Alternative Perspective
 Mirror Faces of Evil & Deceit
Issue 43, February 5th, 2003
Compiled by Madhukar Shukla

 Alternative Perspective is an attempt to widen our awareness about issues related to business, environment, role and influence of media, geo-politics, culture, etc. It aims to share, on a regular basis, some of those pieces of news and information, which do not find place in the highly monopolised mainstream media. Please feel free to share/ forward/ distribute this newsletter to others who may be interested.

Today is an Anniversary...
...of the high-tech/low-truth presentation made by Colin Powell to the UN Security Council[1] highlighting the need to disarm Saddam Hussein. After one year, one invasion, 10000+ Iraqi deaths, 500+ US military casualities, and around 3000 injured US troops, the leaders of the "coalition of the willing"[2] have conceded that it was an "intelligence failure" (one can also interpret this as an admission of lack of intelligence;-0)). The argument, however, runs that the world is better off without the Butcher of Baghdad - because, after all, wasn't he a the threat to the world peace and to an otherwise civilised world.
But as the following articles point out, sometime we tend to paint our enemies in our own colour!!!



Note: The URLs of sources used in the text are numbered and given at the end of the Newsletter.

In This Issue:
we look at the history to decide whether "..." should feature Saddam Hussein or USA - or perhaps, both!!

  • ...was a threat to world peace
    Much is, of course, reported in the the media about how Iraq invaded Iran - when Iraq was actually a US ally[3] - and then Kuwait. But, Saddam Hussein's misadventures are like a kid's pranks in world history, specially compared to those of Iraq's liberator's pre-emptive forays into alien lands. After all, 234 military engagements (only 5 of these were declared war) in 195 years is a record of sort. There is a bit of confusion about which one is a Rogue State?[4]
    http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm

  • ...gassed his own people
    ...and not just against one's own civilian population, but also used the chemical-biological weapons against civilian population of its allies[5]. And, as one would expect, never allowed the UN Weapon's Inspectors to inspect the facilities!!![6]
    http://home.earthlink.net/~bkonop/GermWarfare.html

  • ...enslaved people in jails
    The motives apparently are different. In Iraq, people went to jail, if they dissented and violated the codes of the regime. In US, with world's highest incanceration rate (chances are 1 in 37 that you end up with a prison sentence), prisons are a supplier of cheap labour[7] to keep the wheels of consumer economy running
    http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/p02s01-usju.html

  • ...would supply arms to terrorists
    This graphic says it all: who profits from selling most arms in the world - and who is the number 1 in arms sales worldwide[8]. After all, it is difficult to find a rival to a country who sold $152bn worth arms to the rest of the world in the 90's - many of these sales, as this article points out "were made to repressive and/or unstable governments"[9]
    http://www.controlarms.org/the_issues/movers_shakers.htm

  • And the Final Evidence...
    ...this swf file will take some time to load - but is worth the wait - if only to appreciate that moral enemies share similar history (and face) of deceit.... that, all said and done, the face of evil mirrors itself.
    http://www.kaicurry.com/gwbush/remindus.swf


    Other Sources Quoted in the Newsletter:
    [1]: http://www.state.gov/p/nea/disarm/
    [2]: http://www.areporter.com/sys-tmpl/thecoalitionofthewilling/
    [3]: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/index.htm
    [4]: http://uscrusade.com/newsupdate/viewnews.cgi?newsid1003971882,36876,.shtml
    [5]: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles/DVNS_CBW.htm
    [6]: http://inthesetimes.com/print.php?id=48_0_2_0
    [7]: http://www.parascope.com/articles/0197/prison.htm
    [8]: http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0810-02.htm
    [9]: http://www.fas.org/asmp/profiles/index.html


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