JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- The al Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, terror experts have confirmed for CNN.
What good, then, was the invasion of Afghanistan? Bush has stated that the al Qaeda terrorist network has been crippled. Then why are they still able to carry out acts of terrorism? Obviously, they still have power. They have not been crippled. Bush knows this. Why bother attacking sovereign nations in wars that have have no definite advantage to anyone?
Troubling questions, indeed.
(CNN) - President Blah to American troops: "Please come to Liberia, save us, because we are dying, we are hungry."
When is intervention warranted? Currently, there are thousands of marines off the coast of Liberia, sitting on their hands. If non-existant weapons of mass destruction are reason enough to invade a country, then why isn't a humanitarian crises enough?
Oh, the hypocrisy of it all.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mohammed Aldouri, Baghdad's former ambassador to the United Nations, was a prominent public face of President Saddam Hussein's regime, passionately defending his country against U.S. claims that it harbored weapons of mass destruction. On Monday, Aldouri spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer via satellite from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
BLITZER: Are the people of Iraq better off right now without Saddam Hussein in power?
ALDOURI: Well, I think they will be much better if Americans withdraw from Iraq.
You got that right.
BLITZER: Was this war justified, from your perspective, removing Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party from power?
ALDOURI: Well, I already answered such question. I would prefer that Iraqi people did that. Actually, the Iraqi people [are] not happy about what is going on on the ground with the presence of American and British soldiers on their soil.
You got that right, too.
BLITZER: Who do you see as the future of Iraq? Who are the leaders that should emerge in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein?
ALDOURI: Well, I think it is up to the Iraqi people to decide, not to Americans, not to [U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul] Bremer or others. I think the Iraqi people [are] capable to choose [their] leaders for the future.
Iraq does not need to be the 51st state of of the US.
BLITZER: But isn't there a sense that right now there has to be a transition, and that only the United States and Britain, the other coalition forces, can create some semblance of stability that will eventually allow the Iraqi people to form democratic government?
ALDOURI: Well, it seems that is not the case ... There is a lack of security, lack of medicine, lack of food, lack of public services. There's [a lack of] everything in Iraq. So I don't think [the] Iraqi people [are] happy about what is going on with the presence of American and British occupiers.
Seems the 'gift' of freedom the Americans have shoved down their throats is not being digested all that well.
BLITZER: But can't you blame Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party regime for creating that situation over these 30 years?
ALDOURI: We cannot blame all the time the past. We ... 26, 27 million people [are] regarding the future and would like to have some food, some medicine, some petrol, some decent life.
When do they get those things, Bush? When, indeed.
BLITZER: Who do you believe are calling the shots in the attacks against U.S. and British forces in Iraq? Is it al Qaeda, or is it the Saddam Fedayeen [or] remnants of the Baath Party? Who's fighting the United States?
ALDOURI: I think [the] Iraqi people [are] fighting the United States. There's a lot of mistakes. The Americans came as liberators to [the] Iraqi people. Now the Iraqi people see Americans and the British as colonizers.
I believe it was someone on this board who said that it was only Saddam loyalists and remaining soldiers that fight occupying US and British troops. I'm afraid things aren't that black and white, kids.
BLITZER: But Mr. Ambassador, with all due respect, millions of Iraqis are grateful to the United States and Britain for liberating, if you will, their country, for getting rid of Saddam Hussein and the regime that he imposed on them, and they're beginning to breathe a little bit of fresh air of democracy right now for the first time.
ALDOURI: Mr. Blitzer, ... I would love very much to have this democracy, this freedom. We are waiting this democracy and this freedom ... And now you are there. Where is the democracy? Where is the freedom? Where is food? Where is medicine? Where is work?
Oh, I love that line. Blitzer, you fool, things aren't better now that your beloved troops are there. Open your eyes.
BLITZER: A lot of our reporting, though, suggests that for the average Iraqis, things ... are getting a little bit better. It's only been a little bit more than 100 days since the end of major combat. You can't expect to turn things around overnight.
ALDOURI: I will read a small report coming from [the] American administration. This is a team of outside experts assessing the reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
"One, that the potential for chaos is becoming more real every day, unless the U.S. provisional authority moves quickly."
They're not moving quickly. That means there is suffering in Iraq. There is a huge problem, especially, first of all, the problem of security, the problem of survival of Iraqi people.
Yet again proof that this whole idea of liberation in Iraq is a farce.
BLITZER: Let me press you on this point: the weapons of mass destruction. Do you believe that the U.S., the British, the international community eventually will find weapons of mass destruction capabilities in Iraq?
ALDOURI: I think that there were not any kind of mass destruction weapons in Iraq. It is exactly the same about the links with al Qaeda and other lies.
I can't believe Blitzer would still press that whole 'smoking gun' idea. It's obviously a complete fantasy, contructed by the US.
BLITZER: It sounds to me, Mr. Ambassador, and we used to listen to your speeches almost on a daily basis when you were at the United Nations, you have not changed your position in the aftermath of the war, that basically the U.S. had no justification to begin this war. Is that still the basic position you adopt right now?
ALDOURI: Oh, yes, [and] this is not [just] my position. This is the position of all Iraqi people, and all Arab people everywhere in the world. Not only in the Arab world.
My, my. Perhaps the US and Britain should rethink their foreign policies, then.
BLITZER: But you have to admit, I'm sure you must admit that the people of Iraq are better off today than they were under Saddam Hussein.
ALDOURI: I don't think so. If that was the case, I would say [so]. But reading in newspapers, watching the television, listening to others, you know, I am far away from [the] country. I would love to be there. Hopefully I can be there one day. But all information is coming from Iraq, giving us another kind [of] information. There is killing. There is no security. There is nothing in Iraq, absolutely.
Before the war, I think, at least we [had] security and something to eat, some medicine. Now there's nothing.
I ask again, what advantage is there to this war? No one is better off for it.
It is unfortunate that most North Americans are complacent with what Bush is doing. He has broken international law. He has lied to his people and the world. He continues to violate human rights. Amnesty International itself criticizes the US.
How long will we allow this to happen?
