, less worthy generals and admirals who would do what they were told without raising the issue of sanity or diplomacy," he said.
Many of Fallon's remarks, alleged or otherwise, would not have gone down well at the Pentagon.
"Well it depends on which part of the Pentagon," Williams said, "I mean the politically appointed civilian officials and the high ranking officers who have been appointed by the Bush administration would find him very unpopular. But for many of the more serious US military, they know just how overstretched the forces already are. They know there is no conceivable way the plans that are being hatched by the same dreamers who gave you Iraq would work in the case of Iran."
Williams said, however, with his resignation Fallon will now be free to speak his mind in public.
"If he feels that with a lame duck president who has no sort of accountability in the short nine months left of his tenure, then perhaps he needs to be in a position to speak out publicly about this, unconstrained by alleged loyalties to his Commander-in-Chief, the President," he said.
Steinberg shared the sentiment that as a civilian, Fallon could become even more effective in preventing the Vice President and the White House from embarking on any ill-advised military adventures.
"I certainly hope so," she said, "I would hope that is the case and he would join very outspoken individuals in the military who have been critical of the rush to war. Also it is possible that Congressional committees may call upon him, retired Admiral Fallon, and other retired military and diplomatic officials to give their advice in terms of what direction the United States should take."
13 March, 2008Countercurrents.org
Sunday, March 2, 2008
You Think You Are Free?
By Linda S. Heard
Watching old movies makes me sad। I'm inevitably reminded of a kindlier, gentler world without cameras that spy on populations, where overseas travelling was pleasurable and privacy was an individual's right।Nowadays, states are usurping responsibilities that are rightfully those of their citizens। Western so-called democracies, in particular, are supposed to have governments that are servants of the people, whereas, in fact, the opposite is true. Under the guise of doing what's best for us or ensuring our security, governments are exercising more and more control over our lives. And, tragically, we are facilitating this erosion of our own freedoms, mostly because we're not even aware it's happening.The US and Britain are leading the pack in this encroaching Orwellian nightmare. "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength," wrote George Orwell in his book 1984. In recent years, they have waged wars in the name of peace, put entire populations under their thumb in the name of freedom while government spin and a compliant media serve to keep people ignorant about their leaders' true motives.If we only knew we are being indoctrinated to offer up our personal freedoms to save ourselves from a horrible fate at the hands of nicotine, calories and Al Qaida. We are being taught to fear asylum seekers, climate change, crazed terrorists and even each other. Western governments are perfecting the politics of fear because fearful populaces will do their bidding without question and willingly subject themselves to control.Britain has become a master of this technique. It currently holds a database containing the DNA of 4.5 million people, arrested for both serious crimes and minor infractions. The police have found this tool so useful they are pushing to expand it to cover everyone in the country although the Home Office has rejected the idea for the moment.By 2012 Britons over 16 will be required to hold biometric ID cards checkable by police, immigration and customs officials, as well as public and private bodies such as travel agencies, airlines, banks and even retailers.By 2010, Britain is also expected to incorporate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in passports designed to carry a wealth of personal data on travellers.EmbeddedFurther, there is a plan to embed RFID chips in vehicle number plates allowing authorities the capability of identifying any vehicle anywhere in all weather. RFID chips have been embedded on every packet of cigarettes manufactured in the UK since October last year, while others have been fitted to trash cans officially to boost the rate of garbage recycling. Pets entering Britain from abroad are also chipped.Apparently, the government is also considering injecting prisoners with RFID tags. If that goes ahead it's surely the slippery slope to babies being chipped at birth.The US has forced European airlines to hand over 19 pieces of information on travellers prior to their departure and wants to extend this one-way data flow to passengers over-flying the US en route to Central America and the Caribbean. The UK wants the system to be used throughout Europe and domestically.Not only do authorities want to control Britons' movements, they are also after their thoughts. Remember the Orwellian Thought Police, who used surveillance methods and psychological profiles to interpret the future goals of potential dissenters and deviants? This is already happening in the UK where people can expect to be caught on camera up to 300 times per day and where their phone calls and Internet browsing is routinely monitored.Earlier this month, three British appellate judges had the good sense to quash the convictions of five young Muslims prosecuted for simply downloading "extremist propaganda" from the Internet. There was no other evidence against them and no proof they intended to act on any message contained in such material. In other words, their initial conviction was purely based on thought crime. The judgment read: "Literature may be stored in a book or on a bookshelf, or on a computer drive, without any intention on the part of the possessor to make any future use of it all."Big Brother Britain isn't working. Indeed, the prisons are overflowing and violent crime is on the up-and-up, much of it fuelled by drugs and alcohol. You've surely heard the expression "give a dog a bad name . . ." Could it be that when law-abiding citizens are prejudged as criminals some of them might conclude, "What the heck"?But Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four isn't exactly where Britain is headed. The reality is a combination of Orwell's theories and those set-out in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.As the American author Neil Postman wrote in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, whereas "Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us, Huxley feared the truth would be droned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture" consumed by "an almost infinite appetite for distractions".In a way they were both right. Unless we tear ourselves away from our pretty toys and distractions just long enough to remove our rose-coloured specs, freedom will be obsolete except as a slogan above the gate of the Ministry of Truth.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at
mailto:heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
Watching old movies makes me sad। I'm inevitably reminded of a kindlier, gentler world without cameras that spy on populations, where overseas travelling was pleasurable and privacy was an individual's right।Nowadays, states are usurping responsibilities that are rightfully those of their citizens। Western so-called democracies, in particular, are supposed to have governments that are servants of the people, whereas, in fact, the opposite is true. Under the guise of doing what's best for us or ensuring our security, governments are exercising more and more control over our lives. And, tragically, we are facilitating this erosion of our own freedoms, mostly because we're not even aware it's happening.The US and Britain are leading the pack in this encroaching Orwellian nightmare. "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength," wrote George Orwell in his book 1984. In recent years, they have waged wars in the name of peace, put entire populations under their thumb in the name of freedom while government spin and a compliant media serve to keep people ignorant about their leaders' true motives.If we only knew we are being indoctrinated to offer up our personal freedoms to save ourselves from a horrible fate at the hands of nicotine, calories and Al Qaida. We are being taught to fear asylum seekers, climate change, crazed terrorists and even each other. Western governments are perfecting the politics of fear because fearful populaces will do their bidding without question and willingly subject themselves to control.Britain has become a master of this technique. It currently holds a database containing the DNA of 4.5 million people, arrested for both serious crimes and minor infractions. The police have found this tool so useful they are pushing to expand it to cover everyone in the country although the Home Office has rejected the idea for the moment.By 2012 Britons over 16 will be required to hold biometric ID cards checkable by police, immigration and customs officials, as well as public and private bodies such as travel agencies, airlines, banks and even retailers.By 2010, Britain is also expected to incorporate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in passports designed to carry a wealth of personal data on travellers.EmbeddedFurther, there is a plan to embed RFID chips in vehicle number plates allowing authorities the capability of identifying any vehicle anywhere in all weather. RFID chips have been embedded on every packet of cigarettes manufactured in the UK since October last year, while others have been fitted to trash cans officially to boost the rate of garbage recycling. Pets entering Britain from abroad are also chipped.Apparently, the government is also considering injecting prisoners with RFID tags. If that goes ahead it's surely the slippery slope to babies being chipped at birth.The US has forced European airlines to hand over 19 pieces of information on travellers prior to their departure and wants to extend this one-way data flow to passengers over-flying the US en route to Central America and the Caribbean. The UK wants the system to be used throughout Europe and domestically.Not only do authorities want to control Britons' movements, they are also after their thoughts. Remember the Orwellian Thought Police, who used surveillance methods and psychological profiles to interpret the future goals of potential dissenters and deviants? This is already happening in the UK where people can expect to be caught on camera up to 300 times per day and where their phone calls and Internet browsing is routinely monitored.Earlier this month, three British appellate judges had the good sense to quash the convictions of five young Muslims prosecuted for simply downloading "extremist propaganda" from the Internet. There was no other evidence against them and no proof they intended to act on any message contained in such material. In other words, their initial conviction was purely based on thought crime. The judgment read: "Literature may be stored in a book or on a bookshelf, or on a computer drive, without any intention on the part of the possessor to make any future use of it all."Big Brother Britain isn't working. Indeed, the prisons are overflowing and violent crime is on the up-and-up, much of it fuelled by drugs and alcohol. You've surely heard the expression "give a dog a bad name . . ." Could it be that when law-abiding citizens are prejudged as criminals some of them might conclude, "What the heck"?But Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four isn't exactly where Britain is headed. The reality is a combination of Orwell's theories and those set-out in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.As the American author Neil Postman wrote in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, whereas "Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us, Huxley feared the truth would be droned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture" consumed by "an almost infinite appetite for distractions".In a way they were both right. Unless we tear ourselves away from our pretty toys and distractions just long enough to remove our rose-coloured specs, freedom will be obsolete except as a slogan above the gate of the Ministry of Truth.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at
mailto:heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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