Patriotism in its simplest, clearest and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, conscience, and a slavish enthralment to those in power: Leo Toystoy - Demanding the Impossible: a History of Anarchism by Peter Marshall (fontana press 1992) p374 = If they talk about dying for principles that are bigger than life you say mis- ter you're a liar. Nothing is bigger than life. There's nothing noble in death. What's noble about lying in the gound and rotting? What's noble about never seeing the sunshine again? What's noble about hav- ing your legs and arms blown off? What's noble about being an idiot? What's noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? What's noble about being dead? Because when you're dead mister it's all over. It's the end. You're less than a dog less than a rat less than a bee or an ant less than a maggot crawling around on a dungheap. You're dead mister and you died for nothing. You're dead mister. Dead: Dalton Trumbo - Source: Johnny Got His Gun - The quote was written directly as it is found in the text with the same line endings, and the same lack of punctuation. Possibly the greatest anti-war novel ever written. = O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire;  Mark Twain - The War Prayer - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2231.htm === Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq   1,255,026 http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America'sWar On Iraq 4,155 http://icasualties.org/oif/ The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs $552,916,477,073 See the cost in your community http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182 === Clash in the Caucasus: Rolling Back The Unipolar World By Mike Whitney The battle-lines have been drawn, the fleet has been deployed, and the armies are being moved into place. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20729.htm ==== Temporary Respites from Permanent Decline By Paul Craig Roberts The US is dependent on foreigners to finance its $600 billion annual government budget deficit and its $800 billion annual trade deficit. The US government relies on foreigners to recycle their $800 billion trade surplus dollars to buy US Treasury bonds and mortgage debt. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20727.htm === The Red White and Blue Roots of Terrorism By: Peter Chamberlin The extremists who are using violence and terror are America's extremists. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20728.htm === Islamic Democracy: The Way I Perceive It By Dr. Ghayur Ayub Islamic Democracy can work in Pakistan without antagonizing western systems. If introduced in its true essence, it would reverse the existing corrupted electoral system and change it into a working structure in which people with political decency, moral integrity, ethical reliability and spiritual propensity represent us in the parliament. It doesnbt need Platobs logic to foresee a bright future for Pakistan in the presence of such parliament in coming years. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20726.htm ==== Reflections on 9-11 By Cindy Sheehan Our famous freedoms that the terrorists hated have been eroded due to the PATRIOT ACT, the Military Commissions Act and the violent response to protest from our robo-clad police state. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20730.htm === Was America Attacked by Muslims on 9/11? By David Ray Griffin Much of America's foreign policy since 9/11 has been _base_d on the assumption that it was attacked by Muslims on that day. - Is it conceivable that this assumption might be false? Insofar as Americans and Canadians would say No, they would express their belief that this assumption is not merely an assumption but is instead _base_d on strong evidence. When actually examined, however, the proffered evidence turns out to be remarkably weak. I will illustrate this point by means of 16 questions. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20722.htm === 9/11 and the Great American Decline By Glen Ford In its convulsive response to 9/11 - the worldwide War on Terror - the United States seized the opportunity to put in motion planetary aggressions that already existed in the blueprints of the neo-con's Project for a New American Century (PNAC). In effect, Washington was claiming revenge as the motive for crimes that it had long been planning to commit. Precise causality for the specific events of 9/11 becomes near-irrelevant, submerged in the much larger aggression that was conceived long before the towers fell. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20725.htm ==== 9/11 The Falling Man Full length video Not yet released in the U.S. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17405.htm ==== Three occupationn troops among 44 killed in Afghanistan: Three US-led coalition troops and an Afghan working with them were killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan on Tuesday as government officials said that roughly 40 rebels, some of them foreigners, died in air strikes. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&arti... === Fighting erupts close to Kabul : A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Taliban fighters destroyed five trucks belonging to the governmentbs security forces and killed all 15 men on board. http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1570&Ite... ==== Admiral: US military 'running out of time' in Afghanistan: The US military is not winning the war in Afghanistan and is running out of time for a workable strategy to combat the insurgency there, the Pentagon's uniformed leader said today http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/10/usa.usforeignpolicy ==== Canada PM: Troops home from Afghanistan in 2011: Canada's prime minister vowed Wednesday to pull troops from Afghanistan in 2011, the first time he has said Canadian forces will leave the country. http://www.newsobserver.com/1635/story/1213470.html ==== Afghanistan's army to double to 134,000: UN: The Afghan government and its international partners agreed Wednesday to expand the national army to 134,000 soldiers, almost double its current strength, the United Nations said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080910/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest... ==== Pakistanbs sovereignty, territorial integrity to be defended at all cost: Gen Ashfaq Kayani : bThere is no question of any agreement or understanding with the Coalition Forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the borderb, says an ISPR press release issued here . http://tinyurl.com/6kef64 ==== 36 militants, six troops killed in fierce clashes in Pakistan: Fierce clashes between security forces and militants in north-west Pakistan resulted in the death of 36 militants and six troops Wednesday, reports quoting an army spokesman said. http://tinyurl.com/5q87kv ==== 11 killed in attack on Pakistan mosque: At least 11 worshippers have been killed and dozens wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque in northern Pakistan. http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0910/pakistan.html ==== Iraq: at least 4 killed as US occupation grinds on; The bodies of two men were found in different districts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/RAS034529.htm ==== Qaeda group head calls to kill Sunni leaders: The purported leader of an Al Qaeda-dominated insurgent umbrella group in Iraq has called for the murder of all members of the countrybs main Sunni Arab political party, in an audio message posted on Tuesday on militant websites http://tinyurl.com/5dhq7t ==== A strange sort of victory: If George Bush's recent speech is anything to go by, Iraq has been a success. Does anyone in their right mind believe him? http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/10/georgebush.iraq ==== Russia urged to halt arms to Iran, Syria: Israel's envoy to the United States urged Russia on Tuesday not to sell advanced weapons to Iran and Syria despite Moscow's anger over Israeli military cooperation with Georgia.Ambassador Sallai Meridor also said that the main reason his government began indirect talks with Syria earlier this year was to bring about a strategic repositioning in the region by breaking up Damascus' alliance with Iran. http://tinyurl.com/6pyj95 ==== Israel temporarily 'halts' arming Georgia: Israel claims it has halted its lucrative weapons sales to Georgia in a bid to dissuade Russia from increasing military ties with Iran. http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=69054§ionid=351020606 ==== Iran Won`t Get Russian Missile System Soon