1953: CIA helps overthrow the democratically-elected Mossadeq
government in Iran (which had nationalized the British oil company)
leading to a quarter-century of dictatorial rule by the Shah, Mohammed
Reza Pahlevi.

1956: U.S. cuts off promised funding for Aswan Dam in Egypt after Egypt
receives Eastern bloc arms.

1956: Israel, Britain, and France invade Egypt. U.S. does not support
invasion, but the involvement of NATO allies severely diminishes
Washington's reputation in the region.

1958: U.S. troops land in Lebanon to preserve "stability."

1960s (early): U.S. unsuccessfully attempts assassination of Iraqi
leader, Abdul Karim Qassim.

1963: U.S. reported to give Iraqi Ba'ath party (soon to be headed by
Saddam Hussein) names of communists to murder, which they do with vigor.

1967-: U.S. blocks any effort in the Security Council to enforce SC
Resolution 244, calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied
in the 1967 war.

1970: Civil war between Jordan and PLO. Israel and U.S. prepare to
intervene on side of Jordan if Syria backs PLO.

1972: U.S. blocks Sadat's efforts to reach a peace agreement with Egypt.

1973: U.S. military aid enables Israel to turn the tide in war with
Syria and Egypt.

1973-75: U.S. supports Kurdish rebels in Iraq. When Iran reaches an
agreement with Iraq in 1975 and seals the border, Iraq slaughters Kurds
and U.S. denies them refuge. Kissinger secretly explains that "covert
action should not be confused with missionary work."

1978-79: Iranians begin demonstrations against the Shah. U.S. tells Shah
it supports him "without reservation" and urges him to act forcefully.
Until the last minute, U.S. tries to organize military coup to save the
Shah, but to no avail.

1979-88: U.S. begins covert aid to Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months
before Soviet invasion. Over the next decade U.S. provides more than $3
billion in arms and aid.

1980-88: Iran-Iraq war. When Iraq invades Iran, the U.S. opposes any
Security Council action to condemn the invasion. U.S. removes Iraq from
its list of nations supporting terrorism and allows U.S. arms to be
transferred to Iraq. U.S. lets Israel provide arms to Iran and in 1985
U.S. provides arms directly (though secretly) to Iran. U.S. provides
intelligence information to Iraq. Iraq uses chemical weapons in 1984;
U.S. restores diplomatic relations with Iraq. 1987 U.S. sends its navy
into the Persian Gulf, taking Iraq's side; an aggressive U.S. ship
shoots down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290.

1981, 1986: U.S. holds military maneuvers off the coast of Libya with
the clear purpose of provoking Qaddafi. In 1981, a Libyan plane fires a
missile and two Libyan planes were subsequently shot down. In 1986,
Libya fires missiles that land far from any target and U.S. attacks
Libyan patrol boats, killing 72, and shore installations. When a bomb
goes off in a Berlin nightclub, killing two, the U.S. charges that
Qaddafi was behind it (possibly true) and conducts major bombing raids
in Libya, killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi's adopted
daughter.

1982: U.S. gives "green light" to Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where
more than 10,000 civilians were killed. U.S. chooses not to invoke its
laws prohibiting Israeli use of U.S. weapons except in self-defense.

1983: U.S. troops sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational
peacekeeping force; intervene on one side of a civil war. Withdraw after
suicide bombing of marine barracks.

1984: U.S.-backed rebels in Afghanistan fire on civilian airliner.

1988: Saddam Hussein kills many thousands of his own Kurdish population
and uses chemical weapons against them. The U.S. increases its economic
ties to Iraq.

1990-91: U.S. rejects diplomatic settlement of the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait (for example, rebuffing any attempt to link the two regional
occupations, of Kuwait and Palestine). U.S. leads international
coalition in war against Iraq. Civilian infrastructure targeted. To
promote "stability" U.S. refuses to aid uprisings by Shi'ites in the
south and Kurds in the north, denying the rebels access to captured
Iraqi weapons and refusing to prohibit Iraqi helicopter flights.

1991-: Devastating economic sanctions are imposed on Iraq. U.S. and
Britain block all attempts to lift them. Hundreds of thousands die.
Though Security Council stated sanctions were to be lifted once
Hussein's programs to develop weapons of mass destruction were ended,
Washington makes it known that the sanctions would remain as long as
Saddam remains in power. Sanctions strengthen Saddam's position.

1993-: U.S. launches missile attack on Iraq, claiming self-defense
against an alleged assassination attempt on former president Bush two
months earlier.

1998: U.S. and U.K. bomb Iraq over weapons inspections, even though
Security Council is just then meeting to discuss the matter.

1998: U.S. destroys factory producing half of Sudan's pharmaceutical
supply, claiming retaliation for attacks on U.S. embassies in Tanzania
and Kenya and that factory was involved in chemical warfare. U.S. later
acknowledges there is no evidence for the chemical warfare charge.

"I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in Yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles"

Here are some ideas I do believe, from today's IBD:

A senior official in NATO member Poland warned that an outright attack against bin Laden and his protector, the Afghan Taliban regime, was almost certainly doomed to fail.

"If there are two lessons of the last two centuries, the first is thou shalt not march on Moscow, and the second (is) thou shalt not march on Kabul," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote in the Rzeczpospolita daily.

"The Americans, after all, could not deploy sufficient forces to this remote region. A hundred thousand troops were not enough for the Soviets."

The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban warned it would attack any country that helped the U.S. against Afghanistan. Any such attacks from landlocked, extremest Afghanistan could well be terrorist attacks.

Note too that the Soviets enjoyed a lengthy border with Afghanistan and so presumably had no supply-line problems. In ten years they could not win.

To our shaken leaders?: Take it to heart, you aren't fools, so quit acting like ones.

On September 11 at 8:30 AM, we had no clue that anything was about to happen. Then, just a few days later, we know who did it! Call me weird, but something doesn't compute here.

Did anybody else think that the reports of the rental car at Logan airport with a Koran in it, and a flight manual in Arabic sounded just a tad disingenuous? Something else that doesn't compute.

We all know the origins of the cannabis laws. The publicly stated ones and the real, economic ones.But both revolve around this concept.

Since drug law reform stands in the way of the powerful becoming more powerful, it will be and is branded as 'evil'. 'Immoral'. 'Dangerous'. And of course, a 'threat to The Chil-drun'. And those presently in power know that to maintain themselves so, they must use all the means available to stifle any opportunity to debate, to argue, before the public the rationales behind the drug laws. To allow a serious debate is to open themselves to attack upon their power base.

That's why I keep sounding like a nut about the dangers inherent in these new 'counter-terrorism' maesures being proposed in Congress. When these buffoons, who seem to have forgotten their oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution, make noises about shredding it even futher than it already has been, and that 'people have too much freedom' (despite that shredding) and that they equate cannabis dealing (and therefore, use) with treason, then it's time to batten down the hatches and sound General Quarters. And let the pols know that, they might be ignorant the difference, but you aren't. And that you will hold them personally accountable for any further infringement upon our already dwindled rights.

If one would read carefully, the report would not mention any damage if one choose to consume cannabis. All the report would do is point out the damage of prohibition of cannabis in regard to trafficking of hard drugs. It would point out the damages that hard drugs(cocaine/herion) do to people. People of the world would rather choose cannabis over these stuff.

I am in awe. I do not understand why some folks thought it was a bright idea to ban cannabis. Not one single human being ever had to go to hospital for cannabis. Cocaine or herion or whatever, sure, but not cannabis except for the prohibition itself that killed Tom and Rolland.

I am not able to comphrend the greed of the prohibition. I do not think I want to do so. It is evil. Prohibition does not represent security in any country in this world. Prohibition is what feed evil in this world.

"Anyone who attempts to coerce a civilian population or a unit of government is a terrorist."

So, if we protes against the DEA or something, we're terrorists? Yeah, I mean watch out.

get ready

It was isn't the war on drugs and the war on terrorism basically the same? That's by no means word for word but that's the right context.

Will they now treat cannabis users like terrorist supporters?

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--attacks-anti-terr0917sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dap%2Dregional%2Dwire

The legislation made terrorism a capital crime in New York and defined what it is--the commission of an offense designed to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population" or "influence the policy of a unit of government."