← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · xmetalhead
Thread ID: 9505 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-09-03
2003-09-03 19:00 | User Profile
[SIZE=3]Nasr Allah: US doesn't want stable Iraq [/SIZE]
Tuesday 02 September 2003, 8:04 Makka Time, 5:04 GMT
The Hizb Allah leader was speaking to 3,000 mourners in Beirut
The United States and Israel had the most to gain from the killing of a top Shia cleric in Iraq last week, said Hizb Allah Secretary General Sayyid Hasan Nasr Allah.
Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim was killed in a car bomb last Friday in Najaf. At least 80 other people also died in the blast
Speaking to about 3,000 Shias who gathered to mourn al-Hakim in the Beirutââ¬â¢s southern suburbs, Nasr Allah said: ââ¬ÅThe Americans do not want a state in Iraq, they want a splintered Iraq and the Israelis want to crush Iraq.ââ¬Â
"For more than one reason it is in Israel's interests and part of its plan to kill the leaders that present or even might present a danger to Israel," Nasr Allah said.
But the cleric stopped short of blaming either the US or Israel for al-Hakimââ¬â¢s killing.
Nasr Allah, whose Iranian-backed group helped drive Israel out of southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation, said attacks such as al-Hakim's killing or Israeli assassinations of Palestinian leaders would strengthen their resolve.
"In Palestine today, Israel has taken the decision to cross out the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the leaders of the uprising in Palestine," Nasr Allah said.
"But this (Arab) nation, in its cultural, emotional and mental make-up...when it is threatened with death is provoked and when it is killed it awakens and resurges," he said.
Nasr Allah said such an awakening was taking place as a result of the killing of al-Hakim.
"Oh Americans and Zionists, no matter how much of our leaders' blood you spill you cannot impose on us your tyranny or your projects," he said.
[url=http://english.aljazeera.net/Articles/News/ArabWorld/Hizb+Allah+slams+US+Israel+over+Iraq.htm]http://english.aljazeera.net/Articles/News...l+over+Iraq.htm[/url]
2003-09-03 19:27 | User Profile
Shows you just how bad the current administration is, when I'm agreeing with Muslims and Democrats. The US does the same thing with its "drug war". The guy could say the same thing about 9/11. A lot of radical "wet dreams" became reality after that one, and Bush would have zero momentum for re-election without 9/11. Same ol' rule, follow the money to find the crooks.
2003-09-03 19:30 | User Profile
xm, The Hizbollah leader was born in Najaf, I believe. I've been wondering if a link between Hizbollah and Iraqi resistance would rear its head. The Likudniks would just love that, since it joins Israel, Iraq and Iran (the main sponsors of their fellow Shias) in one neat 'Israels enemies are the USAs enemies' package.
2003-09-03 19:48 | User Profile
There is alot of suspicion about this.
[url=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j090303.html]http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j090303.html[/url]
2003-09-03 20:28 | User Profile
Sert, I believe J Raimondo's analysis of the situation in the Iraqi debacle where mercenaries are paid by America to create chaos. The more chaos in Iraq, the easier for American forces to kill indiscriminately, and the more cover for Israel to go after Hamas and Hizbollah. There is certainly more carnage on the menu and America and Israel are ordering a la carte.
2003-09-05 13:43 | User Profile
Originally posted by wintermute@Sep 3 2003, 18:16 * For excellent coaching on keeping your head in a rapidly changing yet rule bound political environment, I recommend rereading - carefully - Lewis Carroll's Alice* books.
Close studies of these texts is always rewarding.
And no, I'm not kidding.**
With apologies to Rev. Dodgson - Alice in AmericKwa, the mad Trotskyiteââ¬â¢s tea party.
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the Plutocrat and the Neo-con were having tea at it: Joe Sixpack was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using him as a cushion, resting their elbows on him, and talking over his head. Very uncomfortable for Joe Sixpack,' thought Alice;only, as he's asleep, I suppose he doesn't mind.'
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice coming.There's plenty of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
`Have some American tea,' the Plutocrat said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but Chinese tea. `I don't see any American tea,' she remarked.
`There isn't any,' said the Plutocrat.
`Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,' said Alice angrily.
`It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited,' said the Plutocrat.
I didn't know it was your table,' said Alice;it's laid for a great many more than three.'
`Your hateful tongue wants cutting,' said the Neo-con. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and this was his first speech.
You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity;it's very rude.'
The Neo-con opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why do Arabs hate our freedom?'
Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice.I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.
`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the Plutocrat.
`Exactly so,' said Alice.
`Then you should say what you mean,' the Plutocrat went on.
I do,' Alice hastily replied;at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'
Not the same thing a bit!' said the Neo-con.You might just as well say that "strength in adversity" is the same thing as "diversity is our strength"!'
You might just as well say,' added the Plutocrat,that "freedom to labour" is the same thing as "free movement of labour"!'
You might just as well say,' added the Joe Sixpack, who seemed to be talking in his sleep,that "securing freedom" is the same thing as "surrendering freedom for security"!'
`It is the same thing with you,' said the Neo-con, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about Arabs and freedom, which wasn't much.
The Neo-con was the first to break the silence. `What level of terror alert are we at?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `Green.'
Wrong!' sighed the Neo-con.I told you over-exposure wouldn't work!' he added looking angrily at the Plutocrat.
`It was the best alarmist media coverage,' the Plutocrat meekly replied.
`Yes, but some of the truth must have gotten out as well,' the Neo-con grumbled.
The Plutocrat took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of Chinese tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was blanket media coverage, you know.'
Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. What a funny watch!' she remarked.It tells the probability of terrorist attack, but not why or where!'
Why should it?' muttered the Neo-con.Does your watch tell you where terrorists will strike?'
Of course not,' Alice replied very readily:a watch informs one whether or not it is appropriate time to do something.'
`Which is just the case with mine,' said the Neo-con.
Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Neo-con's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could.
`Joe Sixpack is asleep again,' said the Neo-con, and he poured a little hot tea upon Joeââ¬â¢s nose.
The Joe Sixpack shook his head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; America - love it or leave it.'
`Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Neo-con said, turning to Alice again.
No, I give it up,' Alice replied:what's the answer?'
`I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Neo-con.
`Nor I,' said the Plutocrat.
Alice sighed wearily. I think you might pay more respect to the electorate's intelligence,' she said,than waste it by asking riddles that have no answers.'
If you knew electorateââ¬â¢s intelligence as well as I do,' said the Neo-con,you wouldn't talk about wasting it.'
`I don't know what you mean,' said Alice.
Of course you don't!' the Neo-con said, tossing his head contemptuously.I dare say youââ¬â¢ve never even written a nationally syndicated conservative column!'
Perhaps not,' Alice cautiously replied:but I know when something is wrong, and if one is a thinking person then one is entitled to rational explanations, donââ¬â¢t you agree? '
Ah! That accounts for it,' said the Neo-con.They won't stand for thinking. Now, if you only play on their basest emotions, then you can do almost anything you like. In a nation of fear and pride you'd only have to whisper a hint of brooding alien menace, and whoosh there goes civil liberty! Blam, here comes civil obedience! Securing my future for a better tomorrow!'
(`I only wish it was,' the Plutocrat said to himself in a whisper.)
That would be effective, certainly,' said Alice thoughtfully:but then--they should like to return to normal freedoms once the threat had passed, you know.'
At first, perhaps,' said the Neo-con:but you could keep the timid frightened and the braggart pompous as long as you liked.'
`Is that the way you manage?' Alice asked.
The Neo-con nodded his head jauntily. Just so!' he replied.last March--just before the reconstruction contracts were awarded, you know--' (pointing with his tea spoon at the Plutocrat,) `--it was at the great concert given by the Chimp in Chief, and I had to sing
"Twinkle, twinkle, little Osama!
How I wonder where you're at!"
You know the song, perhaps?' `I've heard something like it,' said Alice.
It goes on, you know,' the Neo-con continued,in this way:--
"Up above the world you fly,
Like a scud in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle--"'
Here the Joe Sixpack shook itself, and began singing in its sleep Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle--' and went on so long that they had to pinch him to make him stop.Well, I'd hardly finished the first verse,' said the Neo-con, `when the Chimp jumped up and bawled out, "He's yesterday's news! Off with Saddam's head!"'
`How dreadfully savage!' exclaimed Alice.
And ever since that,' the Neo-con went on in a cheerful tone,he'll do anything I ask! It's always a war on something now.'
A bright idea came into Alice's head. `Is that the reason so many unconstitutional security acts are passed?' she asked.
Yes, that's it,' said the Neo-con with a laugh:it's always war-time, and we've no right to question Presidential policy during an emergency.'
`Then you keep moving new enemies into the spotlight, I suppose?' said Alice.
Exactly so,' said the Neo-con:as our current enemies get used up.'
`But what happens when you provoke a genuine terrorist response against innocent civilians?' Alice ventured to ask.
Suppose we change the subject,' the Plutocrat interrupted, yawning.I'm getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.'
`I'm afraid I don't know one,' said Alice, rather alarmed at the proposal.
Then the Joe Sixpack shall!' they both cried.Wake up, Joe Sixpack!' And they pinched him on both sides at once.
The Joe Sixpack slowly opened his eyes. I wasn't asleep,' he said in a hoarse, feeble voice:I heard every word you fellows were saying.'
`Tell us a story!' said the Plutocrat.
`Yes, please do!' pleaded Alice.
And be quick about it,' added the Neo-con,or you'll be asleep again before it's done.'
Once upon a time there were three little brothers,' the Joe Sixpack began in a great hurry;and their names were Saddam, Osama, and Arafat; and they lived at the bottom of an oil well--'
`What did they live on?' said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of international finance.
`They lived on Jewish blood,' said the Joe Sixpack, after thinking a minute or two.
They couldn't have done that, you know,' Alice gently remarked;they'd have been ill.'
So they were,' said the Joe Sixpack;very ill.'
Alice tried to fancy to herself what such an extraordinary ways of living would be like, but it puzzled her too much, so she went on: `But why did they live at the bottom of an oil well?'
`Take some more Chinese tea,' the Plutocrat said to Alice, very earnestly.
I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone,so I can't take more.'
You mean you can't take less,' said the Neo-con:it's very easy to take more than nothing.'
`Nobody asked your opinion,' said Alice.
`Who's making personal remarks now?' the Neo-con asked triumphantly.
Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself to some Chinese tea and Mexican nachos, and then turned to the Joe Sixpack, and repeated her question. `Why did they live at the bottom of an oil well and drink Jewish blood?'
The Joe Sixpack again took a minute or two to think about it, and then said, `It was a freedom-hating Nazi, Aryan, Arab, Islamic-fundamentalist, communist, nationalist, Korean axis of evil.'
There's no such thing!' Alice was beginning very angrily, but the Neo-con and the Plutocrat wentSh! sh!' and the Joe Sixpack sulkily remarked, `If you can't be civil, you'd better finish the story for yourself.'
No, please go on!' Alice said very humbly;I won't interrupt again. I dare say there may be one.'
One, indeed!' said the Joe Sixpack indignantly. However, he consented to go on.And so these three little haters--they were learning to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, you know--'
`What did they manufacture?' said Alice, quite forgetting her promise.
`Zyklon-B, and they were scheming to burn all the oil' said the Joe Sixpack, without considering at all this time.
I want to move up to yellow alert,' interrupted the Neo-con:let's all move one place on.'
He moved on as he spoke, and the Joe Sixpack followed him: the Plutocrat moved into the Joe Sixpack's place, and Alice rather unwillingly took the place of the Plutocrat. The Neo-con was the only one who got any advantage from the change: and Alice was a good deal worse off than before, as the Plutocrat had just duct taped plastic sheeting over the silverware.
`But they were in the well,' Alice said to the Joe Sixpack.
Of course they were', said the Joe Sixpack;--well in.'
This answer so confused poor Alice, that she let the Joe Sixpack go on for some time without interrupting it.
They were plotting to destroy,' the Joe Sixpack went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy;and they planned to destroy all manner of things--everything that America values--'
`Why America?' said Alice.
`Why not?' said the Plutocrat.
Alice was silent.
The Joe Sixpack had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Neo-con, he woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that America values, such as freedom, and multiculturalism, and equality, and free trade-- you know we say these things are "democratic values"-- outside of Israel have you ever seen these ideals represented in the middle-east?'
Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused,I don't think--'
`Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Neo-con.
This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; Joe Sixpack fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Joe Sixpack into the teapot.
At any rate I'll never go there again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood.It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'