by Paul Craig Roberts
…Now that we really need them, the watchdog media has hired out as public relations and propaganda shills for the Bush administration and the neocon network.

The entire Bush administration-not merely the president-is involved in the most extraordinary lies and fabrication of false intelligence claims in order to lead

America into an unwarranted and illegal invasion of Iraq, an invasion that has cost the US taxpayers $300 billion and resulted in the deaths and maiming of tens of thousands of people.

The sordid affair has been revealed in leaked top secret Downing Street memos, which were prepared for UK prime minister Tony Blair and his cabinet. Unlike the Nixon episode, there is no need to search for a “smoking gun.” Smoking guns have been printed all over the pages of the London Times. Yet hardly a peep from the watchdog media.

The August 1 issue of The American Conservative reports that Vice President Cheney has instructed the US Strategic Command to prepare a plan to spread the war by attacking Iran with tactical nuclear weapons in the event of another terrorist attack on the US. Appalled US Air Force officers have leaked the story, but you have not learned of it from the tamed media.

A federal prosecutor seems to be closing in on Karl Rove, president Bush’s righthand man, and on Scooter Libby, vice president Cheney’s righthand man. The two are suspected of leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent, a felony. Both have had to hire lawyers. But there is no demand for accountability from the US media.

American civil liberties have been trounced by the “Patriot” Act. Torture of detainees is now a routine practice of the US government and defended by the attorney general. Senators and military officers who try to place constraints on the inhumane treatment of detainees are stonewalled by the White House.

The mainstream media has been co-opted as propaganda organ for the Bush administration. How did this come about?
Full: counterpunch.org

NEW YORK – Military doctors are fighting to contain an outbreak of a potentially deadly drug-resistant bacteria that apparently originated in the Iraqi soil. So far at least 280 people, mostly soldiers returning from the battlefield, have been infected, a number of whom contracted the illness while in U.S. military hospitals.

Most of the victims are relatively young troops who were injured by the land mines, mortars and suicide bombs that have permeated the Iraq conflict. No active-duty soldiers have died from the infections, but five extremely sick patients who were in the same hospitals as the injured soldiers have died after being infected with the bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii.

“This a very large outbreak,” says Arjun Srinivasan, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. public health service and a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control.

Acinetobacter was the second most prevalent infection for soldiers in Vietnam, but the military did not expect to see it as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Researchers are still working to understand where it came from and how patients were infected. (See: “Military Chases Mystery Infection.”)

Doctors worry not only about soldiers who are already infected but also those who are carrying Acinetobacter on their skin even though they themselves are not infected. Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Petersen, an infectious disease specialist at National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, Md.,says his hospital treated 396 patients who had been wounded in Iraq between May 2003 and February 2005. About 10% were infected and another 20% were found to have Acinetobacter bacteria on their skin but were not infected. The rate of appearance of the bacteria has “been flat-out steady,” says Petersen.
Full: forbes.com

The State Department issued an updated worldwide caution on terrorism yesterday, warning Americans about the threat of extremist violence against U.S. citizens and interests abroad.

The warning did not list countries, nor did department officials offer any additional specifics about threats. The statement said “current information” indicates that al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups are planning attacks against U.S. interests in “multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.”

The department’s official caution, which supersedes an alert issued in March, said attacks against private and official targets could come in the form of assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings or bombings.

The targets could include places where Americans meet or visit, such as residential areas, hotels and restaurants, as well as places of worship, schools, clubs, business offices and public areas, the caution said. It also noted that “demonstrations and rioting” can occur with little or no warning.
Full: washingtonpost.com

Well it’s real helpful not to name specific countries, just be afraid of ever ‘foreign’ person, place, or thing. Just to be on the safe side, don’t move at all, and breathe as little as possible. Aiight?

Those to whom information is presented must deal with their personal unwillingness to hear new facts.

We have to make a serious effort to distinguish between the expression of an unfounded theory and the disclosure of verifiable information and facts.

They absolutely refuse to accept even the most convincing proof because they dare not admit to themselves that they have been lied to by officials in whom the placed their trust.

It is currently standard practice in America to simply dismiss any piece of information that punches a hole in any widely accepted explanation of a disturbing event. In many cases, especially when a serious crime is in question, the “conspiracy theory” tag is immediately attached to any new discovery about the event. Information related to such important topics such as 9/11, election fraud, the new world order, secret societies, or globalization is too often ignored as part of a baseless conspiracy theory even before any of it is ever presented, discussed, or evaluated.

There seems to be no set criteria for dismissing information as a foolish conspiracy theory. The only prerequisite for information to be so categorized seems to be the desire to reject it. The reason for the rejection does not seem to matter. It appears that anything people do not want to believe is simply set aside as not believable. It almost seems that if you set some people of fire they would dismiss the flames as non-existent, simply because they did not want to believe what was happening. The pain and damage done by the fire, no matter how devastating, would not be evidence enough to convince these people that the fire was real. Their need to believe otherwise would win out. In the same vein, people dismiss information and apply the conspiracy theory tag to anything they chose to disbelieve at their own discretion, regardless of any hard evidence that accompanies the “theory.”

It’s time to put an end to this nonsense once and for all. It’s also time dispense with the name calling and understand the dynamics of what is happening when new information is rejected. We have to deal with the resistance to any tampering with accepted “truths.” And we have to find ways to convince people to seriously consider the new information, new discoveries if you will – that so many refuse, under any circumstances, to acknowledge.
Full: spiritualsoldier.com

I think most of what calls itself ‘alternative media’ has been exposed by their failure to deal with the official London Bombing story with the least bit of scepticism. Who benefits? What the heck is ‘al Qaeda’ and who’s paying to support it? Maybe it’s a good time to remember that the term ‘terrorism’ originates from the French Revolution in reference to STATE terrorism, the terror states inflict upon their own peoples. Until people have the courage to look at the Beast which confronts them there is no solution to any of this. It doesn’t take some apocalyptic prophet to see how much worse this situation is going to get. On Helen Caldicott’s nuclear clock, I’d say it’s about one minute to midnight.

Is there a particular concept/message behind this U.S. tour?

Everything – first and foremost is the music and playing the music. The lyrics say what I’m talking about, which is what I see politically, socially, or whatever. Because at the end of the day, it’ll hopefully give people energy to be able to deal with their life: went to see a good concert, go home and just be happy, “Whoa, I saw a great show.” Hopefully it will stay in their memories, to help them deal.
Full: allafrica.com

Excellent interview. And a musician and human being of substance and stature.

The United States is developing a nuclear plan to attack military bases in Iran, said Philip Giraldi, a former CIA intelligence officer.

Giraldi said that the U.S. nuclear strike against Iran would take place after a 9/11-style attack on the United States, and that the planned attack would be analogous to the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

The former CIA officer also said that an attack on the U.S. would serve as the pretext for putting the plan into action.

He noted that some Air Force officers are opposed to the nuclear strike plan “but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.”

Several U.S. officials have indicated that Washington has developed contingency plans to use nuclear arms to attack military targets in Iran and North Korea.

One recent study, released before the election of former Taliban mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency on June 23, asserts that the U.S. assault on Iran has already started.

The analysis, prepared by former United Nations nuclear arms inspector Scott Ritter, reveals that the CIA aids Iranian opposition groups.

It also said that the Washington plans to stage military attacks against the Islamic republic with U.S. forces from the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan.

Analysts say that although the Bush administration intensified its war of words against Iran, the propaganda offensive didn’t reach the intensity achieved during the 2002-2003 build-up for the invasion of Iraq.

They say that the U.S. failure in Iraq and the American public’s declining support for the invasion have made such a propaganda offensive less viable at this moment.

However, a new attack on the U.S. soil could provoke a large sector of the American public and encourage the Bush administration to launch an attack on Iran.
Full: prisonplanet.com/aljazeera.net

John Loftus and Mansoor Ijaz came up with “surprising informations” about the mastermind – allegedly Haroon Rashid Aswat as I reported about the case – behind the London bombings. See this transcript from Dayside/FOX with Linda Vester, July 29 2005 and be sure to read my analysis at the end:

MIKE JERRICK [FOX NEWS]: John Loftus is a terrorism expert and a former prosecutor for the Justice Department. John, good to see you again. So real quickly here, have you heard anything about this Osman Hussain who was just picked up in Rome? You know that name at all?

JOHN LOFTUS: Yeah, all these guys should be going back to an organization called Al-Muhajiroun, which means The Emigrants. It was the recruiting arm of Al-Qaeda in London; they specialized in recruiting kids whose families had emigrated to Britain but who had British passports. And they would use them for terrorist work.

JERRICK: So a couple of them now have Somali connections?

LOFTUS: Yeah, it was not unusual. Somalia, Eritrea, the first group of course were primarily Pakistani. But what they had in common was they were all emigrant groups in Britain, recruited by this Al-Muhajiroun group. They were headed by the, Captain Hook, the imam in London the Finsbury Mosque, without the arm. He was the head of that organization. Now his assistant was a guy named Aswat, Haroon Rashid Aswat.

JERRICK: Aswat, who they picked up.

LOFTUS: Right, Aswat is believed to be the mastermind of all the bombings in London.

JERRICK: On 7/7 and 7/21, this is the guy we think.

LOFTUS: This is the guy, and what’s really embarrassing is that the entire British police are out chasing him, and one wing of the British government, MI6 or the British Secret Service, has been hiding him. And this has been a real source of contention between the CIA, the Justice Department, and Britain.

JERRICK: MI6 has been hiding him. Are you saying that he has been working for them?

LOFTUS: Oh I’m not saying it. This is what the Muslim sheik said in an interview in a British newspaper back in 2001.

JERRICK: So he’s a double agent, or was?

LOFTUS: He’s a double agent.

JERRICK: So he’s working for the Brits to try to give them information about Al-Qaeda, but in reality he’s still an Al-Qaeda operative.

LOFTUS: Yeah. The CIA and the Israelis all accused MI 6 of letting all these terrorists live in London not because they’re getting Al-Qaeda information, but for appeasement. It was one of those you leave us alone, we leave you alone kind of things.
Full: rumormillnews.com

Well where is ‘Aswat’? We have been told by mainstream media that whoever it is they arrested saying he was ‘Aswat’ is a case of mistaken identity.

7.19.05 Pakistan questions Briton on ‘key role’ in bombings
Suspect reportedly caught with explosives, British passport and cash

7.21.05 “Bomb ‘mastermind’ was victim of name confusion”
…The Independent has learnt that the man had no role in the attacks. Inquiries in the past week have discovered that the man was an innocent Pakistani traveller who had a similar name to an al-Qa’ida terrorist who was on a watch list of several foreign security agencies.

Five anti-war activists demonstrating against a ban on unauthorised protests near Parliament have been arrested.
A ban on protests within half-a-mile of Westminster which have not been cleared by police came into force at midnight.

However, about 50 people wearing black gags to symbolise the “infringement” of their right to protest have gathered in Parliament Square in defiance.

Ministers say planned protests can be held but the rights of protesters and workers in the area must be balanced.

But campaigners say the move restricts an established right to protest.

More than a dozen police officers were at the scene, and arrests were made around an hour after the protest begun.

Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said the ruling meant police could now decide who was allowed to demonstrate, which was “totally unacceptable”.

“Anyone speaking through a megaphone will be arrested under this draconian new law. Parliament should be doing more important things than stopping people staging legitimate protests,” she said.

Anyone organising or taking part in a demonstration within the zone must apply in writing and have police authorisation.

Use of loudspeakers and megaphones may be restricted, and are banned in and around Parliament Square, subject to exemptions
Time limits may be placed on approved demonstrations.

Lauren Booth, sister of Tony Blair’s wife Cherie, joined the protest and said the law should be “overturned”.

“This is all about silencing critics of the war in Iraq and ID cards and denying people the right to free speech,” she said.

“If you heard on television that someone in another country were banned from gathering near a government building to stage a legitimate protest you would probably think thank goodness that kind of thing doesn’t happen in this country.”
Full: bbc.co.uk

A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis.

The carefully hedged assessments, which represent consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies, contrast with forceful public statements by the White House. Administration officials have asserted, but have not offered proof, that Tehran is moving determinedly toward a nuclear arsenal. The new estimate could provide more time for diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. President Bush has said that he wants the crisis resolved diplomatically but that “all options are on the table.”

The new National Intelligence Estimate includes what the intelligence community views as credible indicators that Iran’s military is conducting clandestine work. But the sources said there is no information linking those projects directly to a nuclear weapons program. What is clear is that Iran, mostly through its energy program, is acquiring and mastering technologies that could be diverted to bombmaking.

The estimate expresses uncertainty about whether Iran’s ruling clerics have made a decision to build a nuclear arsenal, three U.S. sources said.
Full: washingtonpost.com

A former London schoolboy accused of being a dedicated al-Qaida terrorist has given the first full account of the interrogation and alleged torture endured by so-called ghost detainees held at secret prisons around the world.
For two and a half years US authorities moved Benyam Mohammed around a series of prisons in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan, before he was sent to Guantánamo Bay in September last year.

Mohammed, 26, who grew up in Notting Hill in west London, is alleged to be a key figure in terrorist plots intended to cause far greater loss of life than the suicide bombers of 7/7. One allegation, which he denies, is of planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” in a US city; another is that he and an accomplice planned to collapse a number of apartment blocks by renting ground-floor flats to seal, fill with gas from cooking appliances, and blow up with timed detonators.

In an statement given to his newly appointed lawyer, Mohammed has given an account of how he was tortured for more than two years after being questioned by US and British officials who he believes were from the FBI and MI6. As well as being beaten and subjected to loud music for long periods, he claims his genitals were sliced with scalpels.
Full: guardian.co.uk