March 15, 2003
Media Compilation #122: Their Days Are Numbered...
Dear journalist
Another day of global protest hardly reported in the censored US media, another compilation of information the hegemonic cabal would prefer you to not expose.
They don't know it yet but soon the towering military might of the U.S. will meet its defeat not in the streets of Baghdad but in the hearts and minds of the entire Earth population. And no amount of doctored polls and political gimmickery will prevent their downfall. Just as when the people under the Soviet regime decided they had enough of their tyrants and knocked down the Berlin Wall, the people of the world will demand and obtain Peace on Earth and fair justice for all.
Mark my words: "Their days are numbered..."
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com
This compilation is archived at http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com/Archives2003/MediaCompilation122.htm
CONTENTS
1. Obviously Oil
2. This Miraculous Time in History!
3. Depleted Uranium (DU) in a possible war
4. Notable quotes on CIA, FBI intelligence
5. Michael Moore Likely to Win Oscar
See also:
"Massive bomb" detonation a ploy to disguise nukes on Iraq? (March 13)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2072.htm
What is effective underground? Well, a neutron-rain from a neutron-bomb is .. and neutron-bombs, basically mini-nukes, were originally designed with parameters allowing their relatively tiny air-burst, of equivalent only between a few and a few dozen tons' of TNT equivalent, to be used in even urban environments, with people only a few miles away remaining unaware that the airblast they heard had sent down a neutron-rain killing everything outdoors, indoors, even underground for considerable depth, just some blocks down the road, while leaving the surface infrastructure of buildings and weaponry intact, as was also one of the clever reasons for their design. ..Then why should there be a pre-announcement, AND a 24-hour news blackout in Kuwait, AND another pre-announcemnt of intent in Afghanistan, AND now, suddenly, an intense propaganda effort to clue us up in advance that the MAOB, the Massive Ordnance Air Burst Weapon, or, unofficially, the Mother Of All Bombs, produces a fireball and a mushroom-cloud almost indistinguishable from that of a small tactical nuclear weapon, and an ineptly overdone cover-story for something officially pre-denied?
This War Violates International Law (March 13)
http://www.counterpunch.org/mahajan03122003.html
The majority of the antiwar movement has made a mistake in emphasizing the unilateral nature of the war on Iraq and the need for United Nations approval, and we may well reap the consequences of that mistake. The argument has made major inroads with the public; polls consistently show that the majority of Americans oppose a unilateral war without international support and the latest poll in Britain shows only 15% of the population supports a war without a second U.N. resolution. It's also an entirely unobjectionable argument in a negative sense - without a Security Council resolution, the war is clearly a violation of international law, as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recently pointed out. It is, however, possible for a war fought with U.N. approval still to be a violation of international law. That is the fundamental question -- not whether our "allies" support us, not whether we can strong-arm and browbeat enough members of the Security Council to acquiesce, but whether or not the war is illegal.
The Dark Secret Of Jewish Power Is Out (March 14)
http://www.rense.com/general35/poawer.htm
A new spectre haunts America. It enters the well-protected boardrooms of newspapers and banks, shakes the deep foundations of its towers. It is the spectre of glasnost: the dark secret of Jewish power is out.
UN Warns of Worldwide Threat from Killer Pneumonia (March 15) !!!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20030315/sc_nm/health_pneumonia_who_dc
Respiratory Illness Afflicts Hundreds Globally
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/15/international/asia/15INFE.html
Global warning over mystery Hong Kong illness (March 13)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/13/1047431144641.html
Disobey - by John Pilger (March 13) A MUST READ!!
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=3232
How have we got to this point, where two western governments take us into an illegal and immoral war against a stricken nation with whom we have no quarrel and who offer us no threat: an act of aggression opposed by almost everybody and whose charade is transparent? How can they attack, in our name, a country already crushed by more than 12 years of an embargo aimed mostly at the civilian population, of whom 42 per cent are children - a medieval siege that has taken the lives of at least half a million children and is described as genocidal by the former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq? How can those claiming to be "liberals" disguise their embarrassment, and shame, while justifying their support for George Bush's proposed launch of 800 missiles in two days as a "liberation"? How can they ignore two United Nations studies which reveal that some 500,000 people will be at risk? Do they not hear their own echo in the words of the American general who said famously of a Vietnamese town he had just levelled: "We had to destroy it in order to save it?" (...) "My guess," wrote Norman Mailer recently, "is that, like it or not, or want it or not, we are going to go to war because that is the only solution Bush and his people can see. The dire prospect that opens, therefore, is that America is going to become a mega-banana republic where the army will have more and more importance in our lives. And, before it is all over, democracy, noble and delicate as it is, may give way... Indeed, democracy is the special condition that we will be called upon to defend in the coming years." CLIP
US preparing to abandon UN and launch war within a week (March 14)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=38692
The United States sent a powerful signal last night that it will soon abandon efforts to win a second United Nations resolution, in effect clearing the decks for military action against Iraq late next week.
Bombs and Blood (March 13 - in The New York Times)
(...) We should outlaw the term collateral damage. Above all else, the damage done by the weapons of war is to the flesh, muscle, bone and psyches of real people, some of them children. If we're willing to inflict such terrible damage, we should acknowledge it and not hide behind euphemisms. (...) The children in Iraq are already in sorrowful shape. The last thing in the world they need is another war. More than half the population of Iraq is under the age of 18, and those youngsters are living in an environment that has been poisoned by the Iran-Iraq war, the first gulf war and long years of debilitating sanctions. One out of every eight Iraqi children dies before the age of 5. One-fourth are born underweight. One-fourth of those who should be in school are not. One-fourth do not have access to safe water. (...) But those who favor war should at least realize that the terrain to be invaded by the most fearsome military machine in history is populated mostly by children who are already suffering. Two-thirds of Iraq's 24 million people are entirely dependent on government food rations, and the remaining 8 million are dependent to some degree. U.N. officials have said plans by the United States to feed the population after the war are inadequate, and food supplies could run out in a matter of weeks. "..if the major power facilities and water treatment plants were knocked out, there would be very significant consequences, and the children would generally be the most vulnerable." CLIP
World Creating Food Bubble Economy Based on Unsustainable Use of Water by Lester R. Brown (March 13)
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update22.htm
(...) As world water demand has tripled over the last half-century, it has exceeded the sustainable yield of aquifers in scores of countries, leading to falling water tables. In effect, governments are satisfying the growing demand for food by overpumping groundwater, a measure that virtually assures a drop in food production when the aquifer is depleted. Knowingly or not, governments are creating a "food bubble" economy. CLIP - FRIGHTENING PROSPECTS! READ THE REST...
"Lights. Camera. Action." Military briefers prepare for war (March 8)
http://armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1647240.php
With 800 journalists in the field, and a dazzling new set at HQ, war will test whether "transformation" in military-media relations is real - CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar - In a warehouse that until a few weeks ago housed American tanks and armored vehicles, which are now in Kuwait preparing for a war against Iraq, a Hollywood set designer is overseeing feverish efforts to complete a $200,000 stage in time for military briefers to deliver news of that war to gathered reporters and a worldwide television audience. The glitzy, high-tech set, half as wide as a basketball court, features a soft focus blue and white map of the world as its backdrop. Hanging from industrial gray steel stanchions and girders will be five 50-inch and two 70-inch plasma video screens.
Pentagon threatens to kill independent reporters in Iraq (March 10)
http://www.GuluFuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm
The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplinkpositions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned."
The Bubble of American Supremacy by George Soros (March 13)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/03/13/200303130033.asp
As American and British troops prepare to invade Iraq, public opinion in these countries does not support war without U.N. authorization. The rest of the world is overwhelmingly opposed to war. Yet Saddam Hussein is regarded as a tyrant who needs to be disarmed, and the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441 which demanded that Saddam destroy his weapons of mass destruction. What caused this disconnect? Iraq is the first instance when the Bush doctrine is being applied, and it is provoking an allergic reaction. The Bush doctrine is built on two pillars: (1) The United States will do everything in its power to maintain its unquestioned military supremacy; and (2) the United States arrogates the right to preemptive action. These pillars support two classes of sovereignty: American sovereignty, which takes precedence over international treaties and obligations, and the sovereignty of all other states. This is reminiscent of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm': All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
The Amazon Under Threat (March 13)
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/03/13/44335.html
According to conservationists, oil & gas mega-projects in the area could destroy world's largest rain forest system in a relatively short period of time The Amazon Basin contains the world's largest tropical rainforest and houses nearly fifty percent of the planet's terrestrial biodiversity. Located in nine countries along South America, this mankind treasure is today at serious risk, as world's energy giants develop simultaneous infrastructure projects that threaten millions of hectares and the isolated indigenous cultures.
Trying to Shout Before it Happens - Warning to Soldiers Ad in Ha'aretz (March 13)
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=2003031307540939
The following is an ad that ran in Israel’s daily Ha’aretz on 11 March, The ad was placed by the Israeli Human Rights Group, Gush Shalom - Soldier - Civilian - IDF Civil Employee - WARNING Powerful factors in Israel may intend to take advantage of the American attack on Iraq in order to transfer parts of the Palestinian population. According to article 4 of the Geneva Convention, the following acts constitute war crimes:
World markets take fright at war talk (March 13)
http://theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/13/1047431123368.html
Essential reading on Persian Gulf War Desert Slaughter: The Imperialist War Against Iraq http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/dese-m13.shtml
Thatcher backed British firm in building "chemical weapons" plant in Iraq
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/chem-m13.shtml
Pat Buchanan has come out against war!
http://www.rense.com/general35/buch.htm
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
http://www.theonion.com/onion3701/bush_nightmare.html
1.
From: http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=15359
Obviously Oil
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
March 11, 2003
Editor's Note: Although Dennis Kucinich was aggressively attacked by Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen for suggesting that the preemptive strike on Iraq was based on oil, the Post refused to print the presidential candidate and Ohio Democrat's response. CLIP
Is President Bush's war in Iraq about oil? Of course it is. Sometimes, the obvious answer is the right one: Oil is a major factor in the President's march to war, just as oil is a major factor in every aspect of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf.
Ask yourself:
What commodity accounts for 83 percent of total exports from the Persian Gulf? What is the U.S. protecting with our permanent deployment of about 25,000 military personnel, 6 fighter squadrons, 6 bomber squadrons, 13 air control and reconnaissance squadrons, one aircraft carrier battle group, and one amphibious ready group based at 11 military installations in the countries of the Persian Gulf? (Note, the disproportionate troop deployments in the Middle East aren't there to protect the people, who constitute only 2 percent of the world population.)
What was Iraq's number one export when the U.S. made an alliance with Saddam Hussein, sold him biological and chemical weapons agents, and then did not object when he gassed his own people?
For what major Iraqi resource has Saddam Hussein denied contracts with the largest U.S. and U.K. multinational companies? (Note, those companies are the #2 (ExxonMobil), #4 (BP-Amoco), #8 (Shell) and #14 (ChevronTexaco) largest companies in the world, and the Bush Administration has been known to listen when large energy corporations speak.)
For what Iraqi resource did French and Russian multinational companies receive lucrative contracts from Saddam Hussein? What valuable commodity does one reprehensible, megalomaniacal tyrant (Saddam Hussein) control that another reprehensible, megalomaniacal tyrant (Kim Chong-il) does not?
How do the White House and State Department plan to pay for a post-Saddam occupation and reconstruction?
The answer to all of these questions is oil, of course. Oil obviously drives U.S. policy in the Middle East. So who can doubt that this war in Iraq concerns oil?
Meanwhile, the justifications the Administration has made for this war can be rather easily dismissed. Contrary to Administration assertions, a war against Iraq will not be in self-defense: Iraq does not pose an imminent threat to the United States. It doesn't have the ability, nor has it ever had the ability, to shoot a missile or send a bomber to harm America. Iraq does not possess nuclear weapons. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence that Iraq had anything to do with the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
No credible link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda has been made. Iraq did not have anything to do with the anthrax-containing letters that killed several Americans.
Contrary to the Administration's portrayal of an Iraqi threat, Iraq is hardly uniquely threatening. Sixteen other countries in the world have or might have nuclear weapons, 25 countries have or might have chemical weapons, 19 other countries have or might have biological weapons, and 16 other countries have or might have missile systems. Yet the Bush Administration is not on the verge of invading them.
Contrary to their denials that this war has anything to do with oil, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle wanted to go to war in Iraq long before they became Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Defense Policy Board. In a 1998 letter they sent to then-President Clinton, they stated "it hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction ... a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will all be put at hazard... The only acceptable strategy is ... to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."
Does President Bush's war in Iraq concern Iraq's oil? Obviously.
Presidential candidate and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is the ranking Democrat on the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations. Visit http://www.kucinich.us
2.
This Miraculous Time in History!
From a friend...
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, now Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. Recently he was in San Francisco to be honored for his service to the world through the U.N. and through his writings and teachings for peace. At age eighty, Dr. Muller surprised, even stunned, many in the audience that day with his most positive assessment of where the world stands now regarding war and peace. I was there at the gathering and I myself was stunned by his remarks. What he said turned my head around and offered me a new way to see what is going on in the world. My synopsis of his remarks is below:
"I'm so honored to be here," he said. "I'm so honored to be alive at such a miraculous time in history. I'm so moved by what's going on in our world today. (I was shocked. I thought -- Where has he been? What has he been reading? Has he seen the newspapers? Is he senile? Has he lost it? What is he talking about?)
Dr. Muller proceeded to say, "Never before in the history of the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war". The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue--listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking-"Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for declaring war?"
All of this, he noted, is taking place in the context of the United Nations Security Council, the body that was established in 1949 for exactly this purpose. He pointed out that it has taken us more than fifty years to realize that function, the real function of the U.N. And at this moment in history-- the United Nations is at the center of the stage. It is the place where these conversations are happening, and it has become in these last months and weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the most powerful container for the world's effort to wage peace rather than war. Dr. Muller was almost in tears in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream.
"We are not at war," he kept saying. We, the world community, are WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let up. It is working and it is an historic milestone of immense proportions. It has never happened before-never in human history-and it is happening now-every day every hour-waging peace through a global conversation. He pointed out that the conversation questioning the validity of going to war has gone on for hours, days, weeks, months and now more than a year, and it may go on and on.
"We're in peacetime," he kept saying. "Yes, troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined up. Yes, the aggressor is angry and upset and spending a billion dollars a day preparing to attack. But not one shot has been fired. Not one life has been lost. There is no war. It's all a conversation."
It is tense, it is tough, it is challenging, AND we are in the most significant and potent global conversation and public dialogue in the history of the world. This has not happened before on this scale ever before-not before WWI or WWII, not before Vietnam or Korea, this is new and it is a stunning new era of Global listening, speaking, and responsibility.
In the process, he pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia and China on the same side of an issue is an unprecedented outcome. France and Germany working together to wake up the world to a new way of seeing the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the history of the world are taking place--and we are not at war! Most peace demonstrations in recent history took place when a war was already waging, sometimes for years, as in the case of Vietnam.
"So this," he said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace " looks like." No matter what happens, history will record that this is a new era, and that the 21st century has been initiated with the world in a global dialogue looking deeply, profoundly and responsibly as a global community at the legitimacy of the actions of a nation that is desperate to go to war.
Through these global peace-waging efforts, the leaders of that nation are being engaged in further dialogue, forcing them to rethink, and allowing all nations to participate in the serious and horrific decision to go to war or not. Dr. Muller also made reference to a recent New York Times article that pointed out that up until now there has been just one superpower-the United States, and that that has created a kind of blindness in the vision of the U.S. But now, Dr. Muller asserts, there are two superpowers: the United States and the merging, surging voice of the people of the world. All around the world, people are waging peace.
To Robert Muller, one of the great advocates of the United Nations, it is nothing short of a miracle and it is working.
3.
From: "Hans Karow" <core@vip.net>
Subject: Depleted Uranium (DU) in a possible war
Date: 13 Mar 2003
In case of war, Depleted Uranium (DU) in "hard target" guided weapons is my biggest concern, not Saddam Hussein!
Every effort should be undertaken to resolve the problem in Iraq in a peaceful way, and that is what the UN is about. President Bush is not the president of the UN, but of the US! If he doesn't like what the UN is doing, he can propose a resolution and in a democratic way the UN members decide about. The mission of the UN is quite clear as everyone should carefully read the UN's Preamble at http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/
I urge your readers to please get informed about the short- and LONG-term hazards of spread DU, see web sites http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/u23.htm#USpatreport from which summary I cite:
"In time of war vital combat and aftermath data that may alter public perception, government decisions or arms procurement is classified, concealed or distorted on the pretext of state security. It is vital to separate facts from propaganda about terrorist threats and Iraqi or allied weapons. Since September 11th US and UK Government agendas have excluded any debate about the weapon systems used by US and allied forces (2). Their potentially devastating effects on the Iraqi population and allied ground forces may far exceed hazards from weapons that Iraq may have developed."
Another good web site is http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
Anyone still supporting Bush's and Blair's war plans in Iraq should first get informed, that includes Bush and Blair. I wonder whether these heads of their country would want to be a grandfather of children, pictured in:
http://www.benjaminforiraq.org/contaminazioneGB.htm (click on pictures to enlarge)
or have a look at:
http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html (pictures at bottom).
Dan Fahey just finished his report:
"Science or Science Fiction? Facts, Myths and Propaganda in the Debate Over Depleted Uranium Weapons."
which is posted at:
http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/pdf/dumyths.pdf
well worth to read!
Thank you for taking this in consideration to now support peace rather than war.
Hans Karow
Canada
4.
Notable quotes on CIA, FBI intelligence
Raymond McGovern, CIA, retired:
"The ethic at CIA reflects the inscription on the entrance wall, which says,"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And we - that is, CIA analyst - took that very seriously. And so, if we do not see evidence of atie between al-Qaeda and Iraq, for example, we will not write that. Intelligence needs to be as pure as a virgin. When intelligence is pimped, as is now being done by the White House and the Defense Department, itloses its virginity. And, as is well known, nothing is quite the same again once you have lost your virginity."
The day after 9/11 Dick Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Rumsfeld were saying, "Now let's go get Iraq. And so the push was on to find evidence that Iraq had some sortof connection with 9/11. And I am very sad to say that our president himself has in a subliminal way always made that connection. And that is why most Americans - pity them - tend to believe that Iraq did have something to do with 9/11, while the intelligence community is convinced it did not.
President Bush has said the Iraqis could produce a nuclear weapon perhaps in another year. Now the formal intelligence estimate on that is that they could not possibly do that until the end of the decade. One wonders where the president gets his information. I really don't fault him as much for being dishonest as for being naive to think that he can go to Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and expect to get a straight answer on such things.
The logical conclusion is that the information has been doctored, that theinformation has been cooked to the recipe of policy and this - for an intelligence outfit - is anathema, beyond the pale. This is something that renders itsuperfluous to even have an intelligence agency."
---
Former CIA Officer David MacMichael:
"I think the administration is indeedpressuring the intelligence system, whether it be the CIA, FBI, or anyone else,to come up with the strongest possible evidence to indicate there is a genuine and immediate threat of attack by chemical, biological, or other weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups - and in particular those associated with al-Qaeda,and to link Iraq to that."
Robert Baer, aformer CIA case officer who spent years working on covert operations in Iraq, is astonished.
Baer: "There is no imminent threat from Iraq, all right?! If he does have missiles, which he probably does, they are buried in the ground, and it is going to take months to dig them up. We've seen no evidence of VX gas, or Bubonic plague, or anthrax, or any of this stuff."
The CIA said, "Listen; we don't have enough information to indict Saddam on terrorism charges. And Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, said, "That's not good enough. Give us the raw data bases and we'll make our own decisions. And they rounded up these people who are non-professionals - a couple of ex-lawyers, consultants, who all rallied around and said, "Well, let's take this, let's take that, let's take this and we can indict."
Former UN Inspector David Albright:
"Often what you see in the Bush administration is that they don't care. I mean, you say, "This isn't true." They say, "Oh, Okay," and then they repeat it again publicly. Or they just say,"Don't form a conclusion. Keep working on it. And so there are several cases where the inspectors are just expectedto keep working on it, and yet they think it's garbage."
---
President Bush has almost reached his goal: war against Saddam Hussein. And the American media are beating the drums. For example, Fox TV, America's most watched news channel and its very popular star-anchor Bill O'Reilly, who stirs up millions ofviewers:
O'Reilly: "When the war begins, this is what we expect from every American: Either you support the military or you shut up. Americans and our foreign allies who come out against us are enemies of the state."
In a letter dated October 7, 2002, CIA Director George Tenet told the US Senate that Iraq was "drawing a line short" of conducting terrorist attacks with either conventional or chemical/biological weapons against the United States." The CIA took the position that the probability was low that Iraq would either initiate an attack with weapons of mass destruction or give them to terrorists.
On the very same day, October 7, President Bush went before the cameras and turned the content of Tenet's letter on its head. Bush claimed, "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group orindividual terrorists."
Read the entire article here:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/article.asp?id=538
5.
Published on March 13, 2003 by the Globe & Mail/Canada
Michael Moore Likely to Win Oscar
by Liam Lacey
If all the scenarios play out as predicted - if the U.S. invades Iraq next week and Michael Moore wins the best documentary category for Bowling for Columbine - the 75th Oscar awards ceremony on March 23 will be a historically controversial event.
Given the intense divisions over the war in the United States, especially in the anti-war Hollywood community, a win by Moore could eclipse such historically political years as 1972 and 1978. In the first case, Marlon Brando sent a model dressed as an Apache woman to reject his best-actor award for The Godfather in a protest on behalf of Native Americans. In 1978, a pro-Palestinian Vanessa Redgrave won best actress for Julia, and referred to "Zionist hoodlums" from the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, while protestors burned her in effigy outside.
Moore's angry documentary condemns American culture as paranoid, gun-crazy at home and militaristic abroad. Put him in front of a worldwide audience of a billion and you can expect a forceful tirade against President George W. Bush and his war plans.
On the surface, Bowling for Columbine's Oscar win seems as much a foregone conclusion as the onset of the bombing of Baghdad. Though Moore was shut out back in 1989 when his hit film Roger and Me was nominated, even his rivals concede that Bowling is a juggernaut.
Since its commercial release last fall, it has become the best-selling non-concert documentary in history, with a global box office of more than $30-million (U.S.). In France, it has won the French Oscar, the César. It finished among the top 10 films of the year in such mainstream publications as Time magazine, USA Today and Entertainment Weekly and, in an arguable case of overkill, was picked as the greatest documentary of all time by the International Documentary Association in a poll of 2,000 documentary filmmakers around the world.
In the closely watched trade awards that lead up to the Oscars, the film has even won an award from the Writers' Guild for best original screenplay, unprecedented for a documentary.
One more safe prediction is that if Moore wins, he'll make a point of saying, as he has said all along, that the film would not have been made except for the conviction of a relatively small Nova Scotia production company, Salter Street Films. Bowling for Columbine portrays Canadian society as a more peaceful alternative to American domestic violence. As well, Canadians have accounted for 25 per cent of the North American viewing audience for Bowling for Columbine.
CLIP
Though Hollywood media have been abuzz with rumors of a McCarthy-ite witch hunt with the new security measures in the U.S., a win for Bowling for Columbine would send a bold message to Washington, that Hollywood is not toeing the line this time.
