If only the Bush/Cheney junta knew something of subtlety. Their tools are weapons and corruption. The perfect marriage of crime and arms, making the Whitehouse it's marital nest.

It's finally dawned upon the Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/us-planning-surgical-iran-strikes/2007/10/01/1191090982046.html

- what we in the Internet community have known and talked about for years. They copied from Uncle Seymour's homework, but they would have done much better if they had read Pilger all along. They didn't, because he wouldn't tell them what they wanted to believe.

Sometimes ignorance is just another word for cowardice.

Chris Shaw!
You are spot on,....and there are many "ignorant" people in the world today!
The Bush regime will NOT rest until the whole world is plunged into a Third World War,.....all in the name of "Democracy"!
Somebody should explain the meaning of the word,...NOT their interpretation of it, which obviously is: "the subjugation of the peoples of the world and the reaping of vast riches for the select few arms, weapons, chemical manufacturers and the like!"
May Pilger`s god smile upon him!

Chris,

If only you had a clue about the people whose word you take as gospel? Your fantasy world of internet sleuths are made up of shut-ins and conspiracy nuts, no doubt sprinkled with third world intelligence hangers on.

Understand this. The Pentagon has a war planning department that makes plans of all types for confrontations with most countries on Earth. It is not a statement of intent, merely an acknowledgement of the unpredictability of the future.

The US is currently involved in saber rattling and this time they are not ruling anything out.

They tried negotiating with Slobodan Milosevic after they had assured the world that no ground forces would be involved in the Kosovo conflict. It failed miserably because Milosevic knew that the worst the Americans could do was bomb him, which wouldn’t prevent his ethnic cleansing operations.

The Americans ONLY hope for diplomacy is if Iran believes it is possible that military force might be used against it. It would be highly UNSUBTLE to tell the Iranians we had no intention of physically trying to stop them gaining nuclear weapons.

Pilger is a committed communist who spouts anti capitalist propaganda. Hersh has been saying that an attack on Iran is imminent for 3 years now. He is even suggesting nuclear weapons will be used. Former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called Hersh "the most gullible investigative reporter I've ever encountered." He is highly criticized for his reliance on unnamed sources and secret documents of dubious provinence. These people are just as biased as those they criticize.

Sometimes knowing half the facts is dangerous.

Agreed Cuphandle!

Paully; you are nothing if not predictable.

Pilger has his faults but he is a well respected global commentator, and has been for many years.

Perhaps his only fault is that you don't see him on Fox News, which appears to be your source of the unvarnished truth.

Sometimes knowing half the facts IS indeed dangerous...

Paul.L:
What is this thing with you that you must condemn and classify anyone who doesn`t agree with the lunacy of the Bush Administration as a raving Communist?
I note that you spell "sabre" with the American spelling "saber", which gives us a fair idea that you would possibly be an American and therefore would probably be slightly "brain-washed" toward the grand U.S. cause of world domination.
I think that John Pilger would love to meet you in the flesh and give you the opportunity of telling him to his face that you consider him a committed communist and a spouter of anti-capitalist
propoganda!
You stated that knowing half the facts is dangerous!....so is having half a brain!

The Problem with Pilger... is that you read...and read...and read....

-corruption...
-conspiracy..
-corruption...
-conspiracy..
-USA bad..
-corruption....
-USA bad...
-USA bad...
-USA bad...

read.. read.. read.....

One wonders if Pilger has in fact become either a megalomaniac.. or developed a Messianic complex.

And after ALLLLL that reading.. for the life of me I cannot work out who is the 'good guy' who will fix it all.
Pilger just rips.. tears.. shreds.. undoes slashes.. burns...winds down.. heaps scorn on... 'exposes'....

as IFFFF...he or those like him.. would do any better !

WHAT....is his agenda ? He does have one... u bet he does.
"World Socialist Utopia"?

*cough*.. *choke*.. *splutter*.... more *choke*....

If Pilger said "And now.. I call on these parties to REPENT... and obey the Law of God Almighty"...aah.. then I might have some time for him.. because I'd KNOW...that his agenda was not a lamentable 'human' one.

Pilger acts like a prophet without a God.... a pathetic whiner..

"highly respected Journalist" ? :) More choking.

The nations of Hispanic America refuse birth control, overpopulate and expect the US to accept the surplus as illegal immigrants. It's about time they overcame their culture of dependency and took care of all of their citizens. While the current situation persists, the US has every right to interfere.
In terms of improving the life expectancy and decreasing the infant mortality rate of its citizens, guess which country has shown most improvement over the last 50 years? Chile. Did John Pilger tell everyone that?
Jack Sturgess

"The nations of Hispanic America refuse birth control, overpopulate and expect the US to accept the surplus as illegal immigrants."

Err hang on! Thats the good old Italian, European, Catholic Church
in action, doing its damdest politically to deny them even the
use of condoms. You won't get a ticket to heaven if you use modern
birth control, according to them. Only last week a Catholic archbishop
in Africa was spreading the rumour that condoms are
in fact laced with HIV, to decrease the population.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7014335.stm

The West has alot to answer for, this is just yet another one.
Even George Bush can't get his mind around modern family planning,
despite the fact that his hundreds of millions of $ of preaching
abstinence have been a dismal failure.

Please see miacats post on Fiona Armstrongs article; "Only fundamental reform can save our health system" elsewhere on OLO forum.

Candoo Development Corporation Ltd is a tiny non-government community policy driven organisation that operates with a ‘can do’ spirit out of Cooktown Cape York.

Candoo’s role is to stimulate policy areas in community development and to host, partner, participate and or support projects that encourage community, business and government network groups working together, at regional community levels.

We pay for our corporation fees.. Given “accountability” in public is a critical issue, we have reframed from dealing with a financial framework until the resources and criteria necessary to receive investments meets the criteria of our own capacity and goals. Our reasons for this approach is about practical issues that hinder the development of NGO’s in isolated, spatial rural areas. Candoo’s focus is to high light a local agenda on issues of socio-economic civic community need.

Presently ASIC is trying to deregister Candoo (NGO) because we can not afford to pay for a corporate audit that would cost an estimated $1000. After threats of court and dialogue, Candoo almost submitted to ASIC’s request to deregister as a corporation. ASIC claims are that without a corporation audit, we have failed out obligation to remain viable as a corporation.
Please see - http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/asic+formsdisplayW?readform&code=6010

The audit ASIC wants however does not apply to Candoo’s present circumstance. An audit is unnecessary because Candoo, due to environmental socio-economic circumstances, operates on a zero revenue budget. All work done by Candoo is micro-enterprise based, and concentrates on the value of human inputs for which there is no immediate fee or charge. I.e., local media letters and notices, helping people in difficulties and advocating for Crime Prevention and Mental Health as well as other intangible socio-economic tasks.

We would like to be better integrated with the government’s financial system. We have found government over the years difficult to do business with. We have made ample costly attempts to communicate but have been nullified by the lack of formal response, or opportunity to engage productively our inter-government-departments.

http://www.miacat.com
.

Boazy: "If Pilger said 'And now.. I call on these parties to REPENT... and obey the Law of God Almighty'..."

...then we'd all know that he'd completely lost his marbles and no longer had anything rational to say. Fortunately, however, he continues to produce polemical books and documentaries that alert us to the excesses of the neocons. His style is a bit boringly tendentious for me, but he performs a useful function in bringing to light some of the appalling and covert acts perpetrated by latter-day Western imperialists to extend and reinforce their world hegemony.

We need more Pilgers and less preachers, I reckon.

CJ.. my major problem with PILGER is that he ONLY attacks the West and NeoCons.. it would appear.. I lost interest in his book (the one I started reading) when it became apparent that this was the case.

He had NOTHING negative to say about Socialist Totalitarian regimes that I can recall.. but I might be wrong there...

If he did.. he would have connected it SOMEhow to the Neocons and ended up blaming them :)

Here endeth the lesson.

No..if Pilger called on ALL people to 'repent' he would at last have some credibility and balance.

It's interesting that when people disagree with commentators such as Pilger, they spend most of their time attacking their personal background or motives and seem to overlook the substance of what has actually been said.

If you want to discredit his opinion, the best way would be to identify some specific factual errors.

Like the strategy used by politicians and shock-jocks says - "if you don't have the facts on your side, argue the Law. If you don't have the Law, argue the facts. If you don't have the facts or the Law on your side, call the other person names".

So true.

Perhaps a darker shade of rose-coloured glasses to look at history through will fix most of the critics.

It is funny how opposition to US foreign policy is reaching a fever pitch during a period when that country has pretty well stopped interfering in Latin America and let democracy thrive, has stopped supporting "stability" in the Middle East by liberating Iraq and has shaken off the Zionist lobby and switched to supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The pseudo left must really hate Bush.

"Pretty well stopped" in Central America?
I bet that's good news for Chavez.

The liberation of Iran should start any time soon too.

PILGER...the PUERILE PROPAGANDIST... who is also tendentious and tainted with 'truth tailoring' (in my view)....

"John Pilger aims to expose Washington's foreign policy in Latin America"

On the day when I see Pilger exposing the blatant, bullying, bestial lies of the pathalogical Palestinians... such as the expose' of the 'killing of mohammad' trotted out by a Palestinian/Arab/Muslim journalist on French2 TV...

THEN.... Pilger might claw back a tiny molecule of credibility.

To suggest that only the Palestinians are guilty of this.. that it doesn't happen in the places Pilger is working now.. it LUDICRIOUS.. but do we hear of it from him ?.....

Fat chance....why ? because he has a political agenda.. a plan.. a purpose..and 'honesty' is not part of it in my view. Or.. if Honesty IS part of his approach..he is very SELECTIVELY honest about ONLY those things which promote his political agenda...and thus.. in the bigger context is... DISHONEST.

Pilger has NO credibility.. is without merit..and is not worth the time of day.. he is even 'soporific'... thanx Pericles.. good GRIEF.. how hard would it have been to say he is BORING... then we don't have to consult the jolly dictionary.

It is too simple making a joke of everything/everyone as own work place is secured, while sometimes misunderstanding elementary historical moments; an “expropriation of business” is surely among them an article testifies.

It's fun watching you foam at the mouth, Boaz, questioning...

>>...if Honesty IS part of his approach..he is very SELECTIVELY honest about ONLY those things which promote his political agenda...and thus.. in the bigger context is... DISHONEST.<<

This perfectly describes your own approach to Islam, does it not?

But I guess it takes one to know one, as they say.