UK
scotsman: Dirty bomb victims 'may be shot'
POLICE could be forced to shoot members of the public to maintain order in the event of a terrorist "dirty bomb" or biological attack on Britain, it was claimed yesterday.
The Police Federation annual conference in Blackpool was told that so few officers have been trained to deal with a chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological strike that they would have to resort to "very unsavoury but necessary" crowd control.
Bob Elder, the chairman of the constables’ central committee, did not refer specifically to officers firing on civilians, but sources within the organisation said it was clear police could have to resort to firearms to stop contamination being spread by fleeing victims.
"Wenn dich die Atombombe nicht erwischt besorgt die Polizei den Rest"
Friday, May 16, 2003
MEDICINE
Woldnetdaily: Ritalin - 'Sugar-Coated Cocaine' For Kids?
A new study that casts doubts on whether Ritalin use for youngsters makes them susceptible for drug abuse later in life has sparked people's attention to a little-known fact: Ritalin reacts in Junior's brain similarly to cocaine.
Yes, it's true: Methylphenidate (generic moniker for the brand-name drug Ritalin) targets the pleasure-producing centers of the brain - those that produce dopamine - the same way cocaine does.
Woldnetdaily: Ritalin - 'Sugar-Coated Cocaine' For Kids?
A new study that casts doubts on whether Ritalin use for youngsters makes them susceptible for drug abuse later in life has sparked people's attention to a little-known fact: Ritalin reacts in Junior's brain similarly to cocaine.
Yes, it's true: Methylphenidate (generic moniker for the brand-name drug Ritalin) targets the pleasure-producing centers of the brain - those that produce dopamine - the same way cocaine does.
IRAQ
Times of India: Iraqi children face death from malnutrition: UN
GENEVA: More than 300,000 Iraqi children face death from acute malnutrition, twice as many as before US and British forces invaded the country in March, the United Nations UNICEF agency warned on Wednesday.
Many of these - nearly eight per cent of all Iraqi children under five - could be saved if the occupation forces ensured that aid convoys could move around freely and kept looters away from water plants and pipelines, it said.
Times of India: Iraqi children face death from malnutrition: UN
GENEVA: More than 300,000 Iraqi children face death from acute malnutrition, twice as many as before US and British forces invaded the country in March, the United Nations UNICEF agency warned on Wednesday.
Many of these - nearly eight per cent of all Iraqi children under five - could be saved if the occupation forces ensured that aid convoys could move around freely and kept looters away from water plants and pipelines, it said.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ZMAG: Roadmap To A Concentration Camp by Mahir Ali
The toll continues to rise. A couple of weeks ago, gunfire from an Israeli tank cut short the life of award-winning British journalist James Miller. He and reporter Saira Shah - the two of them had collaborated on Beneath the Veil, a ground-breaking documentary on the plight of Afghan women under the Taliban - were filming the demolition by Israeli forces of a house in Rafah, on the Gaza Strip, when he was shot in the back of the neck. "Local kids who loved him have built a shrine on the spot where he fell," writes Shah, "and the Palestinian Children's Parliament held a march in his memory."
Last month Tom Hurndall, a 21-year-old English peace activist, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while he tried to protect a five-year-old girl at the same refugee camp. He went into a coma from which doctors don't expect him to emerge. Last week Hurndall's parents were on their way to visit him at Rafah when the British embassy convoy they were travelling in was briefly detained at gunpoint at a Gaza crossing.
About six months ago, Iain Hook, a former British military officer in charge of an UNRWA project to rebuild the Jenin refugee camp, died when an Israeli sniper shot him in the back. Jack Straw promised a thorough investigation into the shooting, but the British Foreign Office has since resiled from that position. An inquiry by the UN was assigned to a former US naval intelligence officer whose blatantly pro-Israeli report proved unacceptable to Hook's colleagues and other UN staff. A second report is being treated as classified. Israel assured Straw it would provide a full account of the killing, but has now changed its mind.
"CHECK IT"
ZMAG: Roadmap To A Concentration Camp by Mahir Ali
The toll continues to rise. A couple of weeks ago, gunfire from an Israeli tank cut short the life of award-winning British journalist James Miller. He and reporter Saira Shah - the two of them had collaborated on Beneath the Veil, a ground-breaking documentary on the plight of Afghan women under the Taliban - were filming the demolition by Israeli forces of a house in Rafah, on the Gaza Strip, when he was shot in the back of the neck. "Local kids who loved him have built a shrine on the spot where he fell," writes Shah, "and the Palestinian Children's Parliament held a march in his memory."
Last month Tom Hurndall, a 21-year-old English peace activist, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while he tried to protect a five-year-old girl at the same refugee camp. He went into a coma from which doctors don't expect him to emerge. Last week Hurndall's parents were on their way to visit him at Rafah when the British embassy convoy they were travelling in was briefly detained at gunpoint at a Gaza crossing.
About six months ago, Iain Hook, a former British military officer in charge of an UNRWA project to rebuild the Jenin refugee camp, died when an Israeli sniper shot him in the back. Jack Straw promised a thorough investigation into the shooting, but the British Foreign Office has since resiled from that position. An inquiry by the UN was assigned to a former US naval intelligence officer whose blatantly pro-Israeli report proved unacceptable to Hook's colleagues and other UN staff. A second report is being treated as classified. Israel assured Straw it would provide a full account of the killing, but has now changed its mind.
"CHECK IT"
911
Miami Herald: Graham alleges a coverup of pre-9/11 failure
DES MOINES - Sen. Bob Graham accused the Bush administration Sunday of covering up its failure to possibly prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by refusing to release the findings of a Graham-led congressional investigation last year.
Graham said on CBS' Face the Nation program that the administration is not withholding the information to protect national security.
''In fact, a great deal of the information which they want to keep classified has already been released, such as in testimony by CIA and FBI officials in public hearings,'' Graham said. ``I think what they are shooting at is to cover up the failures that occurred before September the 11th.''
Miami Herald: Graham alleges a coverup of pre-9/11 failure
DES MOINES - Sen. Bob Graham accused the Bush administration Sunday of covering up its failure to possibly prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by refusing to release the findings of a Graham-led congressional investigation last year.
Graham said on CBS' Face the Nation program that the administration is not withholding the information to protect national security.
''In fact, a great deal of the information which they want to keep classified has already been released, such as in testimony by CIA and FBI officials in public hearings,'' Graham said. ``I think what they are shooting at is to cover up the failures that occurred before September the 11th.''
WEEKLY REVIEW
Harpers: WEEKLY REVIEW
Britain and Spain introduced a resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would suspend sanctions against Iraq and give the United States control over the Iraqi oil industry until a permanent representative Iraqi government takes power; officials acknowledged that this might take a few years. Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and a great favorite of the Pentagon, warned his detractors that he had acquired about 60 tons of documents from the files of the Iraqi secret police and the Baath Party, and that the documents detailed Saddam Hussein's relations with other Arab leaders. He also threatened to shut down Al Jazeera and accused the television station's journalists of having been informants for the Iraqi government. "We will not allow this channel to continue its destructive work, which might lead to civil war in Iraq through their lies and the spreading of rumors...........................
Harpers: WEEKLY REVIEW
Britain and Spain introduced a resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would suspend sanctions against Iraq and give the United States control over the Iraqi oil industry until a permanent representative Iraqi government takes power; officials acknowledged that this might take a few years. Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress and a great favorite of the Pentagon, warned his detractors that he had acquired about 60 tons of documents from the files of the Iraqi secret police and the Baath Party, and that the documents detailed Saddam Hussein's relations with other Arab leaders. He also threatened to shut down Al Jazeera and accused the television station's journalists of having been informants for the Iraqi government. "We will not allow this channel to continue its destructive work, which might lead to civil war in Iraq through their lies and the spreading of rumors...........................
IRAQ
telegraph: Grave find proves war was right, says Blair
Tony Blair yesterday used the uncovering of a mass grave near Baghdad to justify the war against Iraq amid growing concern at Westminster over the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction.
The recently discovered mass grave has 'justified' the war on Iraq
In a significant change of tack, he said the Government was redoubling its efforts to preserve evidence of the brutal crimes of Saddam Hussein's regime such as the discovery of the grave containing as many as 15,000 bodies.
"Zuerst warens die Uno-Resolutionen die nicht eingehalten wurden, dann hat saddam plötzlich al-qaida unterstützt, anschliessend hatte er Atom- und Chemie und Biowaffen. Nun nachdem gar nichts gefunden wurde, muss ein neu entdecktes Massengrab zur Rechfertigung des Krieges hinhalten. Leider hat Tony der Heuchler vergessen das die Shiiten in dem Massengrab liegen weil sie 1991 von den Briten und Amerikanern verascht wurden"
telegraph: Grave find proves war was right, says Blair
Tony Blair yesterday used the uncovering of a mass grave near Baghdad to justify the war against Iraq amid growing concern at Westminster over the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction.
The recently discovered mass grave has 'justified' the war on Iraq
In a significant change of tack, he said the Government was redoubling its efforts to preserve evidence of the brutal crimes of Saddam Hussein's regime such as the discovery of the grave containing as many as 15,000 bodies.
"Zuerst warens die Uno-Resolutionen die nicht eingehalten wurden, dann hat saddam plötzlich al-qaida unterstützt, anschliessend hatte er Atom- und Chemie und Biowaffen. Nun nachdem gar nichts gefunden wurde, muss ein neu entdecktes Massengrab zur Rechfertigung des Krieges hinhalten. Leider hat Tony der Heuchler vergessen das die Shiiten in dem Massengrab liegen weil sie 1991 von den Briten und Amerikanern verascht wurden"
Thursday, May 15, 2003
PROPAGANDA WATCH
Counterpunch: The Hydra's New Head:
Propagandists and Selling the US-Iraq War
Just as weapons have gotten "smarter," so too has the military gotten more sophisticated about how to use the media to meet military objectives.
-- Jerry Broeckert, Lt. Col., public affairs officer in the US Marines Corps. [1]
As the fog of war lifts, the propaganda model followed by the United States to sell the US-Iraq War is now clear, and the best way to understand this campaign is to consider it as psychological warfare against the US population [2]. From the beginning, the propagandists opted for a "sports show" metaphor as the overt image for this campaign. There are numerous features of this propaganda campaign that are worth examining since they are innovations, and sometimes contravene previously held assumptions about such campaigns. There remain questions about its long-term effectiveness, and whether the same formula can ever be used again.
"CHECK IT"
Counterpunch: The Hydra's New Head:
Propagandists and Selling the US-Iraq War
Just as weapons have gotten "smarter," so too has the military gotten more sophisticated about how to use the media to meet military objectives.
-- Jerry Broeckert, Lt. Col., public affairs officer in the US Marines Corps. [1]
As the fog of war lifts, the propaganda model followed by the United States to sell the US-Iraq War is now clear, and the best way to understand this campaign is to consider it as psychological warfare against the US population [2]. From the beginning, the propagandists opted for a "sports show" metaphor as the overt image for this campaign. There are numerous features of this propaganda campaign that are worth examining since they are innovations, and sometimes contravene previously held assumptions about such campaigns. There remain questions about its long-term effectiveness, and whether the same formula can ever be used again.
"CHECK IT"
PROPAGANDA WATCH
Counterpunch: The Hydra's New Head:
Propagandists and Selling the US-Iraq War
Just as weapons have gotten "smarter," so too has the military gotten more sophisticated about how to use the media to meet military objectives.
-- Jerry Broeckert, Lt. Col., public affairs officer in the US Marines Corps. [1]
As the fog of war lifts, the propaganda model followed by the United States to sell the US-Iraq War is now clear, and the best way to understand this campaign is to consider it as psychological warfare against the US population [2]. From the beginning, the propagandists opted for a "sports show" metaphor as the overt image for this campaign. There are numerous features of this propaganda campaign that are worth examining since they are innovations, and sometimes contravene previously held assumptions about such campaigns. There remain questions about its long-term effectiveness, and whether the same formula can ever be used again.
"CHECK IT"
Counterpunch: The Hydra's New Head:
Propagandists and Selling the US-Iraq War
Just as weapons have gotten "smarter," so too has the military gotten more sophisticated about how to use the media to meet military objectives.
-- Jerry Broeckert, Lt. Col., public affairs officer in the US Marines Corps. [1]
As the fog of war lifts, the propaganda model followed by the United States to sell the US-Iraq War is now clear, and the best way to understand this campaign is to consider it as psychological warfare against the US population [2]. From the beginning, the propagandists opted for a "sports show" metaphor as the overt image for this campaign. There are numerous features of this propaganda campaign that are worth examining since they are innovations, and sometimes contravene previously held assumptions about such campaigns. There remain questions about its long-term effectiveness, and whether the same formula can ever be used again.
"CHECK IT"
KENIA
Spiegel: Kenia befürchtet schweren Anschlag von al-Qaida
Die kenianischen Behörden rechnen mit einem neuen verheerenden Terroranschlag in Ostafrika. Die USA, Großbritannien und Australien haben auf den Terror-Alarm bereits reagiert: Sie warnen vor Reisen nach Kenia, die Briten haben gar den Flugverkehr dorthin eingestellt
Spiegel: Kenia befürchtet schweren Anschlag von al-Qaida
Die kenianischen Behörden rechnen mit einem neuen verheerenden Terroranschlag in Ostafrika. Die USA, Großbritannien und Australien haben auf den Terror-Alarm bereits reagiert: Sie warnen vor Reisen nach Kenia, die Briten haben gar den Flugverkehr dorthin eingestellt
G8
Tagesanzeiger: G-8-Demo: Kehrtwende in Bern
Der Bund soll nun doch Deutschland um den Zuzug von 750 Polizisten ersuchen, um die Demonstrationen vom 1. Juni gegen den G-8-Gipfel in Genf zu meistern.
Wie Polizeiministerin Ruth Metzler an einer Medienkonferenz mitteilte, hat der Sicherheitsausschuss am Donnerstag beschlossen, dem Genfer Gesuch nach 1500 zusätzlichen Polizeikräften zu entsprechen. Da die Kantone nur 720 Polizisten stellen können, werde jetzt Deutschland angefragt, mit dem ein Polizeiabkommen besteht.
SCHANDE
Tagesanzeiger: G-8-Demo: Kehrtwende in Bern
Der Bund soll nun doch Deutschland um den Zuzug von 750 Polizisten ersuchen, um die Demonstrationen vom 1. Juni gegen den G-8-Gipfel in Genf zu meistern.
Wie Polizeiministerin Ruth Metzler an einer Medienkonferenz mitteilte, hat der Sicherheitsausschuss am Donnerstag beschlossen, dem Genfer Gesuch nach 1500 zusätzlichen Polizeikräften zu entsprechen. Da die Kantone nur 720 Polizisten stellen können, werde jetzt Deutschland angefragt, mit dem ein Polizeiabkommen besteht.
SCHANDE
USA
Time Magazine: The Oily Americans
Why the world doesn't trust the U.S. about petroleum: A history of meddling
For more than a half-century, American foreign policy dealing with oil has typically been manipulative and misguided, often both at the same time. The pattern of intrigue has ranged from U.S. officials' secretly writing tax laws in the 1950s (so the Saudi royal family could collect more money from the sale of its oil and American companies could write off the added payments on their tax returns) to overthrowing a government that showed too much independence in handling its oil sales. To illustrate the dark side of American oil policy, we offer two tales, stitched together from declassified government documents and oil-industry memos, involving a pair of Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Afghanistan.
Time Magazine: The Oily Americans
Why the world doesn't trust the U.S. about petroleum: A history of meddling
For more than a half-century, American foreign policy dealing with oil has typically been manipulative and misguided, often both at the same time. The pattern of intrigue has ranged from U.S. officials' secretly writing tax laws in the 1950s (so the Saudi royal family could collect more money from the sale of its oil and American companies could write off the added payments on their tax returns) to overthrowing a government that showed too much independence in handling its oil sales. To illustrate the dark side of American oil policy, we offer two tales, stitched together from declassified government documents and oil-industry memos, involving a pair of Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Afghanistan.
IRAQ
Counterpunch: Kick Their Ass and Take Their Gas
Democracy Comes to Iraq
One month after the fall of Baghdad, the US has successfully liberated the people of Iraq from meaningful involvement in decisions about their own future.
A designer regime, concocted behind closed doors by Pentagon and State Department planners, is now being imposed on Iraq with great speed and without any kind of popular consent. Iraq's nascent "democratic transition government" is window-dressing for a military dictatorship charged with insuring that US policy goals -- especially the disposition of Iraq's vast petroleum reserves -- are protected from any troublesome outbreaks of democracy.
CHECK IT
Counterpunch: Kick Their Ass and Take Their Gas
Democracy Comes to Iraq
One month after the fall of Baghdad, the US has successfully liberated the people of Iraq from meaningful involvement in decisions about their own future.
A designer regime, concocted behind closed doors by Pentagon and State Department planners, is now being imposed on Iraq with great speed and without any kind of popular consent. Iraq's nascent "democratic transition government" is window-dressing for a military dictatorship charged with insuring that US policy goals -- especially the disposition of Iraq's vast petroleum reserves -- are protected from any troublesome outbreaks of democracy.
CHECK IT
IRAQ
Süddeutsche Zeitung: „Go in Ali Baba! It´s all yours.“
Tatort Bagdad: Augenzeugen berichten, dass amerikanische Soldaten den Plünderern der irakischen Museen - im Wortsinn - Tür und Tor geöffnet haben sollen. Das Beutegut wurde oft noch am selben Tag auf offener Straße verkauft. Von Walter Sommerfeld
Das überraschendste Detail in allen Schilderungen aber war die Behauptung, dass die amerikanischen Soldaten oft erst die Plünderungen ermöglichten, indem sie gut gesicherte Tore aufbrachen oder aufschossen und dann die Umstehenden aufforderten zu plündern: „Go in, Ali Baba, its yours!“ –, hätten ihnen die Amerikaner zugerufen, so irakische Augenzeugen. „Ali Baba“ sei unter den Amerikanern geradezu ein Sammelbegriff für plündernde Iraker geworden. Ein Mitarbeiter des UN-Entwicklungsprogramms beobachtete, dass Amerikaner in die Technische Universität eindrangen, Computer öffneten und die Festplatten an sich nahmen, bevor sich die Plünderer ans Werk machten.
english translation
Süddeutsche Zeitung: „Go in Ali Baba! It´s all yours.“
Tatort Bagdad: Augenzeugen berichten, dass amerikanische Soldaten den Plünderern der irakischen Museen - im Wortsinn - Tür und Tor geöffnet haben sollen. Das Beutegut wurde oft noch am selben Tag auf offener Straße verkauft. Von Walter Sommerfeld
Das überraschendste Detail in allen Schilderungen aber war die Behauptung, dass die amerikanischen Soldaten oft erst die Plünderungen ermöglichten, indem sie gut gesicherte Tore aufbrachen oder aufschossen und dann die Umstehenden aufforderten zu plündern: „Go in, Ali Baba, its yours!“ –, hätten ihnen die Amerikaner zugerufen, so irakische Augenzeugen. „Ali Baba“ sei unter den Amerikanern geradezu ein Sammelbegriff für plündernde Iraker geworden. Ein Mitarbeiter des UN-Entwicklungsprogramms beobachtete, dass Amerikaner in die Technische Universität eindrangen, Computer öffneten und die Festplatten an sich nahmen, bevor sich die Plünderer ans Werk machten.
english translation
GM FOOD
Guardian: America challenges GM crops ban
President Bush launched a legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation yesterday, to force Europe to accept imports of American genetically modified crops.
Raising fears of a full-scale transatlantic trade war, Washington described Europe's five-year-old ban on GM imports as unscientific and a violation of WTO rules. "People around the world have been eating biotech food for years," said Robert Zoellick, America's leading trade negotiator. "Biotech food helps nourish the world's hungry population." "Wo? Im WAL-MART?"
Mr. Bush sollte Europa einen gefallen tun und an seinem Gen-Frass ersticken
Guardian: America challenges GM crops ban
President Bush launched a legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation yesterday, to force Europe to accept imports of American genetically modified crops.
Raising fears of a full-scale transatlantic trade war, Washington described Europe's five-year-old ban on GM imports as unscientific and a violation of WTO rules. "People around the world have been eating biotech food for years," said Robert Zoellick, America's leading trade negotiator. "Biotech food helps nourish the world's hungry population." "Wo? Im WAL-MART?"
Mr. Bush sollte Europa einen gefallen tun und an seinem Gen-Frass ersticken
ISRAEL
Guardian: Sharon rejects US pressure on settlements
Israel will not surrender sovereignty of Jewish towns to Palestinian state, PM warns before Washington talks on Middle East peace deal
Ariel Sharon has rebuffed American warnings that the continued expansion of settlements is a major obstacle to a Middle East peace deal by saying that Israel will not surrender sovereignty of Jewish towns in the occupied territories.
The prime minister further aggravated the issue by saying that the controversial "security fence" being constructed around the main Palestinian cities and towns on the West Bank will follow a route that in effect annexes some of the largest settlements into Israel.
Guardian: Sharon rejects US pressure on settlements
Israel will not surrender sovereignty of Jewish towns to Palestinian state, PM warns before Washington talks on Middle East peace deal
Ariel Sharon has rebuffed American warnings that the continued expansion of settlements is a major obstacle to a Middle East peace deal by saying that Israel will not surrender sovereignty of Jewish towns in the occupied territories.
The prime minister further aggravated the issue by saying that the controversial "security fence" being constructed around the main Palestinian cities and towns on the West Bank will follow a route that in effect annexes some of the largest settlements into Israel.
IRAQ
stuff.nz: US to approve shooting of Iraqi looters - NY Times
NEW YORK: The new US administrator for Iraq, L Paul Bremer, is
preparing a
series of security-related measures that include permitting soldiers to
shoot looters on sight, the New York Times reported today. Bremer,
outlining his approach at a meeting with senior staff members on
Tuesday,
also said he was eager to hire more police officers and ban Baath Party
members from serving above a certain rank in future governments, the
Times reported, citing officials present at the meeting. Since the fall of
Saddam Hussein, Iraq's cities have faced widespread looting, and a failure to
ensure safety and security are among the chief complaints of Iraqis
with US forces. "They are going to start shooting a few looters so that word
gets around," The Times quoted an official who attended the meeting with
Bremer as saying. "I think you are going to see a change in the rules of
engagement within a few days to get the situation under control."
stuff.nz: US to approve shooting of Iraqi looters - NY Times
NEW YORK: The new US administrator for Iraq, L Paul Bremer, is
preparing a
series of security-related measures that include permitting soldiers to
shoot looters on sight, the New York Times reported today. Bremer,
outlining his approach at a meeting with senior staff members on
Tuesday,
also said he was eager to hire more police officers and ban Baath Party
members from serving above a certain rank in future governments, the
Times reported, citing officials present at the meeting. Since the fall of
Saddam Hussein, Iraq's cities have faced widespread looting, and a failure to
ensure safety and security are among the chief complaints of Iraqis
with US forces. "They are going to start shooting a few looters so that word
gets around," The Times quoted an official who attended the meeting with
Bremer as saying. "I think you are going to see a change in the rules of
engagement within a few days to get the situation under control."
ISRAEL
Toronto Star: For Israel's old warrior Sharon, any concession seems `painful'
JERUSALEM—Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not a man of his word. This hardly makes him unique in either politics or the crucible of the Middle East.
By comparison, Palestinian militants have stood true to their vow — a blanket renunciation of the Washington-promoted road map for peace, designed to provide for a two-state solution and a sovereign Palestine by 2005.
It took less than 24 hours for Israel to reverse itself on the meagre concessions Sharon had made on Sunday during his half of Colin Powell's diplomatic visit, intended to at least kick-start the road map vision by eliciting itsy-bitsy conciliatory gestures. Of course, there are no itsy-bitsies in this conflict because every gesture is fraught with complications and guaranteed to make some faction crazy
All foreigners (excluding diplomats and people with "special humanitarian needs") are for the moment — and this is an open-ended policy — barred from either entering or exiting Gaza
Toronto Star: For Israel's old warrior Sharon, any concession seems `painful'
JERUSALEM—Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not a man of his word. This hardly makes him unique in either politics or the crucible of the Middle East.
By comparison, Palestinian militants have stood true to their vow — a blanket renunciation of the Washington-promoted road map for peace, designed to provide for a two-state solution and a sovereign Palestine by 2005.
It took less than 24 hours for Israel to reverse itself on the meagre concessions Sharon had made on Sunday during his half of Colin Powell's diplomatic visit, intended to at least kick-start the road map vision by eliciting itsy-bitsy conciliatory gestures. Of course, there are no itsy-bitsies in this conflict because every gesture is fraught with complications and guaranteed to make some faction crazy
All foreigners (excluding diplomats and people with "special humanitarian needs") are for the moment — and this is an open-ended policy — barred from either entering or exiting Gaza
ISRAEL
Toronto Star: 30 Palestinians injured in Israeli missile attack
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowd in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, wounding 30 people, after 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded nearby in a mortar attack. The violence erupted despite U.S. efforts to promote a Middle East peace plan.
Palestinian Gov. Hosni Zoaroub said bulldozers tore down 10 buildings in the camp, which is near Jewish settlements. He said 60 people were left homeless. He said the Israelis withdrew early Wednesday after three hours in the camp.
Toronto Star: 30 Palestinians injured in Israeli missile attack
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a crowd in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, wounding 30 people, after 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded nearby in a mortar attack. The violence erupted despite U.S. efforts to promote a Middle East peace plan.
Palestinian Gov. Hosni Zoaroub said bulldozers tore down 10 buildings in the camp, which is near Jewish settlements. He said 60 people were left homeless. He said the Israelis withdrew early Wednesday after three hours in the camp.
RUSSIA
Pravda: Mikhail Gorbachev Criticizes US Foreign Policy, Warns Of Consequences
In statements to the Argentine daily Pagina 12, the former Soviet leader denounced "the end of the democracy" in the United States
For the leader of the Russian Social Democrats, the US-led invasion of Iraq was a "serious political mistake", as, in his opinion, there were no conclusive reasons to attack Saddam Hussein's regime. The last Soviet President also warned about the consequences of the unilateral US action. "They did whatever they wanted, and this is a worrying precedent," said Gorbachev.
"It was possible to tolerate such an action in Afghanistan, where the situation was clearer; however, in Iraq, the US was deploying its military the moment UN inspectors started working in the field", complained Gorbachev in a long interview published on Monday in the Argentine press. "They have split the UN Security Council and the world, disregarding global public opinion. This is no longer a democracy."
Pravda: Mikhail Gorbachev Criticizes US Foreign Policy, Warns Of Consequences
In statements to the Argentine daily Pagina 12, the former Soviet leader denounced "the end of the democracy" in the United States
For the leader of the Russian Social Democrats, the US-led invasion of Iraq was a "serious political mistake", as, in his opinion, there were no conclusive reasons to attack Saddam Hussein's regime. The last Soviet President also warned about the consequences of the unilateral US action. "They did whatever they wanted, and this is a worrying precedent," said Gorbachev.
"It was possible to tolerate such an action in Afghanistan, where the situation was clearer; however, in Iraq, the US was deploying its military the moment UN inspectors started working in the field", complained Gorbachev in a long interview published on Monday in the Argentine press. "They have split the UN Security Council and the world, disregarding global public opinion. This is no longer a democracy."
TERROR
Dailytimes Pakistan: Scaring America half to death
terrorism is at its lowest level in three decades
The distorted account of terrorism has had extraordinary psychological effect on many in the United States, causing them to think they are exposed to a degree of personal risk that has virtually no foundation in statistics, or indeed in common sense
Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations met in Paris on Monday to affirm that terrorism remains a “pervasive and global threat.” Just three days earlier, the State Department had announced that terrorism is at its lowest level in 33 years.
In its annual report to Congress on terrorism, the State Department said that the 199 recorded terrorist incidents last year represented a 44 percent drop from the previous year, and was the lowest total since 1969.
There were no terrorist attacks at all in the United States, five in Africa and nine in Western Europe. Nearly all the rest were in Asia (99), Latin America (50) and the Middle East (29). (Forty-one of the total 50 incidents reported as terrorism in all of Latin America last year were bombings of a US-owned oil pipeline in Colombia.)
What the report actually indicates is that virtually all the incidents identified by the US government as acts of “global terrorism” in 2002 occurred in four places: in Colombia; in Chechnya, with its separatist war; in Afghanistan, with the continuing low-scale war; and with the Palestinian intifada. Elsewhere, the Bali tourist bombing caused some 200 deaths.
Before Sept 11, 2001, virtually none of this would have been called terrorism. It would have been called civil insurrection, or nationalist or separatist violence.
CHECK IT
Dailytimes Pakistan: Scaring America half to death
terrorism is at its lowest level in three decades
The distorted account of terrorism has had extraordinary psychological effect on many in the United States, causing them to think they are exposed to a degree of personal risk that has virtually no foundation in statistics, or indeed in common sense
Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations met in Paris on Monday to affirm that terrorism remains a “pervasive and global threat.” Just three days earlier, the State Department had announced that terrorism is at its lowest level in 33 years.
In its annual report to Congress on terrorism, the State Department said that the 199 recorded terrorist incidents last year represented a 44 percent drop from the previous year, and was the lowest total since 1969.
There were no terrorist attacks at all in the United States, five in Africa and nine in Western Europe. Nearly all the rest were in Asia (99), Latin America (50) and the Middle East (29). (Forty-one of the total 50 incidents reported as terrorism in all of Latin America last year were bombings of a US-owned oil pipeline in Colombia.)
What the report actually indicates is that virtually all the incidents identified by the US government as acts of “global terrorism” in 2002 occurred in four places: in Colombia; in Chechnya, with its separatist war; in Afghanistan, with the continuing low-scale war; and with the Palestinian intifada. Elsewhere, the Bali tourist bombing caused some 200 deaths.
Before Sept 11, 2001, virtually none of this would have been called terrorism. It would have been called civil insurrection, or nationalist or separatist violence.
CHECK IT
IRAQ
Times of India: New Iraqi TV complains of US censorship
BAGHDAD: The US-sponsored Iraqi television station began broadcasts on Tuesday after complaining of American censorship, including efforts to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book
But the Iraqi Media Network postponed plans to air a half-hour live news programme because of disputes over editorial control.
"As journalists we will not submit to censorship," said Dan North, a Canadian documentary maker advising Iraqis at the station, which plans two hours of programming a night for viewers in Baghdad.
"This whole idea was about starting the genesis of an open media so we will not accept an outside source scrutinising what we produce."
The charges of censorship could reaffirm for many Iraqis the perception that Washington is not allowing them a free hand in building democratic institutions.
US officials made no comment on the censorship allegations. They had earlier said the station would be a welcome change from the Saddam era.
"This is not American propaganda. This is the first time in 25 years Iraqis are getting TV that is not propaganda," said Robert Teasdale, a US adviser to the network. "fair and balanced news...wie auf FOX"
Times of India: New Iraqi TV complains of US censorship
BAGHDAD: The US-sponsored Iraqi television station began broadcasts on Tuesday after complaining of American censorship, including efforts to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book
But the Iraqi Media Network postponed plans to air a half-hour live news programme because of disputes over editorial control.
"As journalists we will not submit to censorship," said Dan North, a Canadian documentary maker advising Iraqis at the station, which plans two hours of programming a night for viewers in Baghdad.
"This whole idea was about starting the genesis of an open media so we will not accept an outside source scrutinising what we produce."
The charges of censorship could reaffirm for many Iraqis the perception that Washington is not allowing them a free hand in building democratic institutions.
US officials made no comment on the censorship allegations. They had earlier said the station would be a welcome change from the Saddam era.
"This is not American propaganda. This is the first time in 25 years Iraqis are getting TV that is not propaganda," said Robert Teasdale, a US adviser to the network. "fair and balanced news...wie auf FOX"
SAUDI ARABIA
Independent: Intelligence chiefs forced to rethink as bomb targets complacency
A week ago the US intelligence community was talking with a swagger bordering on arrogance that had not existed since the attacks of 11 September. Al-Qa'ida was on the run, said officials in Washington. It may not have been entirely destroyed but the back of the organisation had been broken, its leadership and operational capabilities severely disrupted.
"It's no coincidence [that al-Qa'ida did not launch an attack during the war against Iraq]," boasted Cofer Black, a CIA veteran who heads the State Department's counter-terrorism office. "This was the big game for them: you put up or shut up and they have failed. It proves that the global war on terrorism has been effective, focused and has these guys on the run."
Yesterday, Mr Black was unavailable for further comment, while rescue workers in Riyadh were searching the rubble left by attacks Mr Black's boss, the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said had "all the fingerprints" of the supposedly defeated terror network.
Independent: Intelligence chiefs forced to rethink as bomb targets complacency
A week ago the US intelligence community was talking with a swagger bordering on arrogance that had not existed since the attacks of 11 September. Al-Qa'ida was on the run, said officials in Washington. It may not have been entirely destroyed but the back of the organisation had been broken, its leadership and operational capabilities severely disrupted.
"It's no coincidence [that al-Qa'ida did not launch an attack during the war against Iraq]," boasted Cofer Black, a CIA veteran who heads the State Department's counter-terrorism office. "This was the big game for them: you put up or shut up and they have failed. It proves that the global war on terrorism has been effective, focused and has these guys on the run."
Yesterday, Mr Black was unavailable for further comment, while rescue workers in Riyadh were searching the rubble left by attacks Mr Black's boss, the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said had "all the fingerprints" of the supposedly defeated terror network.
SAUDI ARABIA
News: Blasts 'commando operations'
THE huge suicide bomb attacks on three expatriate housing compounds in the Saudi capital were executed like true commando operations, a high-ranking US official said after US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Saudi Arabia.
In one of the attacks, suicide bombers took "thirty seconds to a minute" to knock out the security post at the compound housing the US-based Vinnell Corporation's employees, the official accompanying Powell said.
From within a Ford sedan, the attackers started by killing or wounding security guards sitting in a vehicle equipped with a machine gun, then seized control of the guard post to allow a booby-trapped Dodge Ram truck through the compound's gate.
News: Blasts 'commando operations'
THE huge suicide bomb attacks on three expatriate housing compounds in the Saudi capital were executed like true commando operations, a high-ranking US official said after US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Saudi Arabia.
In one of the attacks, suicide bombers took "thirty seconds to a minute" to knock out the security post at the compound housing the US-based Vinnell Corporation's employees, the official accompanying Powell said.
From within a Ford sedan, the attackers started by killing or wounding security guards sitting in a vehicle equipped with a machine gun, then seized control of the guard post to allow a booby-trapped Dodge Ram truck through the compound's gate.
SAUDIA ARABIA
Times online: Firm was 'cover for CIA'
AS BEFITS a company that has been accused of being a CIA front, of recruiting “executive mercenaries” and attempting to overthrow the Prime Minister of a Commonwealth state, the Vinnell Corporation kept a low profile in Riyadh.
Its discreet security fooled nobody, however: the bomb attack was the second it has suffered in eight years. In 1995 seven people were killed. This shadowy corporation is said to have been founded during the Depression. Dan Briody, author of The Iron Triangle, a study of Vinnell’s one-time owners, the Carlyle Group, serialised last week in The Times, says that there is “no publicity, no press releases, no news clippings”.
Times online: Firm was 'cover for CIA'
AS BEFITS a company that has been accused of being a CIA front, of recruiting “executive mercenaries” and attempting to overthrow the Prime Minister of a Commonwealth state, the Vinnell Corporation kept a low profile in Riyadh.
Its discreet security fooled nobody, however: the bomb attack was the second it has suffered in eight years. In 1995 seven people were killed. This shadowy corporation is said to have been founded during the Depression. Dan Briody, author of The Iron Triangle, a study of Vinnell’s one-time owners, the Carlyle Group, serialised last week in The Times, says that there is “no publicity, no press releases, no news clippings”.
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
SNEAKER OF THE DAY
NIKE LA LAKERS "UNDEFEATED" DUNK SUPREME
Limited auf 24 Stk. Worldwide. Für nur $860 auf Ebay
NIKE LA LAKERS "UNDEFEATED" DUNK SUPREME
Limited auf 24 Stk. Worldwide. Für nur $860 auf Ebay
Chechnya
Independent: 20 dead in Chechnya suicide bombing
Female bombers attack memorial service
Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a religious ceremony in Chechnya today, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens of others in the second major attack in the breakaway republic in the past three days.
Independent: 20 dead in Chechnya suicide bombing
Female bombers attack memorial service
Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a religious ceremony in Chechnya today, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens of others in the second major attack in the breakaway republic in the past three days.
USA-BELGIUM
Spiegel: KLAGE GEGEN US-GENERAL FRANKS
17 Iraker und zwei Jordanier haben bei der belgischen Justiz Klage gegen den Oberbefehlshaber der US-Truppen im Irak-Krieg, General Tommy Franks, eingereicht. Die Kläger werfen ihm Kriegsverbrechen vor. Der Vorgang belastet die Beziehungen zwischen den USA und Belgien
Spiegel: KLAGE GEGEN US-GENERAL FRANKS
17 Iraker und zwei Jordanier haben bei der belgischen Justiz Klage gegen den Oberbefehlshaber der US-Truppen im Irak-Krieg, General Tommy Franks, eingereicht. Die Kläger werfen ihm Kriegsverbrechen vor. Der Vorgang belastet die Beziehungen zwischen den USA und Belgien
USA
LA Times: Campus ink tanks
At the Jesse Helms Center in North Carolina, more than a dozen
earnest college students gathered for training in how to start
their own conservative newspapers and opinion journals and how to
pick fights with lefty bogeymen on the faculty and in student
government. "By the end of the day, the student journalists were
fired up for battle," writes John Johnson, "determined not only to
change the tenor of notoriously liberal campus dialogues, but also,
in the long run, to alter the basic makeup of the nation's
professional news outlets. ... In the wake of Sept. 11 and the war
on Iraq, seminars such as this one are brimming with recruits to
the battle for the hearts and minds of America's college students."
LA Times: Campus ink tanks
At the Jesse Helms Center in North Carolina, more than a dozen
earnest college students gathered for training in how to start
their own conservative newspapers and opinion journals and how to
pick fights with lefty bogeymen on the faculty and in student
government. "By the end of the day, the student journalists were
fired up for battle," writes John Johnson, "determined not only to
change the tenor of notoriously liberal campus dialogues, but also,
in the long run, to alter the basic makeup of the nation's
professional news outlets. ... In the wake of Sept. 11 and the war
on Iraq, seminars such as this one are brimming with recruits to
the battle for the hearts and minds of America's college students."
NEWS FROM BAGDAD
SALAM PAX BACK IN IRAQ WEBLOG
At the beginning of the war, an anonymous Iraqi calling himself
"Salam Pax" was weblogging from Baghdad. The postings stopped for
several weeks, but now he is back online, with a backlog of
street-level stories about the war and its aftermath. "War sucks
big time," he says. "Don't let yourself ever be talked into having
one waged in the name of your freedom. Somehow when the bombs start
dropping or you hear the sound of machine guns at the end of your
street you don't think about your 'imminent liberation' anymore."
On the other hand, he is "really glad that we can now at least have
hope for a new Iraq. ... The truth is, if it weren't for
intervention this would never have happened. When we were watching
the Saddam statue being pulled down, one of my aunts was saying
that she never thought she would see this day during her lifetime."
SALAM PAX BACK IN IRAQ WEBLOG
At the beginning of the war, an anonymous Iraqi calling himself
"Salam Pax" was weblogging from Baghdad. The postings stopped for
several weeks, but now he is back online, with a backlog of
street-level stories about the war and its aftermath. "War sucks
big time," he says. "Don't let yourself ever be talked into having
one waged in the name of your freedom. Somehow when the bombs start
dropping or you hear the sound of machine guns at the end of your
street you don't think about your 'imminent liberation' anymore."
On the other hand, he is "really glad that we can now at least have
hope for a new Iraq. ... The truth is, if it weren't for
intervention this would never have happened. When we were watching
the Saddam statue being pulled down, one of my aunts was saying
that she never thought she would see this day during her lifetime."
IRAQ
Common Dreams: THE WAR, AS TOLD TO US
"Washington has constructed a simple, heroic narrative of freedom
and asked us to ignore the much messier human devastation and
tragedies of this war," novelist Diana Abu-Jaber writes in the
Washington Post of the U.S. war on Iraq. "There are angry outbursts
against America across the Middle East, and most Americans have
almost no idea why. ... Our news programming has been instrumental
in the marketing of this war. ... When I said on one radio show
that I've traveled throughout the Middle East as an American, with
American friends, and have felt nothing from the Arabs but
friendship and hospitality, I received an e-mail from one listener
who wrote, 'Don't you know that Arabs hate us? It's all over the
news.' Of course, if Arabs are systematically portrayed as an
essentially hate-filled people, that makes the marketing of a very
expensive war and occupation much easier to manage."
Common Dreams: THE WAR, AS TOLD TO US
"Washington has constructed a simple, heroic narrative of freedom
and asked us to ignore the much messier human devastation and
tragedies of this war," novelist Diana Abu-Jaber writes in the
Washington Post of the U.S. war on Iraq. "There are angry outbursts
against America across the Middle East, and most Americans have
almost no idea why. ... Our news programming has been instrumental
in the marketing of this war. ... When I said on one radio show
that I've traveled throughout the Middle East as an American, with
American friends, and have felt nothing from the Arabs but
friendship and hospitality, I received an e-mail from one listener
who wrote, 'Don't you know that Arabs hate us? It's all over the
news.' Of course, if Arabs are systematically portrayed as an
essentially hate-filled people, that makes the marketing of a very
expensive war and occupation much easier to manage."
MEDIA WATCH
NY Times: The China Syndrome by Paul Krugman
A funny thing happened during the Iraq war: many Americans turned to the BBC for their TV news. They were looking for an alternative point of view — something they couldn't find on domestic networks, which, in the words of the BBC's director general, "wrapped themselves in the American flag and substituted patriotism for impartiality."
Leave aside the rights and wrongs of the war itself, and consider the paradox. The BBC is owned by the British government, and one might have expected it to support that government's policies. In fact, however, it tried hard — too hard, its critics say — to stay impartial. America's TV networks are privately owned, yet they behaved like state-run media.
What explains this paradox? It may have something to do with the China syndrome. No, not the one involving nuclear reactors — the one exhibited by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation when dealing with the government of the People's Republic.
In the United States, Mr. Murdoch's media empire — which includes Fox News and The New York Post — is known for its flag-waving patriotism. But all that patriotism didn't stop him from, as a Fortune article put it, "pandering to China's repressive regime to get his programming into that vast market." The pandering included dropping the BBC's World Service — which reports news China's government doesn't want disseminated — from his satellite programming, and having his publishing company cancel the publication of a book critical of the Chinese regime.
"CHECK IT"
NY Times: The China Syndrome by Paul Krugman
A funny thing happened during the Iraq war: many Americans turned to the BBC for their TV news. They were looking for an alternative point of view — something they couldn't find on domestic networks, which, in the words of the BBC's director general, "wrapped themselves in the American flag and substituted patriotism for impartiality."
Leave aside the rights and wrongs of the war itself, and consider the paradox. The BBC is owned by the British government, and one might have expected it to support that government's policies. In fact, however, it tried hard — too hard, its critics say — to stay impartial. America's TV networks are privately owned, yet they behaved like state-run media.
What explains this paradox? It may have something to do with the China syndrome. No, not the one involving nuclear reactors — the one exhibited by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation when dealing with the government of the People's Republic.
In the United States, Mr. Murdoch's media empire — which includes Fox News and The New York Post — is known for its flag-waving patriotism. But all that patriotism didn't stop him from, as a Fortune article put it, "pandering to China's repressive regime to get his programming into that vast market." The pandering included dropping the BBC's World Service — which reports news China's government doesn't want disseminated — from his satellite programming, and having his publishing company cancel the publication of a book critical of the Chinese regime.
"CHECK IT"
PR WATCH
The Hill: 24-HOUR MID-EAST TV TO PROMOTE "FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY"
The White House expects congressional funding to the tune of $64
million for the first-ever, 24-hour Arabic-language satellite
television network. "The aim is to provide the Middle East's tens
of millions of viewers with an alternative to their usual viewing
diet of unremediated anti-American propaganda," the Hill's Melissa
Seckora reports. Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting
Board of Governors (BBG), called the proposed network "the most
important public diplomacy initiative of our time." Westwood One
media mogul Norman Pattiz, who sits on the BBG and has produced TV
news for Iraq, bills the proposed Mid-East TV as a "journalistic
mission” to "promote and sustain freedom and democracy,” the Hil
reports. "We want to give the Arab world an example of what a free
press is. We want to do it in a way that is not like the
sensationalistic approach taken by the media in that region, one
that includes incitement to violence and disinformation,” Pattiz
said.
The Hill: 24-HOUR MID-EAST TV TO PROMOTE "FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY"
The White House expects congressional funding to the tune of $64
million for the first-ever, 24-hour Arabic-language satellite
television network. "The aim is to provide the Middle East's tens
of millions of viewers with an alternative to their usual viewing
diet of unremediated anti-American propaganda," the Hill's Melissa
Seckora reports. Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting
Board of Governors (BBG), called the proposed network "the most
important public diplomacy initiative of our time." Westwood One
media mogul Norman Pattiz, who sits on the BBG and has produced TV
news for Iraq, bills the proposed Mid-East TV as a "journalistic
mission” to "promote and sustain freedom and democracy,” the Hil
reports. "We want to give the Arab world an example of what a free
press is. We want to do it in a way that is not like the
sensationalistic approach taken by the media in that region, one
that includes incitement to violence and disinformation,” Pattiz
said.
IRAQ
Rense: Did The Iraqi Army Take A Dive For The US?
DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- After the opening week of battle in Iraq, many feared the worst.
The supply lines were stretched too thin. There were few reserves available. Fighting was unexpectedly tough in southern cities such as Basra and the toughest fighting was still ahead in Baghdad. The "cakewalk" predicted by the hawks in the Bush administration wasn't happening.
Then, the situation totally changed within a few days. The Iraqi army seemingly disappeared and the U.S. forces swept into Baghdad with a minimum of resistance.
With overwhelming superiority in firepower and total control of the air, a U.S. victory in Iraq was certain. But few believed it would take barely four weeks to achieve nearly all of the military objectives.
It all looked so easy. Maybe too easy.
Rense: Did The Iraqi Army Take A Dive For The US?
DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- After the opening week of battle in Iraq, many feared the worst.
The supply lines were stretched too thin. There were few reserves available. Fighting was unexpectedly tough in southern cities such as Basra and the toughest fighting was still ahead in Baghdad. The "cakewalk" predicted by the hawks in the Bush administration wasn't happening.
Then, the situation totally changed within a few days. The Iraqi army seemingly disappeared and the U.S. forces swept into Baghdad with a minimum of resistance.
With overwhelming superiority in firepower and total control of the air, a U.S. victory in Iraq was certain. But few believed it would take barely four weeks to achieve nearly all of the military objectives.
It all looked so easy. Maybe too easy.
AL-QAIDA VS SAUDI ARABIA
Guardian: The war that Bin Laden is winning
The US withdrawal from Saudi Arabia will not save the regime
If the decision to pull US forces out of Saudi Arabia had been announced before the war on Iraq, it would have been seen, correctly, as a major victory for Osama bin Laden and his supporters. Al-Qaida began its campaign with the demand for a withdrawal of American troops from the country. Timing the announcement for the aftermath of the war has been clearly calculated to minimise that perception
CHECK IT
Guardian: The war that Bin Laden is winning
The US withdrawal from Saudi Arabia will not save the regime
If the decision to pull US forces out of Saudi Arabia had been announced before the war on Iraq, it would have been seen, correctly, as a major victory for Osama bin Laden and his supporters. Al-Qaida began its campaign with the demand for a withdrawal of American troops from the country. Timing the announcement for the aftermath of the war has been clearly calculated to minimise that perception
CHECK IT
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
IRAQ
islamonline: Baghdad Anarchy Spurs Call For Help : U.S. Paper
BAGHDAD, May 13 (islamonline.net & News Agencies) - Baghdad residents and U.S. officials said that U.S. occupation forces are insufficient to maintain order in the Iraqi capital and called for reinforcements to calm a wave of violence that has unfurled over the city, undermining relief and reconstruction efforts and inspiring anxiety about the future, a leading U.S. paper reported Tuesday, May 13.
Reports of carjacking, assaults and forced evictions grew, adding to an impression that recent improvements in security were evaporating, reported the Washington post.
islamonline: Baghdad Anarchy Spurs Call For Help : U.S. Paper
BAGHDAD, May 13 (islamonline.net & News Agencies) - Baghdad residents and U.S. officials said that U.S. occupation forces are insufficient to maintain order in the Iraqi capital and called for reinforcements to calm a wave of violence that has unfurled over the city, undermining relief and reconstruction efforts and inspiring anxiety about the future, a leading U.S. paper reported Tuesday, May 13.
Reports of carjacking, assaults and forced evictions grew, adding to an impression that recent improvements in security were evaporating, reported the Washington post.
IRAQ
Csmonitor: Disorder deepens in liberated Baghdad
The US administrator for central Iraq left the post Sunday after just
three weeks in office. BAGHDAD – Fearful of going out after dark, waiting up
to 10 hours to fill their cars with gas, spreading rumors in the absence
of reliable media, watching landmark buildings set on fire and wondering
who is in charge, the residents of this capital are growing increasingly
impatient with the deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives more
than a month after US troops took over the city. "My worst fear is
chaos, of all hell breaking loose, and it seems like that is happening," says
the Jenan Khadimi, an American-Iraqi who teaches architecture at Baghdad
University.
Csmonitor: Disorder deepens in liberated Baghdad
The US administrator for central Iraq left the post Sunday after just
three weeks in office. BAGHDAD – Fearful of going out after dark, waiting up
to 10 hours to fill their cars with gas, spreading rumors in the absence
of reliable media, watching landmark buildings set on fire and wondering
who is in charge, the residents of this capital are growing increasingly
impatient with the deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives more
than a month after US troops took over the city. "My worst fear is
chaos, of all hell breaking loose, and it seems like that is happening," says
the Jenan Khadimi, an American-Iraqi who teaches architecture at Baghdad
University.
IRAQI DEMOCRACY
Indymedia/Le Monde: No Islamic Iraqi Government - Even If Democratically Voted Into Office: Rumsfeld translation
After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's appalling dictatorship, the US promised that it would establish in Iraq an exemplary democracy....Is such a promise credible? Obviously not. The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, hastened to point out that even if it was the desire of the majority of Iraqis as expressed at the ballot box, the US would not accept an Islamic regime in Iraq: 'That isn't going to happen,' he said . This is a very old law of history: empires impose their law on the vanquished. But there is also another law: those that live by empire die by it.
"Soviel zur Amerikanischen Aufassung von Demokratie und Recht. Als hätten wir es nicht gewusst"
Indymedia/Le Monde: No Islamic Iraqi Government - Even If Democratically Voted Into Office: Rumsfeld translation
After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's appalling dictatorship, the US promised that it would establish in Iraq an exemplary democracy....Is such a promise credible? Obviously not. The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, hastened to point out that even if it was the desire of the majority of Iraqis as expressed at the ballot box, the US would not accept an Islamic regime in Iraq: 'That isn't going to happen,' he said . This is a very old law of history: empires impose their law on the vanquished. But there is also another law: those that live by empire die by it.
"Soviel zur Amerikanischen Aufassung von Demokratie und Recht. Als hätten wir es nicht gewusst"
IRAQ
Indymedia: Al-Thawra is Mourning its Dead
"It is effective" says Fatme, of the looting of the museums and ministries, "By destroying a people’s heritage, you destroy their past and future. We have been made - to them - a people without a past - our records and archives are destroyed, burnt in the ministries. We become a people without names, no records to say we exist. It is not the objects themselves we are sad about, it is what they represented to us. We are the oldest civilisation, but we are presented to the world as terrorists, as fanatics. Only people who fight with small guns are called terrorists. Bush, who bombs us with cluster bombs, and strangles us with the embargo, is a 'civilised man'."
Indymedia: Al-Thawra is Mourning its Dead
"It is effective" says Fatme, of the looting of the museums and ministries, "By destroying a people’s heritage, you destroy their past and future. We have been made - to them - a people without a past - our records and archives are destroyed, burnt in the ministries. We become a people without names, no records to say we exist. It is not the objects themselves we are sad about, it is what they represented to us. We are the oldest civilisation, but we are presented to the world as terrorists, as fanatics. Only people who fight with small guns are called terrorists. Bush, who bombs us with cluster bombs, and strangles us with the embargo, is a 'civilised man'."
IRAQ
Fromthewilderness/Bloomberg: U.S., U.K. Waged War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser Says
London, May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq because of the Middle East country's oil reserves, an adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Sir Jonathan Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, which advises Blair's government on ecological issues, said the prospect of winning access to Iraqi oil was ''a very large factor'' in the allies' decision to attack Iraq in March.
"I don't think the war would have happened if Iraq didn't have the second-largest oil reserves in the world,'' Porritt said in a Sky News television interview.
Fromthewilderness/Bloomberg: U.S., U.K. Waged War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser Says
London, May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq because of the Middle East country's oil reserves, an adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Sir Jonathan Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, which advises Blair's government on ecological issues, said the prospect of winning access to Iraqi oil was ''a very large factor'' in the allies' decision to attack Iraq in March.
"I don't think the war would have happened if Iraq didn't have the second-largest oil reserves in the world,'' Porritt said in a Sky News television interview.
PEAK OIL
Fromthewilderness:
Mexicans Outraged by Immigration/Oil Move
JOHN RICE
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2003
MEXICO CITY - A move in the U.S. Congress to link immigration with opening up Mexico's state oil company to U.S. investment has outraged Mexicans, and newspapers Saturday accused American lawmakers of arrogance and blackmail.
"May 11, 2003, 0100 PDT (FTW) --Mexico passed its peak of oil production in the 1980s. Its nationalized oil company, Pemex, controls both the oil and natural gas resources of our Southern neighbor. Soon Mexico will not have enough natural gas to meet even its own needs, let alone exporting it to the US. As the Empire's oil reserves shrink and as its natural gas reserves approach empty, with Canadian tar sands development proving to be an economic and ecological disaster, the realities of diminishing hydrocarbon energy supplies are starting to hit home. Once more the Empire's fig leaf is removed as the House International Relations Committee tells Mexico, “If you want better immigration laws, give us control of your fossil fuels.” The Sense of Congress resolution needs to be approved by both houses and is sure to stir up a fight. But, in the context of Peak Oil, it will be perhaps the kindest, gentlest move the Empire makes to obtain control of Mexico's oil."
Fromthewilderness:
Mexicans Outraged by Immigration/Oil Move
JOHN RICE
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2003
MEXICO CITY - A move in the U.S. Congress to link immigration with opening up Mexico's state oil company to U.S. investment has outraged Mexicans, and newspapers Saturday accused American lawmakers of arrogance and blackmail.
"May 11, 2003, 0100 PDT (FTW) --Mexico passed its peak of oil production in the 1980s. Its nationalized oil company, Pemex, controls both the oil and natural gas resources of our Southern neighbor. Soon Mexico will not have enough natural gas to meet even its own needs, let alone exporting it to the US. As the Empire's oil reserves shrink and as its natural gas reserves approach empty, with Canadian tar sands development proving to be an economic and ecological disaster, the realities of diminishing hydrocarbon energy supplies are starting to hit home. Once more the Empire's fig leaf is removed as the House International Relations Committee tells Mexico, “If you want better immigration laws, give us control of your fossil fuels.” The Sense of Congress resolution needs to be approved by both houses and is sure to stir up a fight. But, in the context of Peak Oil, it will be perhaps the kindest, gentlest move the Empire makes to obtain control of Mexico's oil."
EUROPE
Yellowtimes: ''Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power?"
PINR) -- Now that the United States has expressed its desire to weaken the United Nations politically and to create a new world order in which the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it will be important to watch how Europe responds. Prior to the war in Iraq, the European states of France and Germany were unwilling to support a U.S. led invasion. With the weight of the Security Council behind these two states, governments around the world watched to see if the U.S. would defy the United Nations and thus upset the balance of world order. The Bush administration decided to attack Iraq without U.N. support, which sent ominous signals throughout the world that the U.S. would no longer be restrained by the decrees of the U.N.
Yellowtimes: ''Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power?"
PINR) -- Now that the United States has expressed its desire to weaken the United Nations politically and to create a new world order in which the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it will be important to watch how Europe responds. Prior to the war in Iraq, the European states of France and Germany were unwilling to support a U.S. led invasion. With the weight of the Security Council behind these two states, governments around the world watched to see if the U.S. would defy the United Nations and thus upset the balance of world order. The Bush administration decided to attack Iraq without U.N. support, which sent ominous signals throughout the world that the U.S. would no longer be restrained by the decrees of the U.N.
CHINA
World Net Daily: China set to field world's most powerful tank
Communist state also improving laser systems, naval capabilities
China has made substantial advances in some areas of its ground and naval forces, including upgrades to tanks and armor, laser systems and anti-submarine warfare.
Jane's Defense Weekly, a respected Britain-based military journal, said the People's Liberation Army is set to deploy a new main battle tank, or MBT, that, when fielded, will become the most powerful of its kind in the world.
World Net Daily: China set to field world's most powerful tank
Communist state also improving laser systems, naval capabilities
China has made substantial advances in some areas of its ground and naval forces, including upgrades to tanks and armor, laser systems and anti-submarine warfare.
Jane's Defense Weekly, a respected Britain-based military journal, said the People's Liberation Army is set to deploy a new main battle tank, or MBT, that, when fielded, will become the most powerful of its kind in the world.
USA
Common Dreams: Bush Should Be Impeached and Tried for War Crimes
One image from the conflict in Iraq continues to haunt me. A photograph in the New York Times includes the school pictures of three girls. Marwa, Tabarek, and Safia Abbas were dark-haired beauties, aged 11, 8, and 5. They could be from anywhere, but until recently they lived in Baghdad. Note I refer to them in the past tense....
Common Dreams: Bush Should Be Impeached and Tried for War Crimes
One image from the conflict in Iraq continues to haunt me. A photograph in the New York Times includes the school pictures of three girls. Marwa, Tabarek, and Safia Abbas were dark-haired beauties, aged 11, 8, and 5. They could be from anywhere, but until recently they lived in Baghdad. Note I refer to them in the past tense....
USA
Counterpunch: Group Therapy
Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel and Baghdad
Veteran observers of the klepto-plutocracy that has, lazar-like, long encrusted the American body politic were not surprised to see the hoary name of the Bechtel Group bobbing up in the swill of sweetheart deals now being doled out by the Corrupter-in-Chief for the "reconstruction" of his new fiefdom in Iraq. Decades before its comrade in cronyism, the Carlyle Group, made its meteoric, Bush-assisted ascent to global prominence, Bechtel had already perfected the dark art of milking intimate government connections for fat, risk-free contracts.
Counterpunch: Group Therapy
Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel and Baghdad
Veteran observers of the klepto-plutocracy that has, lazar-like, long encrusted the American body politic were not surprised to see the hoary name of the Bechtel Group bobbing up in the swill of sweetheart deals now being doled out by the Corrupter-in-Chief for the "reconstruction" of his new fiefdom in Iraq. Decades before its comrade in cronyism, the Carlyle Group, made its meteoric, Bush-assisted ascent to global prominence, Bechtel had already perfected the dark art of milking intimate government connections for fat, risk-free contracts.
ISRAEL
Swissinfo: Sharon rejects settlement retreat
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected any talk of dismantling Jewish settlements in the
foreseeable future despite U.S. calls for conciliatory gestures to advance a new Middle East peace plan.
His remarks, underlining his rightist coalition's objections to the peace "road map", were in an interview published on
Tuesday as he prepared for talks with the new reformist Palestinian premier later this week and U.S. President George W.
Bush on May 20.
"damit ist die US-Friedensinitiative Tod bevor sie begonnen hat"
Swissinfo: Sharon rejects settlement retreat
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected any talk of dismantling Jewish settlements in the
foreseeable future despite U.S. calls for conciliatory gestures to advance a new Middle East peace plan.
His remarks, underlining his rightist coalition's objections to the peace "road map", were in an interview published on
Tuesday as he prepared for talks with the new reformist Palestinian premier later this week and U.S. President George W.
Bush on May 20.
"damit ist die US-Friedensinitiative Tod bevor sie begonnen hat"
SAUDI ARABIA
Spiegel: Möglicherweise über hundert Tote
Die Opferzahlen bei den verheerenden Terroranschlägen im saudi-arabischen Riad sind offenbar weit höher als befürchtet. Allein in einem Krankenhaus wurden einem Arzt zufolge 40 bis 50 Tote gezählt. In US-Regierungskreisen ist von über hundert Toten die Rede. Darunter seien auch Deutsche. Für US-Außenminister Powell steht fest: Hinter dem Anschlag steckt al-Qaida
Independent: '50 killed' in Riyadh suicide bombings
Dozens of people were killed in four suicide bomb attacks on Western targets in Saudi Arabia hours before the US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in the country today.
Mr Powell announced that there were at least 10 Americans killed in the attacks, adding that "there was a large loss of life of others". He said the bombings bore the hallmarks of the al-Qa'ida terrorist group.
Ananova: At least 40 killed as 'seven car bombs detonated'
At least 40 people have been killed after terrorists shot their way into three compounds housing foreigners in Saudi Arabia and set off car up to seven bombs.
Spiegel: Möglicherweise über hundert Tote
Die Opferzahlen bei den verheerenden Terroranschlägen im saudi-arabischen Riad sind offenbar weit höher als befürchtet. Allein in einem Krankenhaus wurden einem Arzt zufolge 40 bis 50 Tote gezählt. In US-Regierungskreisen ist von über hundert Toten die Rede. Darunter seien auch Deutsche. Für US-Außenminister Powell steht fest: Hinter dem Anschlag steckt al-Qaida
Independent: '50 killed' in Riyadh suicide bombings
Dozens of people were killed in four suicide bomb attacks on Western targets in Saudi Arabia hours before the US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in the country today.
Mr Powell announced that there were at least 10 Americans killed in the attacks, adding that "there was a large loss of life of others". He said the bombings bore the hallmarks of the al-Qa'ida terrorist group.
Ananova: At least 40 killed as 'seven car bombs detonated'
At least 40 people have been killed after terrorists shot their way into three compounds housing foreigners in Saudi Arabia and set off car up to seven bombs.
Monday, May 12, 2003
Tschetschenien
Spiegel: Rebellen jagen Regierungsgebäude in die Luft - über 40 Tote
Drei Attentäter haben in der nordtschetschenischen Stadt Snamenskoje einen mit Sprengstoff beladenen Lastwagen in ein Regierungsgebäude gelenkt. Dort brachten sie ihre tödliche Ladung zur Explosion. Dutzende Menschen kamen ums Leben, bis zu 300 wurden verletzt
Spiegel: Rebellen jagen Regierungsgebäude in die Luft - über 40 Tote
Drei Attentäter haben in der nordtschetschenischen Stadt Snamenskoje einen mit Sprengstoff beladenen Lastwagen in ein Regierungsgebäude gelenkt. Dort brachten sie ihre tödliche Ladung zur Explosion. Dutzende Menschen kamen ums Leben, bis zu 300 wurden verletzt
IRAQ
Independent: Fury Rises In Baghdad-Saddam's Gone, Heroin Is Back
The killing of two US soldiers in Baghdad within 24 hours last week shows how far the US and Britain still have to go to end the chaos gripping the Iraqi capital a month after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Anger is growing among Iraqis at the Allies' failure to restore order in a cityawash with weapons and gangs. Heroin - banned under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship upon pain of hanging - is now being traded in back streets
"Hat das US-Militär Drogendealer-Specialforces? Überall wo die Amerikaner auftauchen werden die Strassen von Heroin überschwemmt"
Independent: Fury Rises In Baghdad-Saddam's Gone, Heroin Is Back
The killing of two US soldiers in Baghdad within 24 hours last week shows how far the US and Britain still have to go to end the chaos gripping the Iraqi capital a month after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Anger is growing among Iraqis at the Allies' failure to restore order in a cityawash with weapons and gangs. Heroin - banned under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship upon pain of hanging - is now being traded in back streets
"Hat das US-Militär Drogendealer-Specialforces? Überall wo die Amerikaner auftauchen werden die Strassen von Heroin überschwemmt"
IRAQ
ABC: Shiite Leader Demands U.S. Leave Iraq
Shiite Leader Demands Coalition Troops Withdraw and Allow Iraqis to Establish Own Government
The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group denounced the U.S.-led occupation forces Sunday and demanded they pull out and allow the Iraqi people to establish their own government.
ABC: Shiite Leader Demands U.S. Leave Iraq
Shiite Leader Demands Coalition Troops Withdraw and Allow Iraqis to Establish Own Government
The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group denounced the U.S.-led occupation forces Sunday and demanded they pull out and allow the Iraqi people to establish their own government.
IRAQ
Independent: Baghdad Rots After A Month Of US 'Reconstruction'
It was just another day in the process of "getting Baghdad back to normal". Well, on this most normal of days when news was supposed to be slow, the US-appointed Health Minister finally resigned at the time of a steadily mounting public health crisis after a week of relentless pressure from doctors disgusted at his prominent past in the Saddam Hussein regime.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Saddam Is In Iraq Under Special Protection - Chalabi
BAGHDAD -- Ahmad Chalabi, president of the Iraqi National Congress, has said Saddam Hussein is moving around in the country under special protection. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, he said the people around Saddam had now abandoned him. "They don't know about his whereabouts," he added.
Independent: US Finds Zero Iraq WMDs Yet Blocks Return Of Blix Team
The United States is continuing this weekend to block the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq, even though its own teams of experts have so far failed to find any definitive evidence of banned biological, chemical or nuclear materials in the country, let alone any actual armaments.
Independent: Baghdad Rots After A Month Of US 'Reconstruction'
It was just another day in the process of "getting Baghdad back to normal". Well, on this most normal of days when news was supposed to be slow, the US-appointed Health Minister finally resigned at the time of a steadily mounting public health crisis after a week of relentless pressure from doctors disgusted at his prominent past in the Saddam Hussein regime.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Saddam Is In Iraq Under Special Protection - Chalabi
BAGHDAD -- Ahmad Chalabi, president of the Iraqi National Congress, has said Saddam Hussein is moving around in the country under special protection. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, he said the people around Saddam had now abandoned him. "They don't know about his whereabouts," he added.
Independent: US Finds Zero Iraq WMDs Yet Blocks Return Of Blix Team
The United States is continuing this weekend to block the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq, even though its own teams of experts have so far failed to find any definitive evidence of banned biological, chemical or nuclear materials in the country, let alone any actual armaments.
911
Rense: Political Deception -The Missing Link Behind 9-11
Newsmax: Prez Wannabe Graham Eyeing Evidence That Bush Blew 9/11
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bob Graham is reportedly sitting on damaging evidence that the Bush administration could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks - but he hasn't released the information yet because it's classified.
tomflocco:Bush May Invoke 9/11 Executive Privilege and Secrecy
THE ATTACK WILL BE SPECTACULAR AND DESIGNED TO INFLICT MASS CASUALTIES AGAINST U.S. FACILITIES OR INTERESTS. ATTACK PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. ATTACK WILL OCCUR WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.” (CIA Intelligence Report for President Bush, July, 2001 -- 60 Days Prior to 9/11)
Rense: Controlled Collapse of tower 7?
Rense: Political Deception -The Missing Link Behind 9-11
Newsmax: Prez Wannabe Graham Eyeing Evidence That Bush Blew 9/11
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bob Graham is reportedly sitting on damaging evidence that the Bush administration could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks - but he hasn't released the information yet because it's classified.
tomflocco:Bush May Invoke 9/11 Executive Privilege and Secrecy
THE ATTACK WILL BE SPECTACULAR AND DESIGNED TO INFLICT MASS CASUALTIES AGAINST U.S. FACILITIES OR INTERESTS. ATTACK PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. ATTACK WILL OCCUR WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.” (CIA Intelligence Report for President Bush, July, 2001 -- 60 Days Prior to 9/11)
Rense: Controlled Collapse of tower 7?
LONDON
Reuters: IRA Shaken As British Double Agent Unmasked
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - The unmasking of Britain's top spy within the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has sent shockwaves through one of Europe's most feared guerrilla organizations.
Revelations that Alfredo "Freddy" Scappaticci was working for the British at the same time as running the IRA's ruthless internal security unit will shake IRA morale, but also pose awkward questions for authorities in London and Belfast.
"There's a lot of anger (within the IRA) of course, that this guy, who was involved in a lot of operations, was passing information across," Belfast-based political commentator Brian Feeney told Reuters on Monday.
Independent: IRA double agent 'Stakeknife' forced to flee Ireland as cover is blown
A new wave of allegations of Army intelligence misbehaviour has accompanied the naming at the weekend of a Belfast republican described as a key security force asset in the upper ranks of the IRA.
Reuters: IRA Shaken As British Double Agent Unmasked
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - The unmasking of Britain's top spy within the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has sent shockwaves through one of Europe's most feared guerrilla organizations.
Revelations that Alfredo "Freddy" Scappaticci was working for the British at the same time as running the IRA's ruthless internal security unit will shake IRA morale, but also pose awkward questions for authorities in London and Belfast.
"There's a lot of anger (within the IRA) of course, that this guy, who was involved in a lot of operations, was passing information across," Belfast-based political commentator Brian Feeney told Reuters on Monday.
Independent: IRA double agent 'Stakeknife' forced to flee Ireland as cover is blown
A new wave of allegations of Army intelligence misbehaviour has accompanied the naming at the weekend of a Belfast republican described as a key security force asset in the upper ranks of the IRA.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)