Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran?

All together now, to the tune of "Barbara Ann," as popularized by John McCain. The bunker-busting Blu-110 and Blu-117 smart bombs are the middle and bottom respectively.

The Empire moves in mysterious ways...or it posts its military shipping manifests in public places. Since many duties formerly performed by the US military are now outsourced to private contractors, it's sometimes harder to shield activities from the public.

Unless you live in the United States, where you will be saved from learning about such details by our benevolent corporate media.

That's why this story from Scotland is so interesting. The Navy, according to public records, is shipping hundreds of bunker-busting smart bombs to a US military base in the Indian Ocean. Now which of our many terrorist enemies might have underground bunkers that need busting? Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan? Militants in Iraq? Those pesky Hamas leaders in Lebanon and Gaza? Not them?

How about Iran! The government in Tehran been raised as a specter of global doom for the last decade by the USA. Probably because they figured out that if they have a nuclear bomb, the USA won't attack them. So it appears that the Nobel Peace Prize winner has approved moving some heavy weaponry into place for another round of saber rattling. Or something more.

Now Mr. Obama is a smoother fellow than his predecessors, so he might not go public with the overt threats for a while. But rest assured that the Iranian government is aware that the big bombs are heading over for rapid deployment, should the situation arise. For the opinions of European observers following the developments, read all about it here: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/final-destination-iran-1.1013151

Good to see that yet another Bush-Cheney priority - using the military might of the Empire to cower those who don't want to play ball by our rules - is alive and well in the Obama Administration.

By "yet another", I'm thinking about the renewal of the Patriot Act, the refusal to totally to abolish torture as a tool, contract renewals for Blackwater - oops, I mean Xe - and expanding both the military and private contractor base in Afghanistan...well, I guess the USA didn't really change anything with the 2008 presidential election.

A different smiling face, and a little less bluster. The actions remain depressingly consistent.

"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology." - Michael Parenti (political scientist, author)

Sheehan On The Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Cindy Sheehan offers her thoughts on the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Check it out here:http://www.opednews.com/articles/-Visions-from-Stckholm-Sw-by-Cindy-Sheehan-091010-460.html

Speaking out is something Sheehan has done consistently for years now. She's been derided by many on both the left and the right at various times, but I urge you to go hear her talk if she comes to your town. Her willingness to stand up for what she believes in and speak truth to power is inspiring.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize - For Giving Hope

2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner - can we get an interview with some people on the streets in Afghanistan and Iraq?

I thought I had time-slipped somehow back to April 1, or maybe a it's really a headline from the reknowned satirical paper The Onion: "Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize." But here's the official statement from the Nobel organization:
http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/home/announce-2009/

Quoting from the statment: "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

Obama has been given a major "peace" award for giving hope and his alleged diplomatic philosophy. Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling - a Norweigian committee's view of "peace" looks like an Afghan man's bombed-out home filled with dead relatives.

Memo to the Nobel Peace Prize committee:

1) The largest defense/war budget in American history was requested by the Obama Administration for fiscal 2009.

2) In June of this year, an additional $106 billion "supplemental" funding bill for the ongoing Iraq/Afghan occupation was passed by Congress at the Administration's request.

3) Debate is underway on adding more troops to the Afghanistan debacle - on top of the 21,000 additional troops that the Obama Administration has deployed this year.

This is hope? This reflects the values and attitudes shared by the majority of the people of the world? These are the actions of a man working towards a better future?

The Nobel site extols the President's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Really? Can you give me the details, I've forgotten - it's been a long nine months in office. Just who have we had these efforts with? Honduras? Iran?

"The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." There's been some work, some actual reductions? So far, there has been some talk with the Russians and agreements to talk further. No actions.

Past Peace Prizes have gone to folks with questionable credentials (Henry Kissinger) before. But this one is being awarded before any concrete steps towards peace have even been taken - so far the "peace" effort is all campaign promises, all talk and no actions. In fact, Obama's military moves since taking office fly in the face of his talk.

Did the Nobel Peace committee buy "hope and change" election promises? It's okay if they did. But it's another thing altogether to sell them to the rest of the planet as some sort of "peace" philosophy worthy of international recognition. George Orwell would be proud.