Posts by Ian Dalziel
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Stephen R,
I like this man...
William R Polk is quoted extensively...
Polk dots the 'i's and crosses the 't's...
I'm glad he raised issues of past US sophistry*
in the same physical, and moral, area.According to the US military attaché working with the Iraqi army at the time, the US government either turned a blind eye or approved its use (see the summary of the documents in Shane Harris and Matthew Aid, "Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran," Foreign Policy, August 26, 2013) We were horrified when Saddam Husain used poison gas against the Kurdish villagers of Halabja in 1988 (killing perhaps 4-5 thousand people) but by that time we had dropped our support for the Iraqi government.
A flashback to 2003 from the New York Times.
Analysis of thousands of captured Iraqi secret police documents and declassified U.S. government documents, as well as interviews with scores of Kurdish survivors, senior Iraqi defectors and retired U.S. intelligence officers, show (1) that Iraq carried out the attack on Halabja, and (2) that the United States, fully aware it was Iraq, accused Iran, Iraq's enemy in a fierce war, of being partly responsible for the attack. The State Department instructed its diplomats to say that Iran was partly to blame.
The result of this stunning act of sophistry was that the international community failed to muster the will to condemn Iraq strongly for an act as heinous as the terrorist strike on the World Trade Center.and another viewpoint on the US's bad track record in the region:
The U.S. would later emphasize the chemical attacks as a fundamental reason to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam, but there was no such concern with Kurdish strife at the time of the bombings. At the time allied with Saddam, the U.S. was generally silent on the subject except to suggest Iranian complicity. The uncontroversial record, combining released U.S. documents and other sources, now proves what was already suspected at the time: the U.S. knew Saddam was responsible but actively ordered its government officials to point the finger at Iran.
Of course, it was not the first time the Kurds had been betrayed by the U.S. In 1971, the Shah of Iran asked President Nixon and Henry Kissinger to assist him in giving weapons and support to the Kurdish population in Iraq as a means to divert Iraq's attention and military from Iran. Iran was engaged in a border dispute with Iraq. The U.S agreed enthusiastically and began encouraging Kurdish rebellion, with both verbal assurances and military aid. When Iraq and Iran finally reached an agreement of sorts, the Kurds were immediately abandoned by both Iran and the U.S.
*or 'Soft History' as the Mainstream Media seems to think of it, such malleable and mutable information...
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Russell Brown,
known knowns...
...but I think it’s prudent to acknowledge the evidence that an attack has taken place.
Totally, the stakes have been raised immeasurably in the public's reaction, it's just how good they all are as poker players , bluffers and double bluffers...
My main worry is that perception is everything, the region has had many instances of embedded sleepers or people being turned, striking suddenly from within, to obtain either massive damage, death and or deception...
I guess finding a signed order from Assad would be unlikely, but I can also equally entertain the idea of a rogue officer or other false flag operatives being involved.
The 24 hr news cycle assists the illusionist and their arts
(whichever side is pulling the strings)When people are telling you stuff , I often find
what they're not saying more telling...I defer to Damon Runyan in these matters:
"One of these days ... a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider."
from Guys and Dolls -
OnPoint: BTW, the NZ Police can use…, in reply to Paul Campbell,
needs mustelidae...
...even though we’re just building a
mesh net to monitor stoat trapsWhat a cunning plan, to hide in plain sight as you beaver away on your plans for a breakaway Southern Tartan 'Stoat-tally-tarian Matrix '...
;- )
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Capture: Spring Breaks, in reply to JacksonP,
now yer waxin' flaxen!
...sunset
lovely...
It was reciprocated with a gloriously ominous ruddy/pink suffusion down here this morning.
Sun-sky says: cold snapper coming - presaged perhaps by days of blue skies and prismatic merino-clip clouds overhead...
...at least I got the lawn mowed
before the morn lowed... -
Hard News: Friday Music: Partners in Vacancy, in reply to Pete,
Living wedge ends…
Thicke is like the Forrest Gump of RnB
I thought he was Simon Cowell, cloned,
he sure looks and ‘feels’ like Cowell… -
Hard News: Friday Music: Partners in Vacancy, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
Laboring under a misapprehension....
...a budgie (more like a small parrot) smuggler.
Which reminds me....
- no Australian Election thread?
Is anyone else worried that our good neighbour may soon be overtaken by an inveterate budgie smuggler! -
Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to BenWilson,
It’s very difficult to use reason in the situation.
...and that is the palette, the powers-that-be (and want-to-be) use to paint the picture and evoke the required responses - turmoil never dries, it just get worked over and pushed around.
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Russell Brown,
Those who live by the Saud...
I’m in no doubt that the Syrian government
has been using chemical weapons…I see nothing that gives me that kind of confidence.
I’m with Chris Trotter and the Wall Street Journal on this one…
That region is a puppeteer’s paradise.
Time will out, perhaps…. -
Southerly: A Blog on Behalf of an…, in reply to Timmy H,
What chance us actually getting this off the ground?
There's always hope - I understand that citizen initiated referenda can sometimes gain sufficient traction to move forward...
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Southerly: A Blog on Behalf of an…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
people thinking about government
I like the two blokes talking about government here
(scroll down to 'Comedy work with Kevin McAleer" at the bottom and watch 'The Restaurant' and 'Bigots', and afterwards a detour back up to 'Smokers' is well rewarded, also...)