6 Billion Brains More than six billion brains on this planet, and so little use made of them...
Thursday, April 10, 2003
"April 9 2003: The Second Catastrophe," ran the front-page headline of the Beirut daily al-Kifah al-Arabi, the first "catastrophe" being the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Number of Iraqi Dead May Be Unknowable ... relentless bombing and a week of ground combat left the Baghdad Division of Iraq's army reduced to "zero percent strength," according to Marine officers who engaged the division, once thought to number about 10,000 soldiers. Where are they?
Bush, Blair Messages Broadcast to Iraq. "You will be free to build a better life, instead of building more palaces for Saddam and his sons, free to pursue economic prosperity without the hardship of economic sanctions, free to travel and speak your mind, free to join in the political affairs of Iraq.", George Bush.
"We did not want this war. But in refusing to give up his weapons of mass destruction, Saddam gave us no choice but to act.", Tony Blair.
Jewish group blows up Palestinian school, wound 29 students. "We have started investigation and we will decide if there is a need to send a team of experts in explosions to take part in the investigations." Jim Kleiman, Israeli police spokesman.
The US bombed Al-Jazeera headquarters in Bagdag, killing one of its journalist. Al-Jazeera is practically the single independent news source in the Arab world. The US happened to have bombed their offices in Kabul during the war against Afghanistan, coincidence?
3 million Congolese died between August 1998, when the war began, and November 2002.
And one thousand died in the last week or so. Recall that Bush justified the war on Iraq as a mean to avoid another Rwanda. The problem must be that he still can't put Congo on a map!
"The distinction with war photography is that we have willed that person dead," said Harold Evans, author of "Pictures on a Page," adding, "We have willed it by sending the soldier there to do that dirty work for us."
Water is to the poor what oil is to the rich. While the US is dropping "freedom" bombs on Iraq, international experts have met in Japan to discuss ever growing problem of water scarcity.
Although it is likely to affect the world population much more than the selfish US policies, the summit was totally overcast by the war on Iraq.
A search on Google News spits out two meager reports.
Nature offers a decent coverage, but you will need to register.
The only comfort you'll find in these is the thought that, soon enough, a United Africa will invade the US to pump its fresh water reserves. Only then the most ignorant population on earth might get understand what it is to have a war on its own territory.
The US jail population hits two million! . ... Moreover, 12 per cent of black men aged 20 to 34 are in prison, compared with 1.6 per cent of the white male population in that age bracket. An estimated 4.8 per cent of all black males are in jail, compared with 1.7 per cent of Hispanics and 0.6 per cent of whites. ... The south continues to jail proportionately more people than other areas. Louisiana, for instance, had 799 prisoners per 100,000, while Maine on the north-eastern seaboard, jails just 137 per 100,000. The national average is 686 per 100,000. To get a sense of what these numbers mean on a worldwide scale, consider that Colombia jail 126 per 100,000, and France 85.
US writes off 1 billion dollars in Pakistani debt, thereby providing direct support to the dictatorial military regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. In October 1999, Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup. He took the role of 'Chief Executive' of Pakistan on October 12th. He appointed himself the nation's president on June 20, 2001. Last October a referendum conducted in absence of any real opposition extended his mandate for another five years. Musharraf continues to hold office of Chief of Army Staff and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Guardian , Human Rights Watch and Daily Times (Pakistan)
Belgium kills genocide law. A decade ago, Belgium passed a law permitting foreign war criminals to be tried within its territory. Largely symbolic, it allowed cases to be filed against numerous dictators and war criminals. it's greatest achievement was the trial of some of the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide. Lately war crime cases were filed against "democratically" elected leaders such as Ariel Sharon, George Bush Senior and Dick Cheney, which put Belgium under growing diplomatic pressure. Today, the parliament passed retroactive amendments preventing such cases to be heard. That's it for justice and human rights...
Haaretz , Expatica , Guardian and International Herald Tribune
Estimated number of Iraqi civilian deaths in the 1991 Persian Gulf War: 35,000.
Estimated number of retreating Iraqi soldiers buried alive by U.S. tanks in 1991 War: 6,000.
Estimated number of Iraqi civilian deaths Pentagon predicted in the 2003 war: 10,000.
Operation Iraqi Invasion by the Numbers
So they [weapons of mass destruction] WILL be found. And millions of people, those with yard signs that say, "Iraq today, France tomorrow," those who still confuse Iran and Iraq, those who don't know the difference between Osama and Saddam, those who believe Bush has a serious connect with God, those who think the nineteen alleged hijackers on 9-11 were Iraqis ..., all these people will trust their leaders that these weapons were there all along.
A gorgious historical essay by writer Lisa Walsh Thomas on the "Demons of necessity". If you planned to read ONE article posted on this weblog, READ THIS ONE! .
Researchers rage at tightened restrictions on US immigration. "At the Human Frontier Science Program, which funds international collaborations between biologists the percentage of fellowship applicants who want to work in the United States has fallen from 75% in 2001 to 55% this year." Is this about the bureaucracy of US immigration or about the growing intolerance towards foreigners in the US? But congressmen are unmoved by foreigners' plight .
"I am not particularly concerned that there is a little bit more red tape," Phil Gingrey (Republican, Georgia) told the scientific leaders who testified at the hearing.
"Our security is more important than your convenience." Ralph Hall (Democrat, Texas), the senior minority member on the committee, said that America's dependence on foreign students bothered him almost as much as the country's dependence on foreign oil.
And Dana Rohrabacher (Republican, California) suggested that the domestic shortage could be remedied if US students were given preference over foreigners for places in US graduate education programmes .
"There are scientists from communist China swarming all over Los Alamos lab," he said, "and when the Chinese start building rockets efficiently enough to hit any American city, we can start blaming this open exchange that we've had between scientists and our universities." ... Nature 422, 457 - 458 (2003).
Democracy is in the way. Remember that the Turks (by an act of democracy) refused the deployment of US troops on their territory? Well, little baby Colin said that the US was disappointed about it.
So much blood on our hands. It's confirmed, the US soldiers that killed an entire family at the check point did not fire a warning shot. The mother saw the heads of her two little girls come off. Moreover, last week's carnage that killed 60 people in a public market was caused by a US cruise missile , not by an Iraqi anti-aircraft rocket as claimed by the US. Precision weapons they say...
Donald Rumsfeld spelled out war objectives. Here are the first 5, in order of priority.
Objective 1. End Iraqi regime
Objective 2. Capture or drive out (where to?) terrorists sheltered in Iraq
Objective 3. Collect intelligence on terrorist network
Objective 4. Find weapons of mass descructions (WMDs).
Objective 5. Destroy WMDs.
George's ultimatum to Saddam: "Iraq must disarm". The UN Security Council refused to support a war aimed at Objectives 1 to 3. This priority shift suggests that Objective 4-5 will never be met (because there are probably no WMDs in Iraq).
You might remember, in his ultimatum to Saddam, George said something of the like: "I don't like war. Nobody likes war." Well, Michael A. Ledeen, adviser to the State Department under President Ronald Reagan and author of "The War Against the Terror Masters" and "Tocqueville on American Character", does not agree: "I mean, it may sound like an odd thing to say, but all the great scholars who have studied American character have come to the conclusion that we are a warlike people and that we love war. ... What we hate is not casualties, but losing. ... [Alexis de] Tocqueville called us warlike," Ledeen said, referring to the French aristocrat who toured America in 1831. "And it's certainly not all positive. Ask the Indians. Ask the Mexicans. . . ."
Nationwide dissent exists though. I watched the Simpsons with my flatmate Thomas on Sunday. The city of Springfield planned and installed a powerful streetlight system to eradicate night time and increase productivity. Everyone except Lisa thought it was a great idea. After the whole population morphed into zombies for lack of sleep, Lisa saved them by shutting down the power station. The episode was interrupted by an advertising for a recruitment campaign by the Navy. Their slogan: "Accelerate your life, join de Navy!".
The logic of 9/11, you're with US or you're against US. - The Pulitzer Price journalist Peter Arnett got fired for giving an interview to the Iraqi TV.
- Three British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths.
- Ambassador Paul Cellucci says US is upset by Canada's refusal to support and participate in the war on Iraq.
- New Zealand said the illegal war is not going according to plan. And they're going to pay for that.
- Radio giant Clear Channel supports (registration required) pro-war protests.
- Using you brain is unpatriotic. Protest are strictly forbidden in Washington. Last wednesday, the US arrested (registration required) 2 Nobel Price winners before the White House.
7 innocent women and children killed at a check point. CBS News reports that warning shots were made by the soldiers. The Washington Post negates this claim . In the front page of the San Francisco chronicle this morning, the death of 4 US soldiers in a suicide bomb attack. Civilians death is collateral dammage in the US. The underlying assumption behind US foreign policy is that an American life is ten times worth that of foreigners .
Last week the Iraq military showed American POWs on TV in an act of military propaganda. Donald Rumsfeld complained that "it is against the Geneva convention to show photographs of prisoners of war in a manner that is humiliating for them". But it happens that the US administration could not care less about the Geneva convention. Read how Afghan prisoners are being treated in Guantanamo Bay. George Monbiot's shocking article also reports on evidence that the US did not interfer with a genocide perpetrated by the Northern Alliance.
One rule for them
Just think of it, there are more than 6 Billion Brains on this planet! Don't you think it would be great if made real use of them to build a better world?
This weblog calls for one simple thing: use your damm brains to become better human beings and create a better world! By "using your brain" I don't mean complicated stuff like a skillful use of emotions, feelings or social cues. I just mean basic critical thinking that may prevent unnecessary crises.
An outraging example of major brain underuse: A large majority of the American population support the US led war against Iraq assuming it will lead to peace, justice and democracy. There is, however, masses of evidence indicating that this will not happen; evidence that is largely ignored by the mainstream media in the US, and in the rest of the world.
Let me boldly express my current position on the US led war against Iraq:
This war is illegal: preemptive wars, i.e. wars that do not invoke self-defense, have yet to be authorized by the UN. The US has refused to follow the multilateral process of validating this "innovative" form of military action.
This war is unjust: I am no ethician but it is clear that, for more than 20 years, the Iraqi people have been victims of the outrageous western support to a dictatorial regime, and they are now victims of the war that sets to get rid of the very same regime. It was the responsability
of the western world to do everything possible to avoid additional military conflicts. I believe this war was planned long ago and that no honest attempts were made to avoid it.
This war is unjustified: Iraq posed no serious threat to the US security, to the least no tangible threat justifying the use of war. Thus far, all allegations made by the US administration about weapons of mass destructions
(WMDs) and so forth were shown unfounded.
I believe my position to be well founded, but I could be wrong. I will attempt to support it by posting what i think is relevant and reliable literature. Anybody who reads these postings is asked to challenge my position by sending me comments and references.
