Jeepers....what an article!! Richard Cummings...

[stillcool]

it's a long one...lot's of links...lot's of names.

by Richard Cummings
In November of 2002, Stephen J. Hadley, deputy national security advisor, asked Bruce Jackson to meet with him in the White House. They met in Hadley's office on the ground floor of the West Wing, not far from the offices of Vice President Dick Cheney and then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Hadley had an exterior office with windows, an overt indicator of his importance within the West Wing hierarchy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jackson had long been a proponent of unseating Hussein, and the committee dovetailed with his quite real sense of mission. In addition to his role in the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and the U.S. Committee on NATO, he had also been president of the Project for Transitional Democracies, organized to "accelerate democratic reform" in Eastern Europe.

Still, there is another way to view Jackson's activities. As The New York Times put it in a 1997 article, "at night Bruce Jackson is president of the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO, giving intimate dinners for senators and foreign officials. By day, he is director of strategic planning for Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world's biggest weapons maker."

That's how D.C. works. Many of the people making decisions have been in and out of the same set of revolving doors connecting government, conservative think tanks, lobbying firms, law firms and the defense industry. So strong is the bond between lobbyists, defense contractors and the Pentagon that it is known in Washington as "the iron triangle." And this triangle inevitably gets what it wants. Why? Because in the revolving door system, a defense contractor executive can surface as an official in the Department of Defense, from which position he can give lucrative contracts to his former employer, and his prospects for an even better paying job in the private sector brighten. Former aides to members of congress become handsomely paid lobbyists for the companies they were able to help in their position on Capitol Hill. Such lobbyists can spread their corporate-funded largesse to the friendliest members and their aides on the Hill. And so on.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Hadley

LINKS:
Right Web profile »
Interrogation standards »
Named as source in CIA scandal »
BBC News profile »
Justification for War in Iraq »


"It used to be just an airplane company," John Pike, a military analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org says about Lockheed Martin. "Now it's a warfare company. It's an integrated solution provider. It's a one-stop shop. Anything you need to kill the enemy, they will sell you."

http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/lockheed/

[aquart]

1. Hadley? Hadley? Where have I heard that name?

[stillcool]

2. I can't fucking believe it...

here I've stumbled upon some major linkage in print, between the defense industry and the government...not that there's anyone who doesn't know about it ...but Christ...it's all there.. laid out perfectly...with a shit-load of information...and nobody's going to read it? Ah well...I tried. But while I'm here I might as well dump some other stuff I picked up today. Anyone reading this...pay no attention.

We love life whenever we can
Mayssoun Sukarieh writing from Beirut, Live from Lebanon, 8 January 200

Investigating the meaning of the slogan, written in Arabic, French and English, I learned that "I love life" is a private sector campaign in cooperation with USAID aiming at spreading a "culture of life", against the "culture of death", as stated in the website of the campaign. Some Cedar Revolution activists are attempting to counter the current political crisis in Lebanon with this campaign. Elie Khoury, the ad executive and campaign leader, says: "We want to tell the world that, regardless of whatever they see on their TV screens, the Lebanese want to live and move ahead." By "what the world sees on the TV screen" is meant the ongoing demonstrations against the government in Lebanon.

"Culture of life" against the "culture of death" is another manifestation of the binary thinking through which the imperial war of the Bush administration is being waged. Either you are with us or against us, and if you are against us, an Iraq is your only option. We who represent the culture of life - after we are rid of any sort of resistance - against them - any group trying to resist us - who spread a culture of death. However, the "we" in the Bush administration discourse is inclusive not only of Americans but also of moderate Arab leaders and the new Arab business class, whose interests put them in the same camp with those who love life in the US against their fellow backward traditional citizens who embrace death.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the 9/11 events were solely caused by the culture of terrorism inherent in Islam, as the Bush administration convinced Americans, the "culture of desperation" and "culture of death" spread among youth in the region has nothing to do with the injustice of the global economy and the relentless greed of the private sector, those who love to live tell us. In other words, the role of these programs that are promoting positive thinking among youth, and spreading a culture of life, is to turn the insecurities of the neoliberal system to the individual himself or herself to be pacified and controlled.

"The US has not done anything abroad without trying it on the Americans themselves first," I thought of my mentor's words when thinking of "I love life" and "Bridging the gap of hope". After all, is not the slogan "don't worry, be happy", that the corporations spread in the US, another face of our life and hope slogans? "Do not worry" is another way to tell people not to think of the injustices around, because there is someone thinking for them, as now there is someone who will live for us too! And all are an attempt to depoliticize the masses and indulge them in struggle within themselves.

Tomorrow we will love life,
When tomorrow comes, life will be something to adore,
just as it is, ordinary or tricky
gray or colorful, stripped of judgment day and purgatory

Says also Mahmoud Darwish, in his "State of Siege," the poem he wrote under siege in Ramallah in 2000 debunking the illusion of a life under occupation and siege.

When tomorrow comes, the tomorrow of freedom from occupation, colonialism, injustice and humiliation, we will love our life - that we will create for ourselves - because unlike what the new elites with USAID money are trying to tell us, we have no choice at the moment. Tomorrow we will love life, because "we love life whenever we can afford it."

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6364.shtml
Mayssoun Sukarieh, a native of Beirut, is a frequent contributor to Electronic Lebanon.

The Media
A Tribute to Yasin

Report, IWPR, 15 January 2007

"Please say it's not true," was our first reaction on hearing about the death of Yasin al-Dulaimi, an IWPR contributor from Ramadi, in Anbar province, who over the past two years had regularly filed excellent features and news analysis for IWPR's Iraqi Crisis Report. Yasin, who attended four of our journalism training sessions in Sulaimaniyah, had not only become a highly respected colleague but also a dear friend.


Yasin, 36, died of severe head injures on December 26 after being hit by a roadside bomb in the Baghdad neighborhood Kadhimiya. He was driving home when the device, targeting a US convoy, went off. He died at the scene. He's the second IWPR contributor to have fallen victim to the conflict. Last April, trainee journalist Kamal Anbar was killed when US and Iraqi troops raided a neighborhood in the capital.

Yasin, a Sunni, was married to Sundus abdul-Wahab, a Shia from Baghdad. He loved his work and his family even more. He proudly and regularly showed photos of his baby son Mustafa and his wife. He said their relationship and relations between other members of their respective families had remained firm in the face of the country's descent into sectarian strife.

Yasin filed stories for IWPR and other media outlets from Ramadi, despite the increasing risk involved in reporting from his war-torn province. Few journalists report from Anbar and even fewer live there, so Yasin's coverage of the area was greatly valued.

He shuttled between Anbar and Baghdad because he worked as producer for Mustaqbal (the future) radio, a station closely affiliated with the Iraqi Accord Movement of former premier Iyad Allawi
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite painful personal experiences - on another occasion his house in Ramadi was raided by US troops again, and his computer, satellite phone and digital camera were destroyed and the entire family held at gunpoint for several hours - he adhered to the principles of balanced reporting and maintained a critical approach to both multinational forces and the insurgency.http://electroniciraq.net/news/2825.shtml

Journalist murdered in Mosul, another found dead in Baghdad
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2821.shtml
Statement, Reporters Without Borders, 15 January 2007

Reporters Without Borders expressed its horror at the murder of freelance journalist Khoudr Younes al-Obaidi, shot dead as he returned to his home in Mosul, northern Iraq, on 12 January 2007.
We have unfortunately reason to fear that in the context of war and complete impunity, Iraq will remain the world's most dangerous country for the press in the months to come.

The killing comes eight days after the discovery of the body in Baghdad of Ahmed Hadi Naji, 28, an occasional cameraman for the Associated Press, who went missing on 30 December 2006. These two deaths bring to 141 the number of journalists and media assistants killed in Iraq since the US invasion in March 2003.
----------------------------------------------------------

Armed men opened fire on Khoudr Younes al-Obaidi in the evening of 12 January as he returned to his home in Mosul, police said. The journalist, who was as a stringer for several titles, worked mostly for Al-Diwan, the press organ of local tribes. No motive for the killing has yet been found.

Ahmed Hadi Naji's body was found in a morgue of the Iraqi capital on 5 January with a single bullet wound to the head. He had disappeared on 30 December on his way to the offices of the Associated Press who employed him as a messenger and occasional cameraman. He was father to twins aged four months. The reasons for his killing also remain unclear.

Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
To the bitter end
Despot or hero, for Egyptians speaking to Jailan Halawi, the execution of Saddam was the assassination of a nation that buried many secrets ----------------------------
"A tyrant as he was, one ought to ask how was Iraq under Saddam's rule compared to now. Back then it was a nation that enjoyed all its resources for itself. But now, it has become a preserve of militias rather than a state, while its invaders are tightening their grip on its wealth. They sentenced Saddam to death over the killing of 148 people while currently 3000 Iraqis fall each month. Who shall we take to the gallows for that?

"It is misleading to fall for the US's rhetoric of America being the guardian of democracy and freedoms worldwide. Had the target genuinely been ridding a nation of a despot, the US could have assassinated Saddam or simply banished him, but from current events one can obviously detect it was interested in Iraq's wealth and only used Saddam as a scapegoat and/or a pretext for the invasion of a nation and meddling in its internal affairs. The US target is hence clearer now. It wanted to destroy Iraq as a military power and possible threat to Israel, and in its stead, deploy its own troops on the ground. The US is sending a message to Arab and Muslim leaders that he who dares stand in our way will face the same destiny," argued financial controller Soheir Gaafar.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Theories were soon to arise, with many interpreting the hastening of Saddam's execution to his foes' wish to bury many of their secrets along with his corpse, especially that his eight-year war with Iran and invasion of Kuwait were far from being waged away from the supervision, blessings and aid of the world's lone superpower, the United States, and many of its Middle East allies. To this effect, messages were forwarded through the Internet showing documents implying that Saddam was a key US ally and that they supplied him with chemical and other weapons used in his wars and the crimes over which he was being tried.
"Not in the name of Saddam, nor in his support, but rather in that of human rights, that of the peoples' right to know, and the rule of law, we ask why did they kill Saddam before we knew the reasons for which he engaged in war with Iran and invaded Kuwait? This is history they are trying to blur. In whose interest was he killed so swiftly? What secrets were they attempting to bury for good? Was he a US agent in the Middle East whose role had expired and hence he was terminated, a paranoid psychopath, or a patriotic leader? All these are questions that would have only been answered had Saddam been subjected to a fair trial under the overview of the international community, but obviously that secret will forever remain veiled," noted Gaafar.

[tuvor]

3. You said yourself it's a long article. Give us some time!

Sheesh.

[driver8]

21. No kidding...I failed the "Evalyn Woods' Speed Reading Course."

It's a lot of information to digest...give us a minute or two.

[stillcool]

22. my bad...

I thought it was going to fall out of sight before anyone got to see it...and considering the source thought it would not get the exposure it merits. I have not come across such a richly linked article in some time and was impatient in my Paul Revere interpretation. Lesson learned.

[tuvor]

25. Well, it seems it helped the message get to the Greatest page.

No worries. :)

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Is Richard Cummings that famous? I've never heard of him

And that might be the problem - your thread title just says it's an article to do with Richard Cummings. What makes your thread stand out from the 500 others posted in GD each day? I see very good threads sink without trace because of titles that don't attract people in (and I've done it to my own threads - I've seen other people post the same stuff as me, and get much bigger responses). If you're wondering, I found this because I was doing a keyword search, and it turned this up. Now I'm here, I'll read the Playboy article.

I think the art of attracting people with thread titles is the best skill to have on DU. I wish I had it.

[Dhalgren]

4. Kick and Rec!

[KoKo]

5. K&R....although it will make some sick reading it. More alliances of PNAC

Group with Lockheed Martin and Cheney and the Bush Crime Empire, plus the the Committee for Liberation of Iraq, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Fred Thompson, Cheney's Son in Law and Katherine Armstrong (the owner of the Armstrong Ranch where Cheney shot Bakers buddy, plus other ties to Tony Blair and War/War/War.

Should be titled how Lockheed Martin helped Bush, Blair and Poland to invade and occupy Iraq. Also a bit at the end about HALF of Lockheed's profits coming from Intelligence Surveillance and Spying on Americans for Department of Homeland Security, etc.

The article shows how the Founder of PNAC and many others like Pearle, Woolsey, etc. have revolved through the Lockheed door.

It's really disgusting. Another piece of the puzzle concerning the Bush/Cheney Crime Enterprise.

[EC]

6. I've got to find my glasses to read this, but I think this is

how they got Zell Miller (well, other than him being crazy.)

[cosmicdot]

7. knr

Lynne Cheney sat on Lockheed's Board of Directors

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=12184&rsbci=0&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cheney

[Egnever]

8. Nice find

I guess its a sign of the times that nothing in this article suprises me in the least.

[Emit]

9. Kick

Bookmarked so I can read it with caffeine in the am -- but from KoKo's synopsis, I may not need the caffeine, as it appears that my blood might be boiling after reading the article.

[Phrogman]

10. Back in the old days this would be considered a blockbuster story

But I guess that way of thinking is sooo pre-9/11.

[GreenZoneLT]

11. Yeah, but by November 2002, it was a done deal.

Everyone in the military knew we were going to invade Iraq by then; it was just a matter of getting the troops and gear ready. Heck, Rumsfeld was arguing in the summer of 2002 against trying to publicly justify the invasion (arguing that it was authorized under existing U.N. resolutions and the post-9/11 congressional authorization). All the window-dressing that came afterward, that people refer to as "lying us into war," was just that, window-dressing. They didn't need to explain anything, was Rummy's thinking, they could just pull the trigger. We had, after all, been engaged in constant air-to-ground combat with Iraq since the '90s.

I'm sure defense contractors lobby like crazy to sell their stuff, but this Merchants of Death causing war crap is just baloney; it's related to anti-semitic conspiracy theories about "war profiteers." There's a lot more money to be made in peace than war, and peace profiteers are just as quick with a bribe.

[Karenina]

13. ...peace profiteers are just as quick with a bribe.

:crazy:

A good read, informative too: Smedley Darlington Butler "War is a Racket."

[Nostradammit]

24. "peace profiteers " !!!!

"peace profiteers"?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

*wipes tears away from eyes*


Jesus Christ, I've heard EVERYTHING now.

[stillcool]

27. How do you get your...

mind to bend like that?

[NashVegas]

14. This Is In PLAYBOY!

Even when I was at the highest peak of my uber-feminist period, I could never condemn Playboy, because of their journalism.

Just *think* of the marketing demo this is going to reach.

Major kudos.

[Clark2008]

16. Well, I won't click on the link because it IS Playboy.

I still abhor what they do.

Why can't we have good journalism that isn't attached to the subjugation of the female body?

[NashVegas]

18. Because We Can't Have Everything :)

And there's far worse out there. Personally, I find Playgirl's editorial content far more insulting to women than their counterpart's pictorials.

[Lucky Luciano]

28. NewsFlash! The female body is a beautiful thing! nt

[JCMach1]

15. Hey, wasn't Lynn Cheney on the board of Lockheed?

also, Philip J. Perry's, Dick Cheney's son-in-law, is a registered lobbyist for the company...

That's just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure...

Dick Cheney also had shares in the company...

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Oh yeah, that's all in the article

It goes into quite a lot of detail about Lockheed, since the Second World War (such as the appalling numbers of deaths in Starfighters in the West German Air Force - over 200 of them crashed, and over 100 pilots were killed). It doesn't mention the million dollar bribe it gave to the Dutch queen's husband in the 1970s, however. It's tricky to fit all the information about Lockheed bribes into one article, I guess.

[Sir Jeffrey]

19. K & R nt

[n2doc]

20. Link not safe for work, but great article anyway n/t

[tuvor]

26. Click on this link, then, directly to the PDF. Definitely SFW.

http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/lockheed/download.pdf

[Desperadoe]

23. Kicked, because it needs to be read

nt