Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Maybe I am the only one regarding Mondays news about the report from the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in this way; but in my opinion it's nothing short of a coup by American intelligence agencies against President Bush's war rhetorics against Iran.

Unless you have been living in a cave this past year, you must have noticed that - after Iraq - Bush was aiming his war mongering attention towards Iran. Bush claimed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and is a serious danger to the world and even said he did not rule out military intervention against Iran.

When it came to the facts about Iraq Bush got away with twisting and manipulating information about Saddam Hussein's military capabilities and based on that mis-information he plunged the world into war. Off course afterwards all of the reasons to go to war ("clear and present danger", "smoking gun") turned out to be a blatant lie; to this day no weapon of mass destruction has been found in Iraq (not even hint of evidence). Notwithstanding the facts: Bush has tried to keep a tight grip on all government agencies to provide him with the intelligence reports that could provide him with reasons to undertake action against Iran.

So (to me) there is no other way than to regard Mondays report by the National Intelligence Council as a coup against Bush's attempts to firm his grip on Iran. The NIE report plays down Iran threat to the world and says Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 but is continuing to enrich uranium (supposedly to serve as an energy resource).
The combined assessment of the NIC (US's 16 intelligence agencies) basically overturned the previous view that Iran was pushing ahead with a weapons programme.

Just that fact - the combined intelligence agencies of the US coming up with a report that contradicts Bush's statements about the threat Iran poses - is proof to me that Bush is loosing his grip on those agencies and can no longer force them to fabricate the kind of proof that he would need to mislead the World - once again - to wage a war (on Iran).

Naturally Bush explained the NIE report as proof of what he has been saying so far: "Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Senator Barack Obama (and would-be presidential candidate) response to Bush's reaction was really very insightful and true: "Mr Bush will not let facts get in the way of his ideology... and that's been the problem with the Republicans foreign policy generally."

I wrote earlier about Micheal Moore's latest documentary SiCKO. The story Below comes from The Washington Post and shows how the US Governement (i.e. Bush) treats its own people, in this case veterans from the Iraq/Afghanistan war. Did I hear anyone say "Vietnam?" It is really another example of how the "richest country in the world" just seems to give up on their own citizens. The sad thing is that I see the same trend in my own country.

SOLDIER WHO CAPTURED SADDAM IS SICK, BUT LEFT TO ROT BY VA

Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents’ home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone.

But a “black shadow” had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children.

In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.

Continue reading "Bush' politics of war: just ... »

Our Dutch TV just aired a HBO documentary called "Bagdhad ER". HBO cameramen were allowed unprecedented access to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq. Over a two-month period, they captured the day-to-day lives of doctors, nurses, medics, soldiers and chaplains in the Army's premier medical facility. This documentary shows in to painstaking detail how useless the war in Iraq is and why it is wrong for America and the rest of the world to be there. I watched this documentary on a day when the soon to be ex-secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said in an interview to the BBC that Iraq is in a worse state than it was then when Saddam Hussein ruled the country. Even though Bush denies it, the country definately is in civil war and has been for months. Iraq has turned into the Vietnam of this century.

I think the documentary speaks for itself, and so do some of the people that are quoted in it:

"You can learn about war by walking through this facility...the horrors of what man can do to man are visualized right here. But we do our best, our level best, to make sure our people survive and make it back to their homes."
-- Col. Casper P. Jones III, Commander, 86th Combat Support Hospital

"This is hard-core, raw, uncut trauma. Day after day, every day. Even if you're lucky enough not to go home with war wounds on the outside, if you're not equipped with coping skills, you'll definitely have them on the inside."
-- Specialist Saidet Lanier, an operating room nurse

You can see the full documentary online at Google videos.

It has been the big debate for weeks now in The Netherlands, and I tried to avoid blogging about it, but it seems that this week the Dutch goverment (cabinet) will decide if they are going to send more troops to the province of Uruzgan in Afghanistan or not. The whole mission has become a major political issue since D66, one of the parties in the Dutch government, told they will not agree with another mission because they think its too dangerous. Off course the US is putting a lot of pressure on the Dutch government to agree with such a mission; former US ambassador in the Netherlands (Paul Bremer III) said that if we would not send soldiers this would have "economical repercussions" for the Netherlands. Off course other US government officials denied that. And this morning secratary general Kofi Annan of the UN had a talk with our prime minister Balkenende about the whole issue. He said that he hopes the Dutch 'will make the right decision' in this matter. He also stated that a mission without the Dutch would be 'problematic'.

The whole issue is very problematic for the government because a recent opinion poll shows that half the Dutch population is against such a mission. Only about 38 percent thinks the Dutch should go. With some local elections coming up it seems political suicide for the political parties to vote in favor of the mission. Also the smallest government party, D66, has made it clear they are against the mission and they do have the power to turn this into a crisis which would lead to the fall of the current government.

All the pressure on the Dutch government doesn't come as a surprise: after the Dutch and the French voted against the European constitution in May 2005 other European countries are trying to get us back 'in line' so to speak. For instance: the Dutch are a member of the NATO and in fact the current secretary general is a former Dutch politician: Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Pressure is coming from them as well.

As I see it there are three options: either the Dutch cabinet is going to fall over this matter - thus leaving the decision to another cabinet - or they are going to defy international pressure and will not send troops or they will give in to this pressure and defy the opinion of the Dutch people - which will certainly be political suicide for the CDA and VVD.

I guess this is going to be the toughest decision the Dutch cabinet has to make in a long time.