ukrich, Author at Progress Pond

Transcript of Barbara’s podcast.

Cross posted at Dkos

As pointed out in DuctapeFatwa’s diary by cho, DKos user Barbara is reporting on her efforts in Louisiana.

I took the time to transcribe Barbara’s pod cast because I thought it might be of use to anyone who can’t get at the pod cast.

Barbara if you read this I hope you don’t mind, I just thought it might be another way to help get your message across and I hope you are safe.

Does anyone know if through Barbara’s efforts or via DKos whether any of the major media over there have covered this as she was requesting??

Kay Shepherd: Here with us is Barbara from California who has been in South Eastern Louisiana for a week and has a few stories to tell. Barbara thanks for joining us. OK I guess the first thing I want to ask you is when did you first head out to Louisiana, when did you arrive and what have you seen since you’ve been there?

Barbara: Wow, that’s a lot of questions, I left a week ago tomorrow, I don’t even now the dates anymore I just, they all run into each other. I left from California on Monday about 2.30 in the morning and met up with a general practitioner doctor in Tucson, Arizona and we arrived in the Covington area on Wednesday around 1.00 in the morning.

As to what I have seen it’s devastation, it’s, it’s, you think you’ve seen the worst and then you go into another area and it’s even more horrifying and there is no better. I mean I guess there are some areas with less trees down perhaps and there are some townhouses that have been very little touched but the general rule is the devastation, is, is a horrifying magnitude, absolutely horrifying magnitude and it’s a huge, huge area of land that is affected.

KS: What about the response on the ground, what does the relief response in the area look like?

B: I can only speak currently about Bogalusa which is north of New Orleans, it’s a very, it’s in Washington parish which is for the most part an awfully poor area. Bogalusa is made up of a paper mill which employs something like 1400 people and a medium security prison which employs another few hundred people and what I have seen FEMA is here, Red Cross is here, I have not seen Salvation Army but I did hear today they have a distribution spot. I’m going to check that out tomorrow. I, they have a kitchen set up at Red Cross, one of the organisations out of Illinois is working under the Red Cross and supplying food, there’s a baptist church across the street from them that apparently is taking lists of names and trying to send crews out to get trees off of roofs.

As far as the Red Cross and FEMA I, I just, I’m not seeing it, I’m not seeing it. They are definitely here, there’s one shelter that just opened a couple days ago, a Red Cross shelter, and they didn’t have showers, Illinois fire department group left their portable shower here and set it up for them so they have cold water showers. Apparently I’ve heard from several of the residents that the food that they’re making them at the shelter is pretty inedible, I don’t know I haven’t seen it but a lot of people are going to the restaurant next door because they can’t eat the food.

I spent a few hours at the shelter yesterday and I don’t know, if I had been, if I was a victim in the shelter I guess I would want to see volunteers that you know maybe kind of interacted and didn’t act like they didn’t really care and like it was a real bad job to be there.

KS: I’m sorry, what about the Red Cross and FEMA, where are their efforts focused?

B: I’m not sure (chuckles). I guess feeding the people perhaps with the kitchen that they have in town, at least the Red Cross and they have their shelter and you know there’s not a lot of people in shelter but most people will not leave their homes here because there’s so much looting and people are stealing things so if they leave their home no matter how bad a condition it’s in if they can’t take their things and put them into storage they’re not going to leave their homes, period. So they’re living in horrible conditions as a result.

As far as what FEMA is doing, I heard that they were, I was at a meeting Friday that was FEMA, military, Red Cross, the health services, the state health services, the president of the parish, there was a couple of the mayors and some of the law enforcement and FEMA had two people that they’d just brought that were scouting out areas that they could potentially bring trailers to for displaced people but they didn’t have a `We’re going to get this done by such and such day’, they just said they’re scouting out areas so I’m guessing maybe one day we’ll see a FEMA area here where people can live in trailers that, you know, that are displaced

KS: What about the peoples day to day needs, how are those being met or are they being met?

B: I’m not seeing it, I mean the people that can get to the Red Cross and can get meals are doing OK, probably, you know for the most part. Very few people have gotten FEMA checks. Almost no one, I have talked to no-one in Bogalusa who has gotten food stamps, been able to sign up for food stamps or have gotten Red Cross vouchers which total $300 per person. The people in outlying areas, many who don’t have cars and even many in the city and the towns that are elderly that don’t drive are not seeing people. Red Cross is getting mobile units out but it doesn’t seem like they have the city gridded in any fashion from where they’re sending people here, here and here.

I checked on a woman who’ve been keeping tabs on her and her sister and they`re probably 80 and they just maybe a mile or so from where Red Cross’s kitchen is and they were fed one day and given some water and then I checked on them two days later and they still hadn’t been fed from two days ago so I dropped off more water and I found out no one asked her if she had any medical needs and she was out of meds so I got her her meds from the doctor and so a lot of people are not getting their basic needs met. There’s a lot of people that Red Cross just isn’t even talking to or FEMA isn’t talking to unless, I mean it’s just not happening.

KS: I guess another thing I wanted to ask is what do you hope will happen if the media attention that this place needs gets there, what do you hope the media can do to help this situation ?

B: From what I saw prior to coming here and what I’m seeing since I’ve come here the media is very, very focused on New Orleans and the parishes, Jefferson parish and the areas around New Orleans because they did take a hit and that’s a huge population area and it seems that the media is also focussing on different towns who have taken in many of the refugees and that’s fine and they have forgotten about the small towns that are suffering and have huge amounts that’s happened, you know, damage. I was in Slidell today and could not stop crying, the damage and the human need there is huge.

Bogalusa, Franklinton, Bush, Pine, all these areas are hard hit and I don’t know that any of the media have actually gone there, any of the major media has even gone there. I would invite CNN or Fox or any of these people to give me a call and say `We’re coming, show us something’. I can take them to one block where they will be appalled and that’s, I’m certain that is the norm.

I believe if the media come to the other small towns then…… I just know the Louisiana area that I’m in I know the area in Mississippi is horrific as well I think if media paid attention to this and made, made the government accountable for why this is so slow.

I mean they say funding, they say manpower they say so many things but the bottom line is this is America if we can mobilise an army and set up tents for hundreds of thousands of troops for military action we sure as heck should be able to mobilise the same thing in our own country if we don’t have the logistics of getting them somewhere else it’s, I just, and the media has that ability, the media needs to listen to the survivors and to the victims of this they need to not listen to the big powers, they need to listen to the person who is only making $12,000 to begin with and now they have nothing including a job and I don’t know where else to go but I think the media needs to sweep out into the path of the hurricane area and do human interest stories and bring it to America and let America hear the stories and to stop sugar coating it . I have heard stories from people who survived in New Orleans and what the media told us and what really these people went through, it’s much different and it’s time for America to hear the truth and be told the truth that’s what media, as I grew up that’s what media was about and it needs to get back to that.

We’re dealing with a natural disaster of historic proportions and hundreds of thousands of peoples lives are in danger and will continue to be in danger because we are not getting them help at all. The help is coming granted but we are not getting them the type of help that they need immediately it is not happening, it is not happening anywhere in this disaster zone and I will stand up to anyone on that comment.

KS: And there seems to be a kind of a disconnect between what, not just between what people think is going on and what is actually going on, but between what people think will help and what people actually need. Like the passing of a phone number or a web address, how are these people going to get phone access or internet access in this sea of devastation?? It doesn’t make sense and yet it continues to happen.

B: Well the Red Cross I can give you two examples I personally witnessed a woman at the Red Cross telling a 70 year old woman, I would judge her age to be 68-74 who had trees that needed to be removed from around her house so that she could get not only in and out but that she could get a blue roof on her house which is something FEMA is supposed to be doing and she went to the Baptist Church apparently to put her name on the list to get approved there and she went to the Red Cross to try to get vouchers and money and food and to find out where she needed to sign up for the blue roof, the blue roof program and this woman was incredibly condescending and patronising to her and said to her

`You know you need to go back to the back of the church and tell them you need those trees cut off your roof, you don’t belong here‘

and she goes `No I did that I don’t have trees on my roof but I have extensive roof damage and I need a blue roof and they said you could tell me where I need to go for that’

and she goes `Well you have to go to FEMA’

and she goes `Where’s FEMA?’

and she goes `Well it’s out of town‘

and she goes `Well can I get my Red Cross voucher now that I’m here? Can I do my paperwork and get my Red Cross voucher and my food stamps?’

and the woman said `No you have to call the number, we can’t do that for you here‘

and she goes `How am I going to call the number?’, she said `I don’t have a telephone’

and the woman then told her she needed to get on the computer and log on.

This woman never knew how to use the computer for god sakes and she told her as such. So then the woman told her to go down to the gas station because they have ?? telephones and she can just stay there and call until she gets through to the 800 number which is FEMA and the Red Cross. This is a 70-year old woman. She walked out and she, I mean she just wept, she walked out weeping. This woman from the Red Cross never put her arms around her never gave her any compassion and she walked out like that.

Then I got told another story by a man who had a wife with polio and he went to the Red Cross and said that he needed to file for food stamps, we need our check, our allotment, we need help and apparently even in his words he said and he has the name of the woman and by the way he described her I would be willing to bet it was the same woman and he said that he was angry but not in an abusive manner, he said it was like his second, third, fourth trip there and he had never gotten anywhere and this woman walked away from him and refused to talk to him and a young volunteer apparently came up and said `I’m sorry she apparently feels threatened by you and won’t help you’.

So the volunteers who the Red Cross claims have gone through crisis training obviously don’t realise that victims of a crisis are going through a mirage of emotions and anger is going to be one of them and they need to perhaps put an arm around the person and say lets just talk about your needs for a minute and then lets see what we can do, rather than walk away. You can’t walk away from a victim and that’s what’s happening, there’s huge disconnect, huge disconnect.

I found out from FEMA that they do the blue roof but they don’t do it on tin roofs which a lot of people have tin roofs out here or I think he said slate roofs so somebody said `Well what do you do for their roof?’ and they said we’re going to take care of them it just seems you ask somebody and no one knows something and they send you to someone who knows even less and it’s like that with all the organisations.

If we could have left, we would have left….

I’ve just watched the WAFB footage of the singer Charmaine Neville taking to the the New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes about her experiences in the 9th ward after Katrina and just felt compelled to transcribe it.

Maybe some of you don’t get access to video footage, maybe all this stuff needs writing down, I don’t know, it just struck me as something that might be worthwhile.

Having just transcribed this, I’ve searched DKos and it has been diaried earlier, there was a request for a transcription in the comments, so I hope this is of some use.

The video is at WAFB9

I was in my house when everything first started, I was in the house, yes, I live in the Bywater area of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. When the hurricane came it blew all of the left side of my house and the water was coming in my house in torrents. I had my neighbour, an elderly man who is my neighbour, and myself in the house with our dogs and cats and we were trying to stay out of the water but the water was coming in too fast so we ended up having to leave the house. We left the house and we went up on the roof of a school, I took a crowbar and I burst the door open on the roof of the school to help people, to get them up on to the roof of the school.

Later on we found a flat boat and we went around in the neighbourhood in the flat boat getting people out of their houses and bringing them to the school. We found all the food that we could and we cooked and we fed people, but then things started getting really bad. By the second day the people that were there, that we were feeding and everything, we had no, no more food, no water, we had nothing and other people were coming into our neighbourhood. We were watching the helicopters go across the bridge and airlift other people out, but they would hover over us and tell us “Hi” and that would be all, they wouldn’t drop us any food, any water, nothing.

Alligators were eating people, they had all kinds of stuff in the water, they had babies floating in the water, we had to walk over hundreds of bodies of dead people, people that we tried to save from the hospices, from the hospitals and from the old folks homes. I tried to get the police to help us but I realised, we rescued a lot of police officers in the flat boat from the 5th district police station, the boat, the guy who was driving the boat he rescued a lot them and brought them to different places where they could be saved. We understood that the police couldn’t help us but we couldn’t understand why the National Guard and them couldn’t help us because we kept seeing them, but they never would stop and help us.

Finally it got to be too much and I just took all of the people that I could, I had two old women in wheelchairs with no legs and I rowed them from down there in that 9th Ward to French Quarter and I went back and I got more people. There were groups of us, you know there was about 24 of us and we kept going back and forth and rescuing whoever we could get and bringing them to the French Quarter because we heard there was phones in the French Quarter and that there wasn’t any water and they were right, there was phones but we couldn’t get through.

I found some police officers. I told them that a lot of us women had been raped down there by guys who had come ( video goes silent, I think she is trying to distinguish between the guys who came and the men who were already there with them) …the neighbourhood where we were that were helping us to save people, but other men and they came and they started raping women and they started killing and I don’t know who these people were.

I’m not going to tell you that I knew who they were because I don’t, but what I want people to understand is that if we had not been left down there like the animals that they were treating us like, all of those things wouldn’t have happened. People are trying to say that we stayed in that city because we wanted to be rioting and we wanted to do this. We didn’t have resources to get out we had NO WAY TO LEAVE when they gave the evacuation order if we could have left we would have left.

There are still thousands and thousands of people trapped in their homes down in the downtown area….when we finally did get to (interviewer asks “downtown or in the ??”) in the 9th ward and not just in my neighbourhood but in other neighbourhoods in the 9th ward there are a lot of people who are still trapped down there-old people, young people, babies, pregnant women. I mean nobodies helping them and I want people to realise that we did not stay in that city so that we could steal and loot and commit crimes. A lot of those young men lost their minds because the helicopters would fly over us and they wouldn’t stop, we would do S.O.S. on the flashlights we would do everything and it came to a point it really did come to a point where these young men were so frustrated that they did start shooting. They weren’t trying to hit the helicopters they figured maybe they weren’t seeing, maybe if they hear this gunfire they would stop then, but that didn’t help us, nothing like that helped us.

Finally I got to Canal Street with all of my people that I had saved from back there, there was a whole group of us and I, I don’t want them arresting nobody else, I broke the window of an R.T.A. bus. I never learned how to drive a bus in my life, I got in that bus, I loaded all of those people who were in wheelchairs and then everything else into that bus and we drove and we drove and we drove and millions of people was trying to get me to help them to get on the bus ………

At this point she breaks down and if it wasn’t already, it’s heartbreaking to watch.

Rove 23.9/7 – DON’T forget Niger Food Crisis

Two days ago NambyPambyPinkoCommie put up a diary on Kos about the crisis in Niger.

It got two comments, one of which led to a donation.

From NPPC’s diary, who worked in the Peace Corps there and I hope doesn’t mind me borrowing….

“In the spirit of human compassion I ask you to mirror the Nigeriens’ own generosity by coming to their aid in this time of need. Please consider making even a small donation to help ease this crisis. It is easy to make a secure online donation to a well-established aid agency, such as the World Food Programme. For each dollar donated to the WFP only 7 cents go towards administrative costs and the rest will provide food for those most in need. I myself have just made a donation. Please join me. If you have any questions about Niger, or would like to see pictures of my friends and loved ones there, I will be happy to share them. Please forward this message to anyone who may be concerned.”
Today I received an appeal email from UK aid organisation Oxfam. So I donated.

From their site

With more than three million people, including almost a million children, facing starvation in Niger, Oxfam today launched a £1 million appeal for the West Africa Food Crisis.

“The situation is desperate. Even the limited food that is available has soared in price rendering it unaffordable for most families and there is no hope of any harvest for at least three months. Families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive,” said Natasha Kafoworola Quist, Oxfam’s Regional Director for West Africa, currently in Niger.

Oxfam are calling on the public to support the appeal because the international community have pledged only one third of the money needed to save lives in West Africa. In many cases, even the pledges that have been made have not translated into money arriving. The failure to fund these appeals is putting lives at risk.

Oxfam experts in Niger are setting up a $2 million food support programme. Vouchers will be distributed to 130,000 people which can be traded for food with local traders. Plans are also in place to help 28,000 nomadic herders to buy new animals for a fair price.

“Oxfam’s programme is saving lives but in the face of the level of need, this is just a drop in the ocean. Almost four million people need food aid now. The UN appeals need immediate funding to ensure that all those in need receive help,” said Quist.

The World Food Programme (WFP) increased its appeal on July 12th asking for a further $12 million to help the people in Niger to make it through the next three months. The UN emergency appeal for $18.3 million, launched in May, remains less than a quarter funded. Between them, the appeals are two thirds under-funded, with a total funding shortfall of $26.5m.

“The people effected by this crisis need money now. Every day that the world’s richest countries look the other way, more people face starvation,” added Quist.

Last year’s locust invasion and rain failure during the agricultural season have plunged nomadic herder and farming families into crisis. Emaciated livestock, worth nothing, cannot be sold. The price of cereals has more than doubled and no staple foods are available in the markets.”

So please donate if you can

That’s all

Thanks.

Baghdad Burning.

I’m sure plenty of you are aware of Riverbend, a young Iraqi women posting a blog called Baghdad Burning from Baghdad. This is just a heads up to anyone unaware of her blog.

Amid all the noise over all the Iraq issues her posts stand out as a beacon of clarity, detailing a life that the majority of us cannot even begin to imagine.

Or from a buzzflash interview with her

“Riverbend” is a storyteller. Her “Baghdad Burning” blog is one part Anne Frank, another part Scheherazade and “A Thousand and One Arabian Nights” — from cyberspace. As she wrote in her first weblog entry, dated August 17, 2003: “So this is the beginning for me, I guess … expect a lot of complaining and ranting. … A little bit about myself: I’m female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That’s all you need to know. It’s all that matters these days anyway.” Riverbend’s experience of war, her political commentary and nuanced slice-of-life descriptions, have won her worldwide respect and appreciation.

Her latest post is up today. Go and read it.
It tells you about trying to get your washing done in her Baghdad.

“I’ve been dying to wash the curtains and sheets since the ajaja…” S. breathed, pulling out dusty curtains from the plastic bag. She paused suddenly, a horrific idea occurring to her, “You have water, right? Right?” We had water, I assured her. I didn’t mention, however, that there had been no electricity for the better part of the morning and the generator was providing only enough for the refrigerator, television and a few lights.

It tells you about dust storms in her Baghdad.

We call a dust storm an “ajaja” in Iraq. I don’t think there’s a proper translation for that word. Last week, a few large ajajas kept Baghdad in a sort of pale yellow haze.

It tells you about trying to get to work in her Baghdad.

There were also several explosions and road blocks today. It took the cousin an hour to get to work, which was only twenty minutes away before the war. Now, he has to navigate between closed streets, check points, and those delightful concrete barriers rising up everywhere.

It tells you about arbitrary detentions in her Baghdad

Almost every Iraqi family can give the name of a friend or relative who is in one of the many American prisons for no particular reason. They aren’t allowed to see lawyers or have visitors and stories of torture have become commonplace.

It tells you about summer heat in her Baghdad.

Air conditioners cannot be turned on and the heat is oppressive by 8 am these days.

It tells you about the infrastructure in her Baghdad.

while Baghdad seems to be falling apart in so many ways with roads broken and pitted, buildings blasted and burnt out and residential areas often swimming in sewage.

And then it tells you about the other Baghdad

the Green Zone is flourishing. The walls surrounding restricted areas housing Americans and Puppets have gotten higher….is a city in itself….the future US Embassy and the housing complex that will surround it, to restaurants, shops, fitness centers, gasoline stations, constant electricity and water……is a source of consternation and aggravation for the typical Iraqi…..is a provocation ….is like a slap in the face

Go and read it. And keep doing whatever you’re doing to oppose this illegal war.

Cross posted at Dkos

Conyers DSM letter very close to 500,000 sigs (+poll)

Come on, a little bit more effort is needed…..

Here it is

Conyers DSM letter petition

From the site :

We’ve achieved 99 % of our 500,000 goal (496,618)!

and all this diary is to say is in the outside chance there is anyone in the frog pond who hasn’t yet signed the petition and forwarded to everyone on their e-mail address list to get them to sign it as well, then get to it !!!

Here it is again

Conyers DSM letter petition

That’s all.

Thoughts on Iran

Cross posted at dkos

The point of this diary? Well I’ve recently found out about the proposed Iranian oil bourse (bourse being the French word for a commodities exchange) and would like to look into how this fits in and how serious the likelihood of it is.

I’m glad to see the number of diaries reflecting on various aspects of the Iran issue are starting to creep up on here, I hope it continues and while I get the sense that the average perception at the moment (of those who are commenting or showing an interest in Iran) is……naaah, never happen, we’ve not got the forces (and I hope you are right)….I think we have to continue to stay informed.

To do our bit to try and avoid a repeat of this 98,000 and this 1,756
But first a bit of

Background

Both Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh have written recently on the possibility of military action on Iran, Ritter highlighting Israels supposed “point of no return” of the end of June (may explain Sharon waving old photo’s around at Crawford) and Bush having reviewed plans being prepared by the Pentagon to have the military capability in place by June 2005, while Hersh refers to US reconnaissance missions inside Iran.

As realtique pointed out in a diary yesterday, GQ reports this month that the Bush administration has already turned down Iranian offers that may avert military engagement (and I remember another diary on here recently where we were all shocked, shocked I say to find the Bushies had turned down a similar offer from Hussein last time – can’t find that diary now), from the diary:

when Tim Guldimann, then Swiss ambassador to Iran (who served as the link between the United States and Iran), came to Washington in the spring of 2003, he brought with him a possible offer from Tehran–a “grand bargain” in which the United States would open relations with Iran and, in return, Iran would give up its nuclear-enrichment program. “The Pentagon and the National Security Council learned about it,” the State Department official told me. “There was no hashing this out. They said, `No, no discussion on this.’ That was it.”

Additionally, stoy diaried on the Bolton angle, picking up on an Al Jazeera piece opining that Bolton is being sent to the UN to attempt to force a change in the NPT, from that diary:

Once the US has withdrawn from NPT under the cover of Bolton’s smoke screen, the Rove spin machine will further capitalize on the ground work done by Bolton’s shrieking about the ease of which nations, like oh, I don’t know, Iran, can violate the Treaty and get away with it. Then the mighty Wurlitzer will be playing Wham Bamb Bomb Tehran.

and as stoy pleasantly puts it there are plenty of “galactic assholes” in waiting if Bolton fails to get nominated.

Finally Michael Klare’s excellent piece entitled Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran shows the role Irans oil and natural gas supplies have to play vis-a-vis Iran opening up further trading relations with China, India, Pakistan and Japan

Iranian Oil Bourse

But what none of the above have dealt with is the prospect of Iran opening it’s own oil bourse.

At present the majority, if not all, world oil trade is denominated in the mighty dollar, which means any country wishing to trade in oil must hold US dollar reserves which in turn helps to prop up the mighty dollar.

And it’s traded on exchanges such as the IPE (London) and the NYMEX, both of which are owned by US corporations. The IPE one including BP, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

However what appears to be a little known fact (correct me if I’m wrong) is that in November 2000 Saddam Hussein commenced trading oil in Euros and its thought in some quarters that this was one of the major reasons for the invasion. Post invasion (you know, post “mission accomplished”) Iraq’s oil was mysteriously reverted to trading in dollars.

In June 2004 Iran announced it was looking into setting up it’s own oil bourse for launch by March 2005.

Obviously that hasn’t happened.

However in September last year Iran announced it would be operational by March 2006

The consequences of oil being traded in Euros on an Iranian bourse? Well according to this piece from Arab Media Internet network last month

But if Iran – followed by the other oil-producing countries – offered to accept the Euro as another choice for oil exchange the American economy would suffer a real crisis

and according to this excellent piece this month from altpressonline

The first casualty would be the dollar, according to an article in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, some experts fear that the dollar could possibly suffer as much as a 40% drop in value.

(Unfortunately I can’t find the AJC piece)

So to get to my point in writing this, I know there are plenty of people posting on here with a far better understanding of the machinations of the international oil industry than me and I’m just inviting comments on whether this proposed oil bourse is a serious proposition and what it’s likelihood of success are. Meantime I’ll keep reading.

And if it does turn out to be serious I’d bet

a) It wont garner much attention in the mainstream media.

b) It would be one of a series of useful arguments we on the left are going to have to frame if and when the current sabre rattling starts to achieve it’s aim and the administration needs to start scaring the general public into another war.

Double standards ?

Cross posted at Daily Kos

You may or may not be aware that Iran and Russia held talks on, among other things, nuclear issues this week.

According to this report, Iranian Head of Foreign Affairs Hossein Mousavian noted:

Russia is against international discrimination toward Iran’s nuclear program and activities

International discrimination ? What could they mean ?
Well firstly, as reported by the Hindustan Times of India on April 20 they could be referring to circumstances like President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan saying that he would

never allow foreign inspectors into the country to examine Pakistan’s nuclear facilities………If the IAEA has questions about our nuclear programme then let them ask us. We have nothing to hide. We will give them all the information they want but we will not allow their inspectors into our country to question our officials or inspect our facilities

Or secondly, as reported by ABC News on April 20, they could be referring to circumstances such as Saudi Arabia has

quietly begun talks on a U.N.-sanctioned agreement that could curtail any outside probe of its atomic intentions…..Saudi Arabia has never negotiated an agreement that would define IAEA controls, even though it is obligated to do so as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

Or thirdly, as Der Spiegel reported on March 30, they could be referring to the fact that critics say that the United States

by illegally testing and building nuclear weapons, …. is fueling a new arms race.

Wait a minute, can anybody spot a difference between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran

Here’s some clues

Pakistan

From a NYT story March 25, “The Bush administration agreed today to sell Pakistan F-16 fighter planes in a major policy shift that was meant to reward Pakistan for its help in combating terrorism.”

Saudi Arabia

According to the link, for January 2005 Saudi Arabia was the top supplier of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products to the USA with 16% of the total, while Iran supplied 0 barrels (that’s 0%).

Iran

Remember a speech that contained “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror” and “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world”

Now I’m not suggesting there’s anything we can do about these double standards, just interested on anybodies thoughts on this as somewhere down the line I am worried that Iranian compliance/alleged non-compliance with the IAEA may be used as a trigger for a request for UN resolutions which may be used as a trigger……sound familiar ??

Lies, propaganda? Easy – just change a Q to an N

I’m concerned about mainstream media output surrounding the Iran issue.

We don’t actually know whether the neocon administration is planning to attack Iran once the negotiations with the EU3 conveniently “run out of time” and the matter gets referred to the UN, MAYBE with newly installed John “There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is an international community that occassionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when it suits our interests and we can get others to go along” Bolton overseeing events.

But I do know that there’s plenty of verbiage already floating around designed to ratchet up the fear.
Here are just a few recent examples of the mainstream media carrying the administration scare news without any actual proof. Just echo chamber reporting

Mar 31 2005 AFP headline Opposition group says Iran has budget for nuclear warheads carried by Yahoo, The Washington Times, The Australian Herald. Worrying headline ?

But further down the piece has the following about Mohammed Mohadessin, an official of the opposition group:

He did not identify his sources

he could not say which country could have eventually provided Iran with the warheads

he did not provide a date for the implementation of Khamenei’s alleged secret plan

essentially a non story then. But the headline sticks. As it did when evidence of an Iraqi defector was partly used to justify the invasion of Iraq. An Iraqi defector, codename Curveball, subsequently found to be

crazy…..out of control……a waste of time……a fabricator

So can we expect the forthcoming new National Intelligence Estimate (Estimate!) on Iran to use more reliable sources? Well I think we might already know the answer to that

As Jamie Ahmad analysed in his Dkos diary last week, another AP piece, relying on quotes from the same guy, Mohadessin, twists and contorts the facts.

Then we have just out and out empty rhetoric :

Feb 11 2005 Toronto Daily Star Iran nuclear threat is real

“The potential nuclear threat that Iran poses is real and it is exceedingly frightening. The true source of the threat isn’t Iran itself, though. It’s Al Qaeda-type terrorists.

Once Tehran has acquired the bomb, the Iran government would be tempted to pass it to terrorists”

If you read the piece, not a single source for this. Just opinion. But the headline does it. Then within the text : Al-Qaeda……..Iran government………bomb…….terrorists

Or throw the n word in :

Feb 22 2005 USA Today Natanz plant in Iran is focus of nuclear concerns

The Natanz facility, about 160 miles south of Tehran, is big enough to hold 50,000 centrifuges and could produce enough uranium for 25 10-kiloton nuclear bombs a year

Oooh 25 10-kiloton nuclear bombs a year. Now that sounds scary. That could stick in the mind of a USA Today reader. Could it possibly become “Hey, did you hear Iran is producing, I don’t know, 250 100-kiloton nuclear bombs or something” – “No, Jeez” as the propaganda rolls.

This piece was quoting David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security. He had good reasoned argument for whether or not the pre invasion Iraqi claims on WMD were credible

Well, part of it’s a subjective judgment. I mean, you can look somebody in the face and just feel that they’re not telling you the truth.

Looking at what is being and will be fed to the MSM:

The recently issued Presidential Commission on Intelligence Failures shows, according to a half-dozen current and former officials who’ve reviewed versions of it or have firsthand knowledge of the events described in it :

In North Korea and Iran, as they did in Iraq, officials also have extrapolated from older, confirmed information to make estimates about current nuclear and other weapons programs

So no doubt we’ll be getting intelligence such as this from the administration, as reported by the Asian Wall Street Journal

Adding to concern in the West, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported last week that US intelligence has received tens of thousands of pages of Farsi-language designs and test data, dated from 2001 to 2003, to modify the Shahab-3 missile to carry a “black box” that, the report says, US experts “believe is almost certainly a nuclear warhead.”

Similar leaks about Iraq’s alleged weapons activities prior to the invasion proved crucial to making the case for war, but were later disproved. The Journal reports that US officials first thought “the find might be disinformation, perhaps by Israel,” but “are now persuaded … the documents are real.”

Finally, not to do with mainstream media but as recently reported by Scott Ritter , quoting a source close to the administration:

Israels August 2004 intelligence assessed Iran was less than a year away from completing it’s uranium enrichment program, the point of no return for a nuclear weapons program. The date for the point of no return ….. June 2005.

Ritter’s source states the President had reviewed plans being prepared by the Pentagon to have the military capability in place by, wait for it, ………. June 2005 for such an attack, if the President ordered.

So my point is this all has a depressing familiarity to it. Say from about six months before up to the invasion of Iraq. I hope I’m wrong. But maybe in a couple of years time we’ll be looking at another report on Intelligence Failures.

My $.02 worth – writing to author/paper/website when I see these distorted reports.

Why ? 98,000 reasons

I don’t hold out much hope, but, well see my tagline.

Bolton nomination opposition grows.

Further to Booman’s diary here last week Is John Bolton’s Confirmation in Trouble? I noticed the following encouraging opposition to John Bolton’s nomination to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

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Three more former American diplomats have signed a letter (you’ll need to scroll down a little for the letter) opposing the nomination of John Bolton to US ambassador to the U.N., bringing the total to 62.

Some 59 former American diplomats had written, to declare their opposition to Boltons appointment, to Sen.Richard.G.Lugar (R-Ind) chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has scheduled hearings on Bolton’s nomination for April 7.

Some choice quotes from the letter

his past activities and statements indicate conclusively that he is the wrong man for this position

We urge you to oppose his nomination

John Bolton has an exceptional record of opposition to efforts to enhance U.S. security through arms control

John Bolton’s insistence that the UN is valuable only when it directly serves the United States, and that the most effective Security Council would be one where the U.S. is the only permanent member, will not help him to negotiate with representatives of the remaining 96% of humanity

Meanwhile, just as an illustration of the b.s. this administration comes out with (not that it needs illustrating, but humour me)

Stephen Hadley, National Security Adviser, 14/3/05 :

John Bolton is a very effective guy who cares about the United Nations

John Bolton, World Federalist Association speech, 3/2/94 :

there is no such thing as the United Nations,…..if the UN secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.

pretty caring I’d say.

Finally for the best information as this story develops, I’d recommend Steve Clemons Washington Note

Missing billions.

The Observer has an interesting article today regarding off-shore tax havens and the tax revenues that governments around the world are missing out on due to tax evasion of the rich.

It includes some MASSIVE NUMBERS and remember, this report only deals with individuals. Never mind whatever the multinational corporations are up to.

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The report highlights a study, by a group called Tax Justice Network, shows that $11,500,000,000,000 worth of assets have been placed offshore. To avoid taxes.

As its website states, the Network exists as a

response to harmful trends in global taxation, which threaten states’ ability to tax the wealthy beneficiaries of globalisation

But while this huge figure sits there, it earns $860,000,000,000 annually. Which would probably buy you an easter egg or two.

Amongst other things, the report states that governments seem

unable, or unwilling, to prevent the rich employing aggressive strategies to minimise their tax liabilities

(my emphasis)

Here’s the crux of it though. Governments around the world are estimated to be missing out annually on an estimated

$255,000,000,000

or (according to Wikipedia) somewhere between the GDP of Saudi Arabia and Norway.

or over one and a half times the total Cost of War in Iraq to the US government. But probably soon to be equivalent to the cost of war in Iraq as that counter keeps ticking…….

So the question is, what can you do about all of this.

Sign the TJN declaration, A Manifesto for Tax Justice

While in the US, Citizens for Tax Justice has tons of information about global, national and local issues.

Join War on Want’s “New rules” campaign, which includes an area they call The Global Tax Dodge.

and hopefully as this issue attracts more global attention, goverments will start to act in a more responsible manner and divert more resources to closing loopholes and improving tax collection.