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TAKE A BAATH
This is one of a series of collage images recently shown in New Haven, CT and carried through the streets of Washington. The strongest influence to these works are the unnamed thousands who have expressed political opinion through the rapid form of free speech that is collage. Please feel free to copy and distribute.
TAKE A BAATH Pictured at left is Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, the leader of the Baath political party and Iraqi president.
On Christmas, 1983 as an envoy for the Reagan/Bush White House Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq to officially restore relations between Iraq and the US. Rumsfeld arranged for US support of Iraq in it's war against Iran. "Support" included large scale intelligence sharing and sales of conventional weaponry, such as helicopters and cluster bombs. "Support" also included a green light for Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors from European and American companies. "Support" of Iraq also included public silence from the Reagan/Bush White House regarding Iraq's use of chemical weapons technology against Iran and the civilian Iraqi population. This weapons commerce is thought to be well documented in the 11,000 pages removed from the 15,000 page Iraqi Weapons Declaration by the U.S., prior to its delivery to the United Nations in 2003.
The image speaks for itself. The phrase "Take A Baath" (read bath) questions the moral relativity of political expedience in which "my enemy's enemy is my friend".
On Christmas, 1983 as an envoy for the Reagan/Bush White House Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq to officially restore relations between Iraq and the US. Rumsfeld arranged for US support of Iraq in it's war against Iran. "Support" included large scale intelligence sharing and sales of conventional weaponry, such as helicopters and cluster bombs. "Support" also included a green light for Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors from European and American companies. "Support" of Iraq also included public silence from the Reagan/Bush White House regarding Iraq's use of chemical weapons technology against Iran and the civilian Iraqi population. This weapons commerce is thought to be well documented in the 11,000 pages removed from the 15,000 page Iraqi Weapons Declaration by the U.S., prior to its delivery to the United Nations in 2003.
The image speaks for itself. The phrase "Take A Baath" (read bath) questions the moral relativity of political expedience in which "my enemy's enemy is my friend".
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/5554317.htm
Army chaplain offers baptisms, baths
BY MEG LAUGHLIN
mlaughlin [at] herald.com
CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.
It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity.
''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said.
And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the first time in weeks.
''They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed,'' Llano said.
First, though, the soldiers have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half sermons in his dirt-floor tent. Then the baptism takes an hour of quoting from the Bible.
''Regardless of their motives,'' Llano said, ``I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord.''
A blue-eyed 32-year-old with an abundance of energy, Llano goes out every day to drum up grimy soldiers for his pool.
He talks to truck drivers, tank drivers, computer specialists -- anyone and everyone. He goes out to the combat zone to the fighting soldiers and the combat support soldiers who keep them in supplies.
''You have to be aggressive to help people find themselves in God,'' he said.
He calls himself a ''Southern Baptist evangelist,'' and justifies the war and killing with a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, which he often recites: ``Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.
''This means we are called upon by our government to fight and that is giving unto Caesar, as the Bible tells us,'' he said.
Earlier this week, word went out that portable showers might be installed here soon, but Llano was undaunted.
''There is no fruit out here, and I have a stash of raisins, juice boxes and fruit rolls to pull out,'' the chaplain said optimistically.
Army chaplain offers baptisms, baths
BY MEG LAUGHLIN
mlaughlin [at] herald.com
CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.
It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity.
''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said.
And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the first time in weeks.
''They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed,'' Llano said.
First, though, the soldiers have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half sermons in his dirt-floor tent. Then the baptism takes an hour of quoting from the Bible.
''Regardless of their motives,'' Llano said, ``I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord.''
A blue-eyed 32-year-old with an abundance of energy, Llano goes out every day to drum up grimy soldiers for his pool.
He talks to truck drivers, tank drivers, computer specialists -- anyone and everyone. He goes out to the combat zone to the fighting soldiers and the combat support soldiers who keep them in supplies.
''You have to be aggressive to help people find themselves in God,'' he said.
He calls himself a ''Southern Baptist evangelist,'' and justifies the war and killing with a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, which he often recites: ``Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.
''This means we are called upon by our government to fight and that is giving unto Caesar, as the Bible tells us,'' he said.
Earlier this week, word went out that portable showers might be installed here soon, but Llano was undaunted.
''There is no fruit out here, and I have a stash of raisins, juice boxes and fruit rolls to pull out,'' the chaplain said optimistically.
Here's an interesting transcript. When, in Sept. 2002, CNN's Jamie McIntyre showed Rumsfeld the now infamous picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983 <http://www.greenparty.org> immediately after Saddam had used chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds, not only did CNN scrub the photo from the internet, they censored any mention of the video/photo at all in the interview.
Here's the transcript as posted on CNN's website, and below it is the transcript as it actually occurred:
CNN.com - Rumsfeld on Iraq:
MCINTYRE: Well, let me take you back about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20th, 1983, you were meeting with Saddam Hussein. Tell me what was going on during this meeting.
RUMSFELD: Well, Iraq was in a battle, war with Iran. And the United States had just had 241 Marines killed.
- - - - - - - - -
But, from the DoD's own copy of the transcript:
McIntyre: Well, let me take you back to about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20, 1983. You were meeting with Saddam Hussein, I think we have some video of that meeting. Tell me what was going on during this meeting?
Rumsfeld: Where did you get this video, from the Iraqi television?
McIntyre: This is from the Iraqi television.
Rumsfeld: When did they give it to you, recently or back then?
McIntyre: We dug this out of the CNN library.
Rumsfeld: I see. Isn't that interesting. There I am.
McIntyre: So what was going on here, what were you thinking at the time?
Rumsfeld: Well, Iraq was in a battle, a war, with Iran....
******************
The issue here is the ongoing censorship by CNN and the rest of the corporate media, of what is really going on.
Rumsfeld was in Iraq in 1983 as a private citizen asked by President Reagan to travel there. In addition, at the time the Bechtel Corporation was attempting to negotiate an oil pipeline with Iraq, which was to go
through Jordan to the Gulf of Aqaba. Top members of the Reagan cabinet (Shultz, Weinberger, others) were officials of Bechtel, with the one exception being Gen. Alexander Haig. This part of the story -- the oil pipeline -- keeps getting lost amidst all the clouds of poisonous
gasses sold to Iraq by US and German corporations.
Here's the transcript as posted on CNN's website, and below it is the transcript as it actually occurred:
CNN.com - Rumsfeld on Iraq:
MCINTYRE: Well, let me take you back about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20th, 1983, you were meeting with Saddam Hussein. Tell me what was going on during this meeting.
RUMSFELD: Well, Iraq was in a battle, war with Iran. And the United States had just had 241 Marines killed.
- - - - - - - - -
But, from the DoD's own copy of the transcript:
McIntyre: Well, let me take you back to about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20, 1983. You were meeting with Saddam Hussein, I think we have some video of that meeting. Tell me what was going on during this meeting?
Rumsfeld: Where did you get this video, from the Iraqi television?
McIntyre: This is from the Iraqi television.
Rumsfeld: When did they give it to you, recently or back then?
McIntyre: We dug this out of the CNN library.
Rumsfeld: I see. Isn't that interesting. There I am.
McIntyre: So what was going on here, what were you thinking at the time?
Rumsfeld: Well, Iraq was in a battle, a war, with Iran....
******************
The issue here is the ongoing censorship by CNN and the rest of the corporate media, of what is really going on.
Rumsfeld was in Iraq in 1983 as a private citizen asked by President Reagan to travel there. In addition, at the time the Bechtel Corporation was attempting to negotiate an oil pipeline with Iraq, which was to go
through Jordan to the Gulf of Aqaba. Top members of the Reagan cabinet (Shultz, Weinberger, others) were officials of Bechtel, with the one exception being Gen. Alexander Haig. This part of the story -- the oil pipeline -- keeps getting lost amidst all the clouds of poisonous
gasses sold to Iraq by US and German corporations.
For more information:
http://www.greenparty.org
Here's an interesting transcript. When, in Sept. 2002, CNN's Jamie McIntyre showed Rumsfeld the now infamous picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983 <http://www.greenparty.org> immediately after Saddam had used chemical weapons against the Iranians and Kurds, not only did CNN scrub the photo from the internet, they censored any mention of the video/photo at all in the interview.
Here's the transcript as posted on CNN's website, and below it is the transcript as it actually occurred:
CNN.com - Rumsfeld on Iraq:
MCINTYRE: Well, let me take you back about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20th, 1983, you were meeting with Saddam Hussein. Tell me what was going on during this meeting.
RUMSFELD: Well, Iraq was in a battle, war with Iran. And the United States had just had 241 Marines killed.
- - - - - - - - -
But, from the DoD's own copy of the transcript:
McIntyre: Well, let me take you back to about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20, 1983. You were meeting with Saddam Hussein, I think we have some video of that meeting. Tell me what was going on during this meeting?
Rumsfeld: Where did you get this video, from the Iraqi television?
McIntyre: This is from the Iraqi television.
Rumsfeld: When did they give it to you, recently or back then?
McIntyre: We dug this out of the CNN library.
Rumsfeld: I see. Isn't that interesting. There I am.
McIntyre: So what was going on here, what were you thinking at the time?
Rumsfeld: Well, Iraq was in a battle, a war, with Iran....
******************
The issue here is the ongoing censorship by CNN and the rest of the corporate media, of what is really going on.
Rumsfeld was in Iraq in 1983 as a private citizen asked by President Reagan to travel there. In addition, at the time the Bechtel Corporation was attempting to negotiate an oil pipeline with Iraq, which was to go
through Jordan to the Gulf of Aqaba. Top members of the Reagan cabinet (Shultz, Weinberger, others) were officials of Bechtel, with the one exception being Gen. Alexander Haig. This part of the story -- the oil pipeline -- keeps getting lost amidst all the clouds of poisonous
gasses sold to Iraq by US and German corporations.
Here's the transcript as posted on CNN's website, and below it is the transcript as it actually occurred:
CNN.com - Rumsfeld on Iraq:
MCINTYRE: Well, let me take you back about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20th, 1983, you were meeting with Saddam Hussein. Tell me what was going on during this meeting.
RUMSFELD: Well, Iraq was in a battle, war with Iran. And the United States had just had 241 Marines killed.
- - - - - - - - -
But, from the DoD's own copy of the transcript:
McIntyre: Well, let me take you back to about 20 years ago. The date, I believe, was December 20, 1983. You were meeting with Saddam Hussein, I think we have some video of that meeting. Tell me what was going on during this meeting?
Rumsfeld: Where did you get this video, from the Iraqi television?
McIntyre: This is from the Iraqi television.
Rumsfeld: When did they give it to you, recently or back then?
McIntyre: We dug this out of the CNN library.
Rumsfeld: I see. Isn't that interesting. There I am.
McIntyre: So what was going on here, what were you thinking at the time?
Rumsfeld: Well, Iraq was in a battle, a war, with Iran....
******************
The issue here is the ongoing censorship by CNN and the rest of the corporate media, of what is really going on.
Rumsfeld was in Iraq in 1983 as a private citizen asked by President Reagan to travel there. In addition, at the time the Bechtel Corporation was attempting to negotiate an oil pipeline with Iraq, which was to go
through Jordan to the Gulf of Aqaba. Top members of the Reagan cabinet (Shultz, Weinberger, others) were officials of Bechtel, with the one exception being Gen. Alexander Haig. This part of the story -- the oil pipeline -- keeps getting lost amidst all the clouds of poisonous
gasses sold to Iraq by US and German corporations.
For more information:
http://www.greenparty.org
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