Road To Tehran 10 ; US Conducting Covert Ops In Iran.

With just over six months left before President Bush leaves office, the ugly idea of going after Iran has reared it's head.

According to the New Yorker, covert, US military operations are underway in Iran. The cost of these behind the scenes murky doings are four-hundred million dollars.

Tell The Truthiness ; He may only have six months left, but when you're as unpredictable as Bush and as powerful, it's plenty of time for plenty to happen.

War On Reality Part 94 ; Forgotten Afghanistan

This June has seen the highest number of foreign soldiers killed since the invasion happened in 2001. 39 soldiers have been killed in June this year.

Tell The Truthiness ; As has been said so often, didn't we 'win' this war in 2001? Oh, that must have just been post 9/11 propaganda combined with a poorly understood definition of what 'winning' was.

War On Reality Part 90 ; Talk About Delayed Reaction

The US government has finally removed all terrorist and terrorism references to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) party on databases.

Even having been released from prison in 1990 and elected to office in 1994, Nelson Mandela and fellow members of the ANC had to obtain a special waiver to allow access to the US.

Tell The Truthiness ; Well done to Condoleezza Rice for pushing for this to be finally changed, but if this is the way the administration treats democratically elected leaders, it makes you shudder to think how they treat everyone else.

War On Reality Part 87 ; Bush Inner Circle Approved Torture

The Associated Press is reporting that an inner circle of US government officials, led from Dick Cheney pushed for torture to be used and asked the Justice Department to approve it.

What is very revealing is that efforts were made to keep all this and even discussion of the subject away from President Bush, allowing him to deny any torture was taking place.

Tell The Truthiness ; We are now in a dangerous era, when a government is more dangerous to it's people than the enemy it claims to protect us from.

War On Reality Part 82 ; 5 Years Of This & How Things Can Be Different

The fifth anniversary of the US led invasion and occupation of Iraq has thrown up a lot of numbers. The deaths, military and civilian, money wasted, attacks, the list is pretty endless. But there is one thing, above everything that we have learned and it's illustrated on the cover of today's Independent, shown above.

The one lesson we never learn is that of history. Human's have very short memories. From the constant meddling by other people and other countries in the Middle East since the dawn of time to the ignorance of federal officials of the mathematical vulnerability of a below sea-level city to the affects of a hurricane's winds and flood waters.

But instead we bury our heads in the sand and claim ignorance, when the lessons of history surround us, like the elephant in the room. This happened the last five years and still we are there, fighting for what exactly?

According to today's news from London, it's against a shadowy collection of loosely affiliated groups that are all around us and all out to get us.

But, look deeper, with more attention to detail and you'll find that things are not like that, the threat has been exaggerated. Using that report as an example, the UK of the 1970s was a far more dangerous place to exist than today's version. In 1972, 470 people were killed by terrorists (the legacy, mostly of the IRA) and in 2007, that number was three (the last fragments of violence in Northern Ireland).

The politics of fear has been almost fine-tuned these past seven years. We've seen the fake terror threats. We've seen the linking of any criminal activity to al-Qaeda. Yes, that includes those people at work who offer you pirate copies of DVDs, they're on a hotline to Osama Bin Laden and are planning the next big attack. We've seen the hyping of non-existent or paper thin intelligence on the next country to attack.



Then to top all that, President Bush, today, on this most sobering of dates, claims victory in Iraq. His Vice President goes one better and responds to a question about two thirds of the US public being against the war, Cheney responded with "so?".

But, things don't have to be like this and recent movements since the start of the year indicate they won't be soon. The interest by Americans and others around the World in the nominees for President has never been seen before in recent times. Every speech, every primary, every stand on an issue is devoured and analysed by media, but equally by the public.

To take things back from the brink of another seven years of what we've just been through, get involved, become an active citizen, get informed and keep informed on what elected officials are doing, even if it's only locally in your town or city. Become a member of a party, attend rallies, investigate those you are considering voting for.

Tell The Truthiness ; We have lived as if in a trance, we have lived as people in fear. That nightmare, that has become daily life for too many of us, is coming to an end. We are waking up from it and it's up to us, not only to move onto a new era of citizen, grassroots led governance, but to promise we shall not let future generations repeat our mistakes.

Olbermann's Bush Era Timeline 2002-2008

Here is an excellent piece from Countdown of the 'terror' warnings of the last five years and their uncanny closeness to sensitive political incidents for the Bush administration.



Tell The Truthiness ; Worryingly, what could be added to this during the next 331 days before he leaves?

Look Out, The Latest War Franchise Is Launched

Tell The Truthiness ; Look out Finland, he's after you before January next year!

Road To Tehran 8 ; Hormuz Boat Incident A Fake

The Pentagon has backtracked on the exact details of Sunday morning's boat incident between the US and Iran.

Iran was the first to produce evidence that discounts the US claims. Authorities showed footage they said didn't show any of their boats approaching US vessels. Then, the US Navy admitted the voice on the US released tape may not have been Iranian in origin.

Plus, Pentagon officials are also saying the threatening voice on the videotape was recorded separately and added to the tape later.

Tell The Truthiness ; A poorly executed 'false-flag' operation, carried out by an inept government. Expect the actual plan for this to be published tomorrow, written badly on the back of a cheap bar napkin. Just three-hundred and seventy-five days of this administration to go.

Bush On Iran No Nukes ; How Long Might He Have Been Lying For?

We know a bit more know on the process of the release of info on the 'Iran stopped it's nuclear programme'. George Bush was told there was new information on Iran's nuclear programme several months ago.

However, it's then said that he didn't know what the information was. Plus it's not been confirmed whether the Director Of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell told the President that all previous intelligence could be considered invalid.

Tell The Truthiness ; So, did the President know? If he did, how long ago did he know? If the intelligence was faulty, was Mr Bush told this, or did he choose to continue ratcheting up the non-story on Iran in absence of any valid information? Mr Bush, you couldn't stop talking on Monday, want to talk out the answers to these questions? We're ready to listen.

War On Reality Part 79 ; Bush Tries For 'Iraq 2' With Iran

President Bush went on TV this morning and decided to say that nothing has changed and that instead Iran is still a threat.

Despite the National Intelligence Estimate, parts of which were made public yesterday indicates that Iran shut down, of it's own accord, it's nuclear weapons programme.

So spin has taken over and the President has done his own revisionism of current events and has ignored yesterday's report.

Tell The Truthiness ; Have they been telling us the truth, or has the President and administration been determined to go into Iran as long as they've had the same wish about Iraq? So is the President lying, again?

ABC Pulls GMA Footage Of Pakistanis Denying Bin Laden Is Real

In an effort to give the US a view of what the young people of Pakistan think about current affairs, Good Morning America conducted an interview with four such people.

Well done GMA and ABC?

Not really.

When the folks interviewed said that the majority of Pakistanis do not believe that Osama Bin Laden is real, simply being a character conveniently created for the United States own ends, ABC didn't want people finding out.

So the video was pulled from ABC's website.

Just like the Fox News thing the other day, we're proud to show a viewpoint. So here it is.

Tell The Truthiness ; Not everyone has the same opinion, ABC and the rest of the mainstream media needs to show that. Even if some might not like that view or find it comfortable.

Tom Brokaw : Iraq "Progress" Needs To Be Looked At

Speaking in a CNN Reliable Sources interview today, Tom Brokaw gave his take on the state of Iraq. He also touched on many other areas when talking to Howard Kurtz.

You can watch that interview here.

He also gave some interesting analysis when asked about the criticism leveled toward Katie Couric.

Tell The Truthiness ; Proof that an interview doesn't have to be inflammatory to be revealing.

War On Reality Part 74 ; Dems On The Brink With Iraq Withdrawal Bill

Democrats in the US House of Representatives are rounding up votes tonight for a war spending bill which stipulates for troop withdrawals from Iraq.

A reduction in troop numbers would have to start within thirty days of it's passage.

The symbolism is important if nothing else in the bill, since the White House has said the President will veto the bill if it gets passed.

Tell The Truthiness ; Democrats and those Republicans that have seen the light, symbolic actions are fine, but we need to see some real, physical ones to get actual change.

War On Reality Part 73 ; Former Soldiers & Their Former Rights

This report is last years UK ceremony of remembrance in London.

The parallels between what happens on the 11th of November in the US and other countries to honor the fallen war dead is telling, especially this year in 2007.

In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and continental Europe the day is called Remembrance Day. People wear red poppies, a symbol of a fallen solider. The red flowers were the first things to grow on the muddy trenches in northern France after the end of the First World War. People stand for two minutes, at 11:00 in silence. In streets, offices, airports, stations, shops, squares, parks and government buildings. A chance to stop and think.

It is done in silence, with no speeches, no 'celebration', just diginifed, sombre reflection for the dead of past conflicts and those of the present day.

Those in charge of the Veteran's Day events in Long Beach California prevented those veterans taking part who are against the Iraq War because they didn't have the right "spirit".

Tell The Truthiness ; Anyone who's gone off to fight on our behalf and has been lucky enough to come back alive has earned the right to say whatever they like. Regardless of what they say, whenever they wish to say it, censoring them contradicts the very reason they go off to fight.

War On Reality Part 72 ; Veterans Good For War Mongering, Little Else

George Bush was recently playing video games with veterans, which gave his image a bit of a shake, just before Veterans Day, but away from the photo-ops, things are quite different.

He also said during his radio address that he will never forget what is owed to them.

The man is either deceptive or has a short memory. Because today he vetoed a Labor, Health and Education bill which would have included money for veterans support. More shocking are the results of a survey which shows that one in four of the number of people homeless are veterans.

Tell The Truthiness ; We'd forgive you for not playing video games with wounded troops in the future, as long as you give them the money they need when they come back home.

War On Reality Part 71 ; Waterboarding Whitewash

How many more people, of any rank in US government, are there left to be made to tow the line and prop up the President? Recent events indicate not that many.

Daniel Levin, the acting assistant attorney general in 2004, asked to experience the method of torture and reported that "torture is abhorent" in a memo, which was later leaked. He was later pushed out of his job by Alberto Gonzales. Now, Malcolm Nance, a former Navy interrogation instructor has told a house committee that waterboarding is torture.

Tell The Truthiness ; "Physical pain and sheer panic" described the marine in the reconstruction shown in the video of how waterboarding felt. Enhanced interrogation techniques equals torture, plain and simple.

Urban Legend Terrorism 1 ; Have You Heard The One About The Babysitter Who Got A Lift With Al-Qaeda?

Of all people this week, the Japanese tried to justify plans to fingerprint foreigners by saying there was a member of al-Qaeda in the country illegally.

As long as he had entered legally, that would be fine you see.

Kunio Hatoyama said the man was a "friend of a friend" who was connected to the Bali bombing.

Justice Minister Kunio later produced evidence to back up his story.

Even later he said he had not met the man and couldn' confirm his friend's claim. He had earlier suggested this 'story' was an example of stricter checks needed on vistors.

Tell The Truthiness ; No Mr Kunio, this is another example of a rumour based urban legend story used to scare people to giving up basic liberty to protect their liberty. It's pointless, useless and this has been so done to death by the Bush administration.

Change the record.

This is an interesting piece about the funding of insurgents by the US.

Saunter To The White House 12 ; Giuliani Not Sure Waterboarding Is Torture

Yes, our man of the moment, Rudy Giuliani has stated that he is not sure if waterboarding can be classified as torture.

Now, really he just had to take a leaf or two out of the President's book and cover himself by :

1 . Firstly refuse to discuss specific torture techniques.

then...

2 . Get your attorney general to reclassify torture or anything that everyone else apart from you declares to be torture as not torture.

After that, you can sleep at night.

Tell The Truthiness ; First President Bush, then President Giuliani, that'll keep you awake.

9/11 Truth Part 1 ; NIST Says Collapse Of Twin Towers Unexplainable

The National Institute for Standards and Technology has been made to admit that the collapse of the twin towers cannot, after a lengthy study, be explained.

A 10,000 page report has revealed also that the temperature of the steel would only have reached, at the most 500 degrees, nowhere near the 1000 degrees needed to weaken and further still from the 1,500 degrees needed to melt it.

So the ability of the towers to collapse at freefall speed is not possible because of the fire. The only other option that has yet to be fully investigated is a controlled demolition using explosives.

The NIST has no word on World Trade Center Building 7, which collapsed at 5.20pm, at freefall speed also, which had minor fire damage and was hit by far less debris from the falling towers than other buildings which remain standing to this day. The NIST promised to look at controlled demolition for Building 7 in August 2006, but has yet to report. When it does, we will let you know the results.

Tell The Truthiness ; We need a new, broad investigation. And we needed it six years ago.

War On Reality Part 64 ; Government Wanted Phone Tapping Before 9/11

The above is a video about the warrantless wiretapping, it's not specifically about this case though.

The National Security Agency asked a telecommunications firm early in 2001 to take part in an illegal phone monitoring plan.

A former Qwest Communications International executive, charged with insider trading, claims the NSA approached his company in the last days of February 2001 to take part in the undercover plan.

When they declined, citing the worry that the scheme was illegal, he alleged later that the company lost contracts directly because it had refused to agree to what the NSA was asking it to do.

Tell The Truthiness ; Why did the NSA need to do this monitoring illegally? Why has the Bush administration maintained that warrantless wiretapping came out of 9/11, when clearly people were anxious to use it before? Who knows more than they are letting on? They probably don't recall though.