Ascend, Evolve, Expand.....: Tax Dollars and Protests    
 Tax Dollars and Protests1 comment
20 Feb 2003 @ 00:27, by Sandi Hunter

If petitions, letters to congressman, voting, and worldwide protests all within the system work...I have yet to see the results. We hear a "respectful disagreement" from our leader with not even a hesitation in sending more troops over to prepare for war against Iraq. Oh, and who do you think is paying for all this? You are, through your tax dollars........

**************************

WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq

Bush administration accelerates US military buildup against Iraq

By Henry Michaels

20 February 2003

Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author

Having declared that he is undeterred by the size of the global protests against his planned assault on Iraq, US President George W. Bush is proceeding with frenzied military preparations. While Bush cynically continues to insist that no decision has been taken to invade Iraq, and that military attack is a “last resort,” US and British troops are massing in Kuwait at breakneck speed.

Behind the diplomatic maneuvers and bullying at the UN, the massive buildup indicates that the White House’s timing is driven primarily by military considerations. From all indications, the invasion strike force will be ready within two weeks, the same deadline that the White House has given the UN Security Council for the passage of a resolution legitimizing the assault.

According to Pentagon officials, an accelerating deployment has put some 150,000 American forces in the Persian Gulf region, with the number expected to exceed 200,000 by early March. Military officials have previously stated that up to 250,000 personnel will be involved in the attack.

This week, 60 wide-body aircraft have landed in Kuwait every 24 hours carrying personnel and equipment to the war theater. Other troops arrived on commercial passenger planes leased by the military to handle the mass ferrying. Lieutenant General David D. McKiernan, who commands the US and British land forces in Kuwait, told CNN Tuesday that 100,000 US troops had landed in Kuwait and were ready to launch the attack whenever ordered.

A seven-ship Navy fleet was due to arrive in the Gulf this week carrying about 7,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. A similar size group of California-based Marines is en route aboard seven other ships.
Since last December 24, the Pentagon has ordered at least 125,000 US forces to the region, joining approximately 60,000 servicemen previously stationed there. More than 150,000 National Guard and Reserve members have also been called to active duty, up from 58,000 just a month ago. Under an order signed by Bush three days after the 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington, up to one million guard and reserve troops can be called to serve for up to two years.

Two key components of the US ground force, the 101st Airborne and 4th Infantry Division, will arrive in Kuwait by early March, although defense officials in Washington have hinted that military operations could begin with a “rolling start” before the force is fully assembled.

Some 31,000 British military personnel—one-quarter of the country’s entire armed forces—have also begun to pour into Kuwait. Together with about 2,000 Australians, they are the only other troops to join the US invasion force.

Offshore, three aircraft carriers bristling with missiles and jets are now within range of Iraq—the USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea and the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea. A fourth, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, will soon arrive and the Pentagon has dispatched the USS Kitty Hawk from its station in Japan and the USS Nimitz from San Diego. A seventh carrier, the USS George Washington, is likely to sail from Norfolk, Virginia.

Overhead, a network of spy satellites has been assembled at 400 miles in space, to back up Global Hawk reconnaissance drones that will loiter at 65,000 feet, manned JSTARS aircraft with moving-target radar at 40,000 feet and Predator drones with video, infrared and radar sensors at 20,000 feet.

With the northern half of Kuwait now occupied by US and British troops, the Kuwaiti regime last week ruled the entire region off limits to civilians and shut down two northern oilfields in readiness for hostilities. This week the government of Crown Prince Saad al-Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah raised its military alert level from Level 2 to Level 4, one step below maximum.

Troops from the other Western-backed semi-feudal dictatorships in the Gulf began to arrive this week to bolster the Kuwaiti regime internally during the war. Contingents from the United Arab Emirates landed at Ali Al Salem air base as part of the “Peninsula Shield Force” formed by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

In reality, for all the diplomatic role-playing at the UN, the war has been under way for months. US warplanes are bombing Iraqi installations almost every day, and Special Forces commandos and CIA officers are operating inside Iraq. Administration officials have confirmed that in the past several days additional US troops have crossed the border into northern Iraq. They joined a group already there that was acknowledged several weeks ago by General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

US forces have set up bases in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq in order to secure control over the region’s crucial oilfields as soon as the main assault is launched. Proven oil reserves in the area total more than 10 billion barrels—a rich prize that Washington is determined to seize. These operations are a direct violation of the UN resolution passed last November, which prohibits infringements on Iraq’s national sovereignty. This is the same Resolution 1441 the US is invoking to justify its war drive.

Bush Tuesday revealed his determination to overcome one final obstacle—the Turkish government’s refusal to give the final go-ahead for Turkish bases to be used for a ground assault on Iraq from the north. Turkey’s Prime Minister Abdullah Gul Monday delayed a parliamentary vote on the use of the bases, declaring that no approval would be granted without a second UN resolution.

Facing overwhelming popular opposition to its decision to allow the country to become a staging ground for the war, the Turkish government is holding out for a larger aid package than the $6 billion in grants and $15-20 billion in loan guarantees offered by Bush. The postponement came after the weekend’s worldwide antiwar protests, followed by demonstrations at the US Embassy in Ankara and outside the headquarters of Gul’s Justice and Development party.

In true gangster style, Bush administration officials told the New York Times that “Turkey cannot afford to turn them down, and that Turkey’s leaders will ultimately understand that.” Bush himself declared that Turkey had “no better friend than the American government.”

Other factors are propelling the timing of the assault. Pentagon officials have acknowledged that any delay beyond mid-March could begin to expose US personnel and equipment to sweltering heat. By summer, troops will face temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Centigrade and blinding sandstorms. The extreme conditions could affect the high-tech weaponry that the White House is counting on for a swift victory.
US forces will have vast superiority in firepower and resources. Iraq’s military equipment—its tanks, artillery and air force—has declined by more than half since the 1991 Gulf War and has become worn out or obsolete after a decade of UN sanctions on spare parts. American and British jets patrolling the so-called no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq have knocked out many of Iraq’s air defenses.

But some media outlets have reported that US officials are concerned that any prolonged wait or protracted war could severely undermine military morale and further turn public opinion against the war, particularly if casualties are suffered. There is also the question of performance of the troops in a more drawn-out conflict. In some front-line units as many as three quarters of the rank-and-file soldiers are only 18 or 19 years old, and have no experience of actual combat.

According to Associated Press: “With 250,000 service members overseas even before the massive buildup began in the Persian Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, the strains of a soaring ‘operations tempo’ are starting to show across their military—on the men and women who fill out its ranks, on their families, and on the machines they operate...
“The Pentagon has relied on tens of thousands of reservists to prosecute the war on terrorism, conduct new homeland security missions in the United States and, now, prepare for war with Iraq.... A surge of patriotism has kept morale, recruiting and retention high since the attacks on New York and Washington. But defense officials fear that the open-ended nature of the war on terrorism and a possible lengthy occupation of Iraq could deplete the ranks of the all-volunteer active-duty force and break the reserve system.”

These concerns are among the reasons that the invasion will begin with a brutal show of force—48 hours of massive air bombardment during which 3,000 precision bombs and missiles will be unleashed by air force and navy jets, each carrying 16 one-ton, satellite-guided bombs, as well as B-1 stealth bombers. The Bush administration is quite prepared to kill tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, as well as poorly-armed soldiers, in the hope of achieving a rapid victory. The stated aim of this “shock and awe” strategy is to terrorize the Iraqi people with the same horror as the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

See Also:
US military chief admits American troops already in Iraq
[4 February 2003]
US plans “shock and awe” blitzkrieg in Iraq
[30 January 2003]
One-quarter of British army sent for war vs. Iraq
[23 January 2003]


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1 comment

24 Feb 2003 @ 16:07 by sharie : The Global Empire
"Global Empire Meets Global Intifada"

Gabriel Ash – www.YellowTimes.org

(YellowTimes.org) – From ten to thirty million people worldwide took to the streets on February 15th to express their revulsion at the White House's war fever. It was without doubt the biggest protest ever. The rise of a world public was the necessary counterpart to the transformation of the U.S. into a world empire. Global protest was born earlier, but Saturday's protest was the moment the masses of the world looked in the mirror and recognized themselves as members of one planet with one supreme interest, to live in peace with each other.

Running for president, George Bush described himself as "a uniter, not a divider." On Saturday he united the people of the world against his irresponsible, greedy, pigheaded, destructive slouching towards mayhem. In New York City, even among the drivers who were stuck for hours in the traffic disruptions, there were many more expressions of support for the protesters than there were expressions of anger.

About 400,000 people protested in the streets of New York City. The rally organized by the United for Peace & Justice coalition stretched on First Avenue as far as the eye could see; thousands of protesters filled Second, Third and Lexington Avenues, too, as they marched towards the rally. The protest exceeded all expectations in size, diversity and energy. Peace was not just a slogan, but was in the air, on the faces of the people, in their body language. To paraphrase Isaiah, it was a day that brought together seventy year old grannies and teen anarchists, Vietnam-age radicals and suburbanite young mothers, body art aficionados and devout Muslims. It was a beautiful, exhilarating day. All the people who marched and who put their souls into making this protest successful, colorful, and energetic, braving the below freezing temperatures, the wind-chill, and the chilling attempts of the New York police to stifle the anti-war protest, deserve a standing ovation.

For many, it was also a day of radicalization. There were many for whom this was the first time in the streets, and many looked dazed as it dawned on them that the police were not there to protect them, but to scare and to silence them.

The police, in addition to denying the protest a march permit, used barricades to route all the rally attendants into a series of separate pens along First Avenue. The pens gave one the creepy feeling of being led into an industrial chicken coop. A visitor from Europe would find it hard to believe that this is how exercising free speech looks in the so-called "Land of the Free." In stodgy "Old Europe," such levels of police contempt for citizens would have led to violent riots. One need only browse the many photos from the worldwide protests to note that nowhere else did police try to barricade protesters in pens, not even in London and Rome, cities in which protests were many times larger than in New York City.

The attempts to muzzle the anti-war voices proved counter-productive. The rally itself was peaceful. However, over sixty participating groups, angry with the police, decided to have feeder marches without a permit. Instead of one big march, the police found itself facing sixty-seven marches, moving towards the rally at First Avenue on different routes all over the city. As the marches converged, the number of people was too big for the sidewalks, and marchers took to the streets, blocking traffic and confronting police barricades and horses all over the Upper East Side. The police were overstretched and officers were at times frightened. While many officers did their best to carry out the stupid orders they had been given with restraint, there was no shortage of crude brutality.

According to the New York City IndyMedia, 311 people were arrested. Most of those arrested were guilty of nothing beyond being at the front line of the marches as they were pushed back by police officers attempting to keep protesters off the streets and away from the rally. Many eyewitnesses reported angry, brutal cops attacking and beating protesters, smashing heads and ripping off puppets and signs. A few protesters were arrested as they broke through barricades or engaged in other kinds of civil disobedience. But, most often, police blocked the way and squeezed protesters to the point that the most vulnerable people were injured. A number of protesters were attacked and beaten by police officers as they made their way home at the end of the day.

The worst altercations happened on 53rd St. on both Third and Second Ave., where huge marches liberated the streets for long periods. Mounted police charged into packed crowds that had nowhere to move, trampling on people and causing injuries and panic. An unknown number of people were reported hospitalized.

The corporate media took more than the usual notice of yesterday's protest. But the quality of the reporting and the disingenuous attempts to minimize the number of protesters, portray them as freaks, and hide the brutality of the police were shocking, as usual.

The New York Times, perhaps for the first time in living memory, reported a credible estimate of the crowd: 400,000 people. Unfortunately, this act of brave truth-telling exhausted the civic courage of reporter Robert McFadden. McFadden misleadingly conveyed the impression that there was no marching, only a rally with "spillover" into the nearby avenues. He described only a single incident in which people were arrested, the breaking through the barricades on Second Ave. between 53rd and 54th St., deftly using association and juxtaposition to insinuate that this was the work of a small number of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The article thus created the false impression of a large peaceful anti-war rally spoiled by a few "rogue" protesters with a separate agenda. In fact, all the feeder marches ran into police blockades. Only a few of the over 300 arrests happened in that section of the march and none of those arrested there were Palestinian solidarity activists. Finally, Palestinian flags and signs were in the rally not as a separate agenda, but because many understand that there is a strong connection between the planned attack on Iraq and the repressive regime in Palestine.

A Palestine solidarity feeder march, in which I took part, had indeed reached the intersection before the altercation began. However, the pushing through the barricade happened when a much larger feeder march broke through from Third Avenue on 53rd Street, slicing our march in the middle and packing the intersection. I was standing about fifteen feet from the breached barricade, squeezed and unable to move at the center of a large crowd, mostly from the other march. Our most pressing concern was to avoid tripping and getting underfoot. We were squeezed by the police from all directions. Yet the crowd was peaceful and alert and people took care of each other's safety, while the police were risking our safety in order to make a point about who's in charge. So much for the concern for "security."

Interestingly, McFadden or his informants could see Palestinian flags in that section of the avenue in which protesters filled the street and blocked traffic. Indeed, there were many. Yet he somehow failed to notice the mounted police officer who, about the same time, charged with his horse some fifty feet into the western sidewalk that was packed full with people who chose not to participate in civil disobedience, knocking people on the ground and trampling over them. It wasn't a sight one couldn't easily forget, unless apparently one is a corporate journalist.




Saturday February 15, 2003, a mounted policeman flays marchers in New York City's anti-war demonstration. Photographer unknown.


So far, it seems that the corporate media refuses to acknowledge this or any of the similar life-endangering incidents that people reported. The silver lining of this story is that today, hundreds of thousands of previously innocent people know, from personal experience, that the American media is lying to them and that the police is used to intimidate citizens.

The obstruction of the First Amendment by police was nothing short of disgraceful. Officers lied and prevented protesters from reaching their assembly points, and steered protesters away from the rally. Unbelievably, at one point, officers ordered our march to stop chanting! In the days before the rally, detectives called people who organized buses to New York City and tried to intimidate them by asking for lists of all their passengers. The phone line of the protest organizers' office mysteriously went dead just as the rally began. According to the New York City IndyMedia, two police officers were caught in action while yanking the phone lines of the radio station that was broadcasting the rally.

Yet we won a major battle. We showed our strength and our determination. We forced our opposition to the war onto the political agenda. Many go to protests out of a sense of duty but without real hope to affect the decisions of the plutocracy. Others stay home because of the same feeling of powerlessness. Not true. This anti-war movement, by starting so early and energizing itself so fast and so widely, really makes a difference.

Our presence in the streets on January 18th in Washington D.C. and San Francisco, and Saturday in New York City, London, Madrid, Rome, and over 600 cities all over the world, put the spine in the back of "Old Europe" politicians. They would have never dared to defy the White House without us. We have already contributed to stalling the war machine and we may yet stop it.

We must remain in the streets until we get the warmongers thrown out.

[Gabriel Ash was born in Romania and grew up in Israel. He is an unabashed "opssimist." He writes his columns because the pen is sometimes mightier than the sword - and sometimes not. Gabriel is the Middle East Editor of YellowTimes.org's News From the Front, located at the following URL: [link] He lives in the United States.]

Gabriel Ash encourages your comments: gash@YellowTimes.org

YellowTimes.org is an international news and opinion publication. YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted, or broadcast provided that any such reproduction identifies the original source, [link]


Last updated 22/02/2003

MOBILE PHONE SAFETY


Subject: Mobile Phone Safety
Please read all of this--it could save your life or your family's
and passengers' lives.

Subject: Mobile Phone Safety, Static Electricity &Fueling your car

The Shell Oil Company recently issued a warning after three
incident in which mobile phones (cell phones) ignited fumes during fueling operations.
In the first case, the phone was placed on the car's trunk lid
during fueling; it rang and the ensuing fire destroyed the car and the gasoline pump.
In the second, an individual suffered severe burns to their face
when fumes ignited as they answered a call while refueling their car.
And in the third, an individual suffered burns to the thigh and
groin as fumes ignited when the phone, which was in their pocket, rang while
they were fueling their car.

You should know that:
Mobile Phones can ignite fuel or fumes. Mobile phones that light up
when switched on or when they ring release enough energy to provide a
spark for ignition. Mobile phones should not be used in filling stations, or when fueling lawn mowers, boat, etc.

Mobile phones should not be used, or should be turned off, around
other
materials that generate flammable or explosive fumes or dust, i.e.,
solvents, chemicals, gases, grain dust, etc.
Another safety warning you should know about concerns static electricity.
Below is an email from Pat Cabiling who works at Chevron Texaco's
Richmond Refinery.
Four Rules for Safe Refueling
1) Turn off engine.
2) Don't smoke.
3) Don't use your cell phone - leave it inside the vehicle or turn
it off.
4) Don't reenter your vehicle during fueling.
Bob Renkes of Petroleum Equipment Institute is working on a campaign
to try and make people aware of fires as a result of "static electricity"
at gas pumps. His company has researched 150 cases of these fires His
> results were very surprising:
1) Out of 150 cases, almost all of them were women.
2) Almost all cases involved the person getting back in their
vehicle while the nozzle was still pumping gas, when finished and they went back
to pull the nozzle out the fire started, as a result of static.
3) Most had on rubber-soled shoes.
4) Most men never get back in their vehicle until completely
finished.
This is why they are seldom involved in these types of fires.
5) Don't ever use cell phones when pumping gas
6) It is the vapors that come out of the gas that cause the fire,
when connected with static charges.
7) There were 29 fires where the vehicle was reentered and the
nozzle was touched during refueling from a variety of makes and models. Some
resulting in extensive damage to the vehicle, to the station, and to the
customer.
8) Seventeen fires that occurred before, during or immediately after
the gas cap was removed and before fueling began.

Mr. Renkes stresses to NEVER get back into your vehicle while
filling it with gas.
If you absolutely HAVE to get in your vehicle while the gas is
pumping, make sure you get out, close the door TOUCHING THE METAL, before you ever pull the nozzle out. This way the static from your body will be
discharged before you ever remove the nozzle.
As mentioned earlier, The Petroleum Equipment Institute, along with
several other companies now, are really trying to make the public aware of
this danger. You can find out more information by going to
[link] . Once here, click in the center of the screen
where it says "Stop Static."
> > > >
I ask you to please send this information to ALL your family and friends, especially those who have kids in the car with them while pumping
gas.
If this were to happen to them, they may not be able to get the
children out in time.



Hope you don't mind me posting these updates, Sandi.  

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