From the article:
"The nationwide anti-American insurrection promised by media headlines just a week ago has not happened."
This might be good news for illegal, racist, absuer, occupier Marines - but not so good for Iraqis.
"Muqtada al-Sadr, the self-styled warring mullah, is desperately shopping around for a way out of the tangle he has created for himself. He has proposed to dissolve his so-called Army of the Mahdi and says he is even ready to go into exile to prevent further bloodshed. All he is asking for is for the Shiite grand ayatollahs to intervene to get him off the hook of an arrest warrant on a charge of murder. The grand ayatollahs, however, insist that he should eat humble pie."
Ooooh... illegal, racist, abusive, occupier army have frightened and scared the locals half-to-death - and certainly not to be a critic of the US. You must be so proud.
"Fallujah, where Arab nationalism was supposed to be reborn in a sea of American blood, is calm, with the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps in control.
Attacks on the newly created Iraqi police force have dropped by 50 percent in the past four weeks."
Skeptic, did you miss that the head of the Iraqi Prov Authority was exploded to death earlier this week.
"In the past three months, the newly created Iraqi currency, the dinar, has increased by almost 15 percent against the U.S. dollar and the two most traded local currencies, the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial.
Thanks to rising oil prices, Iraq is now earning $75 million to $80 million a day, an all-time record. The effect is already felt in greater economic activity, including private reconstruction schemes."
And might go up even higher if the US continues to exploit the oil reserves, and continues to use corporate stooges to put Iraq into debt.
"The Iraqi national soccer squad, having defeated its Iranian and Saudi counterparts, has won a place in the final of the summer Olympics in Athens, for the first time in almost a quarter of a century."
Well - that demonstrates that Iraq isn't under an illegal, racist, abusive, occupying power - their footie team won a game (no mention that the Iranians or Suadis might have not wanted to play too hard against fellows whose country is currently subject to an illegal, racist, absusive, occupation).
"And, of course, "the Arab street," which was once again supposed to explode in the wake of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, has failed to do so."
Brilliant straw man stuff. The media say there'll be an explosion, and if there isn't - in their timeframe - it's all over bar the looting. (And let us remind ourselves the head Iraqi was exploded to death earlier this week).
"Talk to almost any Iraqi who is not nostalgic for Saddam Hussein and you shall hear the same analysis: The country has absorbed the shock of the Sadrist insurrection, Fallujah and the Abu Ghraib scandal."
And, like Basil Fawlty, "they don't mention the war".
"And yet many Iraqis express concern about the short-term future of their country, that is to say, the way things will work out in the next few months."
Many "express concern" about America and Americans... not that this is reported.
"One reason for this is a growing fear that Washington may not be prepared to stay the course in the crucial period of transition due to begin at the end of June."
Yes yes . . . Iraqis are scared America won't continue it's illegal, racist, abusive, occupation. It makes so much sense now.
(The idiot scribbing this continues for several thousand more irrelevant words).
Skeptics phrase should alert us to who the author is: he has a rather low opinion, for instance, of those who write sensationalist books about Saudi Arabia telling everybody how awful it is.
Saudi Arabia - where staunch discrimmination against women is legal, a land of institutional torture, the land that gave the world Osma Bin Laden. (And remember, the Taliban only put into Afghanistan the sort of regime and social conditions that currently exist in Saudi).
Anyone who gets upset (or dismisses) those who expose the horrific and pre-medieval conditions in Saudi doesn`t get my media vote!
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From Benador Associates website, which calls itself a Public Relations, Media and International Speakers Bureau:
"Benador Associates, founded by Eleana Benador (*), is located in New York City as well as in Paris and London. However, the activities of the firm are expanding throughout the American continent, as well as in Europe and the Middle East.
Each of our experts is nationally and internationally recognized on issues of the Middle East and national security, among others. We are confident each of them makes your event, radio or television show a unique one.
We invite you to read the biographies of the listed experts to find a good match for your audience or event. Some experts are booked further in advance than others, so please do let us know the details as soon as you can.
Among the experts are James Woolsey, A.M. Rosenthal, Richard Perle, Amir Taheri, Kanan Makiya and Saad Eddin Ibrahim.
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Eleana Benador, founder and CEO of Benador Associates, Inc., welcomes you to the website of the company she created in 2001, based in New York City.
Eleana Benador, who is Swiss-American, was born in Lima, Peru. After living most of her life in Europe, Paris, Vienna and Geneva, she moved to the United States. A linguist by nature, Ms Benador studied interpreting and translating at the Sorbonne and the Universite Catholique de Lille. She also studied psychology at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, as well as political science in Vienna, Austria, and in Geneva, Switzerland. She is fluent in French, English, German and Spanish, understands and speaks Portuguese, Italian and Dutch, and reads Hebrew and some Russian.
Ms Benador has also participated in various capacities in some international organizations. She has also worked as an advisor to the Minister of Industry and Tourism of Peru, as an editor of the Peruvian Times, a consultant to Swiss-German Television, and as an advisor to a former mayor of Geneva and to a former Peruvian ambassador to Austria. She provided for a former Peruvian President the first translation into Spanish of a book by former President of France, M. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, "La democratie Francaise." More recently, she has been a consultant to Professor Bezalel Narkiss, and associate director and director in New York City of a Philadelphia think tank.
Eleana Benador's own background represents a convergence of cultures, nationalities and interests. Her commitment to excellence is undeterred, and she has rallied an initial roster of experts, academics, former high-ranking government officials, scholars and renowned journalists, as well as philantrophists, whose fame is supported by the critical contributions each of them has made in his or her field.
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The list of "experts" should convince you:
Bezalel Narkiss (Art Historian, ardent Zionist, famous lecture "Zionism and Art")
James Woolsey (militant former CIA director)
A.M. Rosenthal (famous militant propagandist who says pot legalization is a deadly con-job)
Richard Perle (famous paranoid militant cold-warrior, former Pentagon advisor, staunch Zionist, was in defence in Regan era etc. etc.)
Amir Taheri (militant propagandist, he described the UK Stop The War Coalition as "a shadowy group, part of the Hate-America-International")
Kanan Makiya (pro-American, anti-Islam, Arab propagandist; "I have always thought there were dark corners in religion. I took that for granted. That's not the surprising thing for me, the frightening thing is rather that, in the Arab world, we have let the darkness of religion flourish. ")
Saad Eddin Ibrahim (apparently the most reasonable person on the list, pro-Democracy Social Scholar, arrested, imprisioned, released from Egyptian jail - calls for strong links with Israel, writes for Jeruselem Post).
Skeptic:
"To repeat, Taheri a). knows Arabic, b). knows Iraq, c). knows Islam, which makes him more qualified to comment on Iraq than all of Fox News'--or CNNs, or NPRs--"experts" put together."
Why accuse Fox News? They are on your site. They love Bush and Wolfowitz. Their thing is propaganda, not journalism. Exactly what you want. And they have a cam in Baghdad, so they know.
If you like 'good news shows', I can recommend
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/, written by "Iraqi citizens on the Internet" (or so they claim). They love Bremer and the Americans more than Bremer and the Americans love themselves. Everything the Americans do is fantastic. According to them, the Americans are angels. You'll love it!
