Background
To lead, U.S. must give up paranoid policies
Zbigniew Brzezinski:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5232.htm
Shoot-to-kill bodyguards protect Bush: http://www.sundayherald.com/38076
news in focus: London ... the 51st State: http://www.sundayherald.com/38045
'Shoot-to-kill' demand by US:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1086397,00.html
How to protect a president abroad:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3276669.stm
Security tight for Bush arrival:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3279179.stm
US firms told 'take UK jobs home':
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid70616
Mayor of London, says Bush is ' greatest threat to life on planet':
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a stinging attack on President George Bush last night, denouncing him as the "greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen".
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5242.htm
Is Bush Really An "Incoherent" "Moran" As Many Brits And Canadians Think?:
It was sickening to hear right-wing commentators bash Canadians, suggesting they were cowardly. Let me remind them that Canadian soldiers were dying fighting Hitler in 1939, three years before any American troops tangled with the Wehrmacht. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5245.htm
Invitation Only:
My husband was good enough when he was needed to fight your war. His widow and two young children are now deemed not good enough to meet you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1087618,00.html
The Bush visit in numbers:
A total of 14,000 Metropolitan Police officers - including several hundred armed officers - will be on duty in London over the four days, plus 1,300 in the North-east for the visit to Sedgefield.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=464774
Lindis Percy, long time protestor against Star Wars in the U.K., is a leader of the Global Network. Her story: Palace protester is peace veteran;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3279945.stm
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space;
http://www.space4peace.org
Please also see the following from the from Institute for Public Accuracy:
Behind the "Special Relationship" -- Interviews Available
GREG PALAST, media@gregpalast.com, http://www.gregpalast.com
Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." His investigative reports appear on BBC Television and in the Guardian Newspapers of Britain.
He said today: "Blair, like Margaret Thatcher before him, faces revolt within his own party. They believe he lied to get Britain into Bush's war in Iraq. And just as bad, Bush is seen as taking Blair for granted; 'Dubya's poodle' is the common phrase. Worse, Britons are seething over what they see as raw treatment on other issues.
"For example, Bush's steel tariffs and legal attack on the banana trade infuriate Britons. Add to that the reports that Halliburton and other Bush
favorites are sucking up all the spoils in the Iraq reconstruction, and Blair's in hot water unless he publicly disses his guest (unlikely); or comes up with some concessions on Iraq and trade that he can pass off as having squeezed out of the President."
MARK CURTIS, Mcurtis30@aol.com, http://www.markcurtis.info
Curtis is the author of the recently released book "Web of Deceit:
Britain's Real Role in the World" and a former research fellow at the Royal
Institute of International Affairs.
He said today: "The essence of the special relationship is British support for U.S. aggression. This role goes back to the beginning of the postwar world when British planners recognized in secret files that they should be the 'junior power in an orbit of power predominantly under American aegis.' London's support for Washington's war in Iraq is simply historical routine.
"Britain provided various covert support to the U.S. in the Vietnam War while publicly wanting to appear more neutral and also provided covert support for U.S. aggression against Central America in the 1980s. MI6 worked alongside the CIA in secretly bolstering the mujahidin in Afghanistan and took over from the U.S. the secret operation to train Cambodian guerillas allied to the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s.
"Britain was the only major state to support the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and allowed U.S. bombers to use British bases to strike Libya in 1986. Blair's support for Washington has gone even beyond Thatcher's, however -- never before has a British government so frequently committed its military forces to essentially U.S. operations, in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. In a very real sense, Britain under Blair is now acting as a U.S. military proxy or satellite, having lost even the pretense of an independent foreign policy."
PRISCILLA ELWORTHY, scilla@oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk, http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk
Chair of the Oxford Research Group, Elworthy said today: "Public resistance
to the visit is greater than for any state visit ever, mainly because the
British public massively opposed the war in Iraq.... We are fully aware of
the neo-conservative agenda in Washington, and regard it as highly
dangerous and provocative. Current U.S. policy is making Americans at home
and abroad less safe rather than more. Instead we have asked our government
to follow a non-military approach to states like North Korea, Iran, Syria
and Saudi Arabia -- and this is already becoming apparent in our foreign
minister's successful negotiation with Tehran over nuclear capabilities."
Mr. Bush Goes to London: Interviews Available
Monday, November 17, 2003
MILAN RAI, cell: milanrai@btinternet.com
The British author of "Regime Unchanged," a just-released book on the invasion of Iraq, Rai is in the U.S. until November 25. He said today: "President Bush recently said in an interview with the BBC of the war on Iraq: 'War is my last choice, not my first choice.' In March 2002, a year before the war on Iraq, President Bush told three senators meeting National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, '[Expletive deleted] Saddam. We're taking him out.' The President was determined to avoid a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis. On March 17, 2003, UN weapons inspectorspresented the Security Council with a program of activities which they felt could clarify the lingering questions.... Instead of allowing the Security Council to consider, and possibly approve and initiate these 'key remaining disarmament tasks,' President Bush chose that night to give Iraq a 48-hour ultimatum, and to order the inspectors out of Iraq immediately. War was the first choice, ahead of inspections."
DAVID MILLER, david.miller@stir.ac.uk, http://www.staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller
Miller is the editor of the soon-to-be-released "Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq" and a member of the Stirling Media Research Institute.
He said today: "Opposition to the war, the occupation of Iraq and the Bush visit are re-galvanizing U.K. public opinion, which has been shifting back to opposition to the war. This has been partly because public opinion now believes that Blair duped them over the issue of weapons of mass destruction. It is also partly because U.K. voters feel that the relationship between Blair and Bush is too close and that the U.S. is making the world a more dangerous place. The news that the U.S. government effectively asked for the right to 'shoot to kill' protestors in the U.K. will not play well in the U.K."
[See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/24/npoll24.xml ,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13631337_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-SECURITY-BLITZ-AS-DUBYA-FLIES-IN-name_page.html ,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13622444_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-BUSH-OFF---POLL-REVEALS-BRITS-FURIOUS-AT-COST-OF-VISIT-name_page.html ,
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4798530-102285,00.html ]
Dr. SALIH IBRAHIM,
salih.ibrahim@asph.nhs.uk, http://www.voicesuk.org , http://www.medact.org
A pathologist from Iraq who has lived in the U.K. since 1981, Ibrahim has
substantial contact with his family in Basra, which he last visited in January. He said today: "My family doesn't want me to visit now because that would make the family a target for thieves. Lack of order means that gangs of thugs can do what they want. My brother is considering moving to Baghdad. Doctors in Basra are killed and kidnapped; the hospital can't function. Everyone is terrified..." Ibrahim will be participating in protests this week.
GLEN RANGWALA, gr10009@cam.ac.uk,
http://www.middleeastreference.org.uk
A lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, Rangwala was last in Iraq in September this year. He said today: "President Bush last visited the U.K. in April, during the first phase of the war on Iraq. Tony Blair stood alongside him and told him that 'the regime is weakening, the Iraqi people are turning towards us.' As they talk this time ... U.S. jets and helicopters will still be bombing Iraq, as they grapple with the prospect of a violent resistance movement that can outlast and outwit them, having brought chaos to Iraqi society and having deepened the poverty of many.... [In April] Blair assured the President, 'On weapons of mass destruction, we know that the regime has them, we know that as the regime collapses we will be led to them.'"
For more information, contact
Sam Husseini or David Zupan at the:
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
_________________________________________________________________
To lead, U.S. must give up paranoid policies
Zbigniew Brzezinski:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5232.htm
Shoot-to-kill bodyguards protect Bush: http://www.sundayherald.com/38076
news in focus: London ... the 51st State: http://www.sundayherald.com/38045
'Shoot-to-kill' demand by US:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1086397,00.html
How to protect a president abroad:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3276669.stm
Security tight for Bush arrival:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3279179.stm
US firms told 'take UK jobs home':
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid70616
Mayor of London, says Bush is ' greatest threat to life on planet':
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a stinging attack on President George Bush last night, denouncing him as the "greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen".
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5242.htm
Is Bush Really An "Incoherent" "Moran" As Many Brits And Canadians Think?:
It was sickening to hear right-wing commentators bash Canadians, suggesting they were cowardly. Let me remind them that Canadian soldiers were dying fighting Hitler in 1939, three years before any American troops tangled with the Wehrmacht. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5245.htm
Invitation Only:
My husband was good enough when he was needed to fight your war. His widow and two young children are now deemed not good enough to meet you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1087618,00.html
The Bush visit in numbers:
A total of 14,000 Metropolitan Police officers - including several hundred armed officers - will be on duty in London over the four days, plus 1,300 in the North-east for the visit to Sedgefield.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=464774
Lindis Percy, long time protestor against Star Wars in the U.K., is a leader of the Global Network. Her story: Palace protester is peace veteran;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3279945.stm
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space;
http://www.space4peace.org
Please also see the following from the from Institute for Public Accuracy:
Behind the "Special Relationship" -- Interviews Available
GREG PALAST, media@gregpalast.com, http://www.gregpalast.com
Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." His investigative reports appear on BBC Television and in the Guardian Newspapers of Britain.
He said today: "Blair, like Margaret Thatcher before him, faces revolt within his own party. They believe he lied to get Britain into Bush's war in Iraq. And just as bad, Bush is seen as taking Blair for granted; 'Dubya's poodle' is the common phrase. Worse, Britons are seething over what they see as raw treatment on other issues.
"For example, Bush's steel tariffs and legal attack on the banana trade infuriate Britons. Add to that the reports that Halliburton and other Bush
favorites are sucking up all the spoils in the Iraq reconstruction, and Blair's in hot water unless he publicly disses his guest (unlikely); or comes up with some concessions on Iraq and trade that he can pass off as having squeezed out of the President."
MARK CURTIS, Mcurtis30@aol.com, http://www.markcurtis.info
Curtis is the author of the recently released book "Web of Deceit:
Britain's Real Role in the World" and a former research fellow at the Royal
Institute of International Affairs.
He said today: "The essence of the special relationship is British support for U.S. aggression. This role goes back to the beginning of the postwar world when British planners recognized in secret files that they should be the 'junior power in an orbit of power predominantly under American aegis.' London's support for Washington's war in Iraq is simply historical routine.
"Britain provided various covert support to the U.S. in the Vietnam War while publicly wanting to appear more neutral and also provided covert support for U.S. aggression against Central America in the 1980s. MI6 worked alongside the CIA in secretly bolstering the mujahidin in Afghanistan and took over from the U.S. the secret operation to train Cambodian guerillas allied to the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s.
"Britain was the only major state to support the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989 and allowed U.S. bombers to use British bases to strike Libya in 1986. Blair's support for Washington has gone even beyond Thatcher's, however -- never before has a British government so frequently committed its military forces to essentially U.S. operations, in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. In a very real sense, Britain under Blair is now acting as a U.S. military proxy or satellite, having lost even the pretense of an independent foreign policy."
PRISCILLA ELWORTHY, scilla@oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk, http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk
Chair of the Oxford Research Group, Elworthy said today: "Public resistance
to the visit is greater than for any state visit ever, mainly because the
British public massively opposed the war in Iraq.... We are fully aware of
the neo-conservative agenda in Washington, and regard it as highly
dangerous and provocative. Current U.S. policy is making Americans at home
and abroad less safe rather than more. Instead we have asked our government
to follow a non-military approach to states like North Korea, Iran, Syria
and Saudi Arabia -- and this is already becoming apparent in our foreign
minister's successful negotiation with Tehran over nuclear capabilities."
Mr. Bush Goes to London: Interviews Available
Monday, November 17, 2003
MILAN RAI, cell: milanrai@btinternet.com
The British author of "Regime Unchanged," a just-released book on the invasion of Iraq, Rai is in the U.S. until November 25. He said today: "President Bush recently said in an interview with the BBC of the war on Iraq: 'War is my last choice, not my first choice.' In March 2002, a year before the war on Iraq, President Bush told three senators meeting National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, '[Expletive deleted] Saddam. We're taking him out.' The President was determined to avoid a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis. On March 17, 2003, UN weapons inspectorspresented the Security Council with a program of activities which they felt could clarify the lingering questions.... Instead of allowing the Security Council to consider, and possibly approve and initiate these 'key remaining disarmament tasks,' President Bush chose that night to give Iraq a 48-hour ultimatum, and to order the inspectors out of Iraq immediately. War was the first choice, ahead of inspections."
DAVID MILLER, david.miller@stir.ac.uk, http://www.staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller
Miller is the editor of the soon-to-be-released "Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq" and a member of the Stirling Media Research Institute.
He said today: "Opposition to the war, the occupation of Iraq and the Bush visit are re-galvanizing U.K. public opinion, which has been shifting back to opposition to the war. This has been partly because public opinion now believes that Blair duped them over the issue of weapons of mass destruction. It is also partly because U.K. voters feel that the relationship between Blair and Bush is too close and that the U.S. is making the world a more dangerous place. The news that the U.S. government effectively asked for the right to 'shoot to kill' protestors in the U.K. will not play well in the U.K."
[See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/24/npoll24.xml ,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13631337_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-SECURITY-BLITZ-AS-DUBYA-FLIES-IN-name_page.html ,
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13622444_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-BUSH-OFF---POLL-REVEALS-BRITS-FURIOUS-AT-COST-OF-VISIT-name_page.html ,
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4798530-102285,00.html ]
Dr. SALIH IBRAHIM,
salih.ibrahim@asph.nhs.uk, http://www.voicesuk.org , http://www.medact.org
A pathologist from Iraq who has lived in the U.K. since 1981, Ibrahim has
substantial contact with his family in Basra, which he last visited in January. He said today: "My family doesn't want me to visit now because that would make the family a target for thieves. Lack of order means that gangs of thugs can do what they want. My brother is considering moving to Baghdad. Doctors in Basra are killed and kidnapped; the hospital can't function. Everyone is terrified..." Ibrahim will be participating in protests this week.
GLEN RANGWALA, gr10009@cam.ac.uk,
http://www.middleeastreference.org.uk
A lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, Rangwala was last in Iraq in September this year. He said today: "President Bush last visited the U.K. in April, during the first phase of the war on Iraq. Tony Blair stood alongside him and told him that 'the regime is weakening, the Iraqi people are turning towards us.' As they talk this time ... U.S. jets and helicopters will still be bombing Iraq, as they grapple with the prospect of a violent resistance movement that can outlast and outwit them, having brought chaos to Iraqi society and having deepened the poverty of many.... [In April] Blair assured the President, 'On weapons of mass destruction, we know that the regime has them, we know that as the regime collapses we will be led to them.'"
For more information, contact
Sam Husseini or David Zupan at the:
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
_________________________________________________________________