Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

“War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it?
Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped – the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed.

But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.”

The First and Last Freedom, p.182

“An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and the she had another aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said, ‘That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.’ Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.”

The First and Last Freedom, p.182

“If you loved your children with your heart, not with your shoddy little minds, do you think there would be a war tomorrow?”

Unknown source

Images of the bodies of the Chechen terrorists. One sure fire way to end this Chechen terrorism is to end the war against them.

With orders to assassinate the command structure of the rebel group. Interesting timing. February 2003. Is the US trying to secure more oil resources in the event of a failed attempt against Hussein or for the ensuing chaos during the interregnum? Colombia has substantial quantities of oil and the Farc have been siphoning off gasoline to fund their operations in addition to blowing up portions of the pipeline.

Marines Ordered into Colombia

Two battalions of US Marine Jungle Expeditionary Forces have recently received deployment orders for insertion into Colombia this coming February, 2003.

According to reliable sources, the battalions, which with support will total roughly 1,100 men, will rotate in and out of southern Colombia, with orders to eliminate all high officers of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), scattering those who escape to the remote corners of the Amazon. The FARC hierarchy has been the subject of intensive US intelligence scrutiny for several years. The offensive will mean that the US is fighting wars on three fronts simultaneously: Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia.

I’d hate to see anyone die and I’m sure the Special Forces are a nice sort of violent mercenary group, but I hope the Special Forces get their asses handed to them. This sort of intervention is wrong and a violation of everything that is right.

From Common Dreams: Oppose Iraq War Like Gandhi, Says Indian Author Roy:

ROME – Indian novelist Arundhati Roy urged anti-war campaigners Wednesday to use civil disobedience to oppose military action against Iraq, just as Mahatma Gandhi used it to fight for India’s independence from British rule.

Roy, whose 1997 novel “The God of Small Things” won the Booker Prize in Britain and has sold six million copies in 40 languages, has become a prominent activist for human rights and environmental causes.

Speaking about actively opposing globalization, Roy told a news conference in Rome “The struggle has hit a dead-end. We need to re-imagine nonviolent resistance. It’s not simply about demonstrations on the streets and wearing masks.

“The answer lies in civil disobedience,” she said, detailing some of the boycotts and nonviolent protests Gandhi used to weaken Britain’s grip on the Indian subcontinent, which gained independence in 1947.

Asked whether she would advocate civil disobedience against a possible U.S. attack on Iraq, Roy said: “Absolutely, of course. That is where it is most urgently needed.”

“Those activists who in the past have gone into Palestine, or gone into Iraq and said ‘Bomb us, we’re here, we’re white people and we’re here’ — those are fantastic people,” she told Reuters.

Roy, 41, was in Italy to speak at a festival featuring films on a campaign of opposition to a hydro-electric dam project in India that has displaced millions of people.

“The idea that America or any other country has the right to organize a pre-emptive strike against Iraq on the suspicion that it might be developing nuclear weapons…it justifies anybody going to war against anybody,” she said.

“It justifies India going to war against Pakistan or Pakistan going to war against India based on any suspicion that they have. It’s the most outrageous thing you can possibly imagine.”

From NY Times: Pentagon Sets Up Intelligence Unit:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his senior advisers have assigned a small intelligence unit to search for information on Iraq’s hostile intentions or links to terrorists that the nation’s spy agencies may have overlooked, Pentagon officials said today.

Curious. So, Rumsfeld wants to set up a team who won’t fail to fabricate ‘evidence’ against Hussein.

Some officials say the creation of the team reflects frustration on the part of Mr. Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and other senior officials that they are not receiving undiluted information on the capacities of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and his suspected ties to terrorist organizations.



But officials who disagree say the top civilian policy makers are intent on politicizing intelligence to fit their hawkish views on Iraq.

In particular, many in the intelligence agencies disagree that Mr. Hussein can be directly linked to Osama bin Laden and his network, Al Qaeda, or that the two are likely to make common cause against the United States. In addition, the view among even some senior intelligence analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency is that Mr. Hussein is contained and is unlikely to unleash weapons of mass destruction unless he is attacked.

Some sort of turf war between the Defense Department and the CIA.

From Stratfor.com:

The fact that the event is taking place in Moscow underscores Russia’s vulnerability to militant attacks.

Washington previously confirmed links between al Qaeda and the Chechen independence movement, and Stratfor sources within the Russian foreign ministry say the latest development already is shaping Moscow’s diplomatic strategy. They say Moscow will pressure Washington to refocus its efforts on al Qaeda and drop plans to attack Iraq. Few outside the Bush administration believe Iraq has substantial links to al Qaeda. Russia wants to emphasize that, in the aftermath of the Bali bombing and now the Moscow hostage situation, al Qaeda poses a clear and present danger to all countries.

The Bush regime would like to bring Russia back in line to support its Iraq resolution in the UN. Israel is, as Noam Chomsky puts it, “an offshore US military base”. I’d imagine the US would now not only be silent if Russia wanted to level Chechnya, but they’re probably now eager to lend a helping hand with the bloody business.

Israel’s outstretched hand: Israel: Chechen Terrorists Linked To Al Qaeda:

How convenient.

Chechen rebels holding hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater, including Americans and other foreigners, may have links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden, an Israeli expert said here on Thursday, as Israel offered its assistance to Russia. …

There is a feeling that the two countries are opposing the same kind of Islamic terrorism,” Hoffman said in a telephone interview. “This will strengthen those ties.”

I’m guessing the US will attack Iraq at all costs. If the Bush regime loses momentum it’ll be even harder to justify an Iraq attack in the future. Bush says military preparing for Iraq attack

The Russians are having their ugly war brought home to them. It will be hard for the Russian people to pretend like nothing is going on as long as they are vulnerable. That is the threat of terrorism to large states and absolutist governments, and that is why our government in particular is trying to root out armed resistance by guerrilla and terrorist groups. How long could the US kill Colombians, Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans, Somalis if they had to worry about attacks on Americans? Americans must be kept shielded from the brutality waged by American foreign policy. The same goes for other large governments around the globe. The Chinese have their rebel Uighur. The Russians have their Chechens.

…the ‘War’ gets delayed.

U.S. May Have To Slow Gulf Forces Buildup:

Senior defense officials said yesterday they knew of no decision yet to halt this flow. But they said military planners were considering ways of adjusting it to accommodate a new round of U.N. weapons inspections that may begin later and last longer than once envisioned.

“It’s fair to say there’s some recalibration going on,” one senior defense official said.

I thought this next little bit showed how desperate the Bush administration has become to justify this ridiculous war.

“For the sake of peace at home, for the sake of peace in the Middle East, for the sake of determining whether or not that international body is going to be the League of Nations or the United Nations, Saddam Hussein must disarm, and we expect you, the world, to disarm him,” Bush said, referring to the Iraqi president.

“But my fellow Americans, if they won’t act, and if Saddam Hussein won’t act, for the sake of peace, for the sake of our security, we will lead a coalition to disarm that man,” Bush added.

He sounds so pathetic. The coalition is a coalition of the US and its toadies. Nothing more. And ‘disarming’ is the effective deposal of the government (no matter how authoritarian) and the seizure of the natural resources of an entire people.