CHECK: babesagainstbush.com
Friday, December 05, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
UPI: Interview with anti-U.S. Iraqi cell
(Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on meetings United Press International's Baghdad correspondent P. Mitchell Prothero had with a top member of an anti-U.S. Iraqi guerrilla group)
"Wait fifteen minutes," Abu Mujhid says after looking at his watch. Sipping a 7-UP soda after having broken his Ramadan fast just after nightfall in mid-November, Abu Mujhid -- not his real name -- has just been challenged by a reporter to prove he commands a resistance cell that performs violent attacks on American troops occupying his home town of Baghdad.
It's a critical question for men claiming to be part of anti-U.S. forces. Most demand money for exclusive interviews and eventually approach journalists working in Iraq. These interviews usually end with some unknown man wearing a kaffiya -- or Arabic headscarf -- around his face, holding an AK-47 and talking about some unverifiable incident in which he personally killed scores of American troops.
But Abu Mujhid has never asked a reporter for money. And he sits at a table in Western dress for this meeting -- one of four he and his men conducted with United Press International -- his round face clearly identifiable in a public place.
The conditions placed on the meetings were that UPI not use a satellite telephone -- from which a location can easily be tracked by U.S. intelligence -- or cameras and recording devices. Each of the meetings was after nightfall, in a public place and the location and timing of the interviews were never set in advance. Abu Mujahid also disclosed the neighborhood he lives and operates from but asked it not be identified in the article. He also said that he alone could be quoted for the story.
Sixteen minutes after Abu Mujhid told UPI to wait, four mortar rounds fired from a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood about 3 miles away flew overhead, landing in the compound of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
"God willing we hit something this time," he says, wryly smiling. "Our mortars are very inaccurate. We cannot wait to aim them, so we use timers.
"The American helicopters come too fast for us to properly use the mortars as we were trained to. But we are finding ways to fight these helicopters. Before we would shoot flares at them. But this did no good. Now some of our colleagues have SA-7s or Strellas (Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles), but me and my colleagues have no such equipment."
UPI: Interview with anti-U.S. Iraqi cell
(Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on meetings United Press International's Baghdad correspondent P. Mitchell Prothero had with a top member of an anti-U.S. Iraqi guerrilla group)
"Wait fifteen minutes," Abu Mujhid says after looking at his watch. Sipping a 7-UP soda after having broken his Ramadan fast just after nightfall in mid-November, Abu Mujhid -- not his real name -- has just been challenged by a reporter to prove he commands a resistance cell that performs violent attacks on American troops occupying his home town of Baghdad.
It's a critical question for men claiming to be part of anti-U.S. forces. Most demand money for exclusive interviews and eventually approach journalists working in Iraq. These interviews usually end with some unknown man wearing a kaffiya -- or Arabic headscarf -- around his face, holding an AK-47 and talking about some unverifiable incident in which he personally killed scores of American troops.
But Abu Mujhid has never asked a reporter for money. And he sits at a table in Western dress for this meeting -- one of four he and his men conducted with United Press International -- his round face clearly identifiable in a public place.
The conditions placed on the meetings were that UPI not use a satellite telephone -- from which a location can easily be tracked by U.S. intelligence -- or cameras and recording devices. Each of the meetings was after nightfall, in a public place and the location and timing of the interviews were never set in advance. Abu Mujahid also disclosed the neighborhood he lives and operates from but asked it not be identified in the article. He also said that he alone could be quoted for the story.
Sixteen minutes after Abu Mujhid told UPI to wait, four mortar rounds fired from a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood about 3 miles away flew overhead, landing in the compound of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
"God willing we hit something this time," he says, wryly smiling. "Our mortars are very inaccurate. We cannot wait to aim them, so we use timers.
"The American helicopters come too fast for us to properly use the mortars as we were trained to. But we are finding ways to fight these helicopters. Before we would shoot flares at them. But this did no good. Now some of our colleagues have SA-7s or Strellas (Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles), but me and my colleagues have no such equipment."
Thursday, December 04, 2003
USA-ISRAEL
Independent: Bush Warns Israel To Tread Carefully
The United States has privately told Israel of three "red lines" it must not cross in its dealing with the Palestinians and the wider Middle East, according to the Israeli press.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, the three red lines are: not to harm the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; not to "shock the region"; and not to create "facts on the ground" that could jeopardise the Palestinian state promised in the US-backed "road-map" for peace.
If the reports are true, much less is being asked of Israel than in June, when the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his then Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, agreed to the road-map.
But Israel has either crossed or come close to crossing all three red lines in recent months. In September, after a series of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, the Israeli cabinet decided to expel Mr Arafat, only to back away from the decision. In October, Israel risked destabilising the region when it carried out an air strike on a disused Palestinian militant base in Syria.
Independent: Bush Warns Israel To Tread Carefully
The United States has privately told Israel of three "red lines" it must not cross in its dealing with the Palestinians and the wider Middle East, according to the Israeli press.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, the three red lines are: not to harm the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; not to "shock the region"; and not to create "facts on the ground" that could jeopardise the Palestinian state promised in the US-backed "road-map" for peace.
If the reports are true, much less is being asked of Israel than in June, when the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his then Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, agreed to the road-map.
But Israel has either crossed or come close to crossing all three red lines in recent months. In September, after a series of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, the Israeli cabinet decided to expel Mr Arafat, only to back away from the decision. In October, Israel risked destabilising the region when it carried out an air strike on a disused Palestinian militant base in Syria.
MIND CONTROL
softagent: mind_control_with_silent_sound_//
//.[T]he mind-altering mechanism is based on a subliminal carrier technology : the Silent Sound Spread Spectrum (SSSS) , sometimes called "S-quad" or "Squad" . It was developed by Dr Oliver Lowery of Norcross , Georgia, and is described in US Patent #5,159,703 , "Silent Subliminal Presentation System" , dated October 27 , 1992_//
The abstract for the patent reads :
//."[A] silent communications system in which nonaural carriers , in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally , for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers , earphones , or piezoelectric transducers . The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical , magnetic , or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener."_//
//."[A]ccording to literature by Silent Sounds , Inc. , it is now possible , using super computers , to analyse human emotional EEG patterns and replicate them, then store these "emotion signature clusters" on another computer and , at will , "silently induce and change the emotional state in a human being"_//
softagent: mind_control_with_silent_sound_//
//.[T]he mind-altering mechanism is based on a subliminal carrier technology : the Silent Sound Spread Spectrum (SSSS) , sometimes called "S-quad" or "Squad" . It was developed by Dr Oliver Lowery of Norcross , Georgia, and is described in US Patent #5,159,703 , "Silent Subliminal Presentation System" , dated October 27 , 1992_//
The abstract for the patent reads :
//."[A] silent communications system in which nonaural carriers , in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally , for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers , earphones , or piezoelectric transducers . The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical , magnetic , or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener."_//
//."[A]ccording to literature by Silent Sounds , Inc. , it is now possible , using super computers , to analyse human emotional EEG patterns and replicate them, then store these "emotion signature clusters" on another computer and , at will , "silently induce and change the emotional state in a human being"_//
CHOMSKY
Guardian: Noam Chomsky: You Ask The Questions
Professor Noam Chomsky, 74, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into the only Jewish family in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood. He took a degree and then a PhD in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. At the age of 29, he published Syntactic Structures, which revolutionised the study of language. In 1964, he began openly resisting the Vietnam War, and published his first collection of political writings five years later. He has remained a major authority on both linguistics and political theory ever since. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Carol, and has three children.
Is anti-Semitism on the increase?
Ricardo Parreira, London
In the West, fortunately, it scarcely exists now, though it did in the past. There is, of course, what the Anti-Defamation League calls "the real anti-Semitism", more dangerous than the old-fashioned kind: criticism of policies of the state of Israel and US support for them, opposition to a vast US military budget, etc. In contrast, anti-Arab racism is rampant. The manifestations are shocking, in elite intellectual circles as well, but arouse little concern because they are considered legitimate: the most extreme form of racism.
Guardian: Noam Chomsky: You Ask The Questions
Professor Noam Chomsky, 74, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into the only Jewish family in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood. He took a degree and then a PhD in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. At the age of 29, he published Syntactic Structures, which revolutionised the study of language. In 1964, he began openly resisting the Vietnam War, and published his first collection of political writings five years later. He has remained a major authority on both linguistics and political theory ever since. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Carol, and has three children.
Is anti-Semitism on the increase?
Ricardo Parreira, London
In the West, fortunately, it scarcely exists now, though it did in the past. There is, of course, what the Anti-Defamation League calls "the real anti-Semitism", more dangerous than the old-fashioned kind: criticism of policies of the state of Israel and US support for them, opposition to a vast US military budget, etc. In contrast, anti-Arab racism is rampant. The manifestations are shocking, in elite intellectual circles as well, but arouse little concern because they are considered legitimate: the most extreme form of racism.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Diane Rehm: "Why do you think he [Bush] is suppressing that [Sept. 11] report?"
Howard Dean: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?"
The Diane Rehm Show," NPR, Dec. 1
Diane Rehm: "Why do you think he [Bush] is suppressing that [Sept. 11] report?"
Howard Dean: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?"
The Diane Rehm Show," NPR, Dec. 1
BUSH: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Washington Post: The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
In Iraq Picture, Bush Is Holding the Centerpiece
President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.
In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.
The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
"Der Typ lügt, betrügt und bescheisst wohl bei allem was er tut"
Washington Post: The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
In Iraq Picture, Bush Is Holding the Centerpiece
President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.
In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.
The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
"Der Typ lügt, betrügt und bescheisst wohl bei allem was er tut"
NOAM CHOMSKY
Heise: Der amerikanische Dissident
Es scheint paradox zu sein: Der Sprachwissenschaftler, den keine geringere Zeitung als die New York Times als den "wohl wichtigsten lebenden Intellektuellen" bezeichnete, verdankt diesen Ruhm nicht vorrangig seiner linguistischen Arbeit, sondern der Theorie, dass die US-Medien wie die New York Times kritische Stimmen wie die seine überhaupt nicht zu Wort kommen lassen
Als Noam Chomsky, Sohn zweier Hebräischlehrer, nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Linguistik studierte, war der Behaviorismus in voller Blüte. Pawlow hatte Jahrzehnte zuvor den sogenannten bedingten Reflex entdeckt; das Läuten einer Glocke löste bei einem Hund den Speichelfluss aus, nachdem dieser immer die Glocke vor dem Essen zu hören bekam. Einige Wissenschaftler vor Chomsky (vor allem B.F. Skinner) wandten diese Entdeckung auf das Erlernen von Sprachen an und schlussfolgerten, dass Kinder ihre Muttersprache wohl auch durch Übung und Erfahrung lernten - Sprachenlernen als Reflex.
Heise: Der amerikanische Dissident
Es scheint paradox zu sein: Der Sprachwissenschaftler, den keine geringere Zeitung als die New York Times als den "wohl wichtigsten lebenden Intellektuellen" bezeichnete, verdankt diesen Ruhm nicht vorrangig seiner linguistischen Arbeit, sondern der Theorie, dass die US-Medien wie die New York Times kritische Stimmen wie die seine überhaupt nicht zu Wort kommen lassen
Als Noam Chomsky, Sohn zweier Hebräischlehrer, nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Linguistik studierte, war der Behaviorismus in voller Blüte. Pawlow hatte Jahrzehnte zuvor den sogenannten bedingten Reflex entdeckt; das Läuten einer Glocke löste bei einem Hund den Speichelfluss aus, nachdem dieser immer die Glocke vor dem Essen zu hören bekam. Einige Wissenschaftler vor Chomsky (vor allem B.F. Skinner) wandten diese Entdeckung auf das Erlernen von Sprachen an und schlussfolgerten, dass Kinder ihre Muttersprache wohl auch durch Übung und Erfahrung lernten - Sprachenlernen als Reflex.
AFGHANISTAN IRAQ
Scotsman: Inside story of how Washington is losing its bottle
IN NEW York the mood is buoyant as the American economy continues to purr at a satisfying rate, but 250 miles to the south in Washington DC there is increasing private gloom among those in the know that events in Afghanistan and Iraq are going badly wrong - and growing despair about what to do about it.
President Bush’s bold Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad gave US troops a much-needed fillip and he said all the right things. But behind the scenes the war on terror is going badly wrong in its two main theatres. "In both places it is worse than you think," I was warned before arriving in the US capital for a series of off-the-record briefings. The warning was accurate.
Take Afghanistan first. You don’t read or see much about it these days. The reality is grim. The Taliban is resurgent; al-Qaeda is there too, but not as relevant as it was. Attacks on aid workers are soaring; many are refusing to leave the urban areas. The warlords are back in control of the countryside, where opium production is already above pre-invasion levels. "Afghanistan is a narco-economy once more," said one intelligence analyst.
The Taliban regularly mounts attacks in the rural areas and is expected to hit urban centres with greater force. "If they knew how weak we were," confided one intelligence source, "they would have done it already." Coalition forces are confined to Vietnam-style strategic hamlets from which they emerge for operations only in great force, before returning to their enclaves. Hamid Karzai’s grip on power is tenuous..
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page that loads of recruits are quitting the fledgling Afghan army because of pitiful pay. The US won’t provide figures, but an Afghan officer said: "We have roughly 6,000 trained soldiers, out of whom no less than 2,000 have left." The US says it plans to have 70,000 soldiers in the force; nobody has any idea from whence they will come.
"Zu Afghanistan kann man eigentlich nur eines sagen...nachdem der Westen einen Krieg gegen die falschen führte, hat er versagt, versagt und nochmals versagt. "
Scotsman: Inside story of how Washington is losing its bottle
IN NEW York the mood is buoyant as the American economy continues to purr at a satisfying rate, but 250 miles to the south in Washington DC there is increasing private gloom among those in the know that events in Afghanistan and Iraq are going badly wrong - and growing despair about what to do about it.
President Bush’s bold Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad gave US troops a much-needed fillip and he said all the right things. But behind the scenes the war on terror is going badly wrong in its two main theatres. "In both places it is worse than you think," I was warned before arriving in the US capital for a series of off-the-record briefings. The warning was accurate.
Take Afghanistan first. You don’t read or see much about it these days. The reality is grim. The Taliban is resurgent; al-Qaeda is there too, but not as relevant as it was. Attacks on aid workers are soaring; many are refusing to leave the urban areas. The warlords are back in control of the countryside, where opium production is already above pre-invasion levels. "Afghanistan is a narco-economy once more," said one intelligence analyst.
The Taliban regularly mounts attacks in the rural areas and is expected to hit urban centres with greater force. "If they knew how weak we were," confided one intelligence source, "they would have done it already." Coalition forces are confined to Vietnam-style strategic hamlets from which they emerge for operations only in great force, before returning to their enclaves. Hamid Karzai’s grip on power is tenuous..
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page that loads of recruits are quitting the fledgling Afghan army because of pitiful pay. The US won’t provide figures, but an Afghan officer said: "We have roughly 6,000 trained soldiers, out of whom no less than 2,000 have left." The US says it plans to have 70,000 soldiers in the force; nobody has any idea from whence they will come.
"Zu Afghanistan kann man eigentlich nur eines sagen...nachdem der Westen einen Krieg gegen die falschen führte, hat er versagt, versagt und nochmals versagt. "
PEAK OIL
Guardian: Bottom of the barrel
The world is running out of oil - so why do politicians refuse to talk about it?
The oil industry is buzzing. On Thursday, the government approved the development of the biggest deposit discovered in British territory for at least 10 years. Everywhere we are told that this is a "huge" find, which dispels the idea that North Sea oil is in terminal decline. You begin to recognise how serious the human predicament has become when you discover that this "huge" new field will supply the world with oil for five and a quarter days.
Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the resource upon which our lives have been built is running out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. This is a civilisation in denial.
Oil itself won't disappear, but extracting what remains is becoming ever more difficult and expensive. The discovery of new reserves peaked in the 1960s. Every year we use four times as much oil as we find. All the big strikes appear to have been made long ago: the 400m barrels in the new North Sea field would have been considered piffling in the 1970s. Our future supplies depend on the discovery of small new deposits and the better exploitation of big old ones. No one with expertise in the field is in any doubt that the global production of oil will peak before long.
The only question is how long. The most optimistic projections are the ones produced by the US department of energy, which claims that this will not take place until 2037. But the US energy information agency has admitted that the government's figures have been fudged: it has based its projections for oil supply on the projections for oil demand, perhaps in order not to sow panic in the financial markets....
"CHECK IT"
more info about peak oil: fromthewilderness.com
Guardian: Bottom of the barrel
The world is running out of oil - so why do politicians refuse to talk about it?
The oil industry is buzzing. On Thursday, the government approved the development of the biggest deposit discovered in British territory for at least 10 years. Everywhere we are told that this is a "huge" find, which dispels the idea that North Sea oil is in terminal decline. You begin to recognise how serious the human predicament has become when you discover that this "huge" new field will supply the world with oil for five and a quarter days.
Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the resource upon which our lives have been built is running out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. This is a civilisation in denial.
Oil itself won't disappear, but extracting what remains is becoming ever more difficult and expensive. The discovery of new reserves peaked in the 1960s. Every year we use four times as much oil as we find. All the big strikes appear to have been made long ago: the 400m barrels in the new North Sea field would have been considered piffling in the 1970s. Our future supplies depend on the discovery of small new deposits and the better exploitation of big old ones. No one with expertise in the field is in any doubt that the global production of oil will peak before long.
The only question is how long. The most optimistic projections are the ones produced by the US department of energy, which claims that this will not take place until 2037. But the US energy information agency has admitted that the government's figures have been fudged: it has based its projections for oil supply on the projections for oil demand, perhaps in order not to sow panic in the financial markets....
"CHECK IT"
more info about peak oil: fromthewilderness.com
IRAQ
informationclearinghouse: Bush And Blair Are In Trouble by John Pilger
December 02, 2003: (New Statesman) Shortly before the disastrous Bush visit to Britain, Tony Blair was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. It was an unusual glimpse of a state killer whose effete respectability has gone. His perfunctory nod to "the glorious dead" came from a face bleak with guilt. As William Howard Russell of the Times wrote of another prime minister responsible for the carnage in the Crimea, "He carries himself like one with blood on his hands." Having shown his studied respect to the Queen, whose prerogative allowed him to commit his crime in Iraq, Blair hurried away. "Sneak home and pray you'll never know," wrote Siegfried Sassoon in 1917, "The hell where youth and laughter go."
Their lying has finally become satire. Bush told David Frost that the world really had to change its attitude about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons because they were "very advanced". My personal favourite is Donald Rumsfeld's assessment. "The message," he said, "is that there are known knowns - there are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns ... things we do not know we don't know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
And Blair and his foreign secretary dare to suggest that the millions who have rumbled the Bush gang are "fashionably anti-American". An instructive example of their own mendacity was demonstrated recently by Jack Straw. On BBC Radio 4, defending Bush and Washington's doctrine of "preventive war", Straw told the interviewer: "Article 51 [of the United Nations Charter], to which you referred earlier - you said it only allows for self-defence. It actually goes more widely than that because it talks about the right of states to take what is called 'preventive action'."
Straw's every word was false, an invention. Article 51 does not refer to "the right of states to take preventive action" or anything similar. Nowhere in the UN Charter is there any such reference. Article 51 refers only to "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs" and goes on to constrain that right further. Moreover, the UN Charter was so framed as to outlaw any state's claimed right to preventive war.
"CHECK IT"
informationclearinghouse: Bush And Blair Are In Trouble by John Pilger
December 02, 2003: (New Statesman) Shortly before the disastrous Bush visit to Britain, Tony Blair was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. It was an unusual glimpse of a state killer whose effete respectability has gone. His perfunctory nod to "the glorious dead" came from a face bleak with guilt. As William Howard Russell of the Times wrote of another prime minister responsible for the carnage in the Crimea, "He carries himself like one with blood on his hands." Having shown his studied respect to the Queen, whose prerogative allowed him to commit his crime in Iraq, Blair hurried away. "Sneak home and pray you'll never know," wrote Siegfried Sassoon in 1917, "The hell where youth and laughter go."
Their lying has finally become satire. Bush told David Frost that the world really had to change its attitude about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons because they were "very advanced". My personal favourite is Donald Rumsfeld's assessment. "The message," he said, "is that there are known knowns - there are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns ... things we do not know we don't know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
And Blair and his foreign secretary dare to suggest that the millions who have rumbled the Bush gang are "fashionably anti-American". An instructive example of their own mendacity was demonstrated recently by Jack Straw. On BBC Radio 4, defending Bush and Washington's doctrine of "preventive war", Straw told the interviewer: "Article 51 [of the United Nations Charter], to which you referred earlier - you said it only allows for self-defence. It actually goes more widely than that because it talks about the right of states to take what is called 'preventive action'."
Straw's every word was false, an invention. Article 51 does not refer to "the right of states to take preventive action" or anything similar. Nowhere in the UN Charter is there any such reference. Article 51 refers only to "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs" and goes on to constrain that right further. Moreover, the UN Charter was so framed as to outlaw any state's claimed right to preventive war.
"CHECK IT"
ISRAEL
Guardian: 'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'
Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians
For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.
Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel.
Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians.
"I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
"Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case."
The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.
Guardian: 'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'
Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians
For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.
Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel.
Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians.
"I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
"Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case."
The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.
USA: COINTELPRO
SPTIMES: An un-American Activity: Ashcroft's Cointelpro
When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in May 2002 that he was
lifting restrictions on domestic spying by the FBI - rules that had
been put in place in response to the bureau's excesses during the 1960s and
'70s - he promised the sweeping new powers would be used only 'for the
purpose of detecting and preventing terrorism.' Now we know better. A
classified FBI intelligence memorandum has recently come to light demonstrating
that the FBI is using this new authority to spy on nonviolent antiwar
demonstrators. Ashcroft seems to be ushering us back to the bad old
days of J. Edgar Hoover... The parallels to Hoover's Cointelpro days, when
civil rights leaders and anti-Vietnam protesters were put under surveillance
and sabotaged, are too great to ignore. Ashcroft has exploited the nation's
fears against terrorism - just as Hoover used the communist scare - to
justify the elimination of most protections for citizen privacy.
Progressiv: It's official: Cointelpro is back.
The infamous FBI counterintelligence program of the 1960s and '70s,
which spied on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and disrupted the Panthers
and the American Indian Movement, is being revived right now by Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
FBI headquarters sent out a memo last month to local law enforcement
agencies telling them to gather intelligence on anti-war protesters who
were assembling in Washington and San Francisco, according to The New
York Times. "Report any potentially illegal acts" to FBI counterterrorism
task forces, the memo said.
The basis for viewing these protesters as terrorists is flimsy, as even
the
memo seems to acknowledge. The FBI "possesses no information indicating
that violent or terrorist activities are being planned as part of the
protests," the memo said. So why are they being treated as such?
One law enforcement official suggested to the Times that some
protesters may be acting in league with terrorists by distracting the FBI with a
big demonstration while a terrorist attack is planned for somewhere else.
That's pretty far-fetched, if you ask me
What is CointelPRO?: cointel.org
SPTIMES: An un-American Activity: Ashcroft's Cointelpro
When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in May 2002 that he was
lifting restrictions on domestic spying by the FBI - rules that had
been put in place in response to the bureau's excesses during the 1960s and
'70s - he promised the sweeping new powers would be used only 'for the
purpose of detecting and preventing terrorism.' Now we know better. A
classified FBI intelligence memorandum has recently come to light demonstrating
that the FBI is using this new authority to spy on nonviolent antiwar
demonstrators. Ashcroft seems to be ushering us back to the bad old
days of J. Edgar Hoover... The parallels to Hoover's Cointelpro days, when
civil rights leaders and anti-Vietnam protesters were put under surveillance
and sabotaged, are too great to ignore. Ashcroft has exploited the nation's
fears against terrorism - just as Hoover used the communist scare - to
justify the elimination of most protections for citizen privacy.
Progressiv: It's official: Cointelpro is back.
The infamous FBI counterintelligence program of the 1960s and '70s,
which spied on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and disrupted the Panthers
and the American Indian Movement, is being revived right now by Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
FBI headquarters sent out a memo last month to local law enforcement
agencies telling them to gather intelligence on anti-war protesters who
were assembling in Washington and San Francisco, according to The New
York Times. "Report any potentially illegal acts" to FBI counterterrorism
task forces, the memo said.
The basis for viewing these protesters as terrorists is flimsy, as even
the
memo seems to acknowledge. The FBI "possesses no information indicating
that violent or terrorist activities are being planned as part of the
protests," the memo said. So why are they being treated as such?
One law enforcement official suggested to the Times that some
protesters may be acting in league with terrorists by distracting the FBI with a
big demonstration while a terrorist attack is planned for somewhere else.
That's pretty far-fetched, if you ask me
What is CointelPRO?: cointel.org
IRAQ: INTERVIEW
A-Infos: Of Course, It Was All About Iraq's Resources
Gulf News: Interview with Noam Chomsky
Simon Mars: Do you think control over energy resources was
the main reason for the invasion of Iraq?
Noam Chomsky: They didn't decide to invade Eastern Congo
where there's much worse massacres going on. Of course it
was Iraq's energy resources. It's not even a question.
Iraq's one of the major oil producers in the world. It has
the second largest reserves and it's right in the heart of
the Gulf's oil producing region, which US intelligence
predicts is going to be two thirds of world resources in
coming years.
The invasion of Iraq had a number of motives, and one was to
illustrate the new National Security Strategy, which
declares that the United States will control the world
permanently by force if necessary and will eliminate any
potential challenge to that domination. It is called
pre-emptive war.........
"CHECK IT"
A-Infos: Of Course, It Was All About Iraq's Resources
Gulf News: Interview with Noam Chomsky
Simon Mars: Do you think control over energy resources was
the main reason for the invasion of Iraq?
Noam Chomsky: They didn't decide to invade Eastern Congo
where there's much worse massacres going on. Of course it
was Iraq's energy resources. It's not even a question.
Iraq's one of the major oil producers in the world. It has
the second largest reserves and it's right in the heart of
the Gulf's oil producing region, which US intelligence
predicts is going to be two thirds of world resources in
coming years.
The invasion of Iraq had a number of motives, and one was to
illustrate the new National Security Strategy, which
declares that the United States will control the world
permanently by force if necessary and will eliminate any
potential challenge to that domination. It is called
pre-emptive war.........
"CHECK IT"
USA: ELECTRONIC VOTING
WIRED: Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge
Diebold Election Systems is withdrawing legal threats against voting
activists and Internet service providers for publishing copies of
internal staff e-mails that the company says were stolen from its servers. The
documents pointed to security flaws with Diebold's computerized voting
machines and suggested the company knew about those flaws long before
it sold machines to several states, including California, Maryland and
Georgia.
Beginning in August, Diebold issued cease-and-desist letters to more
than a dozen individuals who posted the documents or links to sites hosting
them on the Internet. The company claimed copyright infringement under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, a law designed to guard
against the improper use of creative works. Diebold said the documents revealed
proprietary information about the workings of its e-voting system that
would benefit its competitors.
WIRED: Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge
Diebold Election Systems is withdrawing legal threats against voting
activists and Internet service providers for publishing copies of
internal staff e-mails that the company says were stolen from its servers. The
documents pointed to security flaws with Diebold's computerized voting
machines and suggested the company knew about those flaws long before
it sold machines to several states, including California, Maryland and
Georgia.
Beginning in August, Diebold issued cease-and-desist letters to more
than a dozen individuals who posted the documents or links to sites hosting
them on the Internet. The company claimed copyright infringement under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, a law designed to guard
against the improper use of creative works. Diebold said the documents revealed
proprietary information about the workings of its e-voting system that
would benefit its competitors.
IRAQ: SAMARRA
WSWS: Massacre in Samarra: US lies and self-delusion
The US military’s initial account of Sunday’s firefight in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, uncritically relayed to the American people by a servile media, has proven to be a tissue of lies. It turns out that the “major victory” over the Iraqi resistance consisted of American forces blasting away indiscriminately in Samarra’s city center, killing innocent men, women and children, damaging property and buildings—including a mosque and a kindergarten—and further enraging the local population.
The Samarra incident in its various aspects—the battle itself, the military’s claims, the media’s role—is a microcosm of the US occupation of Iraq.
WSWS: Massacre in Samarra: US lies and self-delusion
The US military’s initial account of Sunday’s firefight in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, uncritically relayed to the American people by a servile media, has proven to be a tissue of lies. It turns out that the “major victory” over the Iraqi resistance consisted of American forces blasting away indiscriminately in Samarra’s city center, killing innocent men, women and children, damaging property and buildings—including a mosque and a kindergarten—and further enraging the local population.
The Samarra incident in its various aspects—the battle itself, the military’s claims, the media’s role—is a microcosm of the US occupation of Iraq.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
MARKETING TERROR
SIA NEWS: Does al-Qaeda exist?
'Al-Qaeda bombing foiled' says the front page of today's UK Sun, reporting the arrest yesterday of 24-year-old student Sajid Badat in Gloucester, England, on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity. Other reports have referred to Badat as 'having links with al-Qaeda' and being a potential 'suicide bomber' (1).
Also this week, media reports claim that al-Qaeda may have developed 'car-bomb capability' in the USA, and that al-Qaeda has compiled a 'kidnappers' manual' and is plotting to snatch American troops from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Every day since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 there have been media reports about al-Qaeda - its leaders, members, capabilities, bank accounts, reach and threat. What is this al-Qaeda? Does such a group even exist?
Some terrorism experts doubt it. Adam Dolnik and Kimberly McCloud reckon it's time we 'defused the widespread image of al-Qaeda as a ubiquitous, super-organised terror network and call it as it is: a loose collection of groups and individuals that doesn't even refer to itself as al-Qaeda'. Dolnik and McCloud - who first started studying terrorism at the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies in California - claim it was Western officials who imposed the name 'al-Qaeda' on to disparate radical Islamic groups and who blew Osama bin Laden's power and reach 'out of proportion'. Both are concerned about the threat of terror, but argue that we should 'debunk the myth of al-Qaeda' (2)...
There is a 'rooted public perception of what al-Qaeda is', says Dolnik, who is currently carrying out research on the Terrorism and Political Violence Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore; but, he says, such perceptions are far from accurate. Dolnik argues that where many imagine that al-Qaeda is 'a super organisation of thousands of super-trained and super-secret members who can be activated any minute', in fact it is better understood as something like a 'global ideology that has not only attracted many smaller regional groups, but has also facilitated the boom of new organisations that embrace this sort of radical and violent thinking'. Dolnik and others believe that, in many ways, the thing we refer to as 'al-Qaeda' is largely a creation of Western officials.
"Es mag Al-Qaida so nicht geben aber das ist egal. Als BRAND eignet sich das naemlich hervorragend um den Leuten glauben zu machen, der boese Osama sei so etwas wie Dr. Evil oder Golfinger von James Bond..Damit erzeugt man in der Oeffentlichkeit viel groessere Angst, als wenn man von einem losen Zusammenschluss radikaler, muslimischer Gruppierungen spricht. Von der Angst der Massen profitieren schlussendlich Politiker und Konzerne und darum ist die Sache durchaus so gewollt"
SIA NEWS: Does al-Qaeda exist?
'Al-Qaeda bombing foiled' says the front page of today's UK Sun, reporting the arrest yesterday of 24-year-old student Sajid Badat in Gloucester, England, on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity. Other reports have referred to Badat as 'having links with al-Qaeda' and being a potential 'suicide bomber' (1).
Also this week, media reports claim that al-Qaeda may have developed 'car-bomb capability' in the USA, and that al-Qaeda has compiled a 'kidnappers' manual' and is plotting to snatch American troops from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Every day since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 there have been media reports about al-Qaeda - its leaders, members, capabilities, bank accounts, reach and threat. What is this al-Qaeda? Does such a group even exist?
Some terrorism experts doubt it. Adam Dolnik and Kimberly McCloud reckon it's time we 'defused the widespread image of al-Qaeda as a ubiquitous, super-organised terror network and call it as it is: a loose collection of groups and individuals that doesn't even refer to itself as al-Qaeda'. Dolnik and McCloud - who first started studying terrorism at the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies in California - claim it was Western officials who imposed the name 'al-Qaeda' on to disparate radical Islamic groups and who blew Osama bin Laden's power and reach 'out of proportion'. Both are concerned about the threat of terror, but argue that we should 'debunk the myth of al-Qaeda' (2)...
There is a 'rooted public perception of what al-Qaeda is', says Dolnik, who is currently carrying out research on the Terrorism and Political Violence Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore; but, he says, such perceptions are far from accurate. Dolnik argues that where many imagine that al-Qaeda is 'a super organisation of thousands of super-trained and super-secret members who can be activated any minute', in fact it is better understood as something like a 'global ideology that has not only attracted many smaller regional groups, but has also facilitated the boom of new organisations that embrace this sort of radical and violent thinking'. Dolnik and others believe that, in many ways, the thing we refer to as 'al-Qaeda' is largely a creation of Western officials.
"Es mag Al-Qaida so nicht geben aber das ist egal. Als BRAND eignet sich das naemlich hervorragend um den Leuten glauben zu machen, der boese Osama sei so etwas wie Dr. Evil oder Golfinger von James Bond..Damit erzeugt man in der Oeffentlichkeit viel groessere Angst, als wenn man von einem losen Zusammenschluss radikaler, muslimischer Gruppierungen spricht. Von der Angst der Massen profitieren schlussendlich Politiker und Konzerne und darum ist die Sache durchaus so gewollt"
IRAQI RESISTANCE: PROPAGANDA WATCH
online.info: US Army Samarra 'Victory' Story Falls Apart
Coverage Of Samarra Firefight Disputed
All the people in town today are asking for revenge. They want to kill the Americans like they killed our civilians. Give me a gun, and I will also fight." -Iraqi ER worker
NEW YORK -- One week after newspapers were forced to correct front-page reports that two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq had been "mutilated," coverage of a weekend firefight between U.S. soldiers and guerrillas in Samarra is being questioned as Iraq officials and witnesses claim the U.S. military vastly overestimated the number of Iraqis killed by American troops.
Numerous newspapers on Monday played up as front page news the Sunday clash between rebel forces and U.S. soldiers in the city of Samarra, with most declaring that between 46 and 54 Iraqis had been killed and using only U.S. military officials as their sources. After a run of bad news for the U.S. in Iraq -- including a record monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers -- the military portrayed this as a major victory, and the press seemed to accept it.
Neither The New York Times, New York Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Washington Post, or Knight Ridder included any civilian witnesses or Iraqi hospital accounts in their initial reports Monday. Many flatly reported the death tally and account of the battle without noting this was "according to military officials." The Times topped its front page with the declarative headline: "46 Iraqis Die in Fierce Fight Between Rebels and GIs," and this was common treatment. The Los Angeles Times account, however, noted that the 54 deaths had yet to be confirmed and included hospital officials' contentions that only nine people had died.
ICH: Eyewitness Report - The 'Battle' At Samarra
Translated and compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr
(ICH) -- In the 24 hours following what is now being called the Battle of Samarra' Arab and international news media are beginning to piece together a picture of what really transpired. Two separate American columns on opposite sides of the city were simultaneously ambushed by Iraqi Resistance fighters.
A ferocious battle ensued in which the Iraqis battled the US forces who fired back indiscriminately with everything from automatic weapons to tank cannon and rockets from helicopter gunships.
After inflicting casualties on the Americans the Resistance fighters withdrew. The American troops, however, continued to shell and rocket residential quarters of Samarra' for hours as if to punish residents and drive a wedge between them and the Iraqi Resistance.
The result has been quite the opposite. As the people of Samarra' awakened Monday to survey the battle damage they talked to the press of their outrage at the brutality of the American aggressors and their resolve to join the ranks of the Resistance.
After initially claiming that they had killed 46 Resistance fighters in their Sunday battle against two simultaneous attacks in Samarra', US aggressor spokesmen on Monday claimed that they had actually
killed 54 Iraqis as they used tanks and cannon to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes.
Iraqi witnesses, however, painted a different story. The Associated Press reported that residents of Samarra' disputed those American figures, saying at most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue. The AP, afraid to challenge the official American story directly, observed: "there was no way to reconcile the accounts."
Al-Jazeera TV reported that hospital sources in the city reported US gunfire killed eight people, all of them civilians. The Arabic language daily newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Tuesday on the basis of hospital reports that ten persons were killed in the attack...........
"Samarra liegt der naehe von zwei Shiitischen Heiligtuemern. Bis jetzt wurde der groesste Teil der Angriffe auf Amerikaner von Sunnitschen Gebieten gestartet. Die Shiiten stellen 60% der Bevoelkerung des Irak und haben bis jetzt noch keinen militaerischen Wiederstand geleistet. Das koennte sich schnell aendern. Dann hat die USA eine noch viel groesseres Problem als sie bereits haben"
online.info: US Army Samarra 'Victory' Story Falls Apart
Coverage Of Samarra Firefight Disputed
All the people in town today are asking for revenge. They want to kill the Americans like they killed our civilians. Give me a gun, and I will also fight." -Iraqi ER worker
NEW YORK -- One week after newspapers were forced to correct front-page reports that two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq had been "mutilated," coverage of a weekend firefight between U.S. soldiers and guerrillas in Samarra is being questioned as Iraq officials and witnesses claim the U.S. military vastly overestimated the number of Iraqis killed by American troops.
Numerous newspapers on Monday played up as front page news the Sunday clash between rebel forces and U.S. soldiers in the city of Samarra, with most declaring that between 46 and 54 Iraqis had been killed and using only U.S. military officials as their sources. After a run of bad news for the U.S. in Iraq -- including a record monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers -- the military portrayed this as a major victory, and the press seemed to accept it.
Neither The New York Times, New York Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Washington Post, or Knight Ridder included any civilian witnesses or Iraqi hospital accounts in their initial reports Monday. Many flatly reported the death tally and account of the battle without noting this was "according to military officials." The Times topped its front page with the declarative headline: "46 Iraqis Die in Fierce Fight Between Rebels and GIs," and this was common treatment. The Los Angeles Times account, however, noted that the 54 deaths had yet to be confirmed and included hospital officials' contentions that only nine people had died.
ICH: Eyewitness Report - The 'Battle' At Samarra
Translated and compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr
(ICH) -- In the 24 hours following what is now being called the Battle of Samarra' Arab and international news media are beginning to piece together a picture of what really transpired. Two separate American columns on opposite sides of the city were simultaneously ambushed by Iraqi Resistance fighters.
A ferocious battle ensued in which the Iraqis battled the US forces who fired back indiscriminately with everything from automatic weapons to tank cannon and rockets from helicopter gunships.
After inflicting casualties on the Americans the Resistance fighters withdrew. The American troops, however, continued to shell and rocket residential quarters of Samarra' for hours as if to punish residents and drive a wedge between them and the Iraqi Resistance.
The result has been quite the opposite. As the people of Samarra' awakened Monday to survey the battle damage they talked to the press of their outrage at the brutality of the American aggressors and their resolve to join the ranks of the Resistance.
After initially claiming that they had killed 46 Resistance fighters in their Sunday battle against two simultaneous attacks in Samarra', US aggressor spokesmen on Monday claimed that they had actually
killed 54 Iraqis as they used tanks and cannon to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes.
Iraqi witnesses, however, painted a different story. The Associated Press reported that residents of Samarra' disputed those American figures, saying at most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue. The AP, afraid to challenge the official American story directly, observed: "there was no way to reconcile the accounts."
Al-Jazeera TV reported that hospital sources in the city reported US gunfire killed eight people, all of them civilians. The Arabic language daily newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Tuesday on the basis of hospital reports that ten persons were killed in the attack...........
"Samarra liegt der naehe von zwei Shiitischen Heiligtuemern. Bis jetzt wurde der groesste Teil der Angriffe auf Amerikaner von Sunnitschen Gebieten gestartet. Die Shiiten stellen 60% der Bevoelkerung des Irak und haben bis jetzt noch keinen militaerischen Wiederstand geleistet. Das koennte sich schnell aendern. Dann hat die USA eine noch viel groesseres Problem als sie bereits haben"
EURO VS. DOLLAR
Reuters: Gold Hits New High On Surging Euro
LONDON (Reuters) - Gold jumped in Europe on Tuesday to its highest in more than 7-1/2 years for the second session in a row as fund buyers seized on a surging euro and news that Barrick Gold Corp would reduce its forward sales to zero over time.
The chief executive of Barrick said the firm would no longer sell its gold forward at set prices, announcing a change in its long-established hedging policy.
Greg Wilkins told Reuters the world's third biggest gold producer and largest hedger would look at ways to reduce its forward sales program in a measured way.
"This represents one of the medium term shocks I've been highlighting that could happen in the gold market and that is that we might see faster than expected producer de-hedging next year," said John Reade of UBS Investment Bank.
Reuters: Gold Hits New High On Surging Euro
LONDON (Reuters) - Gold jumped in Europe on Tuesday to its highest in more than 7-1/2 years for the second session in a row as fund buyers seized on a surging euro and news that Barrick Gold Corp would reduce its forward sales to zero over time.
The chief executive of Barrick said the firm would no longer sell its gold forward at set prices, announcing a change in its long-established hedging policy.
Greg Wilkins told Reuters the world's third biggest gold producer and largest hedger would look at ways to reduce its forward sales program in a measured way.
"This represents one of the medium term shocks I've been highlighting that could happen in the gold market and that is that we might see faster than expected producer de-hedging next year," said John Reade of UBS Investment Bank.
GENEVA ACCORD
financial times: Israel Attacks Powell For
Talks On Geneva Plan
JERUSALEM - Israel sharply criticised Colin Powell, US secretary of state, on Tuesday for agreeing to meet later this week the authors of an unofficial peace plan known as the "Geneva accord", which was launched on Monday.
"I think he [Powell] is making a mistake," Ehud Olmert, deputy prime minister, told Israel Radio. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."
Mr Powell has expressed his willingness to meet Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo accords, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian cabinet minister and joint author of the Geneva accord. But the plan has come under attack by the Israeli government led by Ariel Sharon, prime minister, with some ministers calling its authors "traitors".
financial times: Israel Attacks Powell For
Talks On Geneva Plan
JERUSALEM - Israel sharply criticised Colin Powell, US secretary of state, on Tuesday for agreeing to meet later this week the authors of an unofficial peace plan known as the "Geneva accord", which was launched on Monday.
"I think he [Powell] is making a mistake," Ehud Olmert, deputy prime minister, told Israel Radio. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."
Mr Powell has expressed his willingness to meet Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo accords, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian cabinet minister and joint author of the Geneva accord. But the plan has come under attack by the Israeli government led by Ariel Sharon, prime minister, with some ministers calling its authors "traitors".
QUOTE OF THE DAY
During an argument between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Peres said that Isralis' policies of continued violence might "turn the US against us".
To this Sharon retorted:
"EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON'T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL;
WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
October 3, 2001
(IAP News)
During an argument between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Peres said that Isralis' policies of continued violence might "turn the US against us".
To this Sharon retorted:
"EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON'T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL;
WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
October 3, 2001
(IAP News)
ANTI-SEMITISM
Al Ahram: Israel's anti-Semitism
The Israeli right stands guilty of more than hypocrisy when they accuse others of being anti-Semitic, writes Ibrahim Nafie
Israel and Zionist organisations are becoming increasingly dependent upon the charge of "anti- Semitism" as a political weapon. Individuals and organisations, indeed entire nations and societies, have found themselves so besmirched.
Anti-Semitism has a very precise definition. It refers to remarks or acts targeting the ethnic group termed Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs. Israeli and Zionist media and political forces have warped this definition in several ways. Above all they have manipulated the concept of Semitic ethnicity so as to apply to Jews alone, thereby enabling them to level the allegation of anti-Semitism against the Arabs in spite of the fact that they constitute the majority of the Semitic peoples. In addition, they have stretched the definition of anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Israel and Israeli policy. Thus, anyone who speaks out against the aggression and inhumane practices inflicted against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation forces risks being branded "anti-Semitic".
Al Ahram: Israel's anti-Semitism
The Israeli right stands guilty of more than hypocrisy when they accuse others of being anti-Semitic, writes Ibrahim Nafie
Israel and Zionist organisations are becoming increasingly dependent upon the charge of "anti- Semitism" as a political weapon. Individuals and organisations, indeed entire nations and societies, have found themselves so besmirched.
Anti-Semitism has a very precise definition. It refers to remarks or acts targeting the ethnic group termed Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs. Israeli and Zionist media and political forces have warped this definition in several ways. Above all they have manipulated the concept of Semitic ethnicity so as to apply to Jews alone, thereby enabling them to level the allegation of anti-Semitism against the Arabs in spite of the fact that they constitute the majority of the Semitic peoples. In addition, they have stretched the definition of anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Israel and Israeli policy. Thus, anyone who speaks out against the aggression and inhumane practices inflicted against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation forces risks being branded "anti-Semitic".
USA
Pravda.ru: World War 4 In 2004
Bush's Operation Clean Sweep - World War IV In 2004
Even though Bush II will lose the popular vote in the US presidential election of 2004, his Electoral College victory seems assured. With Republican party governors firmly in charge of Florida, California, Texas and New York, and supported by a whopping Bush campaign war chest approaching $200 million, dubious electronic voting schemes courtesy of Diebold, Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors (http://www.blackboxvoting.com), it seems certain that Bush will make it back to the Oval Office through the back door that is the Electoral College. And if not the Electoral College then by benefit of a rebel attack on US soil which kills thousands of Americans and leads to the suspension of the US Constitution. That according to General Tommy Franks, USA (Ret.), who opined in the magazine Cigar Aficionado that the US will have to shed its constitution in favor of a military style of government. Even the notorious aristocrat Alexander Hamilton would have been appalled as such a statement, as would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But these are mediocre times in history; particularly, and dangerously, in America where its people have eliminated those who might have continued to wage a struggle for an equitable form of government in the US, as well as engage the world through international treaty building.
Pravda.ru: World War 4 In 2004
Bush's Operation Clean Sweep - World War IV In 2004
Even though Bush II will lose the popular vote in the US presidential election of 2004, his Electoral College victory seems assured. With Republican party governors firmly in charge of Florida, California, Texas and New York, and supported by a whopping Bush campaign war chest approaching $200 million, dubious electronic voting schemes courtesy of Diebold, Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors (http://www.blackboxvoting.com), it seems certain that Bush will make it back to the Oval Office through the back door that is the Electoral College. And if not the Electoral College then by benefit of a rebel attack on US soil which kills thousands of Americans and leads to the suspension of the US Constitution. That according to General Tommy Franks, USA (Ret.), who opined in the magazine Cigar Aficionado that the US will have to shed its constitution in favor of a military style of government. Even the notorious aristocrat Alexander Hamilton would have been appalled as such a statement, as would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But these are mediocre times in history; particularly, and dangerously, in America where its people have eliminated those who might have continued to wage a struggle for an equitable form of government in the US, as well as engage the world through international treaty building.
Monday, December 01, 2003
USA
Counterpunch: Wag the Turkey WAYNE MADSEN
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the
movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that
the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a
"traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I
contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge
boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active
duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at
6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under
cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for
two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM.
Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark
from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar
where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were
downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and
non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits,
home fries, and toast.
Counterpunch: Wag the Turkey WAYNE MADSEN
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the
movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that
the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a
"traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I
contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge
boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active
duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at
6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under
cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for
two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM.
Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark
from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar
where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were
downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and
non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits,
home fries, and toast.
USA-ISRAEL
Tom Paine: Prominent American Rabbi Speaks Out
The second most influential Jew in America -- after Paul Wolfowitz --
has broken his silence and sharply attacked the policies of Israel's
government. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform
Judaism said the government's settlement policy endangers the future of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Yoffie went as far as warning
that Israel is becoming an apartheid state, something most peace activists
say has already happened. For its part, the Bush administration decided to
give Israel a slap on the wrist for its illegal settlement activity, by
reducing its loan guarantees to Israel this year by nearly $290 million, a
paltry sum when compared with the $3 billion in direct economic and military
aid Israel receives each year from the United States
Tom Paine: Prominent American Rabbi Speaks Out
The second most influential Jew in America -- after Paul Wolfowitz --
has broken his silence and sharply attacked the policies of Israel's
government. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform
Judaism said the government's settlement policy endangers the future of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Yoffie went as far as warning
that Israel is becoming an apartheid state, something most peace activists
say has already happened. For its part, the Bush administration decided to
give Israel a slap on the wrist for its illegal settlement activity, by
reducing its loan guarantees to Israel this year by nearly $290 million, a
paltry sum when compared with the $3 billion in direct economic and military
aid Israel receives each year from the United States
IRAQI RESISTNACE
Washington Post: 7 Spaniards Killed In Iraqi Ambush, Japanese Diplomats Slain in Separate Attack
LATIFIYA, Iraq, Nov. 29 -- More than a dozen insurgents ambushed and
killed
seven Spanish intelligence officers on Saturday on a highway near this
town
south of Baghdad, according to witnesses and Spanish officials. The
closely coordinated attack, in which gunmen fired from moving cars and
behind a concrete wall, was the latest in a series against European
troops taking part in the U.S.-led occupation. Witnesses said the ambush was
carried out by loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein using
automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
In a separate attack north of Baghdad, two Japanese diplomats were
killed in an ambush near Hussein's home town of Tikrit, according to the
Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Japanese government is weighing whether to
dispatch noncombat troops to help rebuild Iraq, a contribution desperately being
sought by the U.S. government but opposed by many Japanese.
Washington Post: 7 Spaniards Killed In Iraqi Ambush, Japanese Diplomats Slain in Separate Attack
LATIFIYA, Iraq, Nov. 29 -- More than a dozen insurgents ambushed and
killed
seven Spanish intelligence officers on Saturday on a highway near this
town
south of Baghdad, according to witnesses and Spanish officials. The
closely coordinated attack, in which gunmen fired from moving cars and
behind a concrete wall, was the latest in a series against European
troops taking part in the U.S.-led occupation. Witnesses said the ambush was
carried out by loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein using
automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
In a separate attack north of Baghdad, two Japanese diplomats were
killed in an ambush near Hussein's home town of Tikrit, according to the
Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Japanese government is weighing whether to
dispatch noncombat troops to help rebuild Iraq, a contribution desperately being
sought by the U.S. government but opposed by many Japanese.
IRAQ
orlando sentinel: Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed,
wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq
since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to
the Pentagon.
Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by
the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the
numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to
accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers.
orlando sentinel: Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed,
wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq
since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to
the Pentagon.
Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by
the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the
numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to
accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers.
FINANCE
Independent: Dollar plunges to all-time low against euro
The dollar tumbled across the board yesterday, hitting an all-time low against the euro amid fears that Wall Street was betting against the US currency. The euro traded as high as $1.2018 - above $1.20 for the first time - as the dollar slid to new multi-year lows against sterling and the Canadian dollar and a six-month low against the Swiss franc.
With American markets shut for Thanksgiving, traders focused on a string of negative news on the dollar. including yesterday's report in The Independent that the leading financiers George Soros and Warren Buffett had taken "short positions".
Yesterday's fall added to the massive selling of the world's largest currency, which has tumbled by 14 per cent against the euro so far this year. The financial markets are growing increasingly concerned that the US will not be able to attract enough investment to fund its burgeoning current account deficit, which is running at record levels
( Some Wall Street Banks are now warning their clients that as long as the Bush Federal Reserve insists
on keeping interest levels at artificial lows (to give the false impression that the economy is in better shape than it is), the dollar is in serious danger of collapse.)
Independent: Dollar plunges to all-time low against euro
The dollar tumbled across the board yesterday, hitting an all-time low against the euro amid fears that Wall Street was betting against the US currency. The euro traded as high as $1.2018 - above $1.20 for the first time - as the dollar slid to new multi-year lows against sterling and the Canadian dollar and a six-month low against the Swiss franc.
With American markets shut for Thanksgiving, traders focused on a string of negative news on the dollar. including yesterday's report in The Independent that the leading financiers George Soros and Warren Buffett had taken "short positions".
Yesterday's fall added to the massive selling of the world's largest currency, which has tumbled by 14 per cent against the euro so far this year. The financial markets are growing increasingly concerned that the US will not be able to attract enough investment to fund its burgeoning current account deficit, which is running at record levels
( Some Wall Street Banks are now warning their clients that as long as the Bush Federal Reserve insists
on keeping interest levels at artificial lows (to give the false impression that the economy is in better shape than it is), the dollar is in serious danger of collapse.)
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