Oil Men

Not to divert attention away from the mass murder & cover-up in Uzbekistan, but the US Press is once again attempting to hide information in plain sight.

The New York Times says:"The United States did not do enough to curb corruption by American companies involved in the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq, say Democrats on a Senate committee investigating abuses in the program."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/politics/17food.html
It also says that BayOil fought the US governments attempts to block the illegal oil kickbacks (directly paid to Saddam).

Meanwhile...

The Guardian has a lot more detail on the content of the Senate report, which has documented evidence of Navy and State Department approval and assistance of the deal (the oil tanker had promises that they wouldn't be seized for illegal sale to Jordan) and evidence that Bush was notified by the UN several times that Saddam was sitting there, receiving kickbacks and that BayOil was refusing to open their books.http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1485649,00.html

At least the Washington Post mentioned the involvement of the State Department and Navy. Still, the US treasury simply 'missed' the violations. Even though they were repeatedly notified by UN investigators, they did not turn a blind eye... they simply ordered a copy of Bayoil's books, and promptly refused to show them to the UN. They must have thought, "Gee, we can't see anything wrong here, no way are going to let the UN see these completely legitimate expense lists."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/16/AR2005051601369.html

Democracy on the side

When the flame of democracy went out 2000 years ago, we had to wait for the French and Americans to rekindle it. Of course, the champions of inequality have realised that if you want it to stay dead, no one can know that it has gone.
Read how inequality is incompatible with the right to choose. Ask yourself what is democracy without control over money? What is a free person without employment rights?

Consider the case of US president Lincoln, who was assasinated. This great leader, this visionary, enshrined in the minds of Americans, had the sincerity and courage to set his people free. Freed the slaves and freed the free. The greenback (paper money backed by the treasury) was an unparalleled gift. For a short time, the American people could vote and have an impact on the prime decision, the fuel of our lives, jobs, families. Then Honest Abe was shot, the central bank returned, and we spend our time arguing the last decision, how to stay afloat on the debt.

If you are having trouble with these ideas or their evidence, which, in the words of Noam Chomsky, "is all right there on the surface of history," then I ask you to do something about it. X Sama is here to help you.

Calling All History Teachers!

X Sama begs you to introduce the BBC documentary series, The Power of Nightmares (<--full script and commentary for those who cannot screen the film). In 3 one hour parts, it provides stimulating analysis of the birth of radical Islamic and neoconservative movements. The 3 parts have been joined, edited, and shortened for the Cannes Film Festival. Read a little more about it here. You won't be seeing it any time soon on US television or in theaters, so grab a copy where you can (torrentspy; demonoid).

And if it gets you in too serious of a mood, if you just can't swallow the idea that historical forces are shaping our governments, our leaders, then there's an alternative paradigm presented in H. Frankfurt's lecture turned book, On Bullshit.