Matt Journals Moved

[I AM ME]

i actually laughed out loud when i read that, it's so easy to picture

[Bandalero]

[I AM ME]

[I AM ME]

Scouring the news outlets this morning I came across this headline on the BBC.

US Steps Up Pressure For Peace

Someone over at the BBC forgot to add or else!

[I AM ME]

[Bandalero]

[I AM ME]

lol sorry, i feel behind because matt has been writing like a mad man, i'll start again tommorow

[Mechanical Thought]

[joe_canadian]

[I AM ME]

ok ok here they come they're really long though....

Tony Blair is a man trapped. Many believe that he was used by the White House prior to the war in Iraq and has little choice left but to stay the course given that it is almost certain that he will be voted out of office. Addressing the US Congress today, Mr. Blair said:

Can we be sure that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction will join together? Let us say one thing. If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that, at its least, is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will forgive. But if our critics are wrong, if we are right as I believe with every fibre of instinct and conviction I have that we are, and we do not act, then we will have hesitated in face of this menace, when we should have given leadership. That is something history will not forgive.

The massive economic waste, the loss of innocent life, and the political backroom initiatives and objectives are obviously not addressed in that statement. As black and white as Mr. Blair would love all of this to be, it is and was anything but. He went on to praise Mr. Bush’s leadership to a standing ovation from Congress and pledged to back the United States in the pursuit of liberty.

Liberty. Interesting. I thought it was called opportunism and self-interest. I had no idea that liberty now encompassed those two elements as well.

Prior to the war Mr. Blair was adamant that the legality of attacking Iraq was based on the presence of weapons of mass destruction and Iraq complying with UN resolutions. Now that Hussein is out of power and Iraq has been “liberated” that doesn’t seem to matter. What should matter, to people everywhere, is that this is just another example of a world leader thinking it perfectly all right to go back on his convictions because it turned out that he backed a piss poor assumption.

Mr. Blair is also trying to get two British nationals being held at Guantanamo released so that they can be tried in Britain. Really, what’s the point?

Last night’s show in the cornfield was fun. During the end of “In A World Called Catastrophe” I got the chance to jump off stage, run across a freeway, and finish playing the song while standing under a street light. I tried to hail a cab but failed. It was magic.

The rest of the show was fun as well. There was a bit of that “confused fans of older MGB’ thing going on, but for the most part it was a good time.

BBC-Canada's Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, is demanding the return of the body of a Canadian journalist who died after being detained in Tehran. The Montreal-based photo-journalist, Zahra Kazemi was arrested in Tehran on 23 June after taking photos of a prison there, well-known for its detention of dissidents. After her interrogation she was rushed to hospital, apparently in a coma. She died of a brain haemorrhage on 12 July. Friends and relatives say she died from injuries she sustained after her arrest. Jean Chretien says his government wants to verify the cause of Ms Kazemi's death independently and says the reporter's body should be returned immediately. "If crimes have been committed, we are demanding the Iranian government punish those who committed the crime and we will push that case," Mr. Chretien said from his constituency in Quebec. "Because if it is the case, it is completely unacceptable that a journalist goes there to do professional work and be threatened in that way."

While I do agree with the Prime Minister, one has to remember that Mrs. Kazemi was also an Iranian citizen and subject to the laws of Iran whilst there. There are some in the foreign office that have raised that point and it should be considered. The main issue here is that a member, or members, of the Iranian authorities are responsible for a crime, not a political action that reflects their nation. We have crime here in Canada and we have had instances when our police have acted inappropriately as well. I believe that those who arrested Mrs. Kazemi and those that were responsible for her detainment should be investigated and, if determined to be guilty, charged. I think that our government and our ambassador to Iran should demand exactly that and not turn it into an overblown international incident. One of my concerns is that our government might use this to help stabilize US relations by acting in a manner that might be viewed as favourable by the United States, given their current views concerning Iran. It may very well be a stepping-stone towards the lifting of the beef embargo. That, my friends, is how it unfortunately goes sometimes.

Strangely enough, a Kuwaiti spokesman for Al-Qaeda, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, is currently in Iranian custody. The Iranian government has tried to have him extradited back to Kuwait but the Kuwaiti government has refused saying that following September 11th they revoked his citizenship. It seems strange given the fact that the United States usually jumps at the chance to get their hands on such people. Refusing the extradition request keeps Abu Ghaith in Iran and that means that there’s Al-Qaeda in Iran. And doesn’t that raise a whole bunch of interesting question for the Defence Department to ask.

Last night during an interview US troops said that Bush and Rumsfeld should be added to the notorious “deck of cards”. 52 pickup just got more interesting.

BBC-How much confidence can anyone have about intelligence estimates regarding North Korea's nuclear programme, in light of the row over Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction? Unfortunately, for policymakers and the public alike, the answer is not much. North Korea is widely considered by intelligence officers as the hardest target to crack in terms of reliable information, and there are political pressures at work within the Bush administration that raise the spectre that intelligence may also be manipulated for ideological purposes.

In the last couple of days North and South Korean troops have exchanged medium and small arms fire across the demilitarized zone. One has to wonder: if propaganda can have a great and lasting impression on the mindset of ordinary citizens, how overly impacting is it when it comes to those serving in the military?

Finally, 11 Pakistani nationals have been returned to Pakistan from Camp Delta at Guantanamo. The question has to be asked. If the United States felt it had the right to illegally detain these people without charging them, do they have the right to take legal action against the US government for financial losses because of their absence and mental trauma? Further to that, could they seek criminal charges for unlawful detainment? If it were 11 Americans would that be all but assured? Funny how 2nd class citizens get the shaft, isn’t it. The gross thing is that it happens to ordinary Americans in their own country more often than not. Little Rock anyone?

[I AM ME]

July 17, 2003

“We rebuilt the world”.

I awoke this morning to more angry e-mails from Americans than I’ve ever received in a single sitting. And the number one theme amongst them was that the United States re-built the world after the Second World War. That they’ve financially bailed out other nations and not asked for credit or to be paid back, that they’ve come the rescue of others simply out of the kindness of their own hearts. It amazes me how absolutely taken people can be. And to such comments I must respond.

What did the US gain from re-building Europe? How about control of world economics? The United States emerged from World War 2 wealthier than when it started and was the only nation to do so. The industrialization of the country made it the largest importer/exporter in the world from that time until such time as the Chinese decide to start buying televisions by the billions. And that’s also not bringing into account that Cold War policies made sure that nations such as France, who was inches away from having a leftist government in the 50’s, did not become a financial liability. Strikes were broken (most probably by the CIA and French Intelligence) and the leftist movement in France was quashed. Let’s also not forget the military advantages of remaining in post war Europe. To this day the US have bases in Italy, Germany, and the UK, just to name a very few.

Really, no nation goes to such lengths simply for charitable reasons; it’s just not politic. In fact, it’s domestic political suicide. There are advantages to everything and for just about everything there is a reason. The Americans may have gone to the moon, for example, but would have never bothered if the Russians hadn’t put a man into space first. That’s why they called it the Space Race.

What of those nations that thought the US would come to their aid? What of Hungary, Cuba, and a laundry list of Asian, Central/South American, and African nations? If you don’t help everyone then there must be some logic to the assumption that you’re only helping those whose rescue will benefit you in some way, be it economic or political. Even something as ordinary as re-election can be cause for it.

My God, wake up. I realize that living in an Ivory Tower is luxuriant an all, but really.

And I am also not directing that towards all Americans, just for the record and the one- millionth time. But rather those Americans that love to employ bubbly, nostalgic logic.

And I am, by no means, speaking on behalf of all Canadians, nor would I ever attempt to. This is my personal journal and these are my thoughts. If you disagree then that’s perfectly understandable. But you also have the option of not reading it as well.

Plan B

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has been saying that the beef industry in Canada needs a plan B if it’s to be saved. Right now things are looking bleak for the cattle industry given that there is still a US ban on Canadian beef and 70% of our beef is exported to the US. Mr. Klein has even gone so far as to suggest that we begin a trade war with the US over this issue, which I find hilarious being that he was the one that sent a letter of support to the US Ambassador concerning the war in Iraq, lambasting Canada’s stance on the matter. Oh how the tables turn. Now he’s prompting Ottawa (that’s our capital by the way) to get tough with the States. There are concerns that it could completely ruin our industry altogether. Given that we can’t place bans on imported beef to bolster domestic sales, it’s not looking good.

So if you’re a meat eater, please support our industry by buying Canadian beef.

BBC-Iran has acknowledged that a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist was beaten to death after her arrest outside a prison in Tehran. Vice President Ali Abtahi said Zahra Kazemi died "of a brain haemorrhage resulting from beatings".

Let’s hope that the people who did this to her wind up in the prison she was taking pictures of. What a shame.

The decision to maintain current US troop levels in Iraq and the possibility of a much smaller scale US deployment to Liberia has once again raised the question of military over-stretch.

There are 150,000 men in Iraq right now. If 2,000 go to Liberia I will be surprised. Please go back to the 4th paragraph and read it again.

[I AM ME]

there's a few more i missed, go back and check the Erin replys out, very good! also notice the article about canada? that proves matt is unbiased in his rants, just for people that didn't kow, up untill this year, matt was being accused of hating canada. now he's accused of hating america, maybe they were wrong both times, do you think?

"Finally, 11 Pakistani nationals have been returned to Pakistan from Camp Delta at Guantanamo. The question has to be asked. If the United States felt it had the right to illegally detain these people without charging them, do they have the right to take legal action against the US government for financial losses because of their absence and mental trauma? Further to that, could they seek criminal charges for unlawful detainment? If it were 11 Americans would that be all but assured? Funny how 2nd class citizens get the shaft, isn’t it. The gross thing is that it happens to ordinary Americans in their own country more often than not. Little Rock anyone?"

heh touche

[nelison]

[Bandalero]

[I AM ME]

lol, isn't it texas where you can see the cows ribs though?

[Bandalero]

see the cows ribs? you mean like if they were starving?

[I AM ME]

[I AM ME]

good stuff esspecially the first half

July 18, 2003

BBC-The man named by the (British)government as a possible source for the report that Downing Street "sexed up" a dossier on Iraq's illegal weapons says he does not believe he was the "main source" for the story. Government weapons adviser David Kelly said he met BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan a week before the report which sparked a furious row between the government and the BBC. He said he did not see how that meeting could have produced the BBC report about a senior security source's claims about the September's Iraq dossier. Dr Kelly was publicly questioned about the row for the first time by the Commons foreign affairs committee - with some MPs suggesting he was being made a "fall guy".

BBC-The body (of David Kelly) was found at 0920 BST by a member of the police team searching for Dr Kelly in a wooded area at Harrowdown Hill, near Faringdon, Oxfordshire. Government adviser Dr Kelly, 59, has denied being the source of a BBC story on claims that a dossier on Iraq was "sexed up". He left his home in Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at about 1500 BST on Thursday and his family reported him missing at 2345 BST the same day. The body was found lying on the ground, around five miles from Dr Kelly's home, a police spokeswoman said. Acting superintendent Dave Purnell said formal identification would take place on Saturday and the case was being treated as an "unexplained death".

I really hope Mr. Kelly died of natural causes. Any other possibility might be too much to stomach.

Another US soldier is the victim of a bomb attack in Iraq bringing the total to 34 dead since the end of hostilities, 148 in total (which is more than the Gulf War). The situation in Iraq has become desperate for the United States government who cannot afford the political repercussions of these fatalities going into an election year. A Defence Department envoy to Iraq has commented that Iraq urgently needs to have Iraqis police the country and that the issues of its infrastructure be quickly solved so that US troops can exit.

The real question now is how to get out of Iraq without it looking a failure. No weapons of mass destruction were found or recovered, Saddam Hussein remains at large, and the populace is beginning to view the Americans as invaders and not liberators. Conditions in Iraq are actually worse, for the most part, than they were before the war, diminishing claims that the invasion would have an immediate positive humanitarian impact. For the most part the country is lawless and could very well be faced with a civil war if the Americans were to quit it in three or less months. Of course the oil regions of the nation would be secured prior to that I would imagine, but given the ethnic and regional differences it would be difficult to keep the creation of a new government on track without the presence of a greater external force.

My question is what did they think would happen? That they would waltz into Iraq, capture Saddam, Bin Laden (and every other potentially harmful terrorist in the world), whilst trying to escape in Saddam’s moon-ship that just so happens to be located in a warehouse filled with nuclear and biological weapons? That the Iraqi people would shower them with praise and gifts, take it upon themselves to form an interim government in three weeks, hold free elections in two months, and then allow the Americans to bugger off back home? Who, above the age of 10, considers that realistic?

If the United States does quit Iraq sooner than later it will only be because it was a failure. Forget the fact that they would be going back on all the promises that they’ve made concerning it. To this point the only “positive” result that can be claimed is that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. Besides that they’re all out of good material. They’ve not discovered hidden Al-Qaeda camps, as they knew they wouldn’t, despite the fact that some bizarre and vague connection was made between Iraq and Al-Qaeda/911/Osama Bin Laden, which the American population bought into en mass. All that’s really happened is that Americans were given a brief sense of security knowing that something was being done to combat terrorism. Because most Americans don’t spend time considering the fact that people die violently all over the world every day. Until it happens to them they really could care less for the most part. And now that it has happened to them they seem to only care that it doesn’t happen to them again. As for everyone else, well, that’s another story.

Billions upon billions of dollars later you have to start asking yourself some tough questions and look for a realistic point to it all. The US economy is sliding into the toilet, the deficit is out of control, fiscally the current administration is one of the most reckless in US history, and a lot of people have died. Is a sense of revenge worth all of it? Is some false sense of security? Anger is an easier emotion to immerse ones self in than any other. The problem with such ease is that it always nurtures the hardships of regret rather than providing any real solace.

Look at it this way. If you can trace the origins for the attacks on September 11th to being the result of the influences of certain foreign policy decisions and inactions during the Reagan administration, then what will this current state of affairs bring about? All it takes is one angry person to blow themselves up or shoot others because they lost their family, a child, or a friend, in what they see as something that had nothing to do with them. That’s how terrorists are made. Not always because of religious fanaticism or radical ideology. Even if the leaders of such causes hold to such maxims, their followers usually consist of people looking for a way to strike out, to get revenge, for some wrong doing that has effected them because they feel they have nothing left. Some do it with explosives strapped to their bodies, some do it with planes, some do it with entire armies, and some do it behind the scenes without the knowledge of anyone at all.

These are the real issues that must be addressed. If anything is to be invaded it must be that emptiness that lingers in the hearts of all men and women in which dwells the potential for extreme irrationality. Such a fertile receptacle of hate and confusion can only be dissuaded by a universal war against those boundaries, misconceptions, and misunderstandings that we have for one another. Even more, we must look to those men and women that would not use such a thing to further their ends to lead us.

Tonight I play a beer commercial. Further hypocrisies and news at 11.

[I AM ME]

hmmmmm...... i think it's time to take a minute of silence and mourn

[thirdhour]

i still have not found out what the last journal entry said

sean, thank god your new avatar is of matt, or you would of messed with my mind. what video is that? ive been thinking about that for like a week, and i can't remember...