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November 21, 2006

‘No Proof’ of Iran Nuclear Arms Program,
Says Secret CIA Report
BBC News
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/americas/ 6167304.st m
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine has reported. Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, writing in The New Yorker, cites a secret CIA report based on intelligence such as satellite images. Correspondents say the alleged document appears to challenge Washington’s views regarding Iranian nuclear intentions.

The Next Act: Is the Bush Administration Likely to Attack Iran?
Seymour Hersh — The New Yorker
http://www.newyorke r.com/printables /fa ct/061127fa_ fact
The Bush Administration, if it does take military action against Iran, would have support from Democrats as well as Republicans. Senators Hillary Clinton, of New York, and Evan Bayh, of Indiana, who are potential Democratic Presidential candidates, have warned that Iran cannot be permitted to build a bomb and that — as Clinton said earlier this year — “we cannot take any option off the table.” Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has also endorsed this view. Last May, Olmert was given a rousing reception when he addressed a joint session of Congress…

Geriatric Squad
Charley Reese
http://www.lewrockw ell.com/reese/ reese320. html
The Baker commission – or more accurately, the Geriatric Squad – is not likely to come up with a solution to the Iraq War… It has occurred to me that perhaps the real goal of the invasion of Iraq has already been accomplished. That is, the real goal all along might well have been to half-destroy the country and create chaos. A country in chaos is not a strong country. It’s been taken out of the play. That might explain Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s statement that the Iraq invasion has contributed greatly to Israel’s security. That could be the Middle East plan: Either become an obedient lackey of the U.S., or we’ll turn your country into a chaotic mess.

Echoes of the Roman Empire
Robert Fisk — The Independent (Britain)
http://www.arabnews .com/? page=7§ion=0&article=83270&d=5&m=11&y=2006
Several US soldiers serving in Iraq — including a young man who was killed there last year — compared their own lives to those of Roman centurions. And it’s not difficult, watching the Americans in their combat kit — the Germanized helmets, the back-breaking Kevlar body armor, the soft brown boots — to see the centurions in their leather breastplates and plumed helmets. We can go to Iraq, their uniforms tell us; we can march across the lands of Sumeria where civilization supposedly began; we can bestride Baghdad; we are one of the “triple pillars of the world.” For the Roman footfall, feel the vibration of an Abrams M1A1 tank.

Future is ‘Made in China’
Eric Margolis
http://www.commondr eams.org/ views06/111 2-28.htm
While American voters were finally giving President George Bush and his southern-fried Republican Party a richly-deserved, long-overdue drubbing last week, I was off in China observing a nation that, while rigidly authoritarian, is at least governed by capable, intelligent people rather than the bungling politicians and crackpot ideologues that have run America onto the rocks. Here in Beijing for my umpteenth visit since 1975, I’ve seen the future, and it still says “made in China.” This gigantic metropolis of 25 million seemed destined to become the world’s new capital city — provided China’s economy, still surging at over ten percent per annum, remains strong, and political stability continues.

Israel Admits Targeting Civilian Areas with Cluster Bombs
Haaretz (Israel)
http://haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/789876. html
For the first time Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted targeting populated areas with cluster munitions. In a statement released by the IDF Spokesman’s Office, “the use of cluster munitions against built-up areas was done only against military targets where rocket launches against Israel were identified and after taking steps to warn the civilian population.” The statements released by the minister’s office contradict Israel Defense Forces’ claims — made both during and after the war — regarding the use of cluster munitions. One IDF version, which remained unchanged until earlier this week, held that the firing of cluster munitions was done in accordance with international law.

Zionist Groups Seek to Stifle Jewish Historian
Over Anti-Israel Stance
The Times (London)
http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ news paper/0,,176- 2460107,00. html
A leading British historian has sparked a row about free speech in America after an article criticising Israel prompted a backlash from Jewish groups and the cancellation of meetings where he was due to speak. Tony Judt, a liberal Jew and former kibbutznik, was accused of calling for the destruction of Israel after he wrote an article in The New York Review of Books in 2003, and in The Sunday Times, arguing for the creation of a secular bi-national state of Jews and Palestinians. More than 100 leading academics signed a letter in last week’s New York Review of Books protesting at the suppression of Judt’s talks.

Teaching America History
Gary North
http://www.lewrockw ell.com/north/ north491. html
The textbook model was set by the most widely used American history textbook in the first half of twentieth century, written by David Saville Muzzey. That textbook dominated the field from 1911 until 1963. By 1963, it had been assigned to 30 million students. The 1963 version was co-authored by Arthur S. Link, Woodrow Wilson’s hagiographer. (I know of no better single piece of evidence of the decline of the American public high school than a comparison of the two-volume 1922 edition, more rigorous than a college textbook today, with the 1963 edition. Yet 1963 was the year of the highest SAT scores; it was downhill after that.)

Japan’s Parliament Approves Patriotism Bill
The Associated Press
http://www.newsday. co m/news/nationworld/ wire/sns- ap-japan- patriotism,0, 3647554.story
The lower house of Japan’s parliament has approved legislation requiring schools to instill patriotism in Japan’s children. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito, want to revise Japan’s post-World War II education law to boost patriotism among the young. With the bloc dominating both legislative chambers, passage makes the bill’s amendment almost certain. The revision is a centerpiece of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative agenda…

Israel and the US Congress
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
http://www.jpost. com/servlet/ Satellite? cid=1162378361974&pagename=JPost% 2FJPArticle% 2FShowFull
One of the reasons Israel is rarely an issue in House and Senate campaigns is that Congress only considers one significant piece of legislation relating to Israel every year. That is the Israel aid package, which is itself part of the overall foreign aid bill. The aid package is of vital importance to Israel, and will be so long as Israel needs to remain in a state of military preparedness. .. The aid package is no longer controversial. .. Support for it is wide, deep, bipartisan and non-controversial. No one even tries to defeat the bill anymore. Its passage is essentially automatic. The fact that aid to Israel has become uncontroversial is a great tribute to the pro-Israel community. We have every right to pat ourselves on the back.

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