Remixed propaganda posters, courtesy of the Ministry of Homeland Security

"Inconclusive satellite images add to the uncertain merits of a U.S. attack."

"The Bush Administration has already started trying to offset the future costs of a war by stockpiling American oil reserves in anticipation that global supplies would be disrupted and oil prices would rise."

"Turkey is trying to dissuade the United States from launching a military attack on Iraq, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in comments published on Wednesday after a day of heavy diplomatic traffic between the two allies."

"There is little doubt that stereotypes of the United States as arrogant, self-indulgent, hypocritical, inattentive, and unwilling or unable to engage in cross-cultural dialogue are pervasive and deeply rooted."

"The change of tack by the UN was apparently the result of pressure from within its own hierarchy, particularly in Afghanistan itself, and from the US not to release the report that allegedly contradicts claims made by the US about the circumstances of the attack."

"The Bush White House has decided to transform what was a temporary effort to rebut Taliban disinformation about the Afghan war into a permanent, fully staffed 'Office of Global Communications' to coordinate the administration's foreign policy message and supervise America's image abroad, according to senior officials."

"If fundamental policies are seen to be flawed, a prettied-up package will not make a difference."

"An American attack on Iraq could profoundly affect the American economy, because the United States would have to pay most of the cost and bear the brunt of any oil price shock or other market disruptions, government officials, diplomats and economists say."

"US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said air strikes alone will not be enough to destroy Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction."

"Regional officials have agreed a landmark declaration of co-operation with the US that will give the Americans, which has 100,000 troops in the region, far greater latitude to operate against terrorists in their countries. It will be signed by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, who meets Foreign Ministers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) in Brunei tomorrow."

"The investigation is likely to embarrass the United States military, which is conducting its own formal inquiry."

"Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes says he has information from unimpeachable sources that Osama Bin Laden is alive and living in Pakistan."

"The Taliban, who ruled until being deposed by the U.S.-led coalition's war on terror, were particularly harsh, but both the traditions and the tribal laws they had so rigorously enforced are still intact in most of the country."

"Tony Blair was told by King Abdullah of Jordan and his own Labour MPs yesterday that a new United Nations mandate would be required before any military action could be taken against Iraq."

"AMERICAN forces may have breached human rights and then removed evidence after the so-called wedding party airstrike that killed more than 50 Afghan civilians this month, according to a draft United Nations report seen by The Times.

A preliminary UN investigation has found no corroboration of American claims that its aircraft were fired on from the ground, and says there were discrepancies in US accounts of what happened.

Pentagon officials have said that cameras fixed to the AC130's gun turrets showed gunfire coming from the ground, but the Pentagon has not released the film, as it has on previous occasions, preventing independent analysis of whether it was anti-aircraft artillery or celebratory rifle fire."

Flashback: "Air Force Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr., the deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters it was not clear to him that the AC-130 gunship that attacked the Afghan village had been fired upon first.

'I can't say unequivocally that the AC-130 was fired on. That will come out, hopefully, in the investigation,' Rosa said."

"Despite President Bush's repeated bellicose statements about Iraq, many senior U.S. military officers contend that President Saddam Hussein poses no immediate threat and that the United States should continue its policy of containment rather than invade Iraq to force a change of leadership in Baghdad."

"As the Bush administration considers its military options for deposing Saddam Hussein, senior administration and Pentagon officials say they are exploring a new if risky approach: take Baghdad and one or two key command centers and weapons depots first, in hopes of cutting off the country's leadership and causing a quick collapse of the government."

"Jordan's King Abdullah II finds 'somewhat ludicrous' the idea of intervention in Iraq while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has the Middle East in turmoil."

"It suggests that we're facing a committed enemy," says Col. Roger King, military spokesman at Bagram. "It suggests what we've tried to say all along, that this is not a quick fix, it's not going to be over tomorrow."

"Iran's emerging nuclear reactor tests Bush's policy of preempting threats."

Two former generals -- Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova and Jose Guillermo Garcia -- who currently live in the U.S., have been found guilty of ignoring acts of brutality and torture in El Salvador 20 years ago.

The generals carried out America's El Salvador policy so well that they both received the Legion of Merit, the highest honor our government can bestow on foreign dignitaries. General Vides Casanova also received a letter of commendation from President Reagan. The man really knew how to run death squads.

"THE slow progress of the US investigation into the bombing of an Afghan village that killed more than 40 guests at a wedding party is provoking a dangerous backlash against American forces in that country.

One senior Afghan commander whose men witnessed that disaster told The Times that the US forces sent into the region were 'brutal and cowardly' and his men would no longer co-operate in joint operations."

"Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, and Mohammed Fahim, his defense minister, are locked in an escalating rivalry that threatens to further destabilize Afghanistan's shaky government."

"The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has dismissed his bodyguards and is being protected by 46 American soldiers, in an extraordinary - and politically explosive - demonstration of how little he trusts his own government."

"Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is still believed hiding from U.S.-led forces inside Afghanistan, but most of the al-Qaida leaders he once harbored have left, Bush administration officials said Tuesday."

"Pakistan has nabbed 'several handfuls' of al-Qaeda suspects in recent weeks but members of Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network may be regrouping elsewhere, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said."

This pussyfooting around is bullshit. Invade already!

"Some Defense Ministry commandos, who have been responsible for the president's security since his arrival in the capital in December, admitted that they were unhappy about the takeover by Americans because it would make the president appear even more in the American pocket.

'Whose president will he be if he is not guarded by Afghan soldiers?' one commando asked."

"Fugitive Taliban leader Mohammad Omar may have been in the immediate vicinity of a U.S. bombing raid on July 1 that killed dozens of civilians attending a wedding celebration, according to the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan."

This "information" is first coming to light 3 weeks after the bombing. Nice try.

Classic Rummy quote from the archives that sums up US knowledge of Osama's whereabouts since the bombing started last October: "We do know of certain knowledge that he is in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

"Osama Bin Laden is alive and hiding, constantly moving between Pakistan, PoK and eastern Afghanistan, the author of a 1999 biography of the al-Qaeda leader has said."

"Britain and the United States are secretly distributing huge sums of money to persuade Afghan warlords not to rebel against their country's new government.

The Observer has learnt that 'bin bags' full of US dollars have been flown into Afghanistan, sometimes on RAF planes, to be given to key regional power brokers who could cause trouble for Prime Minister Hamid Karzai's administration."

"... the evidence suggests that many civilians have been killed by airstrikes hitting precisely the target they were aimed at. The civilians died, the evidence suggests, because they were were made targets by mistake, or because in eagerness to kill Qaeda and Taliban fighters, Americans did not carefully differentiate between civilians and military targets."

"A serious shortage in the number of the Pentagon's Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs may have helped postpone an attack on Iraq earlier this year, the Associated Press reported July 15. But now production of the GPS-guided smart bombs is accelerating, and the Pentagon should have enough stockpiles to attack Iraq by late this year should the order come from the White House."

See also:

"But official says he has no specific evidence for his conclusion"

"Pakistani intelligence believes Osama fled Tora Bora before the bombing"

"Despite Western pressure, many laws pertaining to women have not changed in Afghanistan since end of Taliban rule."

"Spending billions of dollars more on espionage will not make any difference to America's ability to defend itself unless there is a revolutionary shift in intelligence thinking, a congressional inquiry concluded yesterday."

"Concerned that the United States is moving swiftly toward a full-scale military confrontation with Iraq, many congressional Democrats and a growing number of Republicans are urging the Bush administration to provide a public accounting of its plans."

"Several days after the raid, the violence of the attack was still visible. A huge vat of rice, food for the guests at the engagement party, lay overturned on the ground, flies swarming around it. Shards of shrapnel, some quite heavy, littered the area.

In the house where the women had been celebrating--men and women in rural Afghanistan observe such occasions in separate homes--a hole that looked as if it had been made by a mortar gaped in the roof. In the room below, a teakettle lay twisted and burned.

Just beyond the compound's walls, a piece of flesh hung from the branch of a fig tree."

"The U.S. government was justified in an air raid that likely killed innocent Afghan civilians because the strike was aimed at enemy targets where 'bad guys' were hiding, deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Monday."

Note that of the 48 killed, all but three were women and children.

"A senior military officer appeared Monday to change part of the U.S version of the July 1 attack that killed dozens of Afghan civilians, but later the Pentagon insisted there had been no shift."

"Keeping the peace is becoming ever more difficult in Afghanistan, where the UN force is outnumbered and outgunned by private armies"

"Osama bin Laden was wounded in a U.S. bombing raid on Afghanistan in December but is in good health, the editor of a London-based Arabic newspaper said Monday."

"Iraqi exiles expected to participate in a future government of their country warned yesterday that an invasion by American and British troops would bring widespread destruction without removing Saddam Hussein."

A gigantic, massively huge victory in the "War on Terror."

"Afghanistan's dominant Pashtun ethnic group shows signs of turning its back on both the US presence and transitional President Hamid Karzai, himself a Pashtun. This follows a recent US bombing error and the assassination of the interim government's vice president. In addition, regional warlords are reasserting power, raising concerns that the door could be opened once again to Al Qaeda."

"People in this bomb-hit town say the American forces are about the same as the Russians."

"The U.S. commander in Afghanistan said that al-Qaida fighters who fled to Pakistan will not be able to return to their mountain hideouts in Afghanistan, despite an end to border searches by British Royal Marines."

"While Pentagon stays silent on responsibility for the tragedy, U.S. officials promise financial aid to the area"

"THE removal of President Saddam Hussein would open Iraqs rich new oilfields to Western bidders and bring the prospect of lessening dependence on Saudi oil."

"Jordan yesterday rejected American suggestions that it could be used as a base for an invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein."

"Although the Bush administration appears committed to attacking Iraq, its ability to do so is limited by several logistical problems, such as the availability of precision weaponry and aircraft carriers. These issues are temporary, but a great number of political problems that could block a campaign will prove much more difficult to solve."

"THE rhythms of the American electoral cycle mean that if President Bush fails to attack Iraq at the beginning of next year, he may have missed his chance."

"A man claiming to be a spokesman for the al-Qaeda network told an Arab television station on Wednesday that Osama Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar were alive and well but gave no clue as to their whereabouts."

"It's very difficult to involve yourself in combat operations if your adversary isn't there," said British spokesman Col. Ben Curry.

"Afghan Civilian Casualties May Exact a Toll in U.S. Public Relations Battle"

"We were happy after the collapse of the Taliban," says Rasood, a member of Afghanistan's Tajik minority. "We thought there would be peace and stability. But nothing has changed." Afghan warlords "fight among themselves for their own goals. Their victims are innocent people. We are very angry."

"Pentagon Still Disputes Number Of Casualties"

"A fresh exodus of Afghan refugees could be triggered as early as next month if the UN agency assisting the resettlement of 2 million people runs out of funds and is forced to suspend its aid programme, western donor nations are being warned."

"Around her in the orchard, there was unspeakable gore. A woman's torso had landed in one of the small almond trees. Human flesh was still hanging on the tree five days after the attack, and more putrifying remains were tangled in the branches of a pomegranate tree, its bright scarlet flowers still blooming."

Blunders now easier to conceal.

"The victims of a US air-raid that killed 48 guests and wounded 118 at a wedding party in central Afghanistan were paid a total of $18,500 in compensation, an official here said on Sunday.

District commissioner Abdur Rahim said he paid out to relatives eight million Afghanis ($200) on behalf of each individual killed and three million afghanis ($75 dollars) for each wounded person."

What a screw job. Each dead Afghan is worth at least $250 or even $300.

"US soldiers stormed the homes of Afghan villagers after they were bombed in a US air-raid last weekend and barred people from treating their wounded relatives, outraged Afghans said here.

'First they bombed the women folk, killing them like animals. Then they stormed into the houses and tied the hands of men and women,' Mohammad Anwar said at Kakrakai village in central Uruzgan province’s Dehrawad district."

"As the United States considers ways of accomplishing President Bush's call for an end to Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq, Washington's goal of a "regime change" in Baghdad is running into strong reservations from Iraqi Kurdish leaders who would be crucial allies in any military campaign."

"Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Tuesday he had evidence to suggest al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the former Taliban ruler of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Omar, were still alive."

"Both bride and groom were killed when American warplanes rained metal down on the remote village of Deh Rawud in central Afghanistan on Sunday night and Monday morning."

"Kabul demands the US takes steps to avoid a repeat of the latest 'friendly fire' tragedy, as American troops are shot at visiting the injured."

These only scratch the surface.

Reports from the Pentagon can be trusted about as much as reports from the former Taliban leadership .... the ones Rummy said "lie through their teeth."

105mm howitzer rounds called "gifts."

Wesley Clark: "With each incident you build up resentments from the local population, which ... play into the hands of your adversaries."

"The United Nations has suspended its programme of returning refugees to northern Afghanistan because of the 'extremely volatile' security situation."

"The US military sees the operation as such a success, it's asking Congress to approve new missions to the Philippines, which is home to a number of other kidnap-for-ransom outfits."

Stop me if you've heard this before: "There are no Taliban or al-Qaida or Arabs here. These people were all civilians, women and children."

"A wounded seven-year-old Afghan girl lies sleeping at a hospital in Kandahar, the only survivor of her family, who died when Americans aircraft bombed a wedding party in error, killing 30 people."

"US forces gain reputation for shooting first and asking questions later after another tragic accident"

"They're here and everyone knows it: Al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives are hiding in the overheated slums, finding anonymity in the crowded bazaars and darkened alleyways, regrouping in mosques, resting easily in safe houses and immigrant neighborhoods."

"Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, has said it is 'impossible' that Osama Bin Laden could be hiding in Pakistan."

"Senior officials in the British Prime Minister's office have delivered an astonishing attack on America's handling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda fugitives.

They say that troops conducting house-to-house searches in tribal areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border were "blundering", with a "march-in-shooting" approach. The US action was "backfiring", increasing support for terrorism and making it harder to catch bin Laden and his henchmen."

Also known as "stating the obvious."

Since American intelligence hasn't a clue ...

"American troops rounded up men and munitions in the middle of the night, reminding some of Soviet occupiers.

An American military raid last weekend on this village near the eastern town of Gardez has left area residents shaken, confused and, above all, angry."

"An inquiry has found that an American pilot ignored orders to hold his fire just before he mistakenly bombed Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, killing four and wounding eight."

"The American investigation into last autumn's deadly anthrax attack has thrown an intense focus on army scientists at Fort Detrick, putting under suspicion the very people whose job is to protect the nation from bio-terror."