QUOTE OF THE DAY
"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them" --US battalion commander in Iraq
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
SADDAM
Asia Times: Will Saddam go on trial?
NO: US cannot afford embarrassment of public trial
'SADDAM Hussein was wise not to wait too long,' said Colonel James Hickey, commander of the American forces that took the former Iraqi leader prisoner on Sunday.
'We were about to clear that (underground facility) in a military sort of way,' he added, explaining that 'things like that are cleared with hand grenades, small arms, things like that.' But Col Hickey's instructions were to 'capture or kill' Saddam, and the latter managed to get his hands up in time.
The Bush administration is probably wishing quite hard by now that Saddam had waited a little longer and been killed in his hole. While others debate where he should be tried and by whom, and whether he should face the death penalty or not, United States President George W. Bush's people will be realising just about now that they can't afford to give him a fair trial at all.
He would certainly be convicted in the end: Evidence of Saddam's crimes over the years is overwhelming. But in a fair trial, with normal rules of evidence and reasonably competent defence lawyers, it would be impossible to stop the defence from pointing out that every US administration from 1980 to 1992 (all Republican administrations, as it happens) was directly or indirectly complicit in his crimes
Asia Times: Will Saddam go on trial?
NO: US cannot afford embarrassment of public trial
'SADDAM Hussein was wise not to wait too long,' said Colonel James Hickey, commander of the American forces that took the former Iraqi leader prisoner on Sunday.
'We were about to clear that (underground facility) in a military sort of way,' he added, explaining that 'things like that are cleared with hand grenades, small arms, things like that.' But Col Hickey's instructions were to 'capture or kill' Saddam, and the latter managed to get his hands up in time.
The Bush administration is probably wishing quite hard by now that Saddam had waited a little longer and been killed in his hole. While others debate where he should be tried and by whom, and whether he should face the death penalty or not, United States President George W. Bush's people will be realising just about now that they can't afford to give him a fair trial at all.
He would certainly be convicted in the end: Evidence of Saddam's crimes over the years is overwhelming. But in a fair trial, with normal rules of evidence and reasonably competent defence lawyers, it would be impossible to stop the defence from pointing out that every US administration from 1980 to 1992 (all Republican administrations, as it happens) was directly or indirectly complicit in his crimes
MIDDLE EAST
Guardian: If Libya Can Disarm...Why Not Israel?
We Can No Longer Ignore The World's Fifth-Largest Nuclear Power
There's a logic to these things. Muammar Gadafy, growing older, and his isolated Libya, growing poorer, were getting nothing worthwhile from the atomic bomb they hadn't built yet or chemicals they had scant residual use for. Logic - and common sense - meant changing tack. Good for logic. But logic doesn't stop there.
What next? If weapons of mass destruction are a menace in unstable regions such as the Middle East, if their availability must be reduced, then logic begins to move us closer to the confrontation we never seek with the nuclear power we - let alone Messrs Bush and Blair - seldom mention: Israel.
Nobody, including the Knesset, quite knows what happens inside the Dimona complex, but if you put together a compote of usually reliable sources (the Federation of American Scientists, Jane's Intelligence Review, the Stockholm Institute), a tolerably clear picture emerges. Ariel Sharon probably has more than 200 nuclear warheads this morning - more if the 17 years since Mordechai Vanunu's kidnapping have been devoted to building stockpiles.
Guardian: If Libya Can Disarm...Why Not Israel?
We Can No Longer Ignore The World's Fifth-Largest Nuclear Power
There's a logic to these things. Muammar Gadafy, growing older, and his isolated Libya, growing poorer, were getting nothing worthwhile from the atomic bomb they hadn't built yet or chemicals they had scant residual use for. Logic - and common sense - meant changing tack. Good for logic. But logic doesn't stop there.
What next? If weapons of mass destruction are a menace in unstable regions such as the Middle East, if their availability must be reduced, then logic begins to move us closer to the confrontation we never seek with the nuclear power we - let alone Messrs Bush and Blair - seldom mention: Israel.
Nobody, including the Knesset, quite knows what happens inside the Dimona complex, but if you put together a compote of usually reliable sources (the Federation of American Scientists, Jane's Intelligence Review, the Stockholm Institute), a tolerably clear picture emerges. Ariel Sharon probably has more than 200 nuclear warheads this morning - more if the 17 years since Mordechai Vanunu's kidnapping have been devoted to building stockpiles.
Monday, December 22, 2003
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish soldiers and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of liberty, democracy and respect for international law".
Spanish Primeminister Jose Maria Aznar speaking to spanish Troops during a surprise Visit in Iraq
"und das sagt er nachdem er die Spanier entgegen der Meinung von 95% der Bevölkerung, in einen illegalen Agressionskrieg gesendet hat"
Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish soldiers and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of liberty, democracy and respect for international law".
Spanish Primeminister Jose Maria Aznar speaking to spanish Troops during a surprise Visit in Iraq
"und das sagt er nachdem er die Spanier entgegen der Meinung von 95% der Bevölkerung, in einen illegalen Agressionskrieg gesendet hat"
WHO CAUGHT SADDAM
Sidney Morning Herald: 'We Got Him' - Kurds Say They Caught Saddam
Washington's claims that brilliant US intelligence work led to the capture of Saddam Hussein are being challenged by reports sourced in Iraq's Kurdish media claiming that its militia set the circumstances in which the US merely had to go to a farm identified by the Kurds to bag the fugitive former president.
Sidney Morning Herald: Kurds Captured, Drugged Saddam Before US Got Him
Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.
The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".
Correspondences: Bush Lies Again - This Time About Saddam's Capture
Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces. Here is the story as best I can determine by looking through a number of articles (see full list at end of this post).
Hussein was betrayed to the Kurds by a member of the al-Jabour tribe because Hussein's son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam had previously paid 7 million pounds in blood money to the tribe with the warning that he would wipe out the entire tribe if it ever came out. (Sify report)
He was then handed over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front who negotiated a deal with US forces for political power before drugging and abandoning Hussein for pickup. Ultimately he ended up in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani (Aljazeera)
Sidney Morning Herald: 'We Got Him' - Kurds Say They Caught Saddam
Washington's claims that brilliant US intelligence work led to the capture of Saddam Hussein are being challenged by reports sourced in Iraq's Kurdish media claiming that its militia set the circumstances in which the US merely had to go to a farm identified by the Kurds to bag the fugitive former president.
Sidney Morning Herald: Kurds Captured, Drugged Saddam Before US Got Him
Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.
The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".
Correspondences: Bush Lies Again - This Time About Saddam's Capture
Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces. Here is the story as best I can determine by looking through a number of articles (see full list at end of this post).
Hussein was betrayed to the Kurds by a member of the al-Jabour tribe because Hussein's son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam had previously paid 7 million pounds in blood money to the tribe with the warning that he would wipe out the entire tribe if it ever came out. (Sify report)
He was then handed over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front who negotiated a deal with US forces for political power before drugging and abandoning Hussein for pickup. Ultimately he ended up in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani (Aljazeera)
IRAQ
Moscow Times: Best-Laid Plans By Chris Floyd
12/19/03: (Moscow Times) One of the constant refrains we hear from the malcontents carping about George W. Bush's triumphant crusade in Iraq is the charge -- the canard -- that the president and his crack team of advisers "had no plan" for the post-war period, that they've stumbled from crisis to crisis, changing policies without rhyme or reason, or have even "plunged off a cliff," as erstwhile war-hawk Newt Gingrich declared last week.
But to anyone not blinded by partisan ideology or irrational Bush-hatred, the evidence clearly shows that Team Bush has always had a very specific plan for remaking Iraq -- and is following it faithfully to this very day.
Of course, it's not always easy to discern the president's steadfast adherence to principle through the defeatist fog of the liberal American media. For instance, this month saw perhaps the most significant progress yet toward the fulfillment of Bush's master plan, yet there was not a word about it anywhere in America's media "Establishment." No, Britain's Financial Times and South Africa's Sunday Times provided the unvarnished truth last week.
We refer, of course, to the $40 million contract awarded by occupation authorities to a private security company called Erinys Iraq. This plucky start-up is one of the great success stories of the occupation, having already bagged big money to ride shotgun for Halliburton and Bechtel as they spread their beneficent tentacles throughout the conquered land. Now little Erinys will guard the Holy Grail of the entire invasion project: Iraq's oil industry.
Erinys is a joint venture between a large South African freebooting firm and a few choice Iraqi investors. How choice? They are intimates of Ahmad Chalabi: leader of the Iraqi National Congress exile group, member of the Bush-appointed Governing Council, convicted swindler, darling of the Pentagon -- and the Bush plan's designated tyrant-to-be, the Iraqi face of a compliant, corporate-run colonial outpost in Mesopotamia.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Moscow Times: Best-Laid Plans By Chris Floyd
12/19/03: (Moscow Times) One of the constant refrains we hear from the malcontents carping about George W. Bush's triumphant crusade in Iraq is the charge -- the canard -- that the president and his crack team of advisers "had no plan" for the post-war period, that they've stumbled from crisis to crisis, changing policies without rhyme or reason, or have even "plunged off a cliff," as erstwhile war-hawk Newt Gingrich declared last week.
But to anyone not blinded by partisan ideology or irrational Bush-hatred, the evidence clearly shows that Team Bush has always had a very specific plan for remaking Iraq -- and is following it faithfully to this very day.
Of course, it's not always easy to discern the president's steadfast adherence to principle through the defeatist fog of the liberal American media. For instance, this month saw perhaps the most significant progress yet toward the fulfillment of Bush's master plan, yet there was not a word about it anywhere in America's media "Establishment." No, Britain's Financial Times and South Africa's Sunday Times provided the unvarnished truth last week.
We refer, of course, to the $40 million contract awarded by occupation authorities to a private security company called Erinys Iraq. This plucky start-up is one of the great success stories of the occupation, having already bagged big money to ride shotgun for Halliburton and Bechtel as they spread their beneficent tentacles throughout the conquered land. Now little Erinys will guard the Holy Grail of the entire invasion project: Iraq's oil industry.
Erinys is a joint venture between a large South African freebooting firm and a few choice Iraqi investors. How choice? They are intimates of Ahmad Chalabi: leader of the Iraqi National Congress exile group, member of the Bush-appointed Governing Council, convicted swindler, darling of the Pentagon -- and the Bush plan's designated tyrant-to-be, the Iraqi face of a compliant, corporate-run colonial outpost in Mesopotamia.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Information Clearinghouse: The Americans invaded Iraq in order to remain there By Uri Avnery
The spectacle was disgusting.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!" Thus commandeth the ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs, 24, 16).
The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every person tends to gloat when his enemy falls. But he wanted to point out that this is an ugly human trait and one should try to overcome it.
And now a mighty world power has sunk to this level. It is repeatedly displaying the spectacle of American soldiers looking for lice in the hair of a miserable Saddam and poking about among his teeth.
If it is possible at all to evoke pity for a man like Saddam, who is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands, the Americans have achieved this. By showing him off as a drugged tramp, they created the opposite effect from what they wanted. The Vatican has called for mercy. The public humiliation of an Arab leader, whatever one may think about him, evokes the deepest feelings of insult and fury among tens of millions of Arabs. These feelings will strive to express themselves violently. This may cost blood, much blood.
(Not long ago, the United States cried to high heaven when the Iraqis showed off some American prisoners. But there are apparently no mirrors in Washington DC.)
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Information Clearinghouse: The Americans invaded Iraq in order to remain there By Uri Avnery
The spectacle was disgusting.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!" Thus commandeth the ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs, 24, 16).
The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every person tends to gloat when his enemy falls. But he wanted to point out that this is an ugly human trait and one should try to overcome it.
And now a mighty world power has sunk to this level. It is repeatedly displaying the spectacle of American soldiers looking for lice in the hair of a miserable Saddam and poking about among his teeth.
If it is possible at all to evoke pity for a man like Saddam, who is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands, the Americans have achieved this. By showing him off as a drugged tramp, they created the opposite effect from what they wanted. The Vatican has called for mercy. The public humiliation of an Arab leader, whatever one may think about him, evokes the deepest feelings of insult and fury among tens of millions of Arabs. These feelings will strive to express themselves violently. This may cost blood, much blood.
(Not long ago, the United States cried to high heaven when the Iraqis showed off some American prisoners. But there are apparently no mirrors in Washington DC.)
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
USA: E-VOTING
WIRED: At Least Five Convicted Felons Sit on Diebold Board, One Locked Up For Computer Tampering
SAN FRANCISCO -- At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold, one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.
WIRED: At Least Five Convicted Felons Sit on Diebold Board, One Locked Up For Computer Tampering
SAN FRANCISCO -- At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold, one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.
IRAQ
Counterpunch: Shooting Samarra's Schoolboys in the Back By ROBERT FISK
Phantam Insurgents in Fantasyville
Schoolboy Issam Naim Hamid is the latest of America's famous "insurgents". In Samarra--for which read Fantasyville--he was shot in the back as he tried to protect himself with his parents in his home in the Al-Jeheriya district of the ancient Abbasid city.
It was three in the morning, according to his mother, Manal, when soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division came to the house, firing bullets through the gate. One of the rounds pierced the door, punched through a window and entered Issam's back, speeding on through an outer wall. His father was hit in the ankle and was taken to Tikrit hospital yesterday in serious condition. Issam cries in pain in the Samarra emergency hospital ward, a drip-tube sticking into his stomach through a wad of bloody bandages.
The Americans claimed to have killed 54 "insurgents" after a series of guerrilla ambushes in the city last month, and the only dead to be found in the mortuaries were nine civilians, including an Iranian pilgrim to the great golden-cupolaed Shia shrine that looms over Samarra. Four days ago, they boasted of a further 11 "insurgents", but the only dead man who could be found was a vegetable seller. At the Samarra hospital, doctors also have the names of a taxi driver called Amer Baghdadi, shot dead by the Americans on Wednesday night.
Counterpunch: Shooting Samarra's Schoolboys in the Back By ROBERT FISK
Phantam Insurgents in Fantasyville
Schoolboy Issam Naim Hamid is the latest of America's famous "insurgents". In Samarra--for which read Fantasyville--he was shot in the back as he tried to protect himself with his parents in his home in the Al-Jeheriya district of the ancient Abbasid city.
It was three in the morning, according to his mother, Manal, when soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division came to the house, firing bullets through the gate. One of the rounds pierced the door, punched through a window and entered Issam's back, speeding on through an outer wall. His father was hit in the ankle and was taken to Tikrit hospital yesterday in serious condition. Issam cries in pain in the Samarra emergency hospital ward, a drip-tube sticking into his stomach through a wad of bloody bandages.
The Americans claimed to have killed 54 "insurgents" after a series of guerrilla ambushes in the city last month, and the only dead to be found in the mortuaries were nine civilians, including an Iranian pilgrim to the great golden-cupolaed Shia shrine that looms over Samarra. Four days ago, they boasted of a further 11 "insurgents", but the only dead man who could be found was a vegetable seller. At the Samarra hospital, doctors also have the names of a taxi driver called Amer Baghdadi, shot dead by the Americans on Wednesday night.
SADDAM
Counterpunch: 15 Years Too Late By ROBERT FISK
Saddam will Continue to Haunt Iraq for Years
Was this really the man with whom I shook hands almost a quarter of a century ago? I've spent 24 hours looking again and again at those videotapes. The more I look, the more Saddam turns into a wild animal. An American interviewed by the Associated Press said he'd gone straight to church to pray for him. The face I remember from my meeting with him almost a quarter of a century ago was chubby in an insolent sort of way, the moustache so well trimmed that it looked as if it had been stuck on his face with paste, the huge double-breasted suit the kind that Nazi leaders used to wear, too empty, too floppy on the shoulders.
Counterpunch: 15 Years Too Late By ROBERT FISK
Saddam will Continue to Haunt Iraq for Years
Was this really the man with whom I shook hands almost a quarter of a century ago? I've spent 24 hours looking again and again at those videotapes. The more I look, the more Saddam turns into a wild animal. An American interviewed by the Associated Press said he'd gone straight to church to pray for him. The face I remember from my meeting with him almost a quarter of a century ago was chubby in an insolent sort of way, the moustache so well trimmed that it looked as if it had been stuck on his face with paste, the huge double-breasted suit the kind that Nazi leaders used to wear, too empty, too floppy on the shoulders.
MICHAEL MOOR
Michael Moore: Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news.
What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do with the security of the United States of America.
I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free speech). I thank them for their bravery.
Michael Moore: Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news.
What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do with the security of the United States of America.
I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free speech). I thank them for their bravery.
UK: DEMOCRACY
Guardian: 'Secret' detainee tells of jail despair
Terror suspect held for two years says he suffered mental breakdown that led to transfer to Broadmoor from high-security prison
A man detained in Britain without charge or trial for two years on the basis of secret evidence he can neither know about nor challenge has told of his despair at his treatment under anti-terrorist legislation.
Exactly two years after he was arrested at his family home in the early hours and taken to Belmarsh high-security prison, Mahmoud Abu Rideh is the first of 14 detainees held on suspicion of terrorism to speak out publicly, through a letter sent to the Guardian.
In it, he tells of his horror at his arrest, his humiliation in prison and the deterioration of his mental health. He has now been moved to the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, says the detainees are all suspected international terrorists with links to al-Qaida or related groups and that the anti-terrorist legislation under which they are held, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is essential to safeguard the public.
Human rights groups, however, have condemned detentions based on secret evidence without a criminal trial. On Thursday, the privy counsellors review committee, a cross-party group of MPs set up by Mr Blunkett, which spent 18 months reviewing the act, called for it to be scrapped.
Mr Abu Rideh claims his experiences since his arrest are an indictment of Britain. "Is this the civilisation of London? Is this Europe civilisation in the 21st century?" It was a month before he was allowed to call a lawyer and six months before he saw his wife and children.
Guardian: 'Secret' detainee tells of jail despair
Terror suspect held for two years says he suffered mental breakdown that led to transfer to Broadmoor from high-security prison
A man detained in Britain without charge or trial for two years on the basis of secret evidence he can neither know about nor challenge has told of his despair at his treatment under anti-terrorist legislation.
Exactly two years after he was arrested at his family home in the early hours and taken to Belmarsh high-security prison, Mahmoud Abu Rideh is the first of 14 detainees held on suspicion of terrorism to speak out publicly, through a letter sent to the Guardian.
In it, he tells of his horror at his arrest, his humiliation in prison and the deterioration of his mental health. He has now been moved to the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, says the detainees are all suspected international terrorists with links to al-Qaida or related groups and that the anti-terrorist legislation under which they are held, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is essential to safeguard the public.
Human rights groups, however, have condemned detentions based on secret evidence without a criminal trial. On Thursday, the privy counsellors review committee, a cross-party group of MPs set up by Mr Blunkett, which spent 18 months reviewing the act, called for it to be scrapped.
Mr Abu Rideh claims his experiences since his arrest are an indictment of Britain. "Is this the civilisation of London? Is this Europe civilisation in the 21st century?" It was a month before he was allowed to call a lawyer and six months before he saw his wife and children.
USA
Guardian: Bush wants Saddam to hang, but we must resist
The US president is reflecting his own brutish view of the world
It has always seemed mistaken to perceive Iraq as the epicentre of the "Iraq crisis". Events there represent only one manifestation of a much more profound issue: how the rest of the world should manage its relationship with the United States. This will be our great foreign policy dilemma for at least the first half of the 21st century.
America's wealth and power are inescapable realities. It seems self-indulgent to lavish emotional and intellectual energy on deploring the shortcomings of the world's only superpower. From Tony Blair downwards, all of us must focus on coming to terms with the US, rather than figuratively waving placards to demand that this great nation should be something other than it is.
Yet, it is hard not to hate George Bush. His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion. A few weeks ago, I heard a British diplomat observe sagely: "We must not demonise Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz." Why not? The US defence secretary and his assistant have implemented coalition policy in Iraq in a fashion that makes Soviet behaviour in Afghanistan in the 1970s appear dextrous. The British are hapless passengers on the Pentagon's juggernaut.
Guardian: Bush wants Saddam to hang, but we must resist
The US president is reflecting his own brutish view of the world
It has always seemed mistaken to perceive Iraq as the epicentre of the "Iraq crisis". Events there represent only one manifestation of a much more profound issue: how the rest of the world should manage its relationship with the United States. This will be our great foreign policy dilemma for at least the first half of the 21st century.
America's wealth and power are inescapable realities. It seems self-indulgent to lavish emotional and intellectual energy on deploring the shortcomings of the world's only superpower. From Tony Blair downwards, all of us must focus on coming to terms with the US, rather than figuratively waving placards to demand that this great nation should be something other than it is.
Yet, it is hard not to hate George Bush. His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion. A few weeks ago, I heard a British diplomat observe sagely: "We must not demonise Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz." Why not? The US defence secretary and his assistant have implemented coalition policy in Iraq in a fashion that makes Soviet behaviour in Afghanistan in the 1970s appear dextrous. The British are hapless passengers on the Pentagon's juggernaut.
IRAQ
Washington Times: National Intelligence Council Predicts Bleak Future for Iraq
The National Intelligence Council, a group under CIA Director George J.
Tenet, has released a paper that is part of an effort by intelligence
analysts to predict global events in the next 17 years. For its Middle
East section, one analyst predicts Iraq faces a broad range of outcomes,
mostly bad. Baghdad in 2020 could have democraticlike rulers, such as those in
current Lebanon, or could become a democratic "Switzerland-on-the-Tigris,"
the analyst states. In its section on future "shocks," the paper lays
out four negative outcomes, including the emergence in Iraq of a radical
Islamic regime similar to Iran's dictatorship.
Washington Times: National Intelligence Council Predicts Bleak Future for Iraq
The National Intelligence Council, a group under CIA Director George J.
Tenet, has released a paper that is part of an effort by intelligence
analysts to predict global events in the next 17 years. For its Middle
East section, one analyst predicts Iraq faces a broad range of outcomes,
mostly bad. Baghdad in 2020 could have democraticlike rulers, such as those in
current Lebanon, or could become a democratic "Switzerland-on-the-Tigris,"
the analyst states. In its section on future "shocks," the paper lays
out four negative outcomes, including the emergence in Iraq of a radical
Islamic regime similar to Iran's dictatorship.
IRAQ
Commondreams: U.S. "Torture Lite" Led To Saddam's Capture
"This guy was in interrogation. He wasn't willingly giving stuff up." That' s what an officer involved in Saddam's capture told the Washington Post. If the informant who led U.S. forces to Saddam wasn't giving information willingly, why did he give any information at all? It is hard to avoid thinking about the the dirty word that everyone is too polite to mention, the "T-word": torture.
Col. James Hickey, who commanded the capture operation, tells the story a bit differently, according to the Chicago Sun-Times: "'Once in our custody the informant was cooperative, and he did provide the crucial information. But will he receive the $25 million?' he laughed. 'I seriously doubt it.'"
"Wir bringen den Irakern Demokratie...mit den Mittel Saddams"
Commondreams: U.S. "Torture Lite" Led To Saddam's Capture
"This guy was in interrogation. He wasn't willingly giving stuff up." That' s what an officer involved in Saddam's capture told the Washington Post. If the informant who led U.S. forces to Saddam wasn't giving information willingly, why did he give any information at all? It is hard to avoid thinking about the the dirty word that everyone is too polite to mention, the "T-word": torture.
Col. James Hickey, who commanded the capture operation, tells the story a bit differently, according to the Chicago Sun-Times: "'Once in our custody the informant was cooperative, and he did provide the crucial information. But will he receive the $25 million?' he laughed. 'I seriously doubt it.'"
"Wir bringen den Irakern Demokratie...mit den Mittel Saddams"
USA
Bayarea: Courts set limits on terror detention
WASHINGTON - Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and New York handed the Bush administration's war on terrorism two stunning legal setbacks Thursday, ruling that the government does not have unchecked power to jail ``enemy combatants'' without access to the courts.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that President Bush has no authority to hold American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant without congressional approval, and ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to release the alleged ``dirty bomb'' plotter from military custody within 30 days.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals panel said the government cannot keep 660 foreign fighters captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan locked up indefinitely at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Bayarea: Courts set limits on terror detention
WASHINGTON - Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and New York handed the Bush administration's war on terrorism two stunning legal setbacks Thursday, ruling that the government does not have unchecked power to jail ``enemy combatants'' without access to the courts.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that President Bush has no authority to hold American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant without congressional approval, and ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to release the alleged ``dirty bomb'' plotter from military custody within 30 days.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals panel said the government cannot keep 660 foreign fighters captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan locked up indefinitely at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
OCCUPIED TERRITORES
Spiegel: Elitesoldaten verweigern Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten
13 israelische Elitesoldaten haben Regierungschef Ariel Scharon einen Korb gegeben. In einem Brief an die Regierung kündigten die Soldaten und Offiziere der Spezialeinheit des Generalstabes an, künftig den Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten zu verweigern.
Jerusalem - Die Militärs begründeten ihren Schritt mit Sorge um die Zukunft Israels als demokratischer, zionistischer und jüdischer Staat, wie es hieß. "Wir können nicht mehr beiseite stehen. Heute sagen wir: Wir werden nicht helfen, Millionen Palästinensern ihre Menschenrechte vorzuenthalten. Wir werden nicht Schutzwall für die Siedlungskampagne sein", hieß es in dem Schreiben der Elitesoldaten. "Wir werden unsere Moral nicht durch Aufgaben einer Besatzungsarmee verunstalten lassen. Diese Grenze wird nicht mehr überschritten."
"Respect"
Spiegel: Elitesoldaten verweigern Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten
13 israelische Elitesoldaten haben Regierungschef Ariel Scharon einen Korb gegeben. In einem Brief an die Regierung kündigten die Soldaten und Offiziere der Spezialeinheit des Generalstabes an, künftig den Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten zu verweigern.
Jerusalem - Die Militärs begründeten ihren Schritt mit Sorge um die Zukunft Israels als demokratischer, zionistischer und jüdischer Staat, wie es hieß. "Wir können nicht mehr beiseite stehen. Heute sagen wir: Wir werden nicht helfen, Millionen Palästinensern ihre Menschenrechte vorzuenthalten. Wir werden nicht Schutzwall für die Siedlungskampagne sein", hieß es in dem Schreiben der Elitesoldaten. "Wir werden unsere Moral nicht durch Aufgaben einer Besatzungsarmee verunstalten lassen. Diese Grenze wird nicht mehr überschritten."
"Respect"
Saturday, December 20, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: MOSSAD-AL QAEDA
Executive Intelligence Review: Mossad Exposed in Phony`Palestinian Al-Qaeda' Caper
by Michele Steinberg and Hussein Askary
The United States government has been provided with concrete evidence that the Israeli Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services have been involved in a 13-month effort to "recruit" an Israeli-run, phony "al-Qaeda cell" among Palestinians, so that Israel could achieve a frontline position in the U.S. war against terrorism and get a green light for a worldwide "revenge without borders" policy. The question: Does the United States have the moral fiber to investigate?
Evidence of the Israeli dirty tricks burst onto the public scene on Dec. 6, when Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, held a press conference revealing the details of the alleged plot, as his agency had put the pieces together. The revelations undermine the "big lie" that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used to justify new brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and other occupied areas. Sharon claimed on Dec. 4 that Israeli intelligence had "hard evidence" of al-Qaeda operations in the Gaza Strip. Now, the top Palestinian leadership has shown the United States and other nations how Israeli intelligence entities were creating that al-Qaeda link!
Haaretz: Ibrahim, the Shin Bet wants you to join Qaida
Arabia: Palestinian Man Says Mossad Sought to Induce Him to Set up Fake Qaeda Cell in Gaza
Kilafah: PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda
Sidney Morning Herald: Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda 'poseurs'
Anti War: By Way of Deception, by Justin Raimondo
Executive Intelligence Review: Mossad Exposed in Phony`Palestinian Al-Qaeda' Caper
by Michele Steinberg and Hussein Askary
The United States government has been provided with concrete evidence that the Israeli Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services have been involved in a 13-month effort to "recruit" an Israeli-run, phony "al-Qaeda cell" among Palestinians, so that Israel could achieve a frontline position in the U.S. war against terrorism and get a green light for a worldwide "revenge without borders" policy. The question: Does the United States have the moral fiber to investigate?
Evidence of the Israeli dirty tricks burst onto the public scene on Dec. 6, when Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, held a press conference revealing the details of the alleged plot, as his agency had put the pieces together. The revelations undermine the "big lie" that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used to justify new brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and other occupied areas. Sharon claimed on Dec. 4 that Israeli intelligence had "hard evidence" of al-Qaeda operations in the Gaza Strip. Now, the top Palestinian leadership has shown the United States and other nations how Israeli intelligence entities were creating that al-Qaeda link!
Haaretz: Ibrahim, the Shin Bet wants you to join Qaida
Arabia: Palestinian Man Says Mossad Sought to Induce Him to Set up Fake Qaeda Cell in Gaza
Kilafah: PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda
Sidney Morning Herald: Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda 'poseurs'
Anti War: By Way of Deception, by Justin Raimondo
IRAQ 1990
RENSE: April Glaspie - Saddam Hussein Conversation 1990
Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting with U.S. Envoy
The New York Times International
Sunday, September 23, 1990
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 -- On July 25, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq summoned the United States Ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, to his office in the last high-level contact between the two Governments before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Here are excerpts from a document described by Iraqi Government officials as a transcript of the meeting, which also included the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz. A copy was provided to The New York Times by ABC News, which translated from the Arabic. The State Department has declined to comment on its accuracy.
RENSE: April Glaspie - Saddam Hussein Conversation 1990
Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting with U.S. Envoy
The New York Times International
Sunday, September 23, 1990
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 -- On July 25, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq summoned the United States Ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, to his office in the last high-level contact between the two Governments before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Here are excerpts from a document described by Iraqi Government officials as a transcript of the meeting, which also included the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz. A copy was provided to The New York Times by ABC News, which translated from the Arabic. The State Department has declined to comment on its accuracy.
Friday, December 19, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Reuters: Sharon Issues Separation Ultimatum to Palestinians
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued an ultimatum to Palestinians, saying Israel would enforce a separation denying them land they want unless progress was made on a U.S.-backed peace plan within months.
The United States and the Palestinians condemned Sharon's go-it-alone plan on Thursday, and Israeli right-wingers criticized his idea of abandoning some Jewish settlements as part of what he called essential measures for Israel's security.
His Likud party has been thrown into confusion by his apparent rethink on its long-standing resistance to abandoning land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a major policy speech Sharon, warned that, whatever happened, work would speed up on a barrier through the West Bank that he says is vital to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen.
Reuters: Sharon Issues Separation Ultimatum to Palestinians
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued an ultimatum to Palestinians, saying Israel would enforce a separation denying them land they want unless progress was made on a U.S.-backed peace plan within months.
The United States and the Palestinians condemned Sharon's go-it-alone plan on Thursday, and Israeli right-wingers criticized his idea of abandoning some Jewish settlements as part of what he called essential measures for Israel's security.
His Likud party has been thrown into confusion by his apparent rethink on its long-standing resistance to abandoning land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a major policy speech Sharon, warned that, whatever happened, work would speed up on a barrier through the West Bank that he says is vital to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
AFP: US Soldier Killed In Baghdad Ambush
(AFP) - An American soldier was killed and another was wounded during an ambush in Baghdad, as violence also flared up in other areas of the country.
The soldier's unit was conducting a vehicle patrol in Baghdad's Karkh district at around 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) when the ambush occurred, the spokeswoman said Thursday.
"Another soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the incident," she said.
AFP: US Soldier Killed In Baghdad Ambush
(AFP) - An American soldier was killed and another was wounded during an ambush in Baghdad, as violence also flared up in other areas of the country.
The soldier's unit was conducting a vehicle patrol in Baghdad's Karkh district at around 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) when the ambush occurred, the spokeswoman said Thursday.
"Another soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the incident," she said.
IRAQ-USA
Spiegel: Rumsfeld signalisierte grünes Licht für Einsatz chemischer Waffen
Als der einstige Reagan-Gesandte Donald Rumsfeld 1984 Saddam Hussein einen Besuch abstattete, spielte die US-Regierung ein doppeltes Spiel. Neue Dokumente belegen: Trotz Öffentlicher Verdammung chemischer Waffen lag es dem Weissen Haus daran, die Beziehungen zu Bagdad auszubauen - auch wenn Saddam die Waffen gegen Iran einsetzen würde.
Spiegel: Rumsfeld signalisierte grünes Licht für Einsatz chemischer Waffen
Als der einstige Reagan-Gesandte Donald Rumsfeld 1984 Saddam Hussein einen Besuch abstattete, spielte die US-Regierung ein doppeltes Spiel. Neue Dokumente belegen: Trotz Öffentlicher Verdammung chemischer Waffen lag es dem Weissen Haus daran, die Beziehungen zu Bagdad auszubauen - auch wenn Saddam die Waffen gegen Iran einsetzen würde.
MEDIA WATCH
Albawaba: Anatomy of a News Report on Palestine by Les Blough
The following analysis examines a typical news report on Palestine by the corporate media. In the report, a Reuters reporter, Eli Berelzon, writes a story of a Palestinian soldier attacking the Israeli army and killing two Israeli soldiers. It is a story of what appears to be a successful Palestinian military operation against the Israeli Army ... but it’s not presented that way - not at all. You may think, “But Eli only reported the facts!�. Ah, but how were they presented?
“It’s not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it� - John Pilger.
"CHECK IT"
Albawaba: Anatomy of a News Report on Palestine by Les Blough
The following analysis examines a typical news report on Palestine by the corporate media. In the report, a Reuters reporter, Eli Berelzon, writes a story of a Palestinian soldier attacking the Israeli army and killing two Israeli soldiers. It is a story of what appears to be a successful Palestinian military operation against the Israeli Army ... but it’s not presented that way - not at all. You may think, “But Eli only reported the facts!�. Ah, but how were they presented?
“It’s not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it� - John Pilger.
"CHECK IT"
SADDAM
Newsday: Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing
WASHINGTON -- The Washington congressman who criticized President Bush while visiting Baghdad last year has questioned the timing of the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted." Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
The Democratic congressman went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
Newsday: Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing
WASHINGTON -- The Washington congressman who criticized President Bush while visiting Baghdad last year has questioned the timing of the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted." Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
The Democratic congressman went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
SADDAM
Albawaba: Israel denies Qatari report saying Sharon secretly met Saddam in Baghdad following arrest
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon paid a brief visit Sunday to Baghdad to secretly meet former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Qatari newspaper reported Tuesday.
Al-Raya, citing Nasser Mahmoud – a top Iraqi politician with close links to the interim council, reported that "Sharon, accompanied by intelligence officers, landed at around 20:00 at the Baghdad airport."
According to the report, top civil administrator Paul L. Bremer received the Israeli leader and accompanied him during the meeting with Saddam Hussein.
Mahmoud added, according to the report, that during a meeting with Bremer after his arrival in Baghdad, Sharon had asked to see Saddam in person.
Following the meeting with the ousted leader, Sharon praised Bremer and the US army on the capture and said it "strengthens the US victory in Iraq".
Albawaba: Israel denies Qatari report saying Sharon secretly met Saddam in Baghdad following arrest
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon paid a brief visit Sunday to Baghdad to secretly meet former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Qatari newspaper reported Tuesday.
Al-Raya, citing Nasser Mahmoud – a top Iraqi politician with close links to the interim council, reported that "Sharon, accompanied by intelligence officers, landed at around 20:00 at the Baghdad airport."
According to the report, top civil administrator Paul L. Bremer received the Israeli leader and accompanied him during the meeting with Saddam Hussein.
Mahmoud added, according to the report, that during a meeting with Bremer after his arrival in Baghdad, Sharon had asked to see Saddam in person.
Following the meeting with the ousted leader, Sharon praised Bremer and the US army on the capture and said it "strengthens the US victory in Iraq".
SADDAM
WSWS: Bush calls for Hussein’s execution: a portrait of sadism and ignorance
Those who actually sat through the interview and who know Bush’s record, however, may not be so impressed. When he was governor of Texas, the “ultimate penalty� was altogether routine. He presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in US history, and once allowed that he spent an average of just 15 minutes reviewing cases before giving the order to put human beings—including the mentally ill—to death.
After becoming president, he has resumed the use of the federal death penalty for the first time in the US since 1963, ordering the execution of a Persian Gulf War veteran on the very eve of launching the invasion of Iraq last March
This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice. But that will be decided not by the president of the United States but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another,� said Bush, who defensively added, “You don’t want a kangaroo court.�
But that is precisely what Washington is preparing. The “citizens of Iraq� will decide nothing. They are subjects of a US military occupation, without an elected government and without even the prospect of a vote for years to come. The US will create the instrument that will render Hussein’s verdict based on the time-honored American principle of “give him a fair trial and hang him.�
The other advantage of such a procedure is that dead men tell no tales. Hussein can be denied the one defense he would inevitably make before an international court: that the greatest crimes of which he stands accused—the Iran-Iraq war, the gassing of the Kurds and suppression of the Shiites—were carried out with either the direct support or tacit approval of US administrations in Washington.
WSWS: Bush calls for Hussein’s execution: a portrait of sadism and ignorance
Those who actually sat through the interview and who know Bush’s record, however, may not be so impressed. When he was governor of Texas, the “ultimate penalty� was altogether routine. He presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in US history, and once allowed that he spent an average of just 15 minutes reviewing cases before giving the order to put human beings—including the mentally ill—to death.
After becoming president, he has resumed the use of the federal death penalty for the first time in the US since 1963, ordering the execution of a Persian Gulf War veteran on the very eve of launching the invasion of Iraq last March
This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice. But that will be decided not by the president of the United States but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another,� said Bush, who defensively added, “You don’t want a kangaroo court.�
But that is precisely what Washington is preparing. The “citizens of Iraq� will decide nothing. They are subjects of a US military occupation, without an elected government and without even the prospect of a vote for years to come. The US will create the instrument that will render Hussein’s verdict based on the time-honored American principle of “give him a fair trial and hang him.�
The other advantage of such a procedure is that dead men tell no tales. Hussein can be denied the one defense he would inevitably make before an international court: that the greatest crimes of which he stands accused—the Iran-Iraq war, the gassing of the Kurds and suppression of the Shiites—were carried out with either the direct support or tacit approval of US administrations in Washington.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an
economic war against Iraq. I admire your extraordinary efforts to
rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our
opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we
have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with
Kuwait. James Baker [US Secretary of State] has directed our official
spokesmen to emphasise this instruction. .... "
-- April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, in conversation with Saddam
Hussein, US State Department transcripts, 25th July 1990, eight days before the invasion
"President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an
economic war against Iraq. I admire your extraordinary efforts to
rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our
opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we
have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with
Kuwait. James Baker [US Secretary of State] has directed our official
spokesmen to emphasise this instruction. .... "
-- April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, in conversation with Saddam
Hussein, US State Department transcripts, 25th July 1990, eight days before the invasion
Thursday, December 18, 2003
ISRAEL
Haaretz: Justice Minister Lapid slams 'barbaric' behavior of settlers
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Thursday launched a verbal assault on residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.
Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [Eastern] banks of the Jordan [river], a solution which is not only barbaric but also utterly impossible."
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, a showcase conference on Israeli security, Lapid said that, "Even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves.
"Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where," he said.
Speakers at the Herzliya Conference revisited Thursday controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.
MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country.
"No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."
"CHECK IT"
Haaretz: Justice Minister Lapid slams 'barbaric' behavior of settlers
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Thursday launched a verbal assault on residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.
Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [Eastern] banks of the Jordan [river], a solution which is not only barbaric but also utterly impossible."
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, a showcase conference on Israeli security, Lapid said that, "Even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves.
"Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where," he said.
Speakers at the Herzliya Conference revisited Thursday controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.
MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country.
"No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."
"CHECK IT"
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
IRAN
Albawaba.com: Iran's Leader - Bush, Sharon
Deserve Same Fate As Saddam
Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that all Iranians were "pleased" at the arrest of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but said U.S. President George W. Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should also go.
"The Iranian nation is very pleased with his [Saddam's]arrest," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in the city of Qazvin carried live on state television.
He described the ousted Iraqi leader as a "wild animal", a "corrupt being" and a "bloodthirsty wolf", sparking chants from the crowd of "Death to Saddam", "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
However, the leader also blamed Saddam's captors of hypocrisy, citing their support of Iraq during its 1980-88 war against the Islamic republic of Iran that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians.
"The same Americans who are now happy over his arrest were at the time shaking his hand. The current U.S. defence minister [Donald Rumsfeld] met with Saddam in Baghdad, promised to help him and helped him in order to put Islamic Iran under pressure," Khamenei declared.
"I heard the U.S. president told Saddam that 'the world is a better place without you'. I want to tell the U.S. president that he should know the world would be an even better place without Bush and Sharon," Khamenei said.
Albawaba.com: Iran's Leader - Bush, Sharon
Deserve Same Fate As Saddam
Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that all Iranians were "pleased" at the arrest of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but said U.S. President George W. Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should also go.
"The Iranian nation is very pleased with his [Saddam's]arrest," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in the city of Qazvin carried live on state television.
He described the ousted Iraqi leader as a "wild animal", a "corrupt being" and a "bloodthirsty wolf", sparking chants from the crowd of "Death to Saddam", "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
However, the leader also blamed Saddam's captors of hypocrisy, citing their support of Iraq during its 1980-88 war against the Islamic republic of Iran that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians.
"The same Americans who are now happy over his arrest were at the time shaking his hand. The current U.S. defence minister [Donald Rumsfeld] met with Saddam in Baghdad, promised to help him and helped him in order to put Islamic Iran under pressure," Khamenei declared.
"I heard the U.S. president told Saddam that 'the world is a better place without you'. I want to tell the U.S. president that he should know the world would be an even better place without Bush and Sharon," Khamenei said.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Tagesanzeiger: Bomben im Stundentakt
Nachdem bereits am frühen Morgen ein Tanklaster in Bagdad explodiert war, hat eine weitere mächtige Explosion am frühen Nachmittag den Süden der irakischen Hauptstadt erschüttert
Independent: 10 killed in Baghdad truck bombing
An explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station collided with a bus at an intersection before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 10 people amid a surge of violence since the weekend arrest of Saddam Hussein.
Twenty people were also injured in the attack in al-Bayaa, a poor district in south-west Baghdad, hospital officials said. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, deputy interior minister, said the dead were Iraqis, and that the truck driver had planned to strike the police station.
Tagesanzeiger: Bomben im Stundentakt
Nachdem bereits am frühen Morgen ein Tanklaster in Bagdad explodiert war, hat eine weitere mächtige Explosion am frühen Nachmittag den Süden der irakischen Hauptstadt erschüttert
Independent: 10 killed in Baghdad truck bombing
An explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station collided with a bus at an intersection before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 10 people amid a surge of violence since the weekend arrest of Saddam Hussein.
Twenty people were also injured in the attack in al-Bayaa, a poor district in south-west Baghdad, hospital officials said. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, deputy interior minister, said the dead were Iraqis, and that the truck driver had planned to strike the police station.
SADDAM
Iribnew: Iran Broadcasting Says Bush
Met Saddam On November 27
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani newspaper on Tuesday published a report, claiming a meeting had taken place between US President George Bush and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The Urdu language newspaper, Khabrain, quoting some reports said that during his unexpected sojourn to Baghdad, Bush met deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The daily further said that Saddam had tried to commit suicide on November 23. He was apprehended with the help of Kurd leader Jalal Talabani and Saddam's his own guards three days before he
attempted to kill himself.
The local press, like in all the other countries, gave front page extensive coverage to the stories about Saddam's arrest and the circumstances which led to his capture.
Iribnew: Iran Broadcasting Says Bush
Met Saddam On November 27
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani newspaper on Tuesday published a report, claiming a meeting had taken place between US President George Bush and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The Urdu language newspaper, Khabrain, quoting some reports said that during his unexpected sojourn to Baghdad, Bush met deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The daily further said that Saddam had tried to commit suicide on November 23. He was apprehended with the help of Kurd leader Jalal Talabani and Saddam's his own guards three days before he
attempted to kill himself.
The local press, like in all the other countries, gave front page extensive coverage to the stories about Saddam's arrest and the circumstances which led to his capture.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
STREETART: ACCESS FESTIVAL
Pictures from Acces-s:
PICS 1
PICS 2
EKOSYSTEM: I had asked some ekosystem friends to work on a common theme : the Access. More than 40 people sent me their contributions and I've put them together in a video. This video was shown during Acces(s) festival last november download the Video DIvx/51MB
Pictures from Acces-s:
PICS 1
PICS 2
EKOSYSTEM: I had asked some ekosystem friends to work on a common theme : the Access. More than 40 people sent me their contributions and I've put them together in a video. This video was shown during Acces(s) festival last november download the Video DIvx/51MB
SHARON
Haaretz: Sharon's Perception Of Time
"At the behest of Sharon's careful, incremental method, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed or injured over the past year; masses have fallen below the poverty line; billions of dollars have been squandered; hatred has mounted; and the demographic threat has increased."
Disturbingly, there's at least one indication that Ariel Sharon really thinks time is on his side: The prime minister clings to his belief that "a million Jews" will immigrate to Israel, and defuse the demographic threat to the Jewish state. Nary a meeting with wealthy, visiting Jews goes by without Sharon preaching to his guests about immigrating to Israel.
The troubling thing is that when a leader believes time is on his side, he has no reason to try to change reality. Yitzhak Shamir, who was sure the passage of time would strengthen the vision of Greater Israel, formulated the doctrine this way: "In the end, the Arabs will get used to the situation."
Haaretz: Sharon's Perception Of Time
"At the behest of Sharon's careful, incremental method, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed or injured over the past year; masses have fallen below the poverty line; billions of dollars have been squandered; hatred has mounted; and the demographic threat has increased."
Disturbingly, there's at least one indication that Ariel Sharon really thinks time is on his side: The prime minister clings to his belief that "a million Jews" will immigrate to Israel, and defuse the demographic threat to the Jewish state. Nary a meeting with wealthy, visiting Jews goes by without Sharon preaching to his guests about immigrating to Israel.
The troubling thing is that when a leader believes time is on his side, he has no reason to try to change reality. Yitzhak Shamir, who was sure the passage of time would strengthen the vision of Greater Israel, formulated the doctrine this way: "In the end, the Arabs will get used to the situation."
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Reuters: Saddam Arrest Cheer Fades
Into More Iraqi Anger At US
"The only difference is that Saddam would kill you in private, where the Americans will kill you in public."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein gave way to resentment toward Washington Monday as Iraqis confronted afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.
The morning after Iraq's U.S. governor revealed the ousted strongman was a disheveled prisoner, Iraqis flooded the streets to snatch up newspapers emblazoned with photos of the man who ruled them by fear, now humbled and captive.
Many were ecstatic to see Saddam captured and hoped he would answer for his deeds but said they would not rush to thank America -- in their eyes the source of their problems since a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam in April.
Reuters: Saddam Arrest Cheer Fades
Into More Iraqi Anger At US
"The only difference is that Saddam would kill you in private, where the Americans will kill you in public."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein gave way to resentment toward Washington Monday as Iraqis confronted afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.
The morning after Iraq's U.S. governor revealed the ousted strongman was a disheveled prisoner, Iraqis flooded the streets to snatch up newspapers emblazoned with photos of the man who ruled them by fear, now humbled and captive.
Many were ecstatic to see Saddam captured and hoped he would answer for his deeds but said they would not rush to thank America -- in their eyes the source of their problems since a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam in April.
SADDAM
Spiegel: US-Demokrat wirft Bush inszenierte Festnahme vor
Nach der Festnahme Saddam Husseins triumphiert George W. Bush. Doch der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott wirft dem Präsidenten vor, er habe den Zeitpunkt der Gefangennahme Saddams aus innenpolitischen Gründen bewusst festgelegt.
Washington - Der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott sagte in einem Rundfunkinterview, das US-Militär hätte Saddam schon vor langer Zeit finden können, "wenn sie das gewollt hätten". Auf die Nachfrage, ob er die Gefangennahme für "getimt" halte, damit Bush innenpolitisch punkten könne, antwortete McDermott: "Ja, oh ja."
Spiegel: US-Demokrat wirft Bush inszenierte Festnahme vor
Nach der Festnahme Saddam Husseins triumphiert George W. Bush. Doch der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott wirft dem Präsidenten vor, er habe den Zeitpunkt der Gefangennahme Saddams aus innenpolitischen Gründen bewusst festgelegt.
Washington - Der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott sagte in einem Rundfunkinterview, das US-Militär hätte Saddam schon vor langer Zeit finden können, "wenn sie das gewollt hätten". Auf die Nachfrage, ob er die Gefangennahme für "getimt" halte, damit Bush innenpolitisch punkten könne, antwortete McDermott: "Ja, oh ja."
IRAQ
Amnesty International: Iraq Tribunal Established without Consultation
Amnesty International has expressed concern to the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council about the decision to
establish an Iraqi special tribunal that was taken without prior
consultation with the Iraqi civil society or the international
community. 'We have been urging that the proposals to establish the tribunal be
subject to widespread consultation within Iraqi civil society,
especially the legal profession and human rights groups, as well as the
international community,' said Amnesty International today. 'Unfortunately, the draft
statute of the tribunal was not made public before its adoption.' Under
international humanitarian law, the authority of the CPA as an
Occupying Power to establish a tribunal of the scope envisaged for the Iraqi
special tribunal is doubtful at best.
Amnesty International: Iraq Tribunal Established without Consultation
Amnesty International has expressed concern to the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council about the decision to
establish an Iraqi special tribunal that was taken without prior
consultation with the Iraqi civil society or the international
community. 'We have been urging that the proposals to establish the tribunal be
subject to widespread consultation within Iraqi civil society,
especially the legal profession and human rights groups, as well as the
international community,' said Amnesty International today. 'Unfortunately, the draft
statute of the tribunal was not made public before its adoption.' Under
international humanitarian law, the authority of the CPA as an
Occupying Power to establish a tribunal of the scope envisaged for the Iraqi
special tribunal is doubtful at best.
SADDAM
CNN: Iraqi war crimes court set up
Saddam always said he'd tell the world of his real connections with the
Reagan and Bush administrations if he got the chance. Now, thanks to an
"amazing coincidence," he won't get his day in a world court. That's
because 3 days before his alleged capture, the Bush interim government
in Iraq set up a special war crimes tribunal that will be closed to the
world except for "outside experts" (hand-picked by the Bush junta, of
course). How very, very convenient. As the AFP reported on December 10, "Back in
Iraq...the Governing Council approved late last night the creation of
an Iraqi penal tribunal to try former members of Saddam Hussein's regime
for their crimes against humanity.. Council members have said US overseer
Pau Bremer has to sign the tribunal statutes, but a coalition spokesman has
insisted it was the Governing Council that was taking the decisions
about the court and not the US-led occupation authority."
CNN: Iraqi war crimes court set up
Saddam always said he'd tell the world of his real connections with the
Reagan and Bush administrations if he got the chance. Now, thanks to an
"amazing coincidence," he won't get his day in a world court. That's
because 3 days before his alleged capture, the Bush interim government
in Iraq set up a special war crimes tribunal that will be closed to the
world except for "outside experts" (hand-picked by the Bush junta, of
course). How very, very convenient. As the AFP reported on December 10, "Back in
Iraq...the Governing Council approved late last night the creation of
an Iraqi penal tribunal to try former members of Saddam Hussein's regime
for their crimes against humanity.. Council members have said US overseer
Pau Bremer has to sign the tribunal statutes, but a coalition spokesman has
insisted it was the Governing Council that was taking the decisions
about the court and not the US-led occupation authority."
WATER
Alternet: The Battle for Water
We are taught in school that the Earth has a closed hydrologic system; water is continually being recycled through rain and evaporation and none of it leaves the planet's atmosphere. Not only is there the same amount of water on the Earth today as there was at the creation of the planet, it's the same water. The next time you're walking in the rain, stop and think that some of the water falling on you ran through the blood of dinosaurs or swelled the tears of children who lived thousands of years ago.
Alternet: The Battle for Water
We are taught in school that the Earth has a closed hydrologic system; water is continually being recycled through rain and evaporation and none of it leaves the planet's atmosphere. Not only is there the same amount of water on the Earth today as there was at the creation of the planet, it's the same water. The next time you're walking in the rain, stop and think that some of the water falling on you ran through the blood of dinosaurs or swelled the tears of children who lived thousands of years ago.
Monday, December 15, 2003
SADDAM
Rense: They Got The Wrong Guy
War is peace, Orwell said. It has never been clearer than now.
The theatrical apprehension of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from his pathetic hole in the dirt is a prima facie example of how the American vision of life and the world has become totally twisted. It was the culmination of an unjust war against a defenseless people, this ritual roughing up of a tired old man who was never more than a puppet following the orders of the master manipulators who always planned to do him in when it became convenient.
Saddam was never a danger to America, despite all the pre-war rhetoric that has all been proven false.
George W. Bush - and Bill Clinton and the elder Bush before him - killed many times more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. The 20,000 or so Iraqi innocents who perished in the recent bombing of the Cradle of Civilization were at least ten times more than the number of political malcontents who ran afoul of the murderous machismo of Saddam's inflexible rule, and the utter destruction of this functioning nation-state was certainly something Hussein never contemplated.
Rense: They Got The Wrong Guy
War is peace, Orwell said. It has never been clearer than now.
The theatrical apprehension of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from his pathetic hole in the dirt is a prima facie example of how the American vision of life and the world has become totally twisted. It was the culmination of an unjust war against a defenseless people, this ritual roughing up of a tired old man who was never more than a puppet following the orders of the master manipulators who always planned to do him in when it became convenient.
Saddam was never a danger to America, despite all the pre-war rhetoric that has all been proven false.
George W. Bush - and Bill Clinton and the elder Bush before him - killed many times more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. The 20,000 or so Iraqi innocents who perished in the recent bombing of the Cradle of Civilization were at least ten times more than the number of political malcontents who ran afoul of the murderous machismo of Saddam's inflexible rule, and the utter destruction of this functioning nation-state was certainly something Hussein never contemplated.
VANDALISM
Zürich: Sprayer festgenommen
Die Stadtpolizei Zürich hat in der Nacht auf Montag einen 17-jährigen Schweizer festgenommen, der zuvor eine Hauswand in der City besprayt hatte.
Der Sachschaden an der Hausfassade beläuft sich auf rund 2000 Franken.
Eine Streifenwagenpatrouille sah, wie eine vermummte Person an der Gottfried Keller-Strasse eine Hauswand besprayte. Als der Sprayer die Polizisten bemerkte, rannte er weg. Obwohl er stürzte, konnten ihn die Beamten erst beim Stadelhoferplatz stoppen, wie die Stadtpolizei mitteilte.
Der 17-Jährige leistete heftige Gegenwehr, so dass er nur «mit angemessener Gewalt» festgenommen werden konnte. Weil er über Schmerzen im linken Arm klagte, brachte ihn die Sanität ins Spital, wo eine Fraktur des Ellbogens festgestellt wurde.
Zürich: Sprayer festgenommen
Die Stadtpolizei Zürich hat in der Nacht auf Montag einen 17-jährigen Schweizer festgenommen, der zuvor eine Hauswand in der City besprayt hatte.
Der Sachschaden an der Hausfassade beläuft sich auf rund 2000 Franken.
Eine Streifenwagenpatrouille sah, wie eine vermummte Person an der Gottfried Keller-Strasse eine Hauswand besprayte. Als der Sprayer die Polizisten bemerkte, rannte er weg. Obwohl er stürzte, konnten ihn die Beamten erst beim Stadelhoferplatz stoppen, wie die Stadtpolizei mitteilte.
Der 17-Jährige leistete heftige Gegenwehr, so dass er nur «mit angemessener Gewalt» festgenommen werden konnte. Weil er über Schmerzen im linken Arm klagte, brachte ihn die Sanität ins Spital, wo eine Fraktur des Ellbogens festgestellt wurde.
IRAQ: SADDAM
Truthout: We Caught The Wrong Guy
Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. That sounds pretty deranged, right? Perhaps, but it is also accurate. The unifying thread binding together everyone assembled at that Tikrit farmhouse is the simple fact that all of them - the soldiers as well as Hussein - have received pay from the United States for services rendered.
Independent: 'We Never Had WMD' Saddam Tells Interrogators
Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, claiming that they were an invention of the US government to justify an invasion, it was reported last night.
Although Saddam was captured without a fight and was initially said to be co-operative, US intelligence sources said that he had since been unco-operative and defiant under questioning.
Independent: Saddam's Capture Will Not
Stop Resistance by Robert Fisk
"Peace" and "reconciliation" were the patois of Downing Street and the White House yesterday. But all those hopes of a collapse of resistance are doomed. Saddam was neither the spiritual nor the political guide to the insurgency that is now claiming so many lives in Iraq - far more Iraqi than Western lives, one might add - and, however happy Messrs Bush and Blair may be at the capture of Saddam, the war goes on.
Online Journal: Will Saddam's Capture Prove
To Be A Trap For Bush?
"There is another possibility that whoever thought this through had done his homework very well, and the timing was impeccable. If true, students of propaganda will be using this incident as a case study for decades to come."
It was pretty much of a shock to learn of Saddam Hussein's capture so soon. Then again, come to think of it, no! George W. Bush's popularity is dipping badly and those niggling questions about Sept 11 are now gaining feverish momentum.
Rense: Saddam Betrayed - He Was A Prisoner
It's becoming increasingly clear Saddam had apparently been betrayed by his own closest protectors weeks ago and was being kept a prisoner in a hole in the ground while they tried to arrange to sell him for the $25 million - or more - in US reward money
Truthout: We Caught The Wrong Guy
Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. That sounds pretty deranged, right? Perhaps, but it is also accurate. The unifying thread binding together everyone assembled at that Tikrit farmhouse is the simple fact that all of them - the soldiers as well as Hussein - have received pay from the United States for services rendered.
Independent: 'We Never Had WMD' Saddam Tells Interrogators
Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, claiming that they were an invention of the US government to justify an invasion, it was reported last night.
Although Saddam was captured without a fight and was initially said to be co-operative, US intelligence sources said that he had since been unco-operative and defiant under questioning.
Independent: Saddam's Capture Will Not
Stop Resistance by Robert Fisk
"Peace" and "reconciliation" were the patois of Downing Street and the White House yesterday. But all those hopes of a collapse of resistance are doomed. Saddam was neither the spiritual nor the political guide to the insurgency that is now claiming so many lives in Iraq - far more Iraqi than Western lives, one might add - and, however happy Messrs Bush and Blair may be at the capture of Saddam, the war goes on.
Online Journal: Will Saddam's Capture Prove
To Be A Trap For Bush?
"There is another possibility that whoever thought this through had done his homework very well, and the timing was impeccable. If true, students of propaganda will be using this incident as a case study for decades to come."
It was pretty much of a shock to learn of Saddam Hussein's capture so soon. Then again, come to think of it, no! George W. Bush's popularity is dipping badly and those niggling questions about Sept 11 are now gaining feverish momentum.
Rense: Saddam Betrayed - He Was A Prisoner
It's becoming increasingly clear Saddam had apparently been betrayed by his own closest protectors weeks ago and was being kept a prisoner in a hole in the ground while they tried to arrange to sell him for the $25 million - or more - in US reward money
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Autobomben töten zehn Menschen
Auch nach der Verhaftung von Saddam Hussein geht die Terror-Serie im Irak weiter. Heute morgen explodierten vor zwei Polizeistationen Autobomben - zehn Menschen starben.
Bagdad - Der erste Anschlag habe sich in der Ortschaft Husseinijah etwa 30 Kilometer nördlich der irakischen Hauptstadt ereignet, teilte ein Polizeisprecher mit. Neun Menschen seien getötet worden, viele weitere seien zudem verwundet worden. Über dem Tatort stieg dichter Rauch auf. Die US-Armee riegelte das Gebiet ab.
Eine zweite Autobombe ging vor einer Polizeistation im Bagdader Stadtteil Amirijah in die Luft. Der Fahrer des Wagens wurde getötet, mindestens acht Menschen wurden dabei verletzt, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Kurz zuvor hatten Sprengstoffexperten eine Autobombe entschärft, die in der Umgebung gefunden worden war.
Spiegel: Autobomben töten zehn Menschen
Auch nach der Verhaftung von Saddam Hussein geht die Terror-Serie im Irak weiter. Heute morgen explodierten vor zwei Polizeistationen Autobomben - zehn Menschen starben.
Bagdad - Der erste Anschlag habe sich in der Ortschaft Husseinijah etwa 30 Kilometer nördlich der irakischen Hauptstadt ereignet, teilte ein Polizeisprecher mit. Neun Menschen seien getötet worden, viele weitere seien zudem verwundet worden. Über dem Tatort stieg dichter Rauch auf. Die US-Armee riegelte das Gebiet ab.
Eine zweite Autobombe ging vor einer Polizeistation im Bagdader Stadtteil Amirijah in die Luft. Der Fahrer des Wagens wurde getötet, mindestens acht Menschen wurden dabei verletzt, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Kurz zuvor hatten Sprengstoffexperten eine Autobombe entschärft, die in der Umgebung gefunden worden war.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
IRAQ
Reuters: Saddam Hussein reportedly arrested
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been arrested, an Iraqi Kurdish representative in Iran says, but the U.S. Defence Department says it can not confirm the report.
"I confirm that Saddam has been arrested," Nazem Dabag, representative in Iran of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters on Sunday.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted PUK leader Jalal Talabani as saying that Saddam had been captured in his home town of Tikrit.
"The American forces in Tikrit announced that Saddam was arrested on Sunday. The Americans said that they will announce the news officially in the next few hours," IRNA quoted Talabani as saying.
The news agency report was from Qasr-e Shirin in Iran across the border from Iraq. A Talabani aide said the Kurdish leader was in Tehran on his way to France.
The U.S. Defence Department said it could not confirm the report. Washington has made Saddam number one on its list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, and placed a $25 million (14 million pounds) reward on his head.
U.S. officials had said Saddam, 66, had eluded American troops by moving every few hours, probably in disguise and aided by members of his clan.
Reuters: Saddam Hussein reportedly arrested
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been arrested, an Iraqi Kurdish representative in Iran says, but the U.S. Defence Department says it can not confirm the report.
"I confirm that Saddam has been arrested," Nazem Dabag, representative in Iran of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters on Sunday.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted PUK leader Jalal Talabani as saying that Saddam had been captured in his home town of Tikrit.
"The American forces in Tikrit announced that Saddam was arrested on Sunday. The Americans said that they will announce the news officially in the next few hours," IRNA quoted Talabani as saying.
The news agency report was from Qasr-e Shirin in Iran across the border from Iraq. A Talabani aide said the Kurdish leader was in Tehran on his way to France.
The U.S. Defence Department said it could not confirm the report. Washington has made Saddam number one on its list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, and placed a $25 million (14 million pounds) reward on his head.
U.S. officials had said Saddam, 66, had eluded American troops by moving every few hours, probably in disguise and aided by members of his clan.
Friday, December 12, 2003
IRAQ: PROFIT OVER PEOPLE
Pacific News: U.S. Arrests Iraqi Union Leaders
SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend.
On Dec. 6, according to a union spokesperson interviewed by phone, a convoy of 10 Humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.
"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says IFTU spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted over the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint, Muhsin says. The union had few resources, "but we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.
Früher hat man die Mafia losgeschickt um die Gewerkschaften von ihrem subversiven Treiben abzuhalten. Heute hat man das Militaer
Pacific News: U.S. Arrests Iraqi Union Leaders
SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend.
On Dec. 6, according to a union spokesperson interviewed by phone, a convoy of 10 Humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.
"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says IFTU spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted over the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint, Muhsin says. The union had few resources, "but we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.
Früher hat man die Mafia losgeschickt um die Gewerkschaften von ihrem subversiven Treiben abzuhalten. Heute hat man das Militaer
ISRAEL
WSWS: Ethnic Cleansing Now Official Israeli Government Policy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ministers have openly declared that Palestinians must be driven out to make way for Jewish settlements in land occupied illegally since the 1967 war.
Sharon and his cabinet utilised the November 15 ambush of Israeli security forces in Hebron by Islamic Jihad and the ensuing gun battle that killed 12 members of the Israeli armed forces and injured 15, as well as three of the Palestinian attackers, to make their announcements.
Sharon himself called for "territorial contiguity" between Kiryat Arba, a settlement overlooking Hebron, the tiny Zionist enclaves and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a religious site venerated by both Moslems and Jews, inside the city. Palestinians living between the settlement, the enclaves and the Tomb would be forced to leave their homes to make way for the settlers-a policy known throughout the world as ethnic cleansing. He told army commanders in Hebron that Israel had to "take advantage of the opportunity" to "minimise the number of Palestinians living among Jewish settlers" and establish "Jewish points of presence". He described this as "an appropriate Zionist response" to such attacks.
Sharon's newly appointed foreign affairs minister and main leadership rival, Benyamin Netanyahu, was even more explicit. "We are going to cleanse the whole area and do the work ourselves." he declared
WSWS: Ethnic Cleansing Now Official Israeli Government Policy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ministers have openly declared that Palestinians must be driven out to make way for Jewish settlements in land occupied illegally since the 1967 war.
Sharon and his cabinet utilised the November 15 ambush of Israeli security forces in Hebron by Islamic Jihad and the ensuing gun battle that killed 12 members of the Israeli armed forces and injured 15, as well as three of the Palestinian attackers, to make their announcements.
Sharon himself called for "territorial contiguity" between Kiryat Arba, a settlement overlooking Hebron, the tiny Zionist enclaves and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a religious site venerated by both Moslems and Jews, inside the city. Palestinians living between the settlement, the enclaves and the Tomb would be forced to leave their homes to make way for the settlers-a policy known throughout the world as ethnic cleansing. He told army commanders in Hebron that Israel had to "take advantage of the opportunity" to "minimise the number of Palestinians living among Jewish settlers" and establish "Jewish points of presence". He described this as "an appropriate Zionist response" to such attacks.
Sharon's newly appointed foreign affairs minister and main leadership rival, Benyamin Netanyahu, was even more explicit. "We are going to cleanse the whole area and do the work ourselves." he declared
IRAQ
WSWS: US, Israel Prepare Mass Killings In Iraq
The Bush administration is about to launch a campaign of wholesale killings in Iraq with the assistance of the Israeli military, according to both US and Israeli sources quoted in several recent news reports.
Frustrated over the growing popular resistance to the US military occupation and determined to reduce US casualties in Iraq before next November's election, the administration has authorized a policy that could well resemble the infamous "Operation Phoenix" assassination program run by the CIA during the Vietnam War. That operation claimed the lives of as many as 41,000 Vietnamese over a four-year period beginning in 1968.
In preparation for the new counterinsurgency campaign, the US military has brought urban warfare specialists from the Israeli Defenses Force (IDF) to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the headquarters of the US Special Forces. They are training assassination teams in methods that the IDF has used to suppress Palestinian resistance to the Israel occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"This is basically an assassination program.... This is a hunter-killer team," a former senior intelligence official told the British Guardian newspaper. He warned that Washington's reliance on Israeli assistance in launching the operation would only intensify anger over the US occupation throughout the Middle East.
"It is bonkers, insane," the former official said. "Here we are-we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."
The Guardian also cited intelligence sources in Washington as reporting that Israeli military "consultants" have been sent to Iraq to advise US forces there on counterinsurgency operations.
According to the British newspaper, the new operation also includes the deployment of killer squads inside Syria to hunt down suspected resistance fighters from other Arab countries before they cross the border into Iraq.
Meanwhile, an article by Seymour Hersh, the veteran US investigative reporter, appeared in this week's New Yorker magazine also warning of a "major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq" and providing additional confirmation of Israel's role in training those who will carry out the assassination program.
According to Hersh, a new Special Forces group-Task Force 121-has been formed, drawing upon Army Delta Force troops, Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitaries. "Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination," he reports.
Hersh continues: "According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. Israeli commandos are expected to serve as ad-hoc advisers-again, in secret-when full-field operations begin."
US and Israeli officials have refused to comment on the record about this collaboration on the Iraqi counterinsurgency campaign. "No one wants to talk about this; it's incendiary," an Israeli official told Hersh. "Both governments have decided at the highest level that it is in their interest to keep a low profile on US-Israeli cooperation" on the assassination program
WSWS: US, Israel Prepare Mass Killings In Iraq
The Bush administration is about to launch a campaign of wholesale killings in Iraq with the assistance of the Israeli military, according to both US and Israeli sources quoted in several recent news reports.
Frustrated over the growing popular resistance to the US military occupation and determined to reduce US casualties in Iraq before next November's election, the administration has authorized a policy that could well resemble the infamous "Operation Phoenix" assassination program run by the CIA during the Vietnam War. That operation claimed the lives of as many as 41,000 Vietnamese over a four-year period beginning in 1968.
In preparation for the new counterinsurgency campaign, the US military has brought urban warfare specialists from the Israeli Defenses Force (IDF) to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the headquarters of the US Special Forces. They are training assassination teams in methods that the IDF has used to suppress Palestinian resistance to the Israel occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"This is basically an assassination program.... This is a hunter-killer team," a former senior intelligence official told the British Guardian newspaper. He warned that Washington's reliance on Israeli assistance in launching the operation would only intensify anger over the US occupation throughout the Middle East.
"It is bonkers, insane," the former official said. "Here we are-we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."
The Guardian also cited intelligence sources in Washington as reporting that Israeli military "consultants" have been sent to Iraq to advise US forces there on counterinsurgency operations.
According to the British newspaper, the new operation also includes the deployment of killer squads inside Syria to hunt down suspected resistance fighters from other Arab countries before they cross the border into Iraq.
Meanwhile, an article by Seymour Hersh, the veteran US investigative reporter, appeared in this week's New Yorker magazine also warning of a "major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq" and providing additional confirmation of Israel's role in training those who will carry out the assassination program.
According to Hersh, a new Special Forces group-Task Force 121-has been formed, drawing upon Army Delta Force troops, Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitaries. "Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination," he reports.
Hersh continues: "According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. Israeli commandos are expected to serve as ad-hoc advisers-again, in secret-when full-field operations begin."
US and Israeli officials have refused to comment on the record about this collaboration on the Iraqi counterinsurgency campaign. "No one wants to talk about this; it's incendiary," an Israeli official told Hersh. "Both governments have decided at the highest level that it is in their interest to keep a low profile on US-Israeli cooperation" on the assassination program
EURO VS. DOLLAR
Hindustan Times: OPEC may trade oil in euros to compensate for dollar decline
OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.
Another alternative is to trade in a basket of currencies other than the greenback, Silva told Venezuela's state news agency, Venpres.
"There is a talk of trading crude in euros. It is one of the alternatives," the former Venezuelan oil minister said from Vienna late on Monday.
"It is possible that the organisation will discuss that, and make a decision at some point in time," he said.
Silva did not provide more details.
Goodbye USA
Hindustan Times: OPEC may trade oil in euros to compensate for dollar decline
OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.
Another alternative is to trade in a basket of currencies other than the greenback, Silva told Venezuela's state news agency, Venpres.
"There is a talk of trading crude in euros. It is one of the alternatives," the former Venezuelan oil minister said from Vienna late on Monday.
"It is possible that the organisation will discuss that, and make a decision at some point in time," he said.
Silva did not provide more details.
Goodbye USA
IRAQ: LIBERATORS?
Information Clearinghouse: Take no Prisoners
Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.
U.S. Marines execute an Iraqi to the cheers of fellow marines
-:WARNING:-
This video should only be viewed by a mature audience
VIDEO
Page Updated: 12/11/03 2:13 PM: PST.
Transcript:
CNN Presents: Fit To Kill
Aired October 26, 2003 - 20:00 ET
CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer.
RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge.
RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again.
CROWLEY: Inexplicable to some, but not to generations of veterans
Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
(2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
Das Video zeigt wie ein US-Soldat einen verwundeten, am Boden liegenden Iraker hinrichtet und die ganze Sache ziemlich cool findet. Kriegsverbrechen auf CNN
Information Clearinghouse: Take no Prisoners
Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.
U.S. Marines execute an Iraqi to the cheers of fellow marines
-:WARNING:-
This video should only be viewed by a mature audience
VIDEO
Page Updated: 12/11/03 2:13 PM: PST.
Transcript:
CNN Presents: Fit To Kill
Aired October 26, 2003 - 20:00 ET
CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer.
RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge.
RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again.
CROWLEY: Inexplicable to some, but not to generations of veterans
Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
(2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
Das Video zeigt wie ein US-Soldat einen verwundeten, am Boden liegenden Iraker hinrichtet und die ganze Sache ziemlich cool findet. Kriegsverbrechen auf CNN
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Haaretz: Explosions Rock Central Baghdad Near US Compound
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three loud explosions boomed through central Baghdad early Friday, and sirens wailed in the compound housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition.
U.S. military sources confirmed to CNN that three or four blasts had occurred in central Baghdad.
Some smoke rose inside the compound, known as the "Green Zone," but it was unclear whether it was related to the thunderous booms.
"We are aware that some explosions did take place. We do not know the location," a spokeswoman for the coalition said on customary condition of anonymity.
A spokesman said he heard three explosions.
"They were loud," he said. "But I've heard louder."
Insurgents last month fired mortars into the "Green Zone," a five-square-kilometer (two-square-mile) area that encompasses several buildings. But if Friday's explosions occurred inside, it would be the first time in several weeks that the seat of coalition power was hit.
Haaretz: Explosions Rock Central Baghdad Near US Compound
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three loud explosions boomed through central Baghdad early Friday, and sirens wailed in the compound housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition.
U.S. military sources confirmed to CNN that three or four blasts had occurred in central Baghdad.
Some smoke rose inside the compound, known as the "Green Zone," but it was unclear whether it was related to the thunderous booms.
"We are aware that some explosions did take place. We do not know the location," a spokeswoman for the coalition said on customary condition of anonymity.
A spokesman said he heard three explosions.
"They were loud," he said. "But I've heard louder."
Insurgents last month fired mortars into the "Green Zone," a five-square-kilometer (two-square-mile) area that encompasses several buildings. But if Friday's explosions occurred inside, it would be the first time in several weeks that the seat of coalition power was hit.
ANTI-SEMITISM
Haaretz: Anti-Semitism, Real And Exaggerated
Much was revealed by the study of anti-Semitism in Europe that caused such a controversy when the European Center for Monitoring Racism decided to shelve the results.
It showed a growing distancing from Israel and from European Jews, the ostensible representatives of the Jewish state. It exposed the failure of the immigrant absorption and integration policies adopted by European countries toward their Muslim minorities. And finally, the attitude to the report, whose data was not always well-grounded, showed how much hostility there is to Europe, particularly among members of the coalition parties in Israel, and the disproportionate manner in which they use the ghosts of anti-Semitism to distract themselves and Israeli public opinion in general from their own domestic problems.
First to the matter of anti-Semitism. Since September 11, it is being felt the way anger toward America is felt. But this is not the old style of race hatred against Jews; rather, it is more a general rejection of everything Israeli. Jews are identified with Israelis, just as the Israeli public is identified with its government. That first identification is more grave - it shows that hundreds of years of life in Europe and the memory of the genocide of the Jews has not been enough for the Jews to be recognized as citizens of their countries.
Add to that the criticism of Israeli policy. It can be justified, but the intensity with which it is expressed discloses not only the extent to which Germans are unable to put themselves in the place of a people suffering from constant terror; it also reveals a desire to disconnect, to get rid of decades' worth of complexes.
Haaretz: Anti-Semitism, Real And Exaggerated
Much was revealed by the study of anti-Semitism in Europe that caused such a controversy when the European Center for Monitoring Racism decided to shelve the results.
It showed a growing distancing from Israel and from European Jews, the ostensible representatives of the Jewish state. It exposed the failure of the immigrant absorption and integration policies adopted by European countries toward their Muslim minorities. And finally, the attitude to the report, whose data was not always well-grounded, showed how much hostility there is to Europe, particularly among members of the coalition parties in Israel, and the disproportionate manner in which they use the ghosts of anti-Semitism to distract themselves and Israeli public opinion in general from their own domestic problems.
First to the matter of anti-Semitism. Since September 11, it is being felt the way anger toward America is felt. But this is not the old style of race hatred against Jews; rather, it is more a general rejection of everything Israeli. Jews are identified with Israelis, just as the Israeli public is identified with its government. That first identification is more grave - it shows that hundreds of years of life in Europe and the memory of the genocide of the Jews has not been enough for the Jews to be recognized as citizens of their countries.
Add to that the criticism of Israeli policy. It can be justified, but the intensity with which it is expressed discloses not only the extent to which Germans are unable to put themselves in the place of a people suffering from constant terror; it also reveals a desire to disconnect, to get rid of decades' worth of complexes.
INTERNET
MSNBC: A Net of Control
UNTHINKABLE: How the Internet could become a tool of corporate and government power, based on updates now in the works
Picture, if you will, an information infrastructure that encourages censorship, surveillance and suppression of the creative impulse. Where anonymity is outlawed and every penny spent is accounted for. Where the powers that be can smother subversive (or economically competitive) ideas in the cradle, and no one can publish even a laundry list without the imprimatur of Big Brother. Some prognosticators are saying that such a construct is nearly inevitable. And this infrastructure is none other than the former paradise of rebels and free-speechers: the Internet
"CHECK IT"
MSNBC: A Net of Control
UNTHINKABLE: How the Internet could become a tool of corporate and government power, based on updates now in the works
Picture, if you will, an information infrastructure that encourages censorship, surveillance and suppression of the creative impulse. Where anonymity is outlawed and every penny spent is accounted for. Where the powers that be can smother subversive (or economically competitive) ideas in the cradle, and no one can publish even a laundry list without the imprimatur of Big Brother. Some prognosticators are saying that such a construct is nearly inevitable. And this infrastructure is none other than the former paradise of rebels and free-speechers: the Internet
"CHECK IT"
RUSSIA
Anti-War.com: NOW THEY'RE AFTER PUTIN
The decisive victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "United
Russia" slate of candidates for the Duma is the occasion for a new round of
Putin-bashing, with "human rights officials" condemning the election
results as "a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms."
Just what is a "human rights official," anyway? The way the Associated
Press puts it, one might almost suppose that we're talking about
elected officials here, or else guardian angels appointed by God to watch over
the human race in His stead. In either case, these unofficial officials
deserve to be recalled forthwith, just on the basis of their phony complaints
about the Russian electoral process:
"International observers delivered a blistering assessment of the vote,
calling it free but not fair. Taxpayer money and state television was
used to benefit a few parties, monitors said in their criticism."
When the Republicans run television ads featuring Bush's Top Gun
landing on that aircraft carrier, I wonder if these same monitors will lodge
complaints about inappropriate use of taxpayers' money. The
state-supported media of the OSCE countries – in whose name the rebuke to Putin was
issued – all have an indisputable political bias, and the problem is
even worse in Eastern Europe.
Bruce George, head of the OSCE's "parliamentary assembly," had the
nerve to pontificate that the election "failed to meet ... international
standards."
The White House endorsed this hypocritical hyperbole, noting "concerns
about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns."
George openly worried that, "because of the use of administrative
resourcesand the biased media, legitimate democratic opposition parties would
notget the 5 percent of the vote they need to enter parliament."
If every government that used "administrative resources" to gain
electoral advantage were to be expelled from the ranks of democratic nations, who
would be left? As for "biased media" – is this something that the
Western media, which "embedded" itself in the U.S. government's war propaganda
machine, have the right to lecture the Russians about?
The real complaint of Putin's Western critics is that the Russian
parties favored by Washington and its Euro-weenie satellites – Yabloko and the
Union of Right Forces – failed to get the 5 percent required to garner
seats in the Duma. The election was "free but not fair" – because they
didn't like the results.
Anti-War.com: NOW THEY'RE AFTER PUTIN
The decisive victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "United
Russia" slate of candidates for the Duma is the occasion for a new round of
Putin-bashing, with "human rights officials" condemning the election
results as "a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms."
Just what is a "human rights official," anyway? The way the Associated
Press puts it, one might almost suppose that we're talking about
elected officials here, or else guardian angels appointed by God to watch over
the human race in His stead. In either case, these unofficial officials
deserve to be recalled forthwith, just on the basis of their phony complaints
about the Russian electoral process:
"International observers delivered a blistering assessment of the vote,
calling it free but not fair. Taxpayer money and state television was
used to benefit a few parties, monitors said in their criticism."
When the Republicans run television ads featuring Bush's Top Gun
landing on that aircraft carrier, I wonder if these same monitors will lodge
complaints about inappropriate use of taxpayers' money. The
state-supported media of the OSCE countries – in whose name the rebuke to Putin was
issued – all have an indisputable political bias, and the problem is
even worse in Eastern Europe.
Bruce George, head of the OSCE's "parliamentary assembly," had the
nerve to pontificate that the election "failed to meet ... international
standards."
The White House endorsed this hypocritical hyperbole, noting "concerns
about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns."
George openly worried that, "because of the use of administrative
resourcesand the biased media, legitimate democratic opposition parties would
notget the 5 percent of the vote they need to enter parliament."
If every government that used "administrative resources" to gain
electoral advantage were to be expelled from the ranks of democratic nations, who
would be left? As for "biased media" – is this something that the
Western media, which "embedded" itself in the U.S. government's war propaganda
machine, have the right to lecture the Russians about?
The real complaint of Putin's Western critics is that the Russian
parties favored by Washington and its Euro-weenie satellites – Yabloko and the
Union of Right Forces – failed to get the 5 percent required to garner
seats in the Duma. The election was "free but not fair" – because they
didn't like the results.
USA-TAIWAN
WIRED: Bush Orders Taiwan to Forget about Freedom from China
Bush bluntly warned Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian against changing
the status quo with China in tough words delivered on Tuesday in a meeting
with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.Bush's comments were a warning to Chen not
to hold a referendum on the island alongside a March presidential
election, plans for which have sparked anger and fear in China that Taiwan is
creeping toward independence. 'We oppose any unilateral decision by
either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions
made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make
decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we oppose,' Bush said,
seatedwith Wen in the Oval Office.
LA TIMES: Conservatives are 'Appalled' by Bush's Anti-Democracy Move on Taiwan
To conservatives, it was a shocking scene. Bush sat chatting chummily
in the Oval Office on Tuesday with the premier of communist China and
harshlyrebuked the democratically elected leader of the United States' old
friend and ally, Taiwan. 'The only word I can use is 'appalled'," said John
Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and
a staunch administration supporter. 'The spectacle of the American
president who just gave such an eloquent speech in Whitehall barely three weeks
ago, saying the global expansion of democracy is a pillar of American
foreign policy...' His voice trailed off in disbelief. 'This just simply belies
that.' Behind the jarring imagery, however, was a simple message. The
Bush administration believes that it cannot afford a political crisis that
could draw the United States into a war over Taiwan while it has its hands
more than full with Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea [as well as the 2004
campaign].
WIRED: Bush Orders Taiwan to Forget about Freedom from China
Bush bluntly warned Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian against changing
the status quo with China in tough words delivered on Tuesday in a meeting
with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.Bush's comments were a warning to Chen not
to hold a referendum on the island alongside a March presidential
election, plans for which have sparked anger and fear in China that Taiwan is
creeping toward independence. 'We oppose any unilateral decision by
either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions
made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make
decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we oppose,' Bush said,
seatedwith Wen in the Oval Office.
LA TIMES: Conservatives are 'Appalled' by Bush's Anti-Democracy Move on Taiwan
To conservatives, it was a shocking scene. Bush sat chatting chummily
in the Oval Office on Tuesday with the premier of communist China and
harshlyrebuked the democratically elected leader of the United States' old
friend and ally, Taiwan. 'The only word I can use is 'appalled'," said John
Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and
a staunch administration supporter. 'The spectacle of the American
president who just gave such an eloquent speech in Whitehall barely three weeks
ago, saying the global expansion of democracy is a pillar of American
foreign policy...' His voice trailed off in disbelief. 'This just simply belies
that.' Behind the jarring imagery, however, was a simple message. The
Bush administration believes that it cannot afford a political crisis that
could draw the United States into a war over Taiwan while it has its hands
more than full with Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea [as well as the 2004
campaign].
PRIVATISATION OF WAR
Village Voice: Rumsfeld Aims to Privatize the Military
WASHINGTON, D.C.—If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.
MG: Corporations are Now Biggest Ally of the U.S. in Iraq
Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the
official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent
with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000
private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also
discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the
firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In
1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and
women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat,
occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached
the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without
it.
Village Voice: Rumsfeld Aims to Privatize the Military
WASHINGTON, D.C.—If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.
MG: Corporations are Now Biggest Ally of the U.S. in Iraq
Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the
official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent
with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000
private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also
discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the
firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In
1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and
women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat,
occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached
the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without
it.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
GM-FOOD
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
MIND CONTROL
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
PR WWATCH
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
JIHAD
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
IRAQ
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
RUSSIA
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
USA ARMY
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
BUSINESS
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
USA: BUSH GANG
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co., even while championing its bid for a controversial $20 billion-plus defense contract.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
IRAQI RESISTANCE: SAMARRA
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
MEDICAL SCIENCE
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Monday, December 08, 2003
GRAFFITI
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
SCIENCE
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
MEDIA WATCH USA
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
IRAQ
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
RUSSIA
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
NEW BOOK FEAT. FH451
CHECK: PEACE SIGNS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED
PREVIEW: PEACE SIGNS
BUY THE BOOK:
Spanish edition publisher:
http://www.ggili.com/
English edition publisher (February Release):
http://www.edition-olms.com
PRESS:
El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]
Avui - 4 Diciembre De 2003 [506KB PDF]
Barcelona.com
YAHOO NEWS SPAIN
YAHOO NEWS CATALANIA
CHECK: PEACE SIGNS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED
PREVIEW: PEACE SIGNS
BUY THE BOOK:
Spanish edition publisher:
http://www.ggili.com/
English edition publisher (February Release):
http://www.edition-olms.com
PRESS:
El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]
![El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]](http://www.theantiwarposter.com/prensas/El_Pais.jpg){kind=link}
Avui - 4 Diciembre De 2003 [506KB PDF]
Barcelona.com
YAHOO NEWS SPAIN
YAHOO NEWS CATALANIA
SCIENCE
Reuters: No Doubts Global Warming Is Real Say US Experts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There can be no doubt that global warming is real and is being caused by people, two top U.S. government climate experts said.
Industrial emissions are a leading cause, they say -- contradicting critics, already in the minority, who argue that climate change could be caused by mostly natural forces.
"There is no doubt that the composition of the atmosphere is changing because of human activities, and today greenhouse gases are the largest human influence on global climate," wrote Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, and Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Reuters: No Doubts Global Warming Is Real Say US Experts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There can be no doubt that global warming is real and is being caused by people, two top U.S. government climate experts said.
Industrial emissions are a leading cause, they say -- contradicting critics, already in the minority, who argue that climate change could be caused by mostly natural forces.
"There is no doubt that the composition of the atmosphere is changing because of human activities, and today greenhouse gases are the largest human influence on global climate," wrote Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, and Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
USA: COINTELPRO
the Village Voice: J. Edgar Hoover Back at the 'New' FBI
If you go around telling people, "We're going to ferret out information on demonstrations," that deters people. People don't want their names and pictures in FBI files.
—American University constitutional law professor Herman Schwartz, commenting on FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89, October 15, 2003, "Tactics Used During Protests and Demonstrations"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americans of a certain age remember the FBI's counter-intelligence operation, COINTELPRO, which, during its years of operation from 1956 to 1971, surveilled, infiltrated, manipulated, and tried to provoke criminal activities by entirely lawful civil rights and anti-war demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to oppose government policies.
In the 1970s, the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities so exposed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's relentless violations of the Bill of Rights, very much including the First Amendment, that Attorney General Edward Levi—the best constitutionalist in that office in our history—established new FBI guidelines to keep its agents within the bounds of the Constitution.
And Senator Frank Church of Idaho, chairman of that Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, pledged in 1975, "The American people need to be reassured that never again will an agency of the government be permitted to conduct a secret war against those citizens it considers a threat to the established order."
the Village Voice: J. Edgar Hoover Back at the 'New' FBI
If you go around telling people, "We're going to ferret out information on demonstrations," that deters people. People don't want their names and pictures in FBI files.
—American University constitutional law professor Herman Schwartz, commenting on FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89, October 15, 2003, "Tactics Used During Protests and Demonstrations"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americans of a certain age remember the FBI's counter-intelligence operation, COINTELPRO, which, during its years of operation from 1956 to 1971, surveilled, infiltrated, manipulated, and tried to provoke criminal activities by entirely lawful civil rights and anti-war demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to oppose government policies.
In the 1970s, the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities so exposed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's relentless violations of the Bill of Rights, very much including the First Amendment, that Attorney General Edward Levi—the best constitutionalist in that office in our history—established new FBI guidelines to keep its agents within the bounds of the Constitution.
And Senator Frank Church of Idaho, chairman of that Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, pledged in 1975, "The American people need to be reassured that never again will an agency of the government be permitted to conduct a secret war against those citizens it considers a threat to the established order."
IRAQ: LIKE THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
NY TIMES: Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.
In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.
The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories.
Underlying the new strategy, the Americans say, is the conviction that only a tougher approach will quell the insurgency and that the new strategy must punish not only the guerrillas but also make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating.
"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."
"Was der Captain hier sagt ist uebelster Rassismus"
NY TIMES: Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.
In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.
The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories.
Underlying the new strategy, the Americans say, is the conviction that only a tougher approach will quell the insurgency and that the new strategy must punish not only the guerrillas but also make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating.
"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."
"Was der Captain hier sagt ist uebelster Rassismus"
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