Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Pilger in a seldom seen interview: The reason for going to war in Iraq

This is a FPF forward of an interview as you only very seldom see, or can read, and which is fitting the picture perfectly, especially if one first has a glance at the small, but very important story/reminder about the shredding of more than 8000 (!) pages of the Iraq report on 'Weapons of Mass Destruction':

''The United States edited out more than 8000 crucial pages of Iraq's 11,800-page dossier on weapons, before passing on a sanitised version to the 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations security council.'' - Url.: http://www.sundayherald.com/30195

Douglas J. Feith is the US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. His responsibilities include the formulation of defense planning guidance and forces policy, Department of Defense relations with foreign countries and the Department’s role in U.S. Government interagency policy making. President George W. Bush appointed him in July 2001.

Truth and Lies in the War on Terror - by John Pilger

The following was transcribed from a Flashpoints broadcast of portions of journalist John Pilger's documentary film Breaking the Silence:

Url. below - Mon Apr 11, 2005 - PILGER: Isn't there a problem for us in the West of honesty about the reason for going to war in Iraq — and that was weapons of mass destruction?

FEITH: I don't think that was a lie. We went to war in large part because of the concern that weapons of mass destruction in the ... in the hands of the Saddam Hussein regime ... a regime that used such weapons ... in particular nerve gas...

PILGER: ... and was supplied by the United States and Britain with these weapons of mass destruction ...

FEITH: No, I don't believe that's accurate.

PILGER: Well, yes they were. Most, most of the weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein weren't built by him. The machine tools and the ingredients for his biological weapons all came from other countries, many of them from this country and Britain.

FEITH: I don't think that's right. I think, I really think that the...

PILGER: Well, it's on the record...

FEITH: Well...

PILGER: ... in the Library of Congress...

FEITH: I think that... I think that the premise of your question is wrong. [...]

PILGER: Why is it wrong for dictators and terrorists to kill innocent civilians, and right or excusable for the United States to do exactly the same.

FEITH: Well, the United States doesn't do it, and if we did it it would be as reprehensible as... as what the terrorists do.

PILGER: The United States doesn't kill... innocent civilians?

FEITH: No, the United States does not target civilians.

PILGER: Hmm. Those of us on the outside who look at September 11, where 3,000 people died in that tragedy, but then look at the thousands who have died since, wonder about double standards here. Could you address that?

FEITH: I think that the... I think that the... numbers that you're... talking about are... are questionable, so let's... let's leave aside your...

PILGER: Why are they questionable?

FEITH: I... I don't accept your assertion that we've killed thousands of... of innocent people. But... let me get...

PILGER: There's a lot of... There's a lot of studies... and examination of facts on the ground that suggest indeed thousands. I mean in Iraq at the moment... there are studies that are talking about 10,000. But I don't want to get into numbers, but certainly thousands seems a fair figure.

FEITH: I don't... I don't know that that's true, and... and I don't accept the assertion.
[Cut to Dennis Halliday]

DENNIS HALLIDAY: If you ask an American student how many people died in Vietnam, he'll tell you 58,000. In other words they dismissed the 2, 3, maybe 4 million Vietnamese who were killed by the United States and its allies in that war. So this is an ongoing issue. Mr. Powell, Colin Powell, General Colin Powell I think was quoted as having said he's not interested in civilian casualties...

More - Url.: http://home.earthlink.net/~platter/articles/pilger-feith-int.html

FPF - Concerning Iran and Iraq's alleged WMD's: Why are never any - not faked -
satellite pictures used as proof/evidence? - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6sfrw

FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://tinyurl.com/4xz45
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/6tcgx
The Netherlands
FPF@Chello.nl

The Dutch author this far has worked abroad 4 decades for international media as a fully independent foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East. Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism ! - At present 'Persona non Grata' in Holland :-) because:

He who travels far will often see things

Far removed from what he believed was the Truth.

When he talks about it in the fields at home,

He is often accused of lying,

For the obdurate people will not believe

Inexperience, I believe,

Will give little credence to my song.

'Journey to the East' - Hermann Hesse

'The war in Iraq is illegal' says United Nation's Secretary General Kofi Annan - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v

A 55' seconds 'sound bite' concerning the US-Israeli 'Dogs of War' - 'bringing democracy' everywhere. Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5u98v

In the United States one already has seen the neocon administration's fascism in the streets of Los Angeles:
armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest, in a dark glimpse of the future - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/4hzsn

Neocon proverb: "We misused your taxmoney so you paid
to get killed, and for your funeral, you will also be billed.''

Colin Powell: 'It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel' Said as 'US Secretary of State' in a speech at the 'Conference on Anti-Semitism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe' German Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Berlin - April 28th - 2004 - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/22p6c

Former PM 'Wim Kok' and other Dutch Govt's Warcriminals in Court - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/662pp

Sued: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Over U.S. Torture Policies - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/3tgo3

It can and must be done!

Help the troops come home! Url.: http://www.bringemhome.org - We need them badly to fight our so called 'governments' - Url.: http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/

HR

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