Felicity Arbuthnot: Tony Bair's Vision of Eternal War-Iran and Syria Next? l

If you search the birthrate of babies in our world, you will find that there is a moron born every minute! I once worked for a man whose inconsistencies and delusions stretched the mind to a realm beyond confusion. Having laid down specific edicts as to aims and how they should be achieved, the following day he would yell at his staff for following them, and deny all knowledge of his instructions. One day an exasperated colleague hung a placard on the wall above his desk before he arrived. It read "You are never alone with schizophrenia." In my case the idiot was Major Dixon, my boss when I served as Advisory Team Leader in Vietnam, just North of Kontum, but I digress. On 9 September, the man under whose premiership the fantasy of Iraq being able to attack the West within 45 minutes, instrumental in the justification for invasion, was dreamed up, yet apparently so frightened, that he was smuggled in to the Chilcot Inquiry on Iraq, via a back door in January last year, called for regime change in Syria and Iran. As parts of Afghanistan and Iraq still smolder, daily, since Britain's enthusiastic endorsement of "liberation", Blair, who qualified as a barrister, sworn to uphold the law, told the London Times "Regime change in Iran would make me significantly more optimistic about the entire region." The West should be prepared to use force, he suggested, if Iran continued to pursue its nuclear ambitions. Iran has repeatedly denied having a weapons program, with the country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei saying they will not develop nuclear weapons, unequivocally condemning them as un-Islamic. The IAEA Inspectors have said repeatedly that they have been allowed unfettered access to installations without prior notice. However, as the political pressure builds, they appear slightly wobbly. It has to be hoped they are not not again incorporating in their teams, those with other interests, as was the case with Iraq!

Los Angeles Times: Libyan Rebels Meet Resistance!

Rebel fighters tried to storm two strongholds of Moammar Gadhafi supporters Friday, but met stiff resistance and suffered casualties in urban battlefields by snipers firing from mosques and heavy weapons rattling main boulevards. The tough defense displayed the firepower and resolve of the Gadhafi followers, and suggested that Libya's "new rulers" may not easily push aside the remnants of the old government! At least 13 fighters were killed, and 25 wounded as they mounted a second day of attacks on Gadhafi's hometown, the Mediterranean coastal town of Sirte, said a spokesman for the s0- called "transitional government" based in Tripoli. The attack on Sirte involved several thousand fighters and 900 armed vehicles, officials said, including tanks, but mostly pickup trucks outfitted with machine guns, rocket launchers, and anti-aircraft weapons. "The Gadhafi loyalists have so many weapons," cried Maab Fatel, a 28-year-old revolutionary fighter on the front lines in Bani Walid. "This battle is really crazy." About 150 miles to the west, near Bani Walid, rebel fighters advanced into the desert city but were soon repelled by pro-Gadhafi forces, scattering in disarray and full retreat as evening approached. Rebel fighters found snipers thwarting their bid to advance into the city center, and rockets and mortars poured down on the upon the invading force. Commanders reported at least six dead and several dozen injured. Several fighters complained that residents of Bani Walid seemed to remain loyal to Gadhafi, who lavished financial largesse on the town and its principal tribe, the Warfalla.

Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley: Pack of Drills Preceded 9/11 Attacks

Historian Webster Tarpley has documented 46 drills conducted by "Western Intelligence" prior to the 9/11 attack, leading to the conclusion that the whole sordid affair was an "inside job". Inter -viewed by Press TV, Dr. Tarpley speaks with authority about our nation's "invisible government", a Wall Street US intelligence rogue entity he claims is really behind the significant attack that provoked war against innocent governments in the Middle East, and has already caused the deaths and displacement of millions of people. In his interview by PressTV, Webster Tarpley is quoted as follows: The fact is, the US government cannot tell the truth, cannot really come clean on this, because of what actually happened. In very crude terms, 9/11 was a war provocation spawned by the US intelligence community, which is part of an invisible government! Before the towers were attacked, 25 drills were held that morning. The purpose of these drills was to start the war against other civilizations, and start a war, beginning with Pakistan and Afghanistan, that continued with a war against Iraq! Now, as we can plainly see, it has been enlarged with a horrible attack against Libya and other countries in the same region. Colin Powell, when he was Secretary of State, promised a white paper within about a month, an act which never happened. Instead, we had the Kane Hamilton Commission, which has been a tissue of lies and perjury. Don't take my word for it: Kane and Hamilton know the truth. In a book published five years after the event, they admitted that top officers of the US Air Force had committed perjury in front of the 9/11 Commission. Though this was a major Federal, crime nothing was done about it.

UN: Britain Violates International Law!!

Truth Commissioner Yves Cabannes, coordinator of the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, has accused the British government of "infringing international laws." As Basildon Council authorities have remained steadfast in their determination to evict the Irish travelers from Dale Farm, human rights activists and British citizens have voiced their anger over the govern- ment's disrespect for human rights and international laws. Local authorities won an eviction order against Dale Farm residents when Britain's High Court rejected a bid to postpone the evictions. Basildon Council is required to provide the travelers with accommodation, but the residents have asserted that they have not been provided with appropriate accommodation. Local authorities are to clear the camp site forcefully, if the residents do not leave peacefully before September 19. Residents' mobile homes would be towed away, and the outbuildings would be torn down: "After 10 years, when we have exhausted the judicial process and made every effort to negotiate, we have no option but to resort to direct action to clear the site," said Tony Ball, leader of the local authority Basildon Council. Several human rights campaigners have asserted that the government's decision constitutes an act of racial discrimination against Irish travelers in Britain, which number in hundreds of thousands.

Brian Becker: The Truth About the Situation in Libya!

Libya is a small country of just over 6 million people,but it possesses the largest oil reserves in Africa. The oil produced there is especially coveted because of its particularly high quality. The Air Force of the United States, along with Britain and France have carried out 7,459 bombing attacks since March 19. Britain, France and the United States sent special operation ground forces and commando units to direct the military operations of the so-called rebel fighters, which is really a NATO-led army in the field. Though the troops may be disaffected Libyans, the operation is under the control and direction of NATO commanders and western commando units who serve as "advisers". Their new weapons and billions in funds come from the US and other NATO powers that froze and seized Libya's assets in Western banks. Their only military successes outside of Benghazi, in the far east of Libya's borders, have been exclusively based on the coordinated air and ground operations of the imperialist NATO military forces. In military terms, Libya's resistance to NATO resembles that of David and Goliath. US military spending alone is more than ten times greater than Libya's entire annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was $74.2 billion in 2010, according to the CIA's World Fact Book. In recent weeks, NATO military operations used surveillance-collecting drones, satellites, aerial attacks, and covert commando units to destroy that tiny nation.

Robert Scheer: President Obama and the Economy

Sure, Obama inherited an enormous mess from George W. who whistled "Dixie" while the banking system imploded, but now its time for Democrats to admit that their guy bears a considerable responsibility for not turning things around. He blindly followed President Bush's would-be remedy of throwing money at the banks, and getting nothing in return for beleaguered home -owners. Sadly, Obama has proved to be nothing more than a Bill Clinton clone triangulating with the Wall Street lobbyists at the expense of ordinary folks. That fatal arc of betrayal was captured by a headline in Tuesday's New York Times: Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'. The Census Bureau reported that there are now 46.2 million Americans living below the official poverty line - the highest number in the 52 years since that statistic was first measured - and median household income has fallen back to the 1996 level. As Harvard economist Lawrence Katz summarized this dreary news: "This is truly a lost decade. We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we're looking at a period when the the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990's."

Michael T. Klare: How America's Decline is Linked to Oil

Many have said that America and Oil is like bacon and eggs, Batman and Robin. As the old song lyric went, you can't have one without the other. Once upon a time, it was also a surefire formula for national greatness and global preeminence. Now, it's a guarantee of a trip to hell in a hand basket. The Chinese know it. Does Washington? America's rise to economic and military supremacy was fueled in no small measure by its control over the world's supply of oil. Oil powered the country's first giant corporations, ensured success in World War II, and underlay the great economic boom of the postwar period. Even in the era of nuclear weapons, it was the global deployment of oil-powered ships, helicopters, planes, tanks, and missiles that sustained America's superpower status during and after the Cold War. It should come as no surprise then, that the country's current economic and military decline coincides with the relative decline of oil as a major source of energy. If you want proof of that economic decline, just check the way America's share of the world's gross domestic product has been steadily dropping, while its once-powerhouse economy now appears incapable of generating forward momentum. In its place, robust upstarts like China and India are posting annual growth rates of 8% to 10%. When combined with the growing technological prowess of those countries, the present figures are surely just precursors to a continuing erosion of America's economic clout. Militarily, the picture appears remarkably similar: Yes, a crack team of SEAL commands did kill Osama bin Laden, but that single operation, greeted in the United States with a jubilation more appropriate to the ending of a major war, hardly made up for the military's lackluster performance in two recent wars against ragtag insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. If anything, almost a decade after the Taliban was overthrown, it has experienced a remarkable resurgence, even facing the full might of the US, while the assorted insurgent forces in Iraq appear to be holding their own. Meanwhile, Iran, that "bete noir" (black beast) of American power in the Middle East, seem as powerful as ever. Al Queda may be on the run (except when supported by President Obama) to overthrow the Gaddaffi regime, but American power is still on decline! In fact, the United States wields far less clout and influence in the region now than it did before it invaded Iraq in 2003!