Independent: Something Is Rotten In The State Of Florida
Pregnant chads, vanishing voters... the election fiasco of 2000 made the Sunshine State a laughing stock. More importantly, it put George Bush in the White House. You'd think they'd want to get it right this time. But no, as Andrew Gumbel discovers, the democratic process is more flawed than ever 29 September 2004
"a must read"
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
IRAQ: 2300 INSURGENT ATTACKS IN PAST 30 DAYS
NY Times: Insurgency: Iraq Study Sees Rebels' Attacks as Widespread
Over the past 30 days, more than 2,300 attacks by insurgents have been directed against civilians and military targets in Iraq, in a pattern that sprawls over nearly every major population center outside the Kurdish north, according to comprehensive data compiled by a private security company with access to military intelligence reports and its own network of Iraqi informants.
Graphic: 30 Days, 2368 Attacks
Over the past 30 days, more than 2,300 attacks by insurgents have been directed against civilians and military targets in Iraq, in a pattern that sprawls over nearly every major population center outside the Kurdish north, according to comprehensive data compiled by a private security company with access to military intelligence reports and its own network of Iraqi informants.
Graphic: 30 Days, 2368 Attacks
IRAQ: STRATEGY
Asia Times: America's new strategy in Iraq
Part of the plan is to use brutal air power that can annihilate buildings or whole city blocks in an effort to convince residents and leaders that the cost of resistance is simply too high.
"CHECK IT"
Part of the plan is to use brutal air power that can annihilate buildings or whole city blocks in an effort to convince residents and leaders that the cost of resistance is simply too high.
"CHECK IT"
IRAN
Reuters: No Sign Of Nuke Work At Suspect Iran Site
The analysis of soil samples taken by U.N. inspectors at Lavizan, a site in Tehran that U.S. officials suspect may be linked to an atomic weapons program, shows no sign of nuclear activity, Western diplomats said.
Satellite photos of Lavizan taken between August 2003 and May 2004 showed that Iran had completely razed Lavizan, a site which Iran said was a former military research laboratory, but which it said had nothing to do with atomic-related activities.
The analysis of soil samples taken by U.N. inspectors at Lavizan, a site in Tehran that U.S. officials suspect may be linked to an atomic weapons program, shows no sign of nuclear activity, Western diplomats said.
Satellite photos of Lavizan taken between August 2003 and May 2004 showed that Iran had completely razed Lavizan, a site which Iran said was a former military research laboratory, but which it said had nothing to do with atomic-related activities.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Give me control of the German media, and I can control the German people." -Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister
MEDIA WATCH
Propagandamatrix: Establishment Media Plagued by 'Coincidence Theorists'
In his eyewitness account of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," author William Shirer, who lived in Nazi Germany throughout most of the 1930s, described a phenomenon that will, in 2004, seem disturbingly familiar to Americans who dissent from the policies of the Bush regime.
"I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state," Shirer wrote. "Though unlike most Germans I had daily access to foreign newspapers . . . and though I listened regularly to the BBC and other foreign broadcasts, my job necessitated the spending of many hours a day in combing the German press, checking the German radio, conferring with Nazi officials and going to party meetings. It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one's inherent distrust of what one learned from Nazi sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one's mind and often misled it."
In his eyewitness account of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," author William Shirer, who lived in Nazi Germany throughout most of the 1930s, described a phenomenon that will, in 2004, seem disturbingly familiar to Americans who dissent from the policies of the Bush regime.
"I myself was to experience how easily one is taken in by a lying and censored press and radio in a totalitarian state," Shirer wrote. "Though unlike most Germans I had daily access to foreign newspapers . . . and though I listened regularly to the BBC and other foreign broadcasts, my job necessitated the spending of many hours a day in combing the German press, checking the German radio, conferring with Nazi officials and going to party meetings. It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one's inherent distrust of what one learned from Nazi sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one's mind and often misled it."
USA: PREPARE FOR THE DRAFT
Blatanttruth: Military Draft Alert!
In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department
In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department
PR WATCH: TOBACCO TRIALS
Washington Post: U.S. Trial Against Tobacco Industry Opens
"The most important type of story is that which casts doubt on the cause and effect theory of smoking and cancer," read one internal Council for Tobaccco Research memo presented by the U.S. Justice Department on the first day of the largest civil racketeering trial brought by the government. "Public relations is key," the memo continued, "to getting us out of this hole."
"The most important type of story is that which casts doubt on the cause and effect theory of smoking and cancer," read one internal Council for Tobaccco Research memo presented by the U.S. Justice Department on the first day of the largest civil racketeering trial brought by the government. "Public relations is key," the memo continued, "to getting us out of this hole."
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY!
Time: How Much U.S. Help?
The Bush Administration takes heat for a CIA plan to influence Iraq's elections
President Bush and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted last week that Iraq would go ahead with elections scheduled for January, despite continuing violence. But U.S. officials tell TIME that the Bush team ran into trouble with another plan involving those elections — a secret "finding" written several months ago proposing a covert CIA operation to aid candidates favored by Washington. A source says the idea was to help such candidates but not necessarily to go so far as to rig the elections.
The Bush Administration takes heat for a CIA plan to influence Iraq's elections
President Bush and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted last week that Iraq would go ahead with elections scheduled for January, despite continuing violence. But U.S. officials tell TIME that the Bush team ran into trouble with another plan involving those elections — a secret "finding" written several months ago proposing a covert CIA operation to aid candidates favored by Washington. A source says the idea was to help such candidates but not necessarily to go so far as to rig the elections.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
ICH: Robert Fisk: The worse the situation in Iraq, the bigger the lies that Tony Blair tells us
We are now in the greatest crisis since the last greatest crisis. That's how we run the Iraq war - or the Second Iraq War as Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara would now have us believe. Hostages are paraded in orange tracksuits to remind us of Guantanamo Bay. Kidnappers demand the release of women held prisoner by the Americans. Abu Ghraib is what they are talking about. Abu Ghraib? Anyone remember Abu Ghraib? Remember those dirty little snapshots? But don't worry. This wasn't the America George Bush recognised, and besides we're punishing the bad apples, aren't we? Women? Why, there are only a couple of dames left - and they are "Dr Germ" and "Dr Anthrax".
We are now in the greatest crisis since the last greatest crisis. That's how we run the Iraq war - or the Second Iraq War as Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara would now have us believe. Hostages are paraded in orange tracksuits to remind us of Guantanamo Bay. Kidnappers demand the release of women held prisoner by the Americans. Abu Ghraib is what they are talking about. Abu Ghraib? Anyone remember Abu Ghraib? Remember those dirty little snapshots? But don't worry. This wasn't the America George Bush recognised, and besides we're punishing the bad apples, aren't we? Women? Why, there are only a couple of dames left - and they are "Dr Germ" and "Dr Anthrax".
IRAQ: RESISTANCE
Hindustan Times: US bombing of Iraq city of Kut kills 75, wounds 148
Heavy overnight US bombing of Kut killed 75 people and wounded nearly 150, one day after clashes between police and Shiite Muslim militiamen in the southern city, said Iraq's health ministry on Monday.
AlJazeera: US pounds Iraqi cities
US bombers have launched new attacks on the Iraqi city of Falluja and the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.
The air raids targeting Falluja, held by fighters opposed to the US presence in Iraq, centred on its northern neighbourhood, but no details were immediately available.
The US military has been relentlessly pounding the stronghold of fighters in recent days.
Heavy overnight US bombing of Kut killed 75 people and wounded nearly 150, one day after clashes between police and Shiite Muslim militiamen in the southern city, said Iraq's health ministry on Monday.
AlJazeera: US pounds Iraqi cities
US bombers have launched new attacks on the Iraqi city of Falluja and the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.
The air raids targeting Falluja, held by fighters opposed to the US presence in Iraq, centred on its northern neighbourhood, but no details were immediately available.
The US military has been relentlessly pounding the stronghold of fighters in recent days.
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