CRIME WATCH
Inforamtion Clearinghouse: Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade
You have the Fortune 500, the Forbes 400, the Forbes Platinum 100, the International 800 -- among others.
These lists rank big corporations by sales, assets, profits and market share. The point of these surveys is simple -- to identify and glorify the biggest and most profitable corporations.
The point of the list contained in this report, The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade -- is to focus public attention on a wave of corporate criminality that has swamped prosecutors offices around the country.
1) F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
28) Lonza AG
Friday, June 06, 2003
IRAQ
Spiegel: "Chemie-Ali" womöglich doch am Leben
Anfang April verkündete die US-Regierung einen großen Erfolg gegen das Regime Saddam Husseins. Dessen Cousin Ali Hassan al-Madschid, bekannt als "Chemical Ali", sei bei einem Luftangriff ums Leben gekommen. Nun räumt Generalstabschef Richard Myers ein, dass der irakische General noch am Leben sein könnte.
Spiegel: "Chemie-Ali" womöglich doch am Leben
Anfang April verkündete die US-Regierung einen großen Erfolg gegen das Regime Saddam Husseins. Dessen Cousin Ali Hassan al-Madschid, bekannt als "Chemical Ali", sei bei einem Luftangriff ums Leben gekommen. Nun räumt Generalstabschef Richard Myers ein, dass der irakische General noch am Leben sein könnte.
USA
Spiegel: Amerikas Gouverneure greifen zur Axt
In den Haushalten der US-Bundesstaaten klaffen Milliardenlöcher in Rekordgröße, nun beginnt eine Orgie hektischen Streichens, Kürzens und Sparens, das deutschen Regierungen, Parlamentariern und Verwaltungen wie wohlfahrtspolitisches Höllenwerk erscheinen muss. Von den Einschnitten sind vor allem Minderheiten und Mittellose betroffen.
"Neoliberalismus führt zu Wohlstand für Alle!"
Spiegel: Amerikas Gouverneure greifen zur Axt
In den Haushalten der US-Bundesstaaten klaffen Milliardenlöcher in Rekordgröße, nun beginnt eine Orgie hektischen Streichens, Kürzens und Sparens, das deutschen Regierungen, Parlamentariern und Verwaltungen wie wohlfahrtspolitisches Höllenwerk erscheinen muss. Von den Einschnitten sind vor allem Minderheiten und Mittellose betroffen.
"Neoliberalismus führt zu Wohlstand für Alle!"
Thursday, June 05, 2003
DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel: Möllemann bei Fallschirmabsprung ums Leben gekommen - vermutlich Selbstmord
Der frühere FDP-Spitzenpolitiker Jürgen Möllemann ist tot. Er kam bei einem Fallschirmabsprung ums Leben. Nach Angaben der Staatsanwaltschaft war es vermutlich Selbstmord. Justizbeamte hatten heute mehrere Wohnungen und Büros Möllemanns durchsucht. Hintergrund seien die Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Möllemann und fünf weitere Beschuldigte wegen Verstoßes gegen das Parteiengesetz, Betrugs und Untreue.
Spiegel: Möllemann bei Fallschirmabsprung ums Leben gekommen - vermutlich Selbstmord
Der frühere FDP-Spitzenpolitiker Jürgen Möllemann ist tot. Er kam bei einem Fallschirmabsprung ums Leben. Nach Angaben der Staatsanwaltschaft war es vermutlich Selbstmord. Justizbeamte hatten heute mehrere Wohnungen und Büros Möllemanns durchsucht. Hintergrund seien die Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Möllemann und fünf weitere Beschuldigte wegen Verstoßes gegen das Parteiengesetz, Betrugs und Untreue.
IRAQ
John Pilger: High Crimes
In his latest article for the Daily Mirror, John Pilger argues that the "high crime" of the invasion of Iraq that "will not melt away" and says the catalogue of Tony Blair's deceptions are now being revealed by the day, unravelling any credibility left. :
SUCH a high crime does not, and will not, melt away; the facts cannot be changed. Tony Blair took Britain to war against Iraq illegally. He mounted an unprovoked attack on a country that offered no threat, and he helped cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The judges at the Nuremberg Tribunal following world war two, who inspired much of international law, called this "the gravest of all war crimes".
Blair had not the shred of a mandate from the British people to do what he did. On the contrary, on the eve of the attack, the majority of Britons clearly demanded he stop. His response was contemptuous of such an epic show of true democracy. He chose to listen only to the unelected leader of a foreign power, and to his court and his obsession.
With his courtiers in and out of the media telling him he was "courageous" and even "moral" when he scored his "historic victory" over a defenceless, stricken and traumatised nation, almost half of them children, his propaganda managers staged a series of unctuous public relations stunts.
"CHECK IT"
John Pilger: High Crimes
In his latest article for the Daily Mirror, John Pilger argues that the "high crime" of the invasion of Iraq that "will not melt away" and says the catalogue of Tony Blair's deceptions are now being revealed by the day, unravelling any credibility left. :
SUCH a high crime does not, and will not, melt away; the facts cannot be changed. Tony Blair took Britain to war against Iraq illegally. He mounted an unprovoked attack on a country that offered no threat, and he helped cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The judges at the Nuremberg Tribunal following world war two, who inspired much of international law, called this "the gravest of all war crimes".
Blair had not the shred of a mandate from the British people to do what he did. On the contrary, on the eve of the attack, the majority of Britons clearly demanded he stop. His response was contemptuous of such an epic show of true democracy. He chose to listen only to the unelected leader of a foreign power, and to his court and his obsession.
With his courtiers in and out of the media telling him he was "courageous" and even "moral" when he scored his "historic victory" over a defenceless, stricken and traumatised nation, almost half of them children, his propaganda managers staged a series of unctuous public relations stunts.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Times of India: Saddam Hussein is alive: CIA
WASHINGTON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has internal documents that make it clear Saddam Hussein is alive and hiding in greater Baghdad, protected by an underground resistance network of tribesmen and former Baath officials, US administration officials told UPI.
"There is a resistance network and it is stronger than we originally thought," one administration source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Saddam is moving around inside Iraq and he's got a lot of support," another US government official said.
He added: "A lot of what is being reported in the press as 'looting' is in fact sabotage by Baath party stay-behind groups."
The underground Baath resistance is made up of former party officials who are funded with money looted from the Iraqi treasury, this source said.
"There is credible evidence that Saddam is still alive and being sheltered," said former CIA chief Vince Cannistraro
Times of India: Saddam Hussein is alive: CIA
WASHINGTON: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has internal documents that make it clear Saddam Hussein is alive and hiding in greater Baghdad, protected by an underground resistance network of tribesmen and former Baath officials, US administration officials told UPI.
"There is a resistance network and it is stronger than we originally thought," one administration source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Saddam is moving around inside Iraq and he's got a lot of support," another US government official said.
He added: "A lot of what is being reported in the press as 'looting' is in fact sabotage by Baath party stay-behind groups."
The underground Baath resistance is made up of former party officials who are funded with money looted from the Iraqi treasury, this source said.
"There is credible evidence that Saddam is still alive and being sheltered," said former CIA chief Vince Cannistraro
IRAQ
Times of India: Iraqi troops, tribes tell US leave or face war
BAGHDAD: Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers swarmed angrily around US headquarters in Baghdad on Monday, as squabbling tribal leaders told the Americans they could face war if they did not leave soon.
"The entire Iraqi people is a time bomb that will blow up in the Americans' face if they don't end their occupation," tribal chief Riyadh al-Asadi told the media after meeting a US official for talks on the future of Iraq after Saddam Hussein
Times of India: Iraqi troops, tribes tell US leave or face war
BAGHDAD: Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers swarmed angrily around US headquarters in Baghdad on Monday, as squabbling tribal leaders told the Americans they could face war if they did not leave soon.
"The entire Iraqi people is a time bomb that will blow up in the Americans' face if they don't end their occupation," tribal chief Riyadh al-Asadi told the media after meeting a US official for talks on the future of Iraq after Saddam Hussein
IRAQ WMD?
Asia Times: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but ...
WASHINGTON - When all three major US newsweeklies - Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report - run major features on the same day on possible government lying, you can bet you have the makings of a major scandal.
And when the two most important outlets of neo-conservative opinion - The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal - come out on the same days with lead editorials spluttering outrage about suggestions of government lying, you can bet that things are going to get very hot as summer approaches in Washington.
The controversy over whether the administration of President George W Bush either exaggerated or lied about evidence that it said it had about the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq before the US-led invasion has mushroomed over the past week. £
Asia Times: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but ...
WASHINGTON - When all three major US newsweeklies - Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report - run major features on the same day on possible government lying, you can bet you have the makings of a major scandal.
And when the two most important outlets of neo-conservative opinion - The Weekly Standard and The Wall Street Journal - come out on the same days with lead editorials spluttering outrage about suggestions of government lying, you can bet that things are going to get very hot as summer approaches in Washington.
The controversy over whether the administration of President George W Bush either exaggerated or lied about evidence that it said it had about the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq before the US-led invasion has mushroomed over the past week. £
IRAQ
Guardian: Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil
Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war.
The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in oil.
The latest comments were made by Mr Wolfowitz in an address to delegates at an Asian security summit in Singapore at the weekend, and reported today by German newspapers Der Tagesspiegel and Die Welt.
Asked why a nuclear power such as North Korea was being treated differently from Iraq, where hardly any weapons of mass destruction had been found, the deputy defence minister said: "Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
Guardian: Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil
Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war.
The US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is "swimming" in oil.
The latest comments were made by Mr Wolfowitz in an address to delegates at an Asian security summit in Singapore at the weekend, and reported today by German newspapers Der Tagesspiegel and Die Welt.
Asked why a nuclear power such as North Korea was being treated differently from Iraq, where hardly any weapons of mass destruction had been found, the deputy defence minister said: "Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil."
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
IRAQ
Independent/ZMAG: The Troops Are Afraid To Go Out At Night
by Robert Fisk
I was travelling into the Shia Muslim Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Friday evening when three American soldiers jumped in front of my car. "Stop the car, stop the car!" one of them shouted, waving a pistol at the windscreen. I screamed at the driver to stop. He hadn't seen them step into the road. Nor had I. Two other soldiers approached from the rear, rifles pointed at our vehicle. I showed our identity passes and the officer, wearing a floppy camouflage hat, was polite but short. "You should have seen our checkpoint," he snapped, then added: "Have a good stay in Nasiriyah but don't go out after dark. It's not safe."
What he meant, I think, was that it wasn't safe for American soldiers after dark. Hours later, I went out in the streets of Nasiriyah for a chicken burger and the Iraqis who served me in a run-down cafe couldn't have been friendlier. There were the usual apologies for the dirt on the table and the lack of paper napkins, along with the usual grimy square on the wall where, just two months ago, a portrait of Saddam Hussein must have been hanging. So what was going on? The "liberators" were already entering the wilderness of occupation while our masters in London and Washington were still braying about victory and courage and - here I quote Tony Blair on the same day, addressing British troops 60 miles further south in Basra - of how they "went on to try to make something of the country you liberated".
Independent/ZMAG: The Troops Are Afraid To Go Out At Night
by Robert Fisk
I was travelling into the Shia Muslim Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Friday evening when three American soldiers jumped in front of my car. "Stop the car, stop the car!" one of them shouted, waving a pistol at the windscreen. I screamed at the driver to stop. He hadn't seen them step into the road. Nor had I. Two other soldiers approached from the rear, rifles pointed at our vehicle. I showed our identity passes and the officer, wearing a floppy camouflage hat, was polite but short. "You should have seen our checkpoint," he snapped, then added: "Have a good stay in Nasiriyah but don't go out after dark. It's not safe."
What he meant, I think, was that it wasn't safe for American soldiers after dark. Hours later, I went out in the streets of Nasiriyah for a chicken burger and the Iraqis who served me in a run-down cafe couldn't have been friendlier. There were the usual apologies for the dirt on the table and the lack of paper napkins, along with the usual grimy square on the wall where, just two months ago, a portrait of Saddam Hussein must have been hanging. So what was going on? The "liberators" were already entering the wilderness of occupation while our masters in London and Washington were still braying about victory and courage and - here I quote Tony Blair on the same day, addressing British troops 60 miles further south in Basra - of how they "went on to try to make something of the country you liberated".
SPEACH
ZMAG: The Day Of The Jackals by Arundhati Roy
Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates. How many children, in how many classrooms, over how many centuries, have hang-glided through the past, transported on the wings of these words?
And now the bombs have fallen, incinerating and humiliating that ancient civilization.
On the steel torsos of their missiles, adolescent American soldiers scrawled colorful messages in childish handwriting: "For Saddam, from the Fat Boy Posse."
A building went down. A market place. A home. A girl who loved a boy. A child who only ever wanted to play with his older brother’s marbles.
On the March 21--the day after American and British troops began their illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq--an "embedded" CNN correspondent interviewed an American soldier. "I wanna get in there and get my nose dirty," Private A.J. said. "I wanna take revenge for 9/11."
ZMAG: The Day Of The Jackals by Arundhati Roy
Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates. How many children, in how many classrooms, over how many centuries, have hang-glided through the past, transported on the wings of these words?
And now the bombs have fallen, incinerating and humiliating that ancient civilization.
On the steel torsos of their missiles, adolescent American soldiers scrawled colorful messages in childish handwriting: "For Saddam, from the Fat Boy Posse."
A building went down. A market place. A home. A girl who loved a boy. A child who only ever wanted to play with his older brother’s marbles.
On the March 21--the day after American and British troops began their illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq--an "embedded" CNN correspondent interviewed an American soldier. "I wanna get in there and get my nose dirty," Private A.J. said. "I wanna take revenge for 9/11."
USA
ZMAG: Does The USA Intend To Dominate The Whole World By Force?
Chomsky interviewed on the Amesterdam Forum
Today a special edition featuring the world-famous author and political activist Noam Chomsky.
Professor Chomsky, once described by the New York Times as arguably the most important intellectual alive, is an outspoken critic of US foreign policy. He says, following the war in Iraq, the US is seeking to dominate the world by force, a dimension in which it rules supreme. And he warns this policy will lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terror attacks based on a loathing of the US administration. He says the very survival of the species may be at stake.
Well professor Chomsky joins us to take questions from our listeners around the world. Welcome professor Chomsky.
The first e-mail is from Norberto Silva, from the Cape Verde islands, and he says: "Could the USA and president Bush lead the world into a nuclear war with their policy of pre-emptive attacks?"
ZMAG: Does The USA Intend To Dominate The Whole World By Force?
Chomsky interviewed on the Amesterdam Forum
Today a special edition featuring the world-famous author and political activist Noam Chomsky.
Professor Chomsky, once described by the New York Times as arguably the most important intellectual alive, is an outspoken critic of US foreign policy. He says, following the war in Iraq, the US is seeking to dominate the world by force, a dimension in which it rules supreme. And he warns this policy will lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terror attacks based on a loathing of the US administration. He says the very survival of the species may be at stake.
Well professor Chomsky joins us to take questions from our listeners around the world. Welcome professor Chomsky.
The first e-mail is from Norberto Silva, from the Cape Verde islands, and he says: "Could the USA and president Bush lead the world into a nuclear war with their policy of pre-emptive attacks?"
-BUSH JR.
Asia Times: A threadbare emperor tours the world
WASHINGTON - With US President George W Bush on his first tour of major world capitals since the war in Iraq, his handlers are predictably depicting his stature as something akin to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar "bestrid[ing] the world like a Colossus".
After all, the notion that the new world order most closely resembles Caesar's Pax Romana has become commonplace. History, so its advocates argue, is now witnessing a Pax Americana.
Like Caesar, Bush expects others to show due respect for the global hegemon, suggesting, for example, that he is ready to forgive if not quite forget those, such as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who doubted his wisdom and determination. Provided that they recognize who is in charge.
French leaders, he told Le Figaro newspaper, "must work to convince their own citizens and show that France is ready to cooperate with the United States", a euphemistic phraseology that Caesar himself may have uttered about restive Gauls 2,000 years ago.
Asia Times: A threadbare emperor tours the world
WASHINGTON - With US President George W Bush on his first tour of major world capitals since the war in Iraq, his handlers are predictably depicting his stature as something akin to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar "bestrid[ing] the world like a Colossus".
After all, the notion that the new world order most closely resembles Caesar's Pax Romana has become commonplace. History, so its advocates argue, is now witnessing a Pax Americana.
Like Caesar, Bush expects others to show due respect for the global hegemon, suggesting, for example, that he is ready to forgive if not quite forget those, such as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who doubted his wisdom and determination. Provided that they recognize who is in charge.
French leaders, he told Le Figaro newspaper, "must work to convince their own citizens and show that France is ready to cooperate with the United States", a euphemistic phraseology that Caesar himself may have uttered about restive Gauls 2,000 years ago.
USA: 1984
Guardian: Super Diary Worries Privacy Activists
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Pentagon project to develop a digital super diary that records heartbeats, travel, Internet chats, everything a person does, also could provide private companies with powerful software to analyze behavior.
That has privacy experts worried.
Known as LifeLog, the project aims to capture and analyze a multimedia record of everywhere a subject goes and everything he or she sees, hears, reads, says and touches. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has solicited bids and hopes to award four 18-month contracts beginning this summer.
Guardian: Super Diary Worries Privacy Activists
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Pentagon project to develop a digital super diary that records heartbeats, travel, Internet chats, everything a person does, also could provide private companies with powerful software to analyze behavior.
That has privacy experts worried.
Known as LifeLog, the project aims to capture and analyze a multimedia record of everywhere a subject goes and everything he or she sees, hears, reads, says and touches. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has solicited bids and hopes to award four 18-month contracts beginning this summer.
PAKISTAN
Asiantimes: US support emboldens Musharraf
KARACHI - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to meet President George W Bush at Camp David on June 24 to discuss developments in South Asia, including shutting down the war theater in Kashmir, while in return Musharraf can expect full US backing for any political maneuvers he makes to retain his full powers.
These could include the division of opposition groups by offering some of them a power-sharing deal, or even the extreme measure of suspending parliament.
Asiantimes: US support emboldens Musharraf
KARACHI - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to meet President George W Bush at Camp David on June 24 to discuss developments in South Asia, including shutting down the war theater in Kashmir, while in return Musharraf can expect full US backing for any political maneuvers he makes to retain his full powers.
These could include the division of opposition groups by offering some of them a power-sharing deal, or even the extreme measure of suspending parliament.
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY?
Taipie Times: Protests derail local government in Basra
BEST LAID PLANS: Occupation forces tried to put in place a ruling council that would be a model for the new Iraq, but it didn't take long for things to go awry
British occupation forces here tried to put a new local governing council in place on Sunday, but residents who were angry that it was handpicked by the British poured into Basra's streets by the thousands in protest
Taipie Times: Protests derail local government in Basra
BEST LAID PLANS: Occupation forces tried to put in place a ruling council that would be a model for the new Iraq, but it didn't take long for things to go awry
British occupation forces here tried to put a new local governing council in place on Sunday, but residents who were angry that it was handpicked by the British poured into Basra's streets by the thousands in protest
USA
The Age: US relaxes media laws
Federal regulators relaxed decades-old rules restricting US media ownership, permitting companies to buy more TV stations and own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city.
The Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 - along party lines - to adopt a series of changes favoured by media companies, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
These companies argued that existing ownership rules were outmoded in a media landscape that has been substantially altered by cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the internet.
Critics say the eased restrictions would likely lead to a wave of mergers landing a few giant media companies in control of even more of what the public sees, hears and reads.
The Age: US relaxes media laws
Federal regulators relaxed decades-old rules restricting US media ownership, permitting companies to buy more TV stations and own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city.
The Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 - along party lines - to adopt a series of changes favoured by media companies, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
These companies argued that existing ownership rules were outmoded in a media landscape that has been substantially altered by cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the internet.
Critics say the eased restrictions would likely lead to a wave of mergers landing a few giant media companies in control of even more of what the public sees, hears and reads.
IRAQ
NY Times Op-Ed: Bomb and Switch By MAUREEN DOWD
Before 9/11, the administration had too little intelligence on Al Qaeda, badly coordinated by clashing officials.
Before the Iraq invasion, the administration had too much intelligence on Saddam, torqued up by conspiring officials.
As Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to make his case for invading Iraq to the U.N. on Feb. 5, a friend of his told me, he had to throw out a couple of hours' worth of sketchy intelligence other Bush officials were trying to stuff into his speech.
U.S. News & World Report reveals this week that when Mr. Powell was rehearsing the case with two dozen officials, he became so frustrated by the dubious intelligence about Saddam that he tossed several pages in the air and declared: "I'm not reading this. This is $%&*#."
First America has no intelligence. Then it has $%&*# intelligence.
So this is progress?
For the first time in history, America is searching for the reason we went to war after the war is over.
NY Times Op-Ed: Bomb and Switch By MAUREEN DOWD
Before 9/11, the administration had too little intelligence on Al Qaeda, badly coordinated by clashing officials.
Before the Iraq invasion, the administration had too much intelligence on Saddam, torqued up by conspiring officials.
As Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to make his case for invading Iraq to the U.N. on Feb. 5, a friend of his told me, he had to throw out a couple of hours' worth of sketchy intelligence other Bush officials were trying to stuff into his speech.
U.S. News & World Report reveals this week that when Mr. Powell was rehearsing the case with two dozen officials, he became so frustrated by the dubious intelligence about Saddam that he tossed several pages in the air and declared: "I'm not reading this. This is $%&*#."
First America has no intelligence. Then it has $%&*# intelligence.
So this is progress?
For the first time in history, America is searching for the reason we went to war after the war is over.
IRAQ
NY Times Op-Ed: Because We Could By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The failure of the Bush team to produce any weapons of mass destruction (W.M.D.'s) in Iraq is becoming a big, big story. But is it the real story we should be concerned with? No. It was the wrong issue before the war, and it's the wrong issue now.
Why? Because there were actually four reasons for this war: the real reason, the right reason, the moral reason and the stated reason.
The "real reason" for this war, which was never stated, was that after 9/11 America needed to hit someone in the Arab-Muslim world
NY Times Op-Ed: Because We Could By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The failure of the Bush team to produce any weapons of mass destruction (W.M.D.'s) in Iraq is becoming a big, big story. But is it the real story we should be concerned with? No. It was the wrong issue before the war, and it's the wrong issue now.
Why? Because there were actually four reasons for this war: the real reason, the right reason, the moral reason and the stated reason.
The "real reason" for this war, which was never stated, was that after 9/11 America needed to hit someone in the Arab-Muslim world
G8 PHOTOS
Fahrenheit451 exclusive...
Fotos vom "Brücken-Unfall" bei dem ein Polizist einem an der Brücke hängenden Demonstranten das Seil durchgeschnitten hat worauf der Mann 20 Meter in die Tiefe gestürzt ist.
Hi-res Versionen der Bilder gibts unter Yahoo Photos
user: evianriot3
pw: 123345
Fahrenheit451 exclusive...
Fotos vom "Brücken-Unfall" bei dem ein Polizist einem an der Brücke hängenden Demonstranten das Seil durchgeschnitten hat worauf der Mann 20 Meter in die Tiefe gestürzt ist.
Hi-res Versionen der Bilder gibts unter Yahoo Photos
user: evianriot3
pw: 123345
G8
Indymedia: Tausende von Polizisten geben Vollgas in Genf 2./3.6.03
Heute Abend und während der Nacht hat sich in Genf ein Heer von tausenden Polizisten um eine anfänglich kleine Demo von ca. 300 Leuten gekümmert. Nach und Nach sammelten sich hunderte, dann mehrere tausend Schaulustige, die anfingen, sich Scharmützel, dann kleinere Schlachten mit der Polizei zu liefern.
Indymedia: Tausende von Polizisten geben Vollgas in Genf 2./3.6.03
Heute Abend und während der Nacht hat sich in Genf ein Heer von tausenden Polizisten um eine anfänglich kleine Demo von ca. 300 Leuten gekümmert. Nach und Nach sammelten sich hunderte, dann mehrere tausend Schaulustige, die anfingen, sich Scharmützel, dann kleinere Schlachten mit der Polizei zu liefern.
G8
Indymedia: Brücken 'vorfall': französisches Konsulat in Barcelona besetzt
Aus Protest gegen das brutale Vorgehen der Polizei gegen anti-G8 AktivistInnen in Frankreich und in der Schweiz, haben um 12 Uhr 21 Menschen das franz?sische Konsulat in Barcelona besetzt.
Mit der Besetzung protestieren die AktivistInnen gegen die Gewalt von Seiten der Sicherheitskräfte, die unter anderem einem Genossen aus Barcelona schwerst Verletzungen zugefügt haben, durch ein Vorgehen, dass als versuchter Mord gewertet werden kann.
Die BesetzerInnen bekräftigen, dass sie nicht gedenken das Konsulat zu verlassen, bis die französische Regierung die polizeiliche Repression verurteilt. Die Polizei vor Ort droht mit der unmittelbaren Räumung der BesetzerInnen, die Situation ist gespannt.
Weitere GenossInnen aus der Strasse unterstützen die BesetzerInnen. Es werden aber dringend mehr Leute gebraucht (kommt doch mal eben vorbei ;-
Indymedia: Brücken 'vorfall': französisches Konsulat in Barcelona besetzt
Aus Protest gegen das brutale Vorgehen der Polizei gegen anti-G8 AktivistInnen in Frankreich und in der Schweiz, haben um 12 Uhr 21 Menschen das franz?sische Konsulat in Barcelona besetzt.
Mit der Besetzung protestieren die AktivistInnen gegen die Gewalt von Seiten der Sicherheitskräfte, die unter anderem einem Genossen aus Barcelona schwerst Verletzungen zugefügt haben, durch ein Vorgehen, dass als versuchter Mord gewertet werden kann.
Die BesetzerInnen bekräftigen, dass sie nicht gedenken das Konsulat zu verlassen, bis die französische Regierung die polizeiliche Repression verurteilt. Die Polizei vor Ort droht mit der unmittelbaren Räumung der BesetzerInnen, die Situation ist gespannt.
Weitere GenossInnen aus der Strasse unterstützen die BesetzerInnen. Es werden aber dringend mehr Leute gebraucht (kommt doch mal eben vorbei ;-
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
TERROR
La Times: A Resilient Al Qaeda Regroups and Plots
U.S. fears the network may use untraceable operatives for attacks on such targets as subways
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Shrewd recruiting of new, young militants has allowed Al Qaeda to reestablish itself here in Osama bin Laden's homeland and around the world as an elusive and resilient threat that is seeking to launch new attacks in the United States and other countries, many U.S. officials now believe.
Al Qaeda has not only survived the U.S.-led crackdown against it, but it has also found weaknesses in the tactics of its pursuers and is exploiting them, according to interviews with U.S. officials here and in Washington.
Of particular concern, these officials say, are indications that the terrorist network has infiltrated an unknown number of essentially untraceable operatives into the United States. Some of them are believed to be planning suicide bombings against "soft targets" such as subways within the next several months, U.S. officials said.
La Times: A Resilient Al Qaeda Regroups and Plots
U.S. fears the network may use untraceable operatives for attacks on such targets as subways
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Shrewd recruiting of new, young militants has allowed Al Qaeda to reestablish itself here in Osama bin Laden's homeland and around the world as an elusive and resilient threat that is seeking to launch new attacks in the United States and other countries, many U.S. officials now believe.
Al Qaeda has not only survived the U.S.-led crackdown against it, but it has also found weaknesses in the tactics of its pursuers and is exploiting them, according to interviews with U.S. officials here and in Washington.
Of particular concern, these officials say, are indications that the terrorist network has infiltrated an unknown number of essentially untraceable operatives into the United States. Some of them are believed to be planning suicide bombings against "soft targets" such as subways within the next several months, U.S. officials said.
911
Tomflocco: 9-11 Commission Testimony Too Hot To Be Under Oath
Tom Flocco writes: "Curiously however, none of the testimony offered
before the Commission was sworn under oath (either on Thursday or Friday); and
the most critical statements concerning the 9/11 military response failures
occurred on the morning prior to a long Memorial Day weekend when the
public would not be paying attention... Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
[told us]: 'The evidence is compelling; but the Administration is not very
inclined to go after the answers. It [not swearing in witnesses]
doesn'tsurprise me'... Vice-Chairman Lee Hamilton entered the fray, asking
[NORAD Commander] Arnold when Bush gave the order to shoot down airliners
assumed to be hijacked, and why that exact time of the shoot-down order was not
entered into the official NORAD 9/11 timeline... Arnold answered
Hamilton... : 'I am sure that information is available,' Congressman
Hamilton, adding 'I appreciate your question.' Everyone in the hearing
room seemed stunned at his answer."
Tomflocco: 9-11 Commission Testimony Too Hot To Be Under Oath
Tom Flocco writes: "Curiously however, none of the testimony offered
before the Commission was sworn under oath (either on Thursday or Friday); and
the most critical statements concerning the 9/11 military response failures
occurred on the morning prior to a long Memorial Day weekend when the
public would not be paying attention... Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
[told us]: 'The evidence is compelling; but the Administration is not very
inclined to go after the answers. It [not swearing in witnesses]
doesn'tsurprise me'... Vice-Chairman Lee Hamilton entered the fray, asking
[NORAD Commander] Arnold when Bush gave the order to shoot down airliners
assumed to be hijacked, and why that exact time of the shoot-down order was not
entered into the official NORAD 9/11 timeline... Arnold answered
Hamilton... : 'I am sure that information is available,' Congressman
Hamilton, adding 'I appreciate your question.' Everyone in the hearing
room seemed stunned at his answer."
IRAQ WMD?
SFgate: CIA asked to explain prewar reports
Congresswoman warns of spy 'hoax'
President Bush's contention that America went to war with Iraq to rid Saddam Hussein of hidden biological and chemical weapons "could be the greatest intelligence hoax of all time," the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee warned Friday.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Rancho Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County), has sent a letter along with Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., the Intelligence Committee chairman, to CIA Director George Tenet asking him to explain what intelligence led spy agencies to believe Iraq had stocks of the banned weapons or that al Qaeda operated on Iraqi territory.
"U.S. credibility is at stake," Harman told the Chronicle editorial board on Friday. "Especially if there is an interest in another military adventure, we need the facts."
SFgate: CIA asked to explain prewar reports
Congresswoman warns of spy 'hoax'
President Bush's contention that America went to war with Iraq to rid Saddam Hussein of hidden biological and chemical weapons "could be the greatest intelligence hoax of all time," the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee warned Friday.
Rep. Jane Harman, D-Rancho Palos Verdes (Los Angeles County), has sent a letter along with Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., the Intelligence Committee chairman, to CIA Director George Tenet asking him to explain what intelligence led spy agencies to believe Iraq had stocks of the banned weapons or that al Qaeda operated on Iraqi territory.
"U.S. credibility is at stake," Harman told the Chronicle editorial board on Friday. "Especially if there is an interest in another military adventure, we need the facts."
ITALY
Guardian: Editor's resignation sparks strike in Italy
Corriere della Sera, Italy's most influential paper, was missing from newsstands yesterday after journalists went on strike over a change of editor that some have linked to the paper's line on the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
The editor, Ferruccio de Bortoli, resigned last Thursday "for personal reasons", but accusations are flying that he came under fire because of the newspaper's increasingly critical articles about Mr Berlusconi's government.
Mr Berlusconi, speaking on Saturday to reporters in St Petersburg, where he was attending the Russian city's 300th anniversary celebrations, denied interfering at Corriere.
"We had no position on this, there was no intervention of any type," he said.
Guardian: Editor's resignation sparks strike in Italy
Corriere della Sera, Italy's most influential paper, was missing from newsstands yesterday after journalists went on strike over a change of editor that some have linked to the paper's line on the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
The editor, Ferruccio de Bortoli, resigned last Thursday "for personal reasons", but accusations are flying that he came under fire because of the newspaper's increasingly critical articles about Mr Berlusconi's government.
Mr Berlusconi, speaking on Saturday to reporters in St Petersburg, where he was attending the Russian city's 300th anniversary celebrations, denied interfering at Corriere.
"We had no position on this, there was no intervention of any type," he said.
G8
India Times: Where Arundhati is goddess of masses
EVIAN: The power of the masses is pitted against the might of the rich as tens of thousands swamp the streets in Switzerland and France in unprecedented protests against the powerful G-8 and all that it has to offer.
In the process, many angry young men and women drawn from all over Europe have found a new icon -- celebrated Indian writer Arundhati Roy -- or so it seems.
For about three days now, Switzerland's border town of Lausanne and Geneva, around 60 km away, has been virtually run over by angry people who feel the industrialised West that controls the G-8 is to blame for much of the world's worsening economic plight.
Protests have also taken place in this scenic and otherwise quiet Alpine resort at the edge of Lake Geneva, which divides it from Switzerland. And it is clear from comments on the street that anger against G-8, and in particular against big brother US, runs very deep.
After an estimated 100,000 people besieged Geneva Sunday, as leaders of the G-8 and about a dozen Third World countries made their way to France, there was no doubting that globalisation had become a bad word.
"There have never been such big protests in Geneva," Stephane Bussard, a journalist with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps said. "It was massive, it was quite an important turnout."
Remarked Jacques Nikonoff, president of the anti-globalisation group Attack: "The G-8 is illegitimate and its policies are harmful to the people of the planet. We have to get rid of it."
This is where Arundhati Roy, author of the award winning God of Small Things, comes in.
Arundhati, who lives in New Delhi and is a writer who passionately campaigns against big dams, nuclear weapons and corporate globalisation, is a must read for many protestors.
Her writings and comments figure prominently in websites sought out by anti-G-8 campaigners. Her writings are ammunition that provides oxygen to those who battle what they say is militaristic, neo-liberal capitalism.
The angry marchers in Geneva, Lausanne and Evian have proved what ordinary people can do if they join hands -- a theme that runs through almost all of Arundhati's writings
"Parts of Lausanne, where delegations attending the G-8 summit and related meetings are staying, look like concentration camps, with the authorities sealing off VVIP zones using concertina wire. The situation has forced Switzerland to deploy some 6,000 troops -- the biggest military deployment since World War II. Many soldiers could be seen flaunting their weapons."
"CHECK IT"
India Times: Where Arundhati is goddess of masses
EVIAN: The power of the masses is pitted against the might of the rich as tens of thousands swamp the streets in Switzerland and France in unprecedented protests against the powerful G-8 and all that it has to offer.
In the process, many angry young men and women drawn from all over Europe have found a new icon -- celebrated Indian writer Arundhati Roy -- or so it seems.
For about three days now, Switzerland's border town of Lausanne and Geneva, around 60 km away, has been virtually run over by angry people who feel the industrialised West that controls the G-8 is to blame for much of the world's worsening economic plight.
Protests have also taken place in this scenic and otherwise quiet Alpine resort at the edge of Lake Geneva, which divides it from Switzerland. And it is clear from comments on the street that anger against G-8, and in particular against big brother US, runs very deep.
After an estimated 100,000 people besieged Geneva Sunday, as leaders of the G-8 and about a dozen Third World countries made their way to France, there was no doubting that globalisation had become a bad word.
"There have never been such big protests in Geneva," Stephane Bussard, a journalist with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps said. "It was massive, it was quite an important turnout."
Remarked Jacques Nikonoff, president of the anti-globalisation group Attack: "The G-8 is illegitimate and its policies are harmful to the people of the planet. We have to get rid of it."
This is where Arundhati Roy, author of the award winning God of Small Things, comes in.
Arundhati, who lives in New Delhi and is a writer who passionately campaigns against big dams, nuclear weapons and corporate globalisation, is a must read for many protestors.
Her writings and comments figure prominently in websites sought out by anti-G-8 campaigners. Her writings are ammunition that provides oxygen to those who battle what they say is militaristic, neo-liberal capitalism.
The angry marchers in Geneva, Lausanne and Evian have proved what ordinary people can do if they join hands -- a theme that runs through almost all of Arundhati's writings
"Parts of Lausanne, where delegations attending the G-8 summit and related meetings are staying, look like concentration camps, with the authorities sealing off VVIP zones using concertina wire. The situation has forced Switzerland to deploy some 6,000 troops -- the biggest military deployment since World War II. Many soldiers could be seen flaunting their weapons."
"CHECK IT"
GM FOOD WARS
Guardian: Bush's evangelising about food chills European hearts
In case you thought that the Bush administration's rift with its European allies ended with the Iraqi military campaign, think again. The White House has now set its sights on something far more personal - the question of what kind of food Europeans should put on their table. President Bush has charged that the EU's ban on genetically modified food is discouraging developing countries from growing GM crops for export and resulting in increased hunger and poverty in the world's poorest nations. His remarks, made just days before the G8 meeting in Evian, have further chilled US-European relations.
Last month, the US government launched a formal legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation to force the EU to lift its "de facto moratorium" on the sale of GM seeds and food in Europe. The EU has countered that there is no moratorium in place and points out that in the past year it has approved two applications for imports of GM seeds. Regardless, the new thrust by President Bush is likely to force another confrontation between the two superpowers - one whose long-term impact could be even more serious than the breach over Iraq.
Guardian: Bush's evangelising about food chills European hearts
In case you thought that the Bush administration's rift with its European allies ended with the Iraqi military campaign, think again. The White House has now set its sights on something far more personal - the question of what kind of food Europeans should put on their table. President Bush has charged that the EU's ban on genetically modified food is discouraging developing countries from growing GM crops for export and resulting in increased hunger and poverty in the world's poorest nations. His remarks, made just days before the G8 meeting in Evian, have further chilled US-European relations.
Last month, the US government launched a formal legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation to force the EU to lift its "de facto moratorium" on the sale of GM seeds and food in Europe. The EU has countered that there is no moratorium in place and points out that in the past year it has approved two applications for imports of GM seeds. Regardless, the new thrust by President Bush is likely to force another confrontation between the two superpowers - one whose long-term impact could be even more serious than the breach over Iraq.
IRAQ WMD?
Straittimes: Australia admits joining Iraq war on 'flawed info'
SYDNEY -- Australia's defence minister conceded on Monday that intelligence reports suggesting Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction -- the primary reason used to justify the invasion of Iraq -- may have been flawed.
Straittimes: Australia admits joining Iraq war on 'flawed info'
SYDNEY -- Australia's defence minister conceded on Monday that intelligence reports suggesting Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction -- the primary reason used to justify the invasion of Iraq -- may have been flawed.
MEDIA WATCH
Guardian: Now dissent is 'immoral'
Just about the only person criticising Bush in the US media is Sean Penn - and he paid $125,000 for the privilege
Some of you, many of you, are not going to like what you hear tonight," said Ted Koppel, the senior American news anchor as he introduced Arundhati Roy, the Indian novelist, activist and critic of US foreign policy, to his show shortly after September 11. "You don't have to listen. But if you do, you should know that dissent sometimes comes in strange packages..."
The introduction, such as it was, told us less about Roy than it did about both Koppel and the mindset that has dominated the American media since the collapse of the twin towers. It reflects at best a reluctance, and at worst a downright refusal, to engage with views and voices opposed to George Bush's foreign policy. It illustrates a tendency to dismiss rather than discuss, and deride rather than debate - to circle the wagons around nationhood, leaving questions about what is being done in the nation's name and why, on the outside.
"This nation is now at war," said Peter Beinart, the editor of the liberal magazine New Republic. "And in such an environment, domestic political dissent is immoral without a prior statement of national solidarity, a choosing of sides."
Guardian: Now dissent is 'immoral'
Just about the only person criticising Bush in the US media is Sean Penn - and he paid $125,000 for the privilege
Some of you, many of you, are not going to like what you hear tonight," said Ted Koppel, the senior American news anchor as he introduced Arundhati Roy, the Indian novelist, activist and critic of US foreign policy, to his show shortly after September 11. "You don't have to listen. But if you do, you should know that dissent sometimes comes in strange packages..."
The introduction, such as it was, told us less about Roy than it did about both Koppel and the mindset that has dominated the American media since the collapse of the twin towers. It reflects at best a reluctance, and at worst a downright refusal, to engage with views and voices opposed to George Bush's foreign policy. It illustrates a tendency to dismiss rather than discuss, and deride rather than debate - to circle the wagons around nationhood, leaving questions about what is being done in the nation's name and why, on the outside.
"This nation is now at war," said Peter Beinart, the editor of the liberal magazine New Republic. "And in such an environment, domestic political dissent is immoral without a prior statement of national solidarity, a choosing of sides."
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Straitstimes: Israeli settlers want to stay put, Rejecting evacuation for peace,
right-wing activists warn they will resist any attempt to uproot them
JERUSALEM - For the 225,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, the 'road map' to peace leads to a dead end. 'We don't regard
this as a legitimate government anymore.' - Activist David Haivri, calling
Mr Sharon a traitor. -- AP Settler leaders, fearful that evacuation of
their communities might be Israel's price for peace, have warned that they
would resist any attempts by any means - short of open violence. Members of
extremist groups have not ruled out the use of arms against soldiers if
it comes to a fight. Some are calling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a
'traitor'.We don't regard this as a legitimate government anymore,' Mr David
Haivri, a right-wing activist, told the Ma'ariv newspaper. Similar comments
were heard among extremist groups in the months before prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing student opposed to
withdrawal from the occupied territories.
Straitstimes: Israeli settlers want to stay put, Rejecting evacuation for peace,
right-wing activists warn they will resist any attempt to uproot them
JERUSALEM - For the 225,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, the 'road map' to peace leads to a dead end. 'We don't regard
this as a legitimate government anymore.' - Activist David Haivri, calling
Mr Sharon a traitor. -- AP Settler leaders, fearful that evacuation of
their communities might be Israel's price for peace, have warned that they
would resist any attempts by any means - short of open violence. Members of
extremist groups have not ruled out the use of arms against soldiers if
it comes to a fight. Some are calling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a
'traitor'.We don't regard this as a legitimate government anymore,' Mr David
Haivri, a right-wing activist, told the Ma'ariv newspaper. Similar comments
were heard among extremist groups in the months before prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing student opposed to
withdrawal from the occupied territories.
AGRAR
Independent: US threatens to sink French plan to stop the West undercutting African farmers
Poltical fallout from the Iraq war is threatening catastrophe for millions of farmers in Africa, because the Americans may torpedo a French plan to ban the dumping of subsidised farm produce in African markets.
British diplomats have been working frantically to bridge the gap, in the hope of keeping alive the plan, which has Tony Blair's personal backing.
The US spends between $3bn (£1.8bn) and $4bn a year subsidising 25,000 American cotton farmers - more than its annual aid budget to the entire African continent - flooding the world market with cheap cotton, while in west Africa, 10 million people rely on cotton growing for their livelihood. A typical small farmer will make about $300 a year.
The European Union is also guilty of undercutting African farmers, through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), turning Europe into the world's biggest exporter of white sugar, with disastrous results in countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, which are in effect locked out of the European market. The EU also dumps subsidised milk and wheat on markets from Kenya to Senegal, while restricting imports of African produce.
"Freie Märkte für die die sichs Leisten können. Lasst uns die Welt liberalisieren!. Es ist bedenklich wie sich die Leute jedesmal verarschen lassen wenn unsere "Führer" an einem G8-Gipfel was von solidarität mit der dritten Welt lallen. Don't believe the hype!"
Independent: US threatens to sink French plan to stop the West undercutting African farmers
Poltical fallout from the Iraq war is threatening catastrophe for millions of farmers in Africa, because the Americans may torpedo a French plan to ban the dumping of subsidised farm produce in African markets.
British diplomats have been working frantically to bridge the gap, in the hope of keeping alive the plan, which has Tony Blair's personal backing.
The US spends between $3bn (£1.8bn) and $4bn a year subsidising 25,000 American cotton farmers - more than its annual aid budget to the entire African continent - flooding the world market with cheap cotton, while in west Africa, 10 million people rely on cotton growing for their livelihood. A typical small farmer will make about $300 a year.
The European Union is also guilty of undercutting African farmers, through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), turning Europe into the world's biggest exporter of white sugar, with disastrous results in countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, which are in effect locked out of the European market. The EU also dumps subsidised milk and wheat on markets from Kenya to Senegal, while restricting imports of African produce.
"Freie Märkte für die die sichs Leisten können. Lasst uns die Welt liberalisieren!. Es ist bedenklich wie sich die Leute jedesmal verarschen lassen wenn unsere "Führer" an einem G8-Gipfel was von solidarität mit der dritten Welt lallen. Don't believe the hype!"
IRAQ WMD?
Philly.com: Anti-Saddam group blames Bush administration for missing weapons cache
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Tossing a political hand grenade back to Washington, the Iraqi exiles who provided the Bush administration with much of its intelligence on Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction angrily deny that they exaggerated the dangers of Iraq's chemical or biological arsenal - and blame the failed search for such weaponry on American ineptitude.
The Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam group that enjoys strong backing from the Pentagon, distanced itself Sunday from the growing controversy over the fruitless quest to find banned arms in Iraq - one of the key justifications for the U.S.-led war against Saddam.
Philly.com: Anti-Saddam group blames Bush administration for missing weapons cache
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Tossing a political hand grenade back to Washington, the Iraqi exiles who provided the Bush administration with much of its intelligence on Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction angrily deny that they exaggerated the dangers of Iraq's chemical or biological arsenal - and blame the failed search for such weaponry on American ineptitude.
The Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam group that enjoys strong backing from the Pentagon, distanced itself Sunday from the growing controversy over the fruitless quest to find banned arms in Iraq - one of the key justifications for the U.S.-led war against Saddam.
IRAQ WMD?
USnews: Truth and consequences
New questions about U.S. intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass terror
On the evening of February 1, two dozen American officials gathered in a spacious conference room at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. The time had come to make the public case for war against Iraq. For six hours that Saturday, the men and women of the Bush administration argued about what Secretary of State Colin Powell should--and should not--say at the United Nations Security Council four days later. Not all the secret intelligence about Saddam Hussein's misdeeds, they found, stood up to close scrutiny. At one point during the rehearsal, Powell tossed several pages in the air. "I'm not reading this," he declared. "This is bulls- - -."
USnews: Truth and consequences
New questions about U.S. intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons of mass terror
On the evening of February 1, two dozen American officials gathered in a spacious conference room at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. The time had come to make the public case for war against Iraq. For six hours that Saturday, the men and women of the Bush administration argued about what Secretary of State Colin Powell should--and should not--say at the United Nations Security Council four days later. Not all the secret intelligence about Saddam Hussein's misdeeds, they found, stood up to close scrutiny. At one point during the rehearsal, Powell tossed several pages in the air. "I'm not reading this," he declared. "This is bulls- - -."
UK
Guardian: Short: Blair lied to cabinet and made secret war pact with US
Tory threat to break ranks on Iraq
Tony Blair is facing mounting pressure from across the House of Commons to hold an independent inquiry into the Iraq war after Clare Short levelled the incendiary allegation at the prime minister that he had lied to the cabinet.
As an increasingly exasperated prime minister once again swept aside calls for a public inquiry into the failure to uncover banned Iraqi weapons, the former international development secretary accused Mr Blair of bypassing the cabinet to agree a "secret" pact with George Bush to go to war.
Guardian: Short: Blair lied to cabinet and made secret war pact with US
Tory threat to break ranks on Iraq
Tony Blair is facing mounting pressure from across the House of Commons to hold an independent inquiry into the Iraq war after Clare Short levelled the incendiary allegation at the prime minister that he had lied to the cabinet.
As an increasingly exasperated prime minister once again swept aside calls for a public inquiry into the failure to uncover banned Iraqi weapons, the former international development secretary accused Mr Blair of bypassing the cabinet to agree a "secret" pact with George Bush to go to war.
IRAQ
Guardian: Transcripts raise alarm across Nato
Transcripts of a private conversation between Jack Straw and Colin Powell expressing serious doubts about the reliability of intelligence on Iraq's banned weapons programme are being circulated in western government circles where there is a growing feeling that officials were deceived into supporting the Iraq war.
A document known as the "Waldorf transcripts" - after the New York hotel where the US secretary of state was staying before making a crucial speech to the UN security council earlier this year - is described by an official of one Nato country as "extremely useful".
"The Guardian reported how a meeting between the two men took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel shortly before the key security council meeting. On Saturday, the Foreign Office insisted "no such meeting" took place.
Yesterday the foreign secretary was asked on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost Programme if there was "any truth to this: did you in January or February have any conversation with the secretary of state where you shared your doubts about the strength or probability of the evidence for the claims you were both making about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? Did you have any such conversation?"
Mr Straw replied: "Let me deal with that. No I didn't about the quality of the evidence. What is the case is that I've always been very anxious to test the evidence and so, I know, was [Colin] Powell and President Bush and our prime minister, Tony Blair."
The "Waldorf transcripts" document being distributed among Nato capitals raises new questions about Mr Straw's denials. It is being circulated amid a flurry of leaks in Washington about Mr Powell's concerns about how intelligence was being used to try to persuade reluctant Nato allies - notably France and Germany - to sanction an attack on Iraq."
Guardian: Transcripts raise alarm across Nato
Transcripts of a private conversation between Jack Straw and Colin Powell expressing serious doubts about the reliability of intelligence on Iraq's banned weapons programme are being circulated in western government circles where there is a growing feeling that officials were deceived into supporting the Iraq war.
A document known as the "Waldorf transcripts" - after the New York hotel where the US secretary of state was staying before making a crucial speech to the UN security council earlier this year - is described by an official of one Nato country as "extremely useful".
"The Guardian reported how a meeting between the two men took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel shortly before the key security council meeting. On Saturday, the Foreign Office insisted "no such meeting" took place.
Yesterday the foreign secretary was asked on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost Programme if there was "any truth to this: did you in January or February have any conversation with the secretary of state where you shared your doubts about the strength or probability of the evidence for the claims you were both making about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? Did you have any such conversation?"
Mr Straw replied: "Let me deal with that. No I didn't about the quality of the evidence. What is the case is that I've always been very anxious to test the evidence and so, I know, was [Colin] Powell and President Bush and our prime minister, Tony Blair."
The "Waldorf transcripts" document being distributed among Nato capitals raises new questions about Mr Straw's denials. It is being circulated amid a flurry of leaks in Washington about Mr Powell's concerns about how intelligence was being used to try to persuade reluctant Nato allies - notably France and Germany - to sanction an attack on Iraq."
IRAQ
BBC: US 'to appoint Iraqi leadership'
Plans to allow a national conference of Iraqi groups to elect an interim administration may be scrapped, a senior US official in the country has suggested.
"Democracy!!!"
BBC: US 'to appoint Iraqi leadership'
Plans to allow a national conference of Iraqi groups to elect an interim administration may be scrapped, a senior US official in the country has suggested.
"Democracy!!!"
IRAQ WMD?
Time: Weapons of Mass Disappearance
The war in Iraq was based largely on intelligence about banned arms that still haven't been found. Was America's spy craft wrong — or manipulated?
Guardian: Powell's doubts over CIA intelligence on Iraq prompted him to set up secret review
Specialists removed questionable evidence about weapons from draft of secretary of state's speech to UN
Time: Weapons of Mass Disappearance
The war in Iraq was based largely on intelligence about banned arms that still haven't been found. Was America's spy craft wrong — or manipulated?
Guardian: Powell's doubts over CIA intelligence on Iraq prompted him to set up secret review
Specialists removed questionable evidence about weapons from draft of secretary of state's speech to UN
IRAQ
MSNBC: Where are Iraq’s WMDs?
The message was plain: Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction made war unavoidable. So where are they? Inside the administration’s civil war over intel
June 9 issue — George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence, was frustrated. For four days and nights last winter, some of the most astute intelligence analysts in the U.S. government sat around Tenet’s conference-room table in his wood-paneled office in Langley, Va., trying to prove that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to America. The spooks were not having an easy time of it.
"CHECK IT"
MSNBC: Where are Iraq’s WMDs?
The message was plain: Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction made war unavoidable. So where are they? Inside the administration’s civil war over intel
June 9 issue — George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence, was frustrated. For four days and nights last winter, some of the most astute intelligence analysts in the U.S. government sat around Tenet’s conference-room table in his wood-paneled office in Langley, Va., trying to prove that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to America. The spooks were not having an easy time of it.
"CHECK IT"
Monday, June 02, 2003
G8
photos.yahoo.com
Username: evianriot und evianriot2
Passwort: 123345
Diverse High-Resolution Fotos vom G8
photos.yahoo.com
Username: evianriot und evianriot2
Passwort: 123345
Diverse High-Resolution Fotos vom G8
G8
Indymedia: Bestätigte Nachrichten über Brückenvorfall in Lausanne
Es waren fünf Aktivisten anwesend die filmten und bezeugen konnten was passiert ist. Sie gingen zur Polizei in Lausanne die ihre Aussage aber nicht wollten. Jetzt diskutieren sie mit Anwälten was zu tun ist. Nun bestätigt sogar die Polizei auf der kürzlich gehalten Pressekonferenz, dass sie das Seil gekappt hätten. Es gibt Fotos des durchgeschnittenen Seiles und des verletzten Aktivisten
Bilder der Polizeirazzia im Usine in Genf: PICS
Indymedia: Fotos: Plünderung der BP Tankstelle
Indymedia: Bilder: Demo Genf
Indymedia: Bilder: Riots in Genf
Indymedia: Fotos: Räumung des Camps in Lausanne
Indymedia Video Sharing: Diverse Videos vom G8
KanalB: Video Reports der Deutschen Seite Kanal B. Diverse kleine Dokumentationen und Interviews
Indymedia: Kontrollfestnahme im Lausanner Camp- ein Aktivist berichtet
Indymedia: interview zum Brücken"unfall"
ein interview mit einem augenzeugen zum "unfall" auf der autobahnbrücke
Indymedia: Fotos von Genf
Indymedia: Video: Sonntagmorgendemo in Genf
Indymedia: Fotos von Genf
Indymedia: Fotos von Lausanne
Tagesanzeiger: Polizei stürmt Kulturzentrum
Blick: Keine Ruhe für die Genfer
Blick: Ausschreitungen in Genf
Indymedia: Bestätigte Nachrichten über Brückenvorfall in Lausanne
Es waren fünf Aktivisten anwesend die filmten und bezeugen konnten was passiert ist. Sie gingen zur Polizei in Lausanne die ihre Aussage aber nicht wollten. Jetzt diskutieren sie mit Anwälten was zu tun ist. Nun bestätigt sogar die Polizei auf der kürzlich gehalten Pressekonferenz, dass sie das Seil gekappt hätten. Es gibt Fotos des durchgeschnittenen Seiles und des verletzten Aktivisten
Bilder der Polizeirazzia im Usine in Genf: PICS
Indymedia: Fotos: Plünderung der BP Tankstelle
Indymedia: Bilder: Demo Genf
Indymedia: Bilder: Riots in Genf
Indymedia: Fotos: Räumung des Camps in Lausanne
Indymedia Video Sharing: Diverse Videos vom G8
KanalB: Video Reports der Deutschen Seite Kanal B. Diverse kleine Dokumentationen und Interviews
Indymedia: Kontrollfestnahme im Lausanner Camp- ein Aktivist berichtet
Indymedia: interview zum Brücken"unfall"
ein interview mit einem augenzeugen zum "unfall" auf der autobahnbrücke
Indymedia: Fotos von Genf
Indymedia: Video: Sonntagmorgendemo in Genf
Indymedia: Fotos von Genf
Indymedia: Fotos von Lausanne
Tagesanzeiger: Polizei stürmt Kulturzentrum
Blick: Keine Ruhe für die Genfer
Blick: Ausschreitungen in Genf
UK
Independent: Robin Cook: Britain must not be suckered a second time by the White House
The British government needs to concede that we went to war for reasons of US foreign policy and Republican Party politics
Chutzpah was the word that used to be applied to people who radiated belief in themselves without possessing any visible reason to justify it. In the chutzpah stakes Donald Rumsfeld is way off the top of the scale.
Before the war he told us that Saddam had "large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and an active programme to develop nuclear weapons". After the war he explains away the failure to find any of these stockpiles or nuclear installations on the possibility that Saddam's regime "decided they would destroy them prior to a conflict''. You have to admire his effrontery
Independent: Robin Cook: Britain must not be suckered a second time by the White House
The British government needs to concede that we went to war for reasons of US foreign policy and Republican Party politics
Chutzpah was the word that used to be applied to people who radiated belief in themselves without possessing any visible reason to justify it. In the chutzpah stakes Donald Rumsfeld is way off the top of the scale.
Before the war he told us that Saddam had "large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and an active programme to develop nuclear weapons". After the war he explains away the failure to find any of these stockpiles or nuclear installations on the possibility that Saddam's regime "decided they would destroy them prior to a conflict''. You have to admire his effrontery
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