Selections from a translated Der Speigel article about the pre-planned War on Iraq:

This War Came From a Think Tank
by Jochen Boelsche, Der Spiegel
It was in no way a conspiracy. As far back as 1998, ultra right US think tanks had developed and published plans for an era of US world domination, sidelining the UN and attacking Iraq. These people were not taken seriously. But now they are calling the tune.

German commentators and correspondents have been confused. Washington has tossed around so many types of reasons for war on Baghdad "that it could make the rest of the world dizzy", said the South German Times.

And the Nuremburg News reported on public statements last week by Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer to an inner circle in the US that war can only be avoided if Saddam not only disarms, but also leaves office.

Regime change is a condition that is in none of the barely remembered 18 UN resolutions. The Nuremburg News asked in astonishment whether Fleischer had made the biggest Freudian slip of his career or whether he spoke with the President's authority.

It's not about Saddam's weapons

So it goes. Across the world critics of President Bush are convinced that a second Gulf War is actually about replacing Saddam, whether the dictator is involved with WMD or not. "It's not about his WMD," writes the German born Israeli peace campaigner, Uri Avnery, "its purely a war about world domination, in business, politics, defense and culture".

There are real models for this. They were already under development by far right Think Tanks in the 1990s, organisations in which cold-war warriors from the inner circle of the secret services, from evangelical churches, from weapons corporations and oil companies forged shocking plans for a new world order.

In the plans of these hawks a doctrine of "might is right" would operate, and the mightiest of course would be the last superpower, America.
See part 2 coming next

Excellent Essays and Links
I highly recommend these particular blogs and websites for frequent updates,good writing, some humor, some action and reputable links
Stand Down: The Left-Right Blog Opposing the Invasion of Iraq
no war org

blue ear forum
clothespins for the revolution

Austin Against War
Electronic Iraq.net War is Our Common Enemy/
The War in Context:
Critical Perspectives on the War on Terrorism, War Against Iraq, and the Middle East Conflict
Warblogger Watch
By the way, tonight I've noticed that a more than common number of sites I frequently read have disruptions of some sort. Blogger, for one, seems to have all kinds of woes, partly to do with it's ax-cuisition (?) by Google. Blogspot, too...hmmmmmmmm

The Current Occupant of the White House Plans For War
February, 2003

Dubya knows a thing or two
About control. It's not to share.
As beneficiary of a coup,
He's got the serve who put him there
By doing things they want him to.
Convinced that people can be ruled
By whipping up their rightful fears
Through propadanda finely tooled
With smoothly calibrated gears,
And patriotism as a foil,
And smiting evil where it breeds
At home, abroad, on foreign soil,
He'll satisfy the scripters' needs
To regulate Iraqi oil.
And human casualties aside,
The costs of this adventure are
The death of liberties at home;
The chaos of perpetual war;
Truth bandied ike a shuttlecock,
Betrayals practiced near and far,
A vengeful legacy of hate
And global scar.
Oh, dubya knows
a thing
or two
But time grows short; the crisis nears:
The messages that dubya sends
Debase our nation, stoke our fears.
Appall our allies, stun our friends.
Together we must stop the gears.
-Robert D. Sutherland © 2003