Friday, July 04, 2003

IRAQI RESITANCE

ZMAG: This Is What A Guerilla War Looks Like

While it's now apparent that The Pentagon made no substantial plans for how to run post-war Iraq, somebody else in Iraq has certainly made plans for how to sabotage U.S. rule.

Before the war began, military strategists insisted that they had a plan for Iraq after the fighting was over. Their plan was to swoop in, seize or kill Saddam Hussein and his top cadre, and leave the mid-level government managers, city officials, village mayors, and police forces in place to run the country. The Pentagon expected the Iraqi military to refuse to fight, to depose Saddam in a coup, and to maintain control of the security situation in Iraq so U.S. troops could waltz into Baghdad and set up a new government.

None of these optimistic scenarios has played out as planned. In fact, while Congress slowly nibbles on the intelligence data from the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency in search of the people who overestimated Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, no one has thought to demand hearings over which military planners or upper level Bush administration officials took us into a war with a long-term plan that resembles a Harry Potter novel.

STREETART

Nice new stuff from ABOVE





SITE OF THE DAY

Lismal.ch

Ein neues Portal aus der Schweiz mit lustigen Texten
USA

Fromthewilderness: BEYOND BUSH - Part I

"There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials
deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential
people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious...But even people who
aren't partisan Republicans shy away from confronting the administration's
dishonest case for war, because they don't want to face the implications...

"After all, suppose a politician - or a journalist - admits to himself that
Mr. Bush bamboozled the nation into war. Well, launching a war on false
pretenses is, to say the least a breach of trust. So if you admit to
yourself that such a thing happened, you have a moral obligation to demand
accountability - and to do so in the face not only of a powerful, ruthless
political machine but in the face of a country not yet ready to believe
that its leaders have exploited 9/11 for political gain. It's a scary
prospect. Yet, if we can't find people willing to take the risk - to face
the truth and act on it - what will happen to our democracy?" -- Paul
Krugman, The New York Times, June 24, 2003

"CHECK IT"
ISRAEL

Haaretz: Enough playing games
The dismantling of outposts episode is turning into
a parody. For every "unauthorized outpost"
ostensibly dismantled by the IDF, two others are
constructed by settlers. Just like the former were
mainly uninhabited, so are the latter. The game is
one of appearances in an attempt to make a
favorable impression on public opinion. The
director-general of the Yesha Council of Jewish
settlements, Adi Mintz, told Haaretz yesterday
that the struggle he and his colleagues are waging
"is an attempt to sear into the [public]
consciousness what it means to evacuate Jews from
their homes." To judge from public opinion polls,
this attempt has failed miserably so far.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Guardian: Israel defies peace plan with land grab on West Bank
The Israeli government has confiscated hundreds of acres of Palestinian land on the West Bank this week - for the purpose, Palestinians allege, of building settlements - in flagrant breach of commitments under the US-led road map to peace.
Yesterday, an Israeli official and soldiers were marking out swaths of olive groves and other ground outside the villages of Beit Eksa and Beit Souriq, north of Jerusalem.

"State land. Entry prohibited," read a sign erected on village land in the name of the civil administration of Judea and Samaria, the Israeli body that oversees military rule in the West Bank.

The Palestinians say the Israelis plan to build settlements to link two Jewish towns constructed on land seized from the Arab villages in the 1980s. The accusation would fit with existing Israeli plans for a "greater Jerusalem".

GLOBAL WARMING

Independent: Reaping the whirlwind
Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert

In an astonishing announcement on global warming and extreme weather, the World Meteorological Organisation signalled last night that the world's weather is going haywire.

In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces detailed scientific reports and staid statistics at the year's end, highlighted record extremes in weather and climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks, from Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month for tornadoes in the United States - and linked them to climate change.

The unprecedented warning takes its force and significance from the fact that it is not coming from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but from an impeccably respected UN organisation that is not given to hyperbole
IRAQ

floridatoday: US Pumping Iraqi Oil To Kuwait???
On May 25, while scanning the Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program images pipelined into his desktop from 450 miles in orbit, Hank
Brandli skidded at a nighttime photo of Iraq. It looked familiar. But not
exactly. Brandli retrieved another DMSP image he'd archived from May 3. He
compared the two. The most recent photo showed a blazing corridor of light
running the length of Kuwait, south to north, all the way to the Iraqi
border. The image wasn't there on May 3. "It's going right up to Iraq's
oil fields," says the retired Air Force colonel from his home in Palm Bay.
"Maybe I'm full of s---. Maybe all they're doing is building a highway to
put in McDonald's and sell hamburgers. But why go that way? I think we're
in bed with Kuwait. I think we're pumping oil out of Iraq to pay for this
war."
ISRAEL

Guardian: Israeli claim of victory denounced
Israel's army chief claimed victory over the Palestinian intifada yesterday, saying the ceasefire announced by Hamas and other groups was an admission of defeat.
Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that, after 1,000 days of uprising, the Palestinians had been forced to realise that "terror doesn't pay". He said Israeli society had withstood the test and terror was fought with heroism. "We now need to announce that we have won and carry on. We managed to bring a war that could not be won with a crushing attack ... to the point where the other side realises that using force will not bring a solution."

"und nebenbei hat Israel Gestern die gezielten T?tungen von Militanten Palästinensern wieder aufgenommen und einen Anführer der Al-Aqsa Brigaden erschossen, die Al-Aqsa Brigaden haben daraufhin den Waffenstillstand gekündigt und Vergeltung versprochen. Soviel zum Israelischen Friedenswillen"

MSNBC: Israel kills militant, blocks highway
After tentative steps toward peace, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militiaman during a West Bank raid Thursday, and the two sides bickered over who won the past 33 months of fighting. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces temporarily closed an important junction after rockets were fired at a Jewish settlement, casting a shadow over a hand over of territory to Palestinians.

Thursday, July 03, 2003

IRAQI RESITANCE

Independent: More attacks on US troops in Iraq despite reward
US offers $25m for Saddam, dead or alive

Another American soldier was killed in an attack on a convoy in Baghdad and at least 19 were injured in a mortar attack as attacks against US forces in Iraq showed no sign of abating.

The latest attacks followed the announcement by the United States yesterday of a $25m (£15m) reward for information leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein or positive confirmation of his death in an effort to reduce the number of attacks on American and British troops.

A reward of $15m was announced for similar information about the former dictator's two sons, Uday and Qusay.

LIBERIA

Spiegel: Bush stellt Taylor 48-Stunden-Ultimatum
Die USA haben dem liberianischen Präsidenten Charles Taylor nach US-Medienberichten ein Ultimatum für einen Rücktritt gestellt. Demnach wurden Taylor 48 Stunden Zeit gegeben, um das afrikanische Bürgerkriegsland zu verlassen.

"blackhawk down"
AFGHANISTAN

the star: Oust foreigners, Afghans urged

Warlord vows to fight U.S. troops

Recorded message sent to media

ISLAMABAD—In his first video message since returning to Afghanistan last year, rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar urges Afghans to "cut off the hands of the foreign meddlers" and drive all American and other foreign troops from the country.

Hekmatyar, who led one of the factions in Afghanistan's civil war a decade ago, mocked the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai as unscrupulous opportunists who are "fighting their own people under the command of foreigners.''

"I invite all Afghan factions to come and forget our differences ... and oust the foreign troops, cut off the hands of the foreign meddlers," Hekmatyar said, speaking in Pashtu.

The video, on a compact disc received yesterday by Associated Press in Pakistan, underlines the resistance still facing U.S. troops as they try to bring order to Afghanistan 1 1/2 years after the Taliban regime and its Al Qaeda allies were ousted.

DON BERLUSCONI

Spiegel Presseschau: "So nicht, Silvio!"
Italiens Ministerpräsident Silvio Berlusconi hat mit seinem Nazi-Vergleich im EU-Parlament international ein verheerendes Medienecho ausgelöst. - Eine Auswahl:

La Repubblica, Rom: "Exakt drei Stunden und 25 Minuten, die Zeit zwischen dem Beginn der Sitzung des Parlaments in Straßburg und der Bemerkung Berlusconis, haben ausgereicht, um die Rolle zu zerstören, die der italienische Ministerpräsident formell begonnen hat, in der Europäischen Union auszuüben. Es ist selten, dass ein politischer Führer eine derart wertvolle Gelegenheit so rasch vergeudet. Ein Rekord."

Frankfurter Rundschau: "Berlusconis Ausfälle vor dem Europäischen Parlament waren in der Sache zwar außerordentlich geschmacklos, ihre eigentliche Bedeutung liegt aber in der erschreckenden Erkenntnis, dass der nun höchste EU-Repräsentant schnell die Kontrolle über sich verliert und partiell von Sinnen ist. Wer so in einer, wenn auch scharf geführten parlamentarischen Debatte ausklinkt, der ist ein Risiko für die gesamte Union."

Tages-Anzeiger, Zürich: "Ausgerechnet dieser Mann steht nun für ein halbes Jahr an der Spitze der EU. Im Grunde sollte Europa ein halbes Jahr Ferien nehmen, abtauchen, die Fahnen einziehen, bis das Mandat dieser Figur abgelaufen ist. Das geht natürlich nicht. Das Mindeste aber wäre, dass die anderen Staats- und Regierungschefs ihrem Kollegen unmissverständlich sagen: So nicht, Silvio!"

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

CANNABIS

N-TV: Kiffen schädigt Gehirn nicht

Der Konsum von Cannabis schädigt einer US-Studie zufolge nicht dauerhaft die Hirnfunktion. "Die Ergebnisse waren schon überraschend", sagte Studienleiter Igor Grant von der Universität von Kalifornien in San Diego. "Man hätte mehr Schädigungen der höheren mentalen Funktionen erwarten können", fügte der Mediziner hinzu.

Anders sieht es bei Alkohol und anderen illegalen Drogen aus. Diese könnten durchaus Hirnschäden hervorrufen, hieß es.

Die Untersuchungen von Cannabis-Konsum zeigten nur einen marginalen schädlichen Effekt auf die Lernfähigkeit und das Erinnerungsvermögen. Gar keinen negativen Einfluss zeigte das regelmäßige Rauchen von Marihuana auf andere Funktionen wie Reaktionsvermögen, Sprache oder Aufmerksamkeit.

Das Team wertete für die Analyse 15 frühere Studien aus, die das Verhalten von insgesamt 704 Personen analysierten, die regelmäßig Cannabis konsumieren und verglichen dies mit dem Verhalten von 484 Personen, die kein Cannabis nahmen

"Das ist eine US-Studie! smoke weed everyday"
US EDUCATION

Guardian: The last resort (part one)

The last resort (part two)

When you have a teenager on the rampage, who are you going to turn to? In America, parents send their troubled offspring to Jamaica's Tranquility Bay - a 'behaviour-modification centre' which charges $40,000 a year to 'cure' them. Decca Aitkenhead, the first journalist to gain access to the centre in five years, wonders if there isn't too high a price to pay

Were you to glance up from the deserted beach below, you might mistake Tranquility Bay for a rather exclusive hotel. The statuesque white property stands all alone on a sandy curve of southern Jamaica, feathered by palm trees, gazing out across the Caribbean Sea. You would have to look closer to see the guards at the wall. Inside, 250 foreign children are locked up. Almost all are American, but though kept prisoner, they were not sent here by a court of law. Their parents paid to have them kidnapped and flown here against their will, to be incarcerated for up to three years, sometimes even longer. They will not be released until they are judged to be respectful, polite and obedient enough to rejoin their families.

"CHECK IT"
1984

ABC:U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance System
U.S. Develops System to Track Vehicles in Foreign Cities; Project Raises Privacy Concerns at Home

The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city.

Dubbed "Combat Zones That See," the project is designed to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.

Police, scientists and privacy experts say the unclassified technology could easily be adapted to spy on Americans.

The project's centerpiece is groundbreaking computer software that is capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag, or drivers and passengers by face

Its other projects include developing software that scans databases of everyday transactions and personal records worldwide to predict terrorist attacks and creating a computerized diary that would record and analyze everything a person says, sees, hears, reads or touches (Die CIA besitzt schon Heute ein Programm um Weltweit Wertschriftentransaktion in Real-Time zu überwachen. Damit sollen aufällige Transaktionen ausfindig gemacht werden die auf Terroranschläge hindeuten. Scheint allerdings nicht zu funktioieren, die massiv erhöhten Volumen bei Optionen von Rückversicherern und Fluggesellschaften am 10. September 2001 wurden nicht bemerkt oder erregten keine Aufmerksamkeit)
IRAQI RESITANCE

Intervention magazine: U.S. Troops Trapped In Iraq
According to Confused Rummy & Chickenhawk George, the Iraq War is over, there are only small pockets of criminals; according to this Vietnam veteran, the war has not ended but changed, changed to a guerrilla war the U.S. will lose.

Nearly two months after President Bush declared an end to the war in Iraq, with great fanfare and total self-confidence, 61 U.S. soldiers have died and the Iraqi attacks are escalating on our troops. Clearly the fighting is not over, some say it’s only beginning. But what kind of fighting?

The New York Times wrote that U.S. troops in Iraq are facing “an organized campaign of guerrilla warfare.” Yet, when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked whether the recent assailants of U.S. troops were guerrillas, he replied, “I don't know that I would use that word.” The word Rumsfeld did use was “criminals.” The problem is not guerrilla war, according to Rummy, but criminal activity.

As for the public, it seems to be perplexed, which is risky for Republicans since being perplexed has been known to lead to serious thinking. Americans witnessed our troops being warmly embraced as liberators, the hugs, the kissed and all of that, after a quick victory spin in their SUVs, they returned to the “fair and balanced” to hear our troops were being angrily killed as occupiers. The typical American is beginning to think something isn’t kosher about this peace.

President Bush is wrong, the war is not over. Secretary of Defense is wrong, the attackers are not criminals. It is a guerrilla war. Guerrillas do not need a jungle to operate, only somewhere to hide, somewhere to pounce from and somewhere to retreat into. Urban environments can be ideal, the sprawing, maze-like Iraqi cities certainly are.
SARS BIOWEAPON

Newsinsider: Investigating the SARS Virus
A Product of Bio-Economic Warfare?

Evidence is mounting that the Bush administration may be engaging in a new form of warfare: bio-economic attacks against countries that either opposed the US war on Iraq or were showing signs of surpassing the US in economic vitality and growth. Revelations that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) does not occur naturally and that anthrax may have been introduced onto an Egyptian merchant vessel bound for Canada from Brazil has raised eyebrows among biological warfare experts.

"CHECK IT"
SOUTH AFRICA

Independent: Bush delivers unprecedented snub to Mandela in Africa visit
President George Bush will make history next week when he becomes the first head of state not to ask for a meeting with Nelson Mandela while on a visit to South Africa.

Officials say there is no precedent, except during large summits such as the UN earth summit in Johannesburg last year when heads of state visited in huge numbers. But even then, world leaders lined up to visit Mr Mandela at his upmarket residence in Johannesburg, and others met him at official events.

But when Mr Bush lands in South Africa next week on his first visit to Africa, the world's most powerful leader will not meet the world's most famous statesman. Mr Bush had not asked for a meeting with Mr Mandela, the former president's spokeswoman said.

The two met at the White House soon after the 11 September suicide attacks, and Mr Mandela expressed support for Mr Bush in hunting down those responsible in Afghanistan. But they fell out when Mr Bush turned on Iraq, and Mr Mandela dismissed the US leader as a President who "cannot think properly" for bypassing the United Nations.
Mr Mandela also made a scathing attack on Tony Blair, labelling him the "Foreign Affairs Minister of the United States
BBC VS UK GOV/ISRAEL

the scotsman: Army joins assault on BBC's war
ARMY chiefs last night joined the attack on the BBC over its accuracy in reporting the war in Iraq, accusing it of painting a distorted picture of the British campaign.
Senior figures in the army are furious about the BBC’s coverage, which they say bears no relation to events on the ground. They are particularly angry about suggestions in a BBC documentary, broadcast on Sunday night, that the army embellished reports of a militia attack on Iraqi citizens for propaganda purposes.

ABC: BBC defended by its former critic
As PM Blair and the BBC wage a running battle over the issue of bias, the broadcaster has received some support from an unlikely source. A former Thatcher supporter and Conservative Party chairman, Lord Tebbit was a trenchant critic of BBC reporting during his own time in Government. But, on this occasion, he's written to The Independent newspaper to openly support the corporation against Alastair Campbell's attacks.

Baku today: Israel Breaks Off the Deal With BBC
Israel announced yesterday that it has broken all its ties with the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) of England as a reaction to a program entitled, "Nuclear and other unconventional weapons in Israel" broadcast last Saturday.
Israeli officials had warned BBC when the program was broadcast in England last March and it was rescheduled to broadcast again on Saturday. The BBC did not agree to the demand to remove the program from its broadcast.
'A country not announcing its nuclear weapons'
Israel's nuclear reactor and weapon facilities in Dimona, and biological research centers in Ness Ziona were shown clearly in the program, and the report made a parallel between Israel and Iraq by posing the question, "Which country in the Middle East has not announced its nuclear and biological weapons?"
According to the decision that anticipates the break in ties with the BBC, Israeli government offices will no longer be able to assist BBC program producers. They will not allow BBC correspondents to report, and the Prime Ministry Office of the Press will make it difficult for BBC employees to receive employment visas and press tags. BBC was removed from Israeli Cable TV broadcasts since they have not agreed on financial issues for a long time.
Zaman / Kerim Balci / Jerusalem / ISRAEL

"BBC sollte nur noch Staatspropaganda senden...wie Fox TV, dann haben sie in Zukunft auch keine Probleme"
ARGENTINA

Scotsman: Leader's bold reforms surprise Argentines
HIS campaign pledge was clear: combat the corrupt political elite and
vested interests that grew rich as the nation plummeted into economic
collapse. But few Argentines expected Nestor Kirchner, the president,
to keep his promise - saying one thing and doing another is a well-worn
tradition in the country’s politics. A month after assuming office, the
sceptics are having to eat their words. Mr Kirchner has unleashed a
flurry of measures to renovate the nation’s
discredited institutions, has taken an aggressive stance on human
rights and has begun rolling back an era of economic liberalisation with
stronger state intervention.
IRAQ AID

Asiatimes: Now, all Iraqis need food aid
ROME - The war in Iraq has made the entire population of 27 million people dependent on food aid, leaders of aid programs say. Before the war that the US and Britain launched March 20 to remove the Saddam Hussein regime, 60 percent of the population had depended entirely on food aid.

"Today, the lives of 100 percent of the Iraqi population, 27 million people, depend on the provision of monthly food rations," UNICEF chief representative in Iraq, Carel de Roy, told Inter Press Service in a telephone interview.
IRAQI RESISTANCE

straitstimes: Guerilla warfare in Iraq?
CAMP BOOM (Iraq) - Insurgents fired a rocket- propelled grenade at a
military vehicle in the restive town of Fallujah yesterday. 'The first clear message is this
war is not over, it's not ended. All of us in uniform are targets. We're
subjectto being engaged.' - A senior US military official in Iraq.

The incident occurred as US military officials were talking
openly for the first time about the possibility of having to wage a
long-term battle to quell Iraqi resistance to the American presence.
The Pentagon might prefer not to use the term 'guerilla warfare' but
judging from descriptions given, that is precisely what US troops are facing in
Iraq.

Guardian: Hostages of the empire
The words of Paul Bremer, Washington's overlord in Iraq, need no
"sexing up". "We are going to fight them and impose our will on them and we
will capture or... kill them until we have imposed law and order on this
country," he declared at the weekend. "We dominate the scene and we
will continue to impose our will on this country
." Neither General Dyer at
Amritsar nor General Westmoreland in Vietnam could have put it any
clearer. Welcome to the new colonialism. Bremer's words are not just bluster. US
forces are now engaged in massive search-and-destroy sweeps in central
and northern Iraq against forces opposing their rule.




"GOOD MORNING VIETNAM"

GM FOOD

Heise: "Frankenstein Food" - die Neuauflage

Großbritannien schickt sich an, dem amerikanischen Präsidenten auch im Kampf für genveränderte Nahrungsmittel beizustehen. Die Hintergründe sind geeignet, Misstrauen zu wecken

Die Bezeichnung "Frankenstein Food" für genveränderte Nahrungsmittel wurde Ende der 90er Jahre zum Schlagwort für die Gefahr, die von Biotechnologen in der Nahrungsmittelindustrie ausgeht. Bald begann es still zu werden um das Schimpfwort. Als "Frankenfood" kehrte es wieder und jetzt als Schlagzeile in der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung durch Matthias Rüb, der seine Eindrücke aus Washington mitbrachte: von der BIO 2003, der führenden Messe der Biotechnologieunternehmen.

Der Stein des Anstoßes war im Herbst 1998 ein BBC-Interview des Ernährungswissenschaftlers Arpad Pusztai, in dem er berichtete, dass bei Ratten nach dem Verfüttern von transgenen Tomaten das Immunsystem gestört ist und Veränderungen der Lektine nachweisbar werden ( Lancet). Die Ergebnisse wären wahrscheinlich untergegangen, hätten nicht Londoner Kreise aus dem Stand und ohne die weiteren wissenschaftlichen Diskussionen abzuwarten, eine Prüfkommission durchgesetzt

Was damals unter den Tisch gekehrt wurde, kommt nun als Bumerang zurück. Der britische Premierminister Tony Blair, der dem US Präsidenten in der GM Food-Frage folgt wie im Irakkrieg, wurde kürzlich ohne Vorwarnung von seinem ehemaligen Umweltminister angegangen. Michael Meacher gehörte bis zur Demissionierung mehr als 6 Jahre zum Kabinett. Er war der dienstälteste Minister und, da er sich heute daran erinnert, offenbar auch mit dem "Fall" Arpad Pusztai befasst. Um so mehr trifft sein Vorwurf: Blair, die ehemaligen Kabinettskollegen und die beratenden Ärzte seien dabei, systematisch die Evidenz zu ignorieren oder zu untergraben, wonach genverändertes Getreide gesundheitsschädlich sein kann oder die Umwelt schädigt. Einflussreiche Leute in der Regierung seien von der Biotech Industrie abhängig. Der Scotsman Korrespondent, Alison Hardie, vermutet neben Tony Blair als Drahtzieher Lord Sainsbury, den Wissenschaftsminister, dessen Familie eine Supermarkt-Kette besitzt.
IRAQ

Heise: Ich will dich auf den Knien




Amnesty International rügt Verhalten des US-Milit?rs im Irak

Gleich zu Beginn der zweit?gigen UN-Konferenz über Menschenrechte in Bagdad gab es eine Rüge für den Sieger: Irak-Beauftragter Paul Bremer, der angekündigt hatte, dass die USA dem Irak ihren Willen "aufzwingen" würden, bekam einen Brief von Amnesty International, der ihn Manieren lehren soll.


USA VS ICC

Spiegel: USA streichen 35 Staaten die Militärhilfe
Weil sie US-Soldaten vor dem Internationalen Strafgerichtshof keine Immunität zugestehen wollen, bekommen 35 Staaten keine Militärhilfe der Amerikaner mehr. Zu den bestraften Ländern gehören auch sechs Nato-Anwärter.

Die verhängten Sperren werden sich erst im kommenden Jahr voll auswirken, weil der Großteil der Militärhilfe für das laufende, Ende September zu Ende gehende US-Haushaltsjahr bereits ausgezahlt ist. Für die noch drei verbleibenden Monate beläuft sich die Summe der zurückgehaltenen Mittel auf insgesamt 47,6 Millionen Dollar. Washington werde auch weiterhin bisherige Verweigerer dazu drängen, die Immunität in bilateralen Vereinbarungen festzuschreiben, kündigte Richard Boucher, Sprecher des Außenministeriums, an.

"obey the REICH"
IRAQ

Spiegel: Bush schwört US-Soldaten auf langen Kampf ein
Der Aufenthalt im Irak gestaltet sich für die US-Soldaten nach dem Krieg gefährlicher als von Washington angenommen. Präsident George W. Bush hält einen baldigen Abzug seiner Truppen deshalb für unwahrscheinlich.
EU

Spiegel: "Ich schlage Sie für die Rolle des Lagerführers vor"
BERLUSCONIS EKLAT IM EUROPAPARLAMENT

Unter tumultartigen Protesten im Europäischen Parlament hat der italienische Ministerpräsident Silvio Berlusconi den EU-Vorsitz übernommen. Nach seiner Antrittsrede musste er sich zahlreiche Zweifel an seinem Demokratieverständnis anhören. Auf die Kritik reagierte er mit Nazi-Witzen.

Straßburg - Auslöser dieser Ausfälligkeiten waren Äußerungen von Martin Schulz, dem stellvertretenden Fraktionsvorsitzenden der Sozialdemokraten im Europäischen Parlament. Der 47-jährige SPD-Abgeordnete hatte sich über Berlusconis Politik ereifert und von einem "Virus der Interessenkonflikte" gesprochen.
Auch die Äußerungen des an der Regierung beteiligten Liga-Nord-Chefs Umberto Bossi, man sollte mit Kanonen auf Flüchtlingsschiffe schießen, seien mit den Grundwerten der EU nicht vereinbar.

Da platzte dem Italiener der Kragen: "In Italien wird gerade ein Film über die Nazi-Konzentrationslager gedreht, ich schlage Sie für die Rolle des Lagerchefs vor", sagte er zu Schulz.

"forza italia!"


Tuesday, July 01, 2003

GRAF

New Version of Warriorz.ch Graffiti from Biel. Nice Layout
IRAQI RESISTANCE

Spiegel: Drei US-Soldaten getötet
Schon wieder hat es im Irak Angriffe auf US-Soldaten gegeben. Bei insgesamt drei Attacken sollen mindestens drei Amerikaner ums Leben gekommen sein.

Bagdad - Augenzeugen berichteten dem arabischen Fernsehsender Al-Dschasira, bei einem Panzerfaust-Angriff auf ein Militärfahrzeug im Norden Bagdads seien drei Soldaten und ihr irakischer Übersetzer getötet worden. Mehrere Iraker, die mit ihrem Auto vorbei gefahren seien, hätten zum Teil schwere Verletzungen erlitten. Der Sender zeigte Bilder eines völlig ausgebrannten Fahrzeugs.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Independent: The Homecoming
"I cried in blood," Fawzi al-Kafarneh told me as we walked through the ruins of his brick factory in Gaza, "all my savings of 20 years are blown away."

Unshaven and disheveled, the 58-year-old Palestinian man talked ceaselessly to himself in a low voice yesterday, sweating profusely under his flowing, tan-coloured shirt.

The Israeli army wrecking crews left his factory in smithereens as they left, much like the orange groves, homes and other factories that used to line the main road into Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Finally, after months under curfew - which kept workers from their jobs, farmers from their fields and children from schools - the relief is palpable.

AFGHANISTAN

Rense/Asia Times: US Shooting In The Dark In Afghanistan
KARACHI (ANI) --Despite the best efforts of its military and intelligence apparatus and political manipulation in Pakistan, the U.S. and its allies have failed to break the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan.

Indeed, the resistance movement in Afghanistan has fully reorganised itself, even setting up offices, and despite official claims to the contrary, American forces are fighting in the dark.

Investigations carried out by Asia Times Online reveal the following:
-- The resistance movement has been named Saiful Muslameen (Sword of Muslims).
-- The central office is located in Asadabad, near the Pakistani border, while several training camps have been established in Parachinar and Miran Shah (both in Pakistan) and other places. These are mobile camps that can be moved quickly according to required needs.
-- The main military committee is headed by Mullah Omar, supported by his commanders, including Mullah Dadullah and Ahktar Usmani.
-- Under Saiful Muslameen, Afghanistan has been divided into five operational zones.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Haaretz: EU rejects U.S. demand to halt Hamas funding
Leaders of the European Union have rejected a key
U.S. demand to cut off funding to Hamas, and to
include the civilian-political wing of the
organization in the EU's list of terror
organizations, along with its military branch.
IRAQ

Moskow Times: Errand Boy - God Personally Told Bush To Invade Iraq
God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East."


MOSCOW -- SO, now we know. After all the mountains of commentary and speculation, all the earnest debates over motives and goals, all the detailed analyses of global strategy and political ideology, it all comes to down to this: George W. Bush waged war on Iraq because, in his own words, God "instructed me to strike at Saddam."

Monday, June 30, 2003

strong>IRAQ

Spiegel: "Grausam und unmenschlich"

Etliche irakische Widerstandskämpfer sind den Amerikanern durch die "Operation Klapperschlange" in die Hände gefallen. Die Menschenrechtsorganisation "Amnesty International" hält den USA jedoch vor, die Gefangenen in den Lagern menschenunwürdig zu behandeln.
Bagdad - Amnesty International (ai) kritisierte die Haftbedingungen im US-Auffanglager am Bagdader Flughafen und im Gefängnis Abu Ghreib westlich der irakischen Hauptstadt. Die Organisation warf den Amerikanern vor, gegen internationales Recht zu verstoßen. Es gebe Hinweise, dass Insassen "grausamen, unmenschlichen oder erniedrigenden" Bedingungen ausgesetzt seien, hieß es in dem Bericht, der zu Beginn einer zweitägigen Uno-Konferenz über Menschenrechte in Bagdad veröffentlicht wurde.

Sunday, June 29, 2003

REVOLUTION

Tagesanzeiger: Andrea Stauffacher im Visier

Die Wohnung einer Aktivistin des «Revolution?ren Aufbaus Zürich» ist bei einer Terroristenfahndung durchsucht worden. Und für Delikte an Demos soll sie 14 Monate ins Gef?ngnis

Gleich mehrere Wohnungen hat die Polizei Anfang Woche in Zürich auf den Kopf gestellt. Zahlreiche Dokumente und Computer wurden beschlagnahmt. Die Polizei suchte Hinweise über Unterstützer oder gar Beteiligte an terroristischen Aktionen in Italien. Hintergrund der Durchsuchungen sind zwei immer noch ungekl?rte Morde an Wirtschaftberatern der italienischen Regierung 2002 in Bologna und 1999 in Rom. Die Anschl?ge sollen auf das Konto einer neuen Generation der linksradikalen «Brigate Rosse» gehen

Andrea Stauffacher wird bereits in einem anderen Zusammenhang vorgeworfen, mehr als eine Agitatorin mit Flugbl?ttern und Megafon zu sein: In einer dem TA vorliegenden Anklageschrift des Zürcher Bezirksanwaltes Michael Scherrer wird sie beschuldigt, an der unbewilligten Anti-WEF-Demonstration vom 1. Februar 2001 eine «Hochleistungsschleuder» samt Metallmuttern als Geschosse mit sich getragen zu haben. Wegen Vergehens gegen das Waffengesetz und weiterer Delikte (darunter Landfriedensbruch, Gewalt und Drohung gegen Beamte und geringfügige Sachbesch?digung im Zusammenhang mit mehreren Demonstrationen) beantragt die Anklage 14 Monate Gef?ngnis unbedingt.
IRAQ

Guardian: Bring the British troops home

The long-awaited uprising in Iraq has begun - not to welcome the invaders as some imagined, but to demand their withdrawal. The spread of resistance to the south and the killing of British soldiers around Amara on Tuesday might have come as a surprise to the British public. But such developments have been anticipated within Iraq for several weeks.
The US administration is trying to convince us that it is the "remnants" of Saddam's regime that are resisting the occupation. We are invited to believe that Saddam's "fanatical" supporters, who were not prepared to die for him when he was in power, are engaged in astounding heroics after he has been deposed and the Iraqi state machine crushed. Much of the British media has been willing to go along with this deception, which helps to cover up the truth about the developing dirty war in Iraq.

"And last week, the US 3rd Infantry Division forces began punitive demolitions, Sharon-style, of the family houses of those allegedly fighting against the occupation forces."
NIKE: PR WATCH

The Guardian: Nike loses case over freedom of speech

The US supreme court yesterday dismissed a claim by the footwear maker Nike that a publicity campaign to counter allegations that it uses sweatshops to make its products was protected by the right to free speech.
The media, advertising and public relations industries had eagerly anticipated a ruling by the supreme court in what was viewed by many as a crucial case.

A Californian anti-globalisation activist is suing the company for allegedly making false claims and the refusal to rule on Nike's rights under the US constitution means the case can now proceed.

In the advertising and PR statements in question, Nike defended the wages and conditions at its plants in Asia where workers make trainers and other leisurewear. The company has issued various press releases and fact sheets about its use of overseas labour and said that the statements were protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

The supreme court did not make a judgment on the case but ruled that the claim had no place in the court.

ISRAEL

Uri Avnery: The Best Show in Town
The most talented director could not have done better. It was a perfect show.

Television viewers all over the world saw heroic Israeli soldiers on their screens battling the fanatical settlers. Close-ups: faces twisted with passion, a soldier lying on a stretcher, a young woman crying in despair, children weeping, youngsters storming forward in fury, masses of people wrestling with each other. A battle of life and death.

There is no room for doubt: Ariel Sharon is leading a heroic fight against the settlers in order to fulfil his promise to remove "unauthorized" outposts, even "inhabited" ones. The old warrior is again facing a determined enemy without flinching.

The conclusion is self-evident, both in Israel and throughout the world: if such a tumultuous battle takes place for a tiny outpost inhabited by hardly a dozen people, how can one expect Sharon to remove 90 outposts, as promised in the Road Map? If things look like that when he has to remove a handful of tents and one small stone building - how can one even dream of evacuating real settlements, where dozens, hundreds or even thousands of families are living?

This must have impressed George Bush and his people. Unfortunately, it has not impressed me.

It makes me laugh.

IRAQ

dailytimes: How British troops became a soft target by robert Fisk

It could not have been more predictable or better planned. The British were the soft underbelly of the American occupation, the nice guys who didn’t wear helmets and patrolled on PC Plod bicycles through the souks of Basra.

No one would hurt the Brits, with their friendly public relations machine and all that experience from Northern Ireland which - when you come to think of it - might have warned them of yesterday’s attack
TERROR

Toronto Star: Al Qaeda mutating like a virus

Terror networks operating with renewed vigour
Iraq war helping bin Laden recruit suicide bombers

Two years after the devastating Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., the "war
on
terror" has not been won, say analysts. Nor has U.S. President Bush's
assertion that a "corner's been turned" against terrorist groups been
borne
out. Instead, there is evidence the Iraq war has actually helped
strengthen
and expand their networks.
IRAQ

Alternet: 10 Appalling Lies We Were Told About Iraq

Today, more than three months after Bush's stirring declaration of war and nearly two months since he declared victory, no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons have been found, nor any documentation of their existence, nor any sign they were deployed in the field.

The mainstream press, after an astonishing two years of cowardice, is belatedly drawing attention to the unconscionable level of administrative deception. They seem surprised to find that when it comes to Iraq, the Bush administration isn't prone to the occasional lie of expediency but, in fact, almost never told the truth.