Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 20th, 2024
As dates of infamy go, March 20th is right up there. It was on this very day, twenty-one years ago, George W. Bush marched American troops into Iraq preceding the heinous "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad. Now, even the lying media majors whose mendacity then allowed the catastrophe inflicted by Bush's "coalition of the willing" happen, concede the attack and all that followed was based on lies - "a pack of lies" as George Galloway would thunder at US senators two years later.
So why did Bush do it, if not to neutralize Saddam Hussein's non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction? Perhaps the intense lobbying by Israel for the war, and ascendancy of the Neo-Con claque within the Bush White House can explain it? Two things certain, however are; those manufacturing the lies in Washington profited their infamy handsomely, and today are free to enjoy the fruits of their complicity in the murder of unknown numbers of Iraqis. And, that impunity not only made the ongoing Gaza genocide possible, but guarantees a future of unending atrocity.
Ken Stone is an activist and author working for peace with the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. His book, ‘Defiant Syria: Dispatches from the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria’ is a compilation of his dispatches from his 2016 visit. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition have been in the fore of Canadian resistance to militarism for years, and that activity has increased since October of last year.
Ken Stone and Gaza foremost in the first half.
And; none were surprised Vladimir Putin won an overwhelming mandate to continue in the office of the President in Russia over the weekend, but to hear the Anglo-American media reports, that entirely predictable event is merely a "claim" being made by the Kremlin. Just how are we in the West to go on in the World with our faculties clouded with such nonsense? And, every day it gets worse with ever more draconian message-management measures being devised to reach right into social media.
John Helmer is an antidote to the poisoned press, on Russia especially. John's a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from there, and persists as the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. John has too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism, and has served as advisor to governments at the highest levels.
Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’, ‘SOVCOMPLOT: How Pirates Tried to Capture the Treasure of the Russian Seas, and Were Caught Out’, and his lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’. His latest article at Dances with Bears, 'WHEN IT COMES TO FIGHTING RUSSIAN DIAMONDS, THE JEWISH DIAMOND TRADE AND DE BEERS ARE A BUSTED FLUSH' looks at the cascading negative effects for Israel of its barbarous Gaza campaign.
John Helmer in the second half.
But first, Ken Stone and fighting for peace in the Middle East from Canada.
Song: Song for the Houthi Army
Artist: David Rovics
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, John Helmer March 20, 2024