Overseas Roundup

Happy Friday everyone!!

Let's take a look overseas and see what the rest of the world is seeing for news these days...

We'll start in Hong Kong...neighbor to the world's most populous Muslim country. (Indonesia). They're none to happy about the latest bit of Hollywood claptrap....and so the propaganda continues. How is this really any different than what Leni Riefenstahl used to do?

For all its liberal persuasions, the Hollywood film model is firmly rooted in the "if you are not with us, you are against us"

line of neo-conservative thinking.

Cinema is a two-dimensional art form, lending itself more to simplistic caricatures than either literature or its poor cousin theater ever could. While initial audiences were impressed with screen size and vistas of unvisited destinations, the advent of television upped the stakes. Needing to provide a compelling excuse for people to be weaned away from the idiot box, films simply became more grandiose and, in so doing, changed the economics of the business forever.

While productions of yore revolved around the big studios, the need for grandiosity ushered in the age of the film star. Thus movies became about the actor, rather than "merely" a compelling view of an oft-told story. This marked cinema's departure from its parents, namely literature and theater.

This departure is too often glossed over by the news media when reviewing cinema as an art form. In particular, the advent of close-ups in film accentuated facial features, exaggerating the impact on the audience. That change had the less-than-subtle impact of forcing the audience to identify with or against the screen personalities.

In other words, whether you like the face on the screen becomes the dominant consideration. The option of having an equivocal opinion on characters bathed in shades of gray that is afforded in both literature and to a lesser extent theater is mostly unavailable in cinema unless the filmmaker chooses not to engage a mainstream audience.

Forcing art to conform to the audience's empathy produces horrible results all too often, a recent example of which would be Hollywood's homicide of Homer's Iliadin the film Troy, which not only sees the Trojans as the heroic figures but also portrays the Greeks as marauding hooligans. The mistake would be to evaluate the film as a rendition of the Iliad, rather than as a political commentary on the current US government, an intentional rebuke of America's war on Iraq.

Turning to the Middle East, it appears that George Bush's most reliable ally in the region is starting to turn. This article comes from Saudi Arabia, and it's stunning in its frankness.

RIYADH, 29 March 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday lambasted the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq by US-led forces and urged Arab leaders attending a historic summit in the Saudi capital not to allow foreign powers to determine the future course of the region.

In his keynote address opening the two-day summit, King Abdullah called upon Arab leaders to usher in a new era in Arab joint work while holding them accountable for disunity in the Arab world over the past decades.

“In Iraq, blood flows between brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation and hateful sectarianism, threatening a civil war,” King Abdullah said after taking over the presidency of the 23-member Arab League from Sudan’s President Omar Bashir.

Washington, however, justified its occupation of Iraq. “The US is in Iraq at the request of the Iraqis and under a UN mandate. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong,” said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

The Saudi leader also called for an end to the international blockade on the Palestinians. “It has become necessary to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so that the peace process can move in an atmosphere far from oppression and force,” the king said.

Saudi Arabia last month brokered a unity government between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and Hamas, hoping it would help end a crippling Western blockade imposed after the Islamist group took office over a year ago. The summit drew a number of world and Muslim leaders, including Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

We'll end up in Mexico...where they can say what we've know all along. We don't have a president, we have a caricature.

George W. Bush's citizen approval ratings are in free-fall … 28 percent! As Hugo Chávez said recently, he has become a political corpse. The cartoon by Mike Luckovich in last Sunday's New York Times is illustrative: Karl Rove, the sinister adviser to the President, walks into the Oval Office to deliver the "good news:"

"Thank God for the scandal over Federal Prosecutors, because it's eclipsing the Scooter Libby fiasco, which has obscured revelations over the deplorable state of Walter Reed Medical Center" … One after another.

As its mandate concludes, problems, violations and abuses of power cascade from an administration characterized by its scorn for the law - to all laws, national and international. The list is endless: the invasion of Iraq, in flagrant violation of international law and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council; the hoax over weapons of mass destruction cooked up with the help of Tony Blair (another political corpse); the violations of the Geneva Conventions at the abominable Abu Ghraib prison; and the illegal kidnapping of suspects, who were subsequently transported in CIA aircraft to be tortured in the secret prisons of "friendly" nations.

And what can one say about the so-called "Patriot Act," which allows the government to eavesdrop on the telephone conversations, electronic communications and bank transactions of its own citizens to look for "terrorists?" There is also the case of Guantánamo Bay, where hundreds of prisoners classified with the elusive title of "enemy combatants" are rotting, detained without legal representation and without any hope of clarifying their situation.

The most recent scandal - in a government that has gone from bad to worse - involves the Attorney General, a lackey that has legally covered up or "dressed up" Bush's illegal conduct. In the most recent episode, Alberto Gonzales fired 93 federal prosecutors, all appointed with Senate approval to serve in the country's Federal courts, in order to replace them with unquestioning Republicans - who would cover their backs and continue prosecuting, beyond Bush's mandate, alleged violations of law that are probably unconstitutional.

So, it's the end of another week. Let's be careful out there.

We're Back!....are you ready for war?

Well, we had a brief interlude yesterday afternoon at Air America Place....but the powers that be have corrected the issue and everything is back to normal.

So....are you ready for War with Iran? It may be coming sooner than you think. The British are doing our dirty work by proxy, managing their own "USS Pueblo" incident. The UK home secretary continues to call the situation "dangerous". Well, no duh!

The dispute over 15 Royal Navy personnel being held in Iran is becoming a "difficult" and "dangerous" situation, the UK home secretary says.

John Reid's remarks on Sky News came after Tony Blair hinted at taking a more aggressive diplomatic approach.

The UK is set to release photographs to back its assertion that the Britons had not been in Iranian waters on Friday.

Turkey's prime minister has been quoted as saying his diplomats may be allowed to meet the group, taken in the Gulf.

According to CNN Turk television, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the indication after meeting the Iranian foreign minister and before an Arab leaders' summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Foreign Office said reports that Turkish diplomats may be granted access to the detainees should be treated with "caution".

It stressed: "For the moment, the point is that we want access to them."

On Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett discussed the plight of the Britons with Turkey, its Nato ally.

The eight sailors and seven marines, based on HMS Cornwall, were taken at gunpoint in the northern Gulf as they returned after searching a boat.

Iran says they were trespassing in Iranian waters, but the UK has insisted the group were in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate.

Preparations are in place for a news conference at the Ministry of Defence in London, where photographs of the moments when the Britons were captured will be revealed.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said the UK could confront Iran directly with satellite pictures and other evidence in an effort to prove the personnel had not strayed into Iranian territorial waters.

He said hardliners around Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believe the Britons may be ideal pawns, either for concessions over Iran's nuclear programme or to trade for five Iranians being held by the US in Iraq.

Mrs Beckett cut short her visit to Turkey to return to the UK where she will and give a statement on the crisis to MPs.

She decided to return after a phone call to the Iranian foreign minister on Tuesday made no progress.

Downing Street has said that up to now the UK has been attempting to talk "discreetly" to the Iranians to secure the release of the Royal Navy personnel.

The prime minister's spokesman said that if the talks were unsuccessful, the government may have to become "more explicit" with Iran.

But that's not the half of it. Have you heard of "Operation Darius"? I thought not. It's allegedly the top secret plan for the nuclear conquest of Iran. Our Madman-In-Chief is just crazy enough to do it....and one of the dates being tossed about is April 6. You'll notice that it's Good Friday, which is no coincidence, IMHO.

The nuclear attack on Iran would be in 12 phases:

Phase 1: Create a national diversion by focusing the Congress and the voters’ attention on whether or not to escalate our troops in Iraq, completely occupying Congress, the media and the voters.

Phase 2: Bush and Cheney are fully aware this fifth surge will fail as certainly as the previous four surges, but it will preoccupy America and the world while they secretly move forward with their nuclear attack on Iran.

Phase 3: While everyone is focused on the escalation in Iraq, make an illegal, immoral Preemptive Strike on the Sovereign Nation of Somalia, on the pretense of getting a dangerous 9 year old terrorist, but for the real purpose of testing how the public, the Congress and the world would react to another Bush preemptive strike, whose real purpose is to prepare the world for Bush’s preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear building sites.

Phase 4: If there was no real outcry to this violation of Somalia’s sovereignty, a further provocation of Iran would take place by attacking, killing and imprisoning Iran nationals and envoys in Iraq with an intense propaganda campaign that these were Iranians helping Iraq’s insurgents by attacking Americans directly, i.e., Iran surreptitiously attacking America. Of course some Iranians in Iraq were, and always have been, but others were sovereign envoys protected by international law, a clear way of provoking Iran.

Phase 5: Quietly send two full carrier groups – not one, but two - into the area loaded with patriot missiles, and in their top secret cargos, secretly developed nuclear field weapons - shoulder holstered nuclear “bunker buster” missiles - secretly developed against Congress’s explicit refusal to develop and pay for these incredibly dangerous weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists and other American enemies all over the world.

Phase 6: Continue preparing America and the world for the nuclear attack on Iran by Bush casually mentioning, almost in passing in his 2007 State of the Union Address, that he send patriot missiles and air carrier groups to Iran.

Phase 7: If there was no real outcry, either in America or the world, to the first international illegal preemptive strike in Somalia, do a second strike in Somalia to desensitize world outrage for any future preemptive strikes – especially the crucial preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Phase 8: Do a preemptive, absolutely illegal air strike in violation of international law on Iran’s key 3,000 newly developed nuclear facilities with traditional bombs.

Phase 9: Depending on the severity of world response, especially Iran and North Korea’s, send a second preemptive air attack with one plane carrying one nuclear weapon.

Phase 10: Should North Korea threaten to send, actually send, or even think of sending their over one-million man army across the border to South Korea’s capitol, Seoul, just 30 miles from the border, with only our 37,000 troops standing in the way, we will – for the first time in history - through Special Op forces who have been fully operational in Iran for months, launch an attack on a key Iranian nuclear facility with a Nuclear Field Weapon - one of our secretly developed Shoulder Holstered Bunker Buster Nuclear Missiles.

Iran, Syria and North Korea’s Fatal Miscalculation

Phase 11: Every Head of State, including Iran and North Korea, are absolutely convinced that no sane leader would use a nuclear weapon to attack another country. Unfortunately not one realizes the extremely serious mental illness and delusions of grandeur of Bush and Cheney. (See evidence of how seriously Bush and Cheney are both mentally compromised).

All of the Military experts, politicians, pundits and talking heads who say we’ll never attack Iran because we are already spread hopelessly thin militarily, are wrong – and for the same reason: The same delusions of grandeur that caused Bush and Cheney to predict repeatedly that we would be greeted as liberators with rose petals in Iraq, have Bush and Cheney absolutely certain that we will have to unleash only two nuclear weapons – one via air and the other a land missile – and the whole world will cave in to our military power. No one will dare fight back, and Bush and Cheney will be the only military superpower in the world.

Bush and Cheney are absolutely convinced every nation will be so terrified, especially by the nuclear land missile’s flexibility, that this fear will completely nullify any troop numbers, no matter how overwhelming. Bush and Cheney are absolutely convinced our overwhelming nuclear power, and willingness to use these air and land nuclear weapons, will force all opponents, from Iran and North Korea, to Syria and Chavez, into immediate submission and our control, forcing them to submit to all conditions we request, and ending any nuclear threat they, or any other nation, might be thinking of developing.

They are absolutely convinced that every nation will so fear a Special Ops use of a nuclear bunker buster in their nation, they will restore Bush and Cheney to being masters of the universe which they stopped being with their failures in Afghanistan (“Forgot-us-stan”), Iraq, Lebanon – and even Katrina.

Bush and Cheney are convinced that whatever negative reaction there will be towards the US at this first use of nuclear weapons in a war, it will be more than offset by the United States regaining its position as the world’s sole military superpower able to crush any opposition, actual or developing, to America’s goals, and give us complete control over all the oil and gas reserves in the Middle East, and elsewhere. In short, it will restore The Bush Doctrine, making America the world’s only superpower, and keep nuclear weapons from being developed anywhere else.

Phase 12: Bush and Cheney are certain that the cowardly Congress, who have brutally betrayed the 2006 voters who gave them control of Congress to stop the Iraq war, are so afraid of even passing aggressive legislation to stop the war, cut off funding, etc., and are so intimidated they spend their time endlessly debating non-binding resolutions and playing partisan games for the 2008 election, will never have the backbone to stop them - even when they discover the hard proof of Bush and Cheney’s mentally ill, already underway plans to attack and invade Iran.

The only possible way to stop them at this late stage is by a Congressional Impeachment Inquiry (not even an Impeachment Trial, but just an Impeachment Inquiry.)

I've said it before, back during the Cold War....I work within sight of downtown Boston. I'd get a millisecond of intense light, then gone. Instantly vaporized. It's not so funny now with a wife and child.

Air America Update

Good afternoon, everyone!

If you remembered Northeast Liberals and are checking us out for the first time while AAP is down....what took you so long?

In any case....we're down. Apparently, this is an enforced shutdown by our ISP; we've been having some problems with phishing. I don't pretend to understand what's going on with the site admin, but rest assured, our administrators are busily working to correct what's wrong and get us back online.

In the meantime, bookmark us, and we'll keep churning out the daily blogs like we always do. And of course, I'll post an update whenever AAP gets back to right.

TriSec

High TIDE...Holy book riot, Batman!...Republicans eating their own

Good Morning!

Is your name on the terrorist database list? You never know....

The government maintains a huge database called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) that is a central storehouse for every bit of terrorism-related information that it receives. This is the source of the infamous no-fly list. I'm certain each and every one of us liberal bloggers is on it somewhere. But here's the kicker....so much data is coming in now, seeing that so many people, places, and things have been declared "enemies of the state" that the administrators of the database are having problems keeping up with it.

...Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000 today, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it.

"The single biggest worry that I have is long-term quality control," said Russ Travers, in charge of TIDE at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va. "Where am I going to be, where is my successor going to be, five years down the road?"

TIDE has also created concerns about secrecy, errors, and privacy. The list marks the first time foreigners and US citizens are combined in an intelligence database. The bar for inclusion is low, and once a person is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off. At any stage, the process can lead to "horror stories" of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.

The watch lists fed by TIDE, used to monitor everyone entering the country or having even a casual encounter with federal, state, and local law enforcement, have a higher bar.

But they have become a source of irritation, and potentially more serious consequences, for many US citizens and visitors.

In 2004 and 2005, misidentifications accounted for about half of the tens of thousands of times a traveler's name triggered a watch-list hit, the Government Accountability Office reported in September. Congressional committees have criticized the process, some charging that it collects too much information about Americans, others saying it is ineffective against terrorists. Civil rights and privacy groups have called for increased transparency.

"How many are on the lists, how are they compiled, how is the information used, how do they verify it?" asked Lillie Coney, associate director of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. Such information is classified, and individuals barred from traveling are not told why.

Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, complained last year that his wife had been delayed repeatedly while airlines queried whether Catherine Stevens was the watch-listed Cat Stevens. The listing referred to the Britain-based pop singer who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. The reason Islam is not allowed to fly is secret.

So is the reason why Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, remains on the State Department's consular watch list.

Detained in New York while en route to Montreal in 2002, Arar was sent by the US government to a year of imprisonment in Syria. Canada, the source of the initial information about Arar, cleared him of all terrorism allegations last September -- three years after his release -- and has since authorized $9 million in compensation.

TIDE is a vacuum cleaner for both proven and unproven information, and its managers disclaim responsibility for how other agencies use the data.

"What's the alternative?" Travers asked. "I work under the assumption that we're never going to have perfect information -- fingerprints, DNA -- on 6 billion people across the planet. . . . If someone actually has a better idea, I'm all ears."

A bit of an unusual story coming from Yemen this morning. Perhaps this serves to illustrate the intrinsic differences between Islam and other 'western' religions. If you were mad at a Christian, would you throw a bible to the floor to see what he would do? Apparently, that starts a riot in an Islamic country if you do that with a Quran.

Violence between local and foreign workers at a gas plant in southern Yemen has left at least four Yemenis and a French employee of an energy company injured.

Early reports said fighting began after a French employee at the natural gas liquefaction plant threw a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, onto the ground during an argument on Sunday.

As word of the incident spread, hundreds of workers rioted, damaging a gas export terminal under construction and setting fire to vehicles, security sources said.

Calm was only restored once soldiers from the Yemeni army arrrived, backed by tanks.

"After a fight between a French engineer and another who is Yemeni, the Frenchman - to enrage the Yemeni - threw a Quran on the floor in an offensive way," AFP reported one official as saying.

Yemeni employees then reacted by attacking the French employee and setting fire to a helicopter and a large number of vehicles inside the plant site, an officials said.

The rioters allegedly tried to attack expatriate workers in their camp inside the plant site but were pushed back by Yemeni troops who arrived with tanks and armored vehicles to contain the violence and restore calm.

The LNG plant, in the coastal city of Balhaf, is being constructed by Yemen LNG, which is partly owned by the Yemeni government and partly by France's Total energy company.

Yemen LNG confirmed the clashes took place in a press release, but did not report any injuries, only "undefined damage".

Lastly this morning...signs that all hope is not lost in Washington. There's a new voice bandying about the "I"-word....Senator Chuck Hagel, (R-NE)

WASHINGTON -- A prominent Republican lawmaker charged yesterday that President Bush has adopted a go-it-alone approach on Iraq that is flouting the will of the public and Congress, where he said some members are considering impeachment an option.

Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a frequent GOP critic of the war, stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment. But he made clear that some lawmakers viewed that as an option should Bush choose to push ahead despite public sentiment against the war.

Meanwhile, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's number two Republican leader, harshly criticized House Democrats for setting an "artificial date" for withdrawing troops from Iraq and said he believes Republicans have enough votes to prevent passage of a similar bill in the Senate.

"We need to put that kind of decision in the hands of our commanders. . . . For Congress to impose an artificial date of any kind is totally irresponsible," Lott said on "Fox News Sunday."

Hagel, who is considering a 2008 presidential run, said on ABC's "This Week" that there are ways for Congress to deal with "any president who says, 'I don't care,' or 'I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else.' "

"This is not a monarchy," he added, referring to the possibility that some lawmakers may seek impeachment. "There are ways to deal with it."

So...interesting things out and about in the world today. Do pay attention...you never know what may happen.

Overseas Roundup

Good Morning!

Off to another new feature....we'll be combing through Watching America again this week to see what the rest of the world is thinking of us. Of course, we'll start with the Warron Terra. Remember the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Some of our allies aren't buying it.

The sweeping confession of alleged al-Qaida mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has claimed involvement in 31 terror plots, has been met with skepticism from German commentators. Some editorialists have stronger feelings about the "show" trial against Mohammed than whether or not he is telling the truth.

According to a transcript released on Thursday by the Pentagon, suspected al-Qaida leader and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed made far-reaching confessions that he was "responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," and that he personally beheaded kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl with his own knife. Mohammed has allegedly claimed responsibility for a total of 31 terrorist attacks -- some of which were never completed -- an admission that would make him al-Qaida's key operation planner.

German commentators criticize the conditions under which the confession was obtained, noting that Mohammed had been subjected to years of "rough" interrogations at the hands of the CIA. Apart from condemning a hearing that did not adhere to the laws laid out in the United States constitution, along with a transcript that was heavily edited, German papers also cite allegations that Mohammed was tortured while held in custody as a suspected terrorist. Can his testimony be trusted or was he coerced into giving it?

It's hard to say if there is anything more to Mohammed's confessions than the fantasy product of a "vain, megalomaniacal über-terrorist," writes the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:

"The transcript makes clear that Mohammed was the key figure in a network which sprang up in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, spanned the world and was financed by the Arabic world. It was ambitious in its goals and merciless with its victims. The greater the mass murder, the better. This was Khalid's logic -- and he even admitted it in front of a military tribunal. The evidence is overwhelming."

"Admittedly, his confession is flawed because of its location and the allegedly problematic conditions under which he has been held ever since he was captured by the CIA in 2003. Has he ever been forced to give testimony or even tortured? He himself claims that he was tortured before being taken to Guantanamo, but that he voluntarily provided his current testimony. Still, whether or not this will satisfy the criteria for a legal trial is as controversial as the hearing itself has been. For its part, the Bush administration has nobody but itself to blame for the fact that the actions and motives of the perpetrator are now playing second fiddle to the practices used by the Americans in fighting terrorism."

Of course, other countries keep reporting inconvenient things about Guantanamo Bay. Particularly involving treatment of the 'detainees'. Can you say Concentration Camp?

DAVID Hicks, the Australian accused of terrorism, was dazed and bewildered for three weeks after US officials gave him a new medicine, his lawyer said today.

US military lawyer Major Michael Mori said he had complained to US authorities about allegations Hicks was forcibly sedated at the US Guantanamo Bay military base last month just before he was informed of new terror charges.

He said Hicks told him he was given a new liquid medicine, ostensibly for a stomach complaint, that knocked him out for 24 hours, and left him bewildered and dazed for three weeks.

"I just raised it, you know," Major Mori said. "Obviously there's nothing I can do about it being done but I can ask 'just please don+t do it in the future'."

But Major Mori said he expected David Hicks' legal appearance on terror offences at Guantanamo Bay will go ahead next week despite two legal challenges.

A Pentagon spokesman said he was looking into the allegation.

"I can say however David Hicks has been treated humanely at Guantanamo, as per our policy. Also, it should be noted that a number of past allegations concerning his treatment were completely unsubstantiated," the spokesman said.

Major Mori and Hicks' US civilian lawyer Joshua Dratel traveled to Guantanamo Bay last week to visit the 31-year-old Adelaide terrorist suspect.

Hicks is charged with providing material support for terrorism.

The defence team has applied in the US District Court in Washington for a stay on Hicks' military commission hearing, pointing out that the US Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal from Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Major Mori said he did not know when the injunction would be heard. "You guys are making much more of thisicipate the (arraignment) hearings will go forwards."

Hicks is also one of 45 detainees seeking an appeal in the US Supreme Court to challenge their detention.

They argue they should be given the same legal rights as others appearing in the US justice system.

A decision on whether the case will be expedited could be delivered this week.

Major Mori would not be drawn on how Hicks was feeling ahead of his arraignment on March 26, or whether he was looking forward to seeing his father, Terry Hicks.

When asked how Hicks was, Major Mori said "much the same as he was a month and a half ago" which is when his legal team saw him last. He said Hicks had been in solitary confinement for a year and it was taking its toll.

Of course, we can't look overseas without getting the latest opinions on our escapades in Iraq. The French have a couple of interesting things to say about it.

L’Alsace Lorraine: Four years after the invasion of Iraq, President Bush nevertheless persists. Yesterday during a brief speech he called for the American people to be “patient,” as if he believed in miracles.

Nevertheless, the balance sheet of the past four years is catastrophic; for Iraq, for the United States and for the rest of the world.

First of all on a human level, several tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, perhaps several hundred thousand, have died in daily attacks, clashes between militias and sectarian fighting. And over 3,500 soldiers from the “coalition,” including 3,200 Americans have been killed, to say nothing of the 12,000 to 20,000 Iraqi soldiers and police. To this macabre assessment, one must add thousands of wounded, often handicapped for life.

A MILITARY DISASTER …
And then there's the military situation, which incites little optimism. The spectacular charge of armored vehicles and helicopter-born troops in the spring of 2003 quickly encountered a vacuum, driving military commanders to adopt a “hedgehog” strategy: up to last summer, the U.S. Army remained sheltered in its bases and limited its activities to patrols and to carefully targeted operations, in order to implicate the Iraqi security forces so as not to appear as an all-too-visible “occupation army."

Confronting a wave of attacks since the fall (and after the ejection of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld), the U.S. high command went on the offensive, concentrating specifically on Baghdad and the oilfield sector. The capital has been broken into sectors with some degree of effectiveness and the number of attacks appears to have dropped. But Northern Iraq remains under the control of Sunni guerillas, who confront Shiite militias are in the South … So the 160,000 man task force has, as the generals command, extended the Baghdad “experiment” over additional areas, with the assistance of a better-equipped and more controlled Iraqi army … in the hope that its units will not pass its arms and equipment to rival militias.

… AND POLITICALLY
On the political front, the situation is disastrous. First of all in Iraq: Despite free elections and a theoretically democratic government (but corrupted to its core), the country is divided in three. The Kurdish region is in fact independent (to the great displeasure of Turkey and Iran, who are both hostile to the creation of a Kurdish state) but vulnerable to a Turkmen or Arabic rebellion. The North, especially the Sunni areas, has escaped Baghdad’s authority, and in mixed Sunni-Shiite regions, guerilla war is raging and amongst the Shiite Parties, rival militias battle over power and oil.

Even more grave, the entire Middle East has been destabilized. America's quagmire in Iraq has favored the ascent to power of Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbullah in Lebanon, it has strengthened Syria and established Iran as a regional power, which is now pulling the strings across the region. And finally, Islamic terrorism is gaining ground.

… AND INTERNATIONALLY
Lastly, the situation internationally depends on Iraq, which is the Achilles’ heel of the American hyperpower. China has never been so present, Russia has made its diplomatic return to the Great Game and Latin America has broken free of Washington’s guardianship, which is too preoccupied elsewhere. Anti-Americanism, stimulated in Europe by affairs like the Guantanamo prison scandal, has reached levels unknown since the Vietnam War era.

Americans, of which only a small minority approve of the war, are conscious of this dip in fortunes, which is costing hundreds of billions of dollars every year. But the Congress, despite being majority Democrat, is powerless before the threat of a Presidential veto that cannot be overridden … George W. Bush is especially determined to leave the burden of Iraq to his successor.

Always interesting to see what the rest of the world thinks of us, isn't it?

Circling the wagons...Children Bombers...Not enough guns

Good Morning!

I'm sure you've heard of the ongoing scandal over the White House firings of politically unreliable Federal Prosecutors? The Democratic Congress is very interested in hearing what the "president's" aides have to say. On the record and under oath, of course. It should come as no surprise that the White House opposes the idea.

George Bush, the US president, has said he will block any attempts to get his aides to testify under oath over accusations senior government lawyers were fired for political reasons.

"I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials," George Bush said on Tuesday.

Several lawyers removed by the US Justice Department headed by Alberto Gonzales, the attorney-general and close aide to Bush, have claimed they were sacked after refusing to launch what they say were politically-motivated corruption inquiries involving Democrats.

'Political purge'
Democrats in Congress claim that the dismissals, announced last December, were part of a political purge of rivals that has undermined the independence of Gonzales' justice department.

Bush has openly supported Gonzales after some of Bush's fellow Republicans joined Democrats in calling for the resignation of the attorney general, a fellow Texan who came to Washington with Bush six years ago.

Responding to calls for aides to testify under oath, Bush said: "I hope the Democrats choose not to do that ... we will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition."

He has offered to allow Karl Rove, his chief strategist and deputy chief of staff, along with some other officials to be questioned behind closed doors and off the record.

A judiciary sub-committee is expected to vote on whether to issue subpoenas for Rove and four other past and present top White House officials, including Harriet Miers, the former counsel.

Miers was initially thought to have raised the idea of firing all 93 US government prosecutors following Bush's re-election in 2004.

Besides Miers, other White House officials offered for questioning are William Kelley, the deputy counsel, and Scott Jennings, the political adviser.

Bush, who was pressed to remove Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, after the Democrats took the majority in congress, said he would stand by White House officials.

'No oath, no transcript'

Fred Fielding, Bush's official government lawyer, told legislators that Bush's aides would accept private interviews instead of testifying under oath.

"Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas," Fielding said in a letter released by the White House.

Several legislators have criticised Bush for taking a combative stance.

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rejected Bush's offer for Rove to be questioned privately.

"I don't accept his offer. It is not constructive and it is not helpful to be telling the senate how to do our investigation or to prejudge its outcome," he said.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, a new tactic is emerging. Remember back during the first Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein used women and children as human shields to protect likely targets? It looks like the insurgency has adopted a similar tactic to get past US checkpoints....only they're blowing up babies in the process.

A US military official has said children have been used in a bomb attack in Iraq, raising fears that insurgents are using a new tactic.

Gen Michael Barbero said a vehicle stopped at a checkpoint was waved through because two children were seen in the back, but was then detonated.

Militants were changing tactics in response to tighter security, he said.

Five people including the children died and another seven were injured in the attack, in Baghdad on Sunday.

Gen Barbero said there had been also two adults in the car. They parked it near a market, abandoned it with the children inside and apparently detonated it.

The two children died, along with three civilians in the vicinity, officials said.

The children's identity is not known, nor their relationship to the adults.

'Changing tactics'
Gen Barbero said it was the first time he had seen a report of children being used in bombings.

"The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed," he said.

"They are just interested in slaughtering Iraqi civilians, to be very honest."

The apparent new tactics have come as more US forces are sent into Baghdad as part of a security crackdown.

Gen Barbero said that car bombs and suicide attacks have become more frequent but were less effective as they were often stopped checkpoints.

The use of chlorine bombs was another example of how tactics were changing, he added.

Several incidents involving chlorine have been reported in different parts of Iraq in recent months, prompting fears of a further escalation of conflicts between rival groups.

Lastly this morning....file this under "Mother of all Bad Ideas". As if there isn't enough trouble in the Middle East, the Bush Administration wants to sell weapons there now, too. Nevermind that the folks most in need of US weapons in the region are actual US soldiers.

WASHINGTON -- The State Department and the Pentagon are quietly seeking congressional approval for significant new military sales to US allies in the Persian Gulf region. The move is part of a broader American strategy to contain Iranian influence by strengthening Iran's neighbors and signaling that the United States is still a strong military player in the Middle East, despite all the difficulties in Iraq.

But the arms sales, which would come on top of a recent upgrade of US Patriot antimissile interceptors in Qatar and Kuwait and the deployment of two aircraft carriers to the Gulf, could spark concerns that further military buildup in the volatile region would bring Washington closer to a confrontation with Iran.

Senior US officials have been tight-lipped in public about what systems they hope to sell, citing the need to get congressional support for the measure first and skittishness among Arab allies that don't want the publicity. Current and former US officials and analysts familiar with the discussions say items under consideration include sophisticated air and missile defense systems, advanced early warning radar aircraft that could detect low-flying missiles, and light coastal combat ships that could sweep the Gulf for mines and help gather underwater intelligence.

The arms sales are a Cold War-style geopolitical maneuver designed to isolate Iran by arming its neighbors against a perceived common threat.

"We should look at this in the broader context of what Secretary [Condoleezza] Rice calls the looming confrontation between extremists and moderates," Stephen D. Mull , the State Department's acting assistant secretary of political-military affairs, said in an interview. "We are on record as saying Syria and Iran sponsor these [extremist] forces."

The move could be an economic boon for New England, which manufactures some of the weapons systems that are believed to be under consideration for sale.

The current arms sale proposals grew out of a diplomatic effort launched last May called the "Gulf Security Dialogue," in which US officials sought to suggest ways to bolster the defenses of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman.

Not every country opted to buy a new weapons system, Mull said. Some asked for other kinds of assistance, such as improving port security and protecting key energy installations.

So...the madness that is the United States continues on.

Anniversary and Protest

Good Morning. We start another week on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Looking at the casualty count this morning, there are 3,218 dead American soldiers as a result of this folly.

But many thousands of people didn't take this sitting down. Yesterday there were large protests in many cities.

SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second consecutive day, thousands of protesters took to the streets across the nation yesterday to call for an end to funding of the Iraq war or an immediate return of US troops.

Demonstrators gathered in San Francisco, New York, Portland, Ore., and elsewhere to mark the fourth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq and call on President Bush to heed what they say is the will of the people.

In largely peaceful demonstrations, about 3,000 people in San Francisco closed Market Street, a major downtown thoroughfare.

In New York, protesters converged in a park near the United Nations headquarters. Police offered no crowd estimate, but it appeared to be well over 1,000 people.

Dozens of police in San Francisco on foot and motorcycle blocked traffic and kept an eye on the crowd, which stretched for blocks through the financial district. No arrests were reported by police.

Antiwar activists also gathered yesterday in Providence and dozens of other cities and towns across New England.

Gary Fong, 65, carried a sign calling on Bush to "listen to America" as he marched in San Francisco.

"I think the war effort at this point is futile," said the retired school guidance counselor and former Army intelligence officer. "We want to do our part to express to Bush and the government that change needs to be made."

In New York, where union members, war veterans, and representatives of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition joined protesters, the line of marchers extended for several blocks.

Actor Tim Robbins, speaking at an earlier rally organized by the New York chapter of United for Peace and Justice, told the crowd that getting Congress to cut off funds for the war "would be a good way" to get the troops home.

"The American people want this war to end," said Robbins, a frequent participant in antiwar protests.

"That's the message they sent last November in the election. When are we going to start listening to them?"

It's not too late to participate; there's a round of candlelight vigils taking place across America this evening. If you can, do get out and add your voice to the chorus calling for the troops to come home.

Overseas Roundup

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's the end of another week, so let's take a look around the world and see what they think of us today. Thanks to the wondrous website..."Watching Ameria".

First up...our Succubus of State.

Condoleezza Rice, the Black Secretary of State of the United States (with all due respect to Blacks), has achieved a fame in the Arab World that surpasses that of our own villainous leaders ... She is on everyone's lips … her pictures are constantly broadcast on every national and satellite television station … rather than beautiful belles, newspapers decorate their front pages with her pictures … and even tabloids put her face on their covers rather than those of models and beautiful women.

All of this is not because of her beauty, appeal, or magical attraction … and not due to her sparkling intelligence or cultural sophistication. It certainly isn't because she is blue-blooded (God forbid) or a descendent of one of the greats … and not because she's a descendant of an ancient noble dynasty. Surely she is beyond accusation in this regard, as innocent as the wolf who was blamed for eating the son of Jacob [the son of Abraham, founder of the Jews and prophet of Islam].

[Editor's Note: In the Old Testament, Jacob, the great grandson of Abraham - the first Jew and a Prophet of Islam - was told by his sons that a wolf had devoured another of his sons, called Joseph. The truth was that they wanted to get rid of Joseph, had thrown Joseph into a pit, and had made up the story about the wolf [Genesis xxxvii. 33]. Jacob ordered them to arm themselves and capture the beast. So they went and captured a wolf. According to the story, when Jacob began to reproach the beast for its cruelty, the wolf answered, in human language, that it had not devoured Joseph, and that it was itself searching for its lost cub].

The reason [for her continued appearance everywhere] is that she holds in one hand a baton with which she breaks the bones of the weak … and in the other, a whip that rips through the skins of the innocent. Her acts are backed up by her country’s great strength … and the indifferent silence of the civilized world, which claims to defend freedoms and democracies.

*snip*

Rice is really and truly a succubus, and like Lucifer she deserves to be struck with stones - and as an extra sign of how despised she is - she should also be struck with shoes … that is if the militants don't hurl something at her even more harmful than stones and shoes.

Remember the story a few days back about the Iranian general that defected to the west? It got scant coverage in the west except on The Rachel Maddow Show....so here's the scoop from overseas.

Iran's former deputy defense minister, General Ali Reza Asghari disappeared without a trace in Turkey on February 7. According intelligence service sources, it's likely that the general, who is privy to profound secrets on Iranian assistance to the Lebanese Hezbullah, has defected and is being interrogated by the American intelligence services. At a time when international tension id high over Iran's role in the Middle East, the revelatios of Ali Reza Asghari's are of great interest to Washington. Le Figaro inquired into his disappearance.

The Iranian general is allegedly in a northern European country, where he is allegedly undergoing a "vigorous debriefing" before being taken back to the United States, according to an American person in charge, quoted by the Washington Post. The former deputy defense minister "is cooperating" with Western intelligence agencies.

"It was an organized defection," the Israeli, Uri Lubrani, a high official at the ministry of defense in Tel Aviv and an expert on Lebanese-Iranian Shiite networks, told Le Figaro. "Everything was prepared, and his family sought refuge abroad before he did." According to the Sunday Times in London about ten people close to him, including his two sons, left Iran before he did. Asghari was last seen entering a large hotel in Istanbul on February 7. The night before, two foreigners were seen in the lobby of the establishment. They allegedly reserved a room in his name and paid the entire bill in cash.

Lastly today, there was great gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in the comic world recently over the death of Captain America. Would it surprise you to learn that he was possibly killed for political reasons?

How is it that superheroes die, too? What do they die of? Where has it been seen? Well, it seems like we're seeing it now. Yesterday, the media told us of the assassination of Captain America, one of the most representative personalities in American comic books. On Telenoche TV, Federico Wiemeyer devoted his segment – usually dedicated to new trends on the Internet - to talking about the murder of this well-known figure. His report showed digital images of the event (the journalist emphasized that story ran in The New York Times as though it were a real-life crime), and also showed animation of the Captain with the bars and stars on his uniform and shield.

The curious thing, also pointed out by Wiemeyer, is the reason for this attack on Captain America. As part of the "war on terror" following the outrages of 9/11, and after a confrontation between the superheroes and arch-villains which left many civilians dead, the United States government forced anyone who had special powers to sign on to a registry designed to control their activities. This leads to the formation of two distinct factions: those who obeyed the law, among whom are Iron Man and Spiderman; and those who opposed the law, and – so to speak – hid in the shadows. Since his actions fell somewhere in between, Captain America was required to turn himself into the Law, and while ascending the Courthouse steps, a sniper ended his life.

Was this The End for the champion who was born fighting the Nazis in the 40's? Nothing is known of these matters. Remember that at one time, Superman's death was announced; and also that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was compelled to resurrect Sherlock Holmes, after he realized that if he didn't, Dolyle might be the one that was killed - at the hands of a fanatical reader. At the same time, the readers of Harry Potter eagerly await the release of the final volume of that saga, in order to see whether or not they will eternally hate J.K. Rowling, who has announced that two characters will die in the last book.

So....there we go. Interesting stuff. Remember when the United States media used to be like this?

Kandahar Social Club

Good Morning!

Monday evening, Mrs. TriSec and I finally caught up with the almost decade old movie, Buena Vista Social Club. It's practically required viewing among Cubans, but we've somehow managed to avoid the in-laws pushing it on us at every opportunity.

Nevertheless, it is a remarkable story, focusing on many of the great Cuban musicians of the 40s and 50s that were overlooked and forgotten in the wake of the revolution. There's some interesting snippets of what life in Cuba is like now, it struck me as being dreary and hard, but that's a common trait among oppressed peoples.

But it got me to thinking. One of the 14 points of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and the arts. I'm not talking about the United States now, but our sorry state of music education, art appreciation, and the crap that passes for music these days is surely suspect.

No, I'm thinking of other totalitarian regimes. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but for years afterwards, music scholars were astonished to discover hundreds of recordings in the former State Archives of wonderful musicians that were completely unknown in the West. I've recently discovered the music of Eldar, an astonishing young pianist from Kyrgystan that would have never seen the light of day under the Soviet regime.

But how does that equate to Kandahar? It really doesn't except to say that how many potential Coltranes or Lennons or Bernsteins are lost forever because they don't have the opportunity? But even larger than that, if all they have is war and survival, there is no opportunity for education, arts, and other higher pursuits. Not only is it the music, but how many doctors, philosophers, diplomats, and scientists will never see the light of day?

Jose Ferrer and Compay Segundo were not forgotten because of the efforts of a couple of dedicated American musicians that defied the government and the travel ban in order to travel to the 'forbidden island' to seek out these men and hear what they know. Are we going to lose a new Einstein, Gandhi, or Jarvik because of the opression and despair we have brought to places in the world?

Sam the Minuteman

Good Morning!

Yesterday was a lovely New England "mud season" day...the sun was shining, and it was well above 50 degrees. Most of the ice that has been hanging around since Valentine's Day finally started to soften, and there were big puddles everywhere.

So, what could be more fun than taking your child out in the woods to hike through the mud? (Mrs. TriSec would disagree...) Anyway, we saddled up and drove a few miles to our favorite local treasure, Minuteman National Historical Park. We parked by the Minuteman Statue, walked across the Old North Bridge, and climbed the hill to the visitor center in the old Buttrick Mansion.

In the visitor's center, there is a small shop, and Javi picked out a couple of tin soldiers. I made sure we had a book to take home, an innocent-sounding volume called "Sam the Minuteman". It's been around a while; it was written in 1969, probably during the runup to the Bicentennial.

Unfortunately...I was horrified by it. The story goes like this....

Sam lived with his parents near Lexington, MA. On the evening of April 17th, they're awoken by Paul Revere and they head to the Green to meet the column of British regulars. Sam and a young friend disperse, but not in time. The British open fire, and Sam's friend is wounded. They retreat to Sam's house, but he vows revenge if the regulars return.

Sure enough, after meeting the Rebel militia at the North Bridge, the regulars march back through Lexington. This time, Sam gets his gun and goes with his father to take revenge. Later, we see him by his friend's bedside, only concerned about him.

Does that sound a wee bit familiar?

Where else can you think that there is an unwelcome imperialist power, marching around destroying things and shooting people, and doing nothing except fostering hatred and a lust for revenge?

I probably don't need to tell you how the story of Sam the Minuteman wound up....but we still celebrate April 18th in these parts as "Patriot's Day"...and the Shot Heard 'Round the World.

Latest TSA foibles...Republicans eating their own...Macrohard "Security"

Good Morning!

Well, I'm as glad as ever to see the TSA on the job. I really get a kick out of the fact that the story pretty much says, "it's OK, there were marshalls on board!" Yeah, way to keep us safe there, boys. I haven't been on a plane in four years....

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Passengers on a commercial flight from Florida to Puerto Rico were in little danger despite more than a dozen guns being on board, because at least two federal air marshals were also on the plane, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman said yesterday.

TSA spokesman Christopher White declined to address the security breach or whether the marshals knew that guns were there.

Two baggage handlers used their employee uniforms and airport identification cards to enter restricted areas, bypass screeners with a bag containing drugs and the guns , and board the Delta Air Lines flight Monday, according to court documents.

An anonymous tip led to the investigation, said Carlos Baixauli of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms , and Explosives.

Thomas Anthony Munoz, 22, was arrested in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he got off the plane. Inside a duffel bag he was carrying, authorities found 13 handguns, an assault rifle, and eight bags of marijuana, Baixauli said.

Zabdiel J. Santiago Balaguer, 22, who had been questioned by security screeners Monday but was released after no guns or drugs were found, was arrested late Tuesday.

Both were charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possessing firearms during a drug trafficking offense, court documents said.

The court documents say Balaguer was a middle man who had delivered guns and drugs to Puerto Rico and offered to pay Munoz as much as $5,000 to make that delivery, court documents assert.

Turning to the election, there's news out this morning that a Truth Squad of Republicans is going to launch a national ad campaign....against Mitt Romney. It turns out that a group of Massachusetts Republicans is not very happy with the muddled policies and flip-flopping of the Mittster and wants to tell everyone about it. Ah, I love it when all the guns point in, don't you?

A Web-based “truth” squad is poised to chase Mitt Romney in an effort to trip him up on the presidential campaign trail - and its members are Republicans from his very own Bay State.
Founded by GOP consultants Holly Robichaud and Ron Vining, the Mass Republicans for Truth plans to launch a nationwide attack on the former governor’s record - including radio and TV ads.
“He’s running for the highest office in the nation and voters need to know the entire record,” said Robichaud. “We can’t elect an unknown quantity to president of the United States.”
The group will post “The Romney Report” on its website on Monday, vowing to expose his flip-flops on a host of key issues, from abortion to taxes to gay rights.
Calling its mission “educational,” the group is one of the controversial political action committees labeled “527s” named after the federal tax exemption that allows them to exist primarily as vehicles to influence elections.
So far, about 40 Massachusetts Republicans, including elected state committee members and activists who have been involved in campaigns for years, have joined Massachusetts Republicans for Truth. Robichaud, a contributor to the Herald’s Monday political briefing, said she would not yet identify the other members. The group’s website goes live Monday.
The website, www.MassRepublicansforTruth.com which is still under construction, promises “The Romney Report” will assess Romney’s performance as governor in several key areas. “Perhaps the answers to these important questions are a secret in some parts of the country, but they certainly are NOT to the Republicans in his ‘home’ State of Massachusetts,” the site says.

Lastly this morning...do you have a computer? Is it chock-full of Bill Gates' goodness? Heh. Probably not. I'm sitting here typing away on a Compaq with Windows XP that will of course be impacted by this. I have already decided that when this one dies, it's a spiffy new MacBook for me.

Microsoft said it will not issue its scheduled monthly software security fixes in March after a report said its security suite ranked last of 17 tested.

In a notice published on its website on Thursday, the world's largest software maker said it will issue several updates but none of them will be related to security.

The second Tuesday of every month is the regularly scheduled day on which the company issues repairs or patches for its software. It is commonly referred to as Patch Tuesday within technology circles.

In the same note, the company said it will release its monthly update of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which seeks out code that matches profiles for harmful or malicious software (malware) and, if any is detected, eliminates it from the infected computer.

The software maker also stated that it will release six other "non-security high-priority updates" for its Windows software but did not specify their nature.

Microsoft's notice comes after an Austrian project found that the Redmond, Wash.-based company's Windows Live OneCare security suite "did not reach the minimum requirements for participation" in its tests.

The fun continues....it's a delightful 5º outside this morning, but it might be over 40º tomorrow. It is almost spring, right?

An Other Cup

Good Morning!

Well....2007 seems to be a return to old favorites for me. I've gotten back into music, and it's Pinewood Derby season. Javi and I have built a car, and it reminded me how much I like to build things, so we'll be getting back in to scale modeling by the end of the month. (Javi likes F-15s, so there's a snap together kit in our future.)

But it's music I've been enjoying the most in recent weeks. My stepmother, a hippie if there ever was one, has given me a couple of CDs from a long-lost musician that I've been listening to recently.

It's Steven Demetre Georgiou, who most of you know as Cat Stevens.

Cat had a string of hits in the early to mid 1970s, including quite a few that I never knew he did. It was very interesting to listen to his Greatest Hits album, and shaking my head saying "He did that???"

We all know that Cat famously left the west, converted to Islam, and gave up music. But do you know why he did it? From our friends at Wikipedia:

When Stevens nearly drowned in an accident in Malibu in 1975, he reports having pleaded with God to save him. Stevens described the event in a VH1 interview some years later: "I suddenly held myself and I said, 'Oh God! If you save me, I'll work for you.'" The near-death experience intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into Buddhism "Zen and I Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology", but when his brother David gave him a copy of the Qur'an, Stevens began to find peace with himself and began his transition to Islam.

He formally converted to the Islamic faith in 1977 and took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978, saying that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an.

He made his last musical appearance at The Year of The Child concert in Wembley Stadium, on November 22, 1979.

I don't know about you, but I won't fault a man for finding God after a traumatic event, no matter which prophet he chooses to follow.

Now Yusuf Islam, he gave up music entirely after that, mostly due to a conflict among Islamic scholars whether or not it was OK to sing and use musical instruments.

But that didn't mean he gave up art; Yusuf recorded a number of albums of Islamic prayers with rhythmic accompaniment, and also wrote a few children's books for use in Islamic studies.

More recently, Yusuf has started his own charity. He's affiliated with the UN, and is working on behalf of frightened and displaced children everywhere.

Children and the poorest members of society are often the first casualties of war and face the most arduous of tasks in rebuilding their lives when disaster strikes. The mental scars inflicted on such innocent souls can take years to heal. Everybody’s future relies on everybody else’s future. Do you want to have a positive impact on somebody's future?

Now, I don't believe for one second that there is evil in Yusuf Islam. But somehow, the government of the United States does. In 2004, Yusuf was traveling to the United States to meet with Dolly Parton, who had recorded a cover of his iconic "Peace Train". His name was flagged on the no-fly list, and the flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine where he was removed and returned to England.

It was later revealed that the man in question was "Youssef Islam", but apparently the different spelling didn't matter to the feds; it was easier to persecute the celebrity for the easy headline.

If you haven't heard, Yusuf has at long last returned to his roots and recorded a new album, his first in 28 years...An Other Cup. I've been listening to this, and I've found it remarkable. I haven't finished it yet, but it's quiet, pensive, thoughtful, and chock-full of good music and meaningful lyrics. In short, it's everything that music isn't today.

Even if you've never been a fan of Cat Stevens, I urge you to check it out, if for no reason other than to tell the Bush "Administration" to Fuck Off. They've declared him an enemy of the state, but didn't ban his music. By buying this album, it helps to send a message that you don't think intolerance and hate based on religion is something our government should do.

I think Yusuf would agree.

We're Back!

Howdy folks! It's been a while since Northeast Liberals had a post....

We've had holidays and work foibles, and it turns out that there were some growing pains with the new Blogger via Google. You'll notice a new email to get in touch with me...go ahead and use it, I'll be there!

I'm going to try to keep posting more regularly. You all know that I've got a regular gig over at Air America Place 3 days a week....on the opposite days I'm going to try to open a similar blog over here, so come on by and see what I think is important news for you to see today.

As always, VIGILANCE!