Cheney Marks Tenth Anniversary of Pretending There Was Reason to Invade Iraq

March 19, 2013

by Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker and Funny Times

HOUSTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a sombre ceremony attended by former members of the Bush Administration, the former Vice-President Dick Cheney marked the tenth anniversary of making up a reason to invade Iraq.

The ceremony, held on the grounds of the Halliburton Company headquarters, brought together the former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and other key members of the lying effort.

Calling the assembled officials “profiles in fabrication,” Mr. Cheney praised them for their decade of dedication to a totally fictitious rationale.

“Making up a reason to invade a country is the easy part,” Mr. Cheney told them. “Sticking to a pretend story for ten years—that is the stuff of valor.”

Mr. Cheney added that their “steadfast charade had raised the bar for all future Administrations.”

“When it is time to invade Iran or Venezuela, will the President have the will to make up an entirely fake reason to do it?” he asked. “That remains to be seen.”

The ceremony ended on an emotional note, as Mr. Cheney placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown W.M.D.

Former President George W. Bush, who was said to be otherwise engaged, was represented at the event by a nude self-portrait.

As Hugo Chavez builds relations with Colombian President Santos, FARC is expendable

Comandante Julián Conrado of FARC, captured in Venezuela

Colombia expects Venezuela to deliver FARC member

8/2/11–Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera asked the Venezuelan government to “exhaust all internal protocols” to make effective the delivery of Julián Cornado, a.k.a. Guillermo Torres

Colombia expects Venezuela to exhaust “all internal protocols” and deliver Julián Cornado, a.k.a. Guillermo Torres, an alleged member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera reported in Bogotá.

Rivera added that Torres was captured in Venezuela in a joint effort.

The rebel chief, also known as “the FARC singer” after his love for music, was captured last May 31 in western Barinas state, under an application filed by Colombia at the Interpol.

Rivera told reporters that Torres “was captured in Venezuelan territory by Venezuelan authorities, as a result of the cooperation with Colombia in the field of intelligence.”

Venezuela union leader Ruben Gonzalez jailed for strike

BBC News, 28 February 2011 //

A prominent trade union leader in Venezuela has been jailed for seven years over a strike in 2009 at the state iron ore mining company.

Ruben Gonzalez was convicted of crimes including unlawful assembly, incitement, and violating a government security zone.

Mr Gonzalez, a former supporter of President Hugo Chavez, has accused the government of criminalising protest in Venezuela.

His lawyers say they will appeal.

Workers gathered outside the court to support his case reacted with shock to the verdict.

The strike over unpaid wages in August 2009 paralysed operations at the state iron ore company Ferrominera Orinoco for two weeks.

There were also protests outside the state iron foundry in Ciudad Guyana.

Opposition parties and some human rights groups have accused President Chavez of denying workers in state-owned industries the right to strike.

A Latin American revolutionary challenge to support the Libyan revolution against Gaddafi

http://machetera.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/from-latin-america-to-the-arab-world/

From Latin America to the Arab World – What’s going on in Libya?

Santiago Alba Rico and Alma Allende – español
February 26m 2011
Translation: Machetera

We have the impression that a great worldwide liberation process may be aborted by the unappeasable ferocity of Gaddafi, U.S. interventionism, and a lack of foresight in Latin America.

We might describe the situation like this: in a part of the world linked once again to strong internal solidarities and from which only lethargy or fanaticism was expected, a wave of popular uprisings have arisen which have threatened to topple the allies of Western powers in the region, one after the other.  Independent of local differences, these uprisings have something in common that radically distinguishes them from the orange and rose colored “revolutions” promoted by capitalism in the former Soviet bloc: they demand democracy, certainly, but far from being fascinated by Europe and the United States, they are the holders of a long, entrenched, radical anti-imperialist tradition forged around Palestine and Iraq.  There’s not even a hint of socialism in the popular Arab uprisings, but neither is there one of Islamism, nor – most importantly – of Euro-centric seduction: it is simultaneously a matter of economic upheaval and democratic, nationalistic and anti-colonial revolution, something that, forty years after their defeat, suddenly opens an unexpected opportunity for the region’s socialist and pan-Arabist left.

Reports that Hugo Chavez tempers his support for Gaddafi

Venezuela’s Chavez gives lukewarm backing to Gaddafi

By Stabroek staff
World News | Sunday, February 27, 2011

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said he supports the government of fellow OPEC member Libya but shied away from defending his friend Muammar Gaddafi, whose troops diplomats and Libyans say have shot protesters.

Chavez said he had not been able to talk with Gaddafi and could only rely on media reports he suspected of being biased for information about events in the North African country.

“I can’t say that I support, or am in favour, or applaud all the decisions taken by any friend of mine in any part of the world, no, one is at a distance. But we do support the government of Libya,” Chavez said late on Friday during a cabinet meeting.

Hugo Chávez declares his support for Muammar Gaddafi

[On Thursday, February 24, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez declared his support for his fellow petrodollar populist and social democratic nationalist, Muammar Gaddafi.  With this declaration, a controversy and debate among supporters of Venezuela and more broadly among “Third World Marxists” has opened up.  And Chavez’ encouragement and support for Gaddafi has undoubtedly prolonged and intensified the attacks on Libya’s rebellious and revolutionary people.

Revolutionary and anti-imperialist people everywhere are challenged by these events, and are struggling to understand how the people’s movement for national independence a half-century ago became dominated and controlled by such a powerful bourgeois figure as Gaddafi, who in the last decade has proven to be an imperialist tool and an enemy of the people.

Victory to the people of Libya!  Down with Gaddafi!  Imperialism–Keep your hands off Libya! — Frontlines ed.]

Gaddafi and Chavez, not so long ago. (file photo)

February 25, 2011.- On Thursday, Venezuela president Hugo Chavez declared his support for the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, to what he called “the independence of Libya.”

The Venezuelan government has accused the U.S. and its allies to organize a “military intervention” in Libya.

Venezuela Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolas Maduro said that “conditions were created to justify an invasion and accused the West of wanting to take control of Libyan oil.”

Similar attitude had the government of Cuba, “The U.S. is behind the unrest.”

Momento 24