Saturday, March 08, 2003

WAR ON IRAK

Spiegel: Al-Baradei bezeichnet US-Beweise als Fälschungen

Peinliche Schlappe für US-Außenminister Colin Powell im UN-Sicherheitsrat: Einige der von den USA vorgelegten Beweise für die Bemühungen der Iraker, Massenvernichtungswaffen herzustellen, fußen nach Feststellung der UN-Chefinspekteure Hans Blix und Mohamed al-Baradei auf Fälschungen.


New York - Al-Baradei bezog sich auf Unterlagen, die nach Darstellung der USA den Versuch irakischer Agenten beweisen, vor zwei Jahren in Niger Uran zu kaufen. Die Überprüfung der Angaben hätte keinen Hinweis für wieder aufgenommene atomare Aktivitäten ergeben.
Nach Außen hin lässt sich Powell von dem Rüffel nicht irritieren. Dem US-Fernsehsender ABC sagte er, er sei nach wie vor von der Stichhaltigkeit des US-Dossiers zum Irak überzeugt. "Ich habe bessere Informationen als die Inspektoren - und ich denke auch, ich habe mehr Mittel zur Verfügung als sie."

Damit steht Powell allerdings im Widerspruch zum Chef des US-Geheimdienstes CIA George Tenet, der erklärt hatte, dass alle wichtigen Informationen an die UN-Inspektoren weitergegeben worden seien.


Friday, March 07, 2003

ISRAEL

Guardian: Neglect of the Palestinian plight is risky and wrong

So anxious are we about the coming war in the Middle East that we sometimes overlook the one that is already going on. It takes an unusually bloody round of killing by Israelis and Palestinians like the one this week to remind outsiders that they are still at each other's throats. Yet the hostilities between the two peoples are clearly as great a source of instability, violence, and terror as anything for which Saddam Hussein is at this moment responsible. Clearly. And yet that is not clear to the Israeli government, nor to the Bush administration in Washington, welded as it is to Ariel Sharon and his purposes. Their blindness is familiar enough, but familiarity does not mean that it is any the less dangerous.
The worst prospect of all is that a project to permanently suppress the Palestinian people could become part of a supposed new order in the region after an an American victory over Saddam. It is not that the evidence for such an outcome is conclusive. It is not. But the mere fact that the question is at all open is in itself outrageous. That the Palestinian cause is being neglected, or shuffled off till a more "convenient" time is deeply unfair and wrong, as well as enormously risky at a time when the US and Britain are contemplating the invasion and occupation of an Arab country. Those risks are obvious everywhere in the region. Even in Iraq itself, however grateful people might immediately be for liberation from Saddam, can it be imagined that they would for long tolerate without protest an intimate connection with a US involved in cheating the Palestinians? Let alone the kind of close relationship with Israel that some in Washington seem to envisage for a new Iraq? The resentment some may feel at the way the Palestinian cause has obscured the plight of the Iraqis and at Yasser Arafat's past associations with Saddam will be a passing thing. The democracy the US wishes to help establish in Iraq would surely make the early expression of pro-Palestinian feelings more rather than less likely.

ZÜRICH

Stadtpolizei: Medienmitteilung vom 06:03:2003 10:19


Sprayer überführt
Zwei jungen Männern wurden dreizehn Sprayereien nachgewiesen, bei welchen ein Sachschaden von rund 30'000 Franken entstanden ist.
Mitte Januar 2003 erfuhr der Graffitisachbearbeiter der Stadtpolizei Zürich durch die Aargauer Kollegen von zwei jungen Männern, welche im Zuge polizeilicher Befragungen Sprayereien in Zürich zugegeben hatten. Dem Zürcher Sachbearbeiter wurde auch mitgeteilt, welche typischen Schriftzüge, sogenannte Tags, die beiden Sprayer verwendet hätten. Bei der Stadtpolizei Zürich lagen zu jenem Zeitpunkt Anzeigen über insgesamt dreizehn Fälle vor, bei welchen die erwähnten Tags auf Gebäudemauern, an Tramwagen oder an anderen öffentlichen Einrichtungen aufgesprüht worden waren. Die beiden Verdächtigen, zwei Schweizer im Alter von 22 und 23 Jahren mit Wohnsitz in der Stadt bzw. Agglomeration Zürich, wurden daraufhin vom Sachbearbeiter der Stadtpolizei Zürich vorgeladen und einvernommen. Dabei erklärten sie, die meisten Tags in Teamarbeit angefertigt zu haben. Während einer von ihnen das Graffiti grob aufgezeichnet hätte, habe der andere dann mit dem Ausschmücken begonnen. Manchmal habe man aber auch nur unverzierte Buchstaben eilig aufgemalt oder gesprayt. Die Malutensilien hätte man praktisch immer mit sich herumgetragen und meist ziemlich spontan gehandelt. Die dreizehn Sprayereien, welche den beiden Angeschuldigten zur Last gelegt werden, sind zwischen Juli und Dezember 2002 in verschiedenen Zürcher Stadtkreisen sowie in einem Fall in Bülach entstanden. Die polizeilichen Ermittlungen zeigten auf, dass sich die beiden Angeschuldigten über das Ausmass des angerichteten Schadens in der Höhe von rund 30'000 Franken kaum bewusst waren. Da Sprayereien strafrechtlich gesehen den Tatbestand der Sachbeschädigung erfüllen, werden sich die beiden jungen Männer bei der Bezirksanwaltschaft wegen ihrem Tun verantworten müssen.




Stadtpolizei Zürich
Presse / Information
Nicole Fix


"no tagging please"
ZÜRICH

Tagesanzeiger: SPRAYER VERHAFTET

Die Stadtpolizei hat zwei Schweizer im Alter von 22 und 23 Jahren 13 Sprayereien nachgewiesen. Die beiden Männer sprayten zwischen Juli und Dezember 2002
in Zürich und in einem Fall in Bülach tagsüber auf Gebäudemauern, Trams oder andere öffentliche Einrichtungen. Der Sachschaden beläuft sich laut Stadtpolizei auf 30000 Franken
BIN LADEN ARRESTED?

Paknews: U.S President May Announce Capture of Osama Bin Laden

SAN FRANCISCO: March 6, 2003: American President Bush called Pakistan President Musharraf to thank for Pakistani role in tracing and capturing a key Al-Qaida operative last week. It is being reported by BBC that today American President will announce capture of Osama bin Laden although being denied by the White House, seat of American Presidency.


It is being said that information given under interrogation by the captured operative of Al-Qaida led to this capture of Osama bin Laden. Americans have accused Laden of heading and directing his Al-Qaida in launching worst terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001

Spiegel: US-Ermittler wollen Bin Laden in Pakistan eingekreist haben


Es wird offenbar eng für Osama Bin Laden: US-Ermittler wollen den Terror-Fürsten Fernsehberichten zufolge im Nordwesten Pakistans aufgespürt haben. Das Suchgebiet beschränke sich auf wenige Provinzen.

Balochistan Post:_ Is Osama arrested? US forces conducting operation in Balochistan
A major operation was reported to have been conducted in Noshki near Chaghai in Balochistan on Thursday to apprehend the top al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden reportedly hiding there. According to Online News Agency nine alleged al-Qaeda suspects were reported to have been arrested in the raid. But there was no confirmation of this from any source.

Pakistan’s senior officials including ministers and presidential spokesman expressed their ignorance about the mission. Perhaps they were not told about the US forces raid in Pakistan’s territory near the border, as usual.

The agency quoted some officials as claiming that among the captured could be Osama bin Laden or his son. According to sources two US helicopters carrying American commandos landed near Noshki on Wednesday. They also said that a large number of Western correspondents rushed to the site. Reports said that Pakistani troops were also there and the whole day on Thursday a significant troops movement was seen in the area.




Thursday, March 06, 2003

WAR ON IRAK/PROPAGANDA

Spiegel: Die manipulierten Wahrheiten der Bush-Krieger

Seit Wochen versucht die US-Regierung, mit ihrem Geheimdienstmaterial einen Krieg gegen den Irak zu begründen. Demnach soll Saddam chemische Waffen haben und auch mit al-Qaida kooperieren. Doch die Informationen der CIA wurden von den Kriegsbefürwortern kräftig interpretiert und verbogen.

Naturgemäß fällt es jedem Nicht-Geheimdienstler schwer, die von Politikern ins Spiel gebrachten Informationen der Dienste zu verifizieren oder zu widerlegen. Nun aber gelang es Reportern des NDR-Magazins "Panorama", einige krasse Fehlinterpretationen der Bush-Regierung zu belegen, die angeblich auf CIA-Quellen fußten. Demnach war es die Bush-Regierung, die offenbar bewusst Material von der CIA anders auslegte, um sie als Argument für einen Militärschlag zu benutzen. In dem Beitrag, der am Donnerstag um 21.45 Uhr in der ARD läuft, kommt der ehemalige CIA-Mann Ray McGovern deshalb zu einer vernichtenden Bilanz dieser Interpretation. "Die Information wurde frisiert und nach dem Rezept der Politik zurecht gekocht", sagte er den NDR-Reportern.
In dem erwähnten Fall lässt sich die Missinterpretation sogar schriftlich belegen. Dem NDR liegt eine Erklärung des CIA-Direktors George Tennet vom 7. Oktober 2002 vor, die er an den Vorsitzenden des US-Geheimdienstausschusses sandte. Darin zitiert der Herr der US-Spione wörtlich aus einem Briefing für den Ausschuss am 2. Oktober 2002, in dem ein Senator nach dem Risiko eines Angriffs mit Massenvernichtungswaffen von Saddam auf die USA fragt. Der von der CIA anwesende Beamte beantwortet die Frage recht deutlich. "Nach meinem Urteil ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines initiierten Angriffs ... in der voraussehbaren Zukunft ... eher gering."

Gleiche Frage, unterschiedliche Antwort

Nur fünf Tage später wird US-Präsident George W. Bush die gleiche Frage in einer CBS-Sendung gestellt. Seine Antwort: "Das Risiko, dass er sie benutzt, ist schlicht zu groß." Ähnlich different zu seinen eigenen Spitzeln stellt Bush in einer Rede am 7. Oktober auch die Gefahr dar, dass Saddam seine angeblichen Massenvernichtungswaffen an Terror-Organisationen weiter geben könne. Wörtlich sagte er am 7. Oktober 2002 "Der Irak könnte sich jederzeit entscheiden, chemische oder biologische Waffen an Terror-Gruppen oder einzelne Terroristen weiter zu geben."

Bushs CIA-Chef Tennet beschrieb diese Gefahr in seinem geheimen Statement ganz anders. Wörtlich schrieb er: "Bagdad scheint sich bisher klar von terroristischen Anschlägen gegen die USA abzugrenzen." Wenig später analysiert der CIA-Chef, dass eine solche Aktion nur als "letzter Schritt" Saddams denkbar wäre, "um möglichst viele Opfer mit in den Tod zu reißen." .........


WAR ON IRAK/BUSH SPEECH

Spiegel: "Wir brauchen keine Erlaubnis"

Wenn wir handeln müssen, werden wir handeln", betonte Bush. "Wenn es um unsere Sicherheit geht, brauchen wir von niemandem eine Erlaubnis."

Der Irak stelle eine direkte Bedrohung der USA dar, sagte Bush. Das Land verfüge über Massenvernichtungswaffen und beherberge Terroristen

KRIEG IST FRIEDE, ANGRIFF-VERTEIDIGUNG..Man könnte meinen Irak habe an der Amerikanischen Grenze Hundertausende Soldaten stehen

WAR ON IRAK/PROPAGANDA

Scoop: Lying Us Into War: Exposing Bush and His "Techniques of Deceit"

President George W. Bush and his foreign-policy team have systematically and knowingly deceived the American people in order to gain support for an unprovoked attack on Iraq.

Before I catalog the Bush administration’s “Techniques of Deceit,” let me acknowledge that no U.N. resolution requires the president to be honest with the American people. The fine print of Resolution 1441 imposes no obligation to treat Americans as citizens to be informed rather than suckers to be conned. He may mislead, distort, suppress, exaggerate and lie to his heart’s content without violating a single sentence in 1441.

So if compliance with 1441 is all that matters to you, read no further. Turn on the TV and tune in Brokaw, Rather, Jennings, Blitzer or Lehrer, to name five of the journalistic imposters who control what you hear and see, who seem psychologically incapable of conceiving of Bush as a liar, and who wouldn’t have the guts to call him one even if they reached that conclusion.

But if you are an American citizen who believes in the bedrock democratic principle of “the informed consent of the governed,” read on.


***********
Why lie?

The president and many of his top advisers have wanted to invade and overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein for a long time. But they knew they couldn’t sell such a war against Iraq to a majority of Americans and a majority in both houses of Congress if they acknowledged just how pitifully weak and unthreatening Iraq really is. If, however, the administration could portray Iraq as an imminent, mortal threat to the United States — and even a shadowy accomplice in the terrorist attacks of 9-11 — then a majority of the population might come to see an invasion of Iraq not as unprovoked U.S. aggression but as a wholly justified response to what Iraq did to us.

That is precisely what the administration has done. In an October poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, “66 percent believed [Saddam] was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.” Yes, two-thirds of Americans had come to believe a horrible thing about Saddam that the Bush administration knew for a fact was false, even as it encouraged its lesser spokespeople to continue to promote the connection. According to a Knight-Ridder poll conducted in January ( http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/4911975.htm), 41 percent of us believe Iraq has a nuclear weapon RIGHT NOW and another 35 percent are unsure or refused to answer the question. Only 24 percent know what Bush knows for an absolute fact: Iraq has no nukes. And even many in that 24 percent might not realize that Iraq would still be several years away from developing a nuke even if we did the unthinkable and allowed them to import the vast array of high-tech equipment needed just to get started.

How do people get such ridiculous thoughts in their head? A dishonest administration plants them there with a steady drumbeat of exaggerations, distortions and lies. In a process I call “lie and rely” ( http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0301/S00062.htm), the administration relies on a cowed and craven news media to present their lies to the American people as fact — or at a minimum, as still-to-be-confirmed assertions by respected officials with a reputation for truth-telling. A handful of print reporters occasionally exposing the most egregious lies can’t begin to overcome the effect of the steady drumbeat of lies reported as truth day after day on television.

If we factored out of the opinion polls all the people who have internalized White House disinformation as fact, support for the president’s position would plummet. Without the support of these misled millions, Bush wouldn’t have been able to ramrod through Congress a blank-check declaration. He wouldn’t have had that blank check to use as a bludgeon against the U.N., and the U.S. wouldn’t be on the verge of committing an act of unprovoked aggression.

CHECK IT

POLICE STATE EUROPE

New York Times: Europe Hacker Laws Could Make Protest a Crime


BRUSSELS, March 4 — The justice ministers of the European Union have agreed on laws intended to deter computer hacking and the spreading of computer viruses. But legal experts say the new measures could pose problems because the language could also outlaw people who organize protests online, as happened recently, en masse, with protests against a war in Iraq.

The agreement, reached last week, obliges all 15 member states to adopt a new criminal offense: illegal access to, and illegal interference with an information system. It calls on national courts to impose jail terms of at least two years in serious cases.

Critics from the legal profession say the agreement makes no legal distinction between an online protester and terrorists, hackers and spreaders of computer viruses that the new laws are intended to trap.


WAR ON IRAK

L.A Times Op/Ed: Wages of Empire by Pat Buchanan

To the acolytes of American empire, the invasion of Iraq is but Act I in the exhilarating unfolding drama of the 21st century. All the "Islamo-fascist" regimes of the Middle East and northern Africa -- Iran, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya -- are to follow Saddam Hussein's onto the landfill of history. As democracy was imposed on Japan by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, so shall it be imposed upon them all.

That is the vision of the neoconservatives to whom George W. Bush incarnates their Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Winston Churchill. Yet, their disillusionment is certain, for they misread the man and the times

Even if Iraqis initially welcome U.S. soldiers as liberators, within months there will be Islamic bombers willing to die to drive us out, as they drove the French out of Algeria, the Israelis out of Lebanon, the Marines out of Beirut. While the Arab and Islamic worlds did not succeed in many endeavors in the 20th century, they did excel in terrorizing and expelling all the old imperial powers. Our turn is next.

No, empire is not our future, or our fate. The braying Beltway interventionists are only advancing the day when this generation too will rid itself of empire and America returns to the foreign policy written in its history and heart: the friend to freedom everywhere but the vindicator only of our own.

That way lies long life for the republic. To hell with empire.

WAR ON TERROR

Cato Institute: Why Hussein Will Not Give Weapons of Mass Destruction to Al Qaeda

Of all the reasons the administration has offered for war with Iraq, keeping chemical and biological weapons out of the hands of Al Qaeda resonates most strongly with the American people. President Bush used that frightening prospect to dramatic effect in his State of the Union speech: "Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."

But the administration's strongest sound-bite on Iraq is also its weakest argument for war. The idea that Saddam Hussein would trust Al Qaeda enough to give Al Qaeda operatives chemical or biological weapons -- and trust them to keep quiet about it -- is simply not plausible.

WAR ON IRAK

The Star/AP: Iraq doing 'real disarmament,' Blix says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The chief UN weapons inspector said today that
Iraq
was providing "a great deal more of co-operation now" with inspectors
under
threat of U.S. military action and he hoped it was not too late to
avoid
war.


WAR ON IRAK

Guardian: Voice of the dark corners by Fidel Castro

These are hard times we are living in. In recent months, we have more than once heard chilling words and statements. In his speech to West Point graduating cadets on June 1 2002, the United States president declared: "Our security will require transforming the military you will lead, a military that must be ready to strike at a moment's notice in any dark corner of the world."
That same day, he proclaimed the doctrine of the pre-emptive strike, something no one had ever done in the political history of the world. A few months later, referring to the unnecessary and almost certain military action against Iraq, he said: "And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States army."

That is what we are: dark corners of the world. That is the perception some have of the third world nations. Never before had anyone offered a better definition; no one had shown such contempt. The former colonies of powers that divided the world among them and plundered it for centuries today make up the group of underdeveloped countries.

Authority is being wrenched away from the United Nations, its established procedures are being obstructed and the organisation itself destroyed; development assistance is being reduced; there are continuous demands on the third world countries to pay a $2.5 trillion debt that cannot be paid under the present circumstances, while $1 trillion dollars are spent in ever more sophisticated and deadly weapons. Why and for what?

A similar amount is spent on commercial advertising, sowing consumerist longings that cannot be satisfied in the minds of billions of people. Why and for what? For the first time the human species is running a real risk of extinction due to the insane behaviour of the very same human beings, who are thus becoming the victims of this "civilisation".

However, no one will fight for us, that is, for the overwhelming majority, only we will do it. Only we can save humanity ourselves with the support of millions of manual and intellectual workers from the developed nations who are conscious of the catastrophes befalling their peoples. Only we can do it by sowing ideas, building awareness and mobilising global and North American public opinion. No one needs to be told this. You know it very well. Our most sacred duty is to fight, and fight we will.

Hasta la victoria per se





BOYCOTT DELTA

Heise: Delta der Schnüffler

Aufruf zum Boykott einer US-amerikanischen Fluggesellschaft

Bill Scannell, der auch den den Adobe Boykott losgetreten hat, nachdem das Software-Unternehmen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem FBI dafür gesorgt hatte, dass der Hacker Dimitri Sklyarow wegen Verletzung des Digital Millennium Copyright Act verhaftet wurde (vgl Adobe lässt sich erweichen), hat am Montag die Webseite boycottdelta.org ins Netz gestellt, welche zum Boykott der US-amerikanischen Fluggesellschaft Delta aufruft.

check: Boycott Delta
ISRAEL

Heise: Abenteuerreisen II: Terror-Safari in der Westbank

Siedler in Gush Etzion bieten ein besonderes Reisepaket für Touristen - virtuelle Terrorattacken inbegriffen

Wer unter den investigativen Orienttouristen fürchtet, dass die Kugeln, die einem auf der Pauschaltour nach Bagdad oder Kabul (vgl. Orient-Express für alle) womöglich um die Ohren pfeifen, zu echt sein könnten, für den mag ein Angebot der israelischen Siedler in Gush Etzion überzeugender sein; fünf Tage lang kann man sich dort für 5.500 Dollar vorführen lassen, wie sich Siedler auf eine Terrorattacke vorbereiten: Ausbildung an Feuerwaffen, Instruktionen von Reserveoffizieren der IDF, Hubschrauberflüge über die besetzten Gebiete und als Höhepunkt der inszenierte Angriff von Terroristen auf die Siedlung
WAR ON TERROR/PROPAGANDA

Heise: Rätsel um Scheich Mohammed

Tot, lebendig, frei oder in Gefangenschaft - Verschwörungstheorien und Gerüchte machen die Runde

Es macht immer einen Unterschied, ob man jemanden eine Information sagen lässt oder ob man sie ohne Quellenangabe zum Faktum erklärt. Im Hinblick auf die berichtete Verhaftung des mutmaßlichen Chefplaners des 11. September 2001, Khalid Scheich Mohammed, haben Journalisten sich überwiegend für letzteres entschieden. Der Effekt: Zeitungsberichte widersprechen sich teils gegenseitig. Von der gebotenen Vorsicht, die die strittige Ausgangslage gebietet, ist in der Berichterstattung kaum etwas zu spüren. Berichte, Scheich Mohammed sei schon früher verhaftet worden oder gar tot, spielen keine Rolle im aktuellen Nachrichtengeschäft. Die Person Khalid Scheich Mohammed droht nun im gleichen schwarzen Loch zu verschwinden, das bereits Ramzi bin al-Shibh, den mutmaßlichen 9/11-Hintermann, geschluckt hat. (vgl. Wie ein schlechter Krimi

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WORLD WIDE PROTESTS

Heise: Weltweite Netzdemo der Bilder gegen Krieg und Zensur

Bilderstreit statt Political Correctness

Während die Medien dem Verhandlungs-Schauspiel zwischen Bagdad, UN-Sicherheitsrat in New York und dem Weißen Haus in Washington immer neue wahnwitzige Nuancen abgewinnen, bilden sich verschiedenste Protestformen auch im Internet gegen den absehbaren Kriegskurs der USA und ihrer Verbündeten aus.

check: http://www.imagesagainstwar.com/
WAR ON IRAK

Spiegel: Uno will im Nachkriegs-Irak mitmischen

Noch ist kein Krieg im Irak, aber Vorschläge für ein Nachkriegs-Irak gibt es längst. In die Diskussion um eine mögliche US-Militärregierung nach dem Sturz Saddam Husseins soll sich jetzt die Uno mit einem eigenen Plan eingeschaltet haben. Sie möchte das Land nach dem Vorbild Afghanistans bei der Bildung einer neuen Regierung unterstützen, heißt es in einem Zeitungsbericht.

"Nach dem Vorbild Afghanistans...Aha..das ist doch dort wo nach wie vor Kriminelle Banden an der Macht sind, Mädchen noch immer nicht zur Schule dürfen und auch sonst nichts so ist wie man das vor dem Krieg in der Fernsehpropaganda verbreitet hat..super idee UNO"
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Spiegel: Israelis töten mindestens 13 Palästinenser
Israel übt massive Vergeltung für den jüngsten Bombenanschlag in Haifa: Bei einem Militärangriff auf das Flüchtlingslager Dschabalija wurden nach Angaben palästinensischer Krankenhäuser mindestens 13 Palästinenser getötet und mehr als 100 verletzt.

Am frühen Donnerstagmorgen feuerten israelische Hubschrauber drei Raketen auf ein Ziel in dem Flüchtlingslager nahe der Stadt Gaza ab. Gleichzeitig rückten am frühen Donnerstagmorgen rund 50 Panzer in die Stadt und das Lager ein, wie Augenzeugen berichteten. In den Straßen kam es zu Schießereien.

In der Nacht zum Donnerstag nahmen israelische Soldaten in Hebron im Westjordanland den Vater und Bruder des Selbstmordattentäters von Haifa fest. Nach Angaben palästinensischer Sicherheitskräfte fanden die Israelis Teile des Ausweises des Attentäters. Danach hätten die Streitkräfte mit Panzern und gepanzerten Fahrzeugen das Haus des 20-jährigen Machmud Kawasama umstellt und dessen Vater und Bruder zur Vernehmung abgeführt.






WAR ON IRAK

Guardian: Britain's dirty secret
This is Falluja 2, identified by Colin Powell as an Iraqi chemical weapons plant. Confidential documents show we were warned but we helped build it. And we covered it up

A chemical plant which the US says is a key component in Iraq's chemical warfare arsenal was secretly built by Britain in 1985 behind the backs of the Americans, the Guardian can disclose.
Documents show British ministers knew at the time that the £14m plant, called Falluja 2, was likely to be used for mustard and nerve gas production.

Senior officials recorded in writing that Saddam Hussein was actively gassing his opponents and that there was a "strong possibility" that the chlorine plant was intended by the Iraqis to make mustard gas. At the time Saddam was known to be gassing Iranian troops in their thousands in the Iran-Iraq war.

CHECK IT





Wednesday, March 05, 2003

WAR ON IRAK

Spiegel: Krieg soll angeblich am 17. März beginnen
Die Zeichen für einen baldigen Krieg im Irak verdichten sich: Eine britische Zeitung berichtet unter Berufung auf Regierungskreise, die Invasion soll am 17. März beginnen. Unterdessen arbeitet Großbritannien offenbar an einer Uno-Resolution, die dem Irak eine letzte Frist zur Abrüstung geben soll.
Unter Berufung auf Regierungskreise berichtete die Zeitung am Donnerstag, britischen Offizieren in Kuwait sei mitgeteilt worden, sich auf einen Einmarsch zu diesem Termin bereit zu halten. Der Invasion würde ein "kurzer und heftiger" Luftangriff ab dem 13. März vorangehen.Nach einem Bericht der "New York Times" sollen in den ersten 48 Stunden des Krieges bis zu 3000 Bomben und Raketen auf den Irak niedergehen.







BUSH 911

Commondreams: SPECIALS ON MARVIN BUSH

George W. Bush's brother was on the board of directors of a company
providing electronic security for the World Trade Center, Dulles
International Airport and United Airlines, according to public records.
The
company was backed by an investment firm, the Kuwait-American Corp.,
also
linked for years to the Bush family. The security company, formerly
named
Securacom and now named Stratesec, is in Sterling, Va.. Its CEO, Barry
McDaniel, said the company had a ``completion contract" to handle some
of
the security at the World Trade Center ``up to the day the buildings
fell
down."
POLICE STATE USA

Reuters: Lawyer Arrested for Wearing a 'Peace' T-Shirt

According to the criminal complaint filed on Monday, Stephen Downs was wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Give Peace A Chance" that he had just purchased from a vendor inside the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, New York, near Albany.

"I was in the food court with my son when I was confronted by two security guards and ordered to either take off the T-shirt or leave the mall," said Downs.

When Downs refused the security officers' orders, police from the town of Guilderland were called and he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, charged with trespassing "in that he knowingly enter(ed) or remain(ed) unlawfully upon premises," the complaint read.

He could face up to a year in prison if convicted.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Arab News: Palestinians destroy five Israeli Tanks, more Palestinians killed by Israel

The Israeli forces yesterday, backed by scores of tanks and Apache planes broke into al-Nuseirat and al-Breij camps in the downtown of Gaza and this resulted in killing ten Palestinians including one woman and two children and wounding more than 29 citizens as well as destroying several Palestinian homes

A Palestinian security source said that more than 70 Israeli tanks were stationed on the main cross- roads and certain allies of al-Breij camp opened fire intensively at houses and roads.

However, resistance men from the Hamas movement said through loudspeakers inside al-Nseirat camp that members of Ezz Eddine al-Qassam groups of the Hamas movement were able to blow up five Israeli tanks in the framework of resisting the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.
WAR ON IRAK

Independent: US hits roadblock in push to war

America admitted yesterday that the war due to begin as early as next week might have to be put back by at least a month because of Turkey's refusal to allow US ground troops to deploy there.

The surprise rejection by the parliament in Ankara made the planning "more complicated", Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said. Some military analysts predicted that an attack of the speed and decisiveness President George Bush wants might have to be delayed until late March or even early April.


WAR ON TERROR

Guardian: Raided family of microbiologist denies official version of al-Qaida arrests


"This is a very huge event. This is the equivalent of the liberation of
Paris during the second world war," Porter Goss, a Florida Republican
who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said. Mohammed was
captured in a raid on a private house on Saturday in Rawalpindi.
Pakistani intelligence service agents were initially believed to have handed him
straight over to US officials. He was said to have been flown out of
the ,country to an undisclosed location.

However this was denied by the Pakistani government which insisted he
was still in their hands and was being jointly questioned. Yesterday the
Khan family who live at the two-storey grey house at 18a Nisar Road, where
officials say they found Mohammed, gave a very different account of the
raid. At no point, the family say, was Mohammed or any other man in the
house. The agents did not even ask about them. "The only people in the
house were my brother, his wife and their kids," Qudsia said. "I have
absolutely no idea why the police came here." Officials at Pakistan's
interior ministry insist they found Mohammed and one other Arab
al-Qaida suspect in the house and arrested them at the same time as Ahmed was
detained. Yet the family and their supporters challenge the official
account and say Mohammed must have been arrested in another raid at
another time.

Die Geschichte von Top3-Dr. Evil-Chiefplaner Mohammed der schon seit 2002 Tod ist aber vor ein paar Tagen in Pakistan verhaftet wurde wird immer besser.
WATER

Independent: News Analysis: Water scarcity could affect billions: is this the biggest crisis of all?

Glug-glug: Not normally a sound of foreboding. But mankind's most serious challenge in the 21st century might not be war or hunger or disease or even the collapse of civic order, a UN report says; it may be the lack of fresh water.

The report makes an alarming prediction. By the middle of the century, it says that, in the worst case, no fewer than seven billion people in 60 countries may be faced with water scarcity, although if the right policies are followed this may be brought down to two billion people in 48 nations.

Demand, of course, comes not just from the need to drink, the need to wash and the need to deal with human waste, enormous though these are; the really great calls on water supply come from industry in the developed world, and, in the developing world, from agri- culture. Irrigating crops in hot dry countries accounts for 70 per cent of all the water use in the world

QUOTE OF THE DAY

When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked
why
the poor were hungry, they called me a communist. --Dom Helda Camara,
Brazilian Bishop
ISRAEL

Tages Anzeiger: Anschlag in Haifa

Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag auf einen Linienbus in der nordisraelischen Hafenstadt Haifa sind am Mittwochmittag mindestens zehn Menschen um Leben gekommen. Rund 30 Personen wurden zum Teil schwer verletzt

Spiegel: BOMBENEXPLOSION IN HAIFA

Haaretz: At least 15 killed, 40 hurt in suicide attack on
Haifa bus


"Nachdem dem Israel in der vergangen Woche eine zweistellige Zahl Palästinenser getötet, hunderte Häuser dem Erdoboden gleichgemacht und aus Apache Helikoptern auf Gaza City gefeurt hat musste mit erneuten Selbstmordattenteten gerechnet werden. Sharon's Politik bringt Israel keinen Frieden sondern Terror.
BERN

Berner Zeitung 4.3.03

Protest gegen Schmierfinken
Verärgert wandte sich gestern Bern Shopping, die Vereinigung der Berner Spezialgeschäfte, an die Medien: «Die mit Malkreide verübten Schmierereien an zahlreichen Gebäuden stellen eine Sachbeschädigung dar, die nicht hingenommen werden kann.» Entstanden waren die Schmierereien am Samstag während des antifaschistischen Abendspaziergangs. Für die betroffenen Geschäfte entstünden Reinigungskosten von mehreren zehntausend Franken, so Bern Shopping weiter. Die Vereinigung fordert deshalb die Polizei auf, entschlossener gegen «Schmierfinken aller Gattungen» vorzugehen. mg/shb

Oh ja..das Malen mit Malkreide ist neuerdings Sachbeschädigung??? Die Kreide ist ja auch extrem schwer zu entfernen und die Wände muss man nachher neu bauen
ZÜRICH

SKANDAL!

Tagesanzeiger: Im Fall Eldar S. ist niemand schuld
Zwei Stadtpolizisten und der bei einer Verhaftungsaktion verletzte Eldar S. sollen nicht vor den Richter. Die Strafverfahren wurden eingestellt. Eldar S. wird Rekurs einlegen

Eldar S. glaubt sich aber von unbekannten Privatpersonen verfolgt, schreit um Hilfe und versucht zu fliehen. Als er eingeholt wird, schlägt er zu (sagt die Polizei)und löst eine Prügelei aus. Eldar S. handelt in «vermeintlicher Notwehr», den vorgezeigten Ausweis hat er nicht erkannt

Die zwei Polizisten schlagen zurück, zwar an der «oberen Grenze der Verhältnismässigkeit», aber im Rahmen ihrer Amtspflicht, glauben sie doch nach wie vor, einen gefährlichen Drogenhändler vor sich zu haben. Vor wenigen Stunden war im gleichen Quartier bereits eine andere Person unter dem gleichen Verdacht verhaftet worden.

Den Polizisten gelingt es, Eldar S. an ein Geländer zu fesseln. Dass die Polizisten darauf weiter auf ihn einprügeln - wie dies Eldar S. behauptet -, kann nicht erhärtet werden (Es gibt aber Zeugen die Behaupten genau dies gesehen zu haben)

Für Bezirksanwalt Scherrer belegen die erwähnten Zeugenaussagen keine Misshandlung: «Eldar S. wehrte sich auch noch, als er bereits mit einer Hand am Geländer gefesselt war. Für die Polizisten stellte er darum weiterhin eine Gefahr dar. Theoretisch wäre er immer noch in der Lage gewesen, eine Waffe zu ziehen.» Auch die Beweisergänzungsanträge habe er geprüft, sie seien für die Beurteilung der Vorgänge aber nicht relevant, so Scherrer. Auch ein weiterer Zeuge sei einvernommen worden. «Der hatte den umstrittenen Vorgang am Geländer nicht von Anfang an beobachtet, Schläge hatte er keine mehr gesehen.»




Tuesday, March 04, 2003

WAR ON IRAK

Der Krieg hat begonnen

Reuters: Iraq - US-UK Raid Kills Six Civilians In Basra

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Six Iraqi civilians were killed and 15 wounded in an overnight raid by U.S. and British planes on the southern port city of Basra, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Tuesday.

The spokesman, in a statement on the state Iraqi News Agency, said the planes patrolling a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq entered Iraqi airspace at 9:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) on Monday and later targeted civilian sites in the province of Basra.

He said Iraqi anti-aircraft units fired at the planes which returned to bases in Kuwait.

The United States military said warplanes taking part in U.S.-British air patrols on Monday attacked five air defense targets in the southern no-fly zone in response to anti-aircraft fire from the ground.

WAR ON TERROR

Paknews: Interrogating the dead Al-Qaida, or Are we Stupid?

There are shrill cries of success and sighs of relief surrounding a news report that is being hailed as the biggest catch so far: No.3 man, Sheikh Khalid Muhammad, of the dreaded Al Qaida is captured, alive! The biggest success in the global war against terrorism. This is certainly excellent news and both the Pakistani and the American authorities deserve congratulations.

Unfortunately, while the coalition is claiming success, there is a run for taking the credit. The American version of the news from likes of CNN, Foxnews, MSNBC hardly mentions the Pakistani role and makes it sound like Sheikh Khalid Muhammad was captured somewhere in Texas, not from Rawalpindi. The Pakistani version earlier claimed this to be a joint operation but now it is claimed to be 100% Pakistani operation (News Link Mar 3, 2003).

Now, about his role as the key planner of all past terrorism acts and all future acts. It is said that Khalid was the chief/key planner of 9/11 attacks? But wasn't that attributed to Osama Bin Laden? But wait! It was not too long ago that it was claimed that "key planner of the attacks on World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh" was arrested.

A more troubling problem is that it was reported by both American and Pakistani authorities back in September 2002 that Sheikh Khalid Muhammad was killed in a raid. The reason we remember him vividly was the way his death was dramatized. He was reported as writing words on a wall with his own blood as he was dying ( News Link Sept 15, 2002).



WAR ON IRAK

Spiegel: Der Krieg, der aus dem Think Tank kam

Es war das glatte Gegenteil einer Verschwörung: In aller Öffentlichkeit schmiedeten ultrarechte US-Denkfabriken schon 1998 Pläne für eine Ära amerikanischer Weltherrschaft, für die Entmachtung der Uno und einen Angriffskrieg gegen den Irak. Lange wurden sie nicht ernst genommen. Inzwischen geben die Falken in der Bush-Regierung den Ton an.

Was immer in den Neunzigern in den Think Tanks ausgeheckt wurde, von einer Entmachtung der Uno bis hin zu Serien künftiger Unterwerfungskriege - es war das glatte Gegenteil einer Verschwörung: Fast alle dieser Weltmachtsvisionen sind veröffentlicht worden, einige per Internet zugänglich.

Im Weißen Haus wehte damals vorübergehend ein eher internationalistischer Geist: Geredet wurde von "Partnerschaften zur Universalisierung von Menschenrechten" und von fairem "Multilateralismus" in der Beziehung zu den Verbündeten; auf der Agenda standen Verträge zum Klimaschutz und zur Rüstungsbegrenzung, zur Ächtung von Landminen oder zum Aufbau einer internationalen Gerichtsbarkeit.

Schon 1998 wurde Saddams Sturz geplant

In diesem liberalen Klima blieb nahezu unbeachtet, was ein 1997 gegründetes "Project for The New American Century" (PNAC) postulierte, das laut Statut für "Amerikas globale Führerschaft" kämpft. Bereits vor fünf Jahren - am 28. Januar 1998 - forderte die Projektgruppe in einem Brief an "Mr. William J. Clinton" den damaligen US-Präsidenten zu einem Sturz Saddams und zu einer radikalen Umkehr im Umgang mit der Uno auf.

CHECK IT

PNAC Official Site: PNAC

"Lang ist es gegangen aber nun werden die Massenmedien definitiv auf die PNAC aufmerksam. Das ist der dritte Artikel innerhalb von 3 Tagen. Ich habs schon mal vor zwei Monaten gepostet. Schaut euch wenn ihr viel Zeit habt mal den Artikel Rebuilding Amercas Defenses" an. In dem Artikel steht ganz genau was man für die Zukunft noch erwarten darf. Einen grossen Teil der vorgeschlagenen Massnahmen wurden von George Bush bereits verwirklicht. Es wirkt zwar alles ein bisschen grössen Wahnsinnig aber das traurige ist, dass die Typen die den Artikel verfasst und unterschrieben haben heute die Macht in Amerikka innehaben

WAR ON TERROR

Spiegel: Handyanruf überführte al-Qaidas Nummer drei

Der in Pakistan festgenommene Chalid Scheich Mohammed ist nun endgültig in US-Haft. Die Regierung in Islamabad bestätigte, der Gefangene sei außer Landes gebracht worden. Auf die Spur des mutmaßlichen Top-Terroristen waren Ermittler offenbar durch ein Satellitentelefon gekommen.

wer glaubt eigentlich den ganzen stuss...da ist der "Überverbrecher-Top3-Dr. Evil" der vom Psycho Milliardär vom Weltumspannenden Super-mega-james-bond-verbrecher Synikat gesponsort wird. Und der ist so saudumm das er nach wie vor mit einem Satellitentelefon chatted und dabei einfach so in seiner Wohnung in Islamabad chillt und von dort die Zerstörung Amerikkkas plant...und dann lässt er auch noch belastendes Material zuhause rumliegen.
NORTHKOREA

Spiegel: Nordkoreanische Kampfjets fangen US-Flugzeug ab

Nordkoreanische Kampfflugzeuge haben ein amerikanisches Spionageflugzeug abgefangen und sich bis auf wenige Meter genähert. Mindestens eine Maschine vom Typ Mig soll das US-Flugzeug ins Visier genommen haben. Das Pentagon spricht vom schwersten Zwischenfall seit 1969.
WAR ON IRAK

Arab News: Iraqi Opposition in Bitter Dispute With US Aide

SALAHADDIN, Iraq, 2 March 2003 — A bid by Iraqi opposition groups to stake their claim to the future leadership of a post-Saddam Hussein government has ended in an acrimonious showdown with the United States, officials revealed yesterday. As opposition officials were struggling to wrap up four days of key talks in Kurdish rebel-held northern Iraq, delegates revealed there had been an angry exchange with a US envoy over Washington’s plans to install a military government, control the country’s oil fields and allow in Turkish troops
WAR ON IRAK

Scotsman: Blair gives go-ahead for war without UN

TONY Blair last night vowed to wage war on Iraq even if the international community refuses to back a military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein.

The Prime Minister is planning to join the United States in a "renegade" attack on Iraq within two weeks, regardless of the outcome of a UN Security Council vote on the crisis which is expected within days.

Blair has instructed key government figures to prepare for "plan B" if French, German, Russian and Chinese opposition denies the British and Americans a United Nations mandate for invasion.

Diplomatic contacts between Paris and Washington DC have grown increasingly frosty, culminating in an acrimonious telephone call between President Bush and President Chirac early last week, which ended with Bush saying firmly: "President Chirac, we will not forgive and we will not forget."
QUOTE OF THE DAY

"None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they
are free.
The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters
who rule them with lies.
They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like
right in their eyes." -- Goethe

Monday, March 03, 2003

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Haaretz: 2 Qassams fired at Sderot; 9 Palestinians killed in territories

1984

http://www.lunch-break.co.uk/news/default.asp?filevar=76&Page=

TOTALITARIANISM FOR DUMMIES
2/24/2003
In a brave move by the literary publishers the book 1984 has been re-branded and re-marketed as "totalitarianism for dummies"

Now in a bright yellow cover with a photograph of George Bush emblazoned across it with the slogan "I did it and I can't even pass high school exams" the book explains in easy terms and step by step guides how to control your population with a state of "Permanent War", how to set up your own "Ministry of Truth" and how to control the minds of your minions with Doublethink.

The thought police and ministry of truth have been merged into one by the president as the homeland security department and plans are underway to install a two way screen into the homes of millions of gullible Americans for their own safety.

Terrorism is now the ever changing enemy shifting seamlessly from Osama Bin-Laden to the equally evil and tyrannical despot Sadam Hussein. In a rather clever move Bush has even managed to convince the UN security Council to disarm a nation before invading, therefore allowing Bush to take over the oil fields with little or no resistance from the unarmed, hungry, Iraq population.
WAR ON IRAK

Observer: Could Tony Blair look at the internet now, please?

It's heart-warming to hear Tony Blair's concern for the plight of the Iraqi people and how the only possible way to help them is to bomb them with everything the Americans have.
Mr Blair's sudden sympathy for the Iraqis' political aspirations comes as a welcome relief after all these years of US, UK-led sanctions, which have caused the deaths of over half a million Iraqi children, according to the UN.

But I'm a bit worried that Tony may be deluding himself that his friends in the White House share his altruistic ideals. I'm sure Tony has been reading all the recent stuff about PNAC - "The Project For The New American Century" - but has he looked at their website? (www.newamericancentury.org)

As everybody knows, the PNAC is a think-tank founded in 1997 by the people who are now closest to President Bush - Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush and so on. It's a pretty safe bet that what PNAC think is what George W. Bush thinks. PNAC represents the thinking of the men now in power in the United States.

PNAC's stated aims are to: "to shape a new century favourable to American principles and interests", to achieve "a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad", "to increase defence spending significantly", and to pursue "America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles."

CHECK IT

newamericancentury.org

WAR ON IRAK

telegraph: British ministers: Attack on Iraq to take place after U.N. vote; Baghdad continues to destroy missiles

British ministers told The Telegraph that Washington and London are ready to launch military action immediately after the United Nations Security Council votes on a second resolution, regardless of its outcome.

Senior ministers said that Tony Blair was ready to launch military action, irrespective of whether Britain, the United States and Spain secured a majority vote for a second resolution in the UN.

Such a step would almost certainly trigger ministerial resignations, the newspaper added.

Meanwhile, Iraq continued to destroy its arsenal of Al Samoud 2 missiles on Sunday, U.N. and Iraqi officials said.

Iraq also plans to destroy a casting chamber for the missiles at a site south of Baghdad on Sunday, U.N. and Iraqi officials said. (Albawaba.com)
WORLD WIDE PROTESTS

Boston Globe: Antiwar activists plan nonviolent blockades

If US-led forces attack Iraq, antiwar activists around the country plan to blockade federal buildings and disrupt major business districts with large protests and civil disobedience.

Many organizers have kept their intentions under wraps so that police and officials at targeted sites, including large corporations and US military bases, will be caught off guard. But drafts of some plans have appeared on websites, and training sessions on such topics as ''nonviolent blockades'' are underway
WAR ON IRAK

World Socialist Website: Bush lays out his “vision” for the Middle East

With its scare stories about weapons of mass destruction and allegations of Baghdad-terrorist ties having failed to stem worldwide opposition to a war against Iraq, the Bush administration this week unveiled a new pretense for aggression. War, it claimed in typical Orwellian fashion, is the only means of achieving peace, and US military occupation is the road to democracy in the Middle East.

In a speech delivered Wednesday before the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a right-wing Washington think tank, George W. Bush presented what administration officials described as his “vision” for a “liberated” Iraq within a revamped Middle East.
WAR ON IRAK

Yellowtimes: "Criminalizing an act of love"

(YellowTimes.org) – According to a recent Fox News report, U.S. leaders
are considering prosecuting for war crimes any U.S. citizen who travels
to Iraq to be a human shield in an effort to protect the Iraqi people.
Yes, the United States now intends to make it a crime to protect innocent
people from being killed. In other words, the United States' right to invade
Iraq and kill its citizenry supersedes Iraqi civilians' right to life.
POLICE STATE USA

Monitor: Pakistani Families Flee U.S. To Seek Canada Asylum

With a February 21 deadline for "special registration" with the U.S.
authorities fast approaching, hundreds of Pakistani families wait
nervously at the Canadian border, hoping for the chance to apply for asylum.
Probably for all of them, it is the worst nightmare of their lives -- an
unthinkable "can't happen here" scenario for people who have called America home
for years. But the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is now
requiring males over 16 from 25 countries -- all Muslim nations, plus
North Korea -- to be fingerprinted, photographed, and show proof of their
identity.
POLICE STATE USA

Yahoo/Village Voice: When Cops Play Soldier, Protesters Become the Enemy

After a couple of hours in the cold at the recent anti-war rally, Annie Stauber, 59, felt she'd had enough. Confined to one of the crowd-control pens on First Avenue, she couldn't see a way to maneuver her wheelchair back to the street. She rolled, instead, right into a blue wall of obstinacy, the latest manifestation of the way the war on terror is corroding the right of New York to be its obstreperous self.

The myriad tales of police hostility that have gushed forth since February 15, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest a U.S. war against Iraq, extend far beyond a few cops' bad-egg excesses. The police, the courts, the city itself seem to have turned on New York's own residents, as government agencies scramble for security in a perpetual code-orange climate. Rather than providing orderliness and safety, city responses to the demonstration at every level—from courts denying demonstrators a permit to march, to cops blocking people's way to the rally—created chaos and confusion. They cast Americans exercising their democratic rights as, at best, a nuisance to be contained and controlled, and, at worst, as potential terrorists.

ISRAEL

Haaretz daily: Shin Bet chief canceled trip to Belgium fearing arrest

Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter recently canceled a planned trip to Belgium for fear the Belgians would try to arrest him because of his involvement in Israel's counter-terrorism war in the territories, defense establishment officials confirmed Tuesday night after Channel 10 reported it.

POLCE STATE USA

Oregon Daily: Federal agents raid Eugene glass blowers

Federal law enforcement agents served indictments to dozens of glass blowing manufacturers and headshops nationwide Monday in a series of raids, confiscating millions of dollars worth of drug- and tobacco-related paraphernalia. At least 55 people were indicted, including two Eugene businessmen that own a glass manufacturing company, a distributorship, a local retail shop and multiple Web sites

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Monday in a press conference that the Drug Enforcement Agency now considers glass pipes and other equipment "drug paraphernalia" that may be confiscated and used as grounds for arrests under federal law.

O'Brien explained the DEA's decision was similar to confiscating ammunition so people could not use guns -- by depriving possible drug users of their equipment, agents will be able to curtail drug use nationwide. Der ist gut...wenn die Kiffer keine Bongs und Papers haben, können sie auch nicht kiffen?????????? Mr. Ashcroft hat wohl selbst zuviel geraucht



NORTHKOREA

workingforchange: One hell of a mess: a North Korea primer

Dubya basks in the sunshine, baits pygmies, and puzzles over two presidents named Kim

When we need a laugh in grim times, we count on our Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Whoopi Goldberg of the Bush administration. This week, Ashcroft took time off from tracking down terrorists in order to bust 55 people for selling rolling papers, pipes and other drug paraphernalia. Nice to see a man who's got his priorities straight.

Onward. Let's review the bidding on North Korea. "Review the bidding" is a bridge term for "how the hell did we get into this mess?" In 1994, the Clinton administration came to something called the Agreed Framework with North Korea, under which Pyongyang agreed to put its 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods -- which can be easily converted into weapons-grade plutonium -- into storage, watched over by U.N. inspectors and cameras. In return, they were supposed to get two light-water nuclear reactors and economic and diplomatic relations.

Unfortunately, we didn't quite live up to our end of the bargain. As usual, the Republicans had a cow and decided anything agreed to by Clinton (not to mention the dread Jimmy Carter) must be a sellout. We did, however, provide a substantial amount of food and fuel aid over the years, and in 2000 the Swiss company ABB agreed to deliver equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho. Interestingly enough, Donald Rumsfeld was on the board of ABB at the time, though a Pentagon spokeswoman says the secretary does not recall the $200 million deal ever having been brought before the board.

So in comes Bush, and six weeks into his term, March 2001, Bush humiliates President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea during his visit to Washington by announcing we would not support his "sunshine initiative" to improve relations between the Koreas.

The initiative for which Kim Dae Jung won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.


"guter artikel über die Gründe die zur momentanen Krise mit Nordkorea geführt haben...es ist geroge's schuld"
WAR ON TERROR

Tagesanzeiger: CIA wendet «jeden möglichen Druck» an

Von der Befragung des des Al-Qaida-Chefplaners Chalid Scheich Mohammed erhoffen sich die US-Geheimdienste neue Hinweise auf geplante Anschläge und über den Verbleib Osama Bin Ladens. Die Verhöre fanden nun schon den dritten Tag in Folge statt

Ob der Herr wirklich ein "Chefplaner" und "Mastermind Dr. Evil" Al-Kaida "Chefplaner war" ist wenn man andere Quellen als Ari Fleischer ranzieht fraglich.
Das meint Robert FIsk dazu
:

Independent: Robert Fisk: A breakthrough in the war on terror? I'll believe it when we see some evidence
In the theatre of the absurd into which America's hunt for al-Qa'ida so often descends, the "arrest" – the quotation marks are all too necessary – of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is nearer the Gilbert and Sullivan end of the repertory.

First, Mr Mohammed was arrested in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistani agents near Islamabad and spirited out of the country to an "undisclosed location". "The man who masterminded the September 11 attacks" was how the US billed this latest "victory" in the "war against terror" (again, quotation marks are obligatory). Then the Pakistanis announced that he hadn't been taken out of Pakistan at all. Then a Pakistani police official expressed his ignorance of any such arrest.

And then, a Taliban "source" – this means the real Taliban but "source" is supposed to cover the fact that the old Afghan regime still exists – claimed that Mr Mohammed "is still with us and in our protection and we challenge the US to prove their claim". By this stage, it looked like a case of the "whoops" school of journalism; a good story that just might be untrue.

und dann gibts da auch noch einen Artikel der Asia Times vom 30. Oktober 2002 in dem steht das Mr. Mohammed tod ist

Asia Times:

"But now it emerges that an Arab woman and a child were taken to an ISI safe house, where they identified the Shaikh Mohammed's body as their husband and father. The body was kept in a private NGO mortuary for 20 days before being buried, under the surveillance of the FBI, in a graveyard in the central district of Karachi."
"News of the death of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was intentionally suppressed so that officials could play on the power of his name to follow up leads and contacts."





OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

AP/Independent: Israeli troops kill eight people in Gaza incursion

Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians, among them a teenager and a woman, in fighting that erupted early today during an incursion into refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.

The raid came a day after Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz vowed to step up the military's assault on Hamas militants. Yesterday, Israeli forces invaded Khan Younis, killing three Palestinians, one of them a nine-year-old boy.

Dr Moawia Hassnen, chief of emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, accused the army of targeting civilian homes and ambulances. He said medical personnel were denied access to treat the wounded.

"What's happened is a war crime," he said. "This brutal act will increase the number of people killed and threaten the lives of all the injured people."
IRAK

DER KRIEG HAT BEGONNEN

The war has started
From the open publishing newswire: Britain and the United States have all but fired the first shots of the second Gulf war by dramatically extending the range of targets in the "no-fly zones" over Iraq to soften up the country for an allied ground invasion.
As Baghdad threatened to stop destroying its Samoud 2 missiles if the US presses ahead with its invasion plans, allied pilots have attacked surface-to-surface missile systems and are understood to have hit multiple-launch rockets.

Targets hit in recent days include the Ababil-100, a Soviet-designed surface-to-air missile system adapted to hit targets on the ground, and the Astros 2 ground rocket launcher with a range of up to 56 miles. These would be used to defend Iraq in the event of an invasion or to attack allied troops stationed in Kuwait.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Israelis fassen Hamas-Gründer
Taha ging den israelischen Truppen bei der jüngsten Offensive im Flüchtlingslager Bureidsch im Gazastreifen ins Netz. Die Streitkräfte waren am frühen Morgen mit Panzern in das Flüchtlingslager eingerückt, wo sie vier Häuser mutmaßlicher palästinensischer Extremisten sprengten. Eines davon gehörte Taha, der Armeeangaben zufolge bei seiner Festnahme verletzt wurde.

Nach Angaben von Ärzten wurde bei der Militäraktion in dem Flüchtlingslager acht Menschen getötet und 40 verletzt

Palästinensische Augenzeugen sagten, die israelischen Truppen hätten mehrere Stunden keine Rettungswagen zu den Verletzten vorgelassen. Militärsprecher Assaf Liberati bestätigte dies und erklärte, die Sicherheit der Soldaten habe höchste Priorität. Später seien die Verletzten dann behandelt worden.

ISRAEL

Sidney Morning Herald: Sharon's hardline coalition rules out Palestinian state
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, virtually ruled out the creation of a Palestinian state under his hawkish new government just a day after the United States President, George Bush, pledged to broker a peace deal once he had dealt with Iraq.

An und für sich war das den meisten Leuten die sich mit der Sache befassen schon länger klar....leider hats niemand dem George gesagt. Dabei wollte er sich die Unterstützung der Arabischen Staaten für einen Militärschlag im Irak mit dem Versprechen kaufen die Palästinenser würden einen Staat kriegen sobald die USA im Irak eine Kolonie errichtet haben. Dass das Ziel Sharon's nicht Frieden sondern die Vernichtung der Palästineser und die errrichtung von Grossisrael ist wird damit noch ein bisschen klarer. Und es sollte sich niemand einbilden das Amerikkka etwas dagegen unternehmen würde.
WAR ON IRAK

Counterpunch: Hell-Bent for War
For Six Years, Rightwing Think Tanks Have Been Pushing an Invasion of Iraq

Never before in the history of the United States presidency has a think tank had such an impact on shaping U.S. foreign policy as the Project for the New American Century has on helping President George W. Bush set foreign policy goals for his Administration, particularly dictating exactly how Bush should deal with Iraq and its President, Saddam Hussein.

For the past six years, PNAC has lobbied former President Clinton and Bush heavily to initiate a war in Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power, claiming the country poses a serious threat to the U.S. and its allies because of its ability to develop weapons of mass destruction. Clinton rebuffed the advice by PNAC members during the last four years of his presidency, but Bush has virtually used, word for word, the written statements by PNAC members when he speaks publicly about Iraq crisis.

Homepage von PNAC: newamericancentury.org

Wer verstehen will wieso Bush unbedingt einen Krieg will muss die Briefe und Reports vom PNAC lesen. Die ganze Aussenpolitik die Bush seit dem 11. September verfolgt stammt sozusagen 1:1 von diesem Think Tank. An und für sich kein Wunder da die meisten engen Mitarbeiter von George dem Think Tank angehören und seit Jahren einen Regime-Wechsel im Irak fordern.
ISRAEL

Chronology of Israeli use of biological, chemical weapons

At a time when TV screens are filled with images of perceived weapons
of
mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq among people who are on the verge of
starvation, the West turns a blind eye to the first biological
terrorist in the Middle East, Israel, where the largest depot of WMD between London
and Peking is located. When confronted with the anomaly, the United States
ambassador to the UN, John Negroponti, responds with typical cynicism,
"Israel did not use these weapons against its people or its
neighbours." Assuming that the ambassador is well-informed, this statement is a
patent lie. Israel used biological weapons even before it was created on Arab
soil in 1948 and ever since. The purpose, according to Ben Gurion, is
genocide, and if not complete, the purpose is not to allow the dispossessed
Palestinians to return to their homes.
WAR ON IRAK

Truthout: Blood Money

George W. Bush gave a speech Wednesday night before the Godfather of
conservative Washington think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute.
In his speech, Bush quantified his coming war with Iraq as part of a
larger struggle to bring pro-western governments into power in the Middle
East. Couched in hopeful language describing peace and freedom for all, the
speech was in fact the closest articulation of the actual plan for Iraq
that has yet been heard from the administration.

Sunday, March 02, 2003

WAR ON IRAK

Spiegel: USA sollen Lauschangriff gegen Sicherheitsrat gestartet haben

Es ist der Stoff, aus dem Thriller gestrickt sind. Der britische "Observer" ist im Besitz eines geheimen US-Dokuments, in dem Abhöraktionen gegen Delegationen mehrerer Länder im Uno-Sicherheitsrat beschrieben sind. Angeblich soll die Maßnahme auf Wunsch der Sicherheitsberaterin Condoleezza Rice erfolgt sein. Wenn das Papier keine Fälschung ist, wäre es ein politischer Skandal, der der Bush-Regierung schwer schaden könnte

Observer: Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war
Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.

read the memo