USA
islamonline: Billionaire Soros Attacks Bush 'Extremist Policies'
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -- Launching a grass-roots initiative to raise up to $75 million to prevent President George W. Bush from being re-elected, famous billionaire George Soros said Washington would only stop pursuing ìextremistî policies if there was a change in the White House.
"It is only possible if you have a regime change in the United States - in other words if President Bush is voted out of power,î Soros told BBC Radio 4's United Nations Or Not? Program Monday, September 29.
"I am very hopeful that people will wake up and realize that they have been led down the garden path, that actually 11 September has been hijacked by a bunch of extremists to put into effect policies that they were advocating before such as the invasion of Iraq," Soros said, according to the BBC online news service.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
PEAK OIL
Independent: Another New Image Of The Face On Mars
World oil and gas supplies are heading for a "production crunch" sometime between 2010 and 2020 when they cannot meet supply, because global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been thought, new forecasts suggest.
Research presented this week at the University of Uppsala in Sweden claims that oil supplies will peak soon after 2010, and gas supplies not long afterwards, making the price of petrol and other fuels rocket, with potentially disastrous economic consequences unless people have moved to alternatives to fossil fuels.
While forecasters have always known that such a date lies ahead, they have previously put it around 2050, and estimated that there would be time to shift energy use over to renewables and other non- fossil sources.
But Kjell Aleklett, one of a team of geologists that prepared the report, said earlier estimates that the world's entire reserve amounts to 18,000 billion barrels of oil and gas - of which about 1,000 billion has been used up so far - were "completely unrealistic". He, Anders Sivertsson and Colin Campbell told New Scientist magazine that less than 3,500 billion barrels of oil and gas remained in total.
Independent: Another New Image Of The Face On Mars
World oil and gas supplies are heading for a "production crunch" sometime between 2010 and 2020 when they cannot meet supply, because global reserves are 80 per cent smaller than had been thought, new forecasts suggest.
Research presented this week at the University of Uppsala in Sweden claims that oil supplies will peak soon after 2010, and gas supplies not long afterwards, making the price of petrol and other fuels rocket, with potentially disastrous economic consequences unless people have moved to alternatives to fossil fuels.
While forecasters have always known that such a date lies ahead, they have previously put it around 2050, and estimated that there would be time to shift energy use over to renewables and other non- fossil sources.
But Kjell Aleklett, one of a team of geologists that prepared the report, said earlier estimates that the world's entire reserve amounts to 18,000 billion barrels of oil and gas - of which about 1,000 billion has been used up so far - were "completely unrealistic". He, Anders Sivertsson and Colin Campbell told New Scientist magazine that less than 3,500 billion barrels of oil and gas remained in total.
USA
commondreams: US Cuts Military Aid to Friendly Nations
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration today cut over $89 million in military aid to 32 friendly countries because they refused to exempt U.S. citizens and soldiers from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC)--the world's first permanent tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Among the countries whose aid was cut were a number of new democracies in Central and East Europe--some of which have contributed troops to bolster the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq--as well as Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, South Africa, and several other Latin American and African countries.
"This is the first sanction in U.S. diplomatic history targeted exclusively at democracies," said Heather Hamilton of the World Federalist Association (WFA), one of hundreds of non-governmental groups around the world that have joined in a global coalition in support of the ICC
commondreams: US Cuts Military Aid to Friendly Nations
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration today cut over $89 million in military aid to 32 friendly countries because they refused to exempt U.S. citizens and soldiers from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC)--the world's first permanent tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Among the countries whose aid was cut were a number of new democracies in Central and East Europe--some of which have contributed troops to bolster the U.S.-led occupation in Iraq--as well as Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, South Africa, and several other Latin American and African countries.
"This is the first sanction in U.S. diplomatic history targeted exclusively at democracies," said Heather Hamilton of the World Federalist Association (WFA), one of hundreds of non-governmental groups around the world that have joined in a global coalition in support of the ICC
ISRAEL: ZIONISM
Rense: More Examples Of Zionist Racism
"One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail."
--Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994
"Every time we do something you tell me America 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, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.
"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs."-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25,1982.
"We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return."-David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, July 18, 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's "Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet," Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours...Everything we don't grab will go to them."-Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, Nov. 15, 1998.
Rense: More Examples Of Zionist Racism
"One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail."
--Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994
"Every time we do something you tell me America 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, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.
"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs."-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25,1982.
"We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return."-David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, July 18, 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's "Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet," Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours...Everything we don't grab will go to them."-Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, Nov. 15, 1998.
ISRAEL
Tagesanzeiger: Unterstützung für Piloten-Protest
Prominente israelische Autoren haben sich öffentlich hinter eine Gruppe von Piloten der Luftwaffe gestellt, die Angriffe auf Ziele in dicht besiedelten Palaestinensergebieten ablehnen.
Die Regierung und die Militaerführung sollten auf die Piloten hören, selbst wenn es um Angriffe auf Terroristen gehe, erklärten die 36 Schriftsteller nach Angaben des israelischen Radios vom Donnerstag. Israel muesse sich ohne Unterlass um Verhandlungen mit den Palaestinensern bemühen, um die Besetzung der Gebiete zu beenden. Unter den Autoren sind David Grossman, Sami Michael und Batya Gur.
27 Piloten hatten in der vergangenen Woche in einem offenen Brief an Luftwaffenchef Dan Haluz geschrieben, Befehle zu Angriffen auf Ziele in Wohngebieten seien «unmoralisch und illegal». «Mit einer Axt kann man keine chirurgische Operation ausführen, egal wie qualifiziert der Chirurg ist», sagte ein Verweigerer unter Anspielung auf die umstrittenen gezielten Tötungen militanter Palaestinenser. Neun noch aktive Piloten sind inzwischen vom Dienst suspendiert worden. (wim/sda)
Tagesanzeiger: Unterstützung für Piloten-Protest
Prominente israelische Autoren haben sich öffentlich hinter eine Gruppe von Piloten der Luftwaffe gestellt, die Angriffe auf Ziele in dicht besiedelten Palaestinensergebieten ablehnen.
Die Regierung und die Militaerführung sollten auf die Piloten hören, selbst wenn es um Angriffe auf Terroristen gehe, erklärten die 36 Schriftsteller nach Angaben des israelischen Radios vom Donnerstag. Israel muesse sich ohne Unterlass um Verhandlungen mit den Palaestinensern bemühen, um die Besetzung der Gebiete zu beenden. Unter den Autoren sind David Grossman, Sami Michael und Batya Gur.
27 Piloten hatten in der vergangenen Woche in einem offenen Brief an Luftwaffenchef Dan Haluz geschrieben, Befehle zu Angriffen auf Ziele in Wohngebieten seien «unmoralisch und illegal». «Mit einer Axt kann man keine chirurgische Operation ausführen, egal wie qualifiziert der Chirurg ist», sagte ein Verweigerer unter Anspielung auf die umstrittenen gezielten Tötungen militanter Palaestinenser. Neun noch aktive Piloten sind inzwischen vom Dienst suspendiert worden. (wim/sda)
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
UK
Independent: Blair suffers conference defeat on foundation hospitals
Tony Blair suffered an embarrassing defeat on foundation hospitals today when delegates voted to scrap his flagship policy at Labour's annual conference.
The Prime Minister will push ahead with the controversial plan to give greater freedom to top hospitals.
But the defeat in Bournemouth will give fresh ammunition to Labour MPs fighting the reforms in the House of Commons.
Independent: Blair suffers conference defeat on foundation hospitals
Tony Blair suffered an embarrassing defeat on foundation hospitals today when delegates voted to scrap his flagship policy at Labour's annual conference.
The Prime Minister will push ahead with the controversial plan to give greater freedom to top hospitals.
But the defeat in Bournemouth will give fresh ammunition to Labour MPs fighting the reforms in the House of Commons.
IRAQI OIL
FPIF: Control of Oil Revenues
Iraq Occupation Report
While widespread ransacking was happening in Iraq after Baghdad fell, the U.S. moved swiftly to secure the country’s oil facilities. But in the months since the official end of the war, general looting and sabotage have impeded even the oil industry, frustrating efforts to quickly return oil production to prewar levels.
As of early July, the future of Iraq’s oil is still a matter of speculation. Rehabilitating oil facilities and preparing the ground for an expansion of output will take time. Current projections are that because of widespread looting, it will take 18 months just to return to prewar production levels of 3 million barrels per day. [Neela Banerjee, “Barrels of Oil Exported for the First Time Since the War,” New York Times, June 23, 2003]
The U.S. will has broad control over the Iraqi oil industry, principally by means of a Development Fund for Iraq, into which all of Iraq’s oil export revenues, all funds left over from the UN’s “oil for food” program, and all assets of the former Iraqi government located anywhere in the world are to be transferred. With such broad control, U.S. corporations are well posed to reap enormous profits and control of the oil industry.
FPIF: Control of Oil Revenues
Iraq Occupation Report
While widespread ransacking was happening in Iraq after Baghdad fell, the U.S. moved swiftly to secure the country’s oil facilities. But in the months since the official end of the war, general looting and sabotage have impeded even the oil industry, frustrating efforts to quickly return oil production to prewar levels.
As of early July, the future of Iraq’s oil is still a matter of speculation. Rehabilitating oil facilities and preparing the ground for an expansion of output will take time. Current projections are that because of widespread looting, it will take 18 months just to return to prewar production levels of 3 million barrels per day. [Neela Banerjee, “Barrels of Oil Exported for the First Time Since the War,” New York Times, June 23, 2003]
The U.S. will has broad control over the Iraqi oil industry, principally by means of a Development Fund for Iraq, into which all of Iraq’s oil export revenues, all funds left over from the UN’s “oil for food” program, and all assets of the former Iraqi government located anywhere in the world are to be transferred. With such broad control, U.S. corporations are well posed to reap enormous profits and control of the oil industry.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Independent: Oil, war and a growing sense of panic in the US by Robert Fisk (complete)
01 October 2003 [Premium article - fee required]
Don't tell me that America would have invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot
Oil is slippery stuff but not as slippery as the figures now being
peddled by Iraq's American occupiers. Up around Kirkuk, the authorities are
keeping the sabotage figures secret - because they can't stop their pipelines
to Turkey blowing up. And down in Baghdad, where the men who produce
Iraq's oil production figures are beginning to look like the occupants of
Plato's cave - drawing conclusions from shadows on their wall - the statistics
are being cooked. Paul Bremer, the US proconsul who wears combat boots, is
"sexing up" the figures to a point where even the oilmen are shaking
their heads.
Take Kirkuk. Only when the television cameras capture a blown pipe,
flames billowing, do the occupation powers report sabotage. This they did, for
example, on 18 August. But the same Turkish pipeline has been hit
before and since. It was blown on 17 September and four times the following
day. US patrols and helicopters move along the pipeline but, in the huge
ravines and tribal areas through which it passes, long sections are
indefensible.
European oilmen in Baghdad realise now that Iraqi officials in the oil
ministry - one of only two government institutions that the Americans
defended from the looters - knew very well that the sabotage was going
to occur. "They told me in June that there would be no oil exports from
the north," one of them said to me this week. "They knew it was going to be
sabotaged - and it had obviously been planned long before the invasion
in March."
Early in their occupation, the Americans took the quiet - and unwise -
decision to re-hire many Baathist oil technocrats, which means that a
large proportion of ministry officials are still ambivalent towards the
Americans. The only oil revenues the US can get are from the south. In
the middle of August, Mr Bremer gave the impression that production stood
at about 1.5 million barrels a day. But the real figure at that time was
780,000 barrels and rarely does production reach a million. In the
words of an oil analyst visiting Iraq, this is "an inexcusable catastrophe".
When the US attacked Iraq in March, the country was producing 2.7
million barrels a day. It transpires that in the very first hours after they
entered Baghdad on 9 April, American troops allowed looters into the
oil ministry. By the time senior officers arrived to order them out, they
had destroyed billions of dollars of irreplaceable seismic and drilling
data.
While the major oil companies in the US stand to cream off billions of
dollars if oil production resumes in earnest, many of their executives
were demanding to know from the Bush administration - long before the war -
how it intended to prevent sabotage. In fact, Saddam had no plans to
destroy the oil fields themselves, plenty for blowing up the export pipes. The
Pentagon got it the wrong way round, racing its troops to protect the
fields but ignoring the vulnerable pipelines.
Anarchy is now so widespread in post-war Iraq that it is almost
impossible for international investors to work there. There is no insurance for
them - which is why Mr Bremer's occupation administrators have secretly
decided that well over half the $20bn (£12bn) earmarked for Iraq will go
towards security for its production infrastructure.
During the war, a detailed analysis by Yahya Sadowski, a professor at
the American University of Beirut, suggested that repairing wells and pipes
would cost $1bn, that raising oil production to 3.5 million barrels a
day would take three years and cost another $8bn investment and another
$20bn for repairs to the electrical grid which powers the pumps and
refineries. Bringing production up to six million barrels a day would cost a
further $30bn, some say up $100bn.
In other words - assuming only $8bn of the $20bn can be used on
industry - the Bush overall budget of $87bn which now horrifies Congress is likely
to rise towards a figure of $200bn. Ouch.
Since the 1920s, only about 2,300 wells have been drilled in Iraq and
those are in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Its deserts are almost
totally unexplored. Officially, Iraq contains 12 per cent of the
world's oil 5reserves - two-thirds of the world's reserves are in just four
other countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and the Emirates - but it could
contain 20 per cent, even 25 per cent.
It's possible to argue that it was Saddam's decision to switch from the
dollar to the euro in November 2000 that made "regime change" so
important to the US. When Iran threatened to do the same, it was added to the
"axis of evil". The defence of the dollar is almost as important as oil.
But the real irony lies in the nature of America's new power in Iraq.
US oil deposits are increasingly depleted and by 2025, its oil imports
will account for perhaps 70 per cent of total domestic demand. It needs to
control the world's reserves - and don't tell me the US would have
invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot - and it now has control of
perhaps 25 per cent of
world reserves.
But it can't make the oil flow. The cost of making it flow could
produce an economic crisis in the US. And it is this - rather than the daily
killing of young American soldiers - that lies behind the Bush administration's
growing panic. Washington has got its hands on the biggest treasure
chest in the world - but it can't open the lid. No wonder they are cooking
the books in Baghdad.
CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT
Independent: Oil, war and a growing sense of panic in the US by Robert Fisk (complete)
01 October 2003 [Premium article - fee required]
Don't tell me that America would have invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot
Oil is slippery stuff but not as slippery as the figures now being
peddled by Iraq's American occupiers. Up around Kirkuk, the authorities are
keeping the sabotage figures secret - because they can't stop their pipelines
to Turkey blowing up. And down in Baghdad, where the men who produce
Iraq's oil production figures are beginning to look like the occupants of
Plato's cave - drawing conclusions from shadows on their wall - the statistics
are being cooked. Paul Bremer, the US proconsul who wears combat boots, is
"sexing up" the figures to a point where even the oilmen are shaking
their heads.
Take Kirkuk. Only when the television cameras capture a blown pipe,
flames billowing, do the occupation powers report sabotage. This they did, for
example, on 18 August. But the same Turkish pipeline has been hit
before and since. It was blown on 17 September and four times the following
day. US patrols and helicopters move along the pipeline but, in the huge
ravines and tribal areas through which it passes, long sections are
indefensible.
European oilmen in Baghdad realise now that Iraqi officials in the oil
ministry - one of only two government institutions that the Americans
defended from the looters - knew very well that the sabotage was going
to occur. "They told me in June that there would be no oil exports from
the north," one of them said to me this week. "They knew it was going to be
sabotaged - and it had obviously been planned long before the invasion
in March."
Early in their occupation, the Americans took the quiet - and unwise -
decision to re-hire many Baathist oil technocrats, which means that a
large proportion of ministry officials are still ambivalent towards the
Americans. The only oil revenues the US can get are from the south. In
the middle of August, Mr Bremer gave the impression that production stood
at about 1.5 million barrels a day. But the real figure at that time was
780,000 barrels and rarely does production reach a million. In the
words of an oil analyst visiting Iraq, this is "an inexcusable catastrophe".
When the US attacked Iraq in March, the country was producing 2.7
million barrels a day. It transpires that in the very first hours after they
entered Baghdad on 9 April, American troops allowed looters into the
oil ministry. By the time senior officers arrived to order them out, they
had destroyed billions of dollars of irreplaceable seismic and drilling
data.
While the major oil companies in the US stand to cream off billions of
dollars if oil production resumes in earnest, many of their executives
were demanding to know from the Bush administration - long before the war -
how it intended to prevent sabotage. In fact, Saddam had no plans to
destroy the oil fields themselves, plenty for blowing up the export pipes. The
Pentagon got it the wrong way round, racing its troops to protect the
fields but ignoring the vulnerable pipelines.
Anarchy is now so widespread in post-war Iraq that it is almost
impossible for international investors to work there. There is no insurance for
them - which is why Mr Bremer's occupation administrators have secretly
decided that well over half the $20bn (£12bn) earmarked for Iraq will go
towards security for its production infrastructure.
During the war, a detailed analysis by Yahya Sadowski, a professor at
the American University of Beirut, suggested that repairing wells and pipes
would cost $1bn, that raising oil production to 3.5 million barrels a
day would take three years and cost another $8bn investment and another
$20bn for repairs to the electrical grid which powers the pumps and
refineries. Bringing production up to six million barrels a day would cost a
further $30bn, some say up $100bn.
In other words - assuming only $8bn of the $20bn can be used on
industry - the Bush overall budget of $87bn which now horrifies Congress is likely
to rise towards a figure of $200bn. Ouch.
Since the 1920s, only about 2,300 wells have been drilled in Iraq and
those are in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Its deserts are almost
totally unexplored. Officially, Iraq contains 12 per cent of the
world's oil 5reserves - two-thirds of the world's reserves are in just four
other countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and the Emirates - but it could
contain 20 per cent, even 25 per cent.
It's possible to argue that it was Saddam's decision to switch from the
dollar to the euro in November 2000 that made "regime change" so
important to the US. When Iran threatened to do the same, it was added to the
"axis of evil". The defence of the dollar is almost as important as oil.
But the real irony lies in the nature of America's new power in Iraq.
US oil deposits are increasingly depleted and by 2025, its oil imports
will account for perhaps 70 per cent of total domestic demand. It needs to
control the world's reserves - and don't tell me the US would have
invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot - and it now has control of
perhaps 25 per cent of
world reserves.
But it can't make the oil flow. The cost of making it flow could
produce an economic crisis in the US. And it is this - rather than the daily
killing of young American soldiers - that lies behind the Bush administration's
growing panic. Washington has got its hands on the biggest treasure
chest in the world - but it can't open the lid. No wonder they are cooking
the books in Baghdad.
CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT
IRAQ WAR
CS Science Monitor: Iraq war's human toll could be felt for decades
Beyond fatalities, an average of eight American soldiers a day are wounded
Politicians and the press tend to tally the human costs of going to war by counting those killed. So far, that's 311 Americans in Iraq and 88 more as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan. If one dates this newly defined "war on terror" back to the 1983 car bomb attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, another 300 or so American lives have been lost.
But the number of those wounded in action (or injured in combat-zone accidents) is far higher. And while combat deaths have been relatively low since the Vietnam War, the ratio of these nonfatal casualties to war fatalities is increasing - from 3 to 1 in World War II to more than 5 to 1 in Iraq (1,691 to date).
With no end in sight to a substantial US presence in Iraq, the number of nonfatal casualties (now averaging more than eight per day) is likely to keep increasing, experts say. And beyond the human dimension, the costs of such casualties, which tend to be overlooked as part of the cost of national security and foreign policy, will continue for decades as well. Among those costs: rehabilitation, retraining, postcombat counseling, long-term medical treatment, and assisted-living care.
CS Science Monitor: Iraq war's human toll could be felt for decades
Beyond fatalities, an average of eight American soldiers a day are wounded
Politicians and the press tend to tally the human costs of going to war by counting those killed. So far, that's 311 Americans in Iraq and 88 more as part of "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan. If one dates this newly defined "war on terror" back to the 1983 car bomb attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, another 300 or so American lives have been lost.
But the number of those wounded in action (or injured in combat-zone accidents) is far higher. And while combat deaths have been relatively low since the Vietnam War, the ratio of these nonfatal casualties to war fatalities is increasing - from 3 to 1 in World War II to more than 5 to 1 in Iraq (1,691 to date).
With no end in sight to a substantial US presence in Iraq, the number of nonfatal casualties (now averaging more than eight per day) is likely to keep increasing, experts say. And beyond the human dimension, the costs of such casualties, which tend to be overlooked as part of the cost of national security and foreign policy, will continue for decades as well. Among those costs: rehabilitation, retraining, postcombat counseling, long-term medical treatment, and assisted-living care.
AFGHANISTAN/IRAQ
Greenleft.co.au: JOHN PILGER: Bush's `war on terror' is a cruel hoax
At the British Labour Party conference following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair said memorably: “To the Afghan people, we make this commitment. We will not walk away... If the Taliban regime changes, we will work with you to make sure its successor is one that is broad based, that unites all ethnic groups and offers some way out of the poverty that is your miserable existence.”
He was echoing US President George Bush, who had said a few days earlier: “The oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and its allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan. The US is a friend of the Afghan people.”
Almost every word they spoke was false. Their declarations of concern were cruel illusions that prepared the way for the conquest of both Afghanistan and Iraq. As the illegal Anglo-American occupation of Iraq now unravels, the forgotten disaster in Afghanistan, the first “victory” in the “war on terror”, is perhaps an even more shocking testament to power.
CHECK IT
Greenleft.co.au: JOHN PILGER: Bush's `war on terror' is a cruel hoax
At the British Labour Party conference following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair said memorably: “To the Afghan people, we make this commitment. We will not walk away... If the Taliban regime changes, we will work with you to make sure its successor is one that is broad based, that unites all ethnic groups and offers some way out of the poverty that is your miserable existence.”
He was echoing US President George Bush, who had said a few days earlier: “The oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and its allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men, women and children of Afghanistan. The US is a friend of the Afghan people.”
Almost every word they spoke was false. Their declarations of concern were cruel illusions that prepared the way for the conquest of both Afghanistan and Iraq. As the illegal Anglo-American occupation of Iraq now unravels, the forgotten disaster in Afghanistan, the first “victory” in the “war on terror”, is perhaps an even more shocking testament to power.
CHECK IT
USA
Democrats.org: Plamegate Update: Senate Dems call for special counsel
The Associated Press is reporting that the Justice Department has opened a full investigation into the White House's alleged leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Do you trust John Ashcroft to conduct this investigation in a thorough and nonpartisan manner?
The [Justice] department notified the counsel's office about 8:30 p.m. Monday that it was launching an investigation but said the White House could wait until the next morning to notify staff and direct them to preserve relevant material, McClellan said.
Since when does the Justice Department give people a several-hours head start to destroy evidence before an investigation begins?
Washington Post: Bush Vows Action if Aides Had Role in Leak
Democrats' Demand for Special Counsel Rejected
President Bush's chief spokesman said yesterday that the allegation that administration officials leaked the name of a CIA operative is "a very serious matter" and vowed that Bush would fire anybody responsible for such actions. ja sicher
Democrats.org: Plamegate Update: Senate Dems call for special counsel
The Associated Press is reporting that the Justice Department has opened a full investigation into the White House's alleged leak of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Do you trust John Ashcroft to conduct this investigation in a thorough and nonpartisan manner?
The [Justice] department notified the counsel's office about 8:30 p.m. Monday that it was launching an investigation but said the White House could wait until the next morning to notify staff and direct them to preserve relevant material, McClellan said.
Since when does the Justice Department give people a several-hours head start to destroy evidence before an investigation begins?
Washington Post: Bush Vows Action if Aides Had Role in Leak
Democrats' Demand for Special Counsel Rejected
President Bush's chief spokesman said yesterday that the allegation that administration officials leaked the name of a CIA operative is "a very serious matter" and vowed that Bush would fire anybody responsible for such actions. ja sicher
ISRAEL
BBC: Nuclear Watchdog 'Ignores Israel'
Arab states have accused the United Nations nuclear watchdog of holding
back from criticising Israel. Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia said the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was ignoring Israel's alleged
weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, they said, the agency
was
putting pressure on other countries to give up their nuclear
programmes.
The IAEA is urging Iran to prove that its nuclear power plants are not
being used to develop weapons-grade material. North Korea was in a
similar position until it withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Israel, unlike Iran and North Korea, has not signed the NPT. The Jewish state
has never confirmed being a nuclear power, but is widely believed to
possess nuclear weapons.
'Unacceptable'
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal said: "What surprises us is that at a time when the
International Atomic Energy Agency is intensifying its efforts and
monitoring (NPT) member countries... we see that it continues to ignore
the rejection of Israel in not joining the treaty. "This constitutes a
serious threat to the security and stability of the whole region."
BBC: Nuclear Watchdog 'Ignores Israel'
Arab states have accused the United Nations nuclear watchdog of holding
back from criticising Israel. Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia said the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was ignoring Israel's alleged
weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, they said, the agency
was
putting pressure on other countries to give up their nuclear
programmes.
The IAEA is urging Iran to prove that its nuclear power plants are not
being used to develop weapons-grade material. North Korea was in a
similar position until it withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), which is designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Israel, unlike Iran and North Korea, has not signed the NPT. The Jewish state
has never confirmed being a nuclear power, but is widely believed to
possess nuclear weapons.
'Unacceptable'
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal said: "What surprises us is that at a time when the
International Atomic Energy Agency is intensifying its efforts and
monitoring (NPT) member countries... we see that it continues to ignore
the rejection of Israel in not joining the treaty. "This constitutes a
serious threat to the security and stability of the whole region."
IRAQ
Democracy Now: Halabja: How Bush Sr. Continued to Support Saddam After the 1988 Gassing of Thousands And Bush Jr. Used it As a Pretext For War 15 Years Later
After the Halabja gassing President Bush I and Sen. Bob Dole fought sanctions against Iraq even though the gassing killed thousands and was reportedly carried out in part by U.S.-made helicopters. From 1989 to 1990 the gassing was mentioned about once a month in major press outlets, yet in the three weeks leading up to the 2003 invasion, the press mentioned it 150 times. In 15 years the gassing went from an untold story to a pretext for invasion. [Includes transcript]
Democracy Now: Halabja: How Bush Sr. Continued to Support Saddam After the 1988 Gassing of Thousands And Bush Jr. Used it As a Pretext For War 15 Years Later
After the Halabja gassing President Bush I and Sen. Bob Dole fought sanctions against Iraq even though the gassing killed thousands and was reportedly carried out in part by U.S.-made helicopters. From 1989 to 1990 the gassing was mentioned about once a month in major press outlets, yet in the three weeks leading up to the 2003 invasion, the press mentioned it 150 times. In 15 years the gassing went from an untold story to a pretext for invasion. [Includes transcript]
IRAQ
Guardian: New Company With Bush Ties Consults On Iraq BizOps
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A company that was created to help clients take
advantage of business opportunities in Iraq is made up of businessmen
associated with President Bush, his family and his administration. The
connections drew criticism Tuesday from Democratic presidential
candidate
John Edwards, who called for an independent oversight board to ensure
that
Iraq reconstruction money is doled out fairly.
New Bridge Strategies, on its Web site, says it will ``seek to expedite
the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq,
consistent with the policies of the Bush administration.''
Guardian: New Company With Bush Ties Consults On Iraq BizOps
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A company that was created to help clients take
advantage of business opportunities in Iraq is made up of businessmen
associated with President Bush, his family and his administration. The
connections drew criticism Tuesday from Democratic presidential
candidate
John Edwards, who called for an independent oversight board to ensure
that
Iraq reconstruction money is doled out fairly.
New Bridge Strategies, on its Web site, says it will ``seek to expedite
the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq,
consistent with the policies of the Bush administration.''
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
UN: Israel uses excessive force and annexation in Palestinian territories – UN report
30 September – Israel is using excessive force in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), violating human rights in the name of counter-terrorism, and its building of a “separation wall” and expansion of settlements bear the hallmarks of annexation and illegal “conquest,” according to a United Nations human rights report released today.
While acknowledging Israel’s legitimate security concerns and its right to take strong action to prevent suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights for the OPT, John Dugard, says the lawfulness of Israel’s response is to be measured in accordance with the principle of proportionality.
“The Special Rapporteur finds it difficult to accept that the excessive use of force that disregards the distinction between civilians and combatants, the creation of a humanitarian crisis by restrictions on the mobility of goods and people, the killing and inhuman treatment of children, the widespread destruction of property and, now, territorial expansion can be justified as a proportionate response to the violence and threats of violence to which Israel is subjected,” Mr. Dugard writes.
“On occasion, Israel’s action in the OPT is so remote from the interests of security that it assumes the character of punishment, humiliation and conquest,” he adds. “Some limit must be placed on the violation of human rights in the name of counter-terrorism. A balance must be struck between respect for human rights and the interests of security.”
link provided by pedro
CHECK IT
UN: Israel uses excessive force and annexation in Palestinian territories – UN report
30 September – Israel is using excessive force in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), violating human rights in the name of counter-terrorism, and its building of a “separation wall” and expansion of settlements bear the hallmarks of annexation and illegal “conquest,” according to a United Nations human rights report released today.
While acknowledging Israel’s legitimate security concerns and its right to take strong action to prevent suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights for the OPT, John Dugard, says the lawfulness of Israel’s response is to be measured in accordance with the principle of proportionality.
“The Special Rapporteur finds it difficult to accept that the excessive use of force that disregards the distinction between civilians and combatants, the creation of a humanitarian crisis by restrictions on the mobility of goods and people, the killing and inhuman treatment of children, the widespread destruction of property and, now, territorial expansion can be justified as a proportionate response to the violence and threats of violence to which Israel is subjected,” Mr. Dugard writes.
“On occasion, Israel’s action in the OPT is so remote from the interests of security that it assumes the character of punishment, humiliation and conquest,” he adds. “Some limit must be placed on the violation of human rights in the name of counter-terrorism. A balance must be struck between respect for human rights and the interests of security.”
link provided by pedro
CHECK IT
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
STREETART
EKOSYSTEM:
Here they are ! Very awaited by some of you... Pictures from Backjump/StickerInvasion. The whole sticker scene was there ! Check carefully you must be somewhere. You can also download a zip file with better quality pics (1.2mb). Mega thanks to our man BILD for the great work.
EKOSYSTEM:
Here they are ! Very awaited by some of you... Pictures from Backjump/StickerInvasion. The whole sticker scene was there ! Check carefully you must be somewhere. You can also download a zip file with better quality pics (1.2mb). Mega thanks to our man BILD for the great work.
IRAQ
Just don't mention the oil. Or ask about the victims. by Robert Fisk (COMPLETE)
29 September 2003 [Premium article - fee required)
"The right thing ... a magnificent job ... heroes ... pride". So off
Tony went again yesterday on Breakfast With Frost, spinning and spinning
about Iraq.
I wonder what he'd think of the city morgue downtown from here when
they bring the gunshot victims in every morning. Or down in the Basra area
where the British rule and where, in the past few weeks, 38 corpses have been
found, hands and feet tied, each neatly executed with a shot through
the back of the neck. Baath party officials, we're told. Killed, quite
possibly, by the Shia Badr Brigade. Yup, things are getting better and
better in "New Iraq".
And as for those weapons of mass destruction?
"We know perfectly well he had these weapons, he had these programmes."
But is there anyone who doesn't see through this obfuscation? For when Tony
says: "We know perfectly well he had those weapons", he is, of course,
referring to the chemical weapons Saddam had more than 10 years ago and
which have not existed for years. The "programmes", which we still
haven't discovered, are what Tony hopes the Iraq Survey Group will come up with
when they admit in a few days' time that there weren't any weapons of
mass destruction.
No mention of course that when Saddam had these terrible things, the
British and American government were happily doing business with
Saddam.
Why not talk about weapons of mass deception?
Then we have my favourite line. "We were getting rid of one of the most
terrible, repressive regimes in the world's history." Well, I've seen
the mass graves and I've met the torture victims and I've been to Halabja
and I was denouncing Saddam's wickedness when the Foreign Office were telling
a former editor of mine that I was being too harsh on Saddam. But as for
one of the most terrible, repressive regimes in the "world's history ..."
Well, we'll just forget the Roman Empire with its system of mass slavery and
crucifixion and we'll pass on Ghengis Khan and all the Goths,
Ostrogoths, Visigoths, the Inquisition, the anti-semitic Tsars, Mussolini's Fascist
Italy, Stalin's Soviet Union and that little man with the moustache who
caused a wee problem between 1939 and 1945.
I'm afraid that even by Saddam's demented values, he doesn't come close
to the latter. But in the wheel of historical fortune in which our Tony
lives, it doesn't matter a damn. Actually, I rather prefer Thomas Friedman's
depiction in The New York Times of Saddam as a cross between Don
Corleone and Donald Duck. But you can't bang your fist on your heart and clang
your armour for such a creature. And how are the victors really faring? Well
in Baghdad today, there are more roads blocked by the occupation
authorities than there were under Saddam. There's a grey concrete wall along the
Tigris river bank three miles in length and 20 feet high to protect the
occupiers and another one of two miles to protect the so-called Interim Council
and there are walls around the Baghdad Hotel where the CIA lads stay and
there are soldiers on Humvees on every road pointing rifles at the Iraqis
they came to liberate and there is a ruthless resistance movement increasing
in size by the day.
The Americans are keen to have some "rules of engagement" for their
occupation soldiers and they've just received them - at Washington's
request - from, wait for it, the Israeli Defence Force. So stand by, I
suppose for yet more shooting at demonstrators and stone throwers and
more brutal night raids with innocents killed. But according to Tony, it was
all a jolly successful war.
Just don't mention the oil. Or ask about the victims. by Robert Fisk (COMPLETE)
29 September 2003 [Premium article - fee required)
"The right thing ... a magnificent job ... heroes ... pride". So off
Tony went again yesterday on Breakfast With Frost, spinning and spinning
about Iraq.
I wonder what he'd think of the city morgue downtown from here when
they bring the gunshot victims in every morning. Or down in the Basra area
where the British rule and where, in the past few weeks, 38 corpses have been
found, hands and feet tied, each neatly executed with a shot through
the back of the neck. Baath party officials, we're told. Killed, quite
possibly, by the Shia Badr Brigade. Yup, things are getting better and
better in "New Iraq".
And as for those weapons of mass destruction?
"We know perfectly well he had these weapons, he had these programmes."
But is there anyone who doesn't see through this obfuscation? For when Tony
says: "We know perfectly well he had those weapons", he is, of course,
referring to the chemical weapons Saddam had more than 10 years ago and
which have not existed for years. The "programmes", which we still
haven't discovered, are what Tony hopes the Iraq Survey Group will come up with
when they admit in a few days' time that there weren't any weapons of
mass destruction.
No mention of course that when Saddam had these terrible things, the
British and American government were happily doing business with
Saddam.
Why not talk about weapons of mass deception?
Then we have my favourite line. "We were getting rid of one of the most
terrible, repressive regimes in the world's history." Well, I've seen
the mass graves and I've met the torture victims and I've been to Halabja
and I was denouncing Saddam's wickedness when the Foreign Office were telling
a former editor of mine that I was being too harsh on Saddam. But as for
one of the most terrible, repressive regimes in the "world's history ..."
Well, we'll just forget the Roman Empire with its system of mass slavery and
crucifixion and we'll pass on Ghengis Khan and all the Goths,
Ostrogoths, Visigoths, the Inquisition, the anti-semitic Tsars, Mussolini's Fascist
Italy, Stalin's Soviet Union and that little man with the moustache who
caused a wee problem between 1939 and 1945.
I'm afraid that even by Saddam's demented values, he doesn't come close
to the latter. But in the wheel of historical fortune in which our Tony
lives, it doesn't matter a damn. Actually, I rather prefer Thomas Friedman's
depiction in The New York Times of Saddam as a cross between Don
Corleone and Donald Duck. But you can't bang your fist on your heart and clang
your armour for such a creature. And how are the victors really faring? Well
in Baghdad today, there are more roads blocked by the occupation
authorities than there were under Saddam. There's a grey concrete wall along the
Tigris river bank three miles in length and 20 feet high to protect the
occupiers and another one of two miles to protect the so-called Interim Council
and there are walls around the Baghdad Hotel where the CIA lads stay and
there are soldiers on Humvees on every road pointing rifles at the Iraqis
they came to liberate and there is a ruthless resistance movement increasing
in size by the day.
The Americans are keen to have some "rules of engagement" for their
occupation soldiers and they've just received them - at Washington's
request - from, wait for it, the Israeli Defence Force. So stand by, I
suppose for yet more shooting at demonstrators and stone throwers and
more brutal night raids with innocents killed. But according to Tony, it was
all a jolly successful war.
USA: ELECTRONIC VOTING
blackboxvoting.org: Diebold Internal Memos Admit Voting Machine Flaws
In a preemptive strike to discourage further negative publicity, Diebold Election Systems has demanded that voting activist site BlackBoxVoting.org remove internal memos which admit that Diebold's high tech voting machines are easily susceptible to vote fraud.
Dated Oct. 2001, the memo by Diebold's principal engineer Ken Clark concedes that it is quite simple to do an "end run" around the Diebold GEMS voting software, used in both touch screen and optical scan voting machines, and that this "back door" has already been used in elections. Diebold states that the memos are authentic, but claims copyright protection.
Maxlogan: Voting in America: A Shell Game?
It's a shell game, with money, companies and corporate brands switching in a blur of buyouts and bogus fronts. It's a sinkhole, where mobbed-up operators, paid-off public servants, crazed Christian fascists, CIA shadow-jobbers, war-pimping arms dealers -- and presidential family members -- lie down together in the slime. It's a hacker's dream, with pork-funded, half-finished, secretly programmed computer systems installed without basic security standards by politically partisan private firms, and protected by law from public scrutiny. It's how the United States, the "world's greatest democracy," casts its votes. And it's why George W. Bush will almost certainly be the next president of the United States -- no matter what the people of the United States might want.
The American vote-count is controlled by three major corporate players -- Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia -- with a fourth, Science Applications International Corporation, coming on strong. These companies -- all of them hardwired into the Bushist Party power grid -- have been given billions of dollars by the Bush Regime to complete a sweeping computerization of voting machines nationwide by the 2004 election. These glitch-riddled systems -- many using "touch-screen" technology that leaves no paper trail at all -- are almost laughably open to manipulation, according to corporate whistleblowers and computer scientists at Stanford, Johns Hopkins and other universities.
Inquierer: US election fraud scandal looms?
Explosive conjectures and evidence
STEALING ELECTIONS is a sordid tradition in the United States, though it's certainly not unknown in some other countries, as well.
From Tammany Hall's machine politics in the 19th century through Mayor Daley's grasp on Chicago elections, right up to Lyndon Johnson's first election and John Kennedy's 1960 cliff-hanger defeat of Richard Nixon, many US elections have been thought to have had "irregularities".
So much so that it's not really certain where "Vote early, and often!" originated, whether in Boston, New York, or Chicago. It is also well known that many lesser US cities had political corruption, including rampant election fraud, at one time or another in their histories.
Now a New Zealand political activist has published suspicions, along with supporting evidence, that electronic voting in the US is being manipulated by right-wing politicians with the connivance of several voting machine manufacturers. The story revolves around some highly volatile conjectures and might be explosive, if fully investigated.
The article is reprinted below with permission, lightly edited merely for formatting, minor typos and a minor fact (G.W. Bush isn't a Jr.).
Here at the INQUIRER, we can't help but notice that the highly, er... accommodating database software that drives these allegedly dodgy and easily tampered electronic voting machines is... Microsoft Access.
And we're trying to decide on a catchy term that ends in "gate".µ
blackboxvoting.org: Diebold Internal Memos Admit Voting Machine Flaws
In a preemptive strike to discourage further negative publicity, Diebold Election Systems has demanded that voting activist site BlackBoxVoting.org remove internal memos which admit that Diebold's high tech voting machines are easily susceptible to vote fraud.
Dated Oct. 2001, the memo by Diebold's principal engineer Ken Clark concedes that it is quite simple to do an "end run" around the Diebold GEMS voting software, used in both touch screen and optical scan voting machines, and that this "back door" has already been used in elections. Diebold states that the memos are authentic, but claims copyright protection.
Maxlogan: Voting in America: A Shell Game?
It's a shell game, with money, companies and corporate brands switching in a blur of buyouts and bogus fronts. It's a sinkhole, where mobbed-up operators, paid-off public servants, crazed Christian fascists, CIA shadow-jobbers, war-pimping arms dealers -- and presidential family members -- lie down together in the slime. It's a hacker's dream, with pork-funded, half-finished, secretly programmed computer systems installed without basic security standards by politically partisan private firms, and protected by law from public scrutiny. It's how the United States, the "world's greatest democracy," casts its votes. And it's why George W. Bush will almost certainly be the next president of the United States -- no matter what the people of the United States might want.
The American vote-count is controlled by three major corporate players -- Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia -- with a fourth, Science Applications International Corporation, coming on strong. These companies -- all of them hardwired into the Bushist Party power grid -- have been given billions of dollars by the Bush Regime to complete a sweeping computerization of voting machines nationwide by the 2004 election. These glitch-riddled systems -- many using "touch-screen" technology that leaves no paper trail at all -- are almost laughably open to manipulation, according to corporate whistleblowers and computer scientists at Stanford, Johns Hopkins and other universities.
Inquierer: US election fraud scandal looms?
Explosive conjectures and evidence
STEALING ELECTIONS is a sordid tradition in the United States, though it's certainly not unknown in some other countries, as well.
From Tammany Hall's machine politics in the 19th century through Mayor Daley's grasp on Chicago elections, right up to Lyndon Johnson's first election and John Kennedy's 1960 cliff-hanger defeat of Richard Nixon, many US elections have been thought to have had "irregularities".
So much so that it's not really certain where "Vote early, and often!" originated, whether in Boston, New York, or Chicago. It is also well known that many lesser US cities had political corruption, including rampant election fraud, at one time or another in their histories.
Now a New Zealand political activist has published suspicions, along with supporting evidence, that electronic voting in the US is being manipulated by right-wing politicians with the connivance of several voting machine manufacturers. The story revolves around some highly volatile conjectures and might be explosive, if fully investigated.
The article is reprinted below with permission, lightly edited merely for formatting, minor typos and a minor fact (G.W. Bush isn't a Jr.).
Here at the INQUIRER, we can't help but notice that the highly, er... accommodating database software that drives these allegedly dodgy and easily tampered electronic voting machines is... Microsoft Access.
And we're trying to decide on a catchy term that ends in "gate".µ
CHECHENYA
BBC: Poisoned Chechen leader 'better'
Acting Chechen leader Anatoly Popov says he is feeling better after an apparent weekend poisoning incident.
He was flown to Moscow from Chechnya on Sunday after doctors said he had been fed an unknown toxin.
Tests are under way to determine whether it was an attempt to kill him, or just a case of food poisoning.
The incident comes a week before elections in the troubled Russian republic.
The pro-Moscow Mr Popov is not a candidate
The Kremlin-backed candidate, Akhmad Kadyrov, is widely expected to win the presidential poll since all the other major candidates have either been barred or have withdrawn from the race.
BBC: Poisoned Chechen leader 'better'
Acting Chechen leader Anatoly Popov says he is feeling better after an apparent weekend poisoning incident.
He was flown to Moscow from Chechnya on Sunday after doctors said he had been fed an unknown toxin.
Tests are under way to determine whether it was an attempt to kill him, or just a case of food poisoning.
The incident comes a week before elections in the troubled Russian republic.
The pro-Moscow Mr Popov is not a candidate
The Kremlin-backed candidate, Akhmad Kadyrov, is widely expected to win the presidential poll since all the other major candidates have either been barred or have withdrawn from the race.
USA
SF Gate: Patriot laws used against non-terrorists
Bush administration going after white-collar crime, pornographers
Washington -- The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism.
The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.
Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals -- terrorists or otherwise. But critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics assert that such use of the law is evidence the administration has sold the American public a false bill of goods, using terrorism as a guise to pursue a broader law enforcement agenda.
SF Gate: Patriot laws used against non-terrorists
Bush administration going after white-collar crime, pornographers
Washington -- The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism.
The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.
Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals -- terrorists or otherwise. But critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics assert that such use of the law is evidence the administration has sold the American public a false bill of goods, using terrorism as a guise to pursue a broader law enforcement agenda.
WAR ON TERROR
Al-Jazeera: Al-Qaida tape urges Musharraf's removal
Aljazeera has aired an audiotape of Usama bin Ladin's spokesman calling on Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf.
Ayman al-Zawahiri said Musharraf helped the United States to topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the October 2001 invasion - support that killed thousands of innocents in the war-torn country.
During the broadcast on Sunday, the al-Qaida spokesman also claimed the Pakistani president was seeking to recognise Israel and send troops to Iraq in an attempt to gain full American approval.
"Musharraf ... is seeking to send Pakistani forces to Iraq so that they, rather than American soldiers, are killed and so that they kill Muslims in Iraq and enable America to control Muslim lands."
Al-Jazeera: Al-Qaida tape urges Musharraf's removal
Aljazeera has aired an audiotape of Usama bin Ladin's spokesman calling on Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf.
Ayman al-Zawahiri said Musharraf helped the United States to topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the October 2001 invasion - support that killed thousands of innocents in the war-torn country.
During the broadcast on Sunday, the al-Qaida spokesman also claimed the Pakistani president was seeking to recognise Israel and send troops to Iraq in an attempt to gain full American approval.
"Musharraf ... is seeking to send Pakistani forces to Iraq so that they, rather than American soldiers, are killed and so that they kill Muslims in Iraq and enable America to control Muslim lands."
IRAQ
Scotsman: Civilian death toll prompts tension in Fallujah
WITH the ease of a man now used to the spotlight, Ahmed Khalaf guided yet another TV crew round the missile craters in his dead brother Ali’s backyard. Shaking his head in bewilderment, he told how a potshot at suspected sheep rustlers in the middle of the night drew a terrible response.
"American soldiers came to the village one night last week, for no reason we know," he said. "We get thieves round here, so we called out in the dark, ‘Who is there?’ There was no answer, so we fired a few warning shots.
"The next thing, we were shot at, and then two F-16 jets came along and fired missiles into my brother’s home. Can you believe it?" he asked.
In last week’s clash in the farming village of al-Sajr, three adults died and two children were seriously injured, one of whom may now be paralysed.
Scotsman: Civilian death toll prompts tension in Fallujah
WITH the ease of a man now used to the spotlight, Ahmed Khalaf guided yet another TV crew round the missile craters in his dead brother Ali’s backyard. Shaking his head in bewilderment, he told how a potshot at suspected sheep rustlers in the middle of the night drew a terrible response.
"American soldiers came to the village one night last week, for no reason we know," he said. "We get thieves round here, so we called out in the dark, ‘Who is there?’ There was no answer, so we fired a few warning shots.
"The next thing, we were shot at, and then two F-16 jets came along and fired missiles into my brother’s home. Can you believe it?" he asked.
In last week’s clash in the farming village of al-Sajr, three adults died and two children were seriously injured, one of whom may now be paralysed.
ISRAEL
Avnery: The Magnificent 27 by Uri Avreny
A year and a half ago, a small group of Israelis decided to break a deeply entrenched taboo and bring up the subject of war crimes. Until then, it was self-evident that the IDF is "the most moral and humane army in the world", as the official mantra goes, and is therefore quite incapable of such things.
The Gush Shalom movement (to which I belong) called a public meeting in Tel-Aviv and invited a group of professors and public figures to discuss whether our army is committing such crimes. The star of the evening was Col. Yig'al Shohat, a war hero shot down over Egypt in the Yom Kippur war. His damaged leg had to be amputated by an Egyptian surgeon. Upon his return, he studied medicine and became a doctor himself.
In a voice trembling with emotion, he read out a personal appeal to his comrades, the Air Force pilots, calling on them to refuse orders over which "the black flag of illegality is waving" (a phrase coined by the military judge at the Kafr Kassem massacre trial in 1957). For example, orders to drop bombs on Palestinian residential neighborhoods for "targeted liquidations".
The speech aroused a strong echo, but the army command succeeded in "damage control". The Air Force commander, General Dan Halutz, perhaps the most extremist IDF officer except Chief-of-Staff Moshe Ya'alon, was asked what he feels when he releases a bomb over a Palestinian neighborhood and answered: "I feel a slight bump." He added that after such an attack he "sleeps very well."
CHECK IT
Avnery: The Magnificent 27 by Uri Avreny
A year and a half ago, a small group of Israelis decided to break a deeply entrenched taboo and bring up the subject of war crimes. Until then, it was self-evident that the IDF is "the most moral and humane army in the world", as the official mantra goes, and is therefore quite incapable of such things.
The Gush Shalom movement (to which I belong) called a public meeting in Tel-Aviv and invited a group of professors and public figures to discuss whether our army is committing such crimes. The star of the evening was Col. Yig'al Shohat, a war hero shot down over Egypt in the Yom Kippur war. His damaged leg had to be amputated by an Egyptian surgeon. Upon his return, he studied medicine and became a doctor himself.
In a voice trembling with emotion, he read out a personal appeal to his comrades, the Air Force pilots, calling on them to refuse orders over which "the black flag of illegality is waving" (a phrase coined by the military judge at the Kafr Kassem massacre trial in 1957). For example, orders to drop bombs on Palestinian residential neighborhoods for "targeted liquidations".
The speech aroused a strong echo, but the army command succeeded in "damage control". The Air Force commander, General Dan Halutz, perhaps the most extremist IDF officer except Chief-of-Staff Moshe Ya'alon, was asked what he feels when he releases a bomb over a Palestinian neighborhood and answered: "I feel a slight bump." He added that after such an attack he "sleeps very well."
CHECK IT
ITALY: BLACKOUT
BBC: Italians probe massive blackout
Italian prosecutors have launched an inquiry after the worst blackout in the country's history left more than 50 million people without power.
Several areas in Italy were waiting for supplies to be restored early on Monday.
As debate raged over what went wrong, the Rome prosecutor's office said its inquiry would try to establish who was responsible.
Officials were warning of "programmed" cuts on Monday to avoid overloads.
POWER CUTS
August 14 - US and Canada
August 28 - London, UK
September 23 - Denmark, Sweden
September 28 - whole of Italy
BBC: Italians probe massive blackout
Italian prosecutors have launched an inquiry after the worst blackout in the country's history left more than 50 million people without power.
Several areas in Italy were waiting for supplies to be restored early on Monday.
As debate raged over what went wrong, the Rome prosecutor's office said its inquiry would try to establish who was responsible.
Officials were warning of "programmed" cuts on Monday to avoid overloads.
POWER CUTS
August 14 - US and Canada
August 28 - London, UK
September 23 - Denmark, Sweden
September 28 - whole of Italy
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Haaretz: Three Lies About the 'Separation Fence'
The morning after the horrific suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, Finance Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu was asked on the radio whether this was the right time to cut the defense budget.
Netanyahu reiterated his promise that the funds earmarked for what is known as the separation
fence will not be reduced and will even be pumped in faster to accelerate its construction. This
will be done in order to guarantee the security of Israeli civilians. It never occurred to the radio
host to ask whether the fence would, indeed, guarantee security. As in other areas, the
escalating violence and heated emotions rule out any alternative views
One of the most dramatic geo-political changes in the
history of the region is taking place at record speed and
without any public debate. Before it becomes too late, we
must take time out to look through the veil of lies about
the fence.
CHECK IT
Haaretz: Three Lies About the 'Separation Fence'
The morning after the horrific suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, Finance Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu was asked on the radio whether this was the right time to cut the defense budget.
Netanyahu reiterated his promise that the funds earmarked for what is known as the separation
fence will not be reduced and will even be pumped in faster to accelerate its construction. This
will be done in order to guarantee the security of Israeli civilians. It never occurred to the radio
host to ask whether the fence would, indeed, guarantee security. As in other areas, the
escalating violence and heated emotions rule out any alternative views
One of the most dramatic geo-political changes in the
history of the region is taking place at record speed and
without any public debate. Before it becomes too late, we
must take time out to look through the veil of lies about
the fence.
CHECK IT
IRAQI WMD
Wahington Post: House Probers Conclude Iraq War Data Was Weak
Leaders of the House intelligence committee have criticized the U.S. intelligence community for using largely outdated, "circumstantial" and "fragmentary" information with "too many uncertainties" to conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda.
Top members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which spent four months combing through 19 volumes of classified material used by the Bush administration to make its case for the war on Iraq, found "significant deficiencies" in the community's ability to collect fresh intelligence on Iraq, and said it had to rely on "past assessments" dating to when U.N. inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and on "some new 'piecemeal' intelligence," both of which "were not challenged as a routine matter."
Wahington Post: House Probers Conclude Iraq War Data Was Weak
Leaders of the House intelligence committee have criticized the U.S. intelligence community for using largely outdated, "circumstantial" and "fragmentary" information with "too many uncertainties" to conclude that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda.
Top members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which spent four months combing through 19 volumes of classified material used by the Bush administration to make its case for the war on Iraq, found "significant deficiencies" in the community's ability to collect fresh intelligence on Iraq, and said it had to rely on "past assessments" dating to when U.N. inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and on "some new 'piecemeal' intelligence," both of which "were not challenged as a routine matter."
Friday, September 19, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ZMAG: A Disaster Foretold by Uri Avnery
So now it is official: the government of Israel has decided to assassinate Yasser Arafat.
Not any more to "exile". Not any more to "expel or kill". Simply to "remove".
Of course, the intention is not to remove him to another country. Nobody seriously believes that Yasser Arafat will raise his hands and allow himself to be marched off. He and his men will be killed "during the exchange of fire". This would not be the first time.
Even if it was possible to expel Arafat to another country, nobody in the Israeli leadership would dream of doing so. How come? Allow him to make the rounds of Putin, Schroeder and Chirac? God forbid. So the plan is to remove him to the next world.
Not immediately. The Americans forbid it. It may make Bush angry. Sharon does not want to annoy Bush.
Some people comfort themselves with the thought that this is just an empty resolution. It is supposed to be implemented at a time and in a way yet to be decided. But this is wishful thinking, a dangerous comfort. The decision legitimizing his assassination is by itself a far-reaching political act. It is intended to get the Israeli and international public used to the idea. What used to sound like a crazy plot by extreme fanatics now has the air of a legitimate political process, with only the time and mode of implementation still open.
Anyone familiar with Ariel Sharon can see how things will develop from now on. He will wait for his opportunity. It may come any minute, or after a week, a month, a year. He is patient. When he decides to do something, he is ready to wait, but he won't deviate from his goal.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
ZMAG: A Disaster Foretold by Uri Avnery
So now it is official: the government of Israel has decided to assassinate Yasser Arafat.
Not any more to "exile". Not any more to "expel or kill". Simply to "remove".
Of course, the intention is not to remove him to another country. Nobody seriously believes that Yasser Arafat will raise his hands and allow himself to be marched off. He and his men will be killed "during the exchange of fire". This would not be the first time.
Even if it was possible to expel Arafat to another country, nobody in the Israeli leadership would dream of doing so. How come? Allow him to make the rounds of Putin, Schroeder and Chirac? God forbid. So the plan is to remove him to the next world.
Not immediately. The Americans forbid it. It may make Bush angry. Sharon does not want to annoy Bush.
Some people comfort themselves with the thought that this is just an empty resolution. It is supposed to be implemented at a time and in a way yet to be decided. But this is wishful thinking, a dangerous comfort. The decision legitimizing his assassination is by itself a far-reaching political act. It is intended to get the Israeli and international public used to the idea. What used to sound like a crazy plot by extreme fanatics now has the air of a legitimate political process, with only the time and mode of implementation still open.
Anyone familiar with Ariel Sharon can see how things will develop from now on. He will wait for his opportunity. It may come any minute, or after a week, a month, a year. He is patient. When he decides to do something, he is ready to wait, but he won't deviate from his goal.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Democracynow: Robert Fisk on Wesley Clark & Iraq: “What is Happening Is An Absolute Slaughter Every Night of Iraqi People”
Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent. Speaking from Baghdad.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: Well, John Hlinko, we have just reached Robert Fisk in Baghdad. We want to thank you for being with us, cofounder of the DraftWesleyClark.com campaign. Zoltan Grossman, thanks for being with us from the University of Wisconsin.
We're going not to the break right now, which we usually do, but because we have Robert Fisk on his satellite phone at this moment. we want to go directly to him.
Robert Fisk, we'll get your comment at the beginning, hearing that Wesley Clark is now running for president as the antiwar warrior. Then we'd like to get your observations of what's happening right now on the ground in Iraq.
ROBERT FISK: I have to say first of all about General Clark, that I was on the ground in Serbia in Kosovo when he ran the war there. He didn't seem to be very antiwar at the time. I had as one of my tasks to go out over and over again to look at the civilian casualties of that have war.
"CHECK IT"
Democracynow: Robert Fisk on Wesley Clark & Iraq: “What is Happening Is An Absolute Slaughter Every Night of Iraqi People”
Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent. Speaking from Baghdad.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: Well, John Hlinko, we have just reached Robert Fisk in Baghdad. We want to thank you for being with us, cofounder of the DraftWesleyClark.com campaign. Zoltan Grossman, thanks for being with us from the University of Wisconsin.
We're going not to the break right now, which we usually do, but because we have Robert Fisk on his satellite phone at this moment. we want to go directly to him.
Robert Fisk, we'll get your comment at the beginning, hearing that Wesley Clark is now running for president as the antiwar warrior. Then we'd like to get your observations of what's happening right now on the ground in Iraq.
ROBERT FISK: I have to say first of all about General Clark, that I was on the ground in Serbia in Kosovo when he ran the war there. He didn't seem to be very antiwar at the time. I had as one of my tasks to go out over and over again to look at the civilian casualties of that have war.
"CHECK IT"
AFGHANISTAN
Rense:
Taliban Claim Capture Of Four US Troops
PESHAWAR -- Pakistani as well as the Taliban sources on Wednesday claimed that four US soldiers had been captured by the pro-Taliban elements in Paktia province of Afghanistan on Tuesday night in an attack on a convoy in the mountainous region.
"Our fighters have captured at least four American soldiers in Birmal area of Paktia province on Tuesday night," claimed a pro-Taliban source asking not to be named. Birmal district shares borders with two tribal agencies of Pakistan, North and South Waziristan agencies.
The claim was also backed by tribal sources, living on the Pakistan side of the Pak-Afghan border, saying that the capture of the Americans was talk of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. However, no official confirmation of the arrest of the soldiers has been made by the US so far.
Rense:
Taliban Claim Capture Of Four US Troops
PESHAWAR -- Pakistani as well as the Taliban sources on Wednesday claimed that four US soldiers had been captured by the pro-Taliban elements in Paktia province of Afghanistan on Tuesday night in an attack on a convoy in the mountainous region.
"Our fighters have captured at least four American soldiers in Birmal area of Paktia province on Tuesday night," claimed a pro-Taliban source asking not to be named. Birmal district shares borders with two tribal agencies of Pakistan, North and South Waziristan agencies.
The claim was also backed by tribal sources, living on the Pakistan side of the Pak-Afghan border, saying that the capture of the Americans was talk of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. However, no official confirmation of the arrest of the soldiers has been made by the US so far.
SAUDI ARABIA
AFP: Saudis Now Deny Plans
To Acquire Nukes
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia overnight strongly denied a report in a British newspaper that it was considering acquiring nuclear weapons.
"Reports that Saudi Arabia is considering acquiring nuclear weapons are baseless and totally false," the Saudi embassy in Washington said in a statement.
The Guardian, a left-wing British daily, reported overnight that Saudi Arabia has embarked on a strategic review that includes considering whether to acquire nuclear weapons. It said the move came in response to political tensions in the Middle East.
AFP: Saudis Now Deny Plans
To Acquire Nukes
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia overnight strongly denied a report in a British newspaper that it was considering acquiring nuclear weapons.
"Reports that Saudi Arabia is considering acquiring nuclear weapons are baseless and totally false," the Saudi embassy in Washington said in a statement.
The Guardian, a left-wing British daily, reported overnight that Saudi Arabia has embarked on a strategic review that includes considering whether to acquire nuclear weapons. It said the move came in response to political tensions in the Middle East.
IRAQ
AFP: US Troops Fire On Press Vehicle
KHALDIYAH, Iraq (AFP) -- US soldiers today fired on a car belonging to the American news agency Associated Press, an Agence France-Presse reporter at the scene said.
The AFP correspondent said AP reporters were trying to film an ambushed convoy in the town west of Baghdad when they were fired on, despite having AP clearly marked on their car.
Neither the two reporters nor the driver, all Iraqis, were hurt when the Americans opened fire in the area where witnesses said US forces suffered heavy casualties in a bomb and rocket-propelled grenade attack.
"The Americans opened fire when I took out my camera to film" a military vehicle on fire, said one of the AP journalists, Karim al-Ubeidi.
"The mention of AP was clearly visible on the car but they opened fire nevertheless," he said.
The Associated Press had earlier reported that US troops were ambushed on the main road of Khaldiyah, hit by a remote-controlled roadside bomb and then coming under heavy gunfire that destroyed at least two trucks.
An AP driver saw a 20-year-old man, still alive after being shot in the chest, placed in a taxi.
AFP: US Troops Fire On Press Vehicle
KHALDIYAH, Iraq (AFP) -- US soldiers today fired on a car belonging to the American news agency Associated Press, an Agence France-Presse reporter at the scene said.
The AFP correspondent said AP reporters were trying to film an ambushed convoy in the town west of Baghdad when they were fired on, despite having AP clearly marked on their car.
Neither the two reporters nor the driver, all Iraqis, were hurt when the Americans opened fire in the area where witnesses said US forces suffered heavy casualties in a bomb and rocket-propelled grenade attack.
"The Americans opened fire when I took out my camera to film" a military vehicle on fire, said one of the AP journalists, Karim al-Ubeidi.
"The mention of AP was clearly visible on the car but they opened fire nevertheless," he said.
The Associated Press had earlier reported that US troops were ambushed on the main road of Khaldiyah, hit by a remote-controlled roadside bomb and then coming under heavy gunfire that destroyed at least two trucks.
An AP driver saw a 20-year-old man, still alive after being shot in the chest, placed in a taxi.
IRAQ
Guardian: We Are Facing Death In
Iraq For No Reason
A Serving US Soldier Calls For The End Of An Occupation Based On Lies
For the past six months, I have been participating in what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After the horrific events of September 11 2001, and throughout the battle in Afghanistan, the groundwork was being laid for the invasion of Iraq. "Shock and awe" were the words used to describe the display of power that the world was going to view upon the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was to be an up-close, dramatic display of military strength and advanced technology from within the arsenals of the American and British military.
But as a soldier preparing to take part in the invasion of Iraq, the words "shock and awe" rang deep within my psyche. Even as we prepared to depart, it seemed that these two great superpowers were about to break the very rules that they demanded others obey. Without the consent of the United Nations, and ignoring the pleas of their own citizens, the US and Britain invaded Iraq. "Shock and awe"? Yes, the words correctly described the emotional impact I felt as we embarked on an act not of justice, but of hypocrisy.
"CHECK IT"
Guardian: We Are Facing Death In
Iraq For No Reason
A Serving US Soldier Calls For The End Of An Occupation Based On Lies
For the past six months, I have been participating in what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After the horrific events of September 11 2001, and throughout the battle in Afghanistan, the groundwork was being laid for the invasion of Iraq. "Shock and awe" were the words used to describe the display of power that the world was going to view upon the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was to be an up-close, dramatic display of military strength and advanced technology from within the arsenals of the American and British military.
But as a soldier preparing to take part in the invasion of Iraq, the words "shock and awe" rang deep within my psyche. Even as we prepared to depart, it seemed that these two great superpowers were about to break the very rules that they demanded others obey. Without the consent of the United Nations, and ignoring the pleas of their own citizens, the US and Britain invaded Iraq. "Shock and awe"? Yes, the words correctly described the emotional impact I felt as we embarked on an act not of justice, but of hypocrisy.
"CHECK IT"
FINANCE
Guardian: US Dollar 'Could Collapse
At Any Moment'
The International Monetary Fund yesterday warned that the colossal United States trade deficit was a noose around the neck of the economy, emphasising that the once mighty dollar could collapse at any moment.
Arguing that the world's big economies were already too dependent on the willingness of American consumers to live beyond their means, the IMF said the US could not continue to run a current account deficit of 5% of GDP.
The IMF's chief economist Kenneth Rogoff said that it was just a matter of time before the gap closed, tipping the dollar into a potentially steep fall.
"If we were looking at a poor developing country, the world gives them just enough rope to hang themselves. A country like the United States, they give them enough rope to tie the noose around their neck several times. But it does happen in the end," he said.
Guardian: US Dollar 'Could Collapse
At Any Moment'
The International Monetary Fund yesterday warned that the colossal United States trade deficit was a noose around the neck of the economy, emphasising that the once mighty dollar could collapse at any moment.
Arguing that the world's big economies were already too dependent on the willingness of American consumers to live beyond their means, the IMF said the US could not continue to run a current account deficit of 5% of GDP.
The IMF's chief economist Kenneth Rogoff said that it was just a matter of time before the gap closed, tipping the dollar into a potentially steep fall.
"If we were looking at a poor developing country, the world gives them just enough rope to hang themselves. A country like the United States, they give them enough rope to tie the noose around their neck several times. But it does happen in the end," he said.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
INTERNET
Spiegel:
Zurück in die Web-Steinzeit
Wie sich Softwarepatente auswirken, führt derzeit der Fall Eolas gegen Microsoft vor: Ein Patent aus dem Jahr 1994 droht das Web zu verändern. Plug-ins und Programme wie Flash, Real-Filme, ActiveX oder Java könnten bald aus Browsern verschwinden.
Spiegel:
Zurück in die Web-Steinzeit
Wie sich Softwarepatente auswirken, führt derzeit der Fall Eolas gegen Microsoft vor: Ein Patent aus dem Jahr 1994 droht das Web zu verändern. Plug-ins und Programme wie Flash, Real-Filme, ActiveX oder Java könnten bald aus Browsern verschwinden.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Reuters: Bush Mideast Peace Drive 'Stalled' Due to Arafat
CAMP DAVID, Md. (Reuters) - President Bush said on Thursday his Middle East peace plan was now "stalled" due to what he said was the failed leadership of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
"Mr. Arafat has failed as a leader," Bush said at a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah. He said Arafat had undermined former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to fight terror.
"His efforts were undermined and that's why we're now stalled," Bush said at the presidential retreat outside Washington.
He said he was still committed to his proposed peace "road map" and hoped for a Palestinian leadership fully committed to fighting terror.
"Auf was für einem Planeten lebt Bush? Ist er immer noch auf Kokain und Alkohol? Der Typ gehoert in eine Anstalt. Der ganze "ich bringe Frieden in den Nahen Osten PR-Move" ist gescheitert weil es Herr Praesident nicht fertig bringt Druck auf Israel auszuueben. Weil er Angst hat, dass ihm danach die Zionisten-Lobby in Washington die Liebe entzieht und sich im Wahlkampf gegen ihn stellt."
Reuters: Bush Mideast Peace Drive 'Stalled' Due to Arafat
CAMP DAVID, Md. (Reuters) - President Bush said on Thursday his Middle East peace plan was now "stalled" due to what he said was the failed leadership of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
"Mr. Arafat has failed as a leader," Bush said at a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah. He said Arafat had undermined former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to fight terror.
"His efforts were undermined and that's why we're now stalled," Bush said at the presidential retreat outside Washington.
He said he was still committed to his proposed peace "road map" and hoped for a Palestinian leadership fully committed to fighting terror.
"Auf was für einem Planeten lebt Bush? Ist er immer noch auf Kokain und Alkohol? Der Typ gehoert in eine Anstalt. Der ganze "ich bringe Frieden in den Nahen Osten PR-Move" ist gescheitert weil es Herr Praesident nicht fertig bringt Druck auf Israel auszuueben. Weil er Angst hat, dass ihm danach die Zionisten-Lobby in Washington die Liebe entzieht und sich im Wahlkampf gegen ihn stellt."
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Angriff auf US-Soldaten - mindestens acht Tote
Schon wieder sind US-Soldaten im Irak angegriffen worden. Nördlich von Bagdad wurden mindestens acht Mitglieder einer amerikanischen Patrouille getötet und mehrere verletzt
Spiegel: Angriff auf US-Soldaten - mindestens acht Tote
Schon wieder sind US-Soldaten im Irak angegriffen worden. Nördlich von Bagdad wurden mindestens acht Mitglieder einer amerikanischen Patrouille getötet und mehrere verletzt
IRAQ
New Zealand Herald: Saddam's old terror cells fail squeaky-clean test despite US facelift by Robert Fisk
ABU GHRAIB PRISON - We could see them beyond the dirt yard, standing in the heat beside their sand-brown tents, the razor wire wrapped in sheaths around their compound.
No pictures of the prisoners, we were told. Do not enter the compound. Do not go inside the wire.
Of the up to 800 Iraqis held in Abu Ghraib Prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad, only a handful are "security detainees" - the rest are "criminal detainees" - but until now almost all of them have lived out here in the heat and dust and muck.
Which is why the Americans were so pleased to see us at Saddam Hussein's vile old jail yesterday: things are getting better.
So first, the good news. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, commander of the US 800th Military Police Brigade, has cleaned up the burned and looted cells for hundreds of prisoners.
New Zealand Herald: Saddam's old terror cells fail squeaky-clean test despite US facelift by Robert Fisk
ABU GHRAIB PRISON - We could see them beyond the dirt yard, standing in the heat beside their sand-brown tents, the razor wire wrapped in sheaths around their compound.
No pictures of the prisoners, we were told. Do not enter the compound. Do not go inside the wire.
Of the up to 800 Iraqis held in Abu Ghraib Prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad, only a handful are "security detainees" - the rest are "criminal detainees" - but until now almost all of them have lived out here in the heat and dust and muck.
Which is why the Americans were so pleased to see us at Saddam Hussein's vile old jail yesterday: things are getting better.
So first, the good news. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, commander of the US 800th Military Police Brigade, has cleaned up the burned and looted cells for hundreds of prisoners.
ISRAEL
Joevialls: Arab Strike Jets Ready to Attack Israel
Saudi Arabia and Syria Checkmate Zionist Oil Grab
When the planning for Operation Shekhinah was finalized in 2001, its objective was simply to steal Iraq’s oil and pipe it to Haifa in Israel. At a single stroke, the largest oil supplies in the world would come under direct Zionist control, permanently shifting the balance of power in the Middle East. Well, that was the academic American-Israeli strategic plan, but it was all based on an impossible fantasy. Nowadays that impossible academic fantasy is coming unhinged, in turn seriously threatening the very survival of the Jewish State and possibly America as well. You see, while Americans have been worrying about their countrymen being cut down on a daily basis in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria have quietly relocated their primary strike aircraft within easy attack range of Israel, meaning the end game is fast approaching. To find out why Israel is now facing more than 400 state-of-the-art Mach 2 strike aircraft based less than ten minutes away from Tel Aviv, we need to take a quick look at the mind boggling miscalculations made by the Zionists in New York, and by their subordinates in Washington and Tel Aviv. How is it even remotely possible that the Zionists might lose the “Jewish State” altogether, especially bearing in mind their subtle but undeniable day-to-day control of the massive American military machine?
Joevialls: Arab Strike Jets Ready to Attack Israel
Saudi Arabia and Syria Checkmate Zionist Oil Grab
When the planning for Operation Shekhinah was finalized in 2001, its objective was simply to steal Iraq’s oil and pipe it to Haifa in Israel. At a single stroke, the largest oil supplies in the world would come under direct Zionist control, permanently shifting the balance of power in the Middle East. Well, that was the academic American-Israeli strategic plan, but it was all based on an impossible fantasy. Nowadays that impossible academic fantasy is coming unhinged, in turn seriously threatening the very survival of the Jewish State and possibly America as well. You see, while Americans have been worrying about their countrymen being cut down on a daily basis in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria have quietly relocated their primary strike aircraft within easy attack range of Israel, meaning the end game is fast approaching. To find out why Israel is now facing more than 400 state-of-the-art Mach 2 strike aircraft based less than ten minutes away from Tel Aviv, we need to take a quick look at the mind boggling miscalculations made by the Zionists in New York, and by their subordinates in Washington and Tel Aviv. How is it even remotely possible that the Zionists might lose the “Jewish State” altogether, especially bearing in mind their subtle but undeniable day-to-day control of the massive American military machine?
SAUDI ARABIA
Spiegel: Saudis erwägen Anschaffung von Atombomben
Vor dem 11. September hatten sich die Saudis als enge Verbündete der Amerikaner sicher gefühlt. Doch seit US-Fahnder sie als Finanziers des internationalen Terrors verdächtigen, hat sich das Verhältnis abgekühlt. Nun suchen sie nach neuen Sicherheitskonzepten. Der Nahe Osten droht zum atomaren Pulverfass zu werden
Guardian: Saudis consider nuclear bomb
Saudi Arabia, in response to the current upheaval in the Middle East, has embarked on a strategic review that includes acquiring nuclear weapons, the Guardian has learned.
This new threat of proliferation in one of the most dangerous regions of the world comes on top of a crisis over Iran's alleged nuclear programme.
A strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh sets out three options:
· To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent;
· To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection;
· To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.
Spiegel: Saudis erwägen Anschaffung von Atombomben
Vor dem 11. September hatten sich die Saudis als enge Verbündete der Amerikaner sicher gefühlt. Doch seit US-Fahnder sie als Finanziers des internationalen Terrors verdächtigen, hat sich das Verhältnis abgekühlt. Nun suchen sie nach neuen Sicherheitskonzepten. Der Nahe Osten droht zum atomaren Pulverfass zu werden
Guardian: Saudis consider nuclear bomb
Saudi Arabia, in response to the current upheaval in the Middle East, has embarked on a strategic review that includes acquiring nuclear weapons, the Guardian has learned.
This new threat of proliferation in one of the most dangerous regions of the world comes on top of a crisis over Iran's alleged nuclear programme.
A strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh sets out three options:
· To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent;
· To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection;
· To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.
WAR ON IRAK
Spiegel: Der große Bluff
Vor knapp sechs Monaten griffen die USA den Irak an, deklariert als Feldzug gegen den Terror, gestützt auf "Fakten und Beweise". Doch heute zeigt sich ein anderes Bild: Eine Melange aus Halbwahrheiten, Märchen und Lügen bereitete den Weg nach Bagdad. SPIEGEL ONLINE dokumentiert zehn Fälle schwarzer Propaganda, die den Krieg rechtfertigen sollten.
Klicken Sie auf die Bilder, lesen Sie, wie leichtfertig die Politiker die Welt in die Irre führten:....
Spiegel: Der große Bluff
Vor knapp sechs Monaten griffen die USA den Irak an, deklariert als Feldzug gegen den Terror, gestützt auf "Fakten und Beweise". Doch heute zeigt sich ein anderes Bild: Eine Melange aus Halbwahrheiten, Märchen und Lügen bereitete den Weg nach Bagdad. SPIEGEL ONLINE dokumentiert zehn Fälle schwarzer Propaganda, die den Krieg rechtfertigen sollten.
Klicken Sie auf die Bilder, lesen Sie, wie leichtfertig die Politiker die Welt in die Irre führten:....
USA VS. FRANCE
NY Times OP/ED: Our War With France by Thomas L. Friedman
It's time we Americans came to terms with something: France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy.
If you add up how France behaved in the run-up to the Iraq war (making it impossible for the Security Council to put a real ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that might have avoided a war) ??????????????, and if you look at how France behaved during the war (when its foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused to answer the question of whether he wanted Saddam or America to win in Iraq), and if you watch how France is behaving today (demanding some kind of loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty to some kind of hastily thrown together Iraqi provisional government, with the rest of Iraq's transition to democracy to be overseen more by a divided U.N. than by America), then there is only one conclusion one can draw: France wants America to fail in Iraq.
But then France has never been interested in promoting democracy in the modern Arab world, which is why its pose as the new protector of Iraqi representative government — after being so content with Saddam's one-man rule — is so patently cynical. (Aber Amerikkka wollte im Fall schon immer einen Demokratischen Nahen Osten...ironie)
"Friedman ist ein Revisionist und schreibt mal schnell die Geschichte der letzten paar Monate um"
NY Times OP/ED: Our War With France by Thomas L. Friedman
It's time we Americans came to terms with something: France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy.
If you add up how France behaved in the run-up to the Iraq war (making it impossible for the Security Council to put a real ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that might have avoided a war) ??????????????, and if you look at how France behaved during the war (when its foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused to answer the question of whether he wanted Saddam or America to win in Iraq), and if you watch how France is behaving today (demanding some kind of loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty to some kind of hastily thrown together Iraqi provisional government, with the rest of Iraq's transition to democracy to be overseen more by a divided U.N. than by America), then there is only one conclusion one can draw: France wants America to fail in Iraq.
But then France has never been interested in promoting democracy in the modern Arab world, which is why its pose as the new protector of Iraqi representative government — after being so content with Saddam's one-man rule — is so patently cynical. (Aber Amerikkka wollte im Fall schon immer einen Demokratischen Nahen Osten...ironie)
"Friedman ist ein Revisionist und schreibt mal schnell die Geschichte der letzten paar Monate um"
USA
Informationclearinghouse: 30 Years Of U.S. UN Vetoes
How the U.S. has Voted // Vetoed- See any bias - See any pattern ?
1972-2002 Vetoes from the USA
---
Year -----Resolution Vetoed by the USA
1972 Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids.
1973 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.
1976 Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians.
1976 Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories.
1976 Calls for self determination for the Palestinians.
1976 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians.
1978 Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security.
1978 Criticises the living conditions of the Palestinians.
1978 Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories.
1978 Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries.
1979 Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa.
1979 Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa.
1979 Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement.
1979 Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race.
1979 Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel.
1979 Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations.
1979 Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries.
1979 Offers assistance to the Palestinian people.
1979 Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories.
1979 Calls for protection of developing counties' exports.
1979 Calls for alternative approaches within the United Nations system for improving the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
1979 Opposes support for intervention in the internal or external affairs of states.
1979 For a United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 To include Palestinian women in the United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 Safeguards rights of developing countries in multinational trade negotiations.
1980 Requests Israel to return displaced persons.
1980 Condemns Israeli policy regarding the living conditions of the Palestinian people.
1980 Condemns Israeli human rights practices in occupied territories. 3 resolutions.
1980 Afirms the right of self determination for the Palestinians.
1980 Offers assistance to the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement.
1980 Attempts to establish a New International Economic Order to promote the growth of underdeveloped countries and international economic co-operation.
1980 Endorses the Program of Action for Second Half of United Nations Decade for Women.
............
Informationclearinghouse: 30 Years Of U.S. UN Vetoes
How the U.S. has Voted // Vetoed- See any bias - See any pattern ?
1972-2002 Vetoes from the USA
---
Year -----Resolution Vetoed by the USA
1972 Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids.
1973 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.
1976 Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians.
1976 Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories.
1976 Calls for self determination for the Palestinians.
1976 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians.
1978 Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security.
1978 Criticises the living conditions of the Palestinians.
1978 Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories.
1978 Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries.
1979 Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa.
1979 Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa.
1979 Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement.
1979 Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race.
1979 Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel.
1979 Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations.
1979 Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries.
1979 Offers assistance to the Palestinian people.
1979 Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories.
1979 Calls for protection of developing counties' exports.
1979 Calls for alternative approaches within the United Nations system for improving the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
1979 Opposes support for intervention in the internal or external affairs of states.
1979 For a United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 To include Palestinian women in the United Nations Conference on Women.
1979 Safeguards rights of developing countries in multinational trade negotiations.
1980 Requests Israel to return displaced persons.
1980 Condemns Israeli policy regarding the living conditions of the Palestinian people.
1980 Condemns Israeli human rights practices in occupied territories. 3 resolutions.
1980 Afirms the right of self determination for the Palestinians.
1980 Offers assistance to the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement.
1980 Attempts to establish a New International Economic Order to promote the growth of underdeveloped countries and international economic co-operation.
1980 Endorses the Program of Action for Second Half of United Nations Decade for Women.
............
WAR ON TERROR
Bush's Big Blunder
On Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by a single organization, al-Qaida, headed by Osama bin Laden.
We had not been attacked by North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Colombian guerrillas, Philippine guerrillas, the Taliban, Indonesian guerrillas, Muslims in general or anybody else. Just that one organization, al-Qaida, hit us.
Once that was ascertained, President George Bush should have told the American people that we were going to track down the members of that organization and kill them. I believe that was his original intention.
But a cabal of neoconservatives who had long had a plan to make the world safe for Israel and to turn America into an empire hijacked the president's mind, and instead of going after al-Qaida, the president declared war on all of the above. This was the president's big blunder.
Bush's Big Blunder
On Sept. 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by a single organization, al-Qaida, headed by Osama bin Laden.
We had not been attacked by North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Colombian guerrillas, Philippine guerrillas, the Taliban, Indonesian guerrillas, Muslims in general or anybody else. Just that one organization, al-Qaida, hit us.
Once that was ascertained, President George Bush should have told the American people that we were going to track down the members of that organization and kill them. I believe that was his original intention.
But a cabal of neoconservatives who had long had a plan to make the world safe for Israel and to turn America into an empire hijacked the president's mind, and instead of going after al-Qaida, the president declared war on all of the above. This was the president's big blunder.
IRAQ
Washington Post: Powell Says Gas Attack On Kurds Justified War
HALABJA, Iraq, Sept. 15 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell asserted today that a 1988 poison gas attack that killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds in this farming town nestled in Iraq's barren northern mountains was ample evidence that former president Saddam Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction and justified the U.S. decision to go to war
If you want evidence of the existence and the use of weapons of mass destruction, come here now to Halabja today and see it," Powell said after walking through the museum. "What happened over the intervening 15 years? Did [Hussein] suddenly lose the motivation? Did he suddenly decide that such weapons would not be useful? The international community did not believe so."
"Die nachtraeglichen Rechtfertigungen fuer den Irakkrieg werden immer laecherlicher. Die neuste Ausrede der Regierung Bush ist, dass Saddam 1988 Giftgas eingesetzt habe. Das war zu der Zeit als Saddam von Amerika unterstützt wurde.Unter Anderem mit Chemischen und Biologischen Waffen. Das war zu der Zeit als Mr. Rumsfeld im Irak war und Saddam froehlich die Hand geschuettelt hat. Das war zu der Zeit als Saddam noch ein guter Freund der Amerikaner war. Das war zu der Zeit als es den Amerikanern nicht im Traum eingefallen waere den Giftgaseinsatz zu verurteilen."
Washington Post: Powell Says Gas Attack On Kurds Justified War
HALABJA, Iraq, Sept. 15 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell asserted today that a 1988 poison gas attack that killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds in this farming town nestled in Iraq's barren northern mountains was ample evidence that former president Saddam Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction and justified the U.S. decision to go to war
If you want evidence of the existence and the use of weapons of mass destruction, come here now to Halabja today and see it," Powell said after walking through the museum. "What happened over the intervening 15 years? Did [Hussein] suddenly lose the motivation? Did he suddenly decide that such weapons would not be useful? The international community did not believe so."
"Die nachtraeglichen Rechtfertigungen fuer den Irakkrieg werden immer laecherlicher. Die neuste Ausrede der Regierung Bush ist, dass Saddam 1988 Giftgas eingesetzt habe. Das war zu der Zeit als Saddam von Amerika unterstützt wurde.Unter Anderem mit Chemischen und Biologischen Waffen. Das war zu der Zeit als Mr. Rumsfeld im Irak war und Saddam froehlich die Hand geschuettelt hat. Das war zu der Zeit als Saddam noch ein guter Freund der Amerikaner war. Das war zu der Zeit als es den Amerikanern nicht im Traum eingefallen waere den Giftgaseinsatz zu verurteilen."
IRAQI WMD
ABC: Hans Blix: Iraq Destroyed WMD 10 Years Ago
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix now
believes Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago
and that intelligence agencies were wrong in their weapons assessment that
led to war. In an interview with Australian radio from Sweden, Blix said
the search for evidence of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons would
probably only uncover documents at best
ABC: Hans Blix: Iraq Destroyed WMD 10 Years Ago
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix now
believes Iraq destroyed its weapons of mass destruction 10 years ago
and that intelligence agencies were wrong in their weapons assessment that
led to war. In an interview with Australian radio from Sweden, Blix said
the search for evidence of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons would
probably only uncover documents at best
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Informationclearinghouse: Israel: Licensed To Kill
WARNING
This page contains raw video footage (BBC) of the murder of Mohammed Al-Dura's, 12-year-old son
Mohammed Al-Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli soldiers while he and his father begged for their lives. The father was seriously injured with five bullet wounds but managed to survive. A taxi driver had tried to save them but was also killed by Israeli soldiers. This is the kind of aggression and inhuman brutality on the part of Israeli soldiers that prompted the Second, or Al-Aqsa, intifadah. A video clip of the murder of Mohammed can be found below.
Informationclearinghouse: Israel: Licensed To Kill
WARNING
This page contains raw video footage (BBC) of the murder of Mohammed Al-Dura's, 12-year-old son
Mohammed Al-Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli soldiers while he and his father begged for their lives. The father was seriously injured with five bullet wounds but managed to survive. A taxi driver had tried to save them but was also killed by Israeli soldiers. This is the kind of aggression and inhuman brutality on the part of Israeli soldiers that prompted the Second, or Al-Aqsa, intifadah. A video clip of the murder of Mohammed can be found below.
WTO CANCUN
NY Times: Farming Is Korean's Life and He Ends It in Despair
JANGSU, South Korea, Sept. 15 - Before Lee Kyung Hae left for Mexico on
his final mission to defend South Korean farmers, he climbed a hill behind
his old apple orchard here. In the quiet solitude of his former farm, he
cleaned up around his wife's tomb. "He cut all the grass before
departing," Lee Kyang Ja, his older sister, said with surprise today,
coming upon the site after climbing a dirt road behind the farm. On
Wednesday in Cancún, Mexico, Mr. Lee, a 55-year-old farm union leader,
scaled a barricade outside a meeting of the World Trade Organization
and then fatally plunged his old Swiss Army knife into his heart.
The big news out of Cancún this week was the breakdown in the World
Trade Organization talks, as the developing nations walked out in frustration
over farm subsidies. To most of the world, Mr. Lee's act may have
seemed like a sideshow, the latest face of extreme antiglobalist protest,
perhaps, just a final desperate measure by a disturbed man. But in rural
communities like this one in southern South Korea, Mr. Lee, a
three-time member of the provincial assembly, was seen as a heroic figure, a
defender of debt-ridden farmers struggling to maintain an age-old agrarian
tradition in a fast-developing country where manufacturing is king.
NY Times: Farming Is Korean's Life and He Ends It in Despair
JANGSU, South Korea, Sept. 15 - Before Lee Kyung Hae left for Mexico on
his final mission to defend South Korean farmers, he climbed a hill behind
his old apple orchard here. In the quiet solitude of his former farm, he
cleaned up around his wife's tomb. "He cut all the grass before
departing," Lee Kyang Ja, his older sister, said with surprise today,
coming upon the site after climbing a dirt road behind the farm. On
Wednesday in Cancún, Mexico, Mr. Lee, a 55-year-old farm union leader,
scaled a barricade outside a meeting of the World Trade Organization
and then fatally plunged his old Swiss Army knife into his heart.
The big news out of Cancún this week was the breakdown in the World
Trade Organization talks, as the developing nations walked out in frustration
over farm subsidies. To most of the world, Mr. Lee's act may have
seemed like a sideshow, the latest face of extreme antiglobalist protest,
perhaps, just a final desperate measure by a disturbed man. But in rural
communities like this one in southern South Korea, Mr. Lee, a
three-time member of the provincial assembly, was seen as a heroic figure, a
defender of debt-ridden farmers struggling to maintain an age-old agrarian
tradition in a fast-developing country where manufacturing is king.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
The Age: Raiders losing the battle for hearts and minds
US troops lost the hearts and minds of some Iraqis this week in
aggressive pre-dawn house raids in the hometown of Saddam Hussein, blowing open
gates, kicking down doors and shoving faces in the dirt.
Ten-year-old Ahmed, herded with his family into his garden, shook
visibly as he watched soldiers interrogate one man, whose head slammed onto the
ground with a thud. "I will become an Iraqi fighter and I will kill
Americans," the boy said. He pointed at troops who charged into his
home with rifles, sledgehammers and bolt-cutters hunting for anti-American
guerillas. "They are the enemy," he said.
The Age: Raiders losing the battle for hearts and minds
US troops lost the hearts and minds of some Iraqis this week in
aggressive pre-dawn house raids in the hometown of Saddam Hussein, blowing open
gates, kicking down doors and shoving faces in the dirt.
Ten-year-old Ahmed, herded with his family into his garden, shook
visibly as he watched soldiers interrogate one man, whose head slammed onto the
ground with a thud. "I will become an Iraqi fighter and I will kill
Americans," the boy said. He pointed at troops who charged into his
home with rifles, sledgehammers and bolt-cutters hunting for anti-American
guerillas. "They are the enemy," he said.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Guardian: Commander: GIs in Iraq Face Revenge Raids
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq
said
in an interview published Wednesday that U.S. forces, already under
pressure from a guerrilla-style resistance, now face revenge attacks
from ordinary Iraqis angered by the occupation. North of Baghdad, there
were at least three separate attacks on U.S. forces with roadside bombs in
less than 1 hours Wednesday morning. Witnesses reported injured soldiers,
but details were unclear. The attacks hit U.S. Humvees about 12 miles north
of Baghdad near al-Taji.
Guardian: Commander: GIs in Iraq Face Revenge Raids
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq
said
in an interview published Wednesday that U.S. forces, already under
pressure from a guerrilla-style resistance, now face revenge attacks
from ordinary Iraqis angered by the occupation. North of Baghdad, there
were at least three separate attacks on U.S. forces with roadside bombs in
less than 1 hours Wednesday morning. Witnesses reported injured soldiers,
but details were unclear. The attacks hit U.S. Humvees about 12 miles north
of Baghdad near al-Taji.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Al-Jazeera: US soldiers wounded in Iraq
Four US soldiers were wounded in two separate incidents in Iraq as resistance fighters continued their attacks on occupation forces.
A US military spokesman said on Wednesday that three soldiers from the 1st Armoured Division were injured when their convoy came under attack at al-Dorah on the southern outskirts of capital Baghdad on Tuesday night
Al-Jazeera: US soldiers wounded in Iraq
Four US soldiers were wounded in two separate incidents in Iraq as resistance fighters continued their attacks on occupation forces.
A US military spokesman said on Wednesday that three soldiers from the 1st Armoured Division were injured when their convoy came under attack at al-Dorah on the southern outskirts of capital Baghdad on Tuesday night
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Al-Jazeera: New Saddam tape tells US to get out
Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has demanded that the United States unconditionally withdraw its forces from Iraq.
In a new audio tape attributed to him and broadcast on Wednesday by an Arabic television channel, Hussein also threatened to step up anti-US attacks and to "wage holy war by all means against the foolish invaders."
"We call on you to withdraw your forces as soon as possible, and without any conditions, as you cannot bear any more losses as these losses will be catastrophic for you," was the message to Americans.
"Your withdrawal from our country is inevitable, whether it happens today or tomorrow, and tomorrow will come soon," it said
Al-Jazeera: New Saddam tape tells US to get out
Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has demanded that the United States unconditionally withdraw its forces from Iraq.
In a new audio tape attributed to him and broadcast on Wednesday by an Arabic television channel, Hussein also threatened to step up anti-US attacks and to "wage holy war by all means against the foolish invaders."
"We call on you to withdraw your forces as soon as possible, and without any conditions, as you cannot bear any more losses as these losses will be catastrophic for you," was the message to Americans.
"Your withdrawal from our country is inevitable, whether it happens today or tomorrow, and tomorrow will come soon," it said
SPAIN
Aljazeera: Alouni charged with links to 9/11
A Spanish judge has formally charged 35 men, including al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin and Aljazeera TV journalist Taysir Alouni, with involvement in the September 11 attacks.
As part of his investigation into an al-Qaida cell operating in Spain, High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon in a 700-page indictment on Wednesday called for Interpol to arrest bin Ladin and extradite him to Spain. He said there was evidence of the 9/11 plot being hatched in Spain.
Among those charged was Taysir Alouni, an Aljazeera correspondent who interviewed bin Ladin shortly after September 11. Syrian-born Alouni was arrested on 5 September and was ordered to remain in prison without bail, pending trial.
Insisting that Alouni is innocent, Aljazeera has accused the United States and Israel of inciting Spain to incriminate him.
Aljazeera: Alouni charged with links to 9/11
A Spanish judge has formally charged 35 men, including al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin and Aljazeera TV journalist Taysir Alouni, with involvement in the September 11 attacks.
As part of his investigation into an al-Qaida cell operating in Spain, High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon in a 700-page indictment on Wednesday called for Interpol to arrest bin Ladin and extradite him to Spain. He said there was evidence of the 9/11 plot being hatched in Spain.
Among those charged was Taysir Alouni, an Aljazeera correspondent who interviewed bin Ladin shortly after September 11. Syrian-born Alouni was arrested on 5 September and was ordered to remain in prison without bail, pending trial.
Insisting that Alouni is innocent, Aljazeera has accused the United States and Israel of inciting Spain to incriminate him.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Spiegel: Arafat vom US-Veto unbeeindruckt
Pal?stinenser-Pr?sident Jassir Arafat nimmt das Scheitern der zu seinem Schutz eingebrachten Uno-Resolution ziemlich laessig. "Wir sind wichtiger als irgendeine Resolution", sagte er vor Intellektuellen und Kuenstlern in seinem Hauptquartier in Ramallah.
Independent: America vetoes UN resolution urging Israeli restraint
The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution last night that demanded Israel refrain from deporting the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, from the West Bank.
The text, tabled by Syria, was backed by 11 members of the Security Council. The US was alone in opposing it, complaining that it failed to condemn Palestinian terror groups that have committed bombings in Israel. Three countries abstained from the vote Britain, Bulgaria and Germany.
After the vote, the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said that Washington did not support the new Israeli stance. However, he said that he had blocked the resolution because it failed to name groups such as Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which has claimed credit for numerous suicide bombings. He said: "The Palestinian Authority must take action to remove the threat of terrorist groups."
Fayssal Mekdad, the Syrian ambassador to the UN who had been pressing for a resolution to protest against Israel's policy since last week, decried the outcome. He said that the text had been "highly balanced", saying most of the language came from previous resolutions that had been adopted by the council.
"The fact that the US delegation used its veto is something extremely regrettable," he said. "It only complicates a situation in the Middle East that is already very complicated."
"Bravo USA. Leider funktioniert die UNO in ihrer heutigen Form nicht."
Spiegel: Arafat vom US-Veto unbeeindruckt
Pal?stinenser-Pr?sident Jassir Arafat nimmt das Scheitern der zu seinem Schutz eingebrachten Uno-Resolution ziemlich laessig. "Wir sind wichtiger als irgendeine Resolution", sagte er vor Intellektuellen und Kuenstlern in seinem Hauptquartier in Ramallah.
Independent: America vetoes UN resolution urging Israeli restraint
The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution last night that demanded Israel refrain from deporting the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, from the West Bank.
The text, tabled by Syria, was backed by 11 members of the Security Council. The US was alone in opposing it, complaining that it failed to condemn Palestinian terror groups that have committed bombings in Israel. Three countries abstained from the vote Britain, Bulgaria and Germany.
After the vote, the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said that Washington did not support the new Israeli stance. However, he said that he had blocked the resolution because it failed to name groups such as Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which has claimed credit for numerous suicide bombings. He said: "The Palestinian Authority must take action to remove the threat of terrorist groups."
Fayssal Mekdad, the Syrian ambassador to the UN who had been pressing for a resolution to protest against Israel's policy since last week, decried the outcome. He said that the text had been "highly balanced", saying most of the language came from previous resolutions that had been adopted by the council.
"The fact that the US delegation used its veto is something extremely regrettable," he said. "It only complicates a situation in the Middle East that is already very complicated."
"Bravo USA. Leider funktioniert die UNO in ihrer heutigen Form nicht."
COPYRIGHT/PROPERTY
New Statesman: Who owns the world?
Everything - from land, water and plant seeds to folk stories and football results - can now be claimed as private property. Andrew Simms on the new enclosures
You can buy a one-acre plot of land on the moon for £19.95. Slightly cheaper is Venus, which can be had for £14.25, plus registration fee. You can do this because, on 22 November 1980, Dennis M Hope went into the offices of San Francisco County and filed a declaration of ownership for both bodies. Just to be sure, he also filed with the federal government, the USSR and the UN General Assembly. He also declared ownership of the eight remaining planets and their moons. He set up a Lunar embassy and started to license others to sell plots. One, MoonEstates.com, describes itself as the UK's "only extraterrestrial land agents". For Mars, there is even a bill of rights to provide for mediation in the event of land disputes between settlers and a "native creature".
They can't be serious, can they? In 1967, the internationally agreed Outer Space Treaty forbade governments from claiming any celestial bodies as their property. But the committee that worded the treaty forgot to include private firms or individuals and, though the 1979 Moon Treaty would have prevented the exploitation of space for private profit, not enough countries signed. Opponents complained that it would bog down space exploration in "a 'common heritage of all mankind' morass".
This attempt to expand private property to outer space continues something that has been happening for hundreds of years: a move towards a single, restrictive approach to ownership and control
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
New Statesman: Who owns the world?
Everything - from land, water and plant seeds to folk stories and football results - can now be claimed as private property. Andrew Simms on the new enclosures
You can buy a one-acre plot of land on the moon for £19.95. Slightly cheaper is Venus, which can be had for £14.25, plus registration fee. You can do this because, on 22 November 1980, Dennis M Hope went into the offices of San Francisco County and filed a declaration of ownership for both bodies. Just to be sure, he also filed with the federal government, the USSR and the UN General Assembly. He also declared ownership of the eight remaining planets and their moons. He set up a Lunar embassy and started to license others to sell plots. One, MoonEstates.com, describes itself as the UK's "only extraterrestrial land agents". For Mars, there is even a bill of rights to provide for mediation in the event of land disputes between settlers and a "native creature".
They can't be serious, can they? In 1967, the internationally agreed Outer Space Treaty forbade governments from claiming any celestial bodies as their property. But the committee that worded the treaty forgot to include private firms or individuals and, though the 1979 Moon Treaty would have prevented the exploitation of space for private profit, not enough countries signed. Opponents complained that it would bog down space exploration in "a 'common heritage of all mankind' morass".
This attempt to expand private property to outer space continues something that has been happening for hundreds of years: a move towards a single, restrictive approach to ownership and control
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Mercury News: Seeking honesty in U.S. policy
EX-U.S. DIPLOMAT SAYS WHITE HOUSE IS IN FULL RETREAT FROM IRAQ REALITY
During the gulf war in 1991, when I was in charge of the American Embassy in Baghdad, I placed a copy of Lewis Carroll's ``Alice in Wonderland'' on my office coffee table. I thought it conveyed far better than words ever could the weird world that was Iraq at that time, a world in which nothing was what it seemed: The several hundred Western hostages Saddam Hussein took during Desert Shield were not really hostages but ``guests.'' Kuwait was not invaded, but ``liberated.''
It is clearly time to dust the book off and again display it prominently, only this time because our own government has dragged the country down a rabbit hole, all the while trying to convince the American people that life in newly liberated Iraq is not as distorted as it seems.
It is returning to normal, we are assured, even as we are asked to ante up an additional $75 billion and pressure builds to send more troops and extend the tours of duty of those who are there. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells Congress that all we need is to project a little confidence. The Mad Hatter could not have said it better.
"CHECK IT (long)"
Mercury News: Seeking honesty in U.S. policy
EX-U.S. DIPLOMAT SAYS WHITE HOUSE IS IN FULL RETREAT FROM IRAQ REALITY
During the gulf war in 1991, when I was in charge of the American Embassy in Baghdad, I placed a copy of Lewis Carroll's ``Alice in Wonderland'' on my office coffee table. I thought it conveyed far better than words ever could the weird world that was Iraq at that time, a world in which nothing was what it seemed: The several hundred Western hostages Saddam Hussein took during Desert Shield were not really hostages but ``guests.'' Kuwait was not invaded, but ``liberated.''
It is clearly time to dust the book off and again display it prominently, only this time because our own government has dragged the country down a rabbit hole, all the while trying to convince the American people that life in newly liberated Iraq is not as distorted as it seems.
It is returning to normal, we are assured, even as we are asked to ante up an additional $75 billion and pressure builds to send more troops and extend the tours of duty of those who are there. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells Congress that all we need is to project a little confidence. The Mad Hatter could not have said it better.
"CHECK IT (long)"
ISRAEL
Information Clearinghouse: Israel Must Be Declared A Terrorist State by Patrick Johnston
09/16/03: (Information Clearing House) The United Nations General Assembly must pass resolutions declaring Israel to be in violation of the UN Charter of Member States and suspend Israel from the United Nations effective immediately. Further, both the General Assembly and the Security Council must pass resolutions imposing the harshest yet sanctions and complete international isolation against Israel for continued reckless and wanton violations of numerous resolutions concerning the criminal treatment of the Palestinian people and mandates on Palestine.
ISRAEL MUST END THE OCCUPATION ... AND THE VIOLENCE!
1.) Israel Must Be Declared A Terrorist State
2.) Zionism Must Be Declared A Terrorist Movement and Followers Terrorists
3.) War Crimes Tribunals Must Be Sought Against Appropriate Israeli Leaders
4.) UN Must Impose Harsh Sanctions and Isolation Against Israel
The United States must wake up to the fact that Israel is not a good ally. Nor is Israel a good friend to the American people. What ally and what friend would demand of a nation and its people to continuously support without challenge, or explanation, their nefarious plans and calculated deeds to wipe out an entire population of largely defenseless people?
CHECK IT
Information Clearinghouse: Israel Must Be Declared A Terrorist State by Patrick Johnston
09/16/03: (Information Clearing House) The United Nations General Assembly must pass resolutions declaring Israel to be in violation of the UN Charter of Member States and suspend Israel from the United Nations effective immediately. Further, both the General Assembly and the Security Council must pass resolutions imposing the harshest yet sanctions and complete international isolation against Israel for continued reckless and wanton violations of numerous resolutions concerning the criminal treatment of the Palestinian people and mandates on Palestine.
ISRAEL MUST END THE OCCUPATION ... AND THE VIOLENCE!
1.) Israel Must Be Declared A Terrorist State
2.) Zionism Must Be Declared A Terrorist Movement and Followers Terrorists
3.) War Crimes Tribunals Must Be Sought Against Appropriate Israeli Leaders
4.) UN Must Impose Harsh Sanctions and Isolation Against Israel
The United States must wake up to the fact that Israel is not a good ally. Nor is Israel a good friend to the American people. What ally and what friend would demand of a nation and its people to continuously support without challenge, or explanation, their nefarious plans and calculated deeds to wipe out an entire population of largely defenseless people?
CHECK IT
WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Pakistan Daily: 6 US commandos feared dead - Taliban destroy Afghan post near Pakistani border
WANA: At least six US commandos were thought dead and scores of Afghan
troops injured when unidentified attackers ambushed a US convey at
Sorkamar in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. In retaliation, US troops cordoned
off the area to hunt the assailants who were believed to be Taliban
remnants. According to an eyewitness, US choppers entered Pakistan’s airspace in
pursuit of the militants and two shells also hit the tribal areas of
North West Frontier Province.
Pakistan Daily: 6 US commandos feared dead - Taliban destroy Afghan post near Pakistani border
WANA: At least six US commandos were thought dead and scores of Afghan
troops injured when unidentified attackers ambushed a US convey at
Sorkamar in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. In retaliation, US troops cordoned
off the area to hunt the assailants who were believed to be Taliban
remnants. According to an eyewitness, US choppers entered Pakistan’s airspace in
pursuit of the militants and two shells also hit the tribal areas of
North West Frontier Province.
IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION
Seattle Times: Rumsfeld: Rebuilding up to Iraqis
WASHINGTON — Iraqis rather than Americans will have to repair most of the damage done to their country by Saddam Hussein's socialist Baath party, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared yesterday.
"I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," Rumsfeld told a National Press Club audience. "The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country over a period of time."
He added, "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all."
"Ironie, Ironie! Das Land wurde nicht von US-Bomben und 10 Jahre dauernden Sanktionen verwuestet, sondern vom "Kommunistischen Wirtschaftssystem".
Mr. Rumsfeld sollte sich besser daran erinnern was für Pflichten Besatzungsmaechte haben. Es gibt in grossen Teilen des Irak noch immer keine Sicherheit, noch immer keinen Strom und noch immer kein fliessendes Wasser"
Seattle Times: Rumsfeld: Rebuilding up to Iraqis
WASHINGTON — Iraqis rather than Americans will have to repair most of the damage done to their country by Saddam Hussein's socialist Baath party, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared yesterday.
"I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," Rumsfeld told a National Press Club audience. "The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country over a period of time."
He added, "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all."
"Ironie, Ironie! Das Land wurde nicht von US-Bomben und 10 Jahre dauernden Sanktionen verwuestet, sondern vom "Kommunistischen Wirtschaftssystem".
Mr. Rumsfeld sollte sich besser daran erinnern was für Pflichten Besatzungsmaechte haben. Es gibt in grossen Teilen des Irak noch immer keine Sicherheit, noch immer keinen Strom und noch immer kein fliessendes Wasser"
IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION
Seattle Times: Rumsfeld: Rebuilding up to Iraqis
WASHINGTON — Iraqis rather than Americans will have to repair most of the damage done to their country by Saddam Hussein's socialist Baath party, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared yesterday
"I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," Rumsfeld told a National Press Club audience. "The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country over a period of time."
He added, "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all."
"Mr. Rumsfeld hat vergessen, dass es vorallem die über 10 Jahre dauernden Sanktionen und drei von den USA gefuehrte Kriege waren die das Land verwuestet haben. Irak hat sich nach dem Iran-Krieg ziemlich schnell erholt und hatte einen der höchsten Lebensstandarts im Nahen Osten. Wie kann der Typ behaupten dass die Infrastruktur des Landes nicht wirklich schwer beschaedigt wurde? Es gibt nach wie vor weder Elektrizität noch fliessendes Wasser in grossen Teilen des Iraks. Darüberhinaus hat er die Aufgaben einer Besatzungsmacht vergessen."
Seattle Times: Rumsfeld: Rebuilding up to Iraqis
WASHINGTON — Iraqis rather than Americans will have to repair most of the damage done to their country by Saddam Hussein's socialist Baath party, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared yesterday
"I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," Rumsfeld told a National Press Club audience. "The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country over a period of time."
He added, "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all."
"Mr. Rumsfeld hat vergessen, dass es vorallem die über 10 Jahre dauernden Sanktionen und drei von den USA gefuehrte Kriege waren die das Land verwuestet haben. Irak hat sich nach dem Iran-Krieg ziemlich schnell erholt und hatte einen der höchsten Lebensstandarts im Nahen Osten. Wie kann der Typ behaupten dass die Infrastruktur des Landes nicht wirklich schwer beschaedigt wurde? Es gibt nach wie vor weder Elektrizität noch fliessendes Wasser in grossen Teilen des Iraks. Darüberhinaus hat er die Aufgaben einer Besatzungsmacht vergessen."
WAR ON IRAQ
Guardian: Was the Iraq war illegal?
In a landmark case, two peace activists who tried to stop B-52 bombers taking off will argue that the conflict breached international law
Was the war in Iraq legal or not? Lord Hutton won't tell us: that ultimate question does not come within the terms of his inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly. The high court was asked to decide but demurred, declaring it had no jurisdiction to interpret UN resolution 1441, the basis on which Britain went to war.
But the question persists, becoming, if anything, more insistent as any sign of the weapons of mass destruction with which we were threatened continues to prove elusive four and a half months after the end of the war. We learned at the weekend that Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, had urged the prime minister in a private memo just four days before the hostilities broke out to keep Britain out of the conflict.
This week the question will take centre stage again in a court of law. On Friday, in the unlikely setting of Gloucester crown court, a hearing will take place in a criminal case that could mean that 12 ordinary citizens - an English jury - will get to decide whether or not the conflict was legal.
Guardian: Was the Iraq war illegal?
In a landmark case, two peace activists who tried to stop B-52 bombers taking off will argue that the conflict breached international law
Was the war in Iraq legal or not? Lord Hutton won't tell us: that ultimate question does not come within the terms of his inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly. The high court was asked to decide but demurred, declaring it had no jurisdiction to interpret UN resolution 1441, the basis on which Britain went to war.
But the question persists, becoming, if anything, more insistent as any sign of the weapons of mass destruction with which we were threatened continues to prove elusive four and a half months after the end of the war. We learned at the weekend that Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, had urged the prime minister in a private memo just four days before the hostilities broke out to keep Britain out of the conflict.
This week the question will take centre stage again in a court of law. On Friday, in the unlikely setting of Gloucester crown court, a hearing will take place in a criminal case that could mean that 12 ordinary citizens - an English jury - will get to decide whether or not the conflict was legal.
IRAQI WMD
Reuters: Scientist says Iraq never revived nuke programme
VIENNA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Iraq never revived its secret nuclear
weapons programme after it was dismantled by U.N. inspectors in the 1990s, a
senior Iraqi scientist at Iraq's new Ministry of Science and Technology said
on Tuesday. Before launching the March 20 war to topple Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, the United States and Britain said Saddam was trying to
develop an atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction.
In four months of inspections before the war, U.N. weapons inspectors
never found any evidence of this. Since major military actions ended in Iraq,
U.S. and British military have also found no evidence to support this
allegation.
Reuters: Scientist says Iraq never revived nuke programme
VIENNA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Iraq never revived its secret nuclear
weapons programme after it was dismantled by U.N. inspectors in the 1990s, a
senior Iraqi scientist at Iraq's new Ministry of Science and Technology said
on Tuesday. Before launching the March 20 war to topple Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, the United States and Britain said Saddam was trying to
develop an atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction.
In four months of inspections before the war, U.N. weapons inspectors
never found any evidence of this. Since major military actions ended in Iraq,
U.S. and British military have also found no evidence to support this
allegation.
WTO CANCUN
countercurrents: The Collapse In Cancun And The Transformation Of The Global System
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Negotiations in Cancun, Mexico collapsed on Sunday and the relationships between rich and poor countries will likely never be the same - nor will the global system. The group of twenty-two developing nations (G22) that emerged as a negotiating bloc directly challenged the continuation of a one-sided neoliberal system that protects investors and corporations of wealthy countries while opening developing nations to the vulnerability of the global market. Brazil has emerged as a catalyst and organizer for bringing together developing and progressive countries to transform the weapons of neoliberalism into tools for the social agenda, opening possibilities for a more just global order.
CHECK IT
countercurrents: The Collapse In Cancun And The Transformation Of The Global System
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Negotiations in Cancun, Mexico collapsed on Sunday and the relationships between rich and poor countries will likely never be the same - nor will the global system. The group of twenty-two developing nations (G22) that emerged as a negotiating bloc directly challenged the continuation of a one-sided neoliberal system that protects investors and corporations of wealthy countries while opening developing nations to the vulnerability of the global market. Brazil has emerged as a catalyst and organizer for bringing together developing and progressive countries to transform the weapons of neoliberalism into tools for the social agenda, opening possibilities for a more just global order.
CHECK IT
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Times: Iraqi police ready to turn guns on US troops
Iraqi policemen declared themselves holy warriors yesterday and vowed
to take revenge for the deaths of their comrades in the town where ten
police and a security guard were killed on Friday in the worst "friendly fire"
incident of the Iraq conflict.
"I am full of hatred for the Americans and I am ready to kill them," said Arkan Adanan, who was injured in the shoulder early on Friday morning when US troops poured rifle and machinegun fire
into three police vehicles that were chasing suspected bandits.
Times: Iraqi police ready to turn guns on US troops
Iraqi policemen declared themselves holy warriors yesterday and vowed
to take revenge for the deaths of their comrades in the town where ten
police and a security guard were killed on Friday in the worst "friendly fire"
incident of the Iraq conflict.
"I am full of hatred for the Americans and I am ready to kill them," said Arkan Adanan, who was injured in the shoulder early on Friday morning when US troops poured rifle and machinegun fire
into three police vehicles that were chasing suspected bandits.
IRAQ
Counterpunch: The Occupation Runs Out of Gas by Stan Goff
It Was the Oil and It Is Like Vietnam
Apologists for Bush's little war in Iraq, whose numbers are diminishing in the face of relentless reality, have invested a mighty labor in dismissing two claims; that the war in Iraq is about oil, and that there is a comparison to be made between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War.
The war was never intended as a liberation, the bullshit story that went center stage when the weapons lies fell apart . It was always a re-colonization, now euphemized even by many Democrats as "re-construction."
Counterpunch: The Occupation Runs Out of Gas by Stan Goff
It Was the Oil and It Is Like Vietnam
Apologists for Bush's little war in Iraq, whose numbers are diminishing in the face of relentless reality, have invested a mighty labor in dismissing two claims; that the war in Iraq is about oil, and that there is a comparison to be made between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War.
The war was never intended as a liberation, the bullshit story that went center stage when the weapons lies fell apart . It was always a re-colonization, now euphemized even by many Democrats as "re-construction."
IRAQ
Toronto Star: Reasons to fear U.S. by NOAM CHOMSKY
Amid the aftershocks of recent suicide bombings in Baghdad and Najaf, and countless other horrors since Sept. 11, 2001, it is easy to understand why many believe that the world has entered a new and frightening "age of terror," the title of a recent collection of essays by Yale University scholars and others.
However, two years after 9/11, the United States has yet to confront the roots of terrorism, has waged more war than peace and has continually raised the stakes of international confrontation.
On 9/11, the world reacted with shock and horror, and sympathy for the victims. But it is important to bear in mind that for much of the world, there was a further reaction: "Welcome to the club."
For the first time in history, a Western power was subjected to an atrocity of the kind that is all too familiar elsewhere.
Any attempt to make sense of events since then will naturally begin with an investigation of American power — how it has reacted and what course it may take.
Within a month of 9/11, Afghanistan was under attack. Those who accept elementary moral standards have some work to do to show that the United States and Britain were justified in bombing Afghans to compel them to turn over people suspected of criminal atrocities, the official reason given when the bombings began.
CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT
Toronto Star: Reasons to fear U.S. by NOAM CHOMSKY
Amid the aftershocks of recent suicide bombings in Baghdad and Najaf, and countless other horrors since Sept. 11, 2001, it is easy to understand why many believe that the world has entered a new and frightening "age of terror," the title of a recent collection of essays by Yale University scholars and others.
However, two years after 9/11, the United States has yet to confront the roots of terrorism, has waged more war than peace and has continually raised the stakes of international confrontation.
On 9/11, the world reacted with shock and horror, and sympathy for the victims. But it is important to bear in mind that for much of the world, there was a further reaction: "Welcome to the club."
For the first time in history, a Western power was subjected to an atrocity of the kind that is all too familiar elsewhere.
Any attempt to make sense of events since then will naturally begin with an investigation of American power — how it has reacted and what course it may take.
Within a month of 9/11, Afghanistan was under attack. Those who accept elementary moral standards have some work to do to show that the United States and Britain were justified in bombing Afghans to compel them to turn over people suspected of criminal atrocities, the official reason given when the bombings began.
CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
PROPAGANDA WATCH
USA Today: Amanpour: CNN practiced self-censorship
CNN's top war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, says that the press muzzled itself during the Iraq war. And, she says CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship."
As criticism of the war and its aftermath intensifies, Amanpour joins a chorus of journalists and pundits who charge that the media largely toed the Bush administrationline in covering the war and, by doing so, failed to aggressively question the motives behind the invasion.
On last week's Topic A With Tina Brown on CNBC, Brown, the former Talk magazine editor, asked comedian Al Franken, former Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke and Amanpour if "we in the media, as much as in the administration, drank the Kool-Aid when it came to the war."
Said Amanpour: "I think the press was muzzled, and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of the kind of broadcast work we did."
Brown then asked Amanpour if there was any story during the war that she couldn't report.
"It's not a question of couldn't do it, it's a question of tone," Amanpour said. "It's a question of being rigorous. It's really a question of really asking the questions. All of the entire body politic in my view, whether it's the administration, the intelligence, the journalists, whoever, did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction. I mean, it looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels."
Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said of Amanpour's comments: "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda."
"Ein Hoch auf die "Freie Presse""
USA Today: Amanpour: CNN practiced self-censorship
CNN's top war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, says that the press muzzled itself during the Iraq war. And, she says CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship."
As criticism of the war and its aftermath intensifies, Amanpour joins a chorus of journalists and pundits who charge that the media largely toed the Bush administrationline in covering the war and, by doing so, failed to aggressively question the motives behind the invasion.
On last week's Topic A With Tina Brown on CNBC, Brown, the former Talk magazine editor, asked comedian Al Franken, former Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke and Amanpour if "we in the media, as much as in the administration, drank the Kool-Aid when it came to the war."
Said Amanpour: "I think the press was muzzled, and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of the kind of broadcast work we did."
Brown then asked Amanpour if there was any story during the war that she couldn't report.
"It's not a question of couldn't do it, it's a question of tone," Amanpour said. "It's a question of being rigorous. It's really a question of really asking the questions. All of the entire body politic in my view, whether it's the administration, the intelligence, the journalists, whoever, did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction. I mean, it looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels."
Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said of Amanpour's comments: "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda."
"Ein Hoch auf die "Freie Presse""
UK/IRAQ
Scotsman: Straw 'begged Blair' not to join Iraq war
TONY Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war.
Just days before the fighting started, Straw begged the Prime Minister not to send British troops into action, according to a new book on the affair.
The hugely damaging allegations emerged last night just hours after hundreds of Iraqis fired shots in the air and chanted "America is the enemy of God" following the burial of 10 Iraqi policemen killed accidentally by US troops.
Straw is said to have argued that the United Nations’ refusal to back the invasion would make it damaging for Britain to take part. The Foreign Secretary reportedly urged Blair to tell President George Bush that British troops would help clear up the mess and keep the peace once the war was over, but would play no part in Saddam’s overthrow.
But the shocked Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea point-blank, telling him there was no going back and making him promise to keep quiet, according to the book by political journalist John Kampfner, entitled Blair’s War
Scotsman: Straw 'begged Blair' not to join Iraq war
TONY Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war.
Just days before the fighting started, Straw begged the Prime Minister not to send British troops into action, according to a new book on the affair.
The hugely damaging allegations emerged last night just hours after hundreds of Iraqis fired shots in the air and chanted "America is the enemy of God" following the burial of 10 Iraqi policemen killed accidentally by US troops.
Straw is said to have argued that the United Nations’ refusal to back the invasion would make it damaging for Britain to take part. The Foreign Secretary reportedly urged Blair to tell President George Bush that British troops would help clear up the mess and keep the peace once the war was over, but would play no part in Saddam’s overthrow.
But the shocked Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea point-blank, telling him there was no going back and making him promise to keep quiet, according to the book by political journalist John Kampfner, entitled Blair’s War
ISRAEL
Independent: Israel criticised at United Nations for threat to Arafat
Israel came under concerted criticism in the United Nations Security Council and in several capitals around the world yesterday for threatening to remove Yasser Arafat from the Middle East peace process, a policy that a cabinet member suggested could extend to killing him.
The council was considering whether to vote on a resolution drafted by Arab states demanding Israeli restraint with regard to the Palestinian leader. Hopes for its quick adoption were overshadowed by the threat of a United States veto. Washington has historically resisted resolutions that are critical of Israel
John Negroponte, the US ambassador, said it had told Israel that it would not support the "elimination of Mr Arafat" or his forced exile. But he added that he would not support a resolution that failed to condemn the "explicit threat to the Middle East peace process posed by Hamas and other such terror groups
In a report to the council, Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, said the peace process and the road-map brokered by President George Bush had stalled. "The recent cycle of terror attacks and extrajudicial killings has broken the Palestinian ceasefire and brought the process to a standstill," he warned.
Wieso ist die USA in der Arabischen Welt bloss so verhasst?
Independent: Israel criticised at United Nations for threat to Arafat
Israel came under concerted criticism in the United Nations Security Council and in several capitals around the world yesterday for threatening to remove Yasser Arafat from the Middle East peace process, a policy that a cabinet member suggested could extend to killing him.
The council was considering whether to vote on a resolution drafted by Arab states demanding Israeli restraint with regard to the Palestinian leader. Hopes for its quick adoption were overshadowed by the threat of a United States veto. Washington has historically resisted resolutions that are critical of Israel
John Negroponte, the US ambassador, said it had told Israel that it would not support the "elimination of Mr Arafat" or his forced exile. But he added that he would not support a resolution that failed to condemn the "explicit threat to the Middle East peace process posed by Hamas and other such terror groups
In a report to the council, Terje Roed-Larsen, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, said the peace process and the road-map brokered by President George Bush had stalled. "The recent cycle of terror attacks and extrajudicial killings has broken the Palestinian ceasefire and brought the process to a standstill," he warned.
Wieso ist die USA in der Arabischen Welt bloss so verhasst?
AFGHANISTAN
Spiegel: "Der Elefant USA wird an Malaria sterben"
Fast taeglich ueberfallen Taliban-Trupps in Afghanistan Schulen, Polizeiposten, Hilfsorganisationen. Ihre Kommandeure hassen die Karzai-Regierung, mit Guerilla-Taktik wollen sie die Amerikaner vertreiben, etliche sprechen bereits offen von der Rueckkehr an die Macht. SPIEGEL ONLINE traf einen der siegesgewissen Anfuehrer
Spiegel: "Der Elefant USA wird an Malaria sterben"
Fast taeglich ueberfallen Taliban-Trupps in Afghanistan Schulen, Polizeiposten, Hilfsorganisationen. Ihre Kommandeure hassen die Karzai-Regierung, mit Guerilla-Taktik wollen sie die Amerikaner vertreiben, etliche sprechen bereits offen von der Rueckkehr an die Macht. SPIEGEL ONLINE traf einen der siegesgewissen Anfuehrer
IRAQ
Prolog: Iraqi town seethes as US withholds bodies, information in deadly shootings
FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept 12 (AFP) - Anger boiled over in the flashpoint Iraqi town of Fallujah on Friday as residents pressed the US military for both information and the victims' bodies after the shooting of 10 Iraqi security personnel by US troops.
Relatives and residents staged furious demonstrations outside the governor's office and police headquarters amid predictions of a new wave of violence against Americans in the town.
A spate of three attacks in barely five hours hit US troops around Fallujah later Friday in what police and relatives warned was an omen of worse to come if the US military failed to trust its Iraqi allies.
"Now we can expect that attacks will increase, because you will have not only what they call the resistance, but also the families of these 10 dead people and everyone else wanting to take revenge against the Americans," said police First Lieutenant Mahmud Hussein.
Prolog: Iraqi town seethes as US withholds bodies, information in deadly shootings
FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept 12 (AFP) - Anger boiled over in the flashpoint Iraqi town of Fallujah on Friday as residents pressed the US military for both information and the victims' bodies after the shooting of 10 Iraqi security personnel by US troops.
Relatives and residents staged furious demonstrations outside the governor's office and police headquarters amid predictions of a new wave of violence against Americans in the town.
A spate of three attacks in barely five hours hit US troops around Fallujah later Friday in what police and relatives warned was an omen of worse to come if the US military failed to trust its Iraqi allies.
"Now we can expect that attacks will increase, because you will have not only what they call the resistance, but also the families of these 10 dead people and everyone else wanting to take revenge against the Americans," said police First Lieutenant Mahmud Hussein.
IRAQ
Counterpunch: A Hail of Bullets, a Trail of Dead by Robert Fisk
A Mystery the US is in No Hurry to Solve
A human brain lay beside the highway. It was scattered in the sand, blasted from its owner's head when the Americans ambushed their own Iraqi policemen.
A few inches away were a policeman's teeth, broken but clean dentures, the teeth of a young man. "I don't know if they are the teeth of my brother--and I don't even know if my brother is alive or dead," Ahmed Mohamed shouted at me. "The Americans took the dead and the wounded away--they won't tell us anything."
Since the Americans will not reveal the truth, let Ahmed Mohamed, whose 28-year-old brother, Walid, was one of the policemen who gave chase, tell his story.
"We have been told that the BMW opened fire o the mayor's office at 12.30am. The police chased them in two vehicles, a Nissan pick-up and a Honda car and they set off down the old Kandar roads toward Baghdad.
"But the Americans were there in the darkness, outside the Jordanian Hospital, to ambush cars on the road. They let the BMW through and then fired at the police cars."
One of the policemen who was wounded in the second vehicle said the Americans suddenly appeared on the darkened road. "When they shouted at us, we stopped immediately," he said. "We tried to tell them we were police. They just kept on shooting."
"CHECK IT"
Counterpunch: A Hail of Bullets, a Trail of Dead by Robert Fisk
A Mystery the US is in No Hurry to Solve
A human brain lay beside the highway. It was scattered in the sand, blasted from its owner's head when the Americans ambushed their own Iraqi policemen.
A few inches away were a policeman's teeth, broken but clean dentures, the teeth of a young man. "I don't know if they are the teeth of my brother--and I don't even know if my brother is alive or dead," Ahmed Mohamed shouted at me. "The Americans took the dead and the wounded away--they won't tell us anything."
Since the Americans will not reveal the truth, let Ahmed Mohamed, whose 28-year-old brother, Walid, was one of the policemen who gave chase, tell his story.
"We have been told that the BMW opened fire o the mayor's office at 12.30am. The police chased them in two vehicles, a Nissan pick-up and a Honda car and they set off down the old Kandar roads toward Baghdad.
"But the Americans were there in the darkness, outside the Jordanian Hospital, to ambush cars on the road. They let the BMW through and then fired at the police cars."
One of the policemen who was wounded in the second vehicle said the Americans suddenly appeared on the darkened road. "When they shouted at us, we stopped immediately," he said. "We tried to tell them we were police. They just kept on shooting."
"CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Independent: Powell draws a veil over killings as he tours Iraq by Robert Fisk
Killings are now like heartbeats in Iraq. Among the first yesterday was an American soldier from the US 1st Armoured Division, whose Baghdad patrol was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade at ten past one in the morning.
In the coffin statistics of the American occupation, he was the 76th US soldier to die "in action" since President George Bush declared major combat operations at an end. As usual, the occupation authorities here announced his fate.
Then came the turn of Sami Hassan Saref, who was killed west of the town of Baqubah 20 minutes later when US troops were raiding his home.
Apparently this is according to a neighbour, Ahmed Karim Mr Saref thought the Americans were thieves, seized a rifle to defend his home and was shot. The Americans, according to Mr Karim, took the wounded 35-year-old man to hospital where he died. As usual, the occupation authorities who never report the killing of the Iraqis whose country they occupy did not announce his fate
It is being said in Fallujah, for example, that the killing of eight police officers and a Jordanian hospital guard by US troops on Friday came after an American military convoy was ambushed the previous day.
Although the occupation authorities reported one US soldier dead in the attack, local Iraqis say that many other troops were wounded and that the ambush succeeded a request by the Americans for a local Iraqi police escort.
The police, so the story goes, declined the request.
CHECK IT
Independent: Powell draws a veil over killings as he tours Iraq by Robert Fisk
Killings are now like heartbeats in Iraq. Among the first yesterday was an American soldier from the US 1st Armoured Division, whose Baghdad patrol was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade at ten past one in the morning.
In the coffin statistics of the American occupation, he was the 76th US soldier to die "in action" since President George Bush declared major combat operations at an end. As usual, the occupation authorities here announced his fate.
Then came the turn of Sami Hassan Saref, who was killed west of the town of Baqubah 20 minutes later when US troops were raiding his home.
Apparently this is according to a neighbour, Ahmed Karim Mr Saref thought the Americans were thieves, seized a rifle to defend his home and was shot. The Americans, according to Mr Karim, took the wounded 35-year-old man to hospital where he died. As usual, the occupation authorities who never report the killing of the Iraqis whose country they occupy did not announce his fate
It is being said in Fallujah, for example, that the killing of eight police officers and a Jordanian hospital guard by US troops on Friday came after an American military convoy was ambushed the previous day.
Although the occupation authorities reported one US soldier dead in the attack, local Iraqis say that many other troops were wounded and that the ambush succeeded a request by the Americans for a local Iraqi police escort.
The police, so the story goes, declined the request.
CHECK IT
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