Tiffany L Smoot

Race and Ethnic Conflicts

Dr. Terpstra

October 31, 2009

How much power does the media really have? After reading the opening pages of Mother of All Battles, I can't help but to wonder about the power of the media. In 1983, the attack on Grenada was misrepresented or not covered at all. There was a similar situation in 1991 with Saudi Arabia. After the debacle that was the 2000 presidential election and the primaries of 2008 (with Florida and Michigan excluded) I think that the power of the press is greatly overrated. If Americans really knew the situation in Grenada, with the Cuban occupation being completely innocuous, what would have been the result? Nothing. Americans can march and protest, but nothing changes. Those in power still do as they please. How does one man win the election but another man takes office? After decades of adhering to protocol, how do two states get away with holding their primaries early? And why are there no repercussions? The public was well aware of these things. That did not stop the machine that is our government.

     Who is the audience for the government's deception? They announce that there are 400,000 bodies in a mass grave. They use this as some kind of inciting discovery to aid in their invasion. With Blair's revelation that these numbers are inflated, that there are only about 5,000 bodies and the extra added evidence that these were most likely military personnel that died as a result of US bombings is shocking. But again, who is the audience? What can the American people do? As with the passing of the Patriot Act, no citizen in their right mind would want such a bill on the books, even in the wake of 9/11. But somehow, the bill was still passed into existence.

     I am too young to fully remember Desert Storm. My memories of it are of the kids at school that had the Desert Storm playing cards with Stormin' Norm Schwarzkopf and the like. From the smallest/youngest levels they had Americans somewhat involved. They shaped the way we thought about the war, making sure the young saw these generals and soldiers as heroes, American's might as insurmountable. I remember watching the updates of the war in class and not understanding what was going on. I didn't understand the magnitude or what such a war was doing to kids my own age.

     As with their bombing of Baghdad and our post 9/11 blood thirst for every Middle Eastern country other than Afghanistan, history has repeated itself. We are unsure of our enemy, but continue to raze Middle Eastern countries. What is the real mission this time?

     I shouldn't say it's funny, but it is funny that many don't differentiate between Iran and Iraq. Part of that is simply our culture. This is how we're slipping from our perch as the supreme power. With American being as isolated as it is, I think a lot of people see the bombings, then and now, as "over there." They can't see how these things relate to them as Americans. They can't imagine the suffering, because they can't envision a world where you're sitting in class one minute learning basic arithmetic and the next the roof has caved in and half your class is dead and buried amongst rubble. It's unfortunate. They say American Idol gets more votes than the president. I fear that people will not wake up until we are living Orwell's nightmare in 1984.

     I do hold the media responsibly for their poor reporting of the Iraq conflict. To confuse Iraq, Iran, and Israel is inexcusable. It the people that report the news can't get it right, how do you go about finding what's really going on? Not only do you have to worry about someone reporting the news with integrity, but also have to know who their allegiance is to.

     I'm ashamed to admit I didn't feel sympathy for the American Middle Easterners after 9/11. I know that I should have. In the wake of 9/11 we were shown images of people young and old burning the American flag. They were celebrating the death of innocents. In Mother of All Battles a guy is shocked that he's been called a camel jockey, given he has never seen a camel in his life, outside of the zoo. Black people have put up with so much in this country, I wasn't happy that someone else was going through this kind of hatred, but I thought, welcome to our world. God knows it wasn't right to think that way, as other races have gone through other hate-based relations at the hands of good ole boys. Like the Asian concentration camps during World War II. I wonder just how humane those camps were, being that they had imprisoned Americans.

     I have learned a lot through reading this opening section of Mother of All Battles. I've learned about myself and the way I've looked at these conflicts, going back to Desert Storm.

Just 315 F

Oct 18, 2009

            In my opinion Archer’s book is an excellent source for those like me, that don’t really know what’s going on behind the U.S and the Iraq war. It was an eye opener and made me discover more about the issues and problems the Middle East countries suffers in the war. We are to believe everything that the western media shows portraying Iraqis as enemies and bad people that all they want is to destroy the U.S. However, reading this book change my knowledge and the way I think about the conflict between the U.S and the Middle Eastern countries. This book tells the story of the war between Iraq and the U.S war showing point by point what led to the invasion to Iraq and the reason why this happened. Before taking this class I didn’t think I was going to learn so much about the politics, war and terrorism around the world. I feel this class and the materials use in and out of class has informed and educated me tremendously to make my own conclusions about the problems between the U.S and Iraq. There are many parts in this book that clarifies my doubts and the same time left me amazed for the lost of thousands of soldiers and what they go through in the war. The more I read from the book the lees I believe in what I see on the western news. I’m sure many Americans still believes in what they see, they haven’t have the privilege like me  to explore and realize what’s behind the munitions, tanks and soldiers fighting for a endless war that doesn’t make sense to me at all and still to continue.

In the following content I will discuss the book in three chapter and talk about the main arguments that I found really important and interesting to expose.

          In this section of the book Archer describes the events occurred on February 22, 1992 in New York City at the Mater Luther King H.S auditorium. The International War Crime Association accused and proceeded to trial the United States for crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and other charges.  The trial was a result of an investigation conducted by attorney Ramsey Clark among others members of the crime tribunal. In February 1991, Clark visited Iraq and found evidence like videotapes and tales of horror against Iraq civilian population. He traveled around the world and gather further evidence of war crimes. The evidences were outrageous. Obtaining evidence of horrifying acts perpetrated against Iraqi’s population, military and environment and other communities in the world. No one seemed to care and these cases were not reported by the U.S television. As a result of these evidences the international War Tribunal convened to try George Bush, Dan Quayle, James Baker, Dick Cheney, William Webster, Collin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and others for 19 charges of crimes against peace, humanity and other criminal acts.

However, the interesting part of the events was that the U.S media wasn’t present at all. No local news channel was to be found anywhere. The question that Archer asked and I can’t even answer is “How can a trial held in the U.S against the U.S government be ignored by the press”? Why the lack of coverage for an important event in the U.S history? Archer investigated the reasons and all he got form the New York Times was that “the story was a editorial suicide” another source told him that “the could not cover the story because of its controversial content.”

The truth of the matter is that all these politicians in the Bush presidency were trial for 19^th war crimes violating the human rights and international agreement and laws. I would put some charges from the book that I consider the most important of all.

·         Bush accused of interfering and destroying Iraq military and economically.

·         The U.S intentionally bombed and destroyed civilian life, commercial and business districts, school, hospitals, mosques, churches, residential areas, private vehicles and government offices.

·         The U.S intentionally bombed and destroyed Iraqi personnel, used excessive force, killed soldiers seeking surrender and disorganized fight, often unarmed and far from any combat zones and randomly and wantonly killed Iraqi soldiers destroyed material after the cease fired.

·         President Bush intentionally deprived the Iraqi people of essential medicine, portable, water, food and other necessities.

·         President Bush systematically manipulated, controlled, directed, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage to obtain constant support in the media for his military and political goals.

These are just a few of the horrifying acts perpetrated by these embarrassing government and its members. There is no name and justification for what they did.  The members of the International War Crimes Tribunal finds each of the named accused Guilty on the basis of the evidence against them and that each of the nineteen crimes alleged in the Initial Complaint, attached hereto, has been established to have been committed beyond a reasonable doubt.

Here are some of the U.S members of that tribunal that were voted guilty.

• Michael Ratner, USA; Attorney, former director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, past president of the National Lawyers Guild.
• Deborah Jackson, USA; First vice president of the American Association of Jurists, former director of National Conference of Black Lawyers.
• John Jones, USA; Community leader in the state of New Jersey. Vietnam veteran who became leader of movement against U.S. attack on Iraq.

• Gloria La Riva, USA Founding member of the Farm workers Emergency Relief Committee and Emergency Committee to Stop the U.S. War in the Middle East in San Francisco.

• Key Martin, USA Member of Executive Committee of Local 3 of the Newspaper Guild in New York. Jailed in 1967 for taking message of Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Vietnam to active duty Gls.

What I found very ironic is that a country that believes in democracy and justice hasn’t done anything to punish those found guilty and apply the maximum punishment according to the constitution. I agree with the tribunal panel finding guilty the U.S and the Bush government are responsible for all these hideous acts. But what I can’t find an answer and make sense as same as Archer is why the lack of the media when covering this trial and why haven’t those responsible been punished for what they did?

• Final Judgment: International War Crimes Tribunal

            http://deoxy.org/wc/warcrim3.htm

• Ex-President George H. Bush accused of war crimes and political killings

http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/bush_war_criminal.htm

• Archer, J., 2008, The Mother Of All Battles; La Mesa, Ca, Alternative Publishing

On this section Archer tell us the similarities between Somalia and Iraq. In 1993 the U.S categorize the Somali leader Mohamed Aidid as bad as Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The U.S named as the bad guy and offer $25.000 for his death or capture and Saddam Hussein was worth $30million. The fight escalated and as a result 18 U.S soldier were killed trying to capture Aidid. Apparently Somalis have gone crazy and video tape of an death body of an American soldier that was dragged on the street protesting against the U.S government. President bill Clinton talked about this repugnant act and encourage people to not act this way. However, his successor bush second didn’t hesitate to publish video tapes via television showing Saddam Hussein’s father, son and other relatives. So Archer says that for the U.S is a big deal that one soldier death is “uncivilized” but what about killing and showing videos of more than one Iraqi or Somali dead is not inhuman. 

            Later, because of the fight between Aidid and his competitor Mahdi the UN declared Somalia’s lack of ability to govern itself. On June 5, 1993 UN troops attempted to shut down Aidi’s radio station because of it was broadcasting “propaganda” and the Somalis responded attacking back.  On 1995 Aidid supporters declared him president of Somalia. In July 1996 Mohamed Farrah Aidid died while fighting in Somalia. He was demonized by the U.S government and had a price put on his head. Despite of the conflict and problematic reputation he had, some considered Aidid to be a hero and free Somalia from the U.S military.

Archer tell us that Somalia has undergone many of the same techniques used against Iraq in having its country dismembered and reassembled by the U.S. The U.S has used methods to surrounding certain countries that they call “enemies” in this case Somali and Iraq. That’s why Archer tell us that they have similar strategies like

• Demonizing its leader
• Overwhelming forces
• Teaching the locals a lesson in Christian comparison
• Placing a bounty on the head of a leader
• Heavy use of commandos in kidnapping operations
• Keeping local factions at odds with each other 
• Companies grabbing the look that was meant for in humanitarian aid
• April Glaspie involved with behind-the –scenes U.S shenanigans.

Before reading this chapter I had no idea the Somalia went through he same thing as Iraq. I found interesting that Somalia and Iraq have similarities in the history and the United States was involved.  Archer explains that Somali is in a position that is ideal for the U.S strategies interests as same as Iraq. The terrorist threat in Somalia is real; Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

Sources:

• World Somali Congress

http://www.somalicongress.org/article1052.html

• Archer, J., 2008, The Mother Of All Battles; La Mesa, Ca, Alternative Publishing

      Archer give us a brief story of how Iraq used to be before “Desert Storm” which not many people knows about it including me. I always thought that Iraq was a poor country full of rebellious people fighting for the war. But according to Archer it used to be a successful country where Egyptians and hundreds of thousand of people of other nationalities would benefit from its successful economy. People used to make god money and enjoy of a comfortable income. Other items were n abundance like gasoline to help civilians to cope with the post war devastation. Iraq was a role model for other Middle Eastern countries. It had become far the most modern country in the continent among other nations. But when Desert storm occurred, Saddam Hussein and his regimen were targeted by the U.S propaganda as “another Hitler.” I have to admit that was the way I used to think and view this regimen. If we look a t the documentaries that western media as Discovery channel and History channel, the way they portray Iraq as a country of evil that all they want is to take over the world and destroy the U.S. however reality is different according to Archer. After august 2 1990, stories emerges of Iraqi soldiers talking babies from Kuwaiti hospitals and throwing them on the floor. While reading this section of the book at some point it almost made me stop and jump top a different section and stop reading it. I was so overwhelmed by the horror stores of the babies, the 15 year old Nayirah and the human sheered machine. To be honest I had to take a break and rethink if I wanted to continue reading. But I’m glad I did the more and more I read the different shape that the story took. It turns out to be a set up. A conspiracy by the U.S government, the Kuwaiti government and the American public relations firm. They Kuwaiti government paid $12 million to create a scenario to demonize the Iraqi leadership in charge of Saddam Hussein. Now it make sense to me why the government the Bush build up the 2003 invasion on false statement that the leadership of Saddam used torture methods. As I say before I was ignorant in the topic and all I could see is what the western media show as a country of evil. But is sad that a develop country lie the U.S used tactics like that for their own benefits. I don’t have a doubt the Saddam may have been though with his own people. He was a dictator, what can you expect from someone with such strong beliefs. However, it clarifies to me that it was a set up and an excuse to invade Iraq by saying that torture and weapons of mass destructions were in Saddam possession. In fact it never existed such tortures but the truth was not going to be exposed by the mainstream media.

According to Archer after this accusations occurred, investigation took place with these cases and led to the conclusion that is proven hat it never happened. There were fallacies made up by the U.S government. In fact the CIA, US army reported in April 1990 that Iraq never had, and nor mustard gas or nerve killed agent as the Iranians perpetrated that attack as media war tactic. Similarly, I agree and is a valid point that Archer points out. No Iraqi military has step forward and say they are responsible for the operations, not one pilot, nor a supply person, truck driver or a clerk. Again is the bubble in what the western government wants us to be in and not see beyond our eyes. In my opinion one of the biggest lie that the U.S government has created to put Iraq against the them and the rest of the world

Sources:

• Archer, J., 2008, The Mother Of All Battles; La Mesa, Ca, Alternative Publishing
• Mechanisms of Western Domination: A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait
    http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/iraqkuwait.html
• Must see TV

http://www.younganarchy.com/videoblog/?tag=nariyah

• BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6958938.stm

____________________________________________________________

                                                                                                            Law & Terrorism

                                                                                                            Book Report

                                                                                                            October 15, 2009

CLAIM #1

The first claim that Jeff Archer writes about in his book is on page 132. It talks about how Colin Powell lied about Iraq and their nuclear weapon capabilities to get the United States to invade Iraq. Powell’s speech on February 5, 2003 was known as the “crown jewel for making the case for war.” (p.132) After I read this part of the book, I thought to myself is this for real because I do not really remember hearing this on the news or even learning about it in school for that matter. And if he did in fact lie, why didn’t he go to jail?! I started my research with the website of David Swanson who is the author of “Daybreak”, a book that exposes all the ways our government has changed for worse under the Bush administration. According to David Swanson and his blog on www.davidswanson.org, Colin Powell lied to all of America and on videotape for that matter. David Swanson said that during his presentation at the United Nations, Powell provided a translation of an intercepted conversation between Iraqi army officials. In his translation, Colin Powell added incriminating phases, which said “clean all of the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas, make sure there is nothing there”. This was not really a part of the conversation. Colin Powell just added it himself. In addition to this, during Powell’s presentation “he was presenting as facts numerous claims that his own staff had warned him were weak and indefensible.” (Swanson) The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) flagged all of Powell’s accusations as “weak” and even “plausibility open to question”. Even though all of this was weak, that didn’t stop Colin Powell from stating it as fact and hoping that the US media wouldn’t tell anyone. In a CNN.com article called “Former Aide: Powell WMD Speech lowest point in my life” The adviser by the name of Col. Lawrence Wilkerson said that he wished he was never involved with the presentation. Wilkerson described the papers that Powell was going to present were “anything but an intelligence document.” (Wilkerson) It was, as some people characterized it later, sort of “a Chinese menu from which you can pick and choose.” (Wilkerson) Colin Powell also lied when he accused Saddam of having bio weapons labs mounted on trucks, which were almost impossible to find. After searching Iraq for several months in the summer of 2003, nothing was found but yet Colin Powell still made the accusations. After doing the additional research I have come to the conclusion that Colin Powell did in fact lie about Iraq and their weapons and capabilities. It is just unfortunate that there were no repercussions for him so blatantly lying.

Sources used for Claim#1:

www.davidswanson.org,  www.cnn.com/2005/world/meast/08/19/powell.un/

CLAIM #2

            The second claim that Jeff Archer makes is found on page 140. In this part Jeff Archer writes about Iraq and how the country was before Desert Storm. It describes Iraq as an electrified country with free healthcare, universal education, free from preschool to doctoral and post graduate studies. Women also held a higher status in Iraqi society than women in other Arab countries. Food was inexpensive and available, and there was also a secular government with religious freedom. The country was filled with Jews, Christians, and Muslims of all denominations, pagans, and even devil worshippers. Before the attacks, Iraq was on the verge of becoming an advanced nation.

            With this claim, I started my research with reading an article published on commondreams.org titled “Iraq is worse off than before the war began, GAO reports”. The article states that in key areas such as overall security, electricity, the judicial system- America gave back Iraq in worse off conditions than before. The article further talks about how the country’s court system is more clogged than before the war, judges are frequent targets of assassination attempts, Iraqi police are poorly trained, poorly equipped, and insurgent attacks have skyrocketed. In a study done by Princeton, it was found that after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the risk of death was estimated to be 95% higher. The study concluded that about 100,000 excess deaths or more have happened since the invasion. On www.acttogether.org, there is a quote from the Amnesty International that really stands out to me. It reads; “the lawlessness and increased killings, abductions, and rapes that followed the overthrow of the government of Saddam Hussein have restricted women’s freedom of movement and their ability to go to school, or to work. Women face discriminatory laws and practices that deny them equal justice or protection from violence in the family and community.” This quote definitely sums up the situation of women in Iraq now. It seems that they are no longer free like they used to be. Professional women and women in leadership positions are targeted by armed groups. Large areas of towns have been reduced to rubble, in some areas there is even barely no resources. For women, before the war 72% of working Iraqi women were public employees, many of these women have lost these jobs. In addition, backstreet abortions have risen dramatically since invasion, many basic medicines are not available, there is depleted uranium, which are causing birth defects, leukemia, and cancers (amnesty international). From the sources that I have found, I have come to agree with Archer. Iraq definitely seemed way better than it is now. I also looked through pictures of different areas in Iraq and it is really sad to see all the torn down buildings, destroyed homes and rubble all over.

Sources used for Claim #2:

www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0629, www.amnestyinternational.org, www.princeton.edu

CLAIM #3

            My third and last claim is on page 236. In December 2003, Its said that Saddam was pulled out of a “spider hole” in a town near Tikrit. He was said to be hiding in a dirty room with an empty can of Spam and totally irrelevant to the country that he for so many years led. Supposedly, none of this was real, it was all made up. On march 8 2005 United Press International ran a story called “Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction.” What it basically claimed was that Nadim Rabeh (among a 20 men unit) searched for Saddam for 3 days and he was found in a modest home and was captured after a fierce resistance. The ex-marine said the “spider hole” was filmed later, after Saddam had been drugged. I honestly had a hard time finding information that would support this claim.  The only source that found that supported the claim was the same evidence that Jeff Archer wrote about in the book. There were only stories about the marine that claimed that the whole spider hole thing was propaganda. Other sources like BBC, CNN, and other news sources all say that Saddam was found in a spider hole. In the BBC article that I read, it basically describes the incident as it supposedly happened. Saddam was found in a manhole, and surrendered. Because I couldn’t find any evidence that would support the claim, I don’t know if I really believe that it was all a hoax.

Sources used for Claim #3

_______________________________

            I am supporting Jeff Archer’s claim that racism occurs in America during war time against similar ethnicities of America’s enemy, but also that American leaders believe they can do whatever they want to under privileged countries.  Not only in Desert Storm or Panama, but even recently in the worldwide war on terror, the media often portrays Muslims as bad guys.  Just as the Russians were the bad guys in the eighties and early nineties in movies, the Muslim’s have taken their place.  Every television show that has to do with terrorism portrays the Muslim as the bad guy.  It is easy and “realistic” because the war we are fighting is in the Middle East.  As Dr. Aslam Abdullah explains in his article titled, Muslims and the Media Post September 11, people hate Muslims and Islam because they do not truly understand the religion.  “The perception about Islam and Muslims still resonate the only stereotypical images that were once part of the medieval Europe.  A recent survey by the Pew Foundation found more Americans distrustful of Islam than ever before.  To them, Islam is not peace or humility; it is violence and bloodshed. Viewers and readers know what jihad is; they have watched it live on FOX. American audiences are "witnesses" to people who call themselves Muslims who fight and kill in the name of a religion they call Islam. They see "Muslims" killing in the name of a greater purpose on TV almost every day.  The fact is that what they see is not true.  Rather, what they are witnessing is in fact the confusion, hatred and in some cases, ignorance, of terrorists/extremists.  Terrorists/extremists have turned Islam's ideal of peace and harmony on its head”.  He also explains that all American’s and the west know is “Jihad”, which is the wrong perception of what true Islam is about.  It is hard for not only foreign Muslims to live, but even for American born Muslims.  They are often branded in today’s society because of the war and the terrorist attacks. 

            The reports for Washington, from Jim Lobe, explain that attacks against Muslim’s jumped thirty percent from 2005 to 2006.  Violence against Muslims in the United States rose drastically after September 11^th.  “We believe the biggest factor contributing to anti-Muslim feeling and the resulting acts of bias is the growth in “Islamophobic” rhetoric that has flooded the Internet and talk radio in the post 9/11 era,” he said. “You can’t turn on the radio without hearing negative, bigoted comments about Islam”, says CAIR legal director Arsalan Iftikhar.  The number of reported incidents has risen sharply from 602 in 2002; to 1,019 in 2003; to 1,522 in 2004; to just fewer than 2,000 in 2006. 

All across the country violence has risen against Muslim Americans, and just as Jeff Archer explains Americans view everyone to be inferior to them.  We give other races names to demoralize them and even stir up war propaganda to help our cause.  The government can influence television to depict evil characters as Muslim so that the American public in on board with the war. 

In part three in the section, Anything to Fit Their Agenda, Jeff Archer explains the story of Jumana Hanna.  She claimed to be imprisoned by Saddam’s regime.  She became an American celebrity in 2005 when author Sara Solovitch released her story in Esquire Magazine.  Hanna was deemed a symbol of Iraqi liberation, after supposedly being a victim of rape, torture, and a witness to mass murder.  It turns out the Hanna was truly a fraud, but the U.S. government protected her story to further support the war effort.  They even discredited a highly respected Iraqi doctor who claimed Hanna had never been raped of attacked.  I believe this story is true and that the U.S. government would want to support this women’s story so that the American public could get a firsthand account of the “carnage” in Iraq, but I do believe the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein. 

Www.sourcewatch.org. 24 May 2004. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=War_profiteering>.

___________________________

Steve Friedman

Just 315F - 1

10/4/2009

Book Report - The Mother of All Battles

     This book report will look at three main claims from Archer's The Mother of All Battles. This paper will show information from other sources, some of which Mr. Archer used himself, to show that those claims are correct and true. This paper will also show the dishonesty, manufactured information and deceit that brought this country into a war that we shouldn't be fighting and mourning lives that we shouldn't have lost.

The first claim I will discuss is found on page 67, "America's Best Kept Secret".

     The first claim is that the U.S. was tried for war crimes and for crimes against humanity.

     "America's Best Kept Secret" is a really frightening section. Archer tells about the 1992 trial of the Unites States on "crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and other charges" (Archer, the Mother of All Battles; p68). The trial was a culmination of months of investigating by Ramsey Clark who for nine months with, "various members of the Commission traveled worldwide to gather further evidence of war crimes" (ibid; pg 67). There was no shortage of people coming forward to tell the commission of crimes they experienced or knew.

     Although the trial was held in a public venue, the Martin Luther King High School, which was overflowing, there was not a U.S. press representative in attendance. When Archer wrote that, this reader identified a queasy feeling in his stomach that was screaming, "censorship."

     The charges levied against the United States, were all crimes in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, First Protocol (amended 1977) and other International agreements and laws. This is the same Geneva Convention, First Protocol that was from Law and War our first reading. Professor, this is where light bulbs go off; could this claim be why we were assigned that reading?

     Space does not allow for me to list all 19 counts against the United States et al, but I though these few were relevant; (They are numbered according to their number in the Archer's book.)

     3.   President Bush ordered the destruction of facilities essential to civilian life and economic      productivity in Iraq.
     5.   The U.S. intentionally bombed indiscriminately throughout Iraq.
     11. President Bush usurped the Constitutional power of Congress as a means of securing power to commit crimes of peace, war crimes and other high crimes.
     12. The U.S. waged a war on the environment
     14. President Bush intentionally deprived the Iraqi people of essential medicine, potable water, food and other necessities.  (ibid; pgs 68, 69)

     Archer asks a question that I could not answer, "How could a trial be held in the U.S. against the U.S. Government be ignored by the press"? Archer wrote of the people who he contacted to try to get information but could not get any. These people were, Irv Cass, Channel 39 NBC

affiliate, Adrianne Weil Parks, AP in New York and Art Spiegleman, Reuters. I was alarmed at two of the responses he received in lieu of information; "I can't cover this story. I'd get fired." and "This story is editorial suicide." (ibid; pg 70) What about the First Amendment?

      In order to try to understand Archer's question I e-mailed all three of the people he contacted, but as of today, 9/27/2009 I have not received any responses. I appear to be in the same situation as Archer, we both do not have any answers.

      According to the BBC, when the coalition forces went to war following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, Saddam Hussein said that this would be the "Mother of all Battles". In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein remained defiant as he urged the Iraqi people to "stand up to evil". (BBC news archives, retrieved 9/25/2009).

     "The members believe that it is imperative if there is ever to be peace that power be accountable for its criminal acts and we condemn in the strongest possible terms those found guilty of the charges herein. We urge the Commission of Inquiry and all people to act on recommendations developed by the Commission to hold power accountable and to secure social justice on which lasting peace must be based." Done in New York this 29th day of February, 1992. (Final Judgment: International War Crimes Tribunal; retrieved 9/25/2009)

     In a Country that was founded on the ideals of freedom it is truly a sad day when the Government of that country allows the people to only hear what the government thinks they should hear.

     The following are United States members of that tribunal. They all voted guilty;

Michael Ratner, USA - Attorney, former director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, past    president of the National Lawyers Guild.

Deborah Jackson, USA - First vice president of the American Association of Jurists, former director of National Conference of Black Lawyers.

John Jones, USA - Community leader in the state of New Jersey. Vietnam veteran who became leader of movement against U.S. attack on Iraq.

Gloria La Riva, USA - Founding member of the Farmworkers Emergency Relief Committee and Emergency Committee to Stop the U.S. War in the Middle East in San Francisco.

Key Martin, USA - Member of Executive Committee of Local 3 of the Newspaper Guild in New York. Jailed in 1967 for taking message of Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Vietnam to active duty Gls.

     I agree with Archer's position. But to take this position one step further, why haven't those responsible been punished?

     I agree with the first claim that the U.S. was tried for war crimes and for crimes against humanity and were found guilty.

The second claim is found on page 110, "Gotcha".

     The second claim is that the CIA and the U.S. supported two terrorists, made them rich and shielded them from prosecution.

     Archer talks about two terrorists who will never be brought to justice because they are protected by us, the U.S. When I read that, I knew I had to find out more. These two terrorists are Luis Posada and Ayad Allawi.

     Luis Posada was in charge of the blowing up of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976 that killed 76 people. In addition, Posada has lived a life of terrorism, murder, kidnappings and assassinations. When he was caught in the U.S. he actually believed he had the right to ask for asylum. He was denied and the judge said he could be deported. However our administration stepped in and wouldn't allow deportation. In fact, Posada applied for U.S. citizenship in 2006 citing work he did for the CIA in the 1960's.

     The Declassified Record: CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International Terrorism; Connection to U.S. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing says "Posada went directly to El Salvador, where he worked, using the alias "Ramon Medina," on the illegal contra resupply program being run by Lt. Col. Oliver North in the Reagan National Security Council. In 1998 he was interviewed by Ann Louise Bardach for the New York Times at a secret location in Aruba, and claimed responsibility for a string of hotel bombings in Havana during which eleven people were injured and one Italian businessman was killed. Most recently he was imprisoned in Panama for trying to assassinate Fidel Castro in December 2000 with 33 pounds of C-4 explosives." (National Security Archive on line, retrieved 9/22/2009)

     Posada was jailed in Cuba for the blowing up of the Cubana Airliner, but was allowed to escape because a friend bribed a guard in 1985. Posada continued to enjoy his freedom because the friend who gave the bribe was a member of the Cuban American National Foundation. The CANF is a tax exempt group created under Ronald Reagan and was the recipient of substantial Federal Funds to continue their propaganda on radio and TV Marti.

     The fact that there is a very real possibility that this man could become a United States citizen is beyond my comprehension.

     I put this document here in my book report because I thought it was relevant. I was able to get this document by going to the National Security Archive, which is run by George Washington University. I only inserted this first page of many more pages.

      LUIS POSADA CARRILES

and the

BOMBING OF CUBANA FLIGHT #455

Testimony of

Peter Kornbluh

Senior Analyst, National Security Archive

Before

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International

Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight

November 15, 2007

MR. CHAIRMAN, REP. ROHRABACHER, AND MEMBERS OF THE

COMMITTTEE: I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR HOLDING THIS IMPORTANT

HEARING. AND I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO

TESTIFY ON WHAT HISTORY RECORDS AS THE FIRST MAJOR ACT OF

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM INVOLVING A CIVILIAN AIRLINER IN THE

WESTERN HEMISPHERE-AN ATROCITY THAT MORE THAN 30 YEARS

LATER STILL DEMANDS AN ACCOUNTING.

LIKE YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN, I AM CONCERNED ABOUT HOW THE CASE OF

LUIS POSADA CARRILES-AKA "COMISARIO BASILIO," "BAMBI," "RAMON

MEDINA," AND "SOLO,"-HAS BEEN HANDLED OVER THE LAST TWO AND A

HALF YEARS BY OUR GOVERNMENT. BY ANY OBJECTIVE STANDARD,

POSADA IS ONE OF THE TEN MOST PROLIFIC PURVEYORS OF POLITICAL

VIOLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY. YET, AS THE UNITED STATES

FINDS ITSELF WAGING A WAR ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM, A MAN

WHO OUR OWN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS RECENTLY CALLED ‘A

TERRORIST ALIEN' SO FAR HAS BEEN CHARGED ONLY WITH

IMMIGRATION FRAUD AFTER ILLEGALLY ENTERING THE COUNTRY. HOW

IS THIS POSSIBLE?

INDEED, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT A MAN WHO OUR OWN CUSTOMS AND

IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AGENCY HAS DETERMINED TO "POSE A

DANGER TO BOTH THE COMMUNITY AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF

THE UNITED STATES" IS TODAY LIVING FREELY IN MIAMI, FLORIDA?

                                                               (http://www.gwu.edu/  National Security Archive retrieved)

     The other terrorist is Ayad Allawi. In the fifth paragraph on page 112, we read about Eric Margolis and his article "The Bay of Camels". I was so intrigued by the comparison (in the title) to the Bay of Pigs that I found, and read, the entire article (http://www.torontosun.com/).

          I was also fascinated by the first paragraph in the article, where Margolis talked about the 50^th anniversary of the CIA and Aldrich Ames. He said that the CIA's 50^th birthday turned out to be the "Mother of All Bad Birthdays" (Margolis, E., 1997) Do I see a connection to Saddam Hussein's statement in 1990?

     The article by Margolis said that Saddam's dreaded secret police "rolled up all CIA's extensive networks in Kurdistan and Iraq, executing at least 350 American agents. Eighty senior Iraqi officials, poised to mount a coup against Saddam from Baghdad, were arrested and shot" (Margolis, E., 1997). This paragraph has caused me to ask these questions;

• 1. How did Hussein's police know where to look for the CIA agents?
• 2. How did Hussein's police know there was a coup in the planning?
• 3. Didn't Allawi, as a paid informant for the CIA have all of this information?

I believe that Allawi knew everything through the CIA and shared that information. In addition to sharing information, I also suspect he was getting paid from both sides, but I could find anything to substantiate my claims.

     Allawi, also known as the Strongman of Baghdad, started out his career as a terrorist by blocking the entrance to medical school exams while holding a machine gun in Baghdad in the 1960's. That wasn't good enough for the future finance leader and Prime Minister of Iraq, he and a colleague kidnapped the dean of the university. Allawi's friend and colleague proudly reminisced by stating, "We took Iraq's first hostages" (Gilligan, A., "The Strongman of Baghdad").   

     In Gilligan's article we see that Allawi was telling the British and the U.S. what they wanted to hear so those CIA millions would continue to pour in (Gilligan, A., "The Strongman of Baghdad"). In this article on page 113 in Archer's book, we learn that Allawi was planning a coup with all of the CIA backing and money, but Allawi decided to tell the Washington Post about this "top-secret" operation. After an exhaustive search, I found that this action was so top secret that the Washington Post never published it. At least it isn't in their archives and my e-mail request for information about the article has not been answered.

     Everything in this section of Archer's book makes a connection between Allawi and money. I offer the following examples;

• 1. "Ayad Allawi was telling the British and later the U.S. Government exactly what they wanted to hear and the CIA millions started to pour in."
• 2. "Undaunted, Mr. Allawi kept up his contacts and income...)"
• 3. "Allawi's acts of terrorism, lying and bilking the U.S. and Britain of millions of dollars..."
• 4. "The U.S. spent millions of dollars listening to advice on Iraq, but those they asked for information gave them the wrong information."
• 5. "Allawi now splits his time between an expensive well-guarded house in Jordan and another residence in London." (Archer, J., 2008, pgs. 113, 114, 117)

Archer was absolutely correct when he said at the end of this section that Osama Bin Laden was wanted not for 9/11/2001, but for the "Bombing of the United States Embassies in De res Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya" (Archer, J., 2008, pg. 117).

     I don't know if Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 or not, but the FBI seems to have made up their mind. I went back to the FBI's web site, and as proof, I have a wanted poster issued by the FBI, attached to this book report after the bibliography. This is the first I have heard that Bin Laden is not wanted by the FBI for 9/11. Look at the wanted poster and be as amazed as I was.

     Gotcha was a very appropriate title to this section. I initially thought it was referring to something good the U.S. accomplished; I should have known better. This was all about greed from Posada and Allawi and our inept, bumbling, possibly corrupt and self serving (they certainly were not serving me or the rest of America) leadership. Mr. Archer, you hit a bull's-eye on this one.

     Archer was right about all of his facts. I read his sources, researched the archived materials and after all that I am appalled and angry that one of the terrorists that Archer talked about is not only very rich because of the CIA and the U.S., he is probably going to be a U.S. citizen. That's right; this man who killed innocent people and took millions of dollars from the U.S. has a good chance of becoming a citizen of the Unites States.

The last claim is found on page 160, "Curveball and the Trucks"

     This claim talks about "mobile germ factories" or "Winnebago's of death". 

     This section is about the biological weapons that the U.S. said that Iraq was concealing. That first fact came from Archer and was taken from world headlines in 2002. I again became intrigued and went on a hunt to get that article. When I had the article, I was not disappointed. I do not want to be to lengthy but I think this paragraph that was not in the book is great;

"Final Technical Engineering Exploitation Report on Iraqi Suspected Biological Weapons-Associated Trailers," remains classified. But interviews reveal that the technical team was unequivocal in its conclusion that the trailers were not intended to manufacture biological weapons. Those interviewed took care not to discuss the classified portions of their work.

"There was no connection to anything biological," said one expert who studied the trailers. Another recalled an epithet that came to be associated with the trailers: "the biggest sand toilets in the world" (Washington Post, April 12, 2006).

     Even after the facts of those trucks came out, the White House was still trying to spin it to make it look like everyone else had bad information and only the White House had good information.  

     WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday angrily denied a newspaper report that suggested President George W. Bush in 2003 declared the existence of biological weapons laboratories in Iraq while knowing it was not true. On May 29, 2003, Bush hailed the capture of two trailers in Iraq as mobile biological laboratories and declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction" (reuters.com, May 29, 2003).

     The article from Reuters says exactly what Archer said in the second paragraph on page 161. It is truly amazing how the guiltier they are, the louder and more frequently, they defend themselves. I agree with Archer, that the White House knew the truth about those trucks, but elected to mislead the American people anyway.

     On page 161 of the text at the bottom of the page, we see an article from the L.A. Times written in 2002, with a few highlighted paragraphs. It was not unexpected when I read that the byline was Washington. It appears that the L.A. Times writers, and authors of the article, Paul Richter and Greg Miller, were in Washington, getting their information from the people who seem to have had their own agenda, and not that of the American people.

Once again, Archer peaked my interest and I knew I needed to read the entire article. Not only what I found was exactly what Archer said I would, but I also enjoyed this opening paragraph;      "As U.S. forces weigh storming across the Iraqi border in the coming months, their ability to handle the armored columns of an aging army they crushed 11 years ago is not much in doubt. Far less certain is their ability to deal with another threat: a shadowy fleet of nondescript trucks crisscrossing Iraq that Western intelligence believes is carrying biological weapons" (LA times, November 17, 2002) 

     Archer uses quotes from Daniel Benjamin, a former National Security Council official, on page 162, third bullet. That quote was taken from the aforementioned L.A. Times article. The information in that article, we now know, was known to be incorrect and was meant only to scare the American people into buying the Bush administrations assertions that an invasion of Iraq and armed conflict were necessary. To further enhance our fears, Richter and Miller gave us this quote in the final paragraph in their article;

    "There's nothing to prevent any one of them from pulling off by the side of the road and having the most lethal pathogens loaded into a cooler or rucksack, and disappearing," Benjamin said.

     Colin Powell was either fooled with the "intelligence" or he was part of the problem. Archer shows that Powell spoke in 2003 as if he was sure the trucks were a biological danger. According to CNN, an aide to Colin Powell said, "my involvement in the former Secretary of State's speech to the United Nations on WMD's was the "lowest point in my life." "I wish I had never been involved in it", said Col. Lawrence Wilkerson who served as Powell' chief of state from 2002 through 2005. 

     According to Wilkerson, that the documents he brought to read from at the U.N. speech were not intelligence documents. They were more like a "Chinese menu from which you could pick and choose." It turns out that one of the sources of this information was known as a "liar, fabricator, an Iraqi defector who had never been debriefed by the CIA, was known with-in the intelligence community as "Curveball". Mr. Archer was right on when he talked about Curveball on page 163.

    In the summer of 2003, David Kay, the CIA's chief weapons inspector in Iraq, said that he began calling and e-mailing George Tenet, the director of the CIA, to tell him the claims about mobile bioweapons labs were not true. Mr. Tenet in turn, called Secretary Powell three or four times to tell him there were no mobile bioweapons labs, but still the Secretary did not respond.

     When Powell delivered that speech to the United Nations February 5, 2003, he had information that told him there were no WMD's in Iraq, but yet he still spoke of the need to find those elusive WMD's (http://www.cnn.com/ ; retrieved 9/24/2009).

      We know that Colin Powell knew there were no WMD's before he spoke to the United Nations February 5, 2003, but still he has been quoted as saying the following;

• 1. "We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." February 5, 2003 (U.N. speech)
• 2. So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? I think our judgment has to be clearly not. March 8, 2003
• 3. I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear that he had weapons of mass destruction. May 4, 2003

     Tony Blair suffered "a great embarrassment" in his press because he agreed with the U.S. (Archer, J., 2008). Actually, Mr. Blair suffered in 2003 because there were no Winnebago's of Death, and again in 2004 he suffered again as The Independent and The Guardian when he said on January 12, 2004 that "the weapons of mass destruction may never be found in Iraq"( The Guardian, January 12, 2009). Things got a little more complicated for Mr. Blair as he went before the House of Commons. Sir Richard Dearlove MI6, had been working through the agency to determine the existence of WMD"s. After much inquiry and citing the Butler report, said that "blaming no one, they cemented the impression that Tony Blair decided on war first and sought justification later" (The Independent, July 18, 2004).

     I am not an expert but, isn't that what we believe our fearless leader, George Bush did?

     Mr. Archer was absolutely correct when he wrote this claim. I now know that at least two countries, the U.S. and Great Britain, started this war in Iraq on deceit, half truths and lies.     

     This book report has looked at the U.S. being tried for war crimes and for crimes against humanity, how the CIA and the U.S. supported two terrorists, made them rich and shielded them from prosecution and "mobile germ factories" or "Winnebago's of death" that only existed in the minds of our leaders.  We have seen throughout each claim a history of lies, suppressed information, deceit and leaders who put themselves before the people, and the constitution, they have sworn to defend. I hope this is not a pattern of behavior, because the world could be in some real trouble if it is.

Bibliography

"Statement by Saddam Lawyers Regarding the Death Verdict and Finalization of the Procedures of the Dujail Case", November 6, 2006 http://www.aljazeerah.net/ ; retrieved 9/21/2009

Chang, A., "Inspector's Worst Fear: Winnebagos of Death"; http://www.abcnews.com/; November 27  

 Van Voorst, B., "Spies and Lies" The Christian Century", November 18, 2008, retrieved 9/21/1009

Hall, S., Norton-Taylor, R. Borger, J., "Blair admits weapons of mass destruction may never be found. The Guardian, UK. January 12, 2009, retrieved 9/22/2009

"Weapons of Mass Destruction: Who Said What When" CounterPunch Wire, May 29, 2003, www.counterpunch.org retrieved 9/22/2009

"International Law, Security, and Weapons of Mass Destruction", May 9, 2002, United Nations Spring Meeting of the Section of International Law and Practice; retrieved 9/23/2009

Gilligan, A., "The Strongman of Baghdad", the Spectator, UK, November 13, 2004. Retrieved 9/23/2009

Margolis, E., "The Bay of Camels", The Toronto Sun, Toronto, Ontario retrieved 9/24/2009

"Former aide: Powell WMD speech ‘lowest point in my life.' http://www.cnn.com/ ; retrieved 9/24/2009

Beaumont, P., Barnett, A., Hinsliff, G., "Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds." The Observer, June 15, 2003, retrieved 9/24/2009

Whitaker, R., "Prime Ministers Question Time", The Independent, UK, July 18, 2004, retrieved 9/24/2009

http://www.gwu.edu/  National Security Archive retrieved 9/24/2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/  BBC news. retrieved 9/25/2009

http://deoxy.org/ Final Judgment: International War Crimes Tribunal. retrieved 9/25/2009

http://afrocubaweb.com/ Luis Posada; the Coca Contra Lives On. retrieved 9/25/2009

http://www.torontosun.com/  Toronto Sun. retrieved 9/25/2009 

Archer, J., 2008, The Mother Of All Battles; La Mesa, Ca, Alternative Publishing

Warrick, J., "Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War, Administration Pushed Notion of Banned Iraqi Weapons Despite Evidence to Contrary" Washington Post 4/12/2006

http://www.reuters.com/ May 29, 2003

Richter, P., Miller, G., "Inspectors to scour Iraq for Mobile Weapons Labs", L. A. Times 9/17/2002

MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL FACILITY RESULTING IN DEATH

USAMA BIN LADEN

DESCRIPTION

CAUTION

USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST 7, 1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, AND NAIROBI, KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED OVER 200 PEOPLE. IN ADDITION, BIN LADEN IS A SUSPECT IN OTHER TERRORIST ATTACKS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST U.S. EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.