Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! gnzdsuvdoypk

This link answers the question, "Why
do they hate us?"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527966693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

What is remarkable is that someone at his level in government has to state the rediculously obvious: congress and the press are not the enemy.
Posted by: | May 31, 2007

Anonymous,
I suspect that Mr. Gates has been trying to atone for the president ever since he re-appeared on the world stage and was cast back into the limelight!

Arkin,
First off, just how is rhetoric about the clash of civilizations counterproductive? Secondly, admittedly most of the speech centers around Air Force idealism as opposed to what you would probably call right-wing idealism, but, isn't the following rhetoric about the clash of civilizations?
'It is by no means an easy future. We are engaged in two wars on the other side of the world - and we are engaged in a global ideological struggle against some of the most barbaric enemies we have ever faced. There are also many threats on the horizon, both traditional and non-traditional, and as always there are the threats that still lie beyond the horizon, threats we cannot yet even perceive."

The man gave a non-political commencement address. This is newsworthy? If this is the best you can do, do give up your day job.

I think that Gates, Fallon, and Petraeus are all naturally more honest people than their predecessors. But I also think they're being deliberately kept away from the Kool-Aid stand, to save their credibility for when it's needed later.

The administration is going to need someone around September who can claim Iraq is showing light at the end of the tunnel without being dismissed out of hand by the public before he even opens his mouth.

A public official can only tell so many lies before people start ignoring him, like Cheney for example. Gates is keeping his powder dry for later, when his need will be greater.

It's amazing to think that Gates, who only narrowly escaped jail over Iran-Contra, is a paragon of honesty and credibility when compared to the rest of this administration.

For uncensored news please bookmark:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.onlinejournal.com
www.globalresearch.ca

As part of CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program
Boeing subsidiary accused of profiting from torture

By David Walsh
1 June 2007

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit May 30 accusing Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing, of providing flight services that enabled the CIA to transport suspects illegally to locations where they were brutally tortured. The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of three men, Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel and Ahmed Agiza, who have suffered nightmarish fates at the hands of one or more intelligence service. All three men remain incarcerated.

At a New York City press conference, ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner commented, "This is the first time we are accusing a blue-chip American company of profiting from torture." A lawyer for Binyam Mohamed, Clive Stafford Smith, a co-counsel on the suit, told the media, "Corporations should expect to get sued where they are making blood money off the suffering of others." According to the lawsuit, Jeppesen has provided flight and logistical support for at least 15 aircraft (belonging to CIA front companies) that have made a total of 70 rendition flights.

The ACLU argues that Jeppesen knew or reasonably should have known that the countries to which it was delivering shackled human beings were guilty of routinely torturing or abusing detainees. The company, notes an ACLU fact sheet, furnished flight crews with flight planning services including itinerary, route, weather, and fuel planning; took responsibility for the preparation of flight plans; facilitated customs clearance and arrangements for ground transportation, catering, and hotel accommodation for aircraft crew upon landing; and provided physical security for aircraft and crew.

As vital as any of these services, "Jeppesen's role as coordinator with virtually all public and private third parties has permitted the CIA to conduct its illegal activities below the radar of public scrutiny and beyond the reach of the rule of law. In short, without the assistance of Jeppesen and other corporations, the US extraordinary rendition program could not have gotten off the ground."

"Extraordinary rendition" is a term the American ruling elite has introduced into the world's political lexicon. Under this criminal program, the CIA and other US government agencies seize and transfer foreign nationals to countries where torture is commonplace or to secret US-run facilities on foreign soil where similar conditions prevail. The program has been in effect since at least the early 1990s during the Clinton administration, according to the ACLU complaint, but the September 11 terrorist attacks provided the pretext for its vast expansion.

For the rest please go to:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jun2007/rend-j01.shtml

Arkin,

You are reading too much into Gate's speech .. and your skepticism is showing when you suggest that Gates may have "purposely avoided a lengthy discussion of Iraq and the counterproductive rhetoric about the clash of civilizations."

Consider the possibility that you, and by extension, the press weren't the target audience.

Rather, he was addressing directly the graduation class of the Air Force Academy. As such, I find his commencement address less about "going against the grain" and more about what is the appropriate advice to offer junior officers about to enter the chaos of today's very complex society-military-governance relationship. As such, he did well in offering some sound principles to guide them as they serve this country well into the future.

It's a shame that you found his address "remarkable as much for what it did not include as for what it did" and conclude your blog suggesting was there was hidden meaning and nuance in Gate's address where there wasn't any.

Arkin, This is off topic, but I thought
your bloggers might be interested in the
military crack down on free speech documented in the following article. Many
in the press and military are loyal and
patriotic americans, Mike.
http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=6022

The press IS our enemy.

What is remarkable is that someone at his level in government has to state the rediculously obvious: congress and the press are not the enemy. In other words, the basics of democracy 101. I would like to see him repeat those very words the next time he's on Fox. Time was when that kind of speech would be ridiculed for lack of substance. We have really gone back a long way.

Hey Arkin,
What's up with disrespect for Toastmasters? Toasmasters is an extremely beneficial organization. Toasmasters helps the world at large to communicate more clearly and to communicate in a manner that is less tedious.

It sure is easy for Gates to try to seperate himself from the Bushies now! It was abundantly clear at the beginning of this fiasco what the administration was doing doing. Gates knew it, C. Powell knew it, half the country knew that we were getting railroaded into the War in Iraq. The ones who stood by their convictions and spoke out despite the smear tactics of the rabid right wing extremists are the real hero's. All Gates succeeds in demonstrating to the cadets is that a few cautionary words after it's "safe to come out" is where he stood.

Well said Mr. Gates.

Perhaps it is old fashion to say I too have a dream of what I would like to see this country of ours become. That when I look around at our nation, there seems to be a lost look in the face of Americans, as if they are not sure what to make of what they see unfolding before their eyes. As if, they are helpless to prevent it. It's the sadness in their eyes and that hope that perhaps it's not as bad as it looks with the wars, the drugs, the crime, the lies, the spin, the back-biting, the hatred ... the politics. I keep wondering when did "political" become such a dirty word in our American vocabulary. I think there is something revealing in politics that we as the people of the United States are not quite ready to admit do. I keep thinking that it's a case of the "Emperor is naked". I also keep wondering if everything is an "American right" ... when is something considered wrong ... and who makes that call? Our elected officials and representatives? How can that be when politics has become so narcissistic? I have a dream for this nation that I will strive for with persistence and determination that encompasses what Robert Gates said regarding self-reliance, self-control, honor, truthfulness, and morality. I go toward this with the understanding that the road I walk will be difficult, lonely, and where no scoffer dares to travel. I go into this knowing I may utterly fail...

And to Mr. Gates I would say ... thank you. In a world surrounded by pretension, hopelessness, sadness, anger, frustration, and bitterness, from time to time it is refreshing to hear that someone stood up to say the words that ring of truth and understanding.

I thought Sec. Gates' speech was excellent. While I might not always agree with him, I do not question his integrity, which more than I can say for the rest of the Administration, or many in Congress. Anyone coming out of the academies in the Bush Administration are facing endless international landmines created by Bush Policies that can get them killed. I would remind them that they are required to obey every LEGAL order of those appoint over them. These idiots can get them in legal trouble too.

Yawn, as if one would conjure a circumstances where Gates could not give an appropo speech to a college or unniversity? The editorial is what is news here, hardly news worthy. Yawn....

For uncensored news please bookmark:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.onlinejournal.com
www.globalresearch.ca

Turkey helps Iran transport weapons to Hezbollah!!!!!!

http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc053007DO.html

Turkish media: Cargo train derailed by HPG (PKK) was transporting rockets from Iran to Syria

DozaMe.org

The Turkish cargo train with serial number 55555, which was attacked and derailed by HPG forces (PKK's armed wing) on May 25, was transporting 300 rockets from Iran to Syria, reports Turkey's biggest newspaper Hurriyet today.

The derailed train turned out to be transporting containers filled with rockets. The containers carrying the rockets had been filed as transporting construction materials and were rolled into Turkey at the border point in Van. The containers were then transported to Lake Van and from there with ferry boats to Tatvan in Bitlis province where they were loaded onto train 55555. The train was then to be transported to Malatya and then to Islahiye before transported into Syria at the Yolbasi border point in Gaziantep province.

HPG had derailed the Turkish cargo train 55555 close to Suveren in the Genc district of Bingol province of northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) on May 25 at 08:00 (8.00 a.m.) EEST. The train was derailed with a remote-controlled bomb placed on the tracks.

HPG said in a statement relating to the derailing that they had had intelligence on the cargo train transporting weapons, but didn't indicate whether they had collected this intelligence themselves or been given it by someone else.

Turkish intelligence service MIT is now investigating the matter. The final destination of the rockets is believed to have been the Lebanese Hezbollah or Palestinian organizations according to Turkish media.

It was also reported that an Iranian cargo plane flying to Syria was forced down to the Turkish military airbase in Diyarbakir by Turkish authorities. The plane was claimed to have been searched by Turkish police and then allowed to continue the flight to Syria when nothing was found.

DozaMe.org reported in August 18 last year that Turkey was helping Iran smuggle weapons to Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah through its Red Crescent organization.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/6609539.asp?gid=180

Sec. Gates's background in government is in the intelligence community, whose officials have historically been less inclined to discuss the particulars of government policy and what it ought to be than officials who come from a background in, say electoral politics.

Moreover Gates, once he left CIA, spent several years as president of a university. People in that position are, for different reasons, similarly inclined to use commencement addresses as the occasion for general remarks having to do with character, opportunity, and so forth.

Now, could Gates in addition have in mind some of the ideas Arkin alludes to? It's certainly possible. Keep in mind, though, that while Gates has considerable experience in government he is still new as Secretary of Defense. If he did have a clearly formed idea as to how he should use his position to guide Bush administration policy in more constructive directions it's highly unlikely public addresses would be a major part of his strategy -- and he may not, in fact, have such a strategy.

"Maybe I'm reading too much into Gates' speech." Possibly, but isn't it refreshing not to hear another administration propagandist?

Thanks for your report. I'd like to agree with about Gates. But ... too much water under the bridge now. It's all about snagging the American people into bleeding for big oil and "wanna be" imperial arrogance. I fear Gates is just being "good cop". They all have to go.

Gates is a realist, he's a Bush 41 man. He was against the surge, he's in favor of engagement with Syria and Iran. He and Rice were cited as being in favor of a troop drawdown in 2008 (in that NYT story last week that enraged Bush). He's trying to put the crazies back in the box.

Too late though, Bush has committed us to World War III.

Gates gets it.

Lucas warned us.

http://scorpionbowl.blogspot.com/2007/05/george-lucas-american-orwell.html

Not mentioning the GWOT is der rigeur for government officals now. It's no longer considered topical, nor PC.

"If you can't ameliorate it or 'spin it', don't talk about it." That's the operational mode.

That's why none of the people we depend for official information are saying much about anything. Foreign policy OR domestic.

Turkey is about to move on the PKK in Kurdistan.

Silence.

Thousands of ICE & Border Patrol personnel are being reassigned by DHS to work with the Secret Service protecting presidential wannabes in a race starting way too early (IMHO, as a pomp n' circumstance distraction from the overall state of world events)

Silence

There are three talking points only.

Iraq... We hate seeing those weeping widows, quadriplegics, the terminal IED concussion crowd, and bodybags.

Immigrant Bashing/Indentured 'Servituding'. Helluva choice. The KKK couldn't do better.

...and how our overbloated, globally destructive consumerist lifestyle won't have to change (If you just do what your leaders tell you to do, and think as they'd like you to think.

But the greatest pleasure would be to spend my time in questioning and examining the people there as I have done those here, and discovering who among them is wise, and who fancies himself to be so but is not.
Socrates

Defense Secretary Gates does not appear to be a hot-head like his predecessor(s).

Perhaps Mr. Gates plans to run for the office of president himself in the future, or perhaps he is simply a genuine patriot (not a sycophant) and a man of genuine character who loves his country and respects civilian rule.

Each time that I have heard him speak, he appeared to be more sagacious and far more temperate than his predecessor(s).

We need more individuals who are like-minded to be in, and to run our government of the United States of America!