Bush calls Iran leaders "tyrants"

U.S. President George W. Bush has called Iran's leaders "tyrants" as dangerous as Al-Qaeda terrorists and said they must not be allowed to get nuclear weapons -- "the tools of mass murder." AFP

Just what the world needs, more fuel for the Iran fire that is already blazing. What's better than edgy 'world leaders', who have weapons and force at their disposal, playing kindergarten name-calling games? Anything.

Bush is setting the stage and positioning his pawns one statement at a time. Scaring people into believing that their lives are in danger. The Bush administration makes the Iranian leader more powerful. There is no doubt about this because the U.S. has a history of "painting its enemies 10 feet tall and crazy." And there was the case of Saddam Hussein's capabilities. Saddam, we were assured in 2003, had nuclear weapons and because he was a madman, he would use them.

10 More Huge War Profiteers

Halliburton has become synonymous with war profiteering, but there are many other greedy companies. The top three war profiteering companies are: 1.) CACI, 2.) Titan (admitted to funnelling more than $2m into the 2001 re-election campaign of President Mathieu Kerekou in W. Africa) and 3.) Bechtel.

Read about the rest of the top 10 war profiteering companies at AlterNet.

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Director Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed) of Brave New Films, takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq.

Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so. One of the biggest war profiteers is Halliburton. Halliburton, which was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney, is a huge presence in Iraq providing construction and petroleum services. Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Check out "The Spoils of War" By MICHAEL SHNAYERSON (Vanity Fair).

Watch Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (on DVD Sept. 26) trailer:

Blood Money: Wasted Billions

It was supposed to be quick and easy. The Bush Administration even promised that it wouldn't cost American taxpayers a thing-Iraqi oil revenues would pay for it all. But billions and billions of dollars (over $312 Billion to date), and thousands of lives (2,794), later, the Iraqi reconstruction is an undeniable failure. Iraq pumps out less oil now than it did under Saddam. At best, Iraqis average all of twelve hours a day of electricity. American soldiers lack body armor and adequate protection for their motor vehicles.

As Los Angeles Times journalist T. Christian Miller reveals in his book, Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq, the Bush Administration has fatally undermined the war effort and our soldiers by handing out mountains of cash not to the best companies for the reconstruction effort, but to buddies, cronies, relatives and political hacks-some of whom have simply taken the money and run with it.

Docudrama Blames Clinton For 9/11, Praises Bush

On Sunday, September 10 and Monday, September 11 from 8pm-11pm, ABC will air a new “docudrama” called “The Path to 9/11.”

Salon's review says,

"Condoleezza Rice gets that fated memo about planes flying into buildings, and makes it very clear to anyone who’ll listen just how concerned President Bush is about these terrorist threats — despite the fact that we’re given little concrete evidence of the president’s concern or interest in taking action. Maybe my memory fails me, but the only person I remember talking about Osama bin Laden back in 1998 was President Clinton, while the current anti-terrorist stalwarts worked the country into a frenzy over what? Blow jobs. In the end, “The Path to 9/11″ feels like an excruciatingly long, winding and deceptive path, indeed."

The director of the film, David Cunningham, is already backtracking about its accuracy, saying “this is not a documentary.”

Via Think Progress

Bush Admin. Makes Iranian Prez More Powerful

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has gone from being an obscure and not-so-powerful politician to a central player in the Mideast, simply by goading the United States.

"Washington has a long habit of painting its enemies 10 feet tall and crazy. During the cold war, many hawks argued that the Soviet Union could not be deterred because the Kremlin was evil and irrational. The great debate in the 1970s was between the CIA's wimpy estimate of Soviet military power and the neoconservatives' more nightmarish scenario. The reality turned out to be that even the CIA's lowest estimates of Soviet power were a gross exaggeration. During the 1990s, influential commentators and politicians most prominently the Cox Commission doubled the estimates of China's military spending, using largely bogus calculations. And then there was the case of Saddam Hussein's capabilities. Saddam, we were assured in 2003, had nuclear weapons and because he was a madman, he would use them."

Full Article via MSNBC

U.S. deaths in Iraq, war on terror surpass 9/11 toll

The announcement Sunday of four more U.S. military deaths in Iraq raises the death toll to 2,974 for U.S. military service members in Iraq and in what the Bush administration calls the "war on terror".

The 9/11 attack killed 2,973 people, including Americans and foreign nationals but excluding the terrorists. The 9/11 death toll was calculated by CNN. Full article via CNN

Chinese director 'given film ban'

Director Lou Ye has been banned from making films in China for five years for submitting an entry for the Cannes festival without government approval. Lou entered romance Summer Palace for competition without clearing it with China's censors, state media reported.

The film, which features explicit sex scenes, takes place around the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Lou said at Cannes in June that he would consider changing the film's content so it could be seen in China. Lou Ye won the main prize at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2000. The news agency reported that the film would be confiscated along with any income made from it. Via BBC

Completely ridiculous. China is WAY out of line and so is any company or organization that gives in to their ultra suppressive demands. Censoring everything from internet search results (which should be left up to the computer's owner) and films. And this director is going to give into it as stated above, "consider changing the film's content so it could be seen in China."

Fox News forced employees to push 'right wing'

The documentary "Outfoxed", by Robert Greenwald, examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.

The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

Interviews licensed by Brave New Films for remixing: Creative Commons Sampling Plus (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/)

Official Site: www.outfoxed.org