USA Today: Senate confirms Gonzales as attorney general
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alberto "Geneva Conventions are obsolete" Gonzales won Senate confirmation Thursday as attorney general despite Democratic accusations that he helped formulate White House policies that led to overseas prisoner abuse and was too beholden to President Bush to be the nation's top law enforcement official.
Yahoo News: Gonzales Nomination, Faith Leaders Seek Forgiveness
As the United States Senate votes to confirm Judge Alberto "US Torture is no Torture" Gonzales as the next US Attorney General, religious leaders are seeking forgiveness.
Sister Dianna Ortiz, a US-born survivor of torture in Guatemala, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director of The Shalom Center, and Dr. George Hunsinger, Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and organizer of Church Folks for a Better America, today offered prayers seeking forgiveness for the US government's complicity in torture and for confirming a man who contributed to such an inconsistent policy
Washington Post: Iran-Contra Figure to Lead Democracy Efforts Abroad
Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush. Abrams, who previously was in charge of Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy.
Moscow Times: Criminal World by Chris Floyd
The new man on the hot seat is Judge Michael Chertoff, nominated to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Chertoff was hip-deep in creating -- and covering up -- the infamous White House "torture memos": carefully detailed guidelines from the desk of President George W. Bush that instigated a global system of documented torture, rape and murder.
Isn't it ironic? Only in the Land of the Free the Judge who declared the Geneva Conventions obsolete gets promoted to US Attorney General, supporters of torture are going to head Homeland Security and Iran Contra Conspirators will will be responsible for advancing democracy abroad and then we also have protofacist islamophobic Daniel Pipes who headed the U.S. Institute of Peace till January 2005 and the list goes on.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
IRAQ
Independent: A victory for the Shia -
but an occupying force will still be in power by Patrick Cockburn
"What an extraordinary election, quite extraordinary," said Adnan Pachachi, the elder statesman of Iraq and a man not easily impressed after seeing his country convulsed by war and dictatorship for half a century.It is a strange affair. Not since the war which overthrew Saddam Hussein had there been such a gap between the reality of politics in Iraq and the picture presented by the US and British governments. The poll yesterday was portrayed as if Washington and London had finally been able to reach their goal of delivering democracy to Iraqis. In fact the US postponed elections to a distant future after the invasion of 2003.The overthrow of Saddam Hussein had been so swift that the American administration thought it could rule Iraq directly with little Iraqi involvement. But in the autumn of 2003 the US made two unpleasant discoveries: The guerrilla attacks in Sunni districts of Iraq were increasing by the day. They were supposedly confined to "the Sunni triangle", a description with a comfortingly limited ring to it, but in reality an area larger than Britain.
but an occupying force will still be in power by Patrick Cockburn
"What an extraordinary election, quite extraordinary," said Adnan Pachachi, the elder statesman of Iraq and a man not easily impressed after seeing his country convulsed by war and dictatorship for half a century.It is a strange affair. Not since the war which overthrew Saddam Hussein had there been such a gap between the reality of politics in Iraq and the picture presented by the US and British governments. The poll yesterday was portrayed as if Washington and London had finally been able to reach their goal of delivering democracy to Iraqis. In fact the US postponed elections to a distant future after the invasion of 2003.The overthrow of Saddam Hussein had been so swift that the American administration thought it could rule Iraq directly with little Iraqi involvement. But in the autumn of 2003 the US made two unpleasant discoveries: The guerrilla attacks in Sunni districts of Iraq were increasing by the day. They were supposedly confined to "the Sunni triangle", a description with a comfortingly limited ring to it, but in reality an area larger than Britain.
ONLINE VIDEO
ICH: Stick And Stones
The United States is in the midst of a very un-civil war. It's a war of words that's pitting conservative against liberal, that's already divided the country into red and blue. The new gladiators are commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter and their forum is the television studios of networks like Fox. It's loud, it's raucous, but does it have anything to do with the truth?
CBC - Fifth Estate - Broadcast - January 26, 2005
IRAQ
The Star: Triumph And Tragedy For Iraq by Robert Fisk
01/31/05 "The Star" -- Baghdad - Even as the explosions thundered over Baghdad, they came in their hundreds, and then in their thousands. Entire families, crippled old men supported by their sons, children beside them, babies in the arms of their mothers.
The Shi'ite Muslims of Baghdad yesterday walked quietly to polling stations, to the Martyr Mohamed Bakr Hakim School in Jadriya, without talking, through the car-less streets, the air pressure changing around them as mortars rained down on the US and British embassy compounds and the first of the day's suicide bombers immolated himself and his victims, most of them Shi'ites, 3km away.
01/31/05 "The Star" -- Baghdad - Even as the explosions thundered over Baghdad, they came in their hundreds, and then in their thousands. Entire families, crippled old men supported by their sons, children beside them, babies in the arms of their mothers.
The Shi'ite Muslims of Baghdad yesterday walked quietly to polling stations, to the Martyr Mohamed Bakr Hakim School in Jadriya, without talking, through the car-less streets, the air pressure changing around them as mortars rained down on the US and British embassy compounds and the first of the day's suicide bombers immolated himself and his victims, most of them Shi'ites, 3km away.
IRAQ
Asia Times: Why the US will not leave Iraq by Pepe Escobar
Shi'ites will be in power in the Arab world for the first time in 14 centuries. So Iraqi elections are indeed historic. But it's not for US President George W Bush to proclaim Sunday's elections "a success", even before the results are known: it's for the Iraqi people, those who did and also those who did not vote. The undisputable fact is that apart from the Kurds - who since the first Gulf War in 1991 have lived under American protection - most Iraqis, Sunni or Shi'ite, voter or non-voter, in public or in private, blame the United States for the current chaos and their "liberation" from electricity, water, jobs and security. History may still reveal the case that Sunday's elections under occupation, with rules established by the occupier, suit everyone except the long-suffering 27 million Iraqis.
Shi'ites will be in power in the Arab world for the first time in 14 centuries. So Iraqi elections are indeed historic. But it's not for US President George W Bush to proclaim Sunday's elections "a success", even before the results are known: it's for the Iraqi people, those who did and also those who did not vote. The undisputable fact is that apart from the Kurds - who since the first Gulf War in 1991 have lived under American protection - most Iraqis, Sunni or Shi'ite, voter or non-voter, in public or in private, blame the United States for the current chaos and their "liberation" from electricity, water, jobs and security. History may still reveal the case that Sunday's elections under occupation, with rules established by the occupier, suit everyone except the long-suffering 27 million Iraqis.
IRAQ
Asia Times: It's celebration time by Pepe Escobar
Iraqi Shi'ites, the Pentagon, the Sunni Iraqi resistance, the rest of the world, even Henry Kissinger: everybody is celebrating the Bush-anticipated "grand moment in Iraqi history" following elections on Sunday. Here's how
CHECK IT
Iraqi Shi'ites, the Pentagon, the Sunni Iraqi resistance, the rest of the world, even Henry Kissinger: everybody is celebrating the Bush-anticipated "grand moment in Iraqi history" following elections on Sunday. Here's how
CHECK IT
RUSSIA
Asia Times: Russian bear makes Israel jittery
While Syrian President Bashar Assad denied that he was in Moscow to shop for weapons, he defended his country's right to acquire surface-to-air missiles from Russia. He said during his four-day visit that was due to end on Thursday that "these are weapons for air defense, meant to prevent aircraft from intruding in our airspace". "If Israel objects to our acquisition of these defensive weapons, it is as if it is saying, 'We want to attack Syria but we do not want them to defend themselves.' That's not logical," concluded Assad while addressing the State Institute for Foreign Relations. But Assad reiterated an earlier denial of a deal for SA-18 missiles and long-range Iskandar-E missiles that could reach targets all over Israel.
CHECK IT
While Syrian President Bashar Assad denied that he was in Moscow to shop for weapons, he defended his country's right to acquire surface-to-air missiles from Russia. He said during his four-day visit that was due to end on Thursday that "these are weapons for air defense, meant to prevent aircraft from intruding in our airspace". "If Israel objects to our acquisition of these defensive weapons, it is as if it is saying, 'We want to attack Syria but we do not want them to defend themselves.' That's not logical," concluded Assad while addressing the State Institute for Foreign Relations. But Assad reiterated an earlier denial of a deal for SA-18 missiles and long-range Iskandar-E missiles that could reach targets all over Israel.
CHECK IT
IRAQ: ELECTIONS
Dahr Jamail: Iraq Election - Some Just Voted For Food
Ra'ad, 23, said he saw the man who distributed monthly food rations in his district at his polling station. "The food dealer, who I know personally of course, took my name and those of my family who were voting," he said. "Only then did I get my ballot and was allowed to vote."
"Two of the food dealers I know told me personally that our food rations would be withheld if we did not vote," said Saeed Jodhet, a 21-year-old engineering student who voted in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad.
Just days before the election, 52 year-old Amin Hajar who owns an auto garage in central Baghdad had said: "I'll vote because I can't afford to have my food ration cut...if that happened, me and my family would starve to death."
Ra'ad, 23, said he saw the man who distributed monthly food rations in his district at his polling station. "The food dealer, who I know personally of course, took my name and those of my family who were voting," he said. "Only then did I get my ballot and was allowed to vote."
"Two of the food dealers I know told me personally that our food rations would be withheld if we did not vote," said Saeed Jodhet, a 21-year-old engineering student who voted in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad.
Just days before the election, 52 year-old Amin Hajar who owns an auto garage in central Baghdad had said: "I'll vote because I can't afford to have my food ration cut...if that happened, me and my family would starve to death."
DUMBED-DOWN AMERIKKKA
Yahoo: U.S. students say press freedoms go too far
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.
Welcome to the Bush-Jugend.
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.
Welcome to the Bush-Jugend.
IRAQ ELECTIONS. PROPAGANDA WATCH
Globalresearch: Iraqi Elections: Media Disinformation on Voter Turnout?
The media in chorus decided that voter turnout was high.
Western governments and the international community confirmed that the turnout was high, based on contradictory official figures and statements:
"a high turnout in today's election" (BBC, 30 Jan).
"polling stations witnessed an unexpectedly high turnout, demonstrating the Iraqi people's eagerness for liberty and democracy, which is exactly the outcome that the United States wishes for the Iraqis"
"The French government hailed Iraq's first free elections in half a century as a "great success for the international community" and called the surprisingly high voter turnout "good news".
"The initial figures included surprisingly high voter numbers around central Iraq where the rebels have carried out attack after attack." The turnout figure was first put at 72 percent quoting official sources, at least two hours before the closing of the polls.
Where was this 72 percent figure taken? On what was it based? How was it derived? By the time this figure started circulating in the global news chain, voting booths had not yet closed. The 72 percent turnout figure, which was on the lips of journalists and network TV talk shows was based on an interview with the Minister of Planning in the interim government, on the 30th at 11.45 GMT, more than two hours before the closing of the polls:
"although a 72 per cent turnout was expected, it appears that the participation level will only reach 50 per cent." (1145 gmt, Al-Iraqiyah live satellite interview with Planning Minister Mahdi al-Hafiz, from the Conference Centre in Baghdad, BBC Monitoring, 30 Jan 2005) .
CHECK IT
IRAN
Washingtonpost: Target Iran: How Likely Is a U.S. First Strike?
As President Bush embarks on his second term in office, "the world already has a clue [as] to what to expect from his foreign policy over the next few years," says a leading German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung (in German): "Iran, Iran, Iran."
Online commentators from London to Tehran to Tel Aviv agree. Many say the possibility of military conflict between the United States and Iran, which Washington believes seeks to develop nuclear weapons, is now growing. While verbal warfare between Washington and Tehran is nothing new, international pundits point to a number of recent developments, large and small, that suggest rhetorical bombshells could give way to the real thing.
As President Bush embarks on his second term in office, "the world already has a clue [as] to what to expect from his foreign policy over the next few years," says a leading German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung (in German): "Iran, Iran, Iran."
Online commentators from London to Tehran to Tel Aviv agree. Many say the possibility of military conflict between the United States and Iran, which Washington believes seeks to develop nuclear weapons, is now growing. While verbal warfare between Washington and Tehran is nothing new, international pundits point to a number of recent developments, large and small, that suggest rhetorical bombshells could give way to the real thing.
Monday, January 31, 2005
IRAQ: FOOD
The Economist: Order 81
Under the guise of helping get Iraq back on its feet, the US is setting out to totally re-engineer the country's traditional farming systems into a US-style corporate agribusiness. They’ve even created a new law – Order 81 – to make sure it happens.
CHECK IT
Under the guise of helping get Iraq back on its feet, the US is setting out to totally re-engineer the country's traditional farming systems into a US-style corporate agribusiness. They’ve even created a new law – Order 81 – to make sure it happens.
CHECK IT
FOOD
Guardian: Free trade leaves world food in grip of global giants
Global food companies are aggravating poverty in developing countries
by
dominating markets, buying up seed firms and forcing down prices for
staple goods including tea, coffee, milk, bananas and wheat, according
to a report to be launched today.
As 50,000 people marched through Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, to
mark the opening of the annual World Social Forum on developing country
issues, the report from ActionAid was set to highlight how power in the
world food industry has become concentrated in a few hands.
The report will say that 30 companies now account for a third of the
world's processed food; five companies control 75% of the international
grain trade; and six companies manage 75% of the global pesticide
market.
It finds that two companies dominate sales of half the world's bananas,
three trade 85% of the world's tea, and one, Wal-mart, now controls 40%
of Mexico's retail food sector. It also found that Monsanto controls
91% of the global GM seed market.
SEYMOUR HERSH
Rense: We've Been Taken Over By a Cult
eight or nine neo-conservatives have somehow grabbed the government. Just how and why and how they did it so efficiently, will have to wait for much later historians and better documentation than we have now, but they managed to overcome the bureaucracy and the Congress, and the press, with the greatest of ease. It does say something about how fragile our Democracy is. You do have to wonder what a Democracy is when it comes down to a few men in the Pentagon and a few men in the White House having their way.
CHECK IT
eight or nine neo-conservatives have somehow grabbed the government. Just how and why and how they did it so efficiently, will have to wait for much later historians and better documentation than we have now, but they managed to overcome the bureaucracy and the Congress, and the press, with the greatest of ease. It does say something about how fragile our Democracy is. You do have to wonder what a Democracy is when it comes down to a few men in the Pentagon and a few men in the White House having their way.
CHECK IT
IRAQ: ELECTIONS
Juan Cole: Iraq Election - A Mixed Story
"The Iraqis did not know the names of the candidates for whom they were supposedly voting. What kind of an election is anonymous!"
"This thing was more like a referendum than an election. It was a referendum on which major party list associated with which major leader would lead parliament.'
"Many of the voters came out to cast their ballots in the belief that it was the only way to regain enough sovereignty to get American troops back out of their country."
I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a "political earthquake" and "a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders. But this process is not a model for anything, and would not willingly be imitated by anyone else in the region. The 1997 elections in Iran were much more democratic, as were the 2002 elections in Bahrain and Pakistan.
"The Iraqis did not know the names of the candidates for whom they were supposedly voting. What kind of an election is anonymous!"
"This thing was more like a referendum than an election. It was a referendum on which major party list associated with which major leader would lead parliament.'
"Many of the voters came out to cast their ballots in the belief that it was the only way to regain enough sovereignty to get American troops back out of their country."
I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a "political earthquake" and "a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders. But this process is not a model for anything, and would not willingly be imitated by anyone else in the region. The 1997 elections in Iran were much more democratic, as were the 2002 elections in Bahrain and Pakistan.
IRAQ: ELECTIONS
Libertyforum: Sunday, January 30, 2005
Iraqi electoral fraud: two articles, and a guide to the candidates
Salim Lone, former adviser to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN envoy to Iraq killed in 2003, writes in the International Herald Tribune on the elections in Iraq. The message is unambiguous:
This election is a sham...[E]ven as the Americans proclaimed their mission as one designed to introduce democracy and human rights in Iraq, they fought against demands for early elections even from putative allies like the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They also maneuvered to put into place a self-governance and electoral plan that, through carefully circumscribed United Nations involvement, they thought would ensure that the hand-picked Iraqi leadership would enjoy some legitimacy, with the elections scheduled for Sunday providing an added boost of Shiite support...But as this blood-stained election shows, the complete breakdown of this plan has been one of the most colossal U.S. policy failures of the last half-century. Indeed, this is not an election that any democratic nation, or indeed any independent international electoral organization, would recognize as legitimate. For the only time in memory, electoral candidates are afraid to be seen in public and are forced to campaign from underground cells, with many afraid to even link their names to their faces in the media. There are no public rallies where voters might glean some information about candidates' positions. As one voter told CNN, he would prefer to vote for George Michael, since he knows more about the singer than about any of the candidates running for office. Those sages interminably repeating that the success of the election will be determined by the level of the turnout do not understand Iraq, or for that matter, elections...
Finally, here's a PDF containing the full list of candidates. Except, of course, where those candidates have requested not to have their names printed.
Iraqi electoral fraud: two articles, and a guide to the candidates
Salim Lone, former adviser to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN envoy to Iraq killed in 2003, writes in the International Herald Tribune on the elections in Iraq. The message is unambiguous:
This election is a sham...[E]ven as the Americans proclaimed their mission as one designed to introduce democracy and human rights in Iraq, they fought against demands for early elections even from putative allies like the Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They also maneuvered to put into place a self-governance and electoral plan that, through carefully circumscribed United Nations involvement, they thought would ensure that the hand-picked Iraqi leadership would enjoy some legitimacy, with the elections scheduled for Sunday providing an added boost of Shiite support...But as this blood-stained election shows, the complete breakdown of this plan has been one of the most colossal U.S. policy failures of the last half-century. Indeed, this is not an election that any democratic nation, or indeed any independent international electoral organization, would recognize as legitimate. For the only time in memory, electoral candidates are afraid to be seen in public and are forced to campaign from underground cells, with many afraid to even link their names to their faces in the media. There are no public rallies where voters might glean some information about candidates' positions. As one voter told CNN, he would prefer to vote for George Michael, since he knows more about the singer than about any of the candidates running for office. Those sages interminably repeating that the success of the election will be determined by the level of the turnout do not understand Iraq, or for that matter, elections...
Finally, here's a PDF containing the full list of candidates. Except, of course, where those candidates have requested not to have their names printed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)