ISRAEL
Guardian: Our strategy helps the terrorists - army chief warns Sharon
Israel's army chief has exposed deep divisions between the military and Ariel Sharon by branding the government's hardline treatment of Palestinian civilians counter-productive and saying that the policy intensifies hatred and strengthens the "terror organisations".
Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya'alon also told Israeli journalists in an off-the-record briefing that the army was opposed to the route of the "security fence" through the West Bank. The government also contributed to the fall of the former Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, by offering only "stingy" support for his attempts to end the conflict, he said.
Friday, October 31, 2003
USA
SIdney Morning Herald: Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy'
A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
"What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel.
"[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed".
Ms Kwiatkowski, who retired this year after 20 years service, was a Middle East specialist in the office of the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, headed by Douglas Feith.
SIdney Morning Herald: Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy'
A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
"What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel.
"[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed".
Ms Kwiatkowski, who retired this year after 20 years service, was a Middle East specialist in the office of the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, headed by Douglas Feith.
USA
Al-Jazeera: Chomsky: Bush may invent another 'threat'
Leading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq
Al-Jazeera: Chomsky: Bush may invent another 'threat'
Leading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq
UK
Al-Jazeera: George Galloway's historic speech
George Galloway's historic speech, which could change the face of British politics for ever, is given in its entirety below
It is a misunderstanding created by circumstances that I am interested only in Middle Eastern affairs - notably, the struggle for self determination of the Palestinian people and against the horrific effects of sanctions and war on the Iraqi people during Saddam's vile dictatorship.
I have been, of course, passionately engaged in these issues but my interest in opposing all forms of imperialism - including the fashionable neo-liberal version of Mr Blair - arises from a deep patriotism about my own islands.
Empire resulted in the cruelty and oppression of millions outside these islands but it also helped to sustain the power of a ruling elite whose basic greed and sometimes malice, where it was not mere indifference and incompetence, oppressed its own people first before it turned its gaze on peoples of different hue and faith.
"VIVA LA REVOLUTION"
Al-Jazeera: George Galloway's historic speech
George Galloway's historic speech, which could change the face of British politics for ever, is given in its entirety below
It is a misunderstanding created by circumstances that I am interested only in Middle Eastern affairs - notably, the struggle for self determination of the Palestinian people and against the horrific effects of sanctions and war on the Iraqi people during Saddam's vile dictatorship.
I have been, of course, passionately engaged in these issues but my interest in opposing all forms of imperialism - including the fashionable neo-liberal version of Mr Blair - arises from a deep patriotism about my own islands.
Empire resulted in the cruelty and oppression of millions outside these islands but it also helped to sustain the power of a ruling elite whose basic greed and sometimes malice, where it was not mere indifference and incompetence, oppressed its own people first before it turned its gaze on peoples of different hue and faith.
"VIVA LA REVOLUTION"
Thursday, October 30, 2003
IRAQ
Democracy Now: “This is a Resistance Movement, Whether We Like It or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
Britain Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk discusses the increasing resistance against the U.S. occupation in Iraq and counters the Bush administration’s claims that attacks on U.S. troops are coming from foreign fighters. [Includes transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk joins us on the phone right now. Middle East correspondent for the London independent. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Robert.
ROBERT FISK: Hello, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, the killings in Iraq continue. We hear about one side. We hear about the continual killings of U.S. service men and women. We hear about the bombings of the Red Cross, the bombings of the police stations in Baghdad and Fallujah. You've spent a lot of time in Iraq. Can you explain?
ROBERT FISK: Well, I think, you know, part of the explanation needs to include a kind of a cultural comment. We were just listening to your reading of the news where we were hearing you quoting American statesmen as saying that-- talking about the number of foreign fighters in Iraq. Well, I can tell you there are at least 200,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and 146,000 of them are wearing American uniform. You know, Americans in Iraq did not grow up in Tikrit eating dates for breakfast. The largest number of foreign fighters in Iraq, a thousand times over anything Al Qaeda can do, are western soldiers. And we need to realize that we're maintaining an occupation there.
"CHECK IT"
Democracy Now: “This is a Resistance Movement, Whether We Like It or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
Britain Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk discusses the increasing resistance against the U.S. occupation in Iraq and counters the Bush administration’s claims that attacks on U.S. troops are coming from foreign fighters. [Includes transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk joins us on the phone right now. Middle East correspondent for the London independent. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Robert.
ROBERT FISK: Hello, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, the killings in Iraq continue. We hear about one side. We hear about the continual killings of U.S. service men and women. We hear about the bombings of the Red Cross, the bombings of the police stations in Baghdad and Fallujah. You've spent a lot of time in Iraq. Can you explain?
ROBERT FISK: Well, I think, you know, part of the explanation needs to include a kind of a cultural comment. We were just listening to your reading of the news where we were hearing you quoting American statesmen as saying that-- talking about the number of foreign fighters in Iraq. Well, I can tell you there are at least 200,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and 146,000 of them are wearing American uniform. You know, Americans in Iraq did not grow up in Tikrit eating dates for breakfast. The largest number of foreign fighters in Iraq, a thousand times over anything Al Qaeda can do, are western soldiers. And we need to realize that we're maintaining an occupation there.
"CHECK IT"
AFGHANISTAN
Asia Times: Taliban raise the stakes in Afghanistan
After two years of guerilla warfare with almost dry supply
lines, the Taliban are now in a position around the important cities of south
and southeastern Afghanistan to begin the next phase of their campaign to
oust foreign troops from the country. At present, they are poised to close
in on Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad, Asadabad and Gardez.
Asia Times: Taliban raise the stakes in Afghanistan
After two years of guerilla warfare with almost dry supply
lines, the Taliban are now in a position around the important cities of south
and southeastern Afghanistan to begin the next phase of their campaign to
oust foreign troops from the country. At present, they are poised to close
in on Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad, Asadabad and Gardez.
INTERNET WATCH
Age: White House site prevents Iraq material being archived
The White House website effectively prevents search engines indexing and archiving material on the site related to Iraq.
The directories on a site which can be searched by the bots sent out by search engines can be limited by means of a file called robots.txt, which resides in the root directory of a site.
Adding a directory to robots.txt ensures that nothing in that folder will ever show up in a search and will never be archived by search sites.
The White House's robots.txt file lists a huge number of directories all related to Iraq.
Age: White House site prevents Iraq material being archived
The White House website effectively prevents search engines indexing and archiving material on the site related to Iraq.
The directories on a site which can be searched by the bots sent out by search engines can be limited by means of a file called robots.txt, which resides in the root directory of a site.
Adding a directory to robots.txt ensures that nothing in that folder will ever show up in a search and will never be archived by search sites.
The White House's robots.txt file lists a huge number of directories all related to Iraq.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Washington Post: Officers See No Sign Of Foreign Fighters
Commanders of U.S. military forces responsible for monitoring the border between Iraq and Syria say there is no evidence from human intelligence sources or radar surveillance aircraft indicating that significant numbers of foreign fighters are crossing into Iraq illegally.
Washington Post: Officers See No Sign Of Foreign Fighters
Commanders of U.S. military forces responsible for monitoring the border between Iraq and Syria say there is no evidence from human intelligence sources or radar surveillance aircraft indicating that significant numbers of foreign fighters are crossing into Iraq illegally.
MEDIA WATCH
MMN: Who killed 3 US security guards in Gaza?
"In terms of motive, almost no credible Middle East analyst doubts that Israel is the only political beneficiary from the attack."
On October 15, a large roadside bomb was detonated under an easily recognisable US convoy escorted by Palestinian security in the Gaza Strip. The huge explosion tore through the vehicle, leaving three of its occupants dead and one injured.
An anonymous call to Agence France Presse came from someone claiming to represent an umbrella organisation, the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), and saying they were responsible for the attack. As soon as this claim became public, the PRC leadership denied any knowledge of it and disassociated itself from the attack.
“From the very beginning we have denied responsibility for what happened today,” PRC head Yassir Zanoun told the Times. Unusually, no other group or individual has claimed responsibility, leaving a question mark over who the culprits are.
However, much of the media decided to throw caution to the wind and point the finger of blame in one direction. “Palestinians bomb US convoy” was the front page headline of The Guardian the following day. “Palestinian guerrillas blew up a US diplomatic convoy” claimed the Daily Telegraph, which also allowed itself to indulge in some of the worst misinformation available in the mainstream media: “It may well be that Hamas or Islamic Jihad employed the flag of convenience of ‘Popular Resistance Committee’…there is no doubting the common ideological well-spring from which all these groups drink. Young people in the occupied territories are indoctrinated from an early age into the Wahhabist version of Islam that so inspired Osama bin Laden.” Most were a little more sober with their wording, but clearly implied that it was only a question of which Palestinian faction.
MMN: Who killed 3 US security guards in Gaza?
"In terms of motive, almost no credible Middle East analyst doubts that Israel is the only political beneficiary from the attack."
On October 15, a large roadside bomb was detonated under an easily recognisable US convoy escorted by Palestinian security in the Gaza Strip. The huge explosion tore through the vehicle, leaving three of its occupants dead and one injured.
An anonymous call to Agence France Presse came from someone claiming to represent an umbrella organisation, the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), and saying they were responsible for the attack. As soon as this claim became public, the PRC leadership denied any knowledge of it and disassociated itself from the attack.
“From the very beginning we have denied responsibility for what happened today,” PRC head Yassir Zanoun told the Times. Unusually, no other group or individual has claimed responsibility, leaving a question mark over who the culprits are.
However, much of the media decided to throw caution to the wind and point the finger of blame in one direction. “Palestinians bomb US convoy” was the front page headline of The Guardian the following day. “Palestinian guerrillas blew up a US diplomatic convoy” claimed the Daily Telegraph, which also allowed itself to indulge in some of the worst misinformation available in the mainstream media: “It may well be that Hamas or Islamic Jihad employed the flag of convenience of ‘Popular Resistance Committee’…there is no doubting the common ideological well-spring from which all these groups drink. Young people in the occupied territories are indoctrinated from an early age into the Wahhabist version of Islam that so inspired Osama bin Laden.” Most were a little more sober with their wording, but clearly implied that it was only a question of which Palestinian faction.
IRAQ
Financial Times: Iraq business deals may be invalid, law experts warn
The US-led provisional authority in Iraq may be breaking international
law by selling state assets, experts have warned, raising the prospect that
contracts signed now by foreign investors could be scrapped by a future
Iraqi government. International businesspeople attending a conference
in London this week heard that some orders issued by the US-led Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) may be in breach of the 1907 Hague
Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Is what they are doing legitimate, is it legal?" asked Juliet Blanch,
a partner at the London-based international law firm Norton Rose. "Most
[experts] believe that their actions are not legal", she said. "There
would be no requirement for a new government to ratify their [actions]."
International law obliges occupying powers to respect laws already in
force in a country "unless absolutely prevented" from doing so.
According to international law experts, that throws doubt on the
legality of the CPA's September 19 order opening the Iraqi economy to foreign
investment. In what amounted to a blueprint for transforming Iraq into
a market economy, Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide
range of state-owned Iraqi assets, barring natural resources such as oil.
However, such sweeping economic reform may not be legal, as the UK
government was privately warned by its chief law officer in the first
days of the war. In his private advice, later leaked to the press, Lord
Goldsmith wrote that "the imposition of major structural economic
reforms would not be authorised by international law."
Financial Times: Iraq business deals may be invalid, law experts warn
The US-led provisional authority in Iraq may be breaking international
law by selling state assets, experts have warned, raising the prospect that
contracts signed now by foreign investors could be scrapped by a future
Iraqi government. International businesspeople attending a conference
in London this week heard that some orders issued by the US-led Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) may be in breach of the 1907 Hague
Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Is what they are doing legitimate, is it legal?" asked Juliet Blanch,
a partner at the London-based international law firm Norton Rose. "Most
[experts] believe that their actions are not legal", she said. "There
would be no requirement for a new government to ratify their [actions]."
International law obliges occupying powers to respect laws already in
force in a country "unless absolutely prevented" from doing so.
According to international law experts, that throws doubt on the
legality of the CPA's September 19 order opening the Iraqi economy to foreign
investment. In what amounted to a blueprint for transforming Iraq into
a market economy, Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide
range of state-owned Iraqi assets, barring natural resources such as oil.
However, such sweeping economic reform may not be legal, as the UK
government was privately warned by its chief law officer in the first
days of the war. In his private advice, later leaked to the press, Lord
Goldsmith wrote that "the imposition of major structural economic
reforms would not be authorised by international law."
IRAQ
Sidney Morning Herald: Bush may have to cut and run
After yet another bloody day in Iraq, US President George Bush dropped
his enthusiastic message that the latest wave of attacks was evidence of
just how much "progress" was being made in bringing freedom to the country.
Bush's Democratic opponents had been scathing when he proffered this
view on Monday following the death of nearly 40 Iraqis and one American in a
wave of suicide bombings that also left about 230 wounded. "If this is
progress, I don't know how much progress we can take," Senator Tom
Daschle retorted.
Sidney Morning Herald: Bush may have to cut and run
After yet another bloody day in Iraq, US President George Bush dropped
his enthusiastic message that the latest wave of attacks was evidence of
just how much "progress" was being made in bringing freedom to the country.
Bush's Democratic opponents had been scathing when he proffered this
view on Monday following the death of nearly 40 Iraqis and one American in a
wave of suicide bombings that also left about 230 wounded. "If this is
progress, I don't know how much progress we can take," Senator Tom
Daschle retorted.
USA
Iview: Bush's Support For Sharon
What message is Bush trying to send to the rest of the world, especially to the Muslim world? Is it kosher to strike any country and ignore international laws?
The level of hypocrisy, double-talk and the neo-Pharaonic display of might, practiced by the Bush (Jr.) Administration, is sufficient to make any decent, peace-loving person question his/her fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. Truly, there is no system more corrupt and more hypocritical than a system that represents itself as the example of justice, the example of freedom, the example of democracy, the example of human rights and can go all over this earth telling other people how to strengthen out their houses, how to manage their affairs, how to abide by international laws while it does exactly the opposite - defying international laws, courting authoritarian regimes, bugging its own citizenry, misleading all humanity, denying basic human rights and setting precedence for pre-emptive strikes as if we are living in caves in pre-historic times.
Iview: Bush's Support For Sharon
What message is Bush trying to send to the rest of the world, especially to the Muslim world? Is it kosher to strike any country and ignore international laws?
The level of hypocrisy, double-talk and the neo-Pharaonic display of might, practiced by the Bush (Jr.) Administration, is sufficient to make any decent, peace-loving person question his/her fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. Truly, there is no system more corrupt and more hypocritical than a system that represents itself as the example of justice, the example of freedom, the example of democracy, the example of human rights and can go all over this earth telling other people how to strengthen out their houses, how to manage their affairs, how to abide by international laws while it does exactly the opposite - defying international laws, courting authoritarian regimes, bugging its own citizenry, misleading all humanity, denying basic human rights and setting precedence for pre-emptive strikes as if we are living in caves in pre-historic times.
ROGUE STATE USA
Minnesota Daily: U.S. becoming the monster it fears
Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross publicly criticized the U.S. government for the prolonged and seemingly indefinite detention of 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The committee’s action illuminates two distinct but related problems: Current U.S. policy offends common human decency and violates international law.
The committee delegates are the only outsiders with access to the detainees captured in Afghanistan, Bosnia and possibly elsewhere. The committee normally visits under strict confidentiality — they usually reveal findings only to the detaining government. They prefer quiet diplomacy because governments are more likely to give them access. Accordingly, the committee’s public announcement was extraordinary.
Minnesota Daily: U.S. becoming the monster it fears
Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross publicly criticized the U.S. government for the prolonged and seemingly indefinite detention of 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The committee’s action illuminates two distinct but related problems: Current U.S. policy offends common human decency and violates international law.
The committee delegates are the only outsiders with access to the detainees captured in Afghanistan, Bosnia and possibly elsewhere. The committee normally visits under strict confidentiality — they usually reveal findings only to the detaining government. They prefer quiet diplomacy because governments are more likely to give them access. Accordingly, the committee’s public announcement was extraordinary.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Washington Post: The Danger of Defeat
When you journey abroad, news from home tends to arrive in disjointed snippets. But rarely has such a tidbit seemed as unrooted in reality as the comment of President Bush that reached here a day after a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad. The attacks, Bush said, resulted from the progress of the occupation and the desperation of the insurgents.
Here's the reality: Insurgents are waging a strategic and malevolently clever campaign that is achieving, in its terms, considerable success. The kind of progress that Bush seeks cannot be accomplished under current conditions of danger and uncertainty. What Iraqis need as they emerge from decades of stifling repression is a richness of contact with the world and a faith that change -- true, structural change -- is possible. Both of those -- the contact and the faith -- are undermined, deliberately and successfully, by terrorism aimed at any vulnerable point of intersection between cooperating Iraqis and well-wishing foreigners.
Washington Post: The Danger of Defeat
When you journey abroad, news from home tends to arrive in disjointed snippets. But rarely has such a tidbit seemed as unrooted in reality as the comment of President Bush that reached here a day after a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad. The attacks, Bush said, resulted from the progress of the occupation and the desperation of the insurgents.
Here's the reality: Insurgents are waging a strategic and malevolently clever campaign that is achieving, in its terms, considerable success. The kind of progress that Bush seeks cannot be accomplished under current conditions of danger and uncertainty. What Iraqis need as they emerge from decades of stifling repression is a richness of contact with the world and a faith that change -- true, structural change -- is possible. Both of those -- the contact and the faith -- are undermined, deliberately and successfully, by terrorism aimed at any vulnerable point of intersection between cooperating Iraqis and well-wishing foreigners.
IRAQ
Telegraph: New Iraq 'Well On Way To Becoming Islamic State'
WASHINGTON -- The United States is failing in its mission to create a secular, overtly pro-Western Iraq, a leading adviser to the American administrator Paul Bremer said yesterday.
Instead, the new, democratic Iraq appears bound to be an Islamic state - with an official role for Islam, and Islamic law enshrined in its constitution.
That prospect is triggering alarm and opposition from the White House and the Pentagon, Noah Feldman, a leading American expert in Islamic law, told The Daily Telegraph.
Dr Feldman served as senior constitutional adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, working closely with Mr Bremer. Returning from Baghdad this summer, the New York University law professor now works as an unpaid adviser to the CPA, to the White House, and to different factions in the Iraqi Governing Council.
One senior administration official declared before the war that the first foreign policy of a democratic Iraq would be to recognise Israel.
"I don't know what he was smoking when he said that," said Dr Feldman. He argued that Iraqi-Israeli relations were off the radar, as Washington struggled simply to keep Iraq from slipping into disaster.
"The end constitutional product is very likely to make many people in the US government unhappy. It's not going to look the way people imagined it looking," said Dr Feldman.
"Any democratically elected Iraqi government is unlikely to be secular, and unlikely to be pro-Israel. And frankly, moderately unlikely to be pro-American." "Und darum wird es keinen wirklich demokratischen Irak oder Nahen Osten geben"
Telegraph: New Iraq 'Well On Way To Becoming Islamic State'
WASHINGTON -- The United States is failing in its mission to create a secular, overtly pro-Western Iraq, a leading adviser to the American administrator Paul Bremer said yesterday.
Instead, the new, democratic Iraq appears bound to be an Islamic state - with an official role for Islam, and Islamic law enshrined in its constitution.
That prospect is triggering alarm and opposition from the White House and the Pentagon, Noah Feldman, a leading American expert in Islamic law, told The Daily Telegraph.
Dr Feldman served as senior constitutional adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, working closely with Mr Bremer. Returning from Baghdad this summer, the New York University law professor now works as an unpaid adviser to the CPA, to the White House, and to different factions in the Iraqi Governing Council.
One senior administration official declared before the war that the first foreign policy of a democratic Iraq would be to recognise Israel.
"I don't know what he was smoking when he said that," said Dr Feldman. He argued that Iraqi-Israeli relations were off the radar, as Washington struggled simply to keep Iraq from slipping into disaster.
"The end constitutional product is very likely to make many people in the US government unhappy. It's not going to look the way people imagined it looking," said Dr Feldman.
"Any democratically elected Iraqi government is unlikely to be secular, and unlikely to be pro-Israel. And frankly, moderately unlikely to be pro-American." "Und darum wird es keinen wirklich demokratischen Irak oder Nahen Osten geben"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Arab News: 233 Attacks On US In Last Week Alone
BAGHDAD -- In a dramatic upsurge in attacks, resistance fighters destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush of multinational troops stationed south of the capital, US and coalition officials said yesterday.
US policy in Iraq suffered another setback when the international Red Cross announced it was reducing its international staff in the country, two days after a deadly suicide car-bombing at its Baghdad headquarters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged the Red Cross and other non-government organizations to remain in Iraq because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."
The latest attacks - 233 over the last seven days according to the US military - have driven the combat death toll during the occupation over the number killed before President George W. Bush declared an end to active combat on May 1.
Two American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed and one was wounded late Tuesday when their Abrams main battle tank apparently hit a land mine near Balad, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad, division spokeswoman Maj. Jossyln Aberle said.
Arab News: 233 Attacks On US In Last Week Alone
BAGHDAD -- In a dramatic upsurge in attacks, resistance fighters destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush of multinational troops stationed south of the capital, US and coalition officials said yesterday.
US policy in Iraq suffered another setback when the international Red Cross announced it was reducing its international staff in the country, two days after a deadly suicide car-bombing at its Baghdad headquarters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged the Red Cross and other non-government organizations to remain in Iraq because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."
The latest attacks - 233 over the last seven days according to the US military - have driven the combat death toll during the occupation over the number killed before President George W. Bush declared an end to active combat on May 1.
Two American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed and one was wounded late Tuesday when their Abrams main battle tank apparently hit a land mine near Balad, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad, division spokeswoman Maj. Jossyln Aberle said.
ZIONISM
Rense: Armageddon - Zionism's Diabolical Goal
I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together with 25 other couples -- half of them from the United States -- moved onto land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off 750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international law.
One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said: "All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land to us, the Jews."
This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn. What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years, just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
About the author: Grace Halsell was a White House speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson and has covered both the Korean and Vietnam wars as a journalist. She is the author of several books including Prophecy and Politics (Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, Connecticut) and The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1993, Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004- 0539), from which this article was reprinted. Actually, the above article appeared in The Spectrum, Vol. 4, Number 10.
"CHECK IT"
Rense: Armageddon - Zionism's Diabolical Goal
I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together with 25 other couples -- half of them from the United States -- moved onto land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off 750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international law.
One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said: "All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land to us, the Jews."
This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn. What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years, just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
About the author: Grace Halsell was a White House speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson and has covered both the Korean and Vietnam wars as a journalist. She is the author of several books including Prophecy and Politics (Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, Connecticut) and The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1993, Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004- 0539), from which this article was reprinted. Actually, the above article appeared in The Spectrum, Vol. 4, Number 10.
"CHECK IT"
MIDDLE EAST
Joe Vialls: Russia Ready to Vaporize the Jewish State
And then kick America out of the Eastern Hemisphere’s oilfields
When the end finally comes for Israel, it will all be over in microseconds. Flying faster than rifle bullets,
the Sunburns will approach Tel Aviv and Haifa at twice the speed of sound, detonating in blinding white
200 Kiloton flashes designed to instantly transform animal vegetable and mineral into heat and light.”
"interesting article"
Joe Vialls: Russia Ready to Vaporize the Jewish State
And then kick America out of the Eastern Hemisphere’s oilfields
When the end finally comes for Israel, it will all be over in microseconds. Flying faster than rifle bullets,
the Sunburns will approach Tel Aviv and Haifa at twice the speed of sound, detonating in blinding white
200 Kiloton flashes designed to instantly transform animal vegetable and mineral into heat and light.”
"interesting article"
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Independent: Silenced witnesses
In a seven-week period this spring, two overseas observers were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and a third left brain dead. But has the truth yet been told? John Sweeney investigates
James Miller taught my children to surf. Together, the two of us went to Kosovo, Chechnya and Zimbabwe. He was funny, decent to the core, a genius behind the camera lens. Together, we celebrated winning a Royal Television Society gong by having one shandy too many. I fell into an argument with an irritating cove in a penguin suit. James stepped in, threatening to take said cove outside and sort him out. At which point, some PR floozie whispered in my ear: "Do you know who that is?" No. "It's the head of ITV." Don't watch it much anyway. James and I had so much fun and, occasionally, we did the work.
I was in Baghdad when I heard the news. He had been shot in Rafah, at the fag-end of the Gaza Strip, and was dead.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
Independent: Silenced witnesses
In a seven-week period this spring, two overseas observers were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and a third left brain dead. But has the truth yet been told? John Sweeney investigates
James Miller taught my children to surf. Together, the two of us went to Kosovo, Chechnya and Zimbabwe. He was funny, decent to the core, a genius behind the camera lens. Together, we celebrated winning a Royal Television Society gong by having one shandy too many. I fell into an argument with an irritating cove in a penguin suit. James stepped in, threatening to take said cove outside and sort him out. At which point, some PR floozie whispered in my ear: "Do you know who that is?" No. "It's the head of ITV." Don't watch it much anyway. James and I had so much fun and, occasionally, we did the work.
I was in Baghdad when I heard the news. He had been shot in Rafah, at the fag-end of the Gaza Strip, and was dead.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
IRAQ
New Zealand Herald: Robert Fisk: Ramadan revenge - a message sent and a lesson learned
Understanding the brain. That's what you have to do in a guerrilla war. Find out how it works, what it's trying to do.
Ramadan? An attack on US headquarters in Baghdad and six suicide bombings, all at the start of Ramadan? Thirty-four dead and 200 wounded? Where have I heard those statistics before?
And how could they be so well co-ordinated - not sophisticated, perhaps, but well-timed, down to the last second? And why the Red Cross?
I knew that building, admired the way in which the International Red Cross staff refused to associate themselves with the American occupation - even at the cost of their lives, because the guards outside their Baghdad headquarters carried no guns.
So here's the answer to question one. Algeria. After the Algerian Government in 1991 banned democratic elections that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front to power, a growing Muslim revolt turned into a blood-curdling battle between the Islamic Armed Group - many of its adherents cut their battle teeth in Afghanistan - and a brutal Government army and police force. Within three years, the Islamists - aided, it seems, by army intelligence officers - were perpetrating massacres against the villagers of what was called the "Blida triangle", a three-cornered territory around the Islamist city of Blida outside Algiers.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
New Zealand Herald: Robert Fisk: Ramadan revenge - a message sent and a lesson learned
Understanding the brain. That's what you have to do in a guerrilla war. Find out how it works, what it's trying to do.
Ramadan? An attack on US headquarters in Baghdad and six suicide bombings, all at the start of Ramadan? Thirty-four dead and 200 wounded? Where have I heard those statistics before?
And how could they be so well co-ordinated - not sophisticated, perhaps, but well-timed, down to the last second? And why the Red Cross?
I knew that building, admired the way in which the International Red Cross staff refused to associate themselves with the American occupation - even at the cost of their lives, because the guards outside their Baghdad headquarters carried no guns.
So here's the answer to question one. Algeria. After the Algerian Government in 1991 banned democratic elections that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front to power, a growing Muslim revolt turned into a blood-curdling battle between the Islamic Armed Group - many of its adherents cut their battle teeth in Afghanistan - and a brutal Government army and police force. Within three years, the Islamists - aided, it seems, by army intelligence officers - were perpetrating massacres against the villagers of what was called the "Blida triangle", a three-cornered territory around the Islamist city of Blida outside Algiers.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
ZIONISM
Rense: Makow - The Real Cause of 'Anti Semitism' by By Henry Makow, PhD
My Jewish mother was born in Poland in 1919. She remembered visiting her grandfather's vast "estate" as a child and riding in a big carriage drawn by four white horses.
This story contradicted my image of Jewish poverty and persecution in Poland, and I questioned her about it.
She reassured me that her family had means. (Unfortunately her rich grandfather remarried and disowned her father. No more invitations.)
On the other hand, my father's family fit my preconception. His father eked out a living as Secretary for a labor union. They lived in a two-room flat and sublet one room. Sometimes Poles threw stones at them in the park. A quota meant that he could not attend university.
The popular image of Jewish history is closer to my father's story. But we cannot have an accurate impression without my mother's.
Israel Shahak's book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion; The Weight of 3000 Years" (1994) shows how the past provides a key to understanding the present.
According to Shahak, the Jewish elite always had a symbiotic relationship with the governing class. The Jews would "administer the oppression" of the masses. In return, the governing class would force Jews to obey their "leaders." Sometimes a pogrom would do the trick.
Rense: Makow - The Real Cause of 'Anti Semitism' by By Henry Makow, PhD
My Jewish mother was born in Poland in 1919. She remembered visiting her grandfather's vast "estate" as a child and riding in a big carriage drawn by four white horses.
This story contradicted my image of Jewish poverty and persecution in Poland, and I questioned her about it.
She reassured me that her family had means. (Unfortunately her rich grandfather remarried and disowned her father. No more invitations.)
On the other hand, my father's family fit my preconception. His father eked out a living as Secretary for a labor union. They lived in a two-room flat and sublet one room. Sometimes Poles threw stones at them in the park. A quota meant that he could not attend university.
The popular image of Jewish history is closer to my father's story. But we cannot have an accurate impression without my mother's.
Israel Shahak's book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion; The Weight of 3000 Years" (1994) shows how the past provides a key to understanding the present.
According to Shahak, the Jewish elite always had a symbiotic relationship with the governing class. The Jews would "administer the oppression" of the masses. In return, the governing class would force Jews to obey their "leaders." Sometimes a pogrom would do the trick.
ISRAEL
Guardian: Israel tells foreign backers of Geneva peace initiative they threaten road map
The Israeli government has launched a diplomatic offensive to discourage foreign support for a groundbreaking peace initiative that its supporters say has exposed the bankruptcy of Ariel Sharon's policies.
The foreign ministry summoned a senior Swiss diplomat to protest against his government's support for the "Geneva initiative" made public two weeks ago by leftwing Israeli politicians and a group of Palestinian leaders.
Two years of secretive negotiations were led by the former Israeli cabinet minister, Yossi Beilin, and a close ally of Yasser Arafat, Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Their agreement was for the Palestinians to renounce the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel and for the evacuation of almost all Jewish settlements on the West Bank beyond what Israel defines as Jerusalem
Guardian: Israel tells foreign backers of Geneva peace initiative they threaten road map
The Israeli government has launched a diplomatic offensive to discourage foreign support for a groundbreaking peace initiative that its supporters say has exposed the bankruptcy of Ariel Sharon's policies.
The foreign ministry summoned a senior Swiss diplomat to protest against his government's support for the "Geneva initiative" made public two weeks ago by leftwing Israeli politicians and a group of Palestinian leaders.
Two years of secretive negotiations were led by the former Israeli cabinet minister, Yossi Beilin, and a close ally of Yasser Arafat, Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Their agreement was for the Palestinians to renounce the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel and for the evacuation of almost all Jewish settlements on the West Bank beyond what Israel defines as Jerusalem
IRAQ
Guardian: Powell begs aid agencies to stay in Baghdad
Terrorists will win if humanitarian workers retreat, says secretary of state, as frontline charity pulls out its staff
Médecins sans Frontières, a frontline aid agency with a reputation for working in warzones where other agencies refuse to go, is to join the exodus of international workers from Baghdad despite a plea for it to stay from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The withdrawal of MSF is a huge symbolic blow to US attempts to restore a semblance of normality to Baghdad and the rest of central Iraq. If the aid agencies judge central Iraq too dangerous to operate in, it will be even harder for Washington and London to persuade private companies to take up reconstruction contracts in the country. "Und genau das ist der Grund warum Hilfswerke angegriffen werden"
Guardian: Powell begs aid agencies to stay in Baghdad
Terrorists will win if humanitarian workers retreat, says secretary of state, as frontline charity pulls out its staff
Médecins sans Frontières, a frontline aid agency with a reputation for working in warzones where other agencies refuse to go, is to join the exodus of international workers from Baghdad despite a plea for it to stay from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The withdrawal of MSF is a huge symbolic blow to US attempts to restore a semblance of normality to Baghdad and the rest of central Iraq. If the aid agencies judge central Iraq too dangerous to operate in, it will be even harder for Washington and London to persuade private companies to take up reconstruction contracts in the country. "Und genau das ist der Grund warum Hilfswerke angegriffen werden"
IRAQ
Spiegel: Bush warnt Iran und Syrien
George W. Bush zeigt auch angesichts der jüngsten Selbstmordanschl?ge im Irak H?rte: "Wir werden nicht weichen", sagte er. Der US-Pr?sident macht vor allem ausl?ndische Terroristen für die Anschl?ge verantwortlich, die aus Iran und Syrien in das Land einsickerten
"Die (Anh?nger der Partei Saddams) Baathisten versuchen, Chaos und Angst zu schaffen, weil ihnen bewusst ist, dass ein freier Irak ihnen die umfassenden Privilegien versagt, die sie unter Saddam Hussein hatten", sagte Bush. "Ausl?ndische Terroristen versuchen, Angst zu erzeugen, weil sie einen freien und friedlichen Staat fürchten in der Mitte eines Teils der Welt, in dem Terror Rekruten gefunden hat", fügte er hinzu.
– very soon – a guerrilla resistance must start. No doubt the Americans will claim that these attacks are "remnants" of Saddam's regime or "criminal elements". But that will not be the case. Robert Fisk, 17. April 2003
Spiegel: Bush warnt Iran und Syrien
George W. Bush zeigt auch angesichts der jüngsten Selbstmordanschl?ge im Irak H?rte: "Wir werden nicht weichen", sagte er. Der US-Pr?sident macht vor allem ausl?ndische Terroristen für die Anschl?ge verantwortlich, die aus Iran und Syrien in das Land einsickerten
"Die (Anh?nger der Partei Saddams) Baathisten versuchen, Chaos und Angst zu schaffen, weil ihnen bewusst ist, dass ein freier Irak ihnen die umfassenden Privilegien versagt, die sie unter Saddam Hussein hatten", sagte Bush. "Ausl?ndische Terroristen versuchen, Angst zu erzeugen, weil sie einen freien und friedlichen Staat fürchten in der Mitte eines Teils der Welt, in dem Terror Rekruten gefunden hat", fügte er hinzu.
– very soon – a guerrilla resistance must start. No doubt the Americans will claim that these attacks are "remnants" of Saddam's regime or "criminal elements". But that will not be the case. Robert Fisk, 17. April 2003
UK: DAVID KELLY
Rense: The Murder Dr. David Kelly - Part 2
In Part One of this report, we examined evidence ignored by the national media, both in the U.S. and U.K., that shows fairly conclusively (at least to this writer) that Dr. David Kelly did not commit suicide. * (For an expanded, detailed report of more evidence see the URL in the footnote below.) In this last part, we will look at Kellyâs involvement in and/or knowledge of the secrets of several governments so explosive that once he was adjudged ãunreliableä he had to be eliminated.)
In 1984 Dr. Kelly was invited by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to take the position of chief microbiologist at its secret facility at Porton Down. Kelly had been working in the NERC Institute of Virology in Oxford. He brought a number of scientists with him from there to Porton Down.
At the Hutton inquiry, Brian Jones testified as to Kellyâs involvement, with the highest security clearance, in analyzing top-secret information regarding biological weapons of the U.K. and other governments. Jones was director of a department on the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS). That involvement, beginning in 1987, presumably continued until his death and through his several other jobs as weapons ãinspectorä in Russia and (for UNSCOM) in Iraq.
Rense: The Murder Dr. David Kelly - Part 2
In Part One of this report, we examined evidence ignored by the national media, both in the U.S. and U.K., that shows fairly conclusively (at least to this writer) that Dr. David Kelly did not commit suicide. * (For an expanded, detailed report of more evidence see the URL in the footnote below.) In this last part, we will look at Kellyâs involvement in and/or knowledge of the secrets of several governments so explosive that once he was adjudged ãunreliableä he had to be eliminated.)
In 1984 Dr. Kelly was invited by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to take the position of chief microbiologist at its secret facility at Porton Down. Kelly had been working in the NERC Institute of Virology in Oxford. He brought a number of scientists with him from there to Porton Down.
At the Hutton inquiry, Brian Jones testified as to Kellyâs involvement, with the highest security clearance, in analyzing top-secret information regarding biological weapons of the U.K. and other governments. Jones was director of a department on the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS). That involvement, beginning in 1987, presumably continued until his death and through his several other jobs as weapons ãinspectorä in Russia and (for UNSCOM) in Iraq.
IRAQ
NY Times Op-Ed: A Willful Ignorance by Paul Krugman
According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.
Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes
NY Times Op-Ed: A Willful Ignorance by Paul Krugman
According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.
Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes
ELECTRONIC WARFARE
the news insider: Suspicious Blackouts
Who is Targeting Global Power Grids?
In July 2002, President Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 16 (PD-16), a secret plan for the United States to wage cyber-warfare against other countries. Under the directive, the Pentagon -which is under the control of neo-conservative zealots who make Dr. Strangelove seem relatively sane- is authorized to use electronic weaponry to bring down the electrical grids of enemy nations.
Bush's signature of the secret directive was not disclosed until February 7, 2003, when it was reported in the Washington Post. Although the PD-16 is secret, a few of its main elements have leaked out to the media. They include hacking computer systems to overload switches and substations to cause total or partial grid collapse. But the attacks can be much more brutal in nature. The Pentagon got a leg up on collapsing grids during the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia. NATO planes scattered graphite ribbons over electrical power lines around Belgrade, causing major shorts that resulted in cascading power failures throughout the grid. It took up to seven hours for technicians in the Yugoslav capital to restore power.
Since Bush's offensive cyber-war directive was signed, the world has witnessed some of the most unexplained massive blackouts in the history of the modern age of electricity. The Pentagon has indeed -through manipulative schemers like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired Admiral John Poindexter-championed such ideas as a stock market betting parlor for future terrorist attacks and an Internet-based personal information surveillance program (both fortunately killed off by Congress). It is thus not too far-fetched to consider the possibility that the recent spate of blackouts around the world are the result of another harebrained operation cooked up by the neo-cons to demonstrate America's superiority in cyber-warfare.
the news insider: Suspicious Blackouts
Who is Targeting Global Power Grids?
In July 2002, President Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 16 (PD-16), a secret plan for the United States to wage cyber-warfare against other countries. Under the directive, the Pentagon -which is under the control of neo-conservative zealots who make Dr. Strangelove seem relatively sane- is authorized to use electronic weaponry to bring down the electrical grids of enemy nations.
Bush's signature of the secret directive was not disclosed until February 7, 2003, when it was reported in the Washington Post. Although the PD-16 is secret, a few of its main elements have leaked out to the media. They include hacking computer systems to overload switches and substations to cause total or partial grid collapse. But the attacks can be much more brutal in nature. The Pentagon got a leg up on collapsing grids during the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia. NATO planes scattered graphite ribbons over electrical power lines around Belgrade, causing major shorts that resulted in cascading power failures throughout the grid. It took up to seven hours for technicians in the Yugoslav capital to restore power.
Since Bush's offensive cyber-war directive was signed, the world has witnessed some of the most unexplained massive blackouts in the history of the modern age of electricity. The Pentagon has indeed -through manipulative schemers like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired Admiral John Poindexter-championed such ideas as a stock market betting parlor for future terrorist attacks and an Internet-based personal information surveillance program (both fortunately killed off by Congress). It is thus not too far-fetched to consider the possibility that the recent spate of blackouts around the world are the result of another harebrained operation cooked up by the neo-cons to demonstrate America's superiority in cyber-warfare.
911
NY Times: Administration Faces Supoenas From 9/11 Panel
MADISON, N.J., Oct. 25 — The chairman of the federal commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said that the White
House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence
documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if
they were not turned over within weeks.
The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New
Jersey, also said in an interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member
commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive
branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration
in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.
NY Times: Administration Faces Supoenas From 9/11 Panel
MADISON, N.J., Oct. 25 — The chairman of the federal commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said that the White
House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence
documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if
they were not turned over within weeks.
The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New
Jersey, also said in an interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member
commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive
branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration
in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.
IRAQ
Daily Star: Spoils of war: United States puts Iraq up for sale as American firms hog the gravy train
Six foreign banks will get 'fast-track' entry and be allowed to buy up
to 100% of local banks within 5 years. This has raised fears among Iraqis,
who are grappling with lawlessness, 60% unemployment, and dysfunctional
electricity and water supplies 5 months after the fall of the Baath
regime, that their economy will be dominated by foreigners. They doubt Iraq's
oil wealth, the 2nd largest after Saudi Arabia can be kept out of the
equation for long. 'This is a prelude to include oil,' says Iraqi financial
expert Ridha al-Qoreishi. 'The United States will have control of all the Arab
oil in the Gulf, or 60% of the crude in the world, which reinforces their
hold on the world economy.' On 9/24, confirming the pre-war fears of Russia,
France and China, Nabil Ahmed al-Musawi, one of the
[Pentagon-appointed] Governing Council's 25 members, said US companies would receive
preferential treatment to exploit Iraq's oil reserves.
Daily Star: Spoils of war: United States puts Iraq up for sale as American firms hog the gravy train
Six foreign banks will get 'fast-track' entry and be allowed to buy up
to 100% of local banks within 5 years. This has raised fears among Iraqis,
who are grappling with lawlessness, 60% unemployment, and dysfunctional
electricity and water supplies 5 months after the fall of the Baath
regime, that their economy will be dominated by foreigners. They doubt Iraq's
oil wealth, the 2nd largest after Saudi Arabia can be kept out of the
equation for long. 'This is a prelude to include oil,' says Iraqi financial
expert Ridha al-Qoreishi. 'The United States will have control of all the Arab
oil in the Gulf, or 60% of the crude in the world, which reinforces their
hold on the world economy.' On 9/24, confirming the pre-war fears of Russia,
France and China, Nabil Ahmed al-Musawi, one of the
[Pentagon-appointed] Governing Council's 25 members, said US companies would receive
preferential treatment to exploit Iraq's oil reserves.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
UN Wire: ISRAELI DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS IN GAZA IS ILLEGAL, ANNAN AND UN ENVOY SAY
New York, Oct 27 2003 3:00PM
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy for the Middle East today strongly deplored Israel's continuing demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings as illegal, especially the destruction of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip last night.
"The Secretary-General continues to follow with great concern the ongoing cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians," a spokesperson for Mr. Annan <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=596">told a news briefing in New York. "He deplores all acts that fuel and intensify the conflict. The Secretary-General reminds the Israeli authorities that house demolitions amount to collective punishment, which is a clear violation of international humanitarian law."
During the past month, 2,000 people became homeless as Israel destroyed some 200 buildings in the Gaza Strip, spokesperson Marie Okabe said. In that connection, the Secretary-General deplored the destruction by the Israeli military of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.
Terje Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the punitive destruction last night of the buildings, "owned by families of Palestinian security personnel," violated international law.
"Such actions are also counterproductive towards Israel's legitimate security concerns, for they foster anger and despair among Palestinians," he said in a statement.
In other news, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said a Hezbollah unit fired mortars and missiles towards Israeli positions in the Shabaa farms area, located near the line of withdrawal by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army subsequently responded with artillery and aerial bombs, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). No casualties have been reported.
"Link by Celsius 233"
UN Wire: ISRAELI DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS IN GAZA IS ILLEGAL, ANNAN AND UN ENVOY SAY
New York, Oct 27 2003 3:00PM
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy for the Middle East today strongly deplored Israel's continuing demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings as illegal, especially the destruction of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip last night.
"The Secretary-General continues to follow with great concern the ongoing cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians," a spokesperson for Mr. Annan <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=596">told a news briefing in New York. "He deplores all acts that fuel and intensify the conflict. The Secretary-General reminds the Israeli authorities that house demolitions amount to collective punishment, which is a clear violation of international humanitarian law."
During the past month, 2,000 people became homeless as Israel destroyed some 200 buildings in the Gaza Strip, spokesperson Marie Okabe said. In that connection, the Secretary-General deplored the destruction by the Israeli military of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.
Terje Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the punitive destruction last night of the buildings, "owned by families of Palestinian security personnel," violated international law.
"Such actions are also counterproductive towards Israel's legitimate security concerns, for they foster anger and despair among Palestinians," he said in a statement.
In other news, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said a Hezbollah unit fired mortars and missiles towards Israeli positions in the Shabaa farms area, located near the line of withdrawal by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army subsequently responded with artillery and aerial bombs, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). No casualties have been reported.
"Link by Celsius 233"
SYRIA VS. ISRAEL
Telegraph: Syria threatens to attack Golan settlers if Israel strikes again
Syria has threatened to attack Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights if Tel Aviv launches another assault on its territory.
In a move that will raise tension after Israel struck a suspected terrorist training camp near Damascus earlier this month, Farouk Sharaa, Syria's foreign minister, warned that further "aggression" would prompt Syria to use "other cards".
Syrian foreign minister Farouk Sharaa
Mr Sharaa's threat, in an interview with The Telegraph, raises - for the first time since the Israeli raid - the prospect of Syria attacking the area seized from it by Israel in 1967.
The foreign minister also claimed that Syria was unable to stop resistance fighters pouring across the border into Iraq to attack American troops. "They are very determined and many of them dream of seeing an American tank," he said.
Telegraph: Syria threatens to attack Golan settlers if Israel strikes again
Syria has threatened to attack Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights if Tel Aviv launches another assault on its territory.
In a move that will raise tension after Israel struck a suspected terrorist training camp near Damascus earlier this month, Farouk Sharaa, Syria's foreign minister, warned that further "aggression" would prompt Syria to use "other cards".
Syrian foreign minister Farouk Sharaa
Mr Sharaa's threat, in an interview with The Telegraph, raises - for the first time since the Israeli raid - the prospect of Syria attacking the area seized from it by Israel in 1967.
The foreign minister also claimed that Syria was unable to stop resistance fighters pouring across the border into Iraq to attack American troops. "They are very determined and many of them dream of seeing an American tank," he said.
IRAQ
Slate: Rumsfeld's Pentagon Papers
His leaked memo is the most astonishing document of this war so far.
Donald Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo—which was leaked to USA Today on Wednesday and picked up by the rest of the media, for the most part with a shrug, on Thursday—may be the most important, even stunning official document yet to come out of this war.
It puts the lie to the Bush administration's PR campaign that postwar Iraq is progressing nicely and that the media are exaggerating the setbacks. (If the media are exaggerating, this memo indicates, then so, too, is Secretary Rumsfeld.) It reads eerily like some internal mid-'60s document from The Pentagon Papers that spelled out how badly things were going in Vietnam (just as President Lyndon B. Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, were publicly proclaiming tunnel light and victories). To use a phrase coined during LBJ's tenure to describe the ever-widening fissure between rhetoric and reality, Rumsfeld's memo marks the first unconcealable eruption of a "credibility gap" in the wartime presidency of George W. Bush
Slate: Rumsfeld's Pentagon Papers
His leaked memo is the most astonishing document of this war so far.
Donald Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo—which was leaked to USA Today on Wednesday and picked up by the rest of the media, for the most part with a shrug, on Thursday—may be the most important, even stunning official document yet to come out of this war.
It puts the lie to the Bush administration's PR campaign that postwar Iraq is progressing nicely and that the media are exaggerating the setbacks. (If the media are exaggerating, this memo indicates, then so, too, is Secretary Rumsfeld.) It reads eerily like some internal mid-'60s document from The Pentagon Papers that spelled out how badly things were going in Vietnam (just as President Lyndon B. Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, were publicly proclaiming tunnel light and victories). To use a phrase coined during LBJ's tenure to describe the ever-widening fissure between rhetoric and reality, Rumsfeld's memo marks the first unconcealable eruption of a "credibility gap" in the wartime presidency of George W. Bush
USA
Financial Times: Naming of agent 'was aimed at discrediting CIA'
In a rare hearing called by Senate Democratic leaders... Vince
Cannistraro, former CIA operations chief, [testified that Valerie Plame]: 'was outed
as a vindictive act because the agency was not providing support for
policy statements that Saddam Hussein was reviving his nuclear programme.' The
leak was a way to 'demonstrate an underlying contempt for the
intelligence community, the CIA in particular'. He said that in the run-up to the
Iraq war, the White House had exerted unprecedented pressure on the CIA and
other intelligence agencies to find evidence that Iraq had links to
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and that Baghdad was trying to build a nuclear
bomb... [He testified that] Dick Cheney and his top aide Lewis Libby
went to CIA headquarters to press mid-level analysts to provide support for
the claim... Mr Cannistraro said his information came from current agency
analysts.
Financial Times: Naming of agent 'was aimed at discrediting CIA'
In a rare hearing called by Senate Democratic leaders... Vince
Cannistraro, former CIA operations chief, [testified that Valerie Plame]: 'was outed
as a vindictive act because the agency was not providing support for
policy statements that Saddam Hussein was reviving his nuclear programme.' The
leak was a way to 'demonstrate an underlying contempt for the
intelligence community, the CIA in particular'. He said that in the run-up to the
Iraq war, the White House had exerted unprecedented pressure on the CIA and
other intelligence agencies to find evidence that Iraq had links to
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and that Baghdad was trying to build a nuclear
bomb... [He testified that] Dick Cheney and his top aide Lewis Libby
went to CIA headquarters to press mid-level analysts to provide support for
the claim... Mr Cannistraro said his information came from current agency
analysts.
IRAN WMD
SF Chronicle: U.S. gleans facts on Iran from debatable source Nuclear arms allegations derived in part from rebel group's data
Tehran -- Both Iran and Iraq were accused by the United States of developing banned weapons, and in both cases much of the intelligence came from exile groups whose credibility has been questioned.
Now, some fear that despite the deal struck between Iran and European foreign ministers last week to allow inspections of nuclear sites, the United States may be proceeding down a warpath toward Iran, as it did with Iraq, based in part on faulty intelligence peddled by politically ambitious exiles.
In the case of Iraq, much of the Bush administration's information about Saddam Hussein's alleged programs to build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons came from sources associated with the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an exile group favored by senior U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. With the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, many of the INC's claims have been discounted.
SF Chronicle: U.S. gleans facts on Iran from debatable source Nuclear arms allegations derived in part from rebel group's data
Tehran -- Both Iran and Iraq were accused by the United States of developing banned weapons, and in both cases much of the intelligence came from exile groups whose credibility has been questioned.
Now, some fear that despite the deal struck between Iran and European foreign ministers last week to allow inspections of nuclear sites, the United States may be proceeding down a warpath toward Iran, as it did with Iraq, based in part on faulty intelligence peddled by politically ambitious exiles.
In the case of Iraq, much of the Bush administration's information about Saddam Hussein's alleged programs to build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons came from sources associated with the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an exile group favored by senior U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. With the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, many of the INC's claims have been discounted.
AFGHANISTAN
The Hindu: Taliban has de facto control in some districts: UN
United Nations, Oct. 25. (PTI): Expressing serious concern over resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, a top United Nations peacekeeping official has said the militia has established de facto control over administration in several border districts and that could affect the electoral process in the war-torn country.
Because of deteriorating security situation, all UN missions have been suspended in Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces which, in turn, has greatly restricted reconstruction process and world body's ability to monitor the political process in the south, he said.
The primary sources of insecurity remained terrorist attacks and cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, al Qaeda and Hizb-I-Islam insurgents, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council yesterday, days before a UNSC mission to the country.
"Die Amerikaner moegen gut darin sein wehrlose Laender ins Mittelalter zuruekzubomben aber beim Wiederaufbau haben Sie in den letzten 50 Jahren nur versagt"
The Hindu: Taliban has de facto control in some districts: UN
United Nations, Oct. 25. (PTI): Expressing serious concern over resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, a top United Nations peacekeeping official has said the militia has established de facto control over administration in several border districts and that could affect the electoral process in the war-torn country.
Because of deteriorating security situation, all UN missions have been suspended in Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces which, in turn, has greatly restricted reconstruction process and world body's ability to monitor the political process in the south, he said.
The primary sources of insecurity remained terrorist attacks and cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, al Qaeda and Hizb-I-Islam insurgents, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council yesterday, days before a UNSC mission to the country.
"Die Amerikaner moegen gut darin sein wehrlose Laender ins Mittelalter zuruekzubomben aber beim Wiederaufbau haben Sie in den letzten 50 Jahren nur versagt"
Monday, October 27, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Guardian: Death of a town
With ruthless efficiency, the Israeli army has been crushing and rocketing the Palestinian refugee town of Rafah in a manner which rivals the destruction of Jenin last year. But it is all in the name of stopping terrorism so the international community has remained silent. Chris McGreal reports
For two weeks now, the Israeli army has been grinding its way through Rafah refugee camp in the southern tip of the Gaza strip. "Operation Root Canal" is ostensibly aimed at destroying some of the dozens of tunnels the military says are used for smuggling weapons under the border with Egypt.
As about 65 tanks, armoured vehicles and mammoth armour-plated bulldozers rolled into Rafah, the Israeli army said it had intelligence that surface-to-air missiles were being hauled through the tunnels. But there was no sign of them as dozens of Palestinians attempted to exact some kind of price for the attack with pistols, AK-47s and homemade hand grenades. By the time the Israelis withdrew to the fringes of the camp where the tanks and bulldozers are perpetually at work, 18 Palestinians were dead, including three children under 15 years old, and more than 120 were wounded.
Just three tunnels were found, and no weapons. But in the process, the military crushed or rocketed nearly 200 homes, throwing about 1,700 people onto the street. The army claimed it never happened, that just 10 homes were wrecked, and then sent back the bulldozers to grind the evidence that the houses ever existed into the dirt.
Guardian: Death of a town
With ruthless efficiency, the Israeli army has been crushing and rocketing the Palestinian refugee town of Rafah in a manner which rivals the destruction of Jenin last year. But it is all in the name of stopping terrorism so the international community has remained silent. Chris McGreal reports
For two weeks now, the Israeli army has been grinding its way through Rafah refugee camp in the southern tip of the Gaza strip. "Operation Root Canal" is ostensibly aimed at destroying some of the dozens of tunnels the military says are used for smuggling weapons under the border with Egypt.
As about 65 tanks, armoured vehicles and mammoth armour-plated bulldozers rolled into Rafah, the Israeli army said it had intelligence that surface-to-air missiles were being hauled through the tunnels. But there was no sign of them as dozens of Palestinians attempted to exact some kind of price for the attack with pistols, AK-47s and homemade hand grenades. By the time the Israelis withdrew to the fringes of the camp where the tanks and bulldozers are perpetually at work, 18 Palestinians were dead, including three children under 15 years old, and more than 120 were wounded.
Just three tunnels were found, and no weapons. But in the process, the military crushed or rocketed nearly 200 homes, throwing about 1,700 people onto the street. The army claimed it never happened, that just 10 homes were wrecked, and then sent back the bulldozers to grind the evidence that the houses ever existed into the dirt.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Independent: Rafah, a buffer zone of rubble where families have to live on a football field By Justin Huggler in Rafah
Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli army in Rafah's refugee camps are now living packed into dangerously cramped and unhygienic conditions in the changing rooms of a football stadium.
Up to 45 people are in one small room, while others are in rooms that open on to filthy, mosquito-ridden lavatories. Still others are living in the ruins of their homes, sheltering under four floors of fallen concrete that could collapse farther at any moment.
From the extent of the destruction, it has become clear that the demolitions, which began two weeks ago, are not just aimed at finding tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons, as the Israeli army claims. The intent is also to clear a broad swath of land adjacent to the Egyptian border, which runs next to Rafah, and create a de facto buffer zone to make the building of tunnels far harder.
The destruction in Rafah, the only Palestinian city close to an international border, is extraordinary. Entire streets have been bulldozed. The road still passes up the middle, but on either side are just mounds of rubble where houses used to be. In other places, a few useless walls have been left standing.
In the first raid alone, 150 homes were demolished and more than 1,500 people left homeless, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. And the destruction did not end there. The Israeli army has made fresh incursions, demolishing more homes in other parts of the refugee camps around Rafah. The number left homeless is now believed to be more than 2,000.
"Terrorismus ist nicht die Waffe der Schwachen. Terrorismus ist die Waffe von Staaten"
"CHECK IT"
Independent: Rafah, a buffer zone of rubble where families have to live on a football field By Justin Huggler in Rafah
Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli army in Rafah's refugee camps are now living packed into dangerously cramped and unhygienic conditions in the changing rooms of a football stadium.
Up to 45 people are in one small room, while others are in rooms that open on to filthy, mosquito-ridden lavatories. Still others are living in the ruins of their homes, sheltering under four floors of fallen concrete that could collapse farther at any moment.
From the extent of the destruction, it has become clear that the demolitions, which began two weeks ago, are not just aimed at finding tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons, as the Israeli army claims. The intent is also to clear a broad swath of land adjacent to the Egyptian border, which runs next to Rafah, and create a de facto buffer zone to make the building of tunnels far harder.
The destruction in Rafah, the only Palestinian city close to an international border, is extraordinary. Entire streets have been bulldozed. The road still passes up the middle, but on either side are just mounds of rubble where houses used to be. In other places, a few useless walls have been left standing.
In the first raid alone, 150 homes were demolished and more than 1,500 people left homeless, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. And the destruction did not end there. The Israeli army has made fresh incursions, demolishing more homes in other parts of the refugee camps around Rafah. The number left homeless is now believed to be more than 2,000.
"Terrorismus ist nicht die Waffe der Schwachen. Terrorismus ist die Waffe von Staaten"
"CHECK IT"
VENEZUELA VS. USA
Boston: U.S. Denies Alleged CIA 'Subversion' in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen and diplomats on Thursday dismissed allegations by Venezuelan officials and lawmakers that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to topple leftist President Hugo Chavez.
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The accusation against the CIA, part of a recent war of words between Washington and Caracas, was made earlier this month by Chavez's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. It was repeated on Wednesday by two political allies of the president in the National Assembly.
Lawmakers Nicolas Maduro and Juan Barreto presented a video which they said showed an alleged CIA "colonel" instructing local recruits in subversion tactics.
But three U.S. congressmen who held talks with Chavez on Thursday poured cold water on the allegations.
"The era of the CIA in its historical role of undermining governments in the world and especially in Latin America is over," Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat, told reporters. He was accompanied by Rep. Cass Ballenger, a North Carolina Republican, and New York Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks.
"Und wer soll das bitteschoen glauben? Die USA hatten noch beim letzten Putschversuch in Venezuela die Finger im Spiel"
Boston: U.S. Denies Alleged CIA 'Subversion' in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen and diplomats on Thursday dismissed allegations by Venezuelan officials and lawmakers that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to topple leftist President Hugo Chavez.
ADVERTISEMENT
The accusation against the CIA, part of a recent war of words between Washington and Caracas, was made earlier this month by Chavez's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. It was repeated on Wednesday by two political allies of the president in the National Assembly.
Lawmakers Nicolas Maduro and Juan Barreto presented a video which they said showed an alleged CIA "colonel" instructing local recruits in subversion tactics.
But three U.S. congressmen who held talks with Chavez on Thursday poured cold water on the allegations.
"The era of the CIA in its historical role of undermining governments in the world and especially in Latin America is over," Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat, told reporters. He was accompanied by Rep. Cass Ballenger, a North Carolina Republican, and New York Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks.
"Und wer soll das bitteschoen glauben? Die USA hatten noch beim letzten Putschversuch in Venezuela die Finger im Spiel"
USA
Al-JAzeera: Anti-war marches in Washington
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington on Saturday to express fierce opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Al-JAzeera: Anti-war marches in Washington
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington on Saturday to express fierce opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Pravda: Robert Fisk: One, two, three, what are they fighting for?
The worst problem facing US forces in Iraq may not be armed resistance but a crisis of morale. Robert Fisk reports on a near-epidemic of indiscipline, suicides and loose talk
I was in the police station in the town of Fallujah when I realised the extent of the schizophrenia. Captain Christopher Cirino of the 82nd Airborne was trying to explain to me the nature of the attacks so regularly carried out against American forces in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town. His men were billeted in a former presidential rest home down the road - "Dreamland", the Americans call it - but this was not the extent of his soldiers' disorientation. "The men we are being attacked by," he said, "are Syrian-trained terrorists and local freedom fighters." Come again? "Freedom fighters." But that's what Captain Cirino called them - and rightly so.
Here's the reason. All American soldiers are supposed to believe - indeed have to believe, along with their President and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld - that Osama bin Laden's "al-Qa'ida" guerrillas, pouring over Iraq's borders from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (note how those close allies and neighbours of Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey are always left out of the equation), are assaulting United States forces as part of the "war on terror"........
Pravda: Robert Fisk: One, two, three, what are they fighting for?
The worst problem facing US forces in Iraq may not be armed resistance but a crisis of morale. Robert Fisk reports on a near-epidemic of indiscipline, suicides and loose talk
I was in the police station in the town of Fallujah when I realised the extent of the schizophrenia. Captain Christopher Cirino of the 82nd Airborne was trying to explain to me the nature of the attacks so regularly carried out against American forces in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town. His men were billeted in a former presidential rest home down the road - "Dreamland", the Americans call it - but this was not the extent of his soldiers' disorientation. "The men we are being attacked by," he said, "are Syrian-trained terrorists and local freedom fighters." Come again? "Freedom fighters." But that's what Captain Cirino called them - and rightly so.
Here's the reason. All American soldiers are supposed to believe - indeed have to believe, along with their President and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld - that Osama bin Laden's "al-Qa'ida" guerrillas, pouring over Iraq's borders from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (note how those close allies and neighbours of Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey are always left out of the equation), are assaulting United States forces as part of the "war on terror"........
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Independent: '40 dead' as blasts rock Baghdad
International Red Cross headquarters and police stations targeted in fresh wave of attacks
Up to 40 people are feared dead after a a wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad today, including a huge blast at the headquarters of the International Red Cross.
At least 12 people are thought to have died after an ambulance packed with explosives rammed into security barriers outside the aid agency's offices.
Three other bombs are reported to have exploded in the Iraqi capital, leaving dozens more victims after two police stations were hit on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
It was also announced that three American soldiers were killed and four wounded in further attacks. Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded yesterday in Baghdad after their patrol was targeted by a roadside bomb. In nearby Abu Ghraib, one soldier was killed and two wounded after an attack on their Military Police unit.
Independet: Wolfowitz survives hotel rocket attack
In a daring attack anti-American guerrillas yesterday fired a barrage of rockets at the al-Rashid hotel, a symbol of the US occupation, in the heart of Baghad, killing one US soldier and wounding 15 other people, mostly Americans
Independent: '40 dead' as blasts rock Baghdad
International Red Cross headquarters and police stations targeted in fresh wave of attacks
Up to 40 people are feared dead after a a wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad today, including a huge blast at the headquarters of the International Red Cross.
At least 12 people are thought to have died after an ambulance packed with explosives rammed into security barriers outside the aid agency's offices.
Three other bombs are reported to have exploded in the Iraqi capital, leaving dozens more victims after two police stations were hit on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
It was also announced that three American soldiers were killed and four wounded in further attacks. Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded yesterday in Baghdad after their patrol was targeted by a roadside bomb. In nearby Abu Ghraib, one soldier was killed and two wounded after an attack on their Military Police unit.
Independet: Wolfowitz survives hotel rocket attack
In a daring attack anti-American guerrillas yesterday fired a barrage of rockets at the al-Rashid hotel, a symbol of the US occupation, in the heart of Baghad, killing one US soldier and wounding 15 other people, mostly Americans
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