9/11: Major Italian TV network: conclusive evidence that WTC Building 7 was demolished with explosives

Luogocomune is a news commentary site (all in Italian, thus far) featuring a large, separate section on 9/11. In a way, the whole website revolves around the idea that unless that paramount, unacceptable lie called “the 9/11 terrorist attacks” is removed and put into right perspective, the downward spiral towards this new “dark age” of humanity will never stop.

To us “9/11 victims” are not only the 3,000 people that perished on that day, but also some 650,000 civilians killed in Iraq since the invasion began, 100,000 plus Afghans who’ve met the same fate in their country, more than 3,000 US soldiers sent by “Dick & Rummy” to die under false pretense, and –sadly but truly — the ever increasing number of first responders who were knowingly sent to their death by an administration that could be defined “criminal” for this one action alone.

It’s for them all that we fight.

For those who are interested, this is the entire, 42 min. presentation that was aired on Apr. 16th by Italian Canale 5, divided in the following 5 segments:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=MAZ20070503&articleId=5550

War on Terror Spawns War Crimes Charges in Somalia

by Chris FloydChris Floyd

When a Bush-backed “regime change” is in high gear, you can bet that war crimes are not far behind. And so it has proved in Somalia, where a senior European Union security official has told the organization that the American-trained and American-funded Ethiopian invaders and their Somali allies “may have committed war crimes and that donor countries could be considered complicit if they do nothing to stop them,” the Independent reports.

The official’s message to the EU’s Somalia delegation detailed:

“the exact statutes that were violated. They included intentionally directing attacks against civilians and ordering the displacement of civilians for reasons related to the conflict,” the Independent notes. “‘In regard to the abovementioned potential violations of international law there arise urgent questions of responsibility and potential complicity in the commission of war crimes by the European Commission and its partners,’ the e-mail said. The European Commission has been a major financial backer of the Somali government and the African Union peacekeeping mission, which is currently made up of only Ugandan troops…The United States is also a major financial supporter of the Somali government and the peacekeepers, pledging more than $120 million.”

That figure dwarfs the $20 million that the EU is laying out for bankrolling the new government installed by Bush and the Ethiopian dictatorship. And of course, the $120 million for “peacekeeping” doled out by Washington does not include the untold millions in secret dosh to supply the Ethiopian military with training, equipment and intelligence support. Nor does it cover the cost of the U.S. Special Ops forces that have been operating in Somalia and surrounding states in the wake of the invasion. Nor the cost of the many bombing raids that Bush has ordered in support of the Ethiopian dictatorship’s assault, raids which have killed scores of civilians in supposed attempts to assassinate alleged al Qaeda allies from thousands of feet in the air.

Nor does this $120 million “peacekeeping” largess cover the cost of the rendition operation that the Bush gang has been running, grabbing Somalians fleeing for their lives from Bush’s regime change operation and “rendering” them back to Ethiopia’s notorious dungeons, where they are beaten, starved and abused – while CIA and FBI officials drop by the hellholes for “interrogation sessions” with the captives, as the Associated Press reported this week in an almost universally ignored in-depth investigation: U.S. Agents Visit Secret Ethiopian Jails:

CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and abuse, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. Human rights groups, lawyers and several Western diplomats assert hundreds of prisoners, who include women and children, have been transferred secretly and illegally in recent months from Kenya and Somalia to Ethiopia, where they are kept without charge or access to lawyers and families…

One Western diplomat in Nairobi, who agreed to speak to AP only if not quoted to avoid angering U.S. officials, said he sees the United States as playing a guiding role in the operation.  John Sifton, a Human Rights Watch expert on counter-terrorism, went further. He said in an e-mail that the United States has acted as “ringleader” in what he labeled a “decentralized, outsourced Guantanamo.”

We wrote here recently about a U.S. citizen who was “rendered” to the Ethiopians for the crime of refusing to confess to American agents that he was an al Qaeda agent. Amir Mohamed Meshal, 24, remains in Ethiopian custody, while Bush officials claim they are powerless to get him out. It appears they have no leverage at all with the Ethiopian government, despite providing the dictatorship with millions in military aid, shielding it from international heat over its draconian abuses – and even allowing it to score $20 million in military equipment from North Korea, despite the Bush Administration’s supposedly “zero-tolerance” sanctions against the Korean regime, as the New York Times reports. (It seems killing darkie Muslims in Africa takes priority over nuclear non-proliferation for the Bushists.)  No, the Bush Administration has no influence whatsoever over Ethiopia; there’s just no way in hell they could convince Addis Ababa to hand over an American citizen with no criminal charges against him.

So while Bush’s “War on Terror” proxies go about the Master’s business by shooting and forcibly uprooting civilians, the mass exodus of refugees continues, with more than 124,000 people fleeing Mogadishu alone since February, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports. Some 11,000 have been forced from their homes since the beginning of this month. These are refugees not from the invasion itself – which was another quickie “mission accomplished” job – but from the “peace” that Bush and his proxies have visited upon the land, an occupation that is bidding fair to become a smaller-scale version of the four-alarm FUBAR that Bush has wrought in Iraq.

The attack overturned Somalia’s “Islamic Courts” government, which had brought a measure of security and stability to the ravaged nation after 15 years of murderous anarchy. But because the Horn of Africa is considered a linchpin of the Bush gang’s “New American Century” plans for military and economic domination of the region’s oil supplies and distribution, Somalia became a target of “the path of action,” the Mussolinian tag that Bush has given to America’s official national security strategy.

Also – and this is perhaps the most important thing for the lily-livered bullies of the Bush Faction – Somalia was “doable.” This, as you recall, was the battle cry of chickenhawk Paul Wolfowitz immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when he urged his master to hit Iraq right away. As Bob Woodward relates in his hagiographic Bush at War (Woodward had not yet bitten the royal hand that fed him), Wolfowitz told the Bush inner circle that while “attacking Afghanistan would be uncertain … Iraq was a brittle oppressive regime that might break easily. It was doable.” That is to say, Howlin’ Wolf, George the Deserter and Dick “Other Priorities” Cheney all knew that Iraq was a broken-backed country that was no threat to anyone and could not strike back, as a state, with a standing army, if attacked. You could go to war against Iraq – even fight a long “counterinsurgency” struggle if you had to – and still keep the malls full, the corporate welfare flowing, the rubes gulled with reality shows and propaganda pageants, and “the base” stoked with bloody-eyed hatred of “Islmaofascists” and their “dhimmicrat” allies, etc. etc. Like Iraq, Somalia was “doable”; so it’s been “done.”

But also like Iraq, the aftermath of this latest Terror War rape is unlikely to follow the Bushist script. As we noted last week, yet another whirlwind of blowback will be reaped from these rotten seeds. Yet another generation will be raised in violence and despair, will be taught – by the “guiding lights of world civilization” – that the true meaning of life is the power that flows from the barrel of a gun, from a bomb, from the blood of innocent people. This is the lesson that the “War on Terror” is teaching and confirming around the world, day after day after day. This is the real “New American Century” that Bush and his cohorts – and his simpering apologists – are trying to construct.

Source: LewRockwell.com

Fear Factor: Press Plays 9/11 Card to Justify Somalia Slaughter

A few days ago we were – how to put it? – uncivil  to New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, taking him to task over his story about Somalia, in which he told readers of the “world’s leading newspaper” that the little tussle they were having over there was mostly the fault of a bunch of greedy gangsters with inborn anarchic tendencies who didn’t want to pay taxes. Mr. Gettleman’s story, we suggested, with unpardonable rudeness, was not really a work of journalism but more of propaganda piece, aiming to whitewash the Bush Administration’s crucial – and armed – role in instigating the brutal war of aggression that has brought fresh ruin and death to that long-broken land.

We now wish to apologize most wholeheartedly to Mr. Gettleman for our splenitive and rash outpouring. It was wrong of us to imply that he had poisoned the public discourse with the artful distortions and compelling mendacities that adorned his piece. We reacted so strongly because we feared that his peculiar take on the situation – greedy darkies getting what’s coming to them – would become the “conventional wisdom” about Somalia in the American media world, thus blinding the American people once again to the vast crimes being committed in their name by the buccaneers of the Beltway.

But it turns out that Mr. Gettleman’s manly effort on behalf of Little Caesar and Big-Time Dick was quickly effaced by the sterling work of one Chris Tomlinson of the Associated Press. In a story that appeared last Friday – and soon permeated every media market in America, and many foreign ones as well – Mr. Tomlinson delivered a much bolder pre-emptive strike against any unpatriotic malcontent who might question the president’s wise policy in Somalia. Indeed, Mr. Tomlinson’s long and much-reprinted piece was so servile and accommodating that it makes Mr. Gettleman look like the second coming of I.F. Stone.

Eschewing the psychological nuance that characterized Mr. Gettleman’s insightful analysis (such as his discovery of the “raw antigovernment defiance” that will prevent “many Somalis” from ever accepting any government, much less the beneficent hegemony of President Bush’s proxies, the dictator of Ethiopia and his Somali warlord allies), Mr. Tomlinson cuts right to the chase, brandishing the Bush Administration’s most potent weapon: raw fear, produced by the constant evocation of 9/11 and the world-encircling dastards of al Qaeda.

Right out of the gate, in the second paragraph, Tomlinson asserts – without any qualification or attribution whatsoever – that those resisting the American-backed invasion of their country by are “threatening to turn the country back into a haven for al-Qaeda.” (9/11! 9/11!)  Just two paragraphs later, he provides this description of the Islamic Courts council that had brought Somalia its first measure of peace and stability in 15 years before its overthrow by Ethiopian tanks and American bombs:

…Islamic radicals who grabbed power for six months last year, filling Somalia’s power vacuum with a strict religious government. Like the Taliban who once ruled Afghanistan and hosted Osama bin Laden, the Somali movement, the Council of Islamic Courts, harbors al-Qaeda terrorists, U.S. officials say.

Just like the Taliban! Osama bin Laden! 9/11! 9/11! At least this paragraph offers one of Tomlinson’s rare uses of a source – albeit unnamed ones – to back up his bald assertions. But the import is clear: the Islamic Courts council is the same thing as the Taliban and al Qaeda, and thus the invasion of Somalia is entirely justified as part of the noble War on Terror that President Bush is waging to keep Americans safe.

Nowhere does Tomlinson offer even a pro forma mention of the Islamic Courts’ constant denials of any involvement with al Qaeda. Nor does he mention – doubtless because, in his sweet ignorance, he does not know – that the Courts themselves were comprised of various factions of varying degrees of religious fervor, from moderates to more hard-core fundamentalists. They were never simply a monolithic bloc of Taliban-style fanatics. You’d have to look to Mr. Bush’s longtime family friends, the Saudi royals, for that kind of thing; their kingdom is by far the most repressive religious regime on the face of the earth – and also a haven for not a few al-Qaeda supporters, including some very highly placed and quite wealthy ones.

In fact, Tomlinson’s constant assertions of an inextricable link between the deposed Islamic Courts and al Qaeda rests on the word of those fountains of unerring truth – “intelligence officials” in the service of the Bush Administration. These charges are in turn based on the alleged presence in Somalia of a bare handful of individuals with alleged ties to alleged al Qaeda-associated enterprises. Tomlinson breathlessly relates that a whole ten “al Qaeda operatives remain in Somalia,” and are “at least partially responsible for the growing violence in the capital.” Who knew that these wily al Qaeda operators were somehow able to sneak into the tanks and artillery batteries of the American-trained Ethiopian army, which has been the source of most of the “violence in the capital” in the last month, when more than 1,400 people were killed, most of them civilians? Gadzooks, is there nothing these evil masterminds can’t do?

There is more – much more – in this vein. Tomlinson notes that those opposing the invasion are said to possess some shoulder-fired anti-aircraft guns. Now, you and I might think these weapons would be used by the “insurgents” to attack those who have invaded their country. (And indeed, their only reported use has been to shoot down an Ethiopian cargo plane supplying the invaders and an Ethiopian military helicopter.) But Tomlinson is mainlining the Bush juice now, and so simply says flat out – again without even the fig leaf of an unnamed “intelligence official” – and that these weapons “could be used against civilian aircraft throughout the region.” Al Qaeda! Airplanes! 9/11! 9/11!

But yes, it’s true that shoulder-fired missiles could be used against civilian aircraft in the region. And the Chinese could give a nuclear bomb to the Ku Klux Klan. Germany could invade Poland tomorrow. All kinds of things could happen in this crazy world. But normally, in a “news” story, one offers some kind of evidence for this kind of assertion.

But this is not a story designed to provide readers with the news of what is happening in Somalia. It is designed to convey – without a single dissenting viewpoint – the official line of the Bush Administration regarding the murderous proxy war that it has greenlighted in Somalia. There is no mention of the American air strikes against fleeing refugees in the early days of the war – an ostensible attempt to kill alleged al Qaeda operatives that instead murdered dozens of innocent civilians. There is no mention of the “rendition” of refugees – including innocent American citizens – into Ethiopia’s torture chambers. There is no mention of the years, and millions of dollars, that the Bush administration has spent in arming and training the repressive Ethiopian military. There is no mention of the complexities of the political situation in Somalia, just constant invocations of “Taliban” and “al Qaeda” to evoke a Pavlovian response of fear – and unquestioning acquiescence to the Terror War policies of the Bush Administration. After all, who could possibly oppose a righteous operation to keep Somalia from “turning back into a haven for al Qaeda”?

The reality, of course, is that deposing the Islamic Courts council – which had reached out to the West, seeking recognition and cooperation – and plunging Somalia back into anarchy virtually guarantees that it will indeed become a haven for terrorism, just as in Bush’s other “regime change” operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But then, the Terror War has never been about curtailing the terrorist threat against Americans. This is blatantly obvious, as every aspect of the “War” has only exacerbated terrorism and anti-American feeling around the world. The Terror War is about securing even more loot and power for elite factions in the American Establishment (and selected foreign cronies). Somalia’s oil and its strategic location make it a prime target for the Terror Warriors; hence the invasion and the blood-soaked occupation.

But these truths must remain forever hidden from the American people. And here Tomlinson’s story has been marvelously effective.  The ubiquitous AP wire serves countless papers and television stations, large and small, across the length and breadth of the land, and around the world as well. Even a cursory Googling of the story’s appearances in print shows the tremendous reach of Tomlinson’s piece:

Casper, Wyoming. White Rock, South Dakota. Wilmington, North Carolina. Fort Wayne, Indiana. State College, Pennsylvania. Gainesville, Florida. Seattle, Washington. Twin Falls, Idaho. Sacramento, California. Baltimore, Maryland. Houston, Texas. Atlantic City, New Jersey. Albany, New York. Los Angeles. Las Vegas. Denver. The Federal News Radio. Newsday. Fox News. The Guardian. Pravda. The Scotsman.

On and on it goes. This conglomeration of fear, fantasy, manipulation and omission is now the picture of the situation in Somalia for millions of Americans: a propaganda coup for the Bush Administration, yet another “mission accomplished.”

Source: LewRockwell.com

How can Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak Appear in the BBC Office just Minutes after the Final 9/11 Bombing with a Pre-prepared Interview???

“He knew beforehand that the bombings would take place.  It was not difficult to see that Barak came with a pre-written speech as he is quick to point out all of Israel’s enemies”  

— theunjustmedia.com —  on Barak’s prepared speech, during 9/11 attacks.

Ehud Barak appears on BBC, while in the background played a video of a 757 attacking the Pentagon.

On the morning of 9/11/01, Ehud Barak, the former Israel’s prime minister was in London doing an interview with BBC.  He came on the BBC at the precise time of the attacks!

While the whole world was stunned former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak appeared from BBC’s main office in London with a pre written/prepared speech.  He spent 30 minutes speaking about how dangerous some “Islamic” countries and terrorists are.  At the end of the interview, the news reporter stated that Mr. Barak joined him an hour before it was broadcasted, meaning Barak was there even an hour earlier.  In real time of events this means he was there within minutes of the blast, with a pre-written interview.

He knew beforehand that the bombings would take place.  It was not difficult to see that Barak came with a pre written speech as he is quick to point out all of Israel’s enemies which he calls “rogue states”.  The answers to the interview were carefully prepared to use public sentiments created by the blast, against enemies of Israel.

Is the aircraft in the video a 757–200?

During this interview, this footage shown by the BBC, claimed to be the plane that hit the Pentagon.  It shows the plane being filmed from underneath, however, it doesn’t show the impact.  Later they show the Pentagon on fire in the background. 

The aircraft in the BBC video has some qualities that distinguish it from a Boeing 757:

• The aircraft seems stockier, with a shorter nose section (like a 737).
• It has a whitish bottom, not a silver reflective one that the American 757 has.
• The engines are not as visible in front of the wings as a 757 has.
• The increased sweep of the wings seems more consistent with smaller aircraft.

Why wasn’t this video shown in the U.S.?  Was it too contradictory to the official story?

If indeed it is the aircraft that allegedly hit the Pentagon then it doesn’t support many of the official government’s claims.  Some observations and/or contradictions:

• The path that the aircraft is on is a routine approach to runway 15 at Reagan National Airport.
• The aircraft appears to be in a dive, and not on the almost horizontal trajectory of the official path.
• That it was not clipping lampposts, it is too high and the view is completely from underneath.
• All those claims of witnesses seeing intricate details, like passenger’s faces, etc. would be even more impossible to believe.
• This appears to have been filmed from a wooded area, just below the bottom left of the aircraft — likely from Arlington National Cemetery as opposed to coming down the boulevard.
• The film does not show an impact — it is consistent with a flyover.

Do eyewitnesses support the video?

Both ACPD Corporal Barry Foust and Officer Richard Cox said that they “Saw a large American Airlines aircraft in steep descent on a collision course with the Pentagon.”  And Lt. Col. Stuart Artman, a commercial airline pilot of the Army Reserve, was walking near the Washington Monument when he saw the presumed plane: “I saw the plane that hit the Pentagon.  It went behind some trees.”  Then he saw the smoke. Notice that he didn’t say he saw the aircraft strike the Pentagon — he presumes that it does.  There are numerous rather vague testimonies of this sort… they believe that they saw an approaching aircraft — but don’t explicitly see it crash.  Did the “aircraft” these people see actually strike the Pentagon? … Or did it look like it might?

Source: 911exposed.com

Video: George W. Bush Knew of WTC Crash Before Leaving Hotel

Anti-U.S. Uproar Sweeps Italy

The U.S. government has proposed to make Vicenza, Italy, the largest US military site in Europe, but the people of Vicenza, and all of Italy, have sworn it will never happen.

As with the story of the Downing Street Minutes two years ago this week, a major news story and huge controversy in Europe right now is unknown to Americans, despite the fact that it is all about the policies of the American government. In February of this year, 200,000 people descended on the Northeastern Italian town of Vicenza (population 100,000) to march in protest. Largely as a result, the Prime Minister of Italy was (temporarily) driven out of power. Meanwhile, just outside Vicenza, large tents now hold newly minted citizen activists keeping a 24-hour-per-day vigil and training hundreds of senior citizens, children, and families every day in how to nonviolently stop bulldozers. The bulldozers they are waiting for are American.

The conflict, should it come about, will be as surprising to American television viewers as were the attacks of 9-11, unless someone tells them ahead of time what is going on. This week a group of Italians is in Washington, D.C., attempting to do just that. A group of Italian Members of Parliament also visited Washington last month in opposition to the base.

To understand this story it is necessary to be aware of a few basic facts that Americans are not supposed to be aware of, including that our military maintains several hundred bases in other people’s countries, and that many of the residents of these countries resent the U.S. military presence. (Of course, the alleged planner of the murderous 9-11 attacks said he was reacting to U.S. bases on foreign soil, in that case in Saudi Arabia. The Bush Administration closed the offending bases.)

In addition, it is helpful to understand that Vicenza is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a beautiful treasure of a town showcasing the renaissance architecture of Andrea Palladio. Reflecting on this makes it easier to put into context the proposal for Vicenza from the U.S. military and the reaction of the people who live there.

If you google “No Dal Molin” you’ll find 83,300 results. Dal Molin is the name of the proposed new military base. This compares with 9,290 for such an important news story as “John Edwards’ hair.” But the only U.S. media link you’ll find is Democracy Now, which interviewed one of the Italian activists in Washington this week.

In Italy, the women leading the opposition to the base, women who were housewives and had never been activists until news of this proposal leaked, have appeared frequently in the media. Here’s a television news show video in Italian (click on “Puntate,” scroll down to “Vicenza,” and click). And here is an activist’s video in English.

Since this story broke last year, Vicenza has become a focus for peace activists in Europe, including Americans living abroad, and has been the site of numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience. There is another protest march planned for this coming Sunday. (Flyer).

I spent all day Thursday with U.S. peace activists Stephanie Westbrook and Medea Benjamin accompanying a delegation of four Italians to meetings with Congress Members, Senators, and their staffers. The Italians were led by two women, Cinzia Bottene and Thea Valentina Garbellin.

They had arrived Tuesday and began their lobbying efforts on Wednesday. Stephanie and Thea appeared on Democracy Now that morning. And Code Pink launched a petition website where we are collecting Americans’ signatures in support of the people of Vicenza.

On Wednesday, the delegation spoke with various Congress Members, including Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D., Hawaii) and Rep. Walter Jones (R., N.C.). At these and many other meetings, the Italians dropped off materials, told their stories, and answered questions. The Congress Members and staffers made no commitments but promised to look into the matter.

“The amazing thing,” Cinzia said, “is that nobody in the United States, not even Senators and Congress Members, knows anything about it. But we found a great deal of interest.”

On Thursday we met with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D., N.H.)and a staff person. They, too, knew nothing about it, but were very interested. The same goes for aides to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Sen. Jack Reid (D., R.I.).

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) had a little bit different reaction. He said he opposed the base and would write a letter to all of his colleagues asking them to join him. He said he favored closing foreign bases but not opening new ones. Cinzia thanked the Congressman and invited him to come and speak in Vicenza.

Another meeting we had on Thursday was with three Senate staffers, who each worked for the Armed Services Committee or for a member thereof. They had all been to Vicenza. In fact, they flew to the new base location to examine it in 2004, two years before anyone in Italy had even learned about the proposal.

In our meeting, they articulated the U.S. government’s position, and Thea and Cinzia articulated that of the people of Vicenza. At times, the two world views clashed. One of the staffers, who said he had been to Vicenza many times and had many Italian friends there, but who did not speak a word of Italian, suggested that the base might be necessary to allow the U.S. to airlift aid to starving Africans. This did not sit well with the Vicentines, who are motivated as much by their opposition to global militarism, arrogance, and lies, as they are by the potential impact on their city’s water and traffic.

The Senate staffers tried to be helpful, and explained as others had before them, that what they needed to know about were potential impacts on water, traffic, power, pollution, and the environment. They also were very interested in learning about alternative locations for the base and accounts of the Italian government having offered other locations. But the danger brought to the people of Vicenza by making it a major military target was not a concern that had made it onto their radar screen. The damage to historic and artistic treasures was deemed “intangible.” And the affront to the dignity of the people of Vicenza was unfortunate but insignificant.

The Italians explained that they have never protested the existing U.S. base in Vicenza, which has been there for 50 years. In fact, there are a number of U.S. military installations in and around Vicenza and throughout Italy, including facilities holding 90 atomic bombs, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, and this video news report in English from Italian television.

“The people of Vicenza and the Americans have always been friends,” Cinzia said. “But when you invite a friend to your house and give them a room, it changes when they demand to have the whole house.”

As in much of the world, Vicenza is already overrun by American soldiers who drink too much, commit too many crimes, return from Iraq in mental anguish, and – since 9-11 – remain ever more isolated from the Italians. It’s the Vicentines’ city, but they are second-class citizens. If an Italian is waiting in line in a hospital emergency room, and a U.S. soldier comes in, the soldier can go straight to the front. And the economic argument so cynically used all over the United States to keep our economy based on war does not work in Vicenza: Italian tax payers are paying a large portion of the cost of their own occupation.

American taxpayers, on the other hand, are completely oblivious to the fact that they are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the construction of a base that has enraged the nation of Italy and serves no purpose that the people of the United States have ever debated or had any say in. While the State Department and the Pentagon make our decisions for us, the Congress does have to approve the money. They’ve already approved half of the money for this base, and the rest is expected to be voted on by October.

The people of Vicenza have also had no say in this. They handed in 10,000 signatures and requested a referendum, but were denied. The Italian government has said it will permit the base, but it has not actually issued the construction permits. Leaders of the opposition movement met with the Minister of Defense who said that Italy was capable of saying No to the United States. But the U.S. ambassador gave Italy a deadline of January 19th to accept the base, and the Prime Minister announced his acceptance of it on a trip abroad on January 16th. While no permits have been issued, fiberoptic cables have been laid on the site, which activists have dug up and ripped out.

The activists leading this resistance struggle say they want to be friends with Americans. They have even proposed that the hundreds of millions of dollars for the base be spent instead on aiding the people of New Orleans, and that the cities of Vicenza and New Orleans establish a relationship as “twin cities.”

But Cinzia Bottene made her case very clearly in the meeting with the staffers. “The citizens,” she said, “will never, I repeat, never accept a base at Dal Molin.”

The Italians plan to deliver a petition showing American support for their peaceful efforts to Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Ike Skelton, chairs of the Armed Services Committees in both houses.

The Commander Guy, George W. Bush, plans to visit Rome on June 9th. He might actually be greeted by some cheers if he cancels the plans for Dal Molin. Otherwise, he can expect a grand unwelcoming party.

Source: SmirkingChimp.com

Ending Conflicts Through Inner Peace

In today’s world we see conflict everywhere. Conflicts between nations, between countries, between races, between tribes, between families, between brothers and sisters.

These conflicts are killing millions of people, they are causing poverty and hunger, are driving away people from their homes and lands, and nflicting damage on innocent people, animals, birds, the earth and the environment. 

There are politicians and leaders of countries who thrive on conflict. Who actually owe their political careers to conflict. Whose raison d’etre is conflict. They will not survive as leaders and politicians a single day if they did not create conflicts.

The biggest and financially the most profitable industry and business is the weapons business. There are  weapons that incinerate humans and animals into ashes, that evaporate metals and concrete. Nations and people do not hesitate in using such horrendous weapons. They have lost all feelings of guilt and have no conscience using these weapons on fellow beings.

Besides these obvious killer weapons, mankind uses other weapons, such as starving people to death, poisoning them with drugs and chemicals, and psychological warfare.

Newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media sell because of their screaming headlines of conflicts and wars. People pay hundreds of dollars monthly to buy newspapers, and watch violent TV programs and movies, that program their minds into becoming monsters.

We have become so conflict prone that we are totally insulated against the sufferings of others.  We have no compassion and no mercy. We take pain, hunger, suffering and death of others in stride.

Nearly all conflicts are created for material wealth, greed and ego.  As a result of these conflicts, today only 5% of the people or about 400 corporations and their share holders own 80% of the world’s resources and wealth. Acquired mostly by wars, manipulation of markets, outright theft, and murder.

Out of the 6 billion people on this earth almost 2 billion do not have access to continuous supply of clean water, or a decent meal a day. Billion or more are living in shacks and non permanent homes. Hundreds of millions have been turned into refugees in their own countries or had to flee their countries of birth. Everyday more and more people are becoming victims of this horror. Statistics show that around 250 million people have been killed by wars this century.

Eugenics is no more a secret or a taboo subject and is openly promoted by some people. They want to reduce the disenfranchised, and the robbed poor people of the world by wars, man-made diseases, hunger and starvation. There are people who now want to cull humans, just as they cull animals. America and Europe are deliberately using warfare on poorer people and nations to reduce their numbers.

In many countries there is a thriving trade in human trafficking, white slavery and prostitution, not only is there trafficking in live humans but children’s organs are sold to wealthy people for transplant purposes. Children are kidnapped and killed for their organs.

The modern monetary system which is based on credit and debt creation is leading to a handful of rich becoming richer and majority of  world people becoming poorer, even the middle classes are going into poverty.  The usury system which rewards capital but punishes those who have no capital, such as the workers, the small businessman and the peasants, is also causing high inflation which is making even basic necessities unaffordable for a lot of people.

Economies of countries are based on speculation and gambling. Governments make laws that promote speculation and gambling in order to increase tax revenue intake.  Countries’ economies are like Casinos.

In the last hundred years the world has seen huge speculative bubbles of  commodities, currencies, stock markets, land and property. These days many countries’ GDP temporarily expand as a result of speculative building and property boom. 

Lands that could have been used to produce food for the hungry and to maintain the ecological balance is ripped up and instead luxurious homes are built on it that require millions of litres of water and huge resources of electricity, energy, wood, metals, and other products that are contaminating the earth and causing pollution. Prices of building materials rise, making it unaffordable for poorer people to even build a shack.

Then the insiders engineer a crash leaving behind poverty, hunger and dispossession, millions of people lose their homes, farms and lands while the insiders make fortunes.

Those people who participate in such speculation do not consider the consequences of their actions and what harm such behaviour and such greed causes to people, animals, birds and their habitats and the environment.

The main reason for this conflict is that mankind has become greedy, and fallen into the rat race of  acquisition and consumption.

There can be no peace when everybody is scheming and fighting for these illusionary things. Every country, has joined this mad race that is being promoted by elites and capitalists. In the chase for this illusionary wealth, nations are willing to sacrifice their own people and subject them to the pressures of IMF and World Bank. In the end only a handful people in a country become very rich and others are left with illusions.

All these illusions are creating sick communities, sick societies, sick countries and a sick world.

In order to escape this matrix we will have to achieve inner peace.

Without achieving inner peace we will continue to be the pawns in a game created by the money masters and crooked politicians.

Without this inner peace in ourselves, our judgements will be clouded, without this peace we will have a miserable physical and mental life. 

We will be suffering from the stress of this missing element called peace. Our minds and bodies will become diseased and we will be infecting others around us with negative energies.

Without this peace we will not understand the needs of our fellow beings, we will have no true compassion for our fellow creatures human or animal.

Inner peace is the greatest wealth that you can acquire, all other wealth is an illusion, a burden and a chain around your neck, not your protection, not your saviour.

Our physical body is an illusion that will one day vanish into nothingness. That all the material things are programmed to terminate, to die and to vanish. Nothing is everlasting except the only reality, the only truth and that is God.

To end all conflicts, avoid all conflicts. Walk away from arguments and conflicts, walk away from temptations and do not indulge in or participate in financial wizardry, economic oppression and injustice. Think of the visible and non-visible consequences and implications of your every act.

Work on achieving inner peace, it is the only way to prosperity and happiness and peace in this world.

May God Guide us towards this inner and outer peace.

O God! O our Master!

You are eternal life and everlasting peace by Your essence and your attributes.

The everlasting peace is from You and it returns to You.

O our Sustainer! Grant us the life of true peace and usher us into the abode of peace.

O Glorious and Bounteous One!

You are blessed and sublime.

Source: IslamServices.org