IRAK

Reuters: U.S. Promises to Hold Iraqi Oil 'In Trust'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell promised that a U.S. military occupation would hold Iraq's oilfields "in trust" for the Iraqi people.
In an interview with U.S. newspapers on Tuesday, released by the State Department on Wednesday, Powell said the Bush administration was studying different models for managing the Iraqi oil industry if the United States invades.

"If we are the occupying power, it will be held for the benefit of the Iraqi people and it will be operated for the benefit of the Iraqi people," he said.

Wers glaubt...und ich dachte es gehe nicht um Öl

IRAK

New York Times Op-Ed: Why We Know Iraq Is Lying
By CONDOLEEZZA RICE

"Eleven weeks after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding — yet again — that Iraq disclose and disarm all its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, it is appropriate to ask, "Has Saddam Hussein finally decided to voluntarily disarm?" Unfortunately, the answer is a clear and resounding no."

"Iraq has filed a false declaration to the United Nations that amounts to a 12,200-page lie." Beweise?

Die New York Times macht ihrerm Namen als offizielles Propagandablatt der US-Regierung wieder alle Ehre...welche PR-Firma hat wohl den Text für Condeleeza geschrieben? Und was sagt der ganze Wisch? Wenn wir keine Waffen finden können beweist das dass Sadaam Waffen hat und sie versteckt.

PROPAGANDA

Mediachannel.org: We Need More Propaganda, Not Less by Nancy Snow

Like the Cold War, the Terror Age is being fought primarily through Information Wars. Capture and control of the public mind is nothing to fear if we understand that propaganda is a neutral concept. It refers to any systematic process of mass persuasion; it's often misunderstood as censorship or lying (although that does manifest too).

Most mainstream news media cover the Information Wars like a World Wrestling Federation competition--in this corner, Bush rhetoric: "Ultimately, one of the best weapons, one of the truest weapons that we have against terrorism is to show the world the true strength of our character and kindness of the American people." In the other corner, bin Laden rhetoric: "The call to wage war against America was made because America has spearheaded the crusade against the Islamic nation, sending tens of thousands of its troops to the land of the two Holy Mosques over and above its meddling in its affairs and its politics, and its support of the oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical regime that is in control." (Gee, bin Laden, tell us what you really think.)

Interassanter Artikel von Nancy Snow. Die Frau hat schon in sämtlichen Propaganda-Abteilungen der USA gearbeitet. Ihre Firma Rendon Group hat im ersten Golfkrieg die Geschichte über die Iraker die in Kuweit Babies aus Brutkästen reissen erfunden. Rendon Corp. ist auch im Moment wieder daran der Öffentlichkeit einen Irak-Krieg zu verkaufen oder den amerikanern beizubringen das die Saudis gar keine Terrorristen sind. Sie hat auch ein neues Buch geschrieben: Information War by Nancy Snow. Sie berichtet darin über die Veränderung der offiziellen US-Propaganda seit 9.11 ist glaub noch interessant wenn man den Kritiken glauben schenken kann

Asia Times: This war brought to you by Rendon Group
"Word got around the department that I was a good Arabic translator who did a great Saddam imitation," recalls the Harvard grad student. "Eventually, someone phoned me, asking if I wanted to help change the course of Iraq policy."
So twice a week, for US$3,000 a month, the Iraqi student says, under condition of anonymity, that he took a taxi from his campus apartment to a Boston-area recording studio rented by the Rendon Group, a DC-based public relations firm with close ties to the US government. His job: translate and dub spoofed Saddam Hussein speeches and tongue-in-cheek newscasts for broadcast throughout Iraq."

WIPE OUT WEF 2003

Links zum WEF 2003.

Oltner Bündniss

Reitschule

Indymedia.ch

Aufbau.org

Davos.ch

WEF official site

WIPE OUT WEF 2003

Tages Anzeiger: Das WEF hat begonnen
In Davos hat das 33. Weltwirtschaftsforum begonnen. Hauptthemen sind die Kriegsgefahr im Irak, der Zustand der Weltwirtschaft und die Globalisierung. 2150 Gäste aus 99 Ländern werden erwartet.

Das WEF 2003 ist von aussergewöhnlichen Sicherheitsvorkehrungen geprägt: Das gesamte Sicherheitspersonal übersteigt die Zahl der Forumsteilnehmer. Neben hunderten von Polizisten aus verschiedenen Kantonen stehen auch 300 Festungswächter und 1500 Armeeangehörige im Einsatz

IRAK

Spiegel: Franzosen "zutiefst beleidigt"

Mit seinen jüngsten Äußerungen hat Donald Rumsfeld die Franzosen in Rage gebracht. Der US-Verteidigungsminister hatte Frankreich und Deutschland als "Problem" bezeichnet und auf das "alte Europa" geschimpft. Die Antwort aus Frankreich kam prompt.

Spiegel: "Deutschland ist ein Problem, Frankreich ist ein Problem"
"Das Zentrum des Nato-Europas verlagert sich nach Osten", sagte Rumsfeld. "Deutschland ist ein Problem, Frankreich ist ein Problem. Aber wenn Sie sich die riesige Zahl anderer Länder ansehen, so sind sie auf der Seite der USA und nicht Frankreichs und Deutschlands", behauptete der US-Verteidigungsminister.

Spiegel: Wie die Amerikaner Deutschland und Frankreich isolieren wollen
Die Amerikaner planen offenbar, Deutsche und Franzosen wegen ihrer Anti-Kriegs-Politik auf bisher einmalige Weise in die Enge zu treiben. Beide Staaten sollen als Verhinderer eines Saddam-Sturzes gebrandmarkt werden. Zudem sollen sie nächste Woche aufgefordert werden, den Irak der Missachtung des Uno-Sicherheitsrats zu bezichtigen.

"So erwägen die Amerikaner offenbar, die französischen Konzerne von der Ausbeutung der irakischen Ölquellen auszuschließen, sollte Saddam ersteinmal gestürtzt sein. " dabei gehts doch in diesem Krieg nicht um Öl sondern um Demokratie

Spiegel: Chirac deutet Nein im Sicherheitsrat an

Die deutsch-französische Anti-Kriegsfront nimmt Gestalt an. Bei einem gemeinsamen Auftritt mit Kanzler Schröder vor Jugendlichen deutete Staatspräsident Chirac an, Frankreich könnte im Weltsicherheitsrat von seinem Vetorecht Gebrauch machen.

IRAK

Reuters: Schroeder Says Germany, France to Push for Peace

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday Germany and France would coordinate all their efforts to prevent a war against Iraq after announcing Germany would not support any U.N. resolution authorizing an attack.

In his strongest anti-war statement to date, Schroeder said in a campaign speech late Tuesday that Germany, which holds a non-veto seat in the U.N. Security Council, would not vote for any resolution seeking authority for a strike against Iraq.

Schroeder also wrote in an article Wednesday for the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that Germany and France, which holds a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, would work closely together to secure peace and avoid war.

"I have told our French friends, and the others as well, and I'll say it here, going a bit further in this question than I have in the past: Do not expect that Germany will agree to a resolution that legitimizes war, do not reckon with it," Schroeder told a cheering campaign rally in Goslar.

IRAK

Yahoo News: Volunteer 'Human Shields' to Head for Iraq

"LONDON (Reuters) - A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave
London this weekend on a convoy bound for Iraq to act as "human
shields" at
key sites and populous areas in case of a U.S.-led war on Baghdad. "The
potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi
ones
should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organizer
Ken
Nichols, a former U.S. marine in the 1991 Gulf War, told Reuters."

ISRAEL

RENSE: Israeli Police Beat AFP, AP Photographers In Nablus

NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli border police beat two Palestinian photographers for international news agencies as they tried to take pictures of police driving with two youths strapped to the front of their jeep.

Jaafar Ashtiyeh of Agence France-Presse and Nasser Ashtiyeh of the Associated Press (AP) were punched by the policemen, one of whom threatened to shoot them if the photos were published, said the two men, both from the same family.

IRAK

Reuters: Russia Military See U.S. Iraq Attack in Feb -Report

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's armed forces have obtained information that the United States and its allies have already decided to launch military action in Iraq from mid-February, news agency Interfax said on Wednesday.
The agency's specialist military news wire AVN, quoting an unnamed high-ranking source in the Russian general staff, said U.S.-led operations would be launched once an attacking force of 150,000 had been assembled in the Gulf.

"According to the information we have, the operation is planned for the second half of February. The decision to launch it has been taken but not yet been made public," the source told the agency, which has generally authoritative contacts in the Russian military and political establishment.

The source added that the main aim of the war would be to secure control of Iraqi oilfields.

"The source added that the main aim of the operation was not so much to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein but to secure U.S. control over Iraqi oilfields.

"Hussein is the pretext. The real aim of the military action is control over Iraqi oil," he said."

IRAK

Guardian: The myth of the war economy by Joseph Stigliz

"War is widely thought to be linked to economic good times. The second world war is often said to have brought the world out of depression, and war has since enhanced its reputation as a spur to economic growth. Some even suggest that capitalism needs wars, that without them, recession would always lurk on the horizon.
Today, we know that this is nonsense. The 1990s boom showed that peace is economically far better than war. The Gulf war of 1991 demonstrated that wars can actually be bad for an economy. That conflict contributed mightily to the onset of the recession of 1991 (which was probably the key factor in denying the first President Bush re-election in 1992).

The current situation is far more akin to the Gulf war than to wars that may have contributed to economic growth. Indeed, the economic effects of a second war against Iraq would probably be far more adverse. The second world war called for total mobilisation, requiring a country's total resources, and that is what wiped out unemployment. Total war means total employment."

Joseph Stiglitz is professor of economics and finance at Columbia University, the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, and author of Globalization and its Discontents. He was formerly chairman of the council of economic advisers to President Clinton and chief economist at the World Bank

ISRAEL/WEST BANK

Palestine Monitor: Palestinian Village Faces Annihilation
Urgent Press Release
Israeli bulldozers will destroy the entire village of Al-Daba’ in the Qalqilya district. The village consists of 250 Palestinians living in 42 houses. Sixty ton American made armored Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers will make short work of 42 houses, 600-700 dunums of agricultural land, a mosque, and an elementary school for 132 children.

The military order was issued 30 days ago and required the clearing of 50 meters of land next to the billion dollar wall (financed by the United
States) being built to separate Palestinian land from Israel in the northern part of the West Bank. The clearing operation has exceeded its orders and now the destruction will extend 500 meters into the West Bank and engulf the village of Al-Daba’

Independent: Israeli troops devastate West Bank village market
Israeli soldiers demolished 62 shops at a market yesterday, destroying the livelihood of hundreds of Palestinians. In the early morning, about 300 troops streamed into the market, just outside the village of Nazlat Issa. They brought seven bulldozers.

Villagers poured out to protest as the bulldozers tore down the village market, the main source of income for Nazlat Issa's 2,500 residents


Was Israel im Moment macht ist noch nicht mal mehr mit der Südafrikanischen Apartheit zu vergleichen. Dort wurden die Leute in ihren Ghettos wenigsten mehr oder weniger in Ruhe gelassen und waren nicht täglicher Gewalt und Willkür einer Besatzungsarmee ausgeliefert. Das Ziel der derzeitigen Politik Sharon's läuft auf eine Ethnische Säuberung der Palästinensergebiete hinaus.

ISRAEL

Palestine Chronicle: Disturbing Trends in Israel

"More Israelis than ever before are thinking the unthinkable. An April
poll found that 44 percent of Israeli Jews support "transfer" of the Arab
population .." Palestine is still the number one issue. The war on
Iraq is an offshoot. Doubt it? More Israelis than ever before are thinking the
unthinkable. An April poll found that 44 percent of Israeli Jews
support "transfer" of the Arab population. Posters throughout the country
proclaim, "Transfer = peace and security." "Us here, them there" and "Jordan is
Palestine" are popular slogans. An hour of school time was devoted to
the teachings of Rehavam Ze’ evi, chief exponent of the idea, who was
assassinated last year. "Transfer" is discussed openly on talk shows.
What is "population transfer?" The concept dates from 19th century Zionism,
and refers to removal of the Palestinians from their land, in order to make
room for (or enlarge) Israel. How does Israel propose to do this?

IRAK

Independent: The Sketch: Blair astonishes onlookers with a frank answer to Parliament's greybeards

The liason committee had its biannual audience with the Prime Minister
yesterday. In the dark hour before war, Mr Blair presented himself to
the grand heads of the select committees. They are Parliament's greybeards,
they've independent voices often at odds with the Government. They're
the best we've got. They were perceptibly less useless than the last time
they found themselves in the prime ministerial presence. A few posed
questions we ourselves would like to ask: "Is there any link between al-Qa'ida,
Iraq and terrorist groups in Britain?" Blair watchers were astonished when
the Prime Minister said: "No."

ANTI WAR MOVEMENT

Wired: Internet Stokes Anti-War Movement

"This weekend's anti-war protests were the first mass demonstrations in memory to occur before a conflict, a testimony to the organizing power of the Internet, observers say.
While the Vietnam-era anti-war movement took years to gather momentum, hundreds of thousands of protestors turned out in dozens of U.S. cities on Saturday to protest a possible war in Iraq."

WIPE OUT WEF 2003

Tagesanzeiger: Bündner Regierung besteht auf Kontrollen

Die Bündner Behörden bleiben dabei: Die Demonstranten gegen das Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF) werden in Fideris GR kontrolliert. Als letztes Zugeständnis an die Demo-Organisatoren werden am kommenden Samstag unabhängige Beobachter eingesetzt.

Tagesanzeiger: Anti-WEF-Aktion am Flughafen

Mehrere Dutzend WEF-Gegner haben am Mittwochnachmittag am Flughafen Zürich gegen das World Economic Forum in Davos demonstriert. Die Kundgebung verlief ohne Zwischenfälle. Die Zürcher Kantonspolizei war mit einem Grossaufgebot vor Ort.


Pressemitteilung GBI: Anti-WEF-Demo
GEBEIIIII, 22.01.2003 11:04
Pressemitteilung der Gewerkschaft Bau und Industrie GBI vom 21. Januar 2003

Für die Globalisierung der sozialen Gerechtigkeit

Unterstützung für Anti-WEF-Demo

Die GBI unterstützt die Anti-WEF-Demonstration vom 25. Januar in Davos und
nimmt mit einer Delegation von einigen hundert Personen daran teil, um so
als Teil der sozialen Bewegungen gegen die Folgen neoliberaler Politik,
gegen Liberalisierung und Privatisierung gewaltlos zu demonstrieren.

Das WEF dient seit 33 Jahren der Planung und Durchsetzung dieser
Ausbeutungsstrategien. Dieses private Treffen zwischen
Wirtschaftsführer/-innen und Politiker/-innen, welches das Leben von
Millionen von Menschen beeinflusst, hat keinerlei demokratische
Legitimation. Unser Protest richtet sich gegen die Durchführung dieses
undemokratischen Anlasses und gegen eine Wirtschaftspolitik, die für immer
mehr Menschen - bei uns und weltweit - Armut, Ausgrenzung, Hunger und eine
zunehmende Zerstörung der natürlichen Ressourcen bedeutet. Unser Protest
richtet sich auch gegen die Kriegstreiber, die am WEF teilnehmen werden, und
die dabei sind, den Krieg gegen den Irak vorzubereiten. Unsere Demonstration
in Davos ist auch eine Kundgebung gegen den Krieg!

Wir sind solidarisch mit der wachsenden Bewegung von Menschen auf der ganzen
Welt, welche alle das gemeinsame Ziel verfolgen: die Globalisierung der
sozialen Gerechtigkeit. Seit Seattle ist diese Bewegung von Monat zu Monat
stärker geworden. Zusammen mit tausenden von Menschen wollen wir in Davos
gewaltlos demonstrieren. Die Demonstration vom 9. November 02 in Florenz
hat gezeigt, dass die Anti-Globalisierungsbewegung gewaltlos demonstriert,
wenn sie von der Polizei nicht provoziert und behindert wird. Gegenüber den
vorgesehenen Kontrollschleusen von Fideris werden wir die gleiche Haltung
einnehmen, wie das Oltner Bündnis

Wir erwarten von den Behörden, dass sie das Demonstrationsrecht respektieren
und die Demonstrantinnen und Demonstraten ohne schikanöse Kontrollen nach
Davos fahren lassen. Wir fordern die Behörden auf, das Augenmass nicht zu
verlieren und die bewilligte Demonstration in Davos nicht zu behindern und
auch aufhören, Carunternehmen davon abzuhalten, Gewerkschafter/-innen an die
Manifestation zu transportieren.

Amnesty International: Security for Everybody During WEF Davos Policing Operations

"The Swiss authorities must ensure that the sorts of human rights violations seen during previous demonstrations in Switzerland and elsewhere are not repeated," said Amnesty International

ENGLAND

Daily Mirror: Cover's

Checkt das Daily Mirror Cover vom 6.01.2003 Das ist wirklich Cool

DOULBE TALK

Quote of the day:

Und ich denke, dass dieser Präsident hat damit besonders die Tatsache berücksichtigt, dass wir als Amerikaner es als gegeben hinnehmen, welch ein gutes, fürsorgendes, mitleidendes Land wir sind. Wir sind der weltweit größte Lebensmittelversorger, wir geben weltweit am meisten Geld für den Kampf gegen HIV-AIDS aus. Und dennoch kann man in Ecken der Welt reisen und eine Menge an Anti-Amerikanismus vernehmen, eine Menge an Behauptungen, die nicht die guten Taten berücksichtigen, die die amerikanischen Bürger mit ihren Steuerdollars finanzieren, und die guten Taten, die die Regierung mit dem Peace Corps und mit anderen Mitteln ausführt, die dazu dienen, die Welt friedlicher, besser ernährt, besser ausgebildet und zu einem gesünderen Ort zu machen. Und daher gibt es die Erkenntnis, dass wir dafür sorgen müssen, diese Botschaft an die ganze Welt zu vermitteln." - Ari Fleischer in der Pressekonferenz am 21. 1. 2003 zum Office for Global Communications

USA

Heise: Präsident Bush hat jetzt seine eigene Propaganda-Abteilung

Das gestern gestartete "Office for Global Communications" beginnt ausgerechnet mit einem Bericht über den "Lügenapparat" von Saddam Hussein

Endlich hat auch Präsident Bush seine eigene Propagandaabteilung, die er sich längst gewünscht hat ( Das Weiße Haus will auch ein Propagandabüro). Lange Zeit war man im Weißen Haus nicht zufrieden, was das Außenministerium veranstaltet, auch wenn es mit Charlotte Beers schon im Oktober 2001 eine Werbeexpertin angeheuert hat ( Zur Aufrüstung der Wahrheit). Im Pentagon gab es öffentlichen Aufruhr, als man dort das "Büro für Strategische Kommunikation" einrichten wollte ( Aus für die Propaganda-Abteilung des Pentagon). Das "Office of Global Communications" hat einen unverdächtigen Namen, aber ist möglicherweise nicht ganz geschickt angetreten, indem es die Propagandabemühungen des derzeitigen Erzfeindes Hussein aufs Korn nimmt - und damit erst recht die Aufmerksamkeit auf die eigene Propaganda richtet.

IRAK

Spiegel: Die Falken sind kurzsichtig"

Welche Rolle spielt das Öl bei einem Feldzug gegen Saddam Hussein? Der britische Energieexperte und Weltbank-Berater Mamdouh Salameh äußert sich im SPIEGEL-ONLINE-Interview über die hohen Risiken einer amerikanisch-britischen Invasion im Irak

USA

Spiegel: "Warum sollen wir den Irak angreifen?"

Bush im Umfragetief

Die Popularität des US-Präsidenten unter den Amerikanern verfällt in dramatischem Tempo: Noch nie seit den Terror-Attacken war George W. Bush so unbeliebt. Sieben von zehn Amerikanern fordern erheblich mehr Zeit für die Inspekteure.

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WEF 2003

TagesAnzeiger: WEF-Demo «notfalls» in Landquart

Die Anti-WEF-Demo soll in Davos stattfinden, aber nicht um jeden Preis. Das Oltner Bündnis lehnt die geplanten Kontrollen in Fideris weiter ab. Wenn die Behörden nicht den freien Zugang gewähren, soll in Landquart demonstriert werden.

Die Vollversammlung des Oltner Bündnisses habe am Montag beschlossen, bis Fideris zu reisen. Dort sollen aber die Kontrolle in den Sicherheitsschleusen verweigert werden, sagte Walter Angst vom Oltner Bündnis am Dienstag vor den Medien in Bern. «Wir werden im Zug sitzen bleiben, bis allen Demonstranten freier Zugang nach Davos gewährt wird.»

TagesAnzeiger: WEF-Gegner wollen Kontrollen mit juristischen Mitteln verhindern

IRAK

Independent: Robert Fisk: This looming war isn't about chemical warheads or human rights: it's about oil

Along with the concern for 'vital interests' in the Gulf, this war was concocted five years ago by oil men such as Dick Cheney

READ IT

MEDIA/IRAK

Independent: The Media Column: War journalists should not be cosying up to the military by Robert Fisk

"over the past four weeks, the massed ranks of American television networks have been pouring into Kuwait to cosy up to the US military, to seek those coveted "pool" positions, to try on their army or marine costumes and make sure that – if or when the day comes – they will have the kind of coverage that every reporter and every general wants: a few facts, good pictures and nothing dirty to make the viewers throw up on the breakfast table"

"US troops in Kuwait are offering courses in chemical and biological warfare for reporters who might be accompanying soldiers to "the front", along with "training" on the need to protect security during military operations. CNN is, of course, enthusiastically backing these seemingly innocuous courses – forgetting how they allowed Pentagon "trainees" to sit in their newsroom during the 1991 Gulf War."

IRAK PROPAGANDA

Independent: Blair: 'Saddam is trying to rebuild nuclear weapons programme'


He went on: "Whenever I'm asked about the linkage between al–Qaida and Iraq, the truth is there is information I have that directly links al–Qa'ida to September 11.

"There is some intelligence evidence about loose linkage between al–Qaida and various people in Iraq" Es gibt auch Hinweise auf Verbindungen von Terroristen und Leuten in England. Soll man dafür London bombardieren?

IRAK

Spiegel: "Mir ist jetzt klar, er rüstet nicht ab

Ein Krieg gegen den Irak ist wieder ein bedeutendes Stück näher gerückt. US-Präsident Bush wählte heute Worte, die fast einer Kriegserklärung gleichkommen. Dagegen drängt Frankreich die übrigen EU-Staaten, gemeinsam einen friedlichen Weg zu suchen

MEDIAWATCH

ZMAG: Media Follies 2002

TOP 10 of the most over-/underrated news stories of the yrear 2002

AFGHANISTAN

Pravda: Afghanistan Goes Back to Taliban Rules

"There has not been a lot of news from Afghanistan lately. The events around Iraq and North Korea pushed all other news into the background, including Afghanistan news. Yet, there are very interesting events going on in the former Taliban patrimonial estate. Afghanistan currently works on its Constitutions, which looks like the set of Taliban rules"

We bring you democracy

GRAFFITI

10 vor 10: Graffiti Bericht vom 17.01.03

CHECK IT

Ein 7 Minuten Bericht über das Zerstören von Zügen und die Angst der Zugpassagiere vor verslumung...haben wir im Moment keine grösseren Probleme?

IRAK

New York Times: Rumsfeld Says Iraq Diplomacy Is Nearing the End of Its Road

"In the case of Iraq, we're nearing the end of the long road, and with every other option exhausted," he said.

"he said the Hussein government had been stonewalling weapons inspectors." hier ist noch ein Bericht von Heute, so von wegen "stonewalling inspectors" NY Times: Iraq Accepting a U.S. Demand aber das wird dem Sadaam auch nichts mehr nützen

""His regime has large, unaccounted-for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons including VX, Sarin, mustard gas, anthrax, botulism and possibly smallpox," Mr. Rumsfeld said in an address to the Reserve Officers Association here. "And he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons."

""No other living dictator has shown the same deadly combination of capability and intent, of aggression against its neighbors, pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, the use of chemical weapons against his own people as well as against his neighbors, oppression of his own people, support of terrorism, and the most threatening hostility to its neighbors, and to the United States, as has Iraq," he said."

Von wo weiss Rumsfeld von all den Chemiewaffen? Hat ihm Hans Blix verrraten?
Merke: Solange man eine Armee hat die fähig ist das Land wirklich zu verteidigen und man keine wichtigen Ölreserven hat, kann man sich den Diktator geben und Amerika schickt Diplomaten. Bei Regimes die seit 11 Jahren unter UNO-Sanktionen leben und auf den zweit grössten Öl-Reserven der Welt sitzen schickt man Bomben.

USA

Rense.com: Twenty Questions And A Nazi...

Lustiger Artikel

"Bush UN Speech

"Delegates to the General Assembly: We have been more than patient. We have tried sanctions. We have tried the carrot of "oil for food" and the stick of coalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction. The first time we may be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, he uses one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day from coming." - George Bush, September 12, 2002

"I have only a few statements still to make: I am grateful to Mr. Chamberlain for all his efforts. I have assured him that the German people desires nothing else than peace, but I have also told him that I cannot go back behind the limits set to our patience." - Adolph Hitler, September 26, 1938

"The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people, who have suffered for too long in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a great moral cause and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve it and the security of all nations requires it. Free societies do not intimidate through cruelty and conquest and open societies do not threaten the world with mass murder. The United States supports political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq." - George Bush, September 12, 2002

"I have further assured him, and I repeat it here, that when this problem is solved there is for Germany no further territorial problem here in Europe. And I have further assured him that at the moment when Czechoslovakia solves her problems, that means when the Czechs have come to terms with their minorities, and that peaceably and not through oppression, then I have no further interest in the Czech state. And that is guaranteed to him!" - Adolph Hitler, September 26, 1938

"My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council on a new resolution to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately and decisively to hold Iraq to account. The purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced - the just demands of peace and security will be met - or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.

Events can turn in one of two ways.

If we fail to act in the face of danger, the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission. The regime will have new power to bully, dominate and conquer its neighbors, condemning the Middle East to more years of bloodshed and fear. The region will remain unstable, with little hope of freedom and isolated from the progress of our times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September 11th would be a prelude to far greater horrors." - George Bush, September 12, 2002

"But in the same way I desire to state before the German people that with regard to the problem of the Sudeten Germans my patience is now at an end! I have made Mr. Benes an offer which is nothing but the carrying into effect of what he himself has promised. The decision now lies in his hands: Peace or War! He will either accept this offer and now at last give to the Germans their freedom or we will go and fetch this freedom for ourselves."

"In this hour the whole German people will unite with me! It will feel my will to be its will. Just as in my eyes is it its future and fate which give me commission for my action." - Adolph Hitler, September 26, 1938"

ISRAEL

Globalresearch: The Penal Colonies

The Gaza strip is a perfect realization of the Israeli vision of "separation". Surrounded with electric fences and army posts, completely sealed off the outside world, Gaza has become a huge prison. About one third of its land was confiscated for the 7,000 Israeli settlers living there (and their defense array), while over a million Palestinians are crowded in the remaining areas of the prison. With no work or sources of income, about 80% of its residents depend, for their living, on UNRWA, or contributions from Arab states and charity organizations. Now Israel is considering the imprisonment there of families of suicide bombers from the West Bank (1). As a senior Israeli analyst stated, Gaza can now serve as "the penal colony" of Israel its "devils island, Alcatraz". (Nahum Barnea, Yediot Aharonot June 21, 2002).

PROPAGANDA

Truthout: Will Pitt takes on CNN over fake report "chemical warheads"

"My name is William Rivers Pitt. I am the author of the book 'War on Iraq,' which has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and has cracked the top ten bestseller lists of the Washington Post, L.A. Times, San Francisco Chronicle and others. I am also a writer for the publication truthout.org.

I apologize for flouting my resume at you, but I wanted to make sure that you do not dismiss this email as coming from someone not very well versed in this Iraq situation. A correspondent named (name deleted) at CNN gave me your address, so that I might pass a note through you to Mr. Aaron Brown. I am hoping he is prepared to hear what I am saying.

First things first: The warheads.

Let's be clear. These were not 'chemical warheads.' In the Iraqi arsenal, a warhead is a warhead - an empty ordnance space strapped to a missile. What matters is the payload, be it explosive or chemical or nuclear. The item placed in the warhead denotes the designation. These warheads were stone-cold empty, so by definition they are not 'chemical warheads.' They are, in fact, nothing, because they were loaded with no payload. Furthermore, the word 'warhead' is in itself misleading, as these were artillery munitions.

Second. Iraq is allowed by UN resolutions to have a variety of weapons, including the Al Samoud missile. We did not want to pull Iraq's fangs completely after the Gulf War, considering the neighborhood they live in. We allowed them to keep missiles that fly only a certain distance (150km most often). Many people will not know this, and will think the presence of these munitions will represent a breach of the UN resolution. This is not the case.

Third. Scott Ritter informed me today that these munitions were part of Iraq's declaration last December. I await further confirmation of this, and so should the journalism world.

Fourth. This is absolutely a vindication of the inspections regime. They found the stuff, and it will be destroyed, and no American soldiers or Iraqi civilians died in the process. Inspections work.

Fifth. Recall how the UNSCOM inspections were undermined by meddling from the American intelligence community. Understand that this warhead story did not come from Blix, or through the normal channels, but through a Japanese (read: close ally) inspector who contacted the news media and let rip before the facts were in hand. Why? "

INVESTEGATIVE REPORTING

Hustler Magazine: Greg Palast - Beat The Press Interview mit Reporter Greg Palast (Guardian, BBC)

"For those of us who've long suspected that our democracy is up for sale to the highest bidder, award-winning investigative journalist Greg Palast has uncovered disturbing evidence confirming as much. Palast's exposes of the theft of the 2000 election, the financial ties between the Bush and the Bin Laden families, and how these connections kept the FBI from perhaps preventing the horrific events of 9/11 have thrown fear into the hearts of media pundits. There has been a near-complete news blackout of the explosive findings documented in Palast's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. First released in England, where he reports for the BBC and The Guardian, Palast's collection of writings is finally being published in America by Penguin/Plume books with 40% new material. In an exclusive HUSTLER interview, the author discloses the truth on high crimes in high places that the mainstream media is afraid to touch. "

WORLD WIDE ANTI-WAR PROTESTS

AP: A Day of Protest

Washington: At least 30,000 marched, part of a far larger crowd that rallied outside the Capitol

San Francisco: Tens of thousands packed downtown streets, holding signs that read "Peace for All Nations" and "Patriots for Peace," in an action that, like Washington's, drew people from far away.

Portland, Ore.: Streets rang with drumbeats and peace hymns, and marchers hoisted signs with slogans like "Grandmas for Peace," in a protest that drew thousands

France: In the third nationwide anti-war demonstration since October, 6,000 shouting protesters in Paris shouted in English "Stop Bush! Stop War!" and set off firecrackers

Turkey: Communists demonstrated outside a theater showing the latest James Bond movie to protest the U.S.-British alliance that they claimed was planning to make war on Iraq.

-Russia: Outside the U.S. Embassy, Russians chanted "U.S. hands off Iraq!" and "Yankee, go home!" A banner read: "Iraq isn't your ranch, Mr. Bush."

-Japan: Students wearing face masks lampooning President Bush or carrying toy guns with flowers rallied in Tokyo.

-Middle East: A march in Cairo, Egypt, drew 1,000 people. About 4,000 in Lebanon, waved posters showing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In Jordan, 300 protesters in the predominantly Palestinian district of Nuzha in the capital, Amman, burned U.S., British and Israeli flags and denounced Bush.

-Italy: Activists among 2,000 protesters in Bologna tried to break through a police line around an unrelated demonstration of rightists, and police responded with tear gas. American residents in Florence were among around 2,000 who formed a human chain near the U.S. Consulate.

-Germany: Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the U.S. Army Europe headquarters in Heidelberg.

-Pakistan: Hundreds marched in several cities. In Lahore, about 200 students and human rights activists tried to march on the U.S. Consulate, but police stopped them and allowed half a dozen to deliver a resolution to American officials.

-India: Hundreds of communist workers burned an effigy of Bush.

-Britain: Near London, about 200 anti-war protesters demonstrated outside a military base. Several thousand marched in Bradford, home to a large Pakistani Muslim community.

-Norway: A few hundred demonstrators gathered in Oslo.

-China: A small group of demonstrators marched to the U.S. and British consulates in Hong Kong.

-Ireland: Protesters converged on Shannon Airport to protest its use as a refueling stop for U.S. military aircraft.

-Netherlands: Hundreds marched the streets of Rotterdam, Nijmegen and Leiden. In Uden, police detained 90 activists for trying to invade an air base where U.S. and Dutch forces are stationed.

-Sweden: About 5,000 marched peacefully in Goteborg.

Independent: A world against the war

Washington leads demos across globe; Blix heads for Iraq as threat of conflict grows; Blair tries to calm rebels
In the biggest day of protest the world has yet seen against a war in Iraq, from Washington to Tokyo, Liverpool to Damascus, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across four continents took to the streets yesterday

PRIVACY

CNET News: RFID tags: Big Brother in small packages

Could we be constantly tracked through our clothes, shoes or even our
cash
in the future? I'm not talking about having a microchip surgically
implanted beneath your skin, which is what Applied Digital Systems of
Palm
Beach, Fla., would like to do. Nor am I talking about John Poindexter's
creepy Total Information Awareness spy-veillance system, which I wrote
about last week.
Instead, in the future, we could be tracked because we'll be wearing,
eating and carrying objects that are carefully designed to do so.

AFGHANISTAN

Asia Times: Afghanistan: The war gathers momentum

"KARACHI - A new round of carpet bombing and reinforcements of United States troops is likely for Afghanistan as the writ of the administration of President Hamid Karzai is under threat from a fierce guerrilla war that is intensifying in the mountainous terrain of the cities and towns located in the east of the country near the Pakistani border.

Given the pace of guerrilla activities, as the snow starts to melt towards the end of March, the capital Kabul can expect to come under rocket and missile attacks."

"soviel zum Frieden in Afghanistan, er ist nichts weiter als Propaganda"

ISRAEL

Counterpunch: Sharon's Fingerprints on Latest Suicide Bombing

"It is difficult to imagine that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with his much vaunted military and strategic acumen, did not understand the consequences of his policies over the past month.

Since the last suicide bombing on November 21, escalating Israeli military assaults have killed over sixty Palestinian civilians, culminating in the December 26 wave of killing and abductions, in which Israeli occupying forces killed at least nine Palestinians, injured more than 30 and abducted several others."

VENEZUELA

greenleft.org: VENEZUELA: The other war for oil

Reading the mainstream press over the last month, one could be forgiven for believing that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has become so unpopular that his government is facing a revolt by the country's workers.

However, at the centre of recent events in Venezuela is the battle for control of the largest oil fields outside the Middle East. On one side is the wealthy capitalist elite, which has enriched itself with oil profits for decades; on the other is the Chavez government and its working-class supporters, who hope to use oil revenue to eradicate the poverty that afflicts 80% of the population. This is the axis around which an even broader battle is being waged — the battle over which class will rule the country.

USA/EUROPE

Guardian: Fortress continents by Naomi Klein

Well, it could have been true. That's what Senator Hillary Clinton had to say after finding out that five Pakistani men did not actually sneak into the US through Canada so they could blow up New York on New Year's Eve. Because they were never in the US at all, and they weren't terrorists, and the whole thing was dreamt up by a man who forges passports for a living.
At the height of the search for the professional liar's imaginary non-terrorists, Clinton had blamed Canada and its "unpatrolled, unsupervised" border. But even when the hoax came to light, Clinton didn't rescind the accusation. Because the Canadian border is so porous, she reasoned, "this hoax seemed all too believable".

It was, in other words, a useful hoax, helping US citizens to see how unsafe they really are. And that is useful, especially if you are among the growing number of free-market economists, politicians and military strategists pushing for the creation of "Fortress Nafta", a continental security perimeter stretching from Mexico's southern border to Canada's northern one

CAPITALISM

memes.org: Rebel With a Cause: The Re-Education of Joseph Stiglitz

"Over the past several years, Stiglitz, a celebrated theorist who was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on asymmetric information, has grown accustomed to being at the center of controversy. From 1997 to 2000, he served as senior vice president and chief economist at the World Bank-a title that did not stop him from publicly criticizing the bank's sister institution, the International Monetary Fund. In a series of speeches and articles that culminated in a scathing April 2000 essay in The New Republic, Stiglitz blasted the IMF for being every bit as secretive, undemocratic and indifferent to the poor as its critics claimed. Stiglitz's outspokenness, unprecedented for a high-ranking insider, infuriated top officials at the IMF and US Treasury Department, and eventually led James Wolfensohn, the World Bank's president, to inform him that he would have to mute his criticism or resign. Stiglitz chose to leave."

ISRAEL

United Press: Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations

Mossad Hit-Teams werden in Zukunft Terroristen auch in den USA und anderen alliierten Staaten ermorden

COPYRIGHTS

New York Times: 20-Year Extension of Existing Copyrights Is held

Die Mickey Mouse hat vor dem Obersten Gericht gewonnen und bleibt weitere 20 Jahre lang geschützt. Das Oberste Gericht hat aber in der Urteilsbegründung den US-Kongress stark kritisiert.

IRAK

New York Times: U.S. Resisting Calls for a 2nd U.N. Vote on a War With Iraq

The Bush administration resisted calls by other nations today that it secure the explicit blessing of the United Nations Security Council before going to war with Iraq. The White House further suggested that it could decide in favor of military action even if weapons inspectors do not turn up concrete new evidence against Saddam Hussein.


Spiegel: USA wollen schnelles Ende der Waffenkontrollen

USA

New York Times: President Faults Race Preferences as Admission Tool

Bush will die Affirmitive-Action Programme abschaffen.

President Bush offered a sweeping denunciation of direct preferences for racial minorities in university admissions today and said his administration would file a brief with the Supreme Court urging that the affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan be declared unconstitutional.

Ouote of the Day: "I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education. But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed." George Bush Jr.

VENEZUELA

Vheadline: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan tells Venezuelans to respect the Constitution
"UN General Secretary Kofi Annan said that those who want change in Venezuela should respect the Constitution and work within the framework of Democracy which has been won with difficulty throughout Latin America. Annan said that he has viewed what's happening in Venezuela with growing concern."

ISRAEL

Independent: Israel closes Palestinian universities
Israel today shut down two West Bank universities as two Palestinians were killed in clashes and Israeli troops sealed the homes of four Jerusalem Arabs responsible for killing 35 people, including five Americans, in bombings

"Israel demolishes the homes of militants and suicide bombers in an attempt to deter other Palestinians from carrying out attacks on Israelis. "

official US definition takes "terrorism" to be "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear.

"Das israelische Vorgehen müsste man demzufole (laut offizieller amerikanischer Definition) Terrorismus nennen."

VENEZUELA

Washington Post: A Split Screen In Strike-Torn Venezuela
Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot
has
recently returned from eight days in Caracas. His latest article on
Venezuela appeared in Sunday's Washington Post. He said today:
"Venezuela
is in turmoil primarily because the opposition refuses to accept the
results of democratic elections. President Chavez's government has won
five

elections since 1998, including the referendum on the country's 1999
constitution. Although the opposition can organize large
demonstrations,
they have been unable to put together an electoral majority. So they
have
tried to remove the government by extra-legal means. In April they
tried a
military coup; now they are trying to make the country ungovernable, by
crippling the economy with an oil strike. (Although there are numerous
references to a general strike, outside of the 30,000 employees on
strike
in the oil industry there are not many workers actually on strike; some
are

locked out because the business owners have shut down.) The Bush
administration shares the opposition's goals of overthrowing the
elected
government and has supported them, although lately it has had some
reservations about the cutoff of Venezuelan oil and gasoline, and the
effect of that on oil prices and markets, and the economy."

"Walking around Caracas late last month during Venezuela's ongoing protests, I was surprised by what I saw. My expectations had been shaped by persistent U.S. media coverage of the nationwide strike called by the opposition, which seeks President Hugo Chavez's ouster. Yet in most of the city, where poor and working-class people live, there were few signs of the strike. Streets were crowded with holiday shoppers, metro trains and buses were running normally, and shops were open for business. Only in the eastern, wealthier neighborhoods of the capital were businesses mostly closed.

This is clearly an oil strike, not a "general strike," as it is often described"

IRAK

Times: The United States of America has gone mad
America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.
The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press
"How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America’s anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history. But they swung it. A recent poll tells us that one in two Americans now believe Saddam was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre. But the American public is not merely being misled. It is being browbeaten and kept in a state of ignorance and fear. The carefully orchestrated neurosis should carry Bush and his fellow conspirators nicely into the next election. "

VENEZUELA

VHeadline: Foreign Press Foundation condemns attempt to destabilize Venezuela
To the Ambassador, the US embassy,
CC. President George W. Bush

The Foreign Press Foundation in The Netherlands strongly condemns the attempt by right wing forces to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow the democratically-elected government of Hugo Chavez.

IRAK

Spiegel: "Zwischen den Kriegen"
In seinem Beitrag für die Nachrichtenagentur dpa kritisiert Günter Grass die heuchlerische Irak-Politik der USA und ihrer Verbündeten. Den drohenden Krieg bezeichnet er als "gewollt", es gehe "wiederum ums Öl". SPIEGEL ONLINE dokumentiert den Essay des Literaturnobelpreisträgers.

USA

Spiegel: Bürgerrechtler warnen vor Überwachungsmonster
Führende US-Bürgerrechtler warnen in einer neuen Studie vor der Entwicklung ihres Landes zu einem monströsen "Big Brother Staat": Internetnutzer würden heimlich überwacht, Videokameras allerorten installiert, selbst Bücherein müssen Auskunft über die Lesegewohnheiten ihrer Kunden geben.

ITALIEN

Spiegel: Fahnder entdecken 50 Tonnen Material für Chemiewaffen

Eine erschreckende Entdeckung hat die Polizei im Hafen von Genua gemacht. In einigen Containern sollen sich tonnenweise Chemikalien für die Herstellung von Massenvernichtungswaffen befunden haben. Das gefährliche Material soll aus einer deutscher Fabrik stammen. Angebliches Ziel: Libyen.

"Die betreffenden Firmen in Brüssel und Tripolis freilich erklären, dass die "Ware" ordnungsgemäß deklariert worden sei. Es habe sich lediglich um Material zur Herstellung von Pestiziden gehandelt. Die Ermittler sind jedoch laut "La Repubblica" überzeugt, dass die Begleitdokumente gefälscht sind und es sich um waffenfähiges Material handelt"

WEF

Tagesanzeiger: WEF: Schmid erhält Auftrag zur Sicherung des Luftraums

Das Militär wird am Wef den Luftraum kontrollieren und Terroristen vom Himmel schiessen.

WAR ON IRAK

Los Angeles Times: Thousands Rally Against War in Iraq, Push Peace

Thousands of people protesting a looming U.S.-led war against Iraq marched through downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, with many chanting, "We want peace!"

According to police, the crowd numbered between 5,000 and 7,000. Many wore their opinions, such as "No War" or "Don't Cut Medicare for Bombs and Missiles," on T-shirts, buttons and baseball caps. Organizers estimated the crowd at 15,000, said Karin Pally, who helped put on the event.

Bilder der Demonstration

BALI

Jakarta Post: Biggest Newspaper in Indonesia Denies Conventional Explosives Were Used in Bali

On October 12, 2002 the Indonesian island of Bali experienced a terrorist attack that rocked the world. It was unquestionably well-coordinated and executed, the largest in the country's history.
Investigators and forensics experts from both national and international teams that had quickly been assembled flocked to the crime scene, ostensibly to begin what should have been a long, drawn out exercise in forensics and investigative sleuthing to identify and capture the foot soldiers, coordinators and masterminds behind the attack that has left over 190 known dead, scores missing without a trace and hundreds more wounded It has turned out to be anything but that.
The Indonesian government immediately vowed to unite in the hunt for the bombers. The U.S. government along with the international community seized the opportunity to point the finger at the shadowy al-Qaeda group along with Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir as the culprits. In hindsight, it would appear that perhaps these individuals, given their apparent intimate knowledge of the perpetrators immediately following the bombing should have been included on the investigating team. Perhaps if they had we would know more than we do today, which is very little despite the volume of information (or disinformation) being vomited out by the spokesmen for the investigative teams on a daily basis.
A creeping sense of foreboding began soon after the forensics people and other investigators (inclusive of Insp. Gen. I Made Pastika and his army of hundreds of supposedly top-notch investigators with virtually unlimited resources at their disposal) announced after only a week and a half that they were wrapping up their on-site work and retreating to the labs to analyze their findings. Astounding work, as it must have set a world record for crime scene forensic analysis.
Given the scope of the bombing and the sheer size of the primary and secondary blast areas - where trace from a plethora of different explosive compounds were swabbed from - this was a feat that escaped even the vaunted investigators working the World Trade Center crime scene in New York, who spent nearly a year literally sifting by hand for evidence at the site. It would appear that the teams on Bali possessed far superior skills and techniques ... or was there something else responsible for their haste in wrapping up so quickly and then sending the rest of the evidence as quickly as possible to the bottom of the ocean off Bali?
At this point in their investigation National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar states for the record that "traces of a chemical powder used in the bomb" were found in the van allegedly used to transport the large device. What powder? Even a cursory examination of the crater and primary site immediately following the bombings would make this statement laughable were it not for the circumstances.
If indeed the Mitsubishi L300 van was used in the large blast, the five-foot deep by twenty-foot wide crater indicates that it would have been completely vaporized, including the engine block which they apparently found intact - along with the victims who instantly vanished. Indeed, this begs the question: Where did the investigators obtain this evidence in relation to the crater? Is it possible that if the van survived the large blast it was because it was parked at the edge of the primary blast zone, packed with small amounts of all the explosives - whose traces were found at the sites - in order to throw off independent investigators?
In addition, there is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), allegedly signed jointly by the National Police and the international investigation team, specifically restricting the scope of the "investigation links" and prohibiting international inquiries. Could this at least partially explain why Pastika has continually stonewalled, intimidated and generally obstructed independent investigators during the course of their work?
During the first weeks of the investigation, notables such as State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Chief Hendropriyono, Susilo Yudhoyono, Assembly Speaker Amien Rais and Pastika focused or pretended to focus on foreigners - without specifying "which" foreigners - who they said were behind the attack. Somehow this twisting, turning trail dried up and disappeared into thin air without explanation, along with the former retired Air Force Officer who allegedly confessed to police his involvement in the bombing and was then released. To this day his whereabouts remain unknown and police investigators either cannot or will not release any information on this man, an officer who was allegedly trained in America in explosives and is an incredible lead that should have been followed-up on aggressively and thoroughly. Why was it not?
Are these the statements and actions of professional investigators - or the actions of individuals engaged in a cover-up? Let's look at the myriad of explosive traces found at the site and subsequently cited individually off and on by investigators and police as "the explosive" used in the bombings. First it was C-4, then RDX. These two are actually the same, the difference being nine percent mallable plastic used in C-4. So, which is more powerful? RDX - nine percent more powerful than C-4.
Day after day, investigators trotted out a different explosive and combinations of explosives purportedly responsible for the blasts. In addition to C-4 and RDX there was now TNT, Ammonium Nitrate, HMX, Semtex, PETN, Chlorate and napalm. Everything but the kitchen sink. Was this gross ineptitude? Or another ploy to throw independent investigators off the trail?
For example, had the originators of the napalm theory studied up on the material before opening their mouths they would have known that napalm leaves a sticky, smelly residue on everything, including victims. This was not in evidence at the blast site or at the Sanglah burn ward and morgue, where the burn victims were taken. Therefore, in the absence of any physical evidence, napalm must be excluded and the originators of this farce be awarded a grade of "F" in "explosives analysis."
In other words, if you are going to lie, be professional about it, at least know what you are lying about and have the mental capacity to remember what you said when you said it. This single evidentiary template could easily be applied and extended to the entire "official investigation" of the Bali bombings where deceit, obstruction and obfuscation are and have been the name of the game.
To put this in perspective, let us look at three of the explosives claimed by official investigators to have been used in the bombings, starting with the compound that has the lowest velocity of detonation in feet per second (FPS) which is Potassium Chlorate at 3,500 FPS; compared to 12,000 FPS for Ammonium Nitrate and diesel and finally 27,800 FPS for RDX. In simple terms, at any given distance from ground zero these different explosive compounds will exert pressure in pounds per square inch. Damage to people and structures are a result of this pressure in varying degrees depending on the velocity of detonation. Even if RDX were used, the amount needed to cause the level of destruction in evidence at the crime scene should have been in excess of anything available through even the military, who denied possession of the explosive. There is also the delivery of the device to be taken into account.
Each of the explosives cited by investigators (with the exception of napalm) have unique and individual characteristics that vary for usage, stability and explosive yeild. They require specific detonators for each in order to obtain maximum effect. Also now at the bottom of the ocean off Bali is the reinforcing bar (rebar) located more than fifty feet from ground zero that had been completely stripped of concrete as a result of the blast. Documented military estimates of the force required to accomplish this is roughly 1 million to 1.5 million pounds per square inch.
What kind of weapon or device could accomplish this? And for that matter leave a crater of that size? Why was it filled in? This arguably could have been one of the most important pieces of evidence available to investigators not only for the trace explosive in evidence, but from which also could have been determined (roughly) the size and composition of the device.
With the police claiming (off and on) that Amrozi, Mukhlas and Samudra (who allegedly at one point denied involvement in the Bali bombings) were the perpetrators of the blasts, then why do the official investigators not know EXACTLY the type of device used in the main bombing and its precise composition? To put it quite simply, how can we have a bomber or bombers in the absence of a bomb?
Why were Amrozi and Samudra so quick to confess and finger their "accomplices"? Were these the actions of dedicated, radical, Islamic fundamentalists? "Professionals"? Did they expect to further their cause by eviscerating their own organization? Does it make sense that they were willing to kill and maim hundreds of innocents - including many fellow Indonesians - and yet implicate their comrades to save their own skins?
Given this dismal investigative performance, exactly what role did the international investigating team play in this debacle? If indeed there is one thing that has been glaringly apparent throughout this investigation, it is that perhaps nothing close to the truth has been told as of today. It is also apparent that something is very, very wrong not only with the procedural aspects of this case, but also with the suppression and outright destruction of evidence. The international investigators bear a heavy responsibility for this, and should be held accountable

Jakarta Post Editor Robert S. Finnegan is an internationally published investigative reporter with over two decades investigative experience. He currently holds an Alaska (U.S.) Private Investigator license.

Investigation: Bali Bombing

Wars eine Mini-Atombombe?

IRAK

Guardian: Allies speed up deployment to the Gulf
Troops ready for February conflict

"The United States, Britain and Australia have started to speed up the movement of troops and weapons to the Gulf to enable them to attack Iraq by mid-February.
At the weekend, the American defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, authorised the deployment of another 62,000 US troops. About 150,000 US and British troops will be in the region by next month."

"Der Countdown läuft.."

IRAK

Washington Post: Bush Lies: Iraq-Attack Decided Awhile Back

U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past
Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set
Sunday, January 12, 2003; Page A01

In July 2002, at a regular administrative meeting between the US
Department
of State's director of policy planning Richard Haass and National
Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice, he asked whether they should talk about the
pros
and cons of confronting Iraq. "Don't bother", Rice replied: "The
president
has made a decision." On September 17, 2001, six days after the attacks
on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a
2½-page
document marked "TOP SECRET" that outlined the plan for going to war in
Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism.

TERROR

AP: Greenpeace protesters stage break-in at nuclear power plant

"LONDON (AP) _ Nineteen anti-nuclear protesters used ropes, ladders and wire-cutters to break into the central control building of a nuclear power station in eastern England on Monday, the environmental group Greenpeace said.

Suffolk Police said there was ``an incident'' at the Sizewell B plant but would not give details.

Greenpeace, which campaigns for an end to nuclear energy, said it staged the break-in to expose poor security at the Sizewell B plant and other nuclear facilities.

``It is a terrifying thought that if we can do this then anyone can,'' said Rob Gueterbock, one of the protesters occupying the plant's roof. ``We wouldn't do anything to interfere with the plant, but if terrorists targeted a nuclear power station it would be deadly"

PROPAGANDA

Alternet: A Lesson In U.S. Propaganda

Last week U.N. weapons inspectors swooped in to inspect the Iraqi
manufacturing plant that U.S. planes bombed in 1991. Iraq said the
plant made infant milk formula; the U.S. said it made biological
weapons. Mark Crispin Miller examines the evidence and concludes
that Iraq's version was correct. Nevertheless, "Iraq, in trying to
publicize the targeting of its civilian infrastructure, had engaged
in clumsy propaganda (which backfired in the West), while the US
counter-propaganda was apparently disinformation (which succeeded).
As we sit and wait for another war against Iraq, we should remember
this triumphant bit of spin - and all the other winning lies of
Operation Desert Storm."

PR

Holmesreport: Lessons Learned from the Top 10 Crises of 2002

Die Top 10 der PR-Desaster von 2002

"The year 2002 was a year in which individual companies suffered catastrophic crises, but it was also a year in which American business as a whole suffered a chronic crisis, as constituents—shareholders, employees, regulators, the public at large—began to question whether the entire American corporate system was hopelessly corrupt.

Ordinarily, such an epidemic of ill-considered corporate behavior would have elevated the role of the senior corporate communications executive to a permanent place in the CEO’s inner circle, and provided a bonanza of new business for public relations firms. But in 2002, those gains conspicuously failed to materialize.

“The past year was filled with what seems like an unprecedented number of very widely publicized and unusually intriguing crises,” says Craig Martin, managing director of the Washington, D.C., office of Ruder Finn. “Corporate giants Enron, Tyco, and Worldcom tumbled, and cultural icons Martha Stewart, Jack Welch and Augusta National were humbled, albeit to varying degrees. "

GUERILLA MARKETING/PR WATCH

maisonneuve.org: Are You for Real?
Theater student Natalie Alvarez takes a close look at Jonathan
Ressler's "guerrilla advertising" company, Big Fat, Inc. In order
to bypass consumer skepticism about advertising, Ressler hires
"real people" to talk up his clients' products in bars, parks and
other public places. "We plant a group of people in a bar or other
public setting and instruct them to use a brand, perform a ritual,
repeat a sound bite, and involve others in the activity," Ressler
explains. As these "secret agents of capitalism" invade our daily
routines, Alvarez ponders the blurred boundaries between illusion
and reality, theater and life. "It's The Truman Show," says an
advertising executive. "Did your wife marry you because she loves
you, or because she wants you to buy a certain brand of soap?"

USA

"The Detroit Project by americans for fuel efficient cars" ist eine Anti-S.U.V Organisation die in den letzten Tagen mehrere TV-Commercials im US-Fernsehen geschaltet hat. Die Werbungen sind ziemlich lustig...so Ich hab ein SUV und es braucht soviel Benzin und vom Benzin Geld werden Terroristen unterstützt. Check it out, ist wirklich lustig!

TV Ads Say S.U.V. Owners Support Terrorists
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, NY Times 1/8/03
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 — Ratcheting up the debate over sport utility vehicles, new television commercials suggest that people who buy the vehicles are supporting terrorists. The commercials are so provocative that some television stations are refusing to run them.Patterned after the commercials that try to discourage drug use by suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go to terrorists, the new commercials say that money for gas needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists

checkt die Werbung hier: Talking Heads 30 sec. Realmedia File

George 30 sec. Realmedia File


New York Times: TV Ads Say S.U.V. Owners Support Terrorists
Ratcheting up the debate over sport utility vehicles, new television commercials suggest that people who buy the vehicles are supporting terrorists. The commercials are so provocative that some television stations are refusing to run them.

Patterned after the commercials that try to discourage drug use by suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go to terrorists, the new commercials say that money for gas needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists.

"This is George," a girl's voice says of an oblivious man at a gas station. "This is the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The screen then shows a map of the Middle East. "These are the countries where the executives bought the oil that made the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The picture switches to a scene of armed terrorists in a desert. "And these are the terrorists who get money from those countries every time George fills up his S.U.V."

USA

San Francisco Gate: Supreme Court to take up Nike and free speech.S.F. activist sued, saying firm lied about working conditions

A San Francisco consumer activist's suit against Nike Inc. is headed for the Supreme Court and a ruling that could redraw the boundaries between free speech and regulated advertising.

The court agreed Friday to review an appeal by the world's largest athletic shoe manufacturer and decide whether a common form of public relations -- designed to promote a company's image by defending its record on controversial issues -- amounts to a sales pitch or an entry in the marketplace of ideas.

USA

Heise: Asimovs Robotergesetze oder Jeffersons Bill of Rights?
Ende der 1990er log Nike in einer aufwändigen PR-Kampagne über die Arbeitsbedingungen, die bei der Herstellung ihrer Turnschuhe herrschen (vgl. König Fußball und die Kinderarbeit, Am Anfang war das Logo). Nicht jeder glaubte das. Und weil es in Kalifornien ein Gesetz gibt, welches das Ausmaß begrenzt, in dem Firmen ihre Kunden absichtlich täuschen dürfen, wurde die Firma vom Verbraucheraktivisten Marc Kasky verklagt.

"Man würde nun erwarten, dass ein Unternehmen auf solch eine Klage reagiert, indem es den Vorwurf der Lüge bestreitet. Doch offenbar war die Lüge hier zu frech oder man wollte bewusst einen Präzedenzfall zur Ausweitung der eigenen Rechte starten. Und so gaben Nikes Anwälte die Lüge offen zu, beriefen sich aber darauf, dass sie unter das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung falle. Vorigen Freitag nahm der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA den Fall zur Entscheidung an. "

WEF 2003

Indymedia.ch: smash it! wef-mördertreff zum letzten

der tragödie letzter akt, aufruf anti-wto koordination bern

4 sprachiger aufruf vom oltner bündnis [fr,de,it,eng]

smash the wef infrastructure

WIPE OUT WEF #02; zusammenstellung aufrufe, infos etc.

USA

Indymedia: Tens of Thousands Oppose Bush's Wars in LA, Twin Cities, Chicago

The march and rally on Saturday, January 11 in Los Angeles was the largest anti-war demonstration in Southern California in decades. Non-LAPD crowd estimates range from 15,000 to as high as 45,000. The mid-day march stretched ten city blocks in downtown LA.

In sharp contrast to Northern California, the Los Angeles area has never been known as one of the centers of American activism. While this has begun to change in recent years (e.g., the Justice for Janitors struggle in the late 1990s, and then the D2K mobilizations), SoCal still lags behind its northen neighbors. Thus Saturday's massive demo, the largest in the US since October 26, suggests the movement to stop the war on Iraq is growing exponentially.


Two thousands miles away, smashing organizer's expectations, over 2400 people attended the anti-war rally held in Uptown Minneapolis, while another 2000 persons protested against war in Chicago's Federal Plaza.

GRAFFITI

Cityfox hat ein Train Update und bei MONTANA gibts ein neues
Bombing-Spiel das ziemlich cool gemacht worden ist.

IRAK

Spiegel: "Ich habe Saddams Spiele satt"

Zwei amerikanische Flottenverbände und weitere Kriegsschiffe sind in die Golf-Region unterwegs. Die US-Marine bereitet sich intensiv auf einen Einsatz am Golf vor. US-Präsident George W. Bush warnte Saddam Hussein einmal mehr.

IRAK

Yahoo News OP/ED: IRAQ: ANOTHER FAKE LIBERATION


"The Defense Department claims 12 nations with nuclear weapons programs, 13 with biological weapons, 16 with chemical weapons, and 28 with ballistic missiles as existing and emerging threats to the United States. But only one of those countries sits atop the second largest oil reserves in the world."



Charles Peña, Senior Defense Policy Fellow of the Cato Institute, for The Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK--The American invasion of Iraq promises to be a blockbuster. They've designed the logos, focus-grouped the test audiences, and run the trailers. At this late date Bush wouldn't dare disappoint us with a boring old peace agreement. There's just one thing still missing from the script: the happy ending.

ISRAEL

palestinemonitor.org: Three Israeli political parties call for transfer of Palestinians

In a recent announcement published in Israel, three Israeli political parties called upon Palestinians to move from Israel to Jordan or other Arab countries. This “transfer” is, according to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, “nothing more than a euphemism for ethnic cleansing.”

"Drei Israelische Parteien rufen öffentlich zu "Ethnischen-Säuberungen" auf. Das nennt man dann "Demokratie". Im Westen gab es in den Medien bisher keine Reaktionen darauf. Was würden die westlichen Medien wohl schreiben wenn Arabische Staaten einen Transfer von Israelis fordern würden?"

AFGHANISTAN

Globalresearch: The Getaway
Article published in THE NEW YORKER 21.02.2002

Washington Behind Indo-Pakistan Conflict: How American Special Forces organised the evacuation of Al Qaeda and Pakistan ISI Forces to Kashmir.
In interviews, however, American intelligence officials and high-ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safety, in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Americans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus.the Administration ordered the United States Central Command to set up a special air corridor to help insure the safety of the Pakistani rescue flights from Kunduz to the northwest corner of Pakistan... [According to] an Indian assessment, thirtythree hundred prisoners surrendered... A few hundred Taliban were also turned over to other tribal leaders... That left between four and five thousand men unaccounted for. "Where are the balance?" ... None of the American intelligence officials I spoke with were able to say with certainty how many Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were flown to safety, or may have escaped from Kunduz by other means. India, wary of antagonizing the Bush Administration, chose not to denounce the airlift at the time....Diplomatic notes protesting the airlift were sent to Britain and the United States. Neither responded... Indian intelligence was convinced that many of the airlifted fighters would soon be infiltrated into Kashmir. There was a precedent for this... Our reading is that the fighters can go only to Kashmir."

911

Baltimore Chronicle: How Did those WTC Buildings Collapse?

The Washington Post recently (and casually) reported (1/3/03) that the ownership of our nation’s media and entertainment industries is becoming more even more consolidated than they are today. FCC Chairman Michael Powell is determined to relax the restrictions which control how much investment in media and information immense corporations like AOL-Time-Warner can make within individual markets. It has long been the opinion of this writer that media concentration is the Number One problem facing this country. People who dispute this idea always point out that the Internet is a source of information for those who (rightly) avoid the mainstream. However, the Bush right-wing faction (as opposed to the right wing faction that deplores government interference with liberties) is planning an attack on the freedom many of us associate with the “information superhighway” as you read these words.

USA

John Pilger: Pilger - They said what America needed was "a new Pearl Harbor".
Two years ago a project set up by the men who now surround George W Bush said what America needed was "a new Pearl Harbor". Its published aims have, alarmingly, come true

"The threat posed by US terrorism to the security of nations and individuals was outlined in prophetic detail in a document written more than two years ago and disclosed only recently. What was needed for America to dominate much of humanity and the world's resources, it said, was "some catastrophic and catalysing event - like a new Pearl Harbor". The attacks of 11 September 2001 provided the "new Pearl Harbor", described as "the opportunity of ages". The extremists who have since exploited 11 September come from the era of Ronald Reagan, when far-right groups and "think-tanks" were established to avenge the American "defeat" in Vietnam. In the 1990s, there was an added agenda: to justify the denial of a "peace dividend" following the cold war. The Project for the New American Century was formed, along with the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute and others that have since merged the ambitions of the Reagan administration with those of the current Bush regime."

"One of George W Bush's "thinkers" is Richard Perle. I interviewed Perle when he was advising Reagan; and when he spoke about "total war", I mistakenly dismissed him as mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's "war on terror". "No stages," he said. "This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq... this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war... our children will sing great songs about us years from now.""

"On the morning of 12 September 2001, without any evidence of who the hijackers were, Rumsfeld demanded that the US attack Iraq. According to Woodward, Rumsfeld told a cabinet meeting that Iraq should be "a principal target of the first round in the war against terrorism". Iraq was temporarily spared only because Colin Powell, the secretary of state, persuaded Bush that "public opinion has to be prepared before a move against Iraq is possible". Afghanistan was chosen as the softer option. If Jonathan Steele's estimate in the Guardian is correct, some 20,000 people in Afghanistan paid the price of this debate with their lives."

USA

Counterpunch: Monsters Inc.
The Pentagon Plan to Create Mutant "Super-Soldiers"

"Pentagon dark lord Donald Rumsfeld is shoveling billions of tax dollars into the research furnaces of federal laboratories and private universities across the land in the wide-ranging effort to spawn "super soldiers," fired by drugs and electromagnetic "brain zaps" to fight without ceasing for days on end. The work is being directed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--yes, the same outfit now laboring under convicted terrorist-conspirator John Poindexter to build the "Total Information Awareness" network that will allow the government to monitor the electronic records and communications of every citizen"

"And the term "creation" is not just fanciful rhetoric: some of the research now underway involves actually altering the genetic code of soldiers, modifying bits of DNA to fashion a new type of human specimen, one that functions like a machine, killing tirelessly for days and nights on end. These mutations will "revolutionize the contemporary order of battle" and guarantee "operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments," the DARPA wizards enthuse."

USA FREEDOM OF SPEACH

NY Times: Old Words on War Stirring a New Dispute at Berkeley

"In an unusual showdown over freedom of expression, university officials have refused to allow a fund-raising appeal for the Emma Goldman Papers Project to be mailed because it quoted Goldman on the subjects of suppression of free speech and her opposition to war. The university deemed the topics too political as the country prepares for possible military action against Iraq"

In one of the quotations, from 1915, Goldman called on people "not yet overcome by war madness to raise their voice of protest, to call the attention of the people to the crime and outrage which are about to be perpetrated on them." In the other, from 1902, she warned that free-speech advocates "shall soon be obliged to meet in cellars, or in darkened rooms with closed doors, and speak in whispers lest our next-door neighbors should hear that free-born citizens dare not speak in the open."

USA

Spiegel: Bush verliert an Boden

US-Präsident George W. Bush verliert in der Bevölkerung deutlich an Rückhalt: Einer aktuellen Umfrage zufolge sank die Zustimmung zu seiner Politik erstmals seit den Terroranschlägen vom 11. September unter 60 Prozent.

IRAK

Spiegel: Briten drohen mit Angriff - auch ohne Uno-Mandat
Nach zwischenzeitlicher Mäßigung rührt die britische Regierung wieder die Kriegstrommeln: Außenminister Jack Straw betonte, dass sein Land als Hauptverbündeter der USA auch ohne ausdrückliches Uno-Mandat den Irak angreifen könnte.

Tagesanzeiger: Grossbritannien behält sich nach den Worten des Aussenministers Jack Straw vor, gegen Irak auch ohne eine weitere Uno-Resolution vorzugehen. Dies sagte Straw am Dienstag im Radiosender BBC

USA

Weltwoche: «Es gibt Leute im Weissen Haus, die den atomaren Erstschlag wollen»

Interview

Während des Vietnamkriegs veröffentlichte Daniel Ellsberg die geheimen Pentagon Papers und verursachte einen der grössten Regierungsskandale der USA. Heute äussert sich der Nuklearexperte düster über die Vorgänge im Irak.

"Im Unterschied zu Johnson lügt Bush uns nicht vor, er wolle keinen Krieg. Aber die Gründe, die er dafür angibt, sind alle erlogen. Das ist nicht ungewöhnlich, sondern typisch. Die meisten Leute denken, die Regierung lüge manchmal. Das ist nicht so. Regierungsbeamte lügen jedes Mal, wenn sie den Mund aufmachen. Wenn man eine gewisse Zeit in dem Apparat gearbeitet hat, vergisst man, dass das den Leuten draussen nicht bewusst ist. Als ich in meinem Buch darüber schrieb, dachte ich keinen Moment daran, dass das die Leute schockieren könnte, so normal schien es mir. Wenn ich geahnt hätte, dass nur Insider wissen, dass immer gelogen wird, hätte ich allein darüber ein ganzes Buch schreiben können."

ISRAEL

Weltwoche: «Palästinenser sind Tiere»

Mit Bulldozern, Tränengas und Betonmischern ist Israel daran, aus dem Westjordanland das grösste Freiluftgefängnis der Welt zu machen. Zwei Millionen Palästinenser werden eingemauert. Eine Visite.

USA

Guardian: Bushwhacked

"With war looming it is no good the American public looking to its newspapers for an independent voice. For, says Matthew Engel, the press have now become the president's men"


It is more than 30 years ago now, though it seems like yesterday. A Republican president, much derided by liberals, was in the White House and his opponents were being lashed by the rightwing attack dogs, led then by the vice-president, Spiro Agnew.

The elite East Coast press, exemplified by the New York Times and the Washington Post, were the special targets of his scorn: "pointy-headed liberals," he called them, and "the nattering nabobs of negativism".

NORTHKOREA

Guardian: US softens line in North Korea dispute

The US today appeared to soften its stance in a tense standoff with the reclusive North Korean government, offering to restore much-needed energy aid if North Korea abandoned its nuclear programme.
At a meeting with South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, the assistant US secretary of state, James Kelly, today seemed to reverse the US position that it would not reward North Korea for dismantling its nuclear programmes.

Es scheint als sei Diplomatie möglich solange es nicht um Öl geht....

ENGLAND

Guardian: Blair ready to act without new UN resolution

The prime minister, Tony Blair, said today that he believed "passionately" that Saddam Hussein must be stripped of his weapons of mass destruction, with or without a new UN resolution.

IRAK

Spiegel: Uno-Inspektionen dauern ein ganzes Jahr

Schlechte Nachrichten für die Falken im Pentagon, die einen schnellen Angriff auf den Irak befürworten. Ein abschließendes Urteil der Uno-Experten über die irakischen Waffensysteme wird offenbar erst Ende des Jahres vorliegen. Mit einem Angriffsbefehl vor Abschluss der Uno-Inspektionen würde US-Präsident Bush die gesamte Weltgemeinschaft verprellen.

PR WATCH

prwatch.org: War Is Sell

"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August," White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. told the New York Times in September. Card was explaining what the Times characterized as a "meticulously planned strategy to persuade the public, the Congress, and the allies of the need to confront the threat from Saddam Hussein."

"We're getting the band together," said White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett in September. The "band," explained Newsweek's Martha Brant, refers to "the people who brought you the war in Afghanistan--or at least the accompanying public-relations campaign. ... Now they're back for a reunion tour on Iraq."
A group of young White House up-and-comers, the "band" was meeting daily on a morning conference call to plan media strategy with the aim of controlling "the message within the administration so no one--not even Vice President Dick Cheney--freelances on Iraq," Brant wrote.