ICH: A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth?
 
Resent-Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:04:59 -0500 (CDT)


IF INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, I NEED YOUR HELP

Information Clearing House depends on readers to help offset the
costs of web site hosting and bandwidth usage.

Without reader support, both in forwarding news items to me and
financial contributions, this site would not exist. I need your
help to keep it going.

I would appreciate your providing whatever you can- $1, $5, $10,
$20, $50, $100- To Use Your Credit Card at PayPal click here:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/support.htm

To use your credit card at Amazon click here.

http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P2KA3Y9ANMJPWZ or if you prefer to
send a check or money order, Tom, PO Box 365 Imperial Beach, CA
91933. USA.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Low income readers: DON'T send money, just encourage others to
subscribe to this newsletter.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm

To all those who have helped in the past. Thank you. - Peace & Joy.
Tom

===

Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people."
(August 1765) John Adams

= "When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is
just, yet refuse to defend it--at that moment you begin to die. And
I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about
justice." - Mumia Abu-Jamal

= "But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America
becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and
absolute power corrupts us absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees
who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are
power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of
our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East?

Their morale, like so many lifeless bodies, is already shot to
pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich
kid got for Christmas.":

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Author

===

Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

=== Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In America's War On Iraq - At Least
655,000 + + http://tinyurl.com/usq4x

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)
In America'sWar On Iraq 3618 http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War in Iraq Costs $443,898,257,827

See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

===

Impeach Now

Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy

By Paul Craig Roberts

Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from
now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18020.htm

===

"What Are We Supposed To Do With Our Dead"

Odds n' Ends in the War on Terror

By Mike Whitney

God help us for what we have done to the Iraqi people.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18022.htm

===

Privileged Grotesques, Ordinary Monsters And The Iraqi Deathscape.

By Phil Rockstroh

At present, George W. Bush is unpopular with the majority of the
American public not because of the murderous mayhem he has unloosed
in Iraq; rather, his standing has plummeted, due to the fact, he
didn't deliver the goods.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18027.htm

===

The Matter With History

By Mark H. Teeter

When the presidents of Russia and the United States met earlier
this month in their curious Maine event, with its awkward clinches
and realpolitik rabbit punching, there was at least one concept on
which the two self-described "friends" could agree wholeheartedly:
History matters.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18023.htm

===

A Free Press or a Ministry of Truth?

By Paul Craig Roberts

In his novel 1984, George Orwell portrayed a future time in which
the explanations of recent events and earlier history are continually
changed to meet Big Brother's latest purpose. Previous explanations
disappear down "the memory hole." Sound familiar? Any American who
pays attention can observe the identical phenomenon occurring in
the US today.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18021.htm

===

In Case You Missed it

Howard Zinn on The Uses of History and the War on Terrorism

A Must Listen - Audio and transcript

They've taken over the country. They've taken over the policy.
They've driven us into two disastrous wars, disastrous for our
country and even more disastrous for people in the Middle East. And
they have sucked up the wealth of this country and given it to the
rich, and given it to the multinationals, given it to Halliburton,
given it to the makers of weapons.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15739.htm

===

Confrontation in Alabama

Cindy Sheehan Meets A "Chickenhawk"

Video and interview with Cindy  Sheehan

We have a young man, who first confronts Cindy Sheehan, than attacks
a Vietnam Veteran, one who fought in that conflict and knows War
and opposes what is going on now, telling him he if he hates America
he shouldn't be getting what is owed him, for his service.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18025.htm

===

Last Letters Home

A Must watch video

Last Letters Home, read by the families of ten men and women killed
in action in Iraq.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18026.htm

===

Tonkin Gulf II and the Guns of August?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

Is the United States provoking war with Iran, to begin while the
Congress is conveniently on its August recess? One recalls that it
was in August 1964, after the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater,
that the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18029.htm

===

The War Against The Third World

What I have learned about U.S. foreign Policy

Video

What you didn't learn in school and what the mainstream media won't
tell you.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18028.htm

===

AIPAC and Mahmoud Abbas

The Undemocratic Road to Defeat

By James Brooks

Abbas has been listening to his old guard while trying to take
orders from Washington, beg for crumbs from Israel, defeat Hamas,
form a national unity government, and lead the Palestinian people.
Who knew the old stiff could be such a contortionist?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18024.htm

===

Iraq: At least 128 kiled in another bloody day of U.S.occupation:

Twenty five bodies were found dumped around Baghdad
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/RAS740764.htm

===

Just another day in Iraq:

100 more fathers, mothers, sons and daughters killed
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2776137.ece

===

War criminal say's: :

Shiites likely to prevail in Iraq, Powell predicts:

The civil war in Iraq cannot be put down by American forces and
will end only after a "test of arms" in which the predominant Shiites
are likely to prevail, former Secretary of State Colin Powell
predicted .

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_6308048?source=email

===

Iraq's Sadr bloc returns to parliament -spokesman:

The political bloc of fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on
Tuesday it had ended a boycott of the Iraqi parliament, potentially
easing deadlock over steps to ease sectarian tension racking the
country.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BUL738674.htm

===

Death and denial, death and denial...:

More craziness from the surge's supporters and an administration
that would rather send more soldiers off to die than admit a mistake.

http://tinyurl.com/2syu6n

===

Iraqi Christians find sanctuary in Istanbul:

Every Sunday the basement chapel of one of Istanbul's largest
churches echoes to the sound of slow chanting in Aramaic, the ancient
language spoken by Jesus.

http://tinyurl.com/2wfqjs

===

Iraq: US Should End Indefinite Detention of Five Iranians:

The United States should transfer five Iranians held since January
to the Iraqi justice system for prosecution or release them, Human
Rights Watch said in a letter today to US Defense Secretary Robert
Gates http://tinyurl.com/2le2jw

===

Iran says willing to hold new talks with U.S. over Iraq :

"We are very positive toward holding such kind of new talks in the
near future," Mottaki told reporters at a press conference.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/18/content_6391077.htm

===

In case you missed it:

Fisk Interview with President Khatami :

I approached him over the issue of how do you switch off the, quote,
"war on terror." I mean, he's spoken, of course, about how he
believes that the American neoconservatives are not only influenced
by lobby groups -- he didn't say the Israeli lobby, but he obviously
meant that -- but how that they're creating more and more extremism,
more and more terror, by continuing the war on terror. And I said
to him, "Well, how do you switch it off?"

http://mwcnews.net/content/view/9278/116/

===

Manufacturing Consent For War With Iran:

U.S. says Iran knows its weapons reaching Taliban: -

Iranian arms are entering Afghanistan and reaching Taliban insurgents
in such quality and quantity that the Tehran government must know
about it, the U.S.

ambassador to Kabul said on Tuesday.

http://tinyurl.com/2tcmh8

===

Caught Red-Handed: Media Backtracks on Iran's Anti-Israel "Threat":

For close to two years, the media has stubbornly clung to a long
discredited story about the Iranian President's alleged threat to
"destroy Israel" with nuclear weapons Iran doesn't have and denies
any intent to acquire.

http://tinyurl.com/2mfoxr

===

8 suspected Taliban killed in Afghan clashes; bomb kills 3 Afghan
troops:

Afghan troops clashed with suspected militants in eastern Afghanistan,
just across the border from Pakistan, leaving several suspected
militants dead and 10 Afghan soldiers wounded, a Defense Ministry
statement said Tuesday.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/17/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Violence.php

===

A fight to the death on Pakistan's border :

"This is a matter of life and death for the mujahideen. We will
shed our blood, but we will never let this base be completed," Dr
Ismail told Asia Times Online while standing at the grave of his
son, who was killed a few weeks ago by US forces while attacking
the base.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG17Df03.html

===

Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistani capital:

A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Pakistani capital Tuesday
as hundreds gathered for a rally featuring the country's suspended
chief justice, police said. At least 12 people were killed in the
explosion, one of at least two deadly attacks in the volatile
country.

http://tinyurl.com/3cxpf3

===

Suicide explosion in Pakistan kills one paramilitary trooper:

At least one paramilitary trooper was killed and four others were
seriously wounded Tuesday when a suicide bomber struck a checkpost
in North Waziristan tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, said
officials.

http://tinyurl.com/36gdf5

===

Rocket fired in Rawalpindi when Musharraf's plane was in air:

A rocket and anti-aircraft guns were fired from a Rawalpindi house
close to the runaway of the military airbase used by President
Pervez Musharraf while his plane was in air, in a possible retaliation
by hardliners to the crackdown on the radical Lal Masjid.

http://tinyurl.com/2vwcwd

===

Pakistan Govt considering imposition of emergency:

"The option of imposing emergency is being discussed amongst the
power brokers since the suicide bombing incidents, which rocked the
country after Lal Masjid operation," The Nation quoted officials
as saying.

http://tinyurl.com/2jylsj

===

Musharraf may be losing US support: professor:

I think they're really considering whether it is in their interests
to just totally rely on Pervez Musharraf or whether it is good for
them to even bring in some other elements like the former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s1980019.htm

===

Four soldiers killed in Lebanon fighting :

The latest deaths raise to 103 the army's death toll since the
fighting broke out nearly two months ago.

http://tinyurl.com/32df4l

===

Israel preparing for war with Syria, confirms general:

A senior Israeli general on Monday confirmed that the army is
preparing for a full-scale war with Syria in the very near future.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=13461

===

Did the UN Cave to Israel?:

On July 18, 2001, nearly six years ago to the day, and under intense
US pressure, the UN Security Council affixed its imprimatur to the
proposition that Israel, after refusing for more than 22 years,
finally complied with the provisions of UNSCR 425, and ended its
illegal and brutal occupation of Lebanon.

http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb07172007.html

===

Syria skeptical, Hamas flatly rejects Bush proposal:

Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed skepticism Tuesday about
U.S.

President George W. Bush's call for an international Mideast peace
conference, dismissing the offer as "just words."

http://tinyurl.com/39n5tl

===

'Bush is leading a crusade against us':

"President Bush is leading a new crusade against the Palestinians,"
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami el-Zuhri, said on Monday night, adding
that the group would "neither recognize the occupation nor give up
the armed struggle."

http://tinyurl.com/2mequs

===

Architecture as Military Strategy::

The recent assumption of control in Gaza by Hamas may be more
illusory than US media has represented it as. As Eyal Weizman makes
clear in is fascinating and detailed book Hollow Land: Israel's
Architecture of Occupation, there are innumerable and often invisible
security apparatus set up across the region that ensure almost
absolute control of the region's surface, airspace and subterranean
acreage by the IDF and other Israeli security forces.

http://tinyurl.com/3ycnqp

===

The Two State Solution is Dead:

"The Two State Settlement is dead, make way for the One State
Solution".

http://tinyurl.com/3bpzlc

===

Vladimir Putin's Energystan and the Caspian :

As far as natural resources are concerned Russia's hand is very
strong: It holds 6.6 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and
26 percent of the world's gas reserves. In addition, it currently
accounts for 12 percent of world oil and 21 of recent world gas
production. In May 2007, Russia was the world's largest oil and gas
producer.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=116861

===

A radioactive relationship:

Britain's expulsion of Russian diplomats is a blunt instrument that
shows how few options it has after the murder of Alexander Litvinenko
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rodric_braithwaite/2007/07/radioactive_ru
ssia.html

===

British Terror :

Tony Blair is out as British Prime Minister, but remains an unrepentant
racist and sub-imperialist poodle. He has been given a new job, as
Middle East "peace envoy." What a joke. How can a man who took an
unwilling nation into war against Iraq become a peace envoy? Blair
is the worst of the lot, a kiss-ass to George Bush who has placed
his country in the cross-hairs of worldwide Muslim anger.

http://tinyurl.com/2w9dw2

===

New intelligence report: Al-Qaida may use Iraqi network to attack
homeland:

The report lays out a range of dangers - from al-Qaida to Lebanese
Hezbollah to non-Muslim radical groups - that pose a "persistent
and evolving threat" to the country over the next three years.

http://tinyurl.com/2nt7k9

===

Full Text: National Intel Estimate:

'Terrorist Threat to the Homeland' [pdf]
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070717_release.pdf

===

Castro suggests Washington fails to stop attacks on U.S. soil:

"The government of the United States sees and hears all, with or
without legal authority," Castro wrote. "They can prevent any attack
on their people, unless there is some imperial need to deliver a
bang so that they can carry on with and justify the brutal war which
has been declared against the culture, religion, economy and
independence of other peoples."

http://tinyurl.com/2swx5n

===

Pentagon starts spin unit to target talk radio, bloggers:

With public opinion on both the President and Iraq war cratering,
it's hard to imagine any amount of PR could turn back the tide. But
don't tell that to the Pentagon's public affairs division. Ken
Silverstein reports on the latest efforts to spread the good word
on Iraq in Monday's Harper's.

http://tinyurl.com/27dfz3

===

U.S. Details Some Data-Mining Programs, Hints at Others:

While the reports -- required under two separate federal laws --
convey a sense of the breadth of these powerful agencies' data
mining, they only hint at several projects powerful enough to
accidentally land innocent Americans in the cross hairs of the
government's antiterrorism efforts.

http://tinyurl.com/2o8wss

===

Let Us Work Towards Peace & Joy Tom Feeley