FURTHER EVIDENCE: HOW U.S. DOMINATED WB/IMF/ MADE-IN-USA CAPITAL CRISIS 'SOLUTIONS' SERVE ITS GLOBAL DOMINATION AGENDA
Global credit crunch will hit developing countries - World Bank
IRIN News Service
Ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings on 13 October, the World Bank reports that “countries already suffering food and fuel price inflation may now also see declines in exports, trade and investment as a result of financial turmoil that is becoming increasingly global.” “The stark reality is that developing countries must prepare for a drop in trade, capital flows, remittances, and domestic investment, as well as a slowdown in growth,” says Robert Zoellick, the World Bank Group president. Meanwhile, in their new report to be presented on 12 October entitled Rising Food and Fuel Prices: Addressing the Risks to Future Generations, the World Bank forecasts that “the number of malnourished people globally will grow by 44 million, to 967 million, in 2008 , after several countries experienced double-digit food inflation.”
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21931834~pag...

Pentagon Wants $450 Billion Increase Over Next Five Years
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000002973555
Pentagon officials have prepared a new estimate for defense spending that is $450 billion more over the next five years than previously announced figures. The new estimate, which the Pentagon plans to release shortly before President [sic] Bush leaves office, would serve as a marker for the new president and is meant to place pressure on him to either drastically increase the size of the defense budget or defend any reluctance to do so, according to several former senior budget officials who are close to the discussions.

miss this imperialist strategy gem?
The New America Foundation: Time for a U.S.-Iranian 'Grand Bargain'
By *Flynt Leverett, New America Foundation with *Hillary Mann Leverett, STRATEGA
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/special/time_u_s_iranian_grand_ba...

for the anti-imperialist liberation movements AKA "terrorists" that the u.s. will never be able to defeat
Is US Fighting Force Big Enough?
"America needs a bigger military to stabilize weak or potentially threatening nations...prevent extremism..." [IN THE URBAN SLUMS, see below]
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
14/10/08 "Christian Science Monitor" -- Washington - American's armed forces are growing bigger to reduce the strains from seven years of war, but if the US is confronting an era of "persistent conflict," as some experts believe, it will need an even bigger military.
A larger military could more easily conduct military and nation-building operations around the world. But whether the American public has the appetite to pursue and pay for such a foreign-policy agenda, especially after more than five years of an unpopular war in Iraq, is far from clear.
Last week, the Army released a new manual on "stability operations" that outlines for the Army a prominent global role as a nation-builder. The service will maintain its ability to fight conventional land wars, but the manual's release signals that it expects future conflicts to look more like Iraq or Afghanistan than World War II. While Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not publicly supported expanding the force beyond what is already planned, he has said the United States must prepare for more counterinsurgency wars like the ones it is fighting now – a hint that a larger military may be necessary... The total American force – including active-duty, reserve, and guard – is about 2.2 million...
If the US is to remain a superpower in a world in which weak nations, not strong ones, are the big threats, then it must expand its forces so it won't again enter a conflict using too few troops, as it did in Iraq, say other experts. America must stay engaged in nations with weak or nonexistent governments to prevent extremism from taking root and threatening the US.

trying again to justify the U.S. hard-soft power merger under military command recently announced, for war on the 'slums'
Gates Calls for 'New Institutions' to Address 21st Century Challenges, VOA news
Secretary Gates says the United States must be prepared to make "sacrifices," take "risks" and "lead" the international community to make the "institutional changes" needed to address problems in many countries that can, in his words, "be every bit as destabilizing as militaries on the march."... "To be successful, the entirety of the NATO alliance, the European Union, NGOs, and other groups - the full panoply of military and civilian elements - must better integrate and coordinate with one another

from Planet of the Slums: World's Cities Now Weakest Link in the American Empire
By Mike Davis
4/19/04
The Mogadishu debacle of 1993, when neighborhood militias inflicted 60% casualties on elite Army Rangers, forced U.S. strategists to rethink what is known in Pentagonese as MOUT:  "Militarized Operations on Urbanized Terrain."  Ultimately, a National Defense Panel review in December 1997 castigated the Army as unprepared for protracted combat in the near impassable, maze-like streets of the poverty-stricken cities of the Third World. "The future of warfare," the journal of the Army War College declared, "lies in the streets, sewers, high-rise buildings, and sprawl of houses that form the broken cities of the world."

Military theorists are now deeply involved in imagining how the evolving capacity of high-tech warfare can contain, if not destroy, chronic "terrorist" insurgencies rooted in the desperation of growing megaslums. To help develop a geopolitical framework for urban war-fighting, military planners turned in the 1990s to the RAND Corporation
One of the most important RAND projects, initiated in the early 1990s, has been a major study of "how demographic changes will affect future conflict."  The bottom line, RAND finds, is that the urbanization of world poverty has produced "the urbanization of insurgency" (the title, in fact, of their report). "Insurgents are following their followers into the cities," RAND warns, "setting up 'liberated zones' in urban shantytowns.  Neither U.S. doctrine, nor training, nor equipment is designed for urban counterinsurgency."  As a result, the slum has become the weakest link in the American empire.

The RAND researchers reflect on the example of El Salvador where the local military, despite massive U.S. support, was unable to stop FMLN guerrillas from opening an urban front.  Indeed, "had the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front rebels effectively operated within the cities earlier in the insurgency, it is questionable how much the United States could have done to help maintain even the stalemate between the government and the insurgents."
More recently, a leading Air Force theorist has made similar points in the Aerospace Power Journal.  "Rapid urbanization in developing countries," writes Captain Troy Thomas in the spring 2002 issue, "results in a battlespace environment that is decreasingly knowable since it is increasingly unplanned."
The sprawling slum peripheries of the Third World are organized by "informal, decentralized subsystems, "where no blueprints exist, and points of leverage in the system are not readily discernable. Using the "sea of urban squalor" that surrounds Pakistan's Karachi as an example, Thomas portrays the staggering challenge of "asymmetric combat" within "non-nodal, non-hierarchical" urban terrains against "clan-based" militias propelled by "desperation and anger."  He cites the sprawling slums of Lagos, Nigeria, and Kinshasa in the Congo as other potential nightmare battlefields.
However Captain Thomas (whose article is provocatively entitled "Slumlords: Aerospace Power in Urban Fights"), like RAND, is brazenly confident that the Pentagon's massive new investments in MOUT technology and training will surmount all the fractal complexities of slum warfare.  (Dream on.) [...]

U.S. finance capital's man for the world...
Obama and the Derivatives Merchants
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...
Barack Obama's star shines brighter than ever (whose wouldn't, in comparison to John McCain?) despite his intimate association with "the very same individuals who brought about the current catastrophe." Former Clinton Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, now top advisors to Obama, "labored successfully to safeguard ‘derivatives,' the exotic ‘ticking time bomb' financial instruments, from federal regulation" nearly a decade ago. "Be assured that this crew will deliver another catastrophe from their positions of influence, if Obama is elected." So eager was Obama to "save" the bankers, he forgot which party he was supposed to belong to and offered to allow Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to keep his job in an Obama administration. Although the offer was coached in terms of facilitating a smooth "transition" from one regime to another, it is yet another telling indication that, in January, the baton will essentially be passed from one finance capital team wearing red shorts to another finance capital team in blue.
"Obama performed the bailout functions expected of him by his biggest financial backers: Wall Street."
"...in many respects, working with [Barack Obama] will be very much like working with President Clinton.... I think he will be just fine." - Top Obama adviser Robert Rubin, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs chair, currently an executive with Citigroup, August 28, 2008. ...
Obama can no more succeed than John McCain in resolving the contradictions of capital by feeding the beast the last remnants of the national wealth. But his "progressive" apologists, by papering over the "real" Obama in favor of the wishful one that only exists in their fantasies, politically disarm the people, and make the inevitable task of organizing against an Obama presidency vastly more difficult.
Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

unfucking believable hypocrisy:

NYT EDITORIAL
Mr. Paulson's Client
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson must remember that American taxpayers -- not the banks -- are now his client and he is using their money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/opinion/14tue1.html?th&emc=th

"Bernanke expressed concern about how huge amounts of capital are increasingly concentrated in a handful of enormous financial institutions"
Markets Suffer as Investors Weigh Relentless Trouble
Stock markets plunged anew on Wednesday...sending another wave of wealth destruction washing over American households. The government’s rescue of the banks has been widely embraced, but the frenzied selling... underscored how the economy’s troubles are too broad to be fixed by the bailout of the financial system. Investors are recognizing that the financial crisis is not the fundamental problem. It has merely amplified economic ailments that are now intensifying: vanishing paychecks, falling home prices and diminished spending...growing unemployment And there is no relief in sight. ...
Strikingly, Mr. Bernanke expressed concern about how huge amounts of capital are increasingly concentrated in a handful of enormous financial institutions.... a curious concern for a man whose central bank has worked with the Treasury to engineer a series of shotgun corporate weddings [and] deals that have further concentrated money in fewer hands....
Mr. Bernanke, a leading academic expert on the Depression, offered pointed assurances that no repeat of that disaster would unfold on his watch. The Fed stands ready to use all its tools to battle the financial crisis, he said. He exuded confidence that the American economy “will emerge from this period with renewed vigor.”...
The economy has lost 760,000 jobs since the beginning of the year, and millions of workers have seen their hours cut, shrinking paychecks just as plunging real estate prices prevent households from borrowing against the value of their homes. In short, American spending power is declining, and this has become a downward spiral: As wages shrink, workers spend less, and that limits demand for workers at the businesses that once captured their dollars. Many economists now assume that unemployment... could reach... a level not seen in 25 years. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/business/economy/16econ.html?_r=1&th=&...

Barack Obama would offer John McCain a job if he wins the US election
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/31...

Freedom Rider: If “That One” Wins
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...
All the contradictions of America's white supremacist history converge on November 4, when a society drenched in racism tries to figure out which of its "selves" will pull the lever. Lots of whites seem to be profoundly confused. "A recent poll indicated that many white people, including some who claim to support Obama, continue to hold very negative opinions about black people, often viewing them as ‘violent,' and ‘complaining.'" But Obama solves the problem, since his "refusal to directly address the needs of black people is also appealing to white people." Other whites are more straightforward. If your car sports an Obama sticker, they won't let you park.

Obama: Men and women should register for a military draft
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08287/919582-470.stm
Obama supports requirement for both men and women to register with the Selective Service... would also consider officially opening combat positions to women. McCain doesn't think women should have to register for a military draft.

U.S. gunfodder arrested for trying to express opposition...just shut up, kill and die like good patriots
Ten IVAW members were arrested while attempting to present questions to Obama and McCain One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen veterans in dress uniforms and combat uniforms, members of IVAW marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions for the candidates. IVAW had requested permission from debate moderator Bob Schieffer to ask their questions during the debate but got no response. IVAW members at the front of the formation were immediately arrested, and others were pushed back into the crowd by police on horseback. Several members were injured, including former Army Sergeant Nick Morgan who suffered a broken cheekbone when he was trampled by police horses before being arrested. http://ivaw.org/node/4405

The Illusion of Post-Racial America
by Aman Gill
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...
"Why does racial conflict no longer generate the same kind of heat" - the militant response - as 40 years ago? What is it about the "post-racial" or "post-civil rights" era that causes Blacks to remain passive in the face of police atrocities like the Sean Bell killing? "The face of mainstream black activism has moved from a base in communities to big money and corporate sway," says one veteran activist. Black leadership nowadays is "chosen by either political forces or corporate forces." The most dramatic example is Barack Obama, who "rejects the whole Black Power movement."

The October Surprise: Global Panic
Stephen Lendman
Since 9/11, the notion of an October surprise has been around... Another real or manufactured terror attack. The dominant media stokes fear. The public is again traumatized. The Bush administration pledges all effective measures to protect national security. Formerly seizes total power. Suspends the Constitution and declares martial law. Mass detentions follow. Beginning with dissenters and elements of the public considered "dangerous.".. http://www.uruknet.de/?p=47919

CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY'S DICTATORSHIP 'SOCIALIZES' DEBTS BY FURTHER PRIVATIZING PROFITS & POWER BELIES
U.S. Could Guarantee $2 Trillion For Banks, AP
The equivalent of about 20 % of the national debt over $10 trillion, and roughly 14 percent of U.S. gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21023.htm

u.s. also strengthens its power over european allies
Fed Opens Cash Spigot to Overseas Credit Markets:
The U.S. central bank said it will provide unlimited dollars to the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank to relieve pressure on commercial banks
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122394342483231029-lMyQjAxMDI4MjEz...

The 56 Trillion Dollar Deficit
Bill Maher Interviews Fmr. Comptroller General David Walker
6 Minute Video
Comptroller General David Walker, explains twe have a debt of $480,000 per US household
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21024.htm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/wall-street-humiliated-b...
The US government is set to become the largest shareholder in its national banks, pumping in $250bn (£143bn) to prop up its financial system and marking one of the most startling moments in a credit crisis that has brought quasi-nationalisation to the home of free-market capitalism.

Banks' Bailout Unlikely to Crimp Executive Pay
The Treasury's rescue plan will restrict pay packages for Wall Street executives, but experts say the provisions will have little real impact.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/business/15pay.html?th&emc=th

Home Prices Seem Far From Bottom
Home prices are likely to fall through late 2009, if not longer, economists say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/business/economy/16housing.html?th&emc...

more evidence capitalist health care is an oxymoron: 'humanitarian' finance capitalists like Gates & Soros investments in oppressed nations is part of 'soft power' role in U.S. penetration and domination
The rate of infant deaths in the United States remains well above that of most industrialized countries. Some economists argue that the disappointing infant mortality figure is one of many health indicators demonstrating that the health care system in the United States, despite its enormous cost, is failing. “We’re spending twice what other countries do and we’re falling further and further behind them in important measures like infant mortality.” ... including life expectancy and preventable deaths from diseases like diabetes, circulatory problems and respiratory issues like asthma.... Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research organization, agreed that socioeconomic factors played a role but said that the nation’s heavy reliance on the private delivery of care was also to blame.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/health/16infant.html?th&emc=th

Nearly 30% of US WORKING Families Subsist on Poverty Wages
By Tom Eley
A report by the Working Poor Families Project reveals that more than 28 percent of American families with one or both parents employed are living in poverty.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21032.htm

multi-billionaire "humanitarian" imperialist scumbag George Soros of the "color revolutions", wants us to finance the finance capitalists of course
...As world leaders rushed to help banks weather the crisis that has sent stocks into steep decline, Soros blamed the turmoil on the faith in market forces that began under President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher a generation ago. The notion that markets are self-correcting led to a massive expansion of debt financing that culminated in the sub-prime mortgages that epitomized the easy-money mentality at the root of the disaster, he said.
Soros said U.S. authorities could effectively address the crisis by recapitalizing banks, first with private money, and restructuring home loans to minimize foreclosures....
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1242219120081012?pageNum...

WITH BIG PUSH FROM DEMS. HERE'S A FEW WHOSE DEBTS WE NOW OWN, SAVING THEIR SYSTEM TO BETTER SUCK MORE BLOOD
[CEOs of the largest US banks to meet]... with US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, to discuss the terms of the bailout. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Expected to attend were banking executives including Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America; Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group; John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley; and Robert P. Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon.”... Paulson himself, whose former bank stands to benefit handsomely from the bailout which he has authored...while at Goldman Sachs, amassed a personal fortune of $700 million....

According to Forbes magazine, Ken Lewis last year brought in a salary of $20.13 million, and his holdings of Bank of America stock are worth an estimated $112 million.
Jamie Dimon received a 2007 Christmas bonus of $14.5 million and holds $190 million in JPMorgan stock.
Lloyd Blankfein received a Christmas bonus of $68 million and his holdings of Goldman Sachs stock were worth $414.5 million last year.
Vikram Pandit received a $165 million signing bonus from Citigroup last year, together with a $2.7 million salary for a few months of work and $48 million in stock options.
John Mack received $41.8 million in compensation last year, and his 2007 holdings in Morgan Stanley stock were worth $220 million.

Goldman stock rose 25 percent to $111 a share, and Morgan Stanley stock rose 87 percent to $18.10 per share.... on news of the meeting with Paulson.
Other financial stocks also rose significantly. Citigroup rose 13.25 percent to $15.98, Bank of New York Mellon rose 15.77 percent to $30.68, and Bank of America rose 9.2 percent to $22.79. JPMorgan stock fell in initial trading on fears of further write-downs, but after the meeting announcement it rose from just over $40 per share to close at $41.64.
Neel Kashkari, the assistant secretary of the treasury and ex-Goldman Sachs executive who is overseeing the $700 billion bailout, confirmed in a speech yesterday that his goal—in purchasing both equity (shares of stock) and assets of financial corporations — is to concentrate money in the hands of the biggest banks.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/bail-o14.shtml

"We prefer dignity in poverty to affluence in slavery."
Sekou Toure

Remembering Ahmed Sekou Touré as Guinea Turns 50
by Norman Otis Richmond
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...
It is fashionable among the historically challenged to belittle the founding revolutionary fathers of Black Africa as ineffectual dreamers. The late Sekou Toure, former President of Guinea, is a frequent target. "Only a fool would attempt to defend the current regime of President Lansana Conte, [but] only a bigger fool would attempt to denigrate the role that Toure played in the struggle for World African Liberation," writes the author. "African people will remember Touré as a great Pan Africanist who attempted to unite Africa and Africans world-wide." [Read more...]

imperialist slavery called 'development' and 'aid'
General Reassures Africans on AFRICOM
Military.com
The commander of a new U.S. military regional command focused on Africa said he believes distrust of U.S. motives on the continent will fade as it becomes clear that the creation of Africa Command does not represent a change in the United States' foreign policy [EXACTLY WHY THEY REJECT AFRICOM!]
http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=170&a=8365

Washington Activates AFRICOM
2008-10-07
The US Defense Department announced the activation of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), the sixth of its kind created to guarantee world hegemony.... Despite the diplomatic attempts to convince African heads of state to host this military program, AFRICOM still lacks a central headquarters in Africa, and is based temporarily [SIC] in Stuttgart, Germany. Many African nations and regional organizations reacted distrustfully to the real intentions of the increasing the presence of US forces in the region. AFRICOM will coordinate military relations between Washington and the 53 African countries. Its staff is made up by 1,000 people – civilians and the military personnel. Part of the staff has been provided by USAID, notorious for supporting rebellions in countries that refuse to submit to the United States.

AFRICOM Now Has An Air Force
http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/columnists/2008-09-25/africom-now-has-i...
The United States Air Force (USAF) had a party with all the bells and whistles this fall as it put the last touches on the initiation of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM)... this new operation was inaugurated at a base in Ramstein, Germany, as the “air force for Africa.” During the inauguration of this new arm of the Pentagon, in the center that houses the Air Force for Europe, General William E. “Kip” Ward, the head of AFRICOM, highlighted the history of the USAF in Africa. He pointed out that its first secretary, Stuart Symington, started the well-known Seventeenth Air Force (17 AF), which began operations in Morocco in 1953, but was deactivated in 1996 after several missions. That effort was the “main facilitator” for this new command, he noted. Major General Ronald R. Ladnier, the unit commander, also framed that initiative as the beginning of AFRICOM, announced by the Department of Defense in 2007 as the answer to the growing interest in the African continent by US foreign policy, given the continent’s abundant oil.
Ward,...emphasized that the mission of the reactivated 17-AF (Air Forces Africa) is to contribute to existing Washington initiatives in the region...guided to assure “peace, stability, development and the war against the terrorism.” ... he hit on the truth when he noted the force’s actions would be “in support of American foreign policy” with regard to the continent.

This is nothing new. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, designed under the Clinton administration and emphasizing trade and investments by transnational corporations active in the region, pursued the same objective as AFRICOM: the control of energy and mineral resources – one of the biggest foreign policy concerns of the White House. Because of this problem, the USA would even have license to deploy its troops on the continent. Now the matter is even better defined, because the Pentagon now has its own mechanisms to assure the presence of its armed forces. AFRICOM ... has been carrying out joint military exercises and creating the necessary infrastructure. At the same time they are undertaking humanitarian programs to hide the true interests of world hegemony.... “You will be US ambassadors in everything that you do,” said Ward. The ample record of terror by the USAF —with a quite fateful slogan that reveals it aggressive essence: “above everything”— and its bombings of Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, allow us to see “how attached to the desires for peace" it is – this time in Africa.

U.S. MANEUVERS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
NATO is sending seven warships to Somalia's coast, where pirates continue to hold the arms-laden Ukrainian ship Faina—already surrounded by six US warships from the Bahrain-based Sixth Fleet. The Russian Baltic Fleet's frigate Neustrashimy (The Fearless) is also hurrying to the scene. (ITAR-TASS, Oct. 9) A pirate spokesman told news agencies by satellite telephone that a ransom of $20 million must be paid within three days or the ship would be destroyed. He said the pirates were ready to die along with the crew. (BBC, Oct. 10)

The U.S.-backed Ethiopian military has secreted away scores of “suspects” — including pregnant women and children — and fueled anti-American rancor in Africa.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/01/africa_renditions/

Under occupation, puppet Iraqi government fuels 'war for oil' theories by giving away half its oil wealth to BP, Shell and ExxonMobil
There is no precedent for proven oil reserves of this magnitude being offered up for sale
Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani. is expected to reveal some kind of "risk service agreements" that could run for up to 20 years, with formal offers to be submitted by next spring and agreements signed in the summer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/13/oil-iraq/print

predators' perfect puppet
US deal best compromise for Iraq, says Maliki
Maliki expressed hope that a pact with the US will be approved by the end of the year, but warned that failure to do so would force him to ask the UN to extend its mandate for all foreign troops to stay in Iraq.
http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=608773

Association of Muslim Scholars Issues Fatwa Prohibiting Long-term Pact
By Aswat al-Iraq
The Association of Muslim Scholars on Monday issued a fatwa prohibiting signing the long-term Iraqi-U.S. security agreement, accusing governmental officials and lawmakers who would approve it of betrayal, according to a release issued by the association.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21008.htm

PART III: Detention Has Wide, Destructive Impact in Iraq - Forced Entry Into the Mind
Nick Mottern and Bill Rau, t r u t h o u t | Report
... To more fully understand the nature of the US "counterinsurgency tool" that operates in the US detention system in Iraq, Consumers for Peace submitted questions to TF-134 over the last three months. TF-134's responses, excerpted below, outline a concerted program of re-education and inducement designed to persuade Iraqis to accept the control of the US-Iraqi occupation government. TF-134 says Iraqis are detained only because they present a threat of violence. The very existence of the re-education program indicates that decisions about holding people in US detention facilities may also be based on the desire to convert Iraq's resistance fighters into active or passive supporters of the US-Iraqi government. According to TF-134, Iraqis are deeply involved in determining how prisoners will be categorized and segregated in prison and in the re-education process. TF-134 affirms that those who are captured by US forces are not permitted to have the help of legal counsel in seeking their freedom or in any other aspect of their handling. As will be discussed, the final decision on their freedom is in the hands of the US military...

guess who's behind this proxy aggression
Turkey's military attacks rebels in Iraq
http://news.smh.com.au/world/turkeys-military-attacks-rebels-in-iraq-200...
Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed dozens of Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq after an escalation in rebel attacks, the military said. "The warplanes successfully bombed all of the 31 targets in a midnight operation. ... The targets were later shelled by artillery units."

Iran protests American troops' treatment of pilgrims in Iraq
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=179952
U.S. forces are inspecting all people between the ages of 18 and 40, taking finger prints and eye scans. 14 Oct 2008 Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization on Monday voiced protest against the American troops' insulting behavior towards Iranian pilgrims in Iraq. Deputy Head of the Organization for holy sites affairs Hossein Akbar told a press conference in Baghdad on Monday that the U.S. forces' act of having Iranian pilgrims fingerprinted and giving eye tests along Iraqi borders is illegal, unconventional and in contradiction with current Tehran-Baghdad accords.

digestnote: Saddam Hussein's nationalist capitalism called 'socialism'
Why Hussein posed a threat to u.s. global domination that had to be exterminated is made clear in these docs: the 'woman question' and every other critical social-political issue is posited in the context of the Iranian revolution as o 'liberated base' for the entire Arab Nation and third world revolutions against u.s. imperialism.
But the positive changes of his 'revolution' were based on state controlled changes by dikat, not by the 'bottom-up' revolution of the masses.

Saddam Hussein: THE REVOLUTION AND WOMAN IN IRAQ
Edited by Naji Al-hadithi - Translated by Khalid Kishtainy
One of the main aims of the Revolution of 17 July 1968 in building the new free society is the emancipation of women. This issue has been the focal point of many measures taken by the government of the Revolution in the whole process of liberating the society from all aspects of exploitation, backwardness and ignorance. The ideological and political background, as well as the general social, cultural, and economic context of such measures were high-lighted in many documents. Among the most important of these documents are a collection of speeches given on different occasions by President Saddam Hussein, deputy secretary-general of the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party, contained in this book... http://www.uruknet.de/?p=47890

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR EXTENDING FASCIST 'HOMELAND' PATRIOT ACT PERMANENTLY, PLUS SOME...
House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Thursday to extend the USA Patriot Act, before it expires at the end of the month. Despite the fact that Resolutions have been passed denouncing the Patriot Act in over 380 communities in 43 states including seven state-wide resolutions, it is to be extended. Most of the Patriot Act would become permanent under the reauthorization. The Legislation's reach HAS gone beyond terrorism and it IS actively being used to target American citizens.

Blackwater joins N.C. law enforcement in suspect search
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=9175324
(Camden Co., NC) Law enforcement personnel from 3 jurisdictions, with an assist from personnel and equipment from Blackwater, searched a rural area in the county for a suspect they say shot a county resident as he walked out his house to go to work. Blackwater was called to assist in the search with a helicopter.

FREUDIAN SLIP..."Many people confuse homeland security with terrorism ...Terrorism is one element of homeland security."
"It's about the fastest-growing area in academia," said Stanley Supinski, director of the partnership program at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security in Monterey, Calif. Now, about 300 schools have homeland security programs. About a third are certificate programs, often for mid-career workers returning to school. The rest are split fairly evenly into master's, bachelor's, and associate's programs
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/dod-dna.pdf

ALERT FEMA sources confirm coming martial law
By Wayne Madsen
Oct 13, 2008
WMR has learned from knowledgeable Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would see martial law declared in the United States with various scenarios anticipated as triggers. The triggers include a continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank closures resulting in violence against financial institutions, and another fraudulent presidential election that would result in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country.
In addition, Army Corps of Engineer sources report that the assignment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) to the Northern Command’s U.S. Army North is to augment FEMA and federal law enforcement in the imposition of traffic controls, crowd control, curfews, enhanced border and port security, and neighborhood patrols in the event a national emergency being declared. The BCT was assigned to duties in Iraq before being assigned to the Northern Command.
On April 3, 2008, WMR reported on a highly-classified document regarding the martial law scenario: WMR has learned from knowledgeable sources within the US financial community that an alarming confidential and limited distribution document is circulating among senior members of Congress and their senior staff members that is warning of a bleak future for the United States if it does not quickly get its financial house in order. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have reportedly read the document. The document is being called the "C & R" document because it reportedly states that if the United States defaults on loans and debt underwriting from China, Japan, and Russia, all of which are propping up the United States government financially, and the United States unilaterally cancels the debts, America can expect a war that will have disastrous results for the United States and the world. "Conflict" is the "C word" in the document.
The other scenario is that the federal government will be forced to drastically raise taxes in order to pay off debts to foreign countries to the point that the American people will react with a popular revolution against the government. "Revolution" is the document’s "R word. http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20081008_1 (subscription only)
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28495.shtml
Related:
Brad Sherman, Representative Declares House of Representatives Was Under Martial Law (Video)
Rep. Brad Sherman, -C-Span, U.S. House of Representatives
Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"
By Naomi Wolf

U.S. INCARCERATION & MURDER OF INNOCENT BLACK MEN IS PART OF HISTORICAL U.S. GENOCIDE AGAINST THE BLACK NATION IT FEARS WILL LEAD REVOLUTION AGAINST THE BARBARIC SYSTEM
Supreme Court Clears Way for Georgia Execution
Troy Davis: With 2 Hours to Spare, Justices Stay Execution (September 24, 2008)
ATLANTA — Two weeks after temporarily sparing a Georgia inmate from the death penalty, the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down the inmate’s appeal, a decision that will probably lead to a quick execution. Troy A. Davis, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark Allen MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. The court’s decision, made without comment or explanation, allows Georgia officials to obtain a new death warrant and schedule a new date of execution, probably in the next few days or weeks. The case has led to an outpouring of support for Mr. Davis, largely because seven of nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, two claiming police pressured them to testify against him. Prosecutors presented no physical evidence, no murder weapon, and three witnesses said another man admitted to the murder. [PRO-U.S] World leaders including former President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI have challenged the fairness of his conviction.....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/washington/15execute.html?8au&emc=au

[see Mike Davis re: 'slum warfare' above]
SWAT teams in Atlanta and all major city mainly deployed in Black neighborhoods from where ruling class knows revolutionary leadership will emerge and spread ...
Atlanta Cops Roll Out SWAT APC
http://current.com/items/89401889_atlanta_swat_teams_get_insane_new_mili...
For what? It’s no big deal, insists the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s just the local cops with a $500,000 APC. For you civilians, that’s Armored Personnel Carrier.
“Don’t be surprised to see an Army tank rolling down a street near you,” chides the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The Cobb County police department has refurbished a donated Armored Personnel Carrier for officers to use in SWAT situations.”... Equipped with thermal sensors, computerized tracking devices, night vision, tear gas launchers and other gadgets, the all-black six-wheel unit can hold up to nine SWAT officers....a new engine and transmission will allow it to reach a speed of 60 miles per hour.
The L.A.V. 300 will also send a message to the civilians — increasingly, there is little difference between the cops and the military....
reader comments that: The NYPD have dozens of V-150's and LAV-25's dedicated to SWAT operations. The Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and San Diego police departments each have enough armored vehicles and weapons to outfit brigade strength military units. In Texas, Illinois, and Washington State, they have APC's that were first deployed and perfected in South Africa during the Apartheid era...

Over 245 "Non-Lethal" Taser Deaths
The U.N. Committee Against Torture has determined that the use of Tasers is a form of torture, and concluded that Tasers violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The committee reported that the shocks delivered by Tasers cause extreme pain and, in some cases, death. Nevertheless, Taser devices are not considered "lethal weapons" by the U.S. government, and they can be legally carried—concealed or not—without a permit in 43 states. Amnesty International has documented over 245 deaths caused by Tasers since the introduction of the devices onto the market.
The Taser’s false reputation as a safe weapon allows cops to use it indiscriminately and unnecessarily, often against defenseless victims. African Americans, particularly those in low-income communities, are often the victims of these vicious assaults, much like they are often the victims of police brutality in general. In a society where cops serve and protect the interests of a rich, primarily white minority, this comes as no surprise. http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=173&a=8431

Feds propose consolidation of personal info in databases 08 Oct 2008 The federal government is trying to find better ways to standardize and coordinate personal information about American citizens that is currently spread across thousands of databases, according to a White House official. There are more than 3,000 programs or databases in the federal government that hold personal information--Social Security numbers, addresses, fingerprints, and so on--yet the government is only beginning to develop a plan for collecting, protecting, and using such information.

A Seattle neuroscientist is leading the way with technology based on a simple fact: your brain can't lie. An odd looking headband, flashing words on a computer screen, and a couple clicks of a mouse ... "It's a game changer in the field of global security," said Dr. Larry Farwell, Chairman of Brain Fingerprinting Labs who developed "brain fingerprinting" - a lie detector test for the 21st century. While polygraph tests rely on emotional responses, brain fingerprinting records how your brain reacts to words and images related to a crime -- ones only the killer would recognize...."This is an involuntary response that happens very quickly; it's not something you can control," he said. Dr. Farwell has worked with the CIA, FBI and law enforcement agencies around the country. http://www.komonews.com/news/30821859.html

Second Bayer employee dies from August explosion --OSHA inspectors alleged the company disregarded its own safety studies, failed to correct potential hazards, and ignored requirements for toxic-leak response plans. 12 Oct 2008 (WV) A second person [Bill Oxley] has died of injuries suffered during an August explosion at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute. Fellow plant worker Barry Withrow was killed the night of the explosion, Aug. 28.

New college major: homeland security
"It's about the fastest-growing area in academia," said Stanley Supinski, director of the partnership program at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security in Monterey, Calif.... about 300 schools have homeland security programs.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/10/09/new_college_major_h...

bipartisan unity because they're both agents of u.s. capitalism
" Real power never gets voted out of office. It must be confronted and overturned"
... the "choice" between John "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain and Barack "Threats in 100 different countries" Obama: McCain is beyond the pale for any but the proto-fascists among us, and even they have reservations about his health and sanity. But to question whether the potential ascension of "Saint Barack" is a good thing, to put into the play of questions of his militarism and support for authoritarianism at home, or to outright oppose his candidacy based on lies and war-mongering, is to invite the wrath of the "good liberal" majority. Beginning with his 2004 convention speech when he called for "missile strikes" against Iran and Pakistan, through his 2008 convention speech imploring America to recognize the "threats of tomorrow," Mr. Obama has based his candidacy no less on fear and militarism than the dreaded Republicans... Mr. Obama called for an additional 92,000 troops for the military, expansion of the genocide in Afghanistan into Pakistan, and an accelerated war on terror in 100 countries (up from Cheney's 60-country target list)... When he voted for the wiretap bill, he said he wanted to have all "necessary tools" at his disposal for an Obama presidency. When he calls for more "boots on the ground" in Afghanistan, or for "missile strikes" in Pakistan, or "keeping the nuclear option on the table" in Iran, he means what he is saying. His vision is of an imperial America on the march, waging war in pursuit of unspecified "threats" with a bigger, better managed military. That vision includes domestic spying and austerity budgets for the foreseeable future.
So where does this leave that part of America that opposes wars of aggression, torture, extraordinary rendition, and the war on terror? Where does it leave people who want to resist domestic wiretapping or oppose sacrificing our futures for Wall Street profits? I know the drill: hold your nose and vote Democratic ...again.
No, not this time, and never again. The majority of us do not have a dog in this billion-dollar electoral fight, and the majority will not vote at all, and why should they? If McCain wins, more war and more austerity. If Obama wins, even more war and even more austerity, but with no political opposition. By November 5, the same people will be controlling our lives, regardless of the election outcome. Real power never gets voted out of office. It must be confronted and overturned.
P Jerome is a civil rights attorney in Washington, DC

High Time to Move Beyond Clichés
Ramzy Baroud
One should rightly assume that the weight of the US financial crisis, the full impact of which is just beginning to unravel, and the widening military debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, would compel new thinking amongst leading US politicians. And then again, maybe not. Aside from tactical and rhetorical differences, presidential candidates and their vice-president-hopefuls are yet to strictly champion and act upon a truly different leadership strategy: Barack Obama’s current foreign policy visions are more or less those of President Bush in his second term.... Biden cut to the chase: "… no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden. I would have never, ever joined this ticket were I not absolutely sure Barack Obama shared my passion." www.ramzybaroud.net

Capitalism's Oil Dependency on "Stabiity'
Oil Falls Near $70 a Barrel, 16-Month Low, alarming petroleum executives and oil producers who are becoming increasingly nervous that it is undermining the stability of energy markets. Oil prices have dropped sharply in recent weeks amid the economic crisis and lower consumption in developed nations. In New York, oil futures fell as much as 8 percent, to $68.57 a barrel, on Thursday, their lowest since June 2007. At the close, oil was down $4.69 a barrel, to $69.85. Oil has lost half its value since hitting a record closing price of $145.29 a barrel in July....the precipitous drop undermines the elusive quest for stability that both oil producers and petroleum executives say they need to invest over the long term. Thursday’s sharp decline moved OPEC members to schedule an emergency meeting for next week to look for ways to stem the price decline. Analysts expect the cartel’s producers to reduce their production by about a million barrels a day.