The news and open thead at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Eastern.
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Reuters reports Protester waves blood-colored hands in Rice’s face. “An anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted ‘war criminal!’, but was pushed away and detained by police.” Rice was “unfazed” and Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Relations committee, shouted “Out!” as the police hauled her off. Lantos, fearing protests, demanded the ejection of Code Pink members. “‘What are you doing, what are you doing?’ the protesters screamed as police dragged them away.”Real nice democracy we have here. Rep. Lantos is the Champion of Civility. Of course, maybe Code Pink hit too close to home, since Lantos too has blood on his hands. His enthusiastic support for war with Iraq back in 2002 helped Bush win ‘bipartisan’ support for his war.
AP reports “Despite the protesters’ effort to focus on the war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran dominated the hearing. Lantos, D-Calif., asked whether the Bush administration was doing enough to pressure Egypt to crack down on Hamas sympathizers and whether Bush was calling for the peace conference to salvage his political legacy.”
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In a Trillion-dollar war, Leonard Doyle of The Independent reports that Afghanistan and Iraq set to cost more than Vietnam and Korea. By the time George W. Bush leaves the White House, he will have spent over $1 trillion on war and occupation.
There are also disturbing signs that Mr Bush is preparing an attack on Iran during his remaining months in office. He has demanded $46bn (£22.5bn) emergency funds from Congress by Christmas and included with it a single sentence requesting money to upgrade the B-2 “stealth” bomber.
Bush is wrapping himself and his request in the flag to disguise his latest request. On Monday, when he made the request, the glorious Leader stood beside the family of a dead U.S. marine. Apparently, spending more on war will bring their soldier back to life. When are Americans going to stop falling for this false patriotism?
The full amount requested for this fiscal year is now $196.4bn. The US is on course to spend a total of $806bn fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than on any war it has fought since the Second World War. With interest payments this tops $1trn.
Despite their expense, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are less of an economic burden (at 4.2 per cent of GDP) than earlier wars. The 1990-91 Gulf War cost $88bn, the Korean War cost $456bn (12.2 per cent of GDP) and the Vietnam War, $518bn (9.4 per cent of GDP). By comparison the Second World War cost more than 40 per cent of GDP.
There now, the Bush administration is doing their wars on the cheap. Don’t you feel better about your country? Just look at the results! Afghanistan slipping back into the hands of the Taliban. Iraq descending into chaos and a simmering civil war. 3,835 dead soldiers, 27,753 wounded. Unknown number of Afghans and Iraqis dead and, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.5 million displaced and refugees in Iraq. Alls systems FUBAR. So, why not more war? Why not Iran?
The Pentagon wants to upgrade its fleet of stealth bombers so that they can deliver 30-tonne, satellite-guided bombs. The planes would be based on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia where hangars are being specially upgraded. These “bunker-buster” bombs are six times bigger than anything used by the air force and designed to destroy weapons of mass destruction facilities underground. Diego Garcia is also much closer to Iran than Missouri, where the bombers are based.
Why are the British even entertaining such a request from these madmen? Especially after glorious Leader’s World War III threat? Not to mention Cheney’s threat.
This weekend Vice-President Dick Cheney stepped up the rhetoric, warning of “serious consequences” if Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium and said the US would not permit it to get nuclear weapons. Iran denies that the enrichment is linked to a nuclear weapons programme and says it is entirely peaceful.
The time has come to put humanity before
patriotismnationalism. More war, with Iran or any other nation, is insanity.
Four at Four continues below the fold with stories on extinction and today’s Guns of Greed – mercenary news round-up.
