Just eight hours after the WTC attacks, US officials claimed it was bin Laden. (see 4.1, 4.p.m.)
The first “hard” evidence was a video released in December after the WTC attacks. It shows Osama Bin Laden who claims to be responsible for 9/11. He is talking about the damage done to the WTC and names nine pilots who were verified to have been on those planes.
“”I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only,” he said, according to a U.S. government translation.” – CNN. The video which is available to the public shows him smiling and generally happy about what had happened.32
As Ari Fleischer says, that the video is nothing new to the president, because Bush already knew that bin Laden was responsible for the attacks.
“Another discovered videotape is “one more piece of evidence” that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on Washington and New York, Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday (9th December 2001, CNN). Hence bin Laden has his origin in Afghanistan, it was clear that war with the Taliban regime, that gives asylum to bin Laden, was imminent. Bin Laden was condemned too fast, and then had been setup as a scapegoat. Based on those two videotapes, Bush launched a war against Afghanistan, which already was his first step in the “war on terrorism”.33

5.2 War in Afghanistan

On September 12th, 2001 President George W. Bush announced “he will make no distinction between the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks and those who harbour them.”
Roughly a month later, after the Taliban regime had refused to turn over Osama bin Laden to the US, the British and American military started the bombing of several targets in Afghanistan.
The fighting continued until the end of November and Taliban forces are pushed back. It wasthen decided that an interim administration should govern Afghanistan for six months.
On December the 22nd, the Pashtun leader, Hamid Karzai, became the head of Afghanistan’s new “broad-based government”.
Until the date of writing, the coursework there were continuous small fights around several cities showing that the Taliban forces have not yet been 100%ly eliminated. Also, just in time for the US election in 2004, the hunt for the world’s most wanted criminal34 mastermind continues. Yet he has not been seized, which shows that the Bush administration has either lost interest in bin Laden or is not capable of capturing him and fully destroying his network – Al-Qaida.

5.3 Patriot Act

Patriot Act is the short title for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001″.
The senate welcomed this law by 98 to 1 votes. I am not going to talk about the Patriot Act here in details, as it is written on 342 pages cross-referring to other laws, bills and acts released over the past 200 years in America.35 The Patriot Act allows the law enforcement to use any surveillance methods they wish (may that be bugging the telephone, questioning other people, intercepting mail, reading email, planting Trojan virus devices in pc, etc.), also no permission from court is needed anymore.
If law enforcement decides it is necessary to either use surveillance or do a raid, they can use their new “instant special Patriot Act permissions”.
Due to the Patriot Act, any data accessible to the law enforcement can and may be used to check your background. For example, the law enforcement now has information about what books you read, how frequently you visit the doctor, what medicine you buy, what goods you buy in the supermarket (via your credit card) and so on. Most of the libraries and doctors offices have those special new notes (saying that under the Patriot Act law enforcement is allowed to look at your data) printed in small letters under their usual information. This newly invented Patriot Act is a violation to the independent way of life36, which America once was famous for. With this act being active, the rights of every citizen are restricted to a minimum, as you have to watch out what you do and when you do it.So many experts consider it a joke to call the website informing about the Patriot Act “www.lifeandliberty.gov”.

5.4 Homeland security (Act of 2002)

The Homeland security Act is similar to the Patriot Act, but enhances more the military the law as mentioned in 5.3.
The act, which is accessible at http://thomas.loc.gov describes the procedure and acts that will take place after a certain event, e.g. a nuclear / biological war.
The Homeland security act was also released to justify the big increase in military and border control spending in the years 2002. The website www.dhs.gov (made by the homeland security task force, which was created after the release of the bill) informs about this act and show a “thread advisory”, a newly developed mark by the homeland security task force on their website. This mark shows the current level of “danger and possible terrorist activity” in the US. Another creation of the newly created task force is the site www.ready.gov , which gives information on possible dangerous and hazardous situation in the US. For example, it tells the citizens what to do in the case of a nuclear blast, etc.

5.5 “Osama bin Forgotten”

At some point the Bush administration stopped chasing the most wanted criminal of the world and decided to target another person to blame. This person became Saddam Hussein, former leader of the Iraq. (Based on “The Administration’s attention shifted to building support for the war in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein seemed to replace bin Laden in the role of the world’s most notorious “evildoer.” Indeed, Bush’s reticence on the subject of bin Laden grew so conspicuous that critics, such as the Democratic Presidential candidate Bob Graham, began referring to the terrorist as “Osama bin Forgotten.”")37

5.6 “Weapons of Mass distraction (WMD)”

To justify a war against Iraq, the Bush administration came up with a great story: At first they used the argument that Saddam Hussein was affiliated to the 9/11 attacks, then they kept on saying that the Iraq would maintain Weapons of Mass destruction. Due to the fact that most of the news companies, such as CNN, CBS, Fox and others are depended on the White House and their information (it’s simple as this: if you don’t publish what they want you to, you are no longer invited to the White House press briefings), they kept on repeating the fake story about WMD. Head inspector Blix said in his report released to the UN and accessible to the White House, that there were no WMD at all.38
Just to name some more cases where fake evidence was used to justify an action wanted to be undone today: Guatemala, Cuba, El Salvador and Gulf War I / Kuwait. The U.S. has a long history of fabricating evidence to justify foreign adventures.
Thus, you can say that the Bush administration used the Weapons of Mass destruction as Weapons of Mass distraction. To quote the LA times:
“Yet the crucial point is that, so far, none of Miller’s big WMD exclusives has proved to be true — nobody’s found nuthin’ — and she increasingly looks like a Pentagon flack who helped sell the war. By comparison, Blair’s inaccurate description of a suburban driveway and Bragg’s sub-Faulknerian maundering about Gulf Coast oystermen feel positively benign. Where these guys were simply promoting themselves, Miller’s work looks suspiciously like Bush administration propaganda.”39
It’s funny to see how the Bush administration contradicts themselves; in January 2001 and June 2001, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, said on TV, that the Iraq has no WMD, and is not a thread at all.40 Then in late 2002 and early 2003 they say the complete opposite, despite Blix’s report. Seeing as until today no one has found any WMD in or near Iraq, someone must have lied.

Bereits wenige Stunden nach dem Attentat des 11.Septembers 2001 gab der handtierende Präsident George Bush bekannt, dass kein anderer als der Terrorist Osama Bin Laden (teilweise in der amerikanischen Presse auch geführt als Usama bin Laden) verantwortlich war für dieses “organisitorische Meisterwerk des Grauens”.
Bush rechtfertigte einen nach wenigen Wochen beginnenden Krieg in Afghanistan mit dem Fakt, dass die afghanische Talibanregierung eine Auslieferung Bin Ladens verweigerte. Bin Laden gilt als Führer des Terrornetzwerkes Al Qaida, welches sich nachdem 11.September als die Verantwortlichen ausgaben. Zwei Videobänder die von dem arabisch sprachigen Sender ‘Al jazeera’ gezeigt worden waren gelten als ?die ersten Erklärungen zum Krieg gegen den kaptialistischen Westen?. Bin Laden, der auf dem ersten dieses 10 minütigen Bandes gezeigt wird, spricht von einem großen Erfolg gegen die USA und warnt alle Länder sich auf die Seite dieser zu stellen.
Im Dezember 2001 fielen bereits die ersten 100000$ Bomben auf die 10$ Zelte in Afghanistan. Ein Krieg der gewissermaßen nicht viel Sinn machte und nur als Scheinkrieg im Rahmen einer massiven PR-Offensive für Bush geführt wurde.
Afghanistan besitzt ein Eisenbahnnetz von 30 Kilometern, nur eingeschränkte kommunikative Infrastrukturen (kein Mobiltelefonnetzwerk) und vorallem was Bush natürlich als einen der Bewegsgründe neben wir stoppen vor keinem Land, welches den internationalen Terrorismus unterstützt oder Terroristen beherbergt? -keine Demokratie .
Man hat Bin Laden bis heute nicht gefasst. Im Vergleich zum Irakkrieg waren “nur” 10000-25000 amerikanische Soldaten in Afghanistan und es gab kaum K?mpfe zwischen Talibananhängern und den amerikanischen GIs. Der Krieg wurde zum größten Teil aus der Luft und mit Hilfe von Distanzwaffen geführt.
Man könnte nun zynisch behaupten, dass aufgrund der erfolglosen Suche nach Bin Laden, Bush in Saddam Hussein und seinen nicht existierenden Massenvernichtungswaffen einen neuen Sündenbock gefunden hatte. Damit verbunden war, dass Saddam seitens der US- Regierung nun in Verbindung mit den Anschlag auf das World Trade Center gebracht wurde.
Eine Entwicklung, die keiner so wirklich verstehen kann. Selbst das amerikanische Volk nicht. Mit Hilfe massiver PR Kampagnen im amerikanischen Fernsehen (CNN/FOX, etc) wurde das Volk zu einer Zustimmung des Krieges überzeugt. (vor dieser PR-Offensive stimmten “nur” 47% einem Präventivkrieg gegen den Irak zu und nach ihr ganze 74%!)

In der Hierarchie der 27 meist gebrauchten Begründungen für den Krieg lagen die folgenden acht ganz vorn (die sogenannten. “Hauptgründe”):

1. Krieg gegen den internationalen Terrorismus,
2. Verhinderung der Weitergabe von Massenvernichtungswaffen,
3. mangelhafte oder fehlende Waffen-Inspektionen,
4. Beseitigung des Regimes von Saddam Hussein,
5. das schlichte Argument: “Saddam Hussein ist böse”,
6. Befreiung des irakischen Volkes,
7. Bruch von Vereinbarungen bzw. Versprechungen
8. Irak stelle eine Bedrohung dar (“imminent threat”). (siehe 2.)

Die zweitwichtigsten Begründungen für den Krieg waren (teilweise weder logisch noch sinnvoll):
? “Weil wir dazu in der Lage sind”,
? wir müssen die unerledigte Aufgabe (“unfinished business”) zu Ende bringen,
? der Irak müsse entwaffnet werden,
? Verbindung zu Al Qaida
? mehr Sicherheit für die Welt.

Die übrigen Begründungen bewegten sich auf folgenden Ebenen:
? Rache,
? Irak sei eine Bedrohung für die Region,
? “um der Geschichte Willen”,
? Bewahrung des Friedens,
? Irak bedrohe die Freiheit,
? Verpflichtung gegenüber den Kindern für eine sichere Welt zu sorgen,
? Vorteile für den Nahen Osten erzielen,
? Belebung der Wirtschaft,
? Irak als Beispiel für andere Länder (Iran/Syrien?!),
? weil Saddam Hussein die USA hasst
? die Verletzung des Völkerrechts durch den Irak.

Die acht zuerst genannten “Gründe” für den Krieg haben sich in allen drei Untersuchungsphasen als die wichtigsten herausgestellt. Viele von den übrigen “Gründen” tauchten irgendwann einmal auf und verschwanden auch wieder aus der Diskussion… warum ist eigentlich klar.

Weiterhin gab es folgende Behauptungen:
? Behauptung 1: Der Irak hat versucht Uran vom afrikanischen Staat Niger zu kaufen. – Der Bericht beruhte, laut der Atomenergieagentur IAEA, auf gefälschten Dokumenten.
? Behauptung 2: Der Irak besitzt bis zu 20 Scud-Raketen mit unerlaubter Reichweite. – Bisher wurde keine gefunden.
? Behauptung 3: Der Irak besitzt mobile Laboratorien zur Herstellung von biologischen Kampfstoffen. – Drei derartige Fahrzeuge wurden gefunden, es steht aber noch nicht zweifelsfrei fest, dass sie tatsächlich dem vermuteten Zweck dienten.
? Behauptung 4: Der Irak produziert weiterhin chemische und biologische Kampfstoffe. – Weder Senfgas noch Sarin, VX oder andere Giftstoffe wurden entdeckt.
? Behauptung 5: Der Irak beherbergt Al-Qaida-Kämpfer. – Kein Beweis dafür konnte erbracht werden.
Keine dieser Behauptungen oder Aussagen haben sich als wahr behauptet. ( d.h. Der Krieg war unbegründet!)

Vor einigen Tagen stand in der FAZ, dass nun ein OFFIZIELLER Bericht ergeben hätte, dass es wirklich keine Massenvernichtungswaffen im Irak gab.

Somit verringen sich Bushs Chancen auf eine Wiederwahl im November 2004, da seine Gründe für eine Invasion/Intervention im Irak sich beweisbar als Lügen entpuppten. Sein Präsidentschaftsgegner Kerry benutzt diese nun um seine eigene Position zu stärken und Bushs Glaubwürdigkeit anzuzweifeln.

1. Actress Winona Ryder has been charged with shop lifting.
2. It’s shark week on the Discovery Channel.
3. The world consists of America and Iraq.
4. President Bush is still an idiot.
5. The Rolling Stones are on tour.

This is news? Who, outside of Winona Ryder and a small group of people, could possibly care about what Winona Ryder stole? How does knowing what Winona Ryder stole affect me, the economy, the weather, politics, health, science or anything for that matter? Really, who cares? The world is too big and there’s too much shit going on every day for CNN to spend one minute covering this trivial, irrelevant, celebrity bullshit. When is the last time you heard about something going on in Mexico that didn’t involve a holiday? When is the last time you heard news from Brazil, Australia or the UK? You don’t think shit happens in these parts of the world? What happened to in-depth coverage abroad? What happened to news that didn’t hold punches?

Clutter
I wish I were exaggerating.

I can’t stand how CNN has changed. It used to be that CNN was the place to go for decent coverage of world news. Now they try to cram as much shit down our throats as possible in hopes of increasing ratings. Just look at the layout of CNN’s Headline News. I guess someone forgot to tell their design department that it’s not supposed to be a web page. On the left they have a giant static image taking up 30% of the screen. It usually displays a huge graphic or “fact” about the story that could be summarized with an additional spoken sentence by the reporter. The bottom rectangle displays scrolling news bites and a half-assed weather report (displaying two cities at a time so that the probability of your living in any of the cities listed is next to nothing). What I don’t understand is why they repeat the news so often if they supposedly have so much news to report that it’s necessary to scroll additional news across the bottom.

I subscribe to an email service from CNN called “CNN Breaking News.” Basically every time shit hits the fan, you’re supposed to receive an email. Most of the “breaking news” I’ve received has been as earth shattering as an actor arrested for drunk driving. Wow, now excuse me while I change my freshly soiled boxers.

FOX News, MSNBC and local news isn’t any better. Local news in Utah has a segment called “world in a minute.” It’s literally a 60 second recap of everything that happened IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Yes, 60 seconds. Of course, there’s no time to cover the world when you have important news to cover like the local high school wrestling match.

Source: thebestpageintheuniverse dot net or com?

Source: the net / google

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) — Despite resistance from Iraqi units and rising coalition casualties, U.S. military officials expressed satisfaction Monday with the pace of the war effort.
“Progress toward our objectives has been rapid and in some cases dramatic,” said Gen. Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command. U.S. military officials showcased images of successful airstrikes on Iraqi military and leadership targets and said coalition ground forces have made significant gains in southern Iraq. U.S., British and Australian Special Operations forces operating in small, mobile teams are “about their business, from the left to the right and top to bottom” in Iraq, Franks said. Franks said there is “nothing at all unexpected” about the “sporadic resistance” encountered so far, adding that coalition forces will continue to “fight this on our terms.” The tenor of the U.S. Central Command briefing contrasted with a defiant speech by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein aired hours earlier Monday on Iraqi television. “After they underestimated you, you Iraqis, now they’ve come on land; this attempt is our chance to incur losses on them,” Saddam said. “They are in a dilemma; they are in trouble now. Hate them and strike them.” It was not immediately clear whether the speech was broadcast live or had been taped. Saddam talked about current battles and referred to “setbacks” for his “enemies.” (Full story) Fighting continued Monday in the southeastern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military said at least 10 Marines died in what a senior U.S. officer called “the sharpest engagement of the war thus far.” Up to 16 troops were reported missing after Sunday’s fighting. (Full story) About 60 miles south of the Iraqi capital, elements of the Republican Guard, the strongest and most loyal arm of the Iraqi military, fought off a fierce assault by U.S. Apache attack helicopters. The U.S. Army’s V Corps, 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, targeted Iraq’s 2nd Armored Brigade of the elite Medina Division before dawn Monday, targeting positions between the cities of Karbala and Al Hillah. One U.S. pilot described the situation as a “hornet’s nest,” with the Iraqis peppering the helicopters with small arms and anti-aircraft fire from “all sides.” Most pilots said they sustained 15 to 20 rounds, including a rocket-propelled grenade in one instance. (Full story) Iraqi TV showed video of what appeared to be a downed Apache helicopter, intact and upright, reporting that it went down near Karbala. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said Iraqi villagers shot down two Apaches. U.S. Central Command confirmed that one Apache is missing in Iraq but had no details on the crew or the reported second missing helicopter. (Full story) Thirty-eight U.S. and British military personnel have been confirmed killed since the Iraqi conflict began. (Coalition casualties) Other developments? U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Henry Pete Osman, in charge of military coordination and liaison for Iraq’s northern front, arrived in the area Monday, signaling the much-anticipated opening of a second front. More than 200 U.S. forces are now in northern Iraq. Until recently, some 20 to 30 Special Operations forces were in the region. The development came amid discussions between U.S. and Turkish officials on how to deal with northern Iraq. (Full story) ? The first group of wounded U.S. troops arrived Monday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Their arrival was broadcast live, showing 12 injured people being carried off a C-141 cargo plane by stretcher and placed onto waiting medical evacuation buses. (Full story) ? President Bush plans to have lunch Monday with the military’s top officers to discuss the war in Iraq and also brief key members of Congress on an emergency war budget request officials said will be for roughly $75 billion. Bush will visit the Pentagon on Tuesday and U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday. (Full story) ? Three fresh explosions rocked Baghdad around 2:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. EST) Monday. The blasts came more than 11 hours after witnesses reported a round of airstrikes in the Iraqi capital that hit an Iraqi air force building and other buildings southeast of the city. ? U.S. Patriot missile batteries Monday shot down three Iraqi ballistic missiles in Kuwaiti airspace, a U.S. military source said. The first injured U.S. troops arrive at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. ? Kuwait firefighters in south Rumaylah succeeded Monday in extinguishing their first Iraqi oil well set ablaze by Iraqi forces, according to Kuwait fire authorities. ? The Australian navy has been working with the United States to clear Umm Qasr in preparation for humanitarian aid shipments, the commander of Australian forces in the Middle East said Monday. U.S. Marines have captured the regional headquarters of the ruling Baath Party in the key port city, seizing documents, a weapons cache and other material. (Full story) ? The Iraqi information minister said Monday that at least 62 civilians had died, and many more have been wounded, in the coalition invasion. CNN has been unable to confirm these reports. (Full story) ? A steady rumbling of bombs fell on Iraqi front-line positions near Chamchamal in northern Iraq. Sources from Pesh Murga, the militia for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said Iraqi soldiers armed with heavy machine guns moved injured comrades from a ridge. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is one of the two main ruling Kurdish parties in northern Iraq. ? An unmanned, remote-controlled U.S. Air Force Predator drone spotted and destroyed a radar-guided, anti-aircraft artillery piece in southern Iraq on Saturday, the Pentagon reported Sunday — the first time a Predator has fired in the war. ? Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based, Arabic-language satellite network, broadcast pictures Sunday of U.S. soldiers recorded by Iraqi television. Iraqi TV said the soldiers were killed in action or captured near Nasiriya on the Euphrates River. The video showed five captured U.S. soldiers, who said their names, as well as the bodies of four soldiers, some of whom had gunshot wounds to their foreheads. CNN Correspondents Jason Bellini, Karl Penhaul, Nic Robertson, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Kevin Sites, Barbara Starr and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report. EDITOR’S NOTE: CNN’s policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.