* at the ceremonial groundbreaking of the U.S. Institute of Peace - pics

[Kadie]

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (L) shake hands during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the U.S. Institute of Peace on Navy Hill in Washington June 5, 2008.
REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)


President Bush speaks at a ceremonial groundbreaking of the United States Institute of Peace at Navy Hill, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Washington. At left is former Secretary of State George Shultz.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)


President Bush, former Secretary of State George Shultz, center, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., take part in a ceremonial groundbreaking of the United States Institute of Peace at Navy Hill, Thursday, June 5, 2008, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)


U.S. President George W. Bush sweats in the heat during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the U.S. Institute of Peace on Navy Hill in Washington, June 5, 2008.
REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)

[Hydra]

1. Institute of Peace?

Isn't that a little too close to "The Ministry of Peace"?

Man, why did Orwell have to be right?

[arcadian]

4. I'm going to be sick. Institute of Peace really does promote war.

Sec of State, George Schultz, the man the building is named after is a proponent of a preemptive nuclear strike on Iran.

[gasperc]

2. wait, that's earmark money

where are the pics of Bush putting the dirt back?

[arcadian]

3. Schultz? Why did they dig up that old fossil?

Oh shit, the building is named after him. Who is willing to bet Bechtel got the contract to build the new building? With Pelosi there, it's almost a certainty.

http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/07.04.07/byrne-0727.html

Peace Spooks

By Peter Byrne

Last week, I was talking by cell phone to Leslie Angeline, a Santa Rosa resident who was on the ninth day of a hunger strike in Washington, D.C. She refused food until Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut met with her about his call to bomb Iran. (She has since been hospitalized without meeting Lieberman.) Angeline is supported by Codepink, a women's peace group. I asked her if she knew of the United States Institute of Peace, a quasi-governmental agency created by Congress in 1984 to pursue nonviolent alternatives to war. She did not, but said it was worth looking into, on the off-chance that the U. S. cares about peace.

It turns out that the "peace" institute is a congressionally funded think tank staffed by neoconservative "thinkers" who supported the seizure of Iraq's oil fields and are now swiveling their sights toward Iran. Under the guise of promoting peace, the institute facilitates war and occupation on an operating budget of $23 million.

The chairman of the board of directors is J. Robinson West, who is also the chairman of PFC Energy, based in Washington, D.C. According to its website, "PFC Energy has been a trusted advisor to energy companies and governments across the globe 1984." In other words, it lobbies politicians on behalf of Big Energy.

Check it out: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sits on the board of the "nonpartisan" Institute for Peace; he headed the CIA under G. H. W. Bush. Another board member, Charles Horner, hails from the ultramilitarist Hudson Institute. Former Chevron board member Condoleezza Rice administers the institute's endowment fund. The institute is a nonprofit corporation, which allows it to solicit donations. Chevron Corp. gave $10 million toward a $100 million building to be constructed on the Mall. The Annenberg Foundation donated $1 million. War contractor (and Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband) Richard C. Blum gave $100,000.

The building will be named after George P. Schultz, who is a board member of Bechtel, a major defense contractor. Schultz, a Cold Warrior, advised Bush-Cheney to advance the doctrine of preventative (first strike) nuclear warfare. The public education center at the George P. Schultz Great Hall will be named the Chevron Theater--which is, after all, what the peace institute is: theater.

[Indenturedebtor]

5. 1984 was NOT an instruction manual dammit!

What in the hell is happening here? What the fuck :hide:

[earthboundmisfit]

6. United States Institute of Peace, a quasi-governmental agency created by Congress in ->1984

Something sickeningly telling about the year it was created - someone's idea of a (sick) joke, perhaps?

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Was it really?

Starting to wonder if Orwell had a time machine in his basement or something..... freaky.

[lonestarnot]

9. That is creepy!

:wow:

[Solly Mack]

8. U.S. Institute of Peace ????? Seriously? No, really - seriously?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL