Good "News": The "Surge" Is "Succeeding"!!

[updated below, twice]

The president's brilliant new strategem is working wonders in Iraq, and it's horribly unfortunate that the anti-American leftist press, led by the terrorist-sympathizers at the Washington Post, are not intellectually honest enough to say so on their front page.

But fortunately the WaPo has op/ed pages, where neutral observers such as Robert Kagan can fill us in on all the wonderful progress being made between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

So finally we can read all the details being suppressed by the president's mortal enemies at the New York Times, which wants America to lose in Iraq; the details the anti-war and pro-terrorist Congressional Democrats won't tell you; the very important facts you'll never see from radical liberal television news outlets such as CNN and FOX.

Here's the good news: The surge is succeeding! Iraq is more peaceful now! The American soldiers are winning the hearts and minds of the families whose doors they break down, earning the love and respect of the parents whose daughters they rape and murder, and deserving the eternal gratitude of a nation whose vast oil reserves will soon be controlled by the big oil companies! How could we not be celebrating?

Robert Kagan draws most of his material from Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, the thoroughly discredited bloggers propagandists who bring us the good news from Iraq lie through their teeth at Iraq The Model. Kagan calls the Fadhil brothers "widely respected for their straight talk"; apparently he doesn't realize that their con game was exposed a long time ago.

It's surprising that Robert Kagan doesn't know this, especially since he is a co-founder of the neoconservative "think tank" Project for a New American Century and the Fadhil brothers at ITM are there only to do the neocons' bidding.

It's also surprising that the Washington Post introduces Robert Kagan as "a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund", without mentioning his relationship to the PNAC or his membership in the Council on Foreign Relations.

Oh well. The anti-American leftist press regularly omits details of this sort, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at all.

On the other hand, God bless the terrorist-sympathizers at the Washington Post for finally bringing us some good "news".

The "surge" is "succeeding".

[UPDATE]

Baghdad reeling from bomb attacks

Baghdad streets were once more filled with mourners on Monday after deadly bombings killed dozens of people and exposed the limits of a month-old security sweep through the Iraqi capital by local and US forces.

The US military also reported the deaths of five more US troops in Iraq, three of them in action and two in non-combat incidents.

The surge is succeeding.

Iraqi security officials said three people were killed in more violence, while three bodies were found, including a former Baath Party member.

Shiite families mourned the deaths of 31 pilgrims who were slaughtered in a car bomb attack on Sunday as they arrived back in Baghdad after a religious festival in the holy city of Karbala.

The bodies of 12 of the slain devotees left Baghdad again in a procession of vehicles for Najaf, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of the capital, where they will be buried, an AFP correspondent said.

Coffins were draped in Iraqi flags and loaded on to pick-ups and minibuses, accompanied by women in black crying and screaming in horror at their loss and fear of the trip ahead, which would take them back into danger.

Iraq is getting safer every day.

"We are scared of being attacked again on the road to Najaf," said one young man.

"What wrong did they do? They just went to Karbala for the 40th day of Imam Hussein's death," said another mourner, a mother whose two sons were killed.

The president is a genius.

Bush, on a visit to Colombia, called on Iran and Syria to follow up positive statements they made at an international conference on Iraq on Saturday with concrete action, urging the two governments to stop the flow of weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq.

"If they really want to help stabilise Iraq there are things for them to do, such as cutting off weapon flows and or the flow of suicide bombers into Iraq," Bush told reporters.

"There's all kinds of ways to measure whether they're serious about the words they utter."

Can't you see it coming already? If the violence in Iraq does not subside (and we have ways of making sure it won't!) then the Syrians and Iranians can be blamed, the decider can decide they're not serious about the words they utter, and they would become eligible for some regime change!

It's a brilliant strategy, albeit in a very evil way, and it's a good thing we have papers like the Washington Post and people like Robert Kagan telling us that the "surge" is "succeeding", because I don't think I want to see what will happen when it fails!

[UPDATE 2]

Glenn Greenwald points out that Robert Kagan's brother Frederick is the chief architect of the surge and its chief cheerleader, and says perhaps the WaPo should have mentioned this. He also writes:

No rational person would believe a word Robert Kagan says about anything. He has been spewing out one falsehood after the next for the last four years in order to blind Americans about the real state of affairs concerning the invasion which he and his comrade and writing partner, Bill Kristol, did as much as anyone else to sell to the American public.

In April, 2003, Kagan declared the war over and said we won. Since then, he has continuously claimed that things were getting better in Iraq. He is completely liberated from any obligation to tell the truth and is a highly destructive propagandist whose public record of commentary about Iraq ought to disqualify him from decent company, let alone some sort of pretense to expertise about this war.

It's almost ludicrous, or at least it would be except that some people actually believe this stuff. Quoth SWAC Girl:

Now that the surge is proven to be working, will the dems stop trying to hold back funds for the war? Will they give this war a chance?

COOL VIDEO: 'PNAC, Iraq, and Iran' -- A Work In Progress

Whoa!

The Project for the New American Century is a radical right-wing group that, as you'll see, has made some alarming statements, and has a great deal of influence in the President's administration.

This is not the final version of this movie. I need to clean up the text, make it more readable, but this gets the gist.

Not bad for a work in progress! There's a spelling mistook (hey, we all make them) and some opportunities to spiff it up a bit but I do believe it's on the right track.

Your opinions?

Time is of the essence, fellow patriots!

Hang on to your hats! Here comes a monsterpiece.

Michel Chossudovsky's Fabricating Intelligence as a Justification for War : "The Intelligence and Facts were fixed around the Policy"
is a Preface followed by seven annotated lists of links. The preface tells the story in broad outline; the links provide all the detail you could ever want. There's more than enough evidence here to put the war criminals in prison -- for a very long time. So I thought you might like to see it.

The links are categorized as follows:

1. Phony Intelligence on Iraq's "Weapons of Mass Destruction"
2. Official Documents and Secret Memos
3. The Niger Intelligence Sting
4. The Plagiarized Intelligence Report
5. Fake Biochemical Terror Alerts as a Pretext for War
6. Political Assassination: The David Kelly Affair
7. Retrospective on Yugoslavia: Confirmation Intelligence was also Fake

and the Preface starts this way:

Preface

Phony intelligence was created and fed into the news chain with a view to justifying the invasion of Iraq.

The balance-sheet of lies and fabricated intelligence presented in this selection of articles provides detailed and overwhelming evidence.

We have included news reports dating back to 2002, background analysis, commentary, leaked intelligence documents and transcripts, secret memos and the reports by weapons inspectors.

The collection which is intended to provide key references, also addresses a number of important issues, which have been shoved under the carpet, including the circumstances of David Kelly's death, plagiarism in the drafting of intelligence documents, the fabricated biochemical terror threats, etc.

War Criminal in High Office

The implications are far-reaching: those in high office who ordered "the intelligence and facts [to be] fixed around the policy" are responsible for war crimes under national and international law.

Despite the public outcry, particularly in Britain, there has been no visible shift in the war and national security agendas. Quite the opposite: both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have been re-elected to high office under the stamp of parliamentary democracy. The war agenda has remained unscathed, with more than 400 billion dollars allocated in the US to defense. Moreover, the United Nations is directly collaborating with the US-led occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, in blatant violation of its own charter.

In fact, most of the major political actors, behind the fake intelligence dossier, including George W. Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, Jack Straw, John Negroponte, Condoleeza Rice, etc. are still in high office.

Critical Juncture in Our History

We are at a critical juncture in our history. Duly elected war criminals legitimately occupy positions of authority which enable them to decide "who are the criminals", when in fact they are the criminals.

Some of the war criminals in high office were not duly elected, of course. But they claim legitimacy anyway.

This fake legitimacy gives them carte blanche. It enables them to proceed without encroachment to the next phase of the war in the Middle East.

It also provides them with a mandate to redefine the contours of the judicial system and the process of law enforcement under the guise of Homeland Security.

I disagree with the term "mandate" as well. I would say it gives them a pretext.

In other words, what we are dealing with is the criminalization of the State and its various institutions including the criminalization of Justice.

The truth is twisted and turned upside down. State propaganda builds a consensus within the Executive, the US Congress and the Military. This consensus is then ratified by the Judicial, through a process of outright legal manipulation.

Putting the War Criminal behind Bars

The evidence detailed in this collection of articles and documents would be sufficient to put the war criminals behind bars.

Yet in the eyes of a large section of US public opinion, the issue of fake intelligence is casually dismissed: "it was all for a good cause", which consisted in fighting the "war on terrorism" and ensuring the security of Americans.

Acts of war are heralded as "humanitarian interventions". Military occupation and the killing of civilians are presented as "peace-keeping". In the US, a de facto consensus in favor of war crimes permeates the US Congress and the Judicial. The consensus is also endorsed by the corporate establishment.

In turn, supported by the mainstream media, war crimes are no longer recognized as such. They have been re-categorized as a means to fighting "evil terrorists" in what is described as a "clash of civilizations". Western public opinion has thus become accustomed to dismissing the lies and war crimes as inconsequential.

Some of us are trying very hard to reverse this trend, but it isn't enough, is it? How many lowly and nearly frozen bloggers does it take to equal the weight of one mainstream publication?

War criminals occupy positions of authority. The citizenry is galvanized into supporting the rulers, who are "committed to their safety and well-being".

War is given a humanitarian mandate. Media disinformation has instilled within the consciousness of Americans, that somehow the lies are acceptable and that the issue of phony intelligence regarding WMD can be disregarded.

The use of torture, the existence of concentration camps, extra judicial assassinations, all of which are happening, are no longer being concealed. Quite the opposite they are presented as "acceptable" and perfectly "legit" in the context of an effective war on "Islamic terrorists".

Under these circumstances, war criminals in high office within the State and the Military no longer need to camouflage their crimes.

Quite true, of course, and utterly disgusting.

Realities are turned upside down. The derogation of civil liberties --in the context of the so-called "anti-terrorist legislation"-- is portrayed as a means to providing "domestic security" and upholding civil liberties.

And underlying these manipulated realties, "Osama bin Laden" and "Weapons of Mass Destruction" statements, which continue to circulate profusely in the news chain, are upheld as the basis for an understanding of World events.

In other words, the legitimacy of the war criminals is no longer questioned. A sense of righteousness prevails.

Maybe that sense prevails, but we are still trying to fight it. Chossudovsky's work cannot but help the cause.

America's global war agenda is firmly established, beyond the premises of the pre-emptive war doctrine as a means to spreading democracy and the "free market".

New National Defense Strategy: From "Rogue States" to "Unstable Nations"

In March 2005, the Pentagon released a major document, entitled "The National Defense Strategy of the United States of America" which broadly sketches Washington's agenda for global military domination. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050318nds2.pdf

While the NDS follows in the footsteps of the administration's "preemptive" war doctrine as outlined in the Project of the New American Century (PNAC), it goes much further in setting the contours of Washington's global military agenda.

Whereas the preemptive war doctrine envisages military action as a means of "self defense" against countries categorized as "hostile" to the US, the new Pentagon doctrine has gone one step further. It now envisages the possibility of military intervention against countries, which do not visibly constitute a threat to the security of the American homeland.

It calls for a more "proactive" approach to warfare, beyond the weaker notion of "preemptive" and "defensive" actions, where military operations are launched against a "declared enemy" with a view to "preserving the peace" and "defending America". The document explicitly acknowledges America's global military mandate, beyond regional war theaters. This mandate also includes military operations directed against so-called "failed states" or "unstable nations", which are not hostile to the US. Needless to say, that in the case of an unstable nation, fake intelligence on WMD will no longer be required to demonstrate that a country constitutes a threat. A military operation can be launched if the country is categorized by Washington as an "unstable nation. And already, a list of 25 unstable nations or failed states has been drawn up by the newly created Office of Reconstruction and Stabilisation.

The 2005 National Defense Strategy (NDS) consists in "enhancing U.S. influence around the world", through increased troop deployments and a massive buildup of America's advanced weapons systems. From a broad military and foreign policy perspective, it constitutes an imperial design, which supports US corporate interests Worldwide.

The USA is in grave danger of becoming an "unstable nation" or a "failed state" itself. And what then? Would this stop it?

Clearly the USA is a "failed democracy" and it's so-called leadership is "unstable", but does that count? In other words, when do we invade ourselves?

The Next Phase of the War

The existence of fake intelligence to justify US-UK war plans, has not weakened the war agenda. Nor does it ensure that disinformation will not used by politicians to justify the next phase of the war.

In fact, fake intelligence has already been created and fed into the news chain to justify the bombing of Iran which is slated to be implemented as a joint US-Israeli operation.

Meanwhile, in the US, Britain and Canada, the Homeland Security apparatus is being further developed, leading to the militarisation of civilian institutions and the derogation of Constitutional government.

All this is part of the same plan ... how can it be stopped?

The World is at an important crossroads.

The Bush Administration has embarked upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.

Iran is the next military target. The planned military operation, which is by no means limited to punitive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, is part of a project of World domination, a military roadmap, launched at the end of the Cold War.

Military action against Iran would directly involve Israel's participation, which in turn is likely to trigger a broader war throughout the Middle East, not to mention an implosion in the Palestinian occupied territories. Turkey is closely associated with the proposed aerial attacks.

Take a good long look at a map, if you haven't done so lately, and try to understand the vastness of what we're talking about here. Chossudovsky is not exaggerating when he says the future of humanity is threatened.

Reversing the Tide of War

High ranking officials of the Bush administration, members of the military and the US Congress have been granted the authority to uphold an illegal war agenda.

One can therefore expect that war criminals in high office will repress any form of dissent which questions the legitimacy of the war in Iraq and/or its extension into Iran. In this regard, the anti terrorist legislation is eventually intended to be used in a cohesive way against the anti-war and civil rights movements.

In other words, we can't wait! Time is of the essence, fellow patriots!

And pay close attention to this next bit:

Reversing the tide of war cannot be achieved through a narrow process of regime change in America.

It is not sufficient to unseat elected politicians and elect a new government. Those in the seat of political authority are instruments, they are power brokers, on behalf of the oil companies, the military industrial complex and the Wall Street financial establishment, which ultimately call the shots on US foreign policy.

Antiwar sentiment does not dismantle a war agenda. What is required is a grass roots network, a mass movement at national and international levels, which challenges not only the legitimacy of the main military and political actors, but the broad structures of the New World Order.

To reverse the tide of war, military bases must be closed down, the war machine (namely the production of advanced weapons systems) must be stopped and the burgeoning police state must be dismantled.

The corporate sponsors of war and war crimes must also be targeted including the oil companies, the defense contractors, the financial institutions and the corporate media, which has become an integral part of the war propaganda machine.

Michel Chossudovsky, 22 May 2005.

I've had a few quibbles with earlier statements, but I cannot argue with any of the conculsions expressed above.

Want to see more? Click this link to read the entire monsterpiece at globalresearch.ca.