In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.
Naomi Klein outlines 'The Shock Doctrine' with MSNBC's Olbermann
Naomi Klein, discussing her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, outlines how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strongarm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept.
People "don't actually want to hand their democracies over to multinational corporations," says Klein. "So, you need some kind of a shock. And that shock could be a war. It could be an economic meltdown. It could be a terrorist attack, but something that creates a period of confusion, of dislocation, of regression." See Video
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supra-national body. ~ Bilderberg Group founder, Prince Bernhard
As a rhetorical question, can someone please explain to me how it is that progressive liberals such as John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, as well as do-gooder humanitarians with multiple social projects ongoing such as the Rockefellers and every Royal House in Europe, can perennially attend Bilderberg meetings apparently knowing that the final objective of this despicable group of hoodlums is a fascist One World Empire? ~ Daniel Estulin (P.318)~
Daniel Estulin is a Madrid-based journalist and an investigative reporter who took on the daunting and dangerous task of researching the Bildeberg Group, and who offers his findings in The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group, recently published by Trine Day. Equally intriguing as his harrowing tales of being followed and nearly killed on a couple of occasions while working on the book, is the manner in which Estulin connects the dots between the Bilderberg Group, world events, notable politicians and corporate tycoons and the two other secretive monsters of the ruling elite, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission (TC). The project lasted fifteen years and was motivated by Estulin's curiosity about how it is that the mainstream media has never covered in depth the meetings of the Bilderberg Group whose combined wealth exceeds the combined wealth of all U.S. citizens.
BLOOD AND RELIGION: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State by Jonathan Cook Pluto Press, London/University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2006 - ISBN 0-7453-2555-6 See Shocking Video
What is Israel hoping to achieve with its recent pullout from Gaza? Journalist Jonathan Cook, who has been reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the Second Intifada, presents a lucid account of the motivations and implications behind the Gaza disengagement and Israel's building of a 700km fence-cum-wall around the West Bank.
At the heart of the issue, he argues, is demography. The Jewish state fears the impending moment when the region's Palestinian population inside Israel and in the Occupied Territories becomes a majority and Israeli rule inevitably draws comparisons with apartheid in South Africa.
The book charts Israel's increasingly desperate recent responses to its predicament:
lethal military repression of Palestinian dissent on both sides of the Green Line;
accusations that the country's Palestinian citizens and the Palestinian Authority are secretly conspiring to subvert the Jewish state from within;
a ban on marriages between Israel's Palestinian citizens and Palestinians living under occupation to prevent a right of return "through the back door;"
the redrawing of the Green Line to create an expanded Jewish state.
The path of unilateral separation will lead to ever greater abuses of Palestinian rights and ultimately, concludes the author, it will lead to a third, far deadlier, intifada.
Jonathan Cook, a former staff journalist of the Guardian newspaper, has also written for the Observer, the Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, the International Herald Tribune, al-Ahram Weekly, and Aljazeera.net. He is based in Nazareth.
BLACKWATER : The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill published by Nation Books. ISBN: 1560259795
The Bush Administration is increasingly dependent on private security forces to do its dirty work, Jeremy Scahill reveals in his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Read more here
10 Steps to Repair American Democracy by Steven Hill With a foreword by Hendrik Hertzberg ISBN: 0-9760621-5-1
About the Book
Choiceless elections. Suspicious voting equipment. Partisan election officials. Superficial political debate. American democracy is suffering through its worst crises in generations, and most Americans don't know what to do about it. Here, finally, is the plan —10 steps to repair American democracy.In his inspiring blueprint for renewing America, Hill makes a stirring call for national election standards, nonpartisan election officials, a voting day holiday, and other repairs to the nuts and bolts of our system. He takes it a step further, calling for the end of winner-take-all elections, fairer representation in the U.S. Senate, universal voter registration, public financing of elections, free air time for candidates, and new media regulations that will open up our politics and broaden political debate.Drawing upon the author's 20 years of democracy advocacy, scholarship, and two previous books, 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy outlines the looming problems with American elections and proposes ten specific reforms to reinvigorate our republic. It also includes a trenchant foreword by Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor at The New Yorker.
The Israel Lobby by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
One of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. Now in a work of major importance, Mearsheimer and Walt deepen and expand their argument and confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran. They describe the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. Mearsheimer and Walt provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America’s posture throughout the Middle East—in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America’s national interest nor Israel’s long-term interest. The lobby’s influence also affects America’s relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. Writing in The New York Review of Books, Michael Massing declared, “Not since Foreign Affairs magazine published Samuel Huntington’s ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ in 1993 has an academic essay detonated with such force.” The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is certain to widen the debate and to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.
DVD NO END IN SIGHT : THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF IRAQ Winner of a Special Jury Prize Sundance 2007
The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours of footage, the film provides a candid retelling of the events following the fall of Baghdad in 2003 by high ranking officials such as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Ambassador Barbara Bodine (in charge of Baghdad during the Spring of 2003), Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, and General Jay Garner (in charge of the occupation of Iraq through May 2003) as well as Iraqi civilians, American soldiers, and prominent analysts. NO END IN SIGHT examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy – the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government, and the disbanding of the Iraqi military – largely created the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today. How did a group of men with little or no military experience, knowledge of the Arab world or personal experience in Iraq come to make such flagrantly debilitating decisions? NO END IN SIGHT dissects the people, issues and facts behind the Bush Administration’s decisions and their consequences on the ground to provide a powerful look into how arrogance and ignorance turned a military victory into a seemingly endless and deepening nightmare of a war. More here
DVD Occupation 101 Award-winning documentary film on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.
The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.
Occupation 101 Official Website here, A Must Watch Video here
HACKING DEMOCRACY Documentary Film See Video here July 17,2007
HACKING DEMOCRACY, produced by Russell Michaels, Simon Ardizzone and Sarah Teale of Teale Edwards Productions, has been nominated for an Emmy for outstanding investigative journalism.
The disturbingly shocking HBO documentary HACKING DEMOCRACY bravely tangles with our nation's ills at the heart of democracy. The film the Diebold corporation doesn't want you to see, this revelatory journey follows tenacious Seattle grandmother Bev Harris and her band of extraordinary citizen-activists as they set out to ask one simple question: How does America count its votes?
"Electronic voting machines count about 87% of the votes cast in America today. But are they reliable? Are they safe from tampering? From a current congressional hearing to persistent media reports that suggest misuse of data and even outright fraud, concerns over the integrity of electronic voting are growing by the day. And if the voting process is not secure, neither is America's democracy. The timely, cautionary documentary HACKING DEMOCRACY exposes gaping holes in the security of America's electronic voting system."
DVD WAR MADE EASY: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. Narrated by Sean Penn More here
War Made Easy brings to the screen Norman Solomon's insightful analysis of the strategies used by administrations, both Democratic and Republican, to promote their agendas for war from Vietnam to Iraq. By familiarizing viewers with the techniques of war propaganda, War Made Easy encourages us to think critically about the messages put out by today's spin doctors - messages which are designed to promote and prolong a policy of militarism under the guise of the "war on terror." Based on the book by the same title.
Every soldier wrestles with his conscience over killing. Although most decide to kill, some refuse. Soldiers of Conscience reveals that far more soldiers refuse to kill than we might expect. Made with official permission from the US Army, Soldiers of Conscience includes never before seen footage of basic training and the war in Iraq. Luna Productions
ADDICTED TO WAR Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism A History of U.S. Foreign Wars in Comic Book Form by Joel Andreas
ADDICTED TO WAR takes on the most active, powerful and destructive military in the world. It tells the history of U.S. foreign wars - from the Indian Wars to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - in a comic book format.With 77 hard-hitting pages, this book reveals why the U.S. has been involved in more wars in recent years than any other country.Packed with historical photographs and quotes from people in the military, the government, and big business, Addicted to War explains who benefits from these military adventures, who pays, and who dies.
Addicted to War is being used as a history textbook in hundreds of high schools and colleges. It is carefully documented with 161 reference notes.Read the entire book online HERE.
Howard Zinn, author of 'A People's History of the United States' says: - "Addicted to War is a witty and devastating portrait of U.S. military policy, a fine example of art serving society."
With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military by Michael L. Weinstein and Davin Seay
This book shines a klieg light on one of the most elite educational institutions in the world: The United States Air Force Academy, which, from its inception, has attracted the best and brightest, producing outstanding leaders not only in the military but throughout American society.
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and his family have a long tradition of service in the United States armed forces. However, Weinstein is now waging a different kind of war. With support at the very highest levels, evangelical groups within the military believe that, serving your country requires the priorities of the military personnel to be, in the words of the Officer’s Christian Fellowship: “ a spiritually transformed US Military” literally “with ambassadors for Christ in uniform” and “empowered by the Holy Spirit.” Weinstein and other American patriots see the evangelicals’ intrusion into military operations and affairs as an affront to the Constitution they were sworn to uphold – and a violation of this nation’s traditionally sacrosanct separation of church and state.
A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.
We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.
How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.
Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.
Elizabeth Holtzman has been a US Congresswoman, the District Attorney of Brooklyn, and was Member of House panel that impeached Richard Nixon.
"Liz Holtzman’s intelligence, courage, and tenacity resulted in the impeachment of one president, in The Impeachment of George W. Bush, she reminds us why we miss her so much in Congress, and she gives us the tools powerful enough to lead to the impeachment of another president, one much more harmful and destructive to the values of our democracy.” — CINDY SHEEHAN
From Publisher's Weekly Review:
"…Talk of presidential impeachment is in the air. Holtzman, former congresswoman and Brooklyn D.A., and Cooper, a journalist and lawyer, have assembled a compact but thorough legal and constitutional accounting of five major issues upon which they claim the current president could be impeached... an important, comprehensive argument and document for our current political moment."
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
Duck was tired of his chores on Farmer Browns farm. Duck didnt like to take out the trash, mow the lawn, and grind the coffee beans. So he organized an election to pick someone kinder as head of the farm. The animals voted and Duck won! Now he was in charge! But Ducks ambitions didnt end there. Soon he became governor of the state, then president of the country! Was the job of president fun? Sadly, no. So Duck put his V.P. in charge, returned to the farm and did what many former presidents do-began his autobiography.
Incredible but true : April 9, 2007 · Children were invited to the White House for the Easter Egg Roll. On the agenda: Laura Bush reading a children's book called Duck for President. The duck takes over the farm, then runs for governor, then runs for the White House. He wins after a recount. But he gives it all up to go back to the farm, concluding: "Running a country is no fun at all." According to the book’s publisher, “President Duck,” who didn’t realize being president would require a lot of “very hard work,” ends up with “a very bad headache” before passing his duties off to his Vice President. Sometimes, the jokes write themselves.
The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq by Peter Eisner, Knut Royce Publisher: Rodale Books (April 3, 2007)
Filled with headline-making revelations, this explosive account by two award-winning investigative reporters tracks the behind-the-scenes story of the forged intelligence document that the Bush administration used to push the nation into war with Iraq.
Like Barbara Tuchman’s 1958 classic, The Zimmerman Telegram, about the decoded German wire that drew the United States into World War I, or the recent bestseller Cobra II, The Italian Letter traces the road to war by following the scandal surrounding the Italian Letter, a fraudulent intelligence document that cooked up proof that the African country of Niger was prepared to supply Saddam Hussein with uranium for nuclear weapons.
What is the real story that led to President Bush’s 16 famous words in his 2003 State of the Union address, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."? In the first book to uncover the details of the scandal that has already led to the indictment of one administration official—a scandal bigger than the Iran-Contra affair—the authors have drawn on their unique access to a large group of CIA, FBI, and international sources as well as whistle-blowers.
As frustration over the increasing deaths in Iraq continues to mount, this timely, page-turning narrative provides fresh insights for a nation hungry for greater understanding of the Iraq War and the manipulated intelligence document that altered the course of contemporary history.
PETER EISNER is deputy foreign editor at the Washington Post. The Post’s coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which he coordinated, won an award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He is also author of The Freedom Line, a winner of the 2004 Christopher Award. KNUT ROYCE was a major contributor to three Pulitzer Prize-winning stories in three different decades before joining the Center for Public Integrity as a senior fellow. He has won numerous journalism awards and was named by the Washingtonian as one of the two best investigative print reporters in the nation’s capital.
Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror by Carlo Bonini , Giuseppe D'Avanzo , James Marcus (Translator) With this inquiry, Bonini and D'Avanzo have reached the highest level of investigative journalism."-Seymour Hersh
On January 2, 2001, the Niger embassy in Rome was robbed. Little was missing-a wristwatch, perfume, embassy stationery, and a stamp bearing the official seal of Niger. The outcome of the petty burglary would have catastrophic implications. The stolen stationery and stamps were used to create forged documents claiming Iraq sought to purchase uranium for nuclear weapons. The Italian military intelligence service, SISMI, passed the documents to the White House, where they were cited by President Bush in his State of the Union speech as reason to go to war with Iraq.
Reporters Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'Avanzo broke the story, and in Collusion, they take it even further. Traveling throughout Europe and America, they uncover that the conspiracy behind "Nigergate" stretches beyond the CIA and SISMI to include the cooperation of numerous national intelligence agencies, and "black propaganda" specialists like Ahmad Chalabi, in an all-out manipulation of the war on terror. They also uncover the startling weaknesses of such spycraft-numerous bunglings, outrageous expense accounts, mistaken abductions, and absurd misinterpretations of evidence.
It is, in short, an enthralling, often hair-raising story that has never been told in a book . . . until now. Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'Avanzo work for Rome's La Repubblica newspaper.
The Occupation of Iraq Winning the War, Losing the Peace by Ali A. Allawi Published by Yale University Press
Involved for over thirty years in the politics of Iraq, Ali A. Allawi was a long-time opposition leader against the Baathist regime. In the post-Saddam years he has held important government positions and participated in crucial national decisions and events. In this book, the former Minister of Defense and Finance draws on his unique personal experience, extensive relationships with members of the main political groups and parties in Iraq, and deep understanding of the history and society of his country to answer the baffling questions that persist about its current crises. What really led the United States to invade Iraq, and why have events failed to unfold as planned?
The Occupation of Iraq examines what the United States did and didn’t know at the time of the invasion, the reasons for the confused and contradictory policies that were enacted, and the emergence of the Iraqi political class during the difficult transition process. The book tracks the growth of the insurgency and illuminates the complex relationships among Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. Bringing the discussion forward to the reconfiguration of political forces in 2006, Allawi provides in these pages the clearest view to date of the modern history of Iraq and the invasion that changed its course in unpredicted ways.
Ali A. Allawi is senior adviser to the Prime Minister of Iraq. Since the Coalition’s invasion of Iraq, he served as his country’s first postwar civilian Minister of Defense, was elected to the Transitional National Assembly as a member of the United Iraqi Alliance, and was appointed Minister of Finance under Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaffari. He divides his time between London and Baghdad.
DVD TIME-BOMB: America's Debt Crises, Causes, Consequences and Solutions Documentary by John F. Ince
TIME-BOMB is a powerful new documentary that puts the spotlight on America's exploding national debt and the fact that our leaders are risking our economic future through shortsighted fiscal policies. With each passing day that we do nothing to address our twin deficits, we increase the chances that we will soon be facing an economic crisis of major proportions. TIME-BOMB shows why the hard-earned assets of all Americans are at risk and, on a more profound, level shows why Democracy itself is threatened. The movie features interviews with citizens who have had the courage speak out truthfully about these issues.
TIME-BOMB exposes George W. Bush's faith-based, supply side economics for what it is: nothing more than pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. It shows how George Bush squandered a $5 trillion government surplus and now runs record deficits in one of the greatest miscalculations in human history. While George Bush has framed America's future in terms of the possible threats of terrorist attacks, he has virtually ignored the mounting threat of our looming fiscal crisis. Here a distinguished array of economic experts, activists, statesmen and business executives show why that threat is more real to our nation than most of us would have dared imagine.
Here’s a story of espionage, think tanks, power brokers, a crazy drunk named Curveball, and Douglas Feith—the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy whose Office of Special Plans oversaw the enormous manipulations and failures of intelligence that led to the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq.“Special Plans offers invaluable insight into a key figure behind the propaganda campaign that swayed Americans to support Bush’s Iraq War. Douglas Feith didn't get much coverage in the mainstream press because he was ‘just’ an undersecretary in the Defense Department. But this collection of blog entries about Feith reveals that he was much, much more than that. This book is a testament to the fact that the new Internet media delivers needed information that the mainstream press no longer covers in detail.”—Mark Karlin, Editor and PublisherBuzzFlash.com
Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, producer Aaron Russo ("The Rose," "Trading Places") set out on a journey to find the evidence. This film which is neither left, nor right-wing is a startling examination of government. It exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was fraudulently created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents and tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation, federal income tax, and the national identity card which becomes law in May 2008. This ID card will use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips which are essentially homing devices used to track people. This film shows in great detail and undeniable facts that America is moving headlong into a fascist police state. Wake up!
DVDGHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB Documentary by Rory Kennedy
The familiar and disturbing pictures of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison raise many troubling questions: How did torture become an accepted practice at Abu Ghraib? Did U.S. government policies make it possible? How much damage has the aftermath of Abu Ghraib had on America's credibility as a defender of freedom and human rights around the world? Acclaimed filmmaker Rory Kennedy looks beyond the headlines to investigate the psychological and political context in which torture occurred. Read more here.
In 1966, General Motors, the most powerful corporation in the world, sent private investigators to dig up dirt on an obscure thirty-two year old public interest lawyer named Ralph Nader, who had written a book critical of one of their cars, the Corvair. The scandal that ensued after the smear campaign was revealed launched Ralph Nader into national prominence and established him as one of the most admired Americans and the leader of the modern Consumer Movement. Over the next thirty years and without ever holding public office, Nader built a legislative record that is the rival of any contemporary president. Many things we take for granted including seat belts, airbags, product labeling, no nukes, even the free ticket you get after being bumped from an overbooked flight are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name "Ralph Nader," they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. As a result, after sustaining his popularity and effectiveness over an unprecedented amount of time, he has become a pariah even among former friends and allies. How did this happen? Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? Who has stuck by him and who has abandoned him? Has our democracy become a consumer fraud? After being so right for so many years, how did he seem to go so wrong? With the help of exciting graphics, rare archival footage and over forty on-camera interviews conducted over the past two years, "An Unreasonable Man" traces the life and career of Ralph Nader, one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.
Bush Must Go! If war crimes, torture, & crimes against humanity are not reason to impeach, what is? Featuring Daniel Ellsberg, Cindy Sheehan, John Nichols, Michael Ratner, Sunsara Taylor, & Gore Vidal. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 4th, 2007, the opening day of Congress.
by Barry Lando Doubleday Canada January 23, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-385-66367-0 (0-385-66367-6)
An investigative history of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein’s crimes reveals the story his trial never will. In February 1991, the Shia of southern Iraq rose against Saddam Hussein.
Barry M. Lando, a former investigative producer for 60 Minutes, argues compellingly that this ill-fated uprising represents one instance among many of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein’s crimes against humanity. The Shia were responding to the call for rebellion from President George H.W. Bush that was broadcast repeatedly across Iraq by clandestine CIA stations. But, just as the revolution was on the brink of success, the United States and its allies turned their backs. In the end, tens of thousands were massacred.
Because of restrictions imposed by the Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein, the extensive role of the U.S. and its allies in his crimes will never be explored at his trial. But as Web of Deceit demonstrates, the nations that now denounce Saddam most prominently secretly backed the dictator from his rise to power in the 1960s and ‘70s to his offensives in Iran and, despite warnings, took no action to stop his invasion of Kuwait. They also turned their backs when he used chemical weapons against the Iraqi people and persisted in international sanctions long after they had proved ineffective and, for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, lethal.
Web of Deceit draws on a wide range of journalism and scholarship to present a complete picture of what really happened in Iraq under Saddam, detailing – for the first time – the complicity of the West in its full and alarming extent.
Part scathing critique, part call to action, "Independent Media In A Time Of War" is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center. This film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy. "Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is," says Amy Goodman, "to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent." She makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the "true face of war."
Peace Mom A Mother's Journey through Heartache to Activism By Cindy Sheehan Atria, September 2006 eBook, 256 pages ISBN-10: 1-4165-4105-5 ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4105-9
"Writing this book is the second most difficult thing I have ever done, next to burying Casey."
Peace Mom is the heartfelt and profoundly moving story of Cindy's journey to activism. She recounts the dark days following Casey's death, when it seemed her life would never have meaning again. She tells of her June 2004 meeting with President Bush, and how that encounter ultimately set her on a path that would take her to hearings in the Capitol, test old friendships and family ties, and culminate outside Crawford, Texas, in a monthlong peace action that would draw thousands of supporters and worldwide attention.
Here are the stories Cindy has never shared before about her own experiences at the center of a media firestorm, the life-altering events that were sparked by her simple act of defiance one hot August day in Texas.
This book—on the historic resistance of GIs and veterans against the Vietnam War—is vital for understanding the overstretched U.S. military and opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq among soldiers and their families today.
DAVID CORTRIGHT was enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1968–1971. He is president of the Fourth Freedom Forum and a research fellow at Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and is the author or editor of twelve books, including A Peaceful Superpower: The Movement Against War in Iraq.
Target Iran (Relié) de Scott Ritter Politico's Publishing; Édition : New Ed (5 février 2007)
As a U.S. Marine officer in the Gulf War, Ritter served as a ballistic missile advisor to General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and then became a high-up UN weapons inspector in Iraq until 1998. Now he is a vociferous, controversial critic of the Bush II administration and the Iraq War. In his latest expose, Ritter trains his inspector's eyes on Iran, meticulously analyzing the rhetoric about Tehran beginning with the first Bush presidency when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, then skeptically parsing the protracted, politically tangled wrangling over Iran's nuclear program, and vehemently objecting to what he sees as excessive American alignment with Israel. The most interesting figure to emerge from Ritter's flinty yet invaluable inquiry is John Bolton, current U.S. ambassador to the UN and a neo-con instrumental in pushing for regime changes in the Middle East "at any cost." In closing, Ritter offers shrewd observations about why things have cooled off regarding Iran as the midterm elections loom and cautions that war with Iran would be catastrophic and must be averted. Donna Seaman
Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter Simon & Schuster, November 14, 2006
Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine. President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006.
In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism.
The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal of a just agreement that both sides can honor.
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous book.
Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq by Robert Parry
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek.Tracing investigative leads back through three decades, Secrecy & Privilege explores the mystery of how the two George Bushes rose to the pinnacle of American political power ñ and what the rise of their dynasty has meant to the nation's democratic principles.
Book can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. or Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'
Le Monde Moderne et la Question Juive Edgar Morin, Seuil, 264 pages, 12,00 €.
C'est le titre du dernier livre de notre ami Edgar Morin, sociologue et universitaire. Dans cet ouvrage, il revient sur l'histoire juive depuis l'antiquité jusqu'au 20ème siècle : de l'antijudaïsme chrétien aux osmoses culturelles, du marranisme à l'émancipation, de l'antisémitisme au sionisme. Pour citer Morin : « Au terme de cet essai, il a fallu considérer la tragédie provoquée par le nazisme, d'où est né l'État d'Israël, et où la notion de juif prend une nouvelle signification. Par malheur, l'implantation d'Israël en terre islamique a créé une nouvelle tragédie d'ampleur planétaire. » Pour Morin, l'identité juive ne peut être qu'impure, faite d'une histoire (le passé) et d'un partage (le présent).
The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, Vol. 28 No. 6, 23 March 2006
The centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy is its intimate relationship with Israel. Though often justified as reflecting shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, the U.S. commitment to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the “Israel Lobby.” This paper describes the various activities that pro-Israel groups have undertaken in order to shift U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.
John Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Professor of Political Science at Chicago, and the author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.
Stephen Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. His most recent book is Taming American Power: The Global Response to US Primacy.
United States v. George W. Bush et al. by Elizabeth de la Vega Seven Stories Press, November 1, 2006 In United States v. George W. Bush et al., former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and her passion for justice to the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell.
The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States. Ms. de la Vega has reviewed the evidence, researched the law, drafted an indictment, and in this lively, accessible book, presented it to a grand jury. If the indictment and grand jury are both hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Over half of all Americans believe the president misled the country into a war that has left over 2,500 American soldiers and countless Iraqis dead. The cost is $350 billion-and counting.
The Conservative Nanny State How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer Published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research Washington, DC by Dean Baker, published May 2006
In his new book, economist Dean Baker debunks the myth that conservatives favor the market over government intervention. In fact, conservatives rely on a range of “nanny state” policies that ensure the rich get richer while leaving most Americans worse off. It’s time for the rules to change. Sound economic policy should harness the market in ways that produce desirable social outcomes – decent wages, good jobs and affordable health care.
The Corporation : The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
by Joel Bakan
Free Press, March 2004 Long before Enron's collapse, the corporation, a fledgling institution, was engulfed in corruption and fraud. ... The corporation's legally defined mandate is to pursue, relentlessly and without exception, its own self-interest, regardless of the often harmful consequences it might cause to others.
Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
by Seymour M Hersh
HarperCollins, September 2004 Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers -- and outraged the Bush Administration -- with his stories in The New Yorker, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from the clear morning when hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?
Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency
by Senator Robert C. Byrd
W. W. Norton & Company; July 2004 In the months and years following September 11, Senator Robert C. Byrd has viewed with alarm what he considers to be a "slow unraveling of the people's liberties," when all dissenting voices were stilled and awesome power swung suddenly to the president to fight a "war on terror."
The New Pearl Harbor - Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11
by David Ray Griffin
Interlink; March 2004 Griffin sifts through the evidence about the attacks of 9/11--stories from the mainstream press, reports from abroad, the work of other researchers, and the contradictory words of members of the Bush administration themselves--and finds that, taken together, they cast serious doubt on the official story of that tragic day. A teacher of ethics and theology, Griffin writes with compelling logic, urging readers to draw their own conclusions from the evidence.
The Sorrows of Empire - Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic
by Chalmers Johnson,
Metropolitan Books; January 2004 Reminding us of the classic warnings against militarism - from George Washington's Farewell Address to Dwight Eisonhower's denunciation of the military-industrial comples - Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional militarists who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as "secret" everything they do.
American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips Viking Books; January 2004
Phillips traces the rise of the Bush family from investment banking elites to political power brokers, using their Ivy League network, vast wealth, and questionable political maneuvering to obtain the White House and consequently, shake the foundation of constitutional American democracy.
We are Everywhere - the irresistible rise of global anticapitalism.
Edited by Notes from Nowhere Verso; October 2003 The first book to truly capture and embody the exhuberant creativity and radical intellect of the protest movements opposing neoliberalism around the world (Naomi Klein).
