OpEdNews - Diary: POWELL, BAKER, HAMILTON

Four years ago, "moderates" like Powell were making the invasion of Iraq possible. Now, in the guise of speaking truth to power, Powell and ISG chairs James Baker and Lee Hamilton are refueling the US war effort by depicting it as a problem of strategy and management. But the US war effort is a problem of lies and slaughter.

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org Norman Solomon | Powell, Baker, Hamilton - Thanks for Nothing http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806B.shtml "When Colin Powell endorsed the Iraq Study Group report during his December 17 appearance on 'Face the Nation,' it was another curtain call for a tragic farce. Four years ago, 'moderates' like Powell were making the invasion of Iraq possible." writes Norman Solomon. ----- Corporate Agribusiness Is Behind Our Deadly Food Supply http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121806HB.shtml First it was spinach. Now it's green onions at the Taco Bell. What's next? The growing anxiety over our nation's food supply is enough to make you chew your nails - unless of course they're contaminated with E. coli as well. Is nothing safe? ----- Navy Veteran Detained and Tormented in Iraq by US Military http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806M.shtml Detainee 200343 was among thousands of people who have been held and released by the American military in Iraq, and his account of his ordeal has provided one of the few detailed views of the Pentagon's detention operations since the abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib. Yet in many respects his case is unusual. The detainee was Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago who went to Iraq as a security contractor. ----- Iran: Ahmadinejad Opponents Leading Elections http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806D.shtml Opponents of the hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took an early lead in key races in Iran's local elections, according to partial results announced Monday, with moderate conservatives winning control of councils across Iran. ----- Senator Clinton Opposes Troop Surge in Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806C.shtml Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would not support a short-term increase in American troop presence in Iraq unless it was part of a more comprehensive plan to stabilize the country. ----- US Special Forces Operating in Europe > http://snipurl.com/15a36 ----- Gates: Iraq Failure Would Be "Calamity" > http://snipurl.com/15a34 ----- Cindy Sheehan | Walk for Change: In Search of Peace http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806S.shtml Peace mom Cindy Sheehan begins, "As dissatisfaction with the occupation of Iraq soars and the carnage seemingly continues unabated, the new Democratic Congress is on board with staying the disastrous course that BushCo and the Republican-dominated Congress has set for our nation. We progressives who put the Democrats in power so that they could change the course cannot, must not, allow the Congress to give the insaniacs in the White House more money to fund what we all now know is a mistake based on lies." ----- Eli Lilly Said to Play Down Risk of Top Pill http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121806HA.shtml The drug maker Eli Lilly has engaged in a decade-long effort to play down the health risks of Zyprexa, its best-selling medication for schizophrenia, according to hundreds of internal Lilly documents and email messages among top company managers. ----- Red Crescent Workers Taken in Baghdad > http://snipurl.com/15a3i ----- Seth Sandronsky | The Democratic Majority and Social Security http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806F.shtml [snip] ... "One of the underreported stories of 2005 was the US public's successful opposition to Bush's plan." ----- Talk of Satellite Defense Raises Fears of Space War > http://snipurl.com/15a33 ----- Democratic Senators Divided on Troop Increase http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806L.shtml Incoming senate majority leader Harry Reid offered qualified support Sunday for a plan to increase US troops in Iraq. Senator Joseph Biden, the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said any proposal to send more troops should only follow a political solution that will end civil unrest. "The president and others who support the surge have it exactly backwards." ----- US Army Might Break Goodyear Strike http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121806LB.shtml The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tires for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan. A strike involving 17,000 members of the United Steelworkers union has crippled 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada since October 5. ----- FBI: Military Recruiters Ran Cocaine > http://snipurl.com/15a3a ----- Steven Hill | Instant Runoff Voting Is Catching On > http://snipurl.com/15a32 ----- Ex-Iraqi Minister Escapes Police Custody http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806T.shtml Iraq's former electricity minister - a dual US-Iraqi citizen who was jailed for corruption - escaped police custody with the help of security agents he once hired to protect him. ----- Carmakers Fight Global Warming Lawsuit > http://snipurl.com/15a2x ----- China's River Dolphin Declared Extinct > http://snipurl.com/15a30 ----- Le Monde | Green Chemistry http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121806G.shtml Le Monde salutes the European Parliament's new regulation of the European chemical industry. _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net Harry Reid Joins Forces With John McCain; Supports and OKs Keeping the Troops in Iraq Until Bush Leaves Office ...! I'm so goddamn mad! When I heard Harry Reid say on national television that he is willing to keep the troops in Iraq till Bush leaves office, I thought I was going to ... spit; words escape me - almost: I'm personally calling his office and reading them the Riot Act over there at "Democratic HQ." I wish everyone would call Harry Reid's office and tell that goddamn ba*tard that We The People didn't vote the Republiklans out of office so he could keep the troops in Iraq till Bush leaves office! Reid has clearly demonstrated he does NOT understand nor give a damn that the Bush Invasion and Occupation of Iraq is illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and downright stupid! It was wrong to invade Iraq, it certainly is wrong to send more troops into Iraq and keep them there. It's enough to MAKE ME STOP supporting Democrats and start supporting some kind of Third Party. I sincerely hope Americans contact Harry Reid and his office and let those staffers know they've got life and bullsh*t fouled-up! >> Harry Reid: Brief troop surge OK in Iraq >> http://snipurl.com/1567g ----- Dennis Kucinich: Bring the Troops Home Now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbY3PBo5-5Y&mode=related&search= ----- Arianna Huffington: A Surge of Insanity ... EXCERPT: "Part of what has enabled this disastrous war from the beginning has been the willful delusion about who George Bush > http://snipurl.com/1564i is and how he operates. Harry Reid will go along with my plan if I tell him it's "temporary"? Fine, Harry, "the plan is temporary." But only someone with a surge of insanity would go along with this." http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20061218/cm_huffpost/036585 ----- Get A Rope! Harry Reid Sides With Bush In Sending More Troops To Iraq! .ron Excerpt: "Speaking from Iraq where he was meeting Iraqi and U.S. officials, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd also was cautious. Democrats won control of Congress in November in part because voters did not like the way the war was going." http://snipurl.com/1565k ----- Kennedy, Reid split on a buildup >> http://snipurl.com/1562o ----- 1200 Kiloton Nuclear Warhead Nearly Detonated Near Amarillo, Texas at the Pantex Plant : http://pogo.org/p/homeland/hl-061201-bodman.html ----- China to buy 4 nuclear reactors from Westinghouse http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-12/18/content_761260.htm _________________________________ Steele@ConspiracyPenPal.com THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER by Edgar J. Steele Excerpts >> "It is no small coincidence that, like Britain of the 1700s, America today struggles to retain its empire, or that the struggle has been the same for every empire, down through history. You see, empire has a nasty habit of killing off its center and the rulers of empire never go gracefully. All empires have gone down the same way: in utter disbelief, all the while grabbing and clutching at the perks and comforts that the descendants of empire builders came to view as their natural and rightful due. Rotting from the inside out, the economy of empire unwinds, always, in the same fashion: overspent, overstretched and, ultimately, bankrupt. Sound like any country you might know? Why must it be this way? Why must America now fail, just as did past empires? Because the leaders of empire, like teenagers, cannot be told a thing. If youth is wasted on the young, then money is wasted on the old. Thomas Jefferson knew this. So did George Washington. So did most of America's founders. Imagine Jefferson, Washington, Franklin and Paine in the same room with George W. Bush or Nero or any of a number of other borderline-imbecilic heirs to the keys of empire. Do you see my point? Nobody vital ever gets past the inbred and overly-comfortable sycophants of empire so as to refreshen and renew it. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson actually advocated a fresh American revolution every generation or so? In short, all this is why I and some others know where America is headed while her erstwhile leaders, not to mention her actual rulers, obviously do not, yet refuse to allow those who do a turn at the tiller. Their loss of comfort - their pain - would be too great. And so, they take the rest of us down with them as they seek to retain an empire they neither earned nor deserve. But, things look so ... normal, don't they? In word: No. Not at all. Already, the economic "perfect storm" that has assembled just outside the awareness of most Americans dwarfs that which engulfed America, then the entire world, nearly a century ago. And there is no avoiding it. ..................snip................... Yes, the Chinese could collapse America's economy by this time tomorrow with a simple press release, should they choose to do so, but they have more to gain by continuing to bleed us before they decide to gut us. That fact, alone, escapes the attention of most. ..................snip................... Saddam Hussein stopped trading his oil for dollars, which is what really got him deposed (that and Israeli demands, of course). Now Iran has said it will do the same, which is why Bush wants to attack it (along with more Israeli demands, of course). Venezuela is going its own way, without the dollar, and its leader, Hugo Chavez, fears the American invasion each and every day. Argentina and Brazil just have announced their intention to trade internationally in other than the dollar, as well. Do you suppose we will be invading Buenos Aires next? Everybody is running scared of the day that China finally cuts the dollar loose. ..................snip................... Supposedly, America wants China to float its currency against the dollar and, I suppose, that is true to a degree. Some industry and banking leaders actually do see the coming economic pandemic and are trying to forestall it by letting some of the air out slowly. In reality, what Treasury Secretary Paulson and others fear is the Chinese dumping their reserves all at once, which would collapse America's economy overnight. That is why Mr. Kearns' demand that Congress "seize control over China's trade policy" is so patently ridiculous. China calls the shots now, folks, ensured by your new toaster-oven and big-screen TV, not to mention all that stuff you just bought and are busy wrapping for Christmas this year." [snip] Full article: http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columns/laugh.htm _________________________________ [NEWSDISSECTOR] "Shopping For Justice " on 5th Avenue: http://snipurl.com/156iv _________________________________ Excerpted from: http://www.WantToKnow.info/061218newsarticles Opium, thugs bloom under U.S. policies in Afghanistan war December 17, 2006, San Francisco Chronicle >> http://snipurl.com/15a10 ----- 'National interest' halts arms corruption inquiry December 15, 2006, The Guardian >> http://snipurl.com/15a1i ----- New Publishing Rules Restrict Scientists December 13, 2006, CBS News/Associated Press >> http://snipurl.com/15a1g ----- 12-Year-Old Spiritual Prodigy Akiane December 12, 2006, CNN Video Clip >> http://snipurl.com/15a1r ----- Iceland's hydrogen buses zip toward oil-free economy January 14, 2005, Detroit News >> http://snipurl.com/15a1x _________________________________ http://jablankfort@earthlink.net "The Israel Bonds Organization surpassed its annual goal, raising $1.2 billion in 2006 after investments accelerated when US support for Israel rallied during the war in Lebanon." # The sale of Israel bonds not only provides funds for Israel to continue its occupation of Palestinian land, but its belligerent policies as well. Moreover, it is a clever way of making SURE THAT THE BOND HOLDER, whether the person or company is Jewish or not, becomes a lobbyist for Israel, if for no other reason than to make sure that the bonds remain financially secure. At least 23 state governments, numerous universities, and businesses have purchased such bonds and as of two years ago, some 1700 trade unions had purchased an estimated $5 billion of these bonds. In 1983, former AIPAC staff member, Wolf Blitzer wrote, in the publication of the Jewish women's organization, Hadassah, that "next to the organized Jewish community," the American labor movement is Israel's strongest supporter. JB >> AVI KRAWITZ, THE JERUSALEM POST ... http://www.jpost.com Israel Bonds raises $1.2 billion in 2006 The Israel Bonds Organization surpassed its annual goal, raising $1.2 billion in 2006 after investments accelerated when US support for Israel rallied during the war in Lebanon.>> click here _________________________________ http://www.mosnews.com | http://www.americanfreepress.net _________________________________ TRANSFERRING PROGRAMS BETWEEN COMPUTERS DeLene wrote in from Aberdeen, WA, to ask about moving programs between computers. She has a laptop with Microsoft Office 2003 and Quicken 2006. She wants to know if she can also use the programs on a desktop computer. She doesn't have installation disks. There's some good news, and there's some bad news. Let's start with the bad. I checked the end-user license agreement for Quicken. You can only install it on one computer. So you're out of luck there. I wrote a tip about this >> http://snipurl.com/159xy earlier. It might provide some solutions for you. Microsoft is a little more lenient. You can install Office on one computer. You can install it again on a second computer like a laptop. The primary user must be the same. The licensing agreement may differ with software bundled on the laptop. Check with the manufacturer. But you will run into a problem: You don't have the installation disk. However, you may be able to get one from Microsoft. >> http://snipurl.com/159xz If you strike out there, contact the laptop manufacturer. If that doesn't work, you'll need extra software. PC Mover ($50) >>http://snipurl.com/159y1 will move programs between computers. It won't affect the programs and data on the laptop. VCOM's Copy Commander ($35) >> http://snipurl.com/159y6 and Acronis Migrate Easy ($40) >> http://snipurl.com/98ql promise to do the same thing. For more on transferring programs, read my tip >> http://snipurl.com/159y9 Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS The Unethical Biopharming of America - Will reckless business practices end up mixing drugs in your foods? http://snipurl.com/159yk ----- Be Careful of What You Say in E-Mail and How You Interpret Other's E-Mails - What you think you wrote may not necessarily be the same as what the other person thinks they are reading. http://snipurl.com/159ym _________________________________ VIDEO: Go Away 3:19 >> http://snipurl.com/159yw Have you reached your tipping point with certain celebrities? If you've had enough of K-Fed, Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton, this might be your new favorite song. _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. ~ John Morley

POWELL, BAKER, HAMILTON - THANKS FOR NOTHING