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IRAQI DEMOCRACY

Indymedia/Le Monde: No Islamic Iraqi Government - Even If Democratically Voted Into Office: Rumsfeld translation

After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's appalling dictatorship, the US promised that it would establish in Iraq an exemplary democracy....Is such a promise credible? Obviously not. The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, hastened to point out that even if it was the desire of the majority of Iraqis as expressed at the ballot box, the US would not accept an Islamic regime in Iraq: 'That isn't going to happen,' he said . This is a very old law of history: empires impose their law on the vanquished. But there is also another law: those that live by empire die by it.

"Soviel zur Amerikanischen Aufassung von Demokratie und Recht. Als hätten wir es nicht gewusst"

IRAQ

Indymedia: Al-Thawra is Mourning its Dead

"It is effective" says Fatme, of the looting of the museums and ministries, "By destroying a people’s heritage, you destroy their past and future. We have been made - to them - a people without a past - our records and archives are destroyed, burnt in the ministries. We become a people without names, no records to say we exist. It is not the objects themselves we are sad about, it is what they represented to us. We are the oldest civilisation, but we are presented to the world as terrorists, as fanatics. Only people who fight with small guns are called terrorists. Bush, who bombs us with cluster bombs, and strangles us with the embargo, is a 'civilised man'."

IRAQ

Fromthewilderness/Bloomberg: U.S., U.K. Waged War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser Says
London, May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq because of the Middle East country's oil reserves, an adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Sir Jonathan Porritt, head of the Sustainable Development Commission, which advises Blair's government on ecological issues, said the prospect of winning access to Iraqi oil was ''a very large factor'' in the allies' decision to attack Iraq in March.
"I don't think the war would have happened if Iraq didn't have the second-largest oil reserves in the world,'' Porritt said in a Sky News television interview.

PEAK OIL

Fromthewilderness:
Mexicans Outraged by Immigration/Oil Move
JOHN RICE
Associated Press

Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2003

MEXICO CITY - A move in the U.S. Congress to link immigration with opening up Mexico's state oil company to U.S. investment has outraged Mexicans, and newspapers Saturday accused American lawmakers of arrogance and blackmail.

"May 11, 2003, 0100 PDT (FTW) --Mexico passed its peak of oil production in the 1980s. Its nationalized oil company, Pemex, controls both the oil and natural gas resources of our Southern neighbor. Soon Mexico will not have enough natural gas to meet even its own needs, let alone exporting it to the US. As the Empire's oil reserves shrink and as its natural gas reserves approach empty, with Canadian tar sands development proving to be an economic and ecological disaster, the realities of diminishing hydrocarbon energy supplies are starting to hit home. Once more the Empire's fig leaf is removed as the House International Relations Committee tells Mexico, “If you want better immigration laws, give us control of your fossil fuels.” The Sense of Congress resolution needs to be approved by both houses and is sure to stir up a fight. But, in the context of Peak Oil, it will be perhaps the kindest, gentlest move the Empire makes to obtain control of Mexico's oil."

EUROPE

Yellowtimes: ''Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power?"
PINR) -- Now that the United States has expressed its desire to weaken the United Nations politically and to create a new world order in which the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it will be important to watch how Europe responds. Prior to the war in Iraq, the European states of France and Germany were unwilling to support a U.S. led invasion. With the weight of the Security Council behind these two states, governments around the world watched to see if the U.S. would defy the United Nations and thus upset the balance of world order. The Bush administration decided to attack Iraq without U.N. support, which sent ominous signals throughout the world that the U.S. would no longer be restrained by the decrees of the U.N.

CHINA

World Net Daily: China set to field world's most powerful tank
Communist state also improving laser systems, naval capabilities

China has made substantial advances in some areas of its ground and naval forces, including upgrades to tanks and armor, laser systems and anti-submarine warfare.

Jane's Defense Weekly, a respected Britain-based military journal, said the People's Liberation Army is set to deploy a new main battle tank, or MBT, that, when fielded, will become the most powerful of its kind in the world.

USA

Common Dreams: Bush Should Be Impeached and Tried for War Crimes
One image from the conflict in Iraq continues to haunt me. A photograph in the New York Times includes the school pictures of three girls. Marwa, Tabarek, and Safia Abbas were dark-haired beauties, aged 11, 8, and 5. They could be from anywhere, but until recently they lived in Baghdad. Note I refer to them in the past tense....

USA

Counterpunch: Group Therapy
Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel and Baghdad

Veteran observers of the klepto-plutocracy that has, lazar-like, long encrusted the American body politic were not surprised to see the hoary name of the Bechtel Group bobbing up in the swill of sweetheart deals now being doled out by the Corrupter-in-Chief for the "reconstruction" of his new fiefdom in Iraq. Decades before its comrade in cronyism, the Carlyle Group, made its meteoric, Bush-assisted ascent to global prominence, Bechtel had already perfected the dark art of milking intimate government connections for fat, risk-free contracts.

ISRAEL

Swissinfo: Sharon rejects settlement retreat
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected any talk of dismantling Jewish settlements in the
foreseeable future despite U.S. calls for conciliatory gestures to advance a new Middle East peace plan.

His remarks, underlining his rightist coalition's objections to the peace "road map", were in an interview published on
Tuesday as he prepared for talks with the new reformist Palestinian premier later this week and U.S. President George W.
Bush on May 20.

"damit ist die US-Friedensinitiative Tod bevor sie begonnen hat"

SAUDI ARABIA

Spiegel: Möglicherweise über hundert Tote
Die Opferzahlen bei den verheerenden Terroranschlägen im saudi-arabischen Riad sind offenbar weit höher als befürchtet. Allein in einem Krankenhaus wurden einem Arzt zufolge 40 bis 50 Tote gezählt. In US-Regierungskreisen ist von über hundert Toten die Rede. Darunter seien auch Deutsche. Für US-Außenminister Powell steht fest: Hinter dem Anschlag steckt al-Qaida

Independent: '50 killed' in Riyadh suicide bombings
Dozens of people were killed in four suicide bomb attacks on Western targets in Saudi Arabia hours before the US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in the country today.
Mr Powell announced that there were at least 10 Americans killed in the attacks, adding that "there was a large loss of life of others". He said the bombings bore the hallmarks of the al-Qa'ida terrorist group.

Ananova: At least 40 killed as 'seven car bombs detonated'
At least 40 people have been killed after terrorists shot their way into three compounds housing foreigners in Saudi Arabia and set off car up to seven bombs.

Tschetschenien

Spiegel: Rebellen jagen Regierungsgebäude in die Luft - über 40 Tote
Drei Attentäter haben in der nordtschetschenischen Stadt Snamenskoje einen mit Sprengstoff beladenen Lastwagen in ein Regierungsgebäude gelenkt. Dort brachten sie ihre tödliche Ladung zur Explosion. Dutzende Menschen kamen ums Leben, bis zu 300 wurden verletzt

IRAQ

Independent: Fury Rises In Baghdad-Saddam's Gone, Heroin Is Back
The killing of two US soldiers in Baghdad within 24 hours last week shows how far the US and Britain still have to go to end the chaos gripping the Iraqi capital a month after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Anger is growing among Iraqis at the Allies' failure to restore order in a cityawash with weapons and gangs. Heroin - banned under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship upon pain of hanging - is now being traded in back streets

"Hat das US-Militär Drogendealer-Specialforces? Überall wo die Amerikaner auftauchen werden die Strassen von Heroin überschwemmt"

IRAQ

ABC: Shiite Leader Demands U.S. Leave Iraq
Shiite Leader Demands Coalition Troops Withdraw and Allow Iraqis to Establish Own Government

The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group denounced the U.S.-led occupation forces Sunday and demanded they pull out and allow the Iraqi people to establish their own government.

IRAQ

Independent: Baghdad Rots After A Month Of US 'Reconstruction'
It was just another day in the process of "getting Baghdad back to normal". Well, on this most normal of days when news was supposed to be slow, the US-appointed Health Minister finally resigned at the time of a steadily mounting public health crisis after a week of relentless pressure from doctors disgusted at his prominent past in the Saddam Hussein regime.

Asharq Al-Awsat: Saddam Is In Iraq Under Special Protection - Chalabi
BAGHDAD -- Ahmad Chalabi, president of the Iraqi National Congress, has said Saddam Hussein is moving around in the country under special protection. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, he said the people around Saddam had now abandoned him. "They don't know about his whereabouts," he added.

Independent: US Finds Zero Iraq WMDs Yet Blocks Return Of Blix Team
The United States is continuing this weekend to block the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq, even though its own teams of experts have so far failed to find any definitive evidence of banned biological, chemical or nuclear materials in the country, let alone any actual armaments.

911

Rense: Political Deception -The Missing Link Behind 9-11

Newsmax: Prez Wannabe Graham Eyeing Evidence That Bush Blew 9/11
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bob Graham is reportedly sitting on damaging evidence that the Bush administration could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks - but he hasn't released the information yet because it's classified.

tomflocco:Bush May Invoke 9/11 Executive Privilege and Secrecy
THE ATTACK WILL BE SPECTACULAR AND DESIGNED TO INFLICT MASS CASUALTIES AGAINST U.S. FACILITIES OR INTERESTS. ATTACK PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. ATTACK WILL OCCUR WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.” (CIA Intelligence Report for President Bush, July, 2001 -- 60 Days Prior to 9/11)

Rense: Controlled Collapse of tower 7?

LONDON

Reuters: IRA Shaken As British Double Agent Unmasked
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - The unmasking of Britain's top spy within the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has sent shockwaves through one of Europe's most feared guerrilla organizations.

Revelations that Alfredo "Freddy" Scappaticci was working for the British at the same time as running the IRA's ruthless internal security unit will shake IRA morale, but also pose awkward questions for authorities in London and Belfast.

"There's a lot of anger (within the IRA) of course, that this guy, who was involved in a lot of operations, was passing information across," Belfast-based political commentator Brian Feeney told Reuters on Monday.

Independent: IRA double agent 'Stakeknife' forced to flee Ireland as cover is blown
A new wave of allegations of Army intelligence misbehaviour has accompanied the naming at the weekend of a Belfast republican described as a key security force asset in the upper ranks of the IRA.

PHOTOS

Some Photos of 1st May 2003 in Zürich.

911

Heise: Ist es Zufall?
Die Nationale Kommission zur Untersuchung der Ereignisse vom 11.9. hat die ersten Anhörungen durchgeführt, die Bush-Regierung blockiert weiter die Aufklärung

Seit der Tragödie vom 11. September sind fast 20 Monate vergangen. Die Fragen, die durch diese Ereignisse entstehen, müssen in den USA erst noch durch eine öffentliche Untersuchung geklärt werden. Der Widerstand der Bush-Administration gegenüber der notwendigen öffentlichen Untersuchung hatte ein bedeutendes Hindernis dargestellt. Das ist desto mehr eine Anklage der Bush-Regierung, da sie das Mantra des 11. Septembers verwendet hatte, um einen Krieg gegen Dissidenten und Bürgerrechte im Land und gegen die Zivilbevölkerungen und Regierungen im Ausland zu führen.

Newsweek web exclusive: The Secrets of September 11
The White House is battling to keep a report on the terror attacks secret. Does the 2004 election have anything to do with it?
Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks.

SARS BIOWEAPON

AFP: Rumours Abound Of SARS Link To BioWeapons

BEIJING (AFP) -- The mounting death toll exacted by Sars in China has triggered speculation that the virus could ultimately be traced back to a leak from military bio-weapon programmes.

Although most reports favour a natural origin for Sars, a bio-weapon link should not be ruled out, according to Mr Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank.

'While there is no reported evidence that Sars is indeed a weapon, there are plenty of ways that a real weapon with the properties of Sars could prove decisive in a military conflict,' he said.

Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, in an opinion piece published in the International Herald Tribune this week, cited rumours circulating in China such as the idea 'that Sars emanated from China's biological weapons research facilities'.

Many analysts consider a link between Sars and bio-weapons far-fetched

SWITZERLAND

AFP: War crimes charges filed in Switzerland against Bush, Blair

BERN (AFP) - A private group called "Solidarity with Victims of the War Against Iraq" has filed war crimes charges in Switzerland against US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), the public prosecutor's office said Thursday.
In a submission, the Geneva-based group said it represented Iraqi nationals whose family members had been victims of acts of war during the invasion carried out by US and British troops.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Arabicnews: 17 Palestinians killed in Israeli massacre, demolishing, damaging 93 houses

The Israeli occupation forces yesterday committed brutal acts which claimed the lives of 17 Palestinians including three brothers from Abu Hein family and two children, while more than 40 others were wounded when scores of Israeli tanks incurred yesterday at dawn at al-Shuje'eya quarters in Gaza under the cover of the Israeli military helicopters opening fire intensively at the homes of Palestinians.

Two other Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces in another incursion operation in Yata town, Hebron, in the West Bank and four were wounded, thereby making the number of Palestinians killed yesterday at 17.

IRAQ

Omaha: U.N. blamed for causing Iraq's gas shortages
Iraq - Jay Garner, the former lieutenant general who has been in Iraq for nearly a month with a mandate to get the country running again, on Sunday blamed U.N. sanctions for the gasoline shortages that have prompted Iraqi anger at the American occupation forces here.

Waving his arm to indicate the long lines of cars waiting at a gas station in central Baghdad, Garner said the economic sanctions still in force on Iraq had stalled deliveries of oil for its domestic needs.

"Put in there that the U.N. really needs to lift the sanctions so we don't have all of this," he said.

"Was er nicht gesagt hat ist das die USA das Irakische Öl nicht verkaufen können solange das "Oil-for-Food" Programm der UNO in Kraft ist"

FINANCE

Guardian: Arise, investors, says Buffett
US investment guru calls for shareholder revolt against boardroom greed

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, has urged shareholders to rise up against greedy executives, in a searing weekend attack on rising pay and the

business practices that grew out of the dotcom boom.
Mr Buffett was particularly critical of the trend to report Ebitda - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - which became popular in the 90s and remain so today. His long-time business partner at investment fund Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger, summed up their attitude: "Wherever you read Ebitda, you should substitute it with 'bullshit earnings'. "

At the annual shareholder meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, in Omaha, Mr Buffett also delivered a brutal assessment of the $726bn tax cuts proposed by President Bush, which, he said "screamed of injustice" to the poor.

IRAQ: HALLIBURTON

MSNBC: Halliburton cash registers ring in Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 2 — Halliburton Energy Services, the giant government contractor formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, is overseeing no-bid Army projects worth nearly a half-billion dollars that involve almost every aspect of U.S. operations in Iraq, NBC News has learned. The projects extend well beyond a previously reported Pentagon contract the company won to put out oil-well fires in Iraq two months ago.

AFGHANISTAN

Times of India: Senior Taliban leader resurfaces, vows jihad

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan: One of the most senior leaders of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime vowed on Sunday to continue a jihad, or holy war, against the United States and its Afghan allies.

Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rehmani, former governor of the province of Kandahar and a close associate of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, was speaking to Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location in his first interview since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

"The Taliban will continue their jihad and struggle for peace, implementation of Islamic sharia law, and against America and its agents", Rehmani said. "The jihad will continue because American troops are occupying Afghanistan".

Afghan officials say the Taliban appears to be regrouping this year and blame the hardline militia for a series of attacks on American and Afghan government troops in recent months

USA

Guardian: Firm in Florida election fiasco earns millions from files on foreigners

A data-gathering company that was embroiled in the Florida 2000 election fiasco is being paid millions of dollars by the Bush administration to collect detailed personal information on the populations of foreign countries, enraging several governments who say the records may have been illegally obtained.
US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.

Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.

IRAQ

Sunday Herald: US: 'Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction'
The Bush administration has admitted that Saddam Hussein probably had no weapons of mass destruction.
Senior officials in the Bush administration have admitted that they would be 'amazed' if weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were found in Iraq.

According to administration sources, Saddam shut down and destroyed large parts of his WMD programmes before the invasion of Iraq.

Ironically, the claims came as US President George Bush yesterday repeatedly justified the war as necessary to remove Iraq's chemical and biological arms which posed a direct threat to America.

Bush claimed: 'Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We will find them.'

This represents a clearly dramatic shift in the definition of the Bush doctrine's central tenet -- the pre-emptive strike. Previously, according to Washington, a pre-emptive war could be waged against a hostile country with WMDs in order to protect American security.

Now, however, according to the US official, pre-emptive action is justified against a nation which simply has the ability to develop unconventional weapons.

GRAFFITI

Updates bei:

Cityfox

Razhia

Overkill

SITE OF THE DAY

Check: TAG DER ARBEIT Das Spiel zum Revolutionären 1. Mai

EURO - DOLLAR WAR

Heise: Der Euro als Wunderwaffe
Ein Umstieg vom Petro-Dollar zum Petro-Euro könnte die Weltordnung verändern

Die militärische und wirtschaftliche Hegemonie steht seit dem neuen Irak-Krieg außer Zweifel. Vor diesem Krieg gab es noch eine vage Hoffnung, die von vielen im Rest der Welt inzwischen als Schurken-Supermacht gesehenen USA mit den Mitteln der Diplomatie zumindest einzudämmen. Doch seither haben die Vordenker der Bush-Regierung entdeckt, dass sie einen Krieg auch ohne Deckung der Vereinten Nationen führen können und ihre eigene Wählerschaft dennoch bei guter Laune bleibt.

USA

Heise: Die Fürsten des IV.Weltkriegs
US-Think Tanks und das Netzwerk der Neokonservativen, Teil 1

"Die meisten Stiftungen", sprach Roger Hertog, der reiche, konservative Mäzen und neue Miteigner des politischen Magazins The New Republic vor einer Handvoll ranghoher Repräsentanten amerikanischer Think Tanks, "geben ihr Geld für Backsteine und Mörtel aus. Für Museen, Hospitäler, Konzerthallen und Universitäten". Das sei alles sehr fein und gut , aber die anwesenden Vertreter von der Heritage Foundation, dem Cato Institute, dem Manhattan Institute und dem American Enterprise Institute hätten etwas sehr viel weiter Reichendes vollbracht: Sie hätten es geschafft, den Kurs der amerikanischen Politik radikal zu verändern. Und: Alle zusammen würden "nur" 70 Millionen Dollar im Jahr kosten. "Man erreicht eine ziemliche Hebelwirkung für seine Dollars", versicherte Hertog der erlesenen Runde; die Herren von den Ideen-Instituten lächelten zustimmend

CHECK IT

GUANTANAMO WATCH

Heise: Die Kinder von Guantanamo
Auch Kinder unter 16 Jahren werden als "feindliche Kämpfer" vom Pentagon auf dem kubanischen Stützpunkt festgehalten, aber den "sehr, sehr gefährlichen Menschen" ginge es bestens
Letzte Woche erst wurde bekannt, dass das Pentagon im Gefängnislager Guantanamo auf Kuba auch Kinder unter 16 Jahren eingesperrt hat. Am 23. April räumte Oberstleutnant Barry Johnson ein, dass Kinder als "aktive Kämpfer gegen die US-Streitkräfte" festgenommen und nach Guantanamo gebracht wurden, um sie dort zu vernehmen. Insgesamt befinden sich noch über 660 "feindliche Kämpfer" in rechtlosem Zustand in dem amerikanischen Gefangenenlager. Auch der Status von Kriegsgefangenen wird ihnen verweigert, um sie im Prinzip unbegrenzt in den Zellen halten zu können.

Auf einer Pressekonferenz letzte Woche erklärte Stabschef Richard Myers dazu:
Die Kinder seien "trotz ihres Alters sehr, sehr gefährliche Menschen. Das sind Menschen, die hauptsächlich in Afghanistan festgenommen und einen sorgfältigen Verfahren unterzogen worden sind, um zu bestimmen, in welcher Art sie beteiligt sind. Einige wurden getötet. Einige haben gesagt, sie würden wieder töten. Sie können also Jugendliche sein, aber sie sind kein Schülerteam, sondern sie spielen in einem Erwachsenenteam, das ein Terroristenteam ist. Und sie sind in Guantanamo aus guten Grund - für unsere Sicherheit, für Ihre Sicherheit."

IRAQ

Heise: Wenn es den eigenen Interessen dient

Das Pentagon hat ein Abkommen mit einer iranischen Widerstandsorganisation im Irak geschlossen, die bislang als Terrororganisation galt

Der Feind des Feindes wird zum Freund. Dieser Devise sind die USA schon oft gefolgt. Man hätte annehmen sollen, dass nach den Erfahrungen mit den Taliban und Bin Ladin sowie mit Saddam Hussein langsam ein strategisches Umdenken erfolgen könnte. Jetzt aber hat die US-Regierung mit dem bewaffneten Arm der iranischen Volksmudschaheddin, die sich im Irak aufhalten und von dort aus die iranische Regierung bekämpfen, einen Waffenstillstand angeboten, nachdem die Organisation zuvor noch als Terrorgruppe galt.

WORLD

Harpers: Weekly Review
United States officials met in China with their North Korean counterparts and warned them that talks would cease if they did not stop issuing "bellicose" statements. The North Koreans admitted they already have nuclear weapons and may test, export, or use them depending on U.S. actions; Donald Rumsfeld thought this might present an opportunity for another "regime change." The U.S. warned Iran not to meddle in Iraq's political affairs and accused the country of sending agents into the south to promote an Iranian model of government; to counter the damage, troops and intelligence officers were asking Iraqi clerics to please issue fatwas in support of the American administration of the country. The U.S. warned Iraqis not to exploit their country's power vacuum by appointing themselves to political positions, and American soldiers arrested the former exile who announced that he was the mayor of Baghdad. Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, negotiated a surrender to Diane Sawyer of ABC News but changed his mind and turned himself in to military officials, who were also holding the former liaison to U.N. weapons inspectors and a quarter of the 55 "most wanted" Iraqi fugitives...............

CAPITALISM

Corpwatch.org/SF Chronicle: USA: Bush Top Gun vs. S.F. Activist
Solicitor General Asks High Court to Toss Anti-Nike Suit
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer urged the high court Wednesday to toss out a San Francisco consumer activist's suit against Nike Inc. because it could discourage corporations from defending themselves in public against their critics.
Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued Wednesday that the court must quash the lawsuit or citizens seeking to "advance their own agendas" would repeatedly haul corporations into court to challenge their views.
"Anyone with a whim, a grievance and a filing fee can become a government- licensed censor," Olson told the justices.
Marc Kasky sued Nike in 1998 under the state's false advertising laws, accusing the world's largest shoemaker of making false and misleading public statements about its treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers at Asian factories that produce shoes and sportswear with the company's "swoosh" logo.

"Würde Bush auch seinen Staatsanwalt lossenden wenn Nike nicht so viel Geld an seinen Wahlkampf gespendet hätte? that's Democracy"

IRAQ

Counterpunch: Get the US Out of Iraq And Its Military Out of Our Mind by Ron Jakobs

So, the US is occupying Iraq. What does that mean? Does it mean that US
marines are shooting into crowds of Iraqis protesting the US presence
and killing some members of the crowd? Does it mean the reappearance of
death by cholera and typhoid in the city of Baghdad because the hospitals in
that city have been bombed, looted and burned and these hospitals don't have
the medicines to combat these diseases and others related to the
destruction wrought by years of US sanctions and days of bombing? Does it mean the
theft of priceless antiquities by organized gangs of criminals while US
marines stood guard at Iraq's oil ministry building? Does it mean the
death by cluster bombs and depleted uranium shell casings of more Iraqi
civilians? Does it mean the denial of entry into Iraq of UN weapons
inspection teams by the United States? Does it mean the construction of
US military bases on Iraqi soil? Bases constructed for the purpose of
maintaining US control of the country and to enable an easy attack on
any other nations or popular movements in the region who refuse to go along
with the US desire for global domination beginning in the Middle East?
Does it mean that anyone challenging the Americans and their plans is
subject to arrest by the US military? Does it mean incredible profiteering off the
Iraqi people's misery by corporations whose connections to the regime
in Washington DC are more than just coincidental? I wish I could
truthfully answer no to all these questions, but I can't. Unfortunately, the
answer to every single one of them is yes.

IRAQ

Counterpunch: Repeat After Me - Iraq is Weapons Free
Now that the Bush administration has realised that unless Iraq is certified as having no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) the UN sanctions cannot be permanently lifted and the Oil for Food Program will remain in force, the US President is changing his tune.

During a recent speech in Ohio, George W. Bush hinted for the first time that Iraq's infamous WMD might never be uncovered. "It's going to take time to find them, but we know he (Saddam Hussein) had them. And whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're going to find out the truth," he said.

"One thing is for certain," Bush added. "Saddam Hussein no longer threatens America with weapons of mass destruction." As if he ever did

ISRAEL

Canada: Israeli troops mark Palestinians with numbers
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Israeli soldiers have written numbers in ink
on the hands of hundreds of Palestinians waiting at a crowded West Bank
military checkpoint, several of the people marked said Monday. The army
confirmed the incident but said it was done by a lone soldier who acted
on his own and would face a disciplinary hearing. Palestinians with
three-digit numbers scribbled on their palms said they told the
soldiers they considered the practice degrading, but they were given a choice to
either turn back or submit to the marking. A similar incident happened
in March 2001 when soldiers marked numbers on the foreheads and forearms
of Palestinian detainees awaiting interrogation during an army sweep of a
West Bank refugee camp.

"gabs das nicht schon einmal?"

IRAQ: TOMMY FRANKS WAR CRIMINAL

Washington Times: Iraqis target Gen. Franks for war crimes trial
Iraqi civilians are preparing a complaint to present in court in Belgium accusing allied commander Gen. Tommy Franks and other U.S. military officials of war crimes in Iraq, according to the attorney representing the plaintiffs. Top Stories
The complaint will state that coalition forces are responsible for the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians, the bombing of a marketplace in Baghdad, the shooting of an ambulance, and failure to prevent the mass looting of hospitals, said Jan Fermon, a Brussels-based lawyer

IRAQ: MEDIA

Grace News, By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

The U.S. government this week launched its Arabic language satellite TV
news station for Muslim Iraq. It is being produced in a studio -- Grace
Digital Media -- controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are
rabidly pro-Israel. That's Grace as in "by the Grace of God." Grace Digital
Media is controlled by a fundamentalist Christian millionaire, Cheryl Reagan

RUSSIA

Times of India: Russia, former Soviet republics launch military-political bloc

MOSCOW: Russia and five former Soviet republics on Monday launched a
new military-political bloc in the East, similar to NATO of the US-led
western nations. At a summit near Dushanbe, leaders of Russia, Armenia,
Belorus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan formalised their collective
security pact into Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) with a charter
containing an article similar to the article 5 of NATO when an act of
aggression on one member-nation would be considered as an aggression on
all the member-nations, state-run 'Rossia" channel reported. "At Monday's
session we finally agreed on military and military-political
mechanisms, decided to set up a joint headquarters and a rapid deployment force,
and made a decision on coordinating political approaches," Russian
President Vladimir Putin said in his televised statement at the end of the CSTO
summit. "The purpose of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is
to guarantee the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of its
member-countries," he said.

ISRAEL

Reuters: Israeli Calls for 'Regime Change' in Iran, Syria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Israeli ambassador in Washington called for "regime change" in Iran and Syria on Monday through diplomatic isolation, economic sanctions and what he called "psychological pressure."
Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said the U.S. invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein helped create great opportunities for Israel but it was "not enough."
"It has to follow through. We still have great threats of that magnitude coming from Syria, coming from Iran," he told a conference of the pro-Israeli Anti-Defamation League.

"Amerika würde sich besser mal einen "regime change" in Israel überlegen"

IRAQ: US TROOPS KILL PROTESTERS

Spiegel: US-Soldaten schießen wieder auf Demonstranten
Nach dem Blutbad, das US-Soldaten gestern unter Demonstranten in der irakischen Stadt Falludscha angerichtet hatten, gab es jetzt irakischen Angaben zufolge in derselben Stadt bei einer Protestaktion gegen das Vorgehen der Amerikaner mindestens zwei Tote

Independent: US troops open fire again on Fallujah crowd
US troops opened fire today on anti-American demonstrators for the second time this week, during a march to protest about the previous shootings. At least one person was reported to have been killed and 16 wounded.
The gunfire came less than 48 hours after a shooting during a demonstration on Monday night that hospital officials said killed 13 Iraqis.
The clashes in Fallujah, a conservative Sunni Muslim city and Baath Party stronghold 30 miles west of Baghdad, reflect the area's increasing tensions as American troops try to keep the peace in Iraq.
Protesters started throwing rocks and shoes at the compound and troops opened fire about 10:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), scattering the demonstrators. Demonstrators then returned to pick up the wounded.

1. MAI ZÜRICH

10.30 Uhr: 1. Mai Umzug Besammlung zum revolutionären Block an der Tramhaltestelle Helvetiaplatz

Anschliessend ca. 13.30 Uhr Nachdemo zur schweizerisch-amerikanischen Handelskammer, Besammlung Tramhaltestelle Bürkliplatz :-) let's riot

Anschliessend Fest, Treffpunkt Helvetiaplatz:

Ab 19.00 Uhr Konzerte mit

dj la bombe (ZH)
os replicantes (HC, Brazil)
tempo al tempo (Hip-Hop, BS)
work?ubat (HC Hip-Hop, LU)

WERBUNG

TALVIN SINGH (live)
3. mai im zeughaus 5 ab 23:00 eintritt 25.--
stellt sein neues live-programm “tabtek” vor.
transglobal sound system mit dj markus p. kenner

anschliessend ab 2:00 nur noch 15.-- eintritt
LITTLE JUNGLEMANIA
mad b
tin man
mc rydemflirt

EURO-DOLLAR WAR

Mediamomitor: The economics behind the Iraqi invasion
In October 2000, as a political gesture, Saddam Hussein converted
Iraq's foreign currency reserves from US dollars to Euros and announced all
Iraq's future oil trades will be conducted in Euros. At the time, Iraq made a
substantial loss on the conversion, but the continuing improvement of
the Euro against the US dollar has recouped that loss and, in fact, made a
profit of 25% on the overall transaction. It was a lesson that did not
go unobserved internationally. At a recent OPEC meeting the cartel
seriously considered trading oil in Euro contracts. There was enormous pressure
from the US to prevent this and so the idea was shelved. However, Iraq,
Iran, North Korea (all 'axis of evil nations surprisingly), Venezuela, China
and Russia have all recently stated an intention to conduct oil (and other
international transactions) in Euros. FROM: Media Monitors, 17 Apr

Indymedia: Dollar vs. Euro
The upcoming war in Iraq war is mostly about how the ruling class at
Langley and the Bush oligarchy view hydrocarbons at the geo-strategic
level, and the overarching macroeconomic threats to the U.S. dollar
from the euro. The Real Reason for this upcoming war is this administration
goal of preventing further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an oil
transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to
gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil
reserves. FROM: DC IndyMedia, 15 Apr

Sidney morning Herald: Muslims eye euro as new oil currency
Since 1901, when drillers unleashed a Texas gusher and created the
modern oil industry, barrels of oil have been sold for greenbacks. Whether
they buy oil in Alaska, Norway or Bahrain, today's customers pay in US
dollars. But when the United States launched its military attack against Iraq
last month, many Muslim clerics began demanding that Arab countries sell oil
for euros, not US dollars. That move could send shock waves through the
world oil market and the US economy. Newspaper columnists and antiwar
activists in countries from Morocco to Indonesia have rallied behind the
sentiments shouted in a Nigerian street protest witnessed by a Wall Street Journal
reporter this week: "Euro yes! Dollar no!" FROM: The Sydney Morning
Herald,22 Apr

Goof.com: EURO "BIN LADEN" ....How the Euro will Finish What Osama Couldn’t Achieve
What would happen if the euro were to become "the" oil currency of OPEC? The US dollar would crash, the euro’s already-underway march toward world reserve-currency status would be vastly accelerated, and the US’ legendary economy would burn to the ground in sudden hyper-inflation.
You see, the US dollar’s status as the world ‘s only reserve currency since the Bretton Woods agreement in 1945 gave it (and the US) certain advantages other countries didn’t have.
The dollar underpinned the domestic currency of every country in the entire world. All of their respective central banks hold dollars "on reserve" to bolster their own currency’s value.

ISRAEL

The Scotsman: Israeli court refuses to outlaw army's use of deadly dart shells
ISRAEL’S supreme court yesterday threw out a bid to bar the army’s use
of flechette shells against Palestinians. The use of the weapons, which
explode in the air and spread thousands of small metal darts over a
wide area, did not contravene international law, the court said. Two human
rights groups had argued that use of the shells in residential areas is
against international law and asked the court to outlaw their use in
the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Tel Aviv
branch of Physicians for Human Rights had cited evidence of two recent
incidents that killed six Palestinians.

"Das höchste Isrelische Gericht hat auch die Folter von Palästinensern und den Mord an politischen Führern legitimiert."

GUANTANAMO BAY

Moscow Times:
"Military authorities at the U.S. Naval Base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
have discovered that 'fewer than a half dozen' detainees are juveniles. ...
The juveniles, described as between the ages of 13 and 15, were declared
'enemy combatants' when they were arrested fighting against U.S. troops in
Central Asia. ... After a detailed medical examination, they were determined to
be youngsters." -- Los Angeles Times, April 23

"Teenagers younger than 16 being held at Guantanamo Bay are 'not
children' and pose a lethal danger that justifies detention, U.S. military chiefs
insisted yesterday." -- The Guardian, April 26

WASHINGTON -- The most startling thing about the U.S. government's
admission it is holding children among the "enemy combatants" at its
prison camp in Cuba is what a non-story it is here.

"Die USA foltert Kinder in Guantanamo. Aber laut USA sind das gar keine Kinder sondern stellen eine tödliche Gefahr??? dar. Ist man kein Kind mehr wenn man Gefährlich ist? Was ist die amerikanische Definition von Kind? Wie weit kann man die Heuchelei eigentlich noch treiben?"

IRAQ

Thememoryhole: US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public
On 25 April 2003, the newspaper Dagbladet (Norway) published photos of armed US soldiers forcing Iraqi men to walk naked through a park.
On the chests of the men had been scrawled an Arabic phrase that translates as "Ali Baba - Thief."
A military officer states that the men are thieves, and that this technique will be used again.
No word yet from the newly liberated Iraqi people about some of them being summarily found guilty of theft, forced at gunpoint to strip, having a racist phrase written on their bodies, and then made to walk naked in public. No doubt the Arab/Muslim world is impressed by this display of "democracy," "freedom," "due process," and "no cruel or unusual punishment."
We wonder if the soldiers will be using this technique on their comrades who stole $13.1 million in Iraq. Or the journalists who looted Iraq's art.

Das versteht Amerika unter Demokratie. Menschenrechte für US-Soldaten. Entwürdigung für die Anderen.

Amnesty International: "If these pictures are accurate, this is an appalling way to treat prisoners. Such degrading treatment is a clear violation of the responsibilities of the occupying powers," Amnesty International said today.
Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clearly states that "Protected persons are entitled in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manner and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity

"CHECK IT"

IRAQ

Times of India: UN calls for steps to provide safe water in Iraq

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has called for urgent steps to
provide safe drinking water to the people in Iraq after a diarrhoeal illness
broke out in one of Baghdad's poorest neighbourhood and some 300 people, many
of children, were hospitalised within a span of three hours. The recent
incident, a spokesman said, highlights the need for providing safe
drinking water throughout Iraq. "We are faced with a very real possibility that
in the South of the country, water treatment plants will very soon run out
of supplies of chemicals needed to make raw water safe to drink".

IRAQ

Guardian: After 13 years fighting Saddam, Lord of the Marshes wants his country back
Guerrilla leader who became a legend emerges from hiding

For 13 years he was a defiant symbol of Iraqi resistance. Hunted in vain by Saddam Hussein's militia, the legendary guerrilla fighter Abu Hattem fought an extraordinary campaign against the Iraqi regime from his secluded bases in the poisoned marshland of southern Iraq.
Known as the Lord of the Marshes, his exploits earned him a reputation that is a cross between Robin Hood and Lawrence of Arabia, with tales of suicidal missions and narrow escapes.

Western journalists tried for years to track him down during the guerrilla years, visiting Iranian border towns in the hope of finding him. They had no more success than the Iraqi secret police. Now that Saddam has fallen, the rebel leader has finally emerged from hiding and has given his first interview to the Guardian.

Abu Hattem said many of the legends about him were true. He fought what he calls The War of the Fleas with small groups, continually on the move, a constant source of irritation to the Iraqi army. He could not defeat them in open battle but he left them nervous about entering the marshes.

IRAQ

Rense: US Military Bases - The Spoils And Deceptions Of War by Kurt Nimmo
Donald Rumsfeld says the US does not want its troops in countries where they are not welcome. "You want to be someplace that people want us, you really do," he admitted in an interview. "We don't want to be places that we're not wanted. We simply don't."

No word if the interviewer laughed or even scoffed. What Rumsfeld said is so deceptive that it transcends absurdity. He said the size of the US military force in the Gulf region would likely shrink now that the Iraqi military no longer poses a threat to its neighbors. "With the absence of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, the need for a US presence in the region would diminish rather than increase," he said. The US has troops in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

IRAQ

Swissinfo: Four U.S. soldiers injured in Baghdad ambush
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers have been injured, one seriously, in an ambush in downtown Baghdad, the U.S. military says.

The soldiers, travelling in two Humvees, came under fire during a traffic stop, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Sunday.

"Initial reports indicate they were engaged with small-arms fire from an assailant who approached them while the vehicles were stopped in
traffic," the statement said.

"Initial reports indicate four soldiers were injured, one seriously," the statement said.

IRAQ

Guardian: Fury At Iraq Ag Post To US Cargill Exec

Oxfam last night launched a scathing attack on the man the US has put
in charge of agricultural reconstruction in Iraq. Dan Amstutz is a former
senior executive of Cargill, the biggest grain exporter in the world,
and served in the Reagan administration as a trade negotiator in the
Uruguay round of world trade talks. Oxfam is concerned that his involvement is
an example of the potentially damaging commercialisation of the
reconstruction effort in Iraq, which it would prefer to see conducted under the
auspices of the United Nations. Kevin Watkins, Oxfam's policy director, said Mr
Amstutz would "arrive with a suitcase full of open-market rhetoric",
and was more likely to try to dump cheap US grain on the potentially
lucrative Iraqi market than encourage the country to rebuild its once-successful
agricultural sector. "Putting Dan Amstutz in charge of agricultural
reconstruction in Iraq is like putting Saddam Hussein in the chair of a
human rights commission," Mr Watkins said.

VENEZUELA

Times of India: Foreign powers should get hands off Iraqi oil: Chavez
AP [ SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2003 04:17:50 PM ]

RECIFE: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that foreign
powers
shouldn't meddle with Iraq's oil and that interference was a return to
"colonialism." "Iraqi oil should be handled by the Iraqi people,"
Chavez
said after arriving in this northeastern city. "Otherwise it would be
going
back 200 years, and I don't want to think that the new century is
beginning
with colonialism."

USA-IRAQ

ABC News: Real Reason For Iraq War - Just A US Global Show

W A S H I N G T O N, April 25 - To build its case for war with Iraq,
the
Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White
House
had another reason for war - a global show of American power and
democracy.
Officials inside government and advisers outside told ABCNEWS the
administration emphasized the danger of Saddam's weapons to gain the
legal justification for war from the United Nations and to stress the danger
at home to Americans. "We were not lying," said one official. "But it was
just a matter of emphasis."

Officials now say they may not find hundreds of tons of mustard and
nerve agents and maybe not thousands of liters of anthrax and other toxins.
But U.S. forces will find some, they say. On Thursday, President Bush
raised the possibility for the first time that any such Iraqi weapons were
destroyed before or during the war. If weapons of mass destruction were
not the primary reason for war, what was? Here's the answer officials and
advisers gave ABCNEWS.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed everything, including the Bush administration's thinking about the Middle East — and not just Saddam Hussein.

Senior officials decided that unless action was taken, the Middle East would continue to be a breeding ground for terrorists. Officials feared that young Arabs, angry about their lives and without hope, would always looking for someone to hate — and that someone would always be Israel and the United States.

"Man könnte sich natürlich auch fragen wieso die Leute Israel und die USA hassen. Wegen Ihrer "Demokratie" oder weil Sie jeden Tag Palästinenser töten und die Araber seit Jahrzehnten unterdrücken?"

ISRAEL

Times of India: Israeli general says Iraq war has boosted security

REUTERS [ SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2003 01:34:29 PM ]

JERUSALEM: Israel's military intelligence chief said on Saturday the
ousting of Saddam Hussein had removed a major strategic threat to the
Jewish state and put pressure on its two enemy neighbours, Syria and
Lebanon. "It is a new Middle East," Major-General Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash
told Israel's Channel 10 television. "There is no Iraqi military which
can
pitch in on the eastern front, so the potential for attack on Israel is
small. There is no eastern front," he said.

IRAQ BIN LADIN

Times: Saddam link to al-Qaeda in doubt
BRITISH Intelligence officials have expressed doubt that Saddam Hussein established any working relationship with al-Qaeda despite the discovery of documents showing that an “envoy” for Osama bin Laden visited Baghdad in 1998.
The documents were found by The Sunday Telegraph at the bombed-out Baghdad headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq’s Intelligence service, and were hailed yesterday as positive proof of an Iraqi link to al-Qaeda. They mentioned the arrival of a confidant of bin Laden who had travelled to Baghdad from Khartoum in March 1998. Bin Laden was based in Sudan until 1996.

Guardian: Al-Qaida links still dubious
Western intelligence officials are playing down the significance of
documents appearing to show that Saddam Hussein's regime met an
al-Qaida envoy in Baghdad in 1998 and sought to arrange a meeting with Osama bin
Laden. "We are aware of fleeting contacts [between Baghdad and
al-Qaida] in the past, but there were were no long-term official contacts," a
well-placed source told the Guardian yesterday. "The documents do not
take things further forward" British security and intelligence agencies have
persistently dismissed attempts by hawks in the White House to link
Saddam's regime with al-Qaida, a link which would help London and
Washington to argue that Iraq had posed an imminent threat. According
to the documents found by the Sunday Telegraph an envoy from al-Qaida went
to Baghdad from the Sudanese capital Khartoum in March 1998 - two years
after Sudan, under pressure from Saudia Arabia, ordered Bin Laden out and he
returned to Afghanistan.

IRAQ

Stuff.nz: US tries to curb Iraqi resentment
BAGHDAD: Iraq's new US administrators met Baghdad officials yesterday to organise the restoration of vital services to the battered city, essential if the Americans are to curb mounting resentment among the population.

As disputes dragged on over who runs the capital and the rest of the country after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Gulf to thank allies for their help in the Iraq war.

A senior US official said Jay Garner, the retired American general in charge of postwar administration, would meet 300-400 prominent Iraqis in Baghdad on Monday to identify potential national leaders and discuss forming a new government.

Barbara Bodine, coordinator for central Iraq under Garner, said Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, had been invited to the meeting, as had the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the country's main Shi'ite Muslim group.

It was unclear whether they would attend.

1. MAI BERLIN

Bz-Berlin: Kriegserklärung gegen Berlin
Berlin - Sie meinen es ernst: "Die Straße zu unserem Ort der Revolte und des militanten Protestes zu machen", droht die "militante gruppe" (mg) in einer "Presseerklärung" zum 1. Mai. Krawall mit Ansage, eine Kriegserklärung...

Der Verfassungsschutz beobachtet die "mg". Die militanten Linken haben die "maßgeblichen Entscheidungsträger aus Politik, Verwaltung, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft" im Visier. Sie gelte es "materiell und körperlich (an)greifbar zu machen". Unter Hinweis auf den Brandanschlag auf den Zoll-Fuhrpark in Tübingen (Dezember 2002) nennt die "mg" "Angriffsfelder" in Berlin. Konkret: Die Stellen, die Schwarzarbeit und Sozialhilfemissbrauch bekämpfen, u.a. die Senatswirtschafts- und die Sozialverwaltung, das Landesarbeitsamt, das Landeskriminalamt, den Zoll.

IRAQ

Zmag: An Anti-Colonial War Against The Americans May Have Already Begun, Democracy Now interviews Robert Fisk
An Interview With Robert Fisk On Democracy Now


Goodman: After spending a month in Iraq, could you describe your thoughts?

Fisk: Well, my assumption is that history has a way or repeating itself. I was talking to a very military Shiite Muslim from Nashas about only five days ago and a journalist was saying to him “do you realize how historic these days are?” and I said to him “do you realize how history is repeating itself?” and he turned to me and said “yes history is repeating itself, and I knew what he meant. He was referring to the British invasion or Iraq in 1917 and Lt. Gen. Sir Stanley Maude, when we turned up in Baghdad and Sir Stanley Maude issued a document saying “we have come here not as conquerors but as liberators to free you from generations of tyranny.” And within three years we were losing hundreds of men every year in the guerilla war against the Iraqis who wanted real liberation not by us from the ottomans but by them from us and I think that’s what’s going to happen with the Americans in Iraq. I think a war of liberation will begin quite soon, which of course will be first referred to as a war by terrorists, by al Qaeda, by remnants of Saddam’s regime, remnants (remember that word) but it will be waged particularly by Shiite Muslims against the Americans and the British to get us out of Iraq and that will happen. And our dreams that we can liberate these people will not be fulfilled in this scenario.


CHECK IT

SITE OF THE DAY

GUESTBOOK von KURT WASSERFALLEN

IRAQ

Spiegel: Tarik Asis in US-Gefangenschaft
Riesen-Triumph für die Amerikaner: Tarik Asis, Vizepremier des Saddam-Regimes, ist in Gewahrsam der US-Militärs. Er war eine der schillerndsten Persönlichkeiten im irakischen Führungszirkel

Independent: Tariq Aziz gives himself up to US
Iraq's former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, has surrendered to US forces in Baghdad, it was reported last night. He is the highest-profile member of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein to have fallen into Washington's hands

BUSH /b>

Counterpunch: Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult (english)
Concerns Raised by the Vatican

"Gut informierte Quellen aus dem Vatikan wissen, dass der Papst zunehmend beunruhigt ist über Bushs ultimative Ansprüche. Bushs Blutrausch, seine wiederholten Glaubensbekenntnisse und seine ständigen Erwähnungen des Bösen weisen in den Augen vieler gläubiger Katholiken darauf hin, dass er derjenige sein könnte, vor dem in der Offenbarung gewarnt wird - der Anti-Christ"

IRAQ

Spiegel: US-SOLDATEN SCHMUGGELN IRAKISCHE KUNST

Einige im Golfkrieg eingesetzte amerikanische Soldaten und Medienvertreter haben den Irak offenbar als Selbstbedienungsladen angesehen. Sie versuchten, Kunstgegenstände, Bargeld und vergoldete Waffen in ihre Heimat zu schmuggeln.

INTERNET

Graffitimachine: GRAFFITI

Create your own graffiti in the internet

"gar nicht schlecht gemacht"

SITE OF THE DAY

Check BOZACK NATION Issue 1

Issue one of the online Art-zine Bozack feat. Tracy 168, Pictures of the first tags in NY and plenty other street stuff

Bozack Nation Homepage

STYLE

Stash: New Products from Stash

JB Shoes: New Online Store

DEMOCRACY IN AFGHANISTAN

Rense/Washington Post: 16 Months After Taliban - Afghanistan Founders In Pain
KABUL, Afghanistan (Washington Post) -- Sixteen months after the ruling Taliban fell and Hamid Karzai took over as president, Afghanistan is still struggling to establish the basics of a working government.
As Karzai and his U.S. and international supporters have found, virtually every significant system in the country is broken.


Rense: Pro-Taliban Leaflets Call For Jihad Against US

Rense/Reuters: Afghan Commander, Bodyguards Killed In Ambush
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A military commander belonging to the Afghan faction of ethnic Uzbek warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum and two of his bodyguards were killed on Tuesday in an ambush in the trouble-plagued north.
Commander Shahi was driving to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when his car was ambushed in the Char Bolak area about 18 miles to the west, one of Dostum's deputies, General Majid Roozi, told Reuters.


Rense/Afp: Taliban Regrouping In Afghanistan
KABUL (IRIN-AFP) -- Hakim Taniwal, the governor of Afghanistan's volatile eastern province of Khowst, told IRIN on Friday that the country's former hard line Islamist Taliban rulers were regrouping in an effort to step up anti-government militancy. There are fears that this could further harm security in the region and impact on aid work and reconstruction.
"We know that they are preparing, but they will not be able to achieve anything," he told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, adding that although a lot of reports were being received about Taliban activities, little movement had been seen on ground.


Ny Times: A NATION AT WAR: KABUL; Attacks Riddle Afghanistan, Including Shootings and Explosions
ABSTRACT - Opponents of Afghan government continue attacks; most violent incidents occur along border with Pakistan and in Kabul; relatives of Kandahar Gov Gul Agha Shirzai are attacked and governor's spokeman blames Pakistani authorities for harboring Taliban; map (M) Opponents of the Afghan government continued their attacks this weekend. On Saturday, a car packed with explosives blew up in eastern Afghanistan, killing the driver and three others. In the Pakistani border town of Chaman today, gunmen fired on the motorcade of the brother of the Kandahar governor, wounding him and killing another relative.

IRAQ

ABC News: Missed Opportunity?
U.S. Attack May Have Ended Saddam Surrender Attempt

B A G H D A D, Iraq, April 21 — Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief sought help last week to arrange some kind of a deal between the United States and Saddam, leaders of the prominent Iraqi Dulaym Tribe told ABCNEWS.

IRAQ

Rense: US Worse Than Saddam, Iraqi Shiite Leader Charges

A prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric, saying he was detained and beaten by US forces, charged that American methods were "worse" than those employed by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
"Our arrest by the Americans was worse than the arrests that Saddam ordered against our students," Sheikh Mohammed al-Fartusi told Abu Dhabi television.
The cleric, whose followers said he was detained Sunday by US troops along with five other Shiites, reappeared in Baghdad on Tuesday to cheers from hundreds of supporters who had held protests for two days.
Fartusi's comments came as another cleric reported kidnapped was said to have been released along with two busloads of Shiite Muslim pilgrims heading for the holy city of Karbala.
Fartusi claimed that "we were beaten ... spent a night with our hands tied behind our backs," adding however than an American officer did turn up and offer an apology.

"It was disgusting. Despite the fact that none of our young men has pointed a weapon against America ... but next time, God alone knows what popular anger could lead to?"

IRAQ

Spiegel: Schiitische Religionsgelehrte greifen nach der Macht
Während die USA im Irak erste Schritte zur Wiederherstellung der öffentlichen Ordnung unternehmen, haben die Anhänger der schiitischen Religionsgelehrten inoffiziell bereits vereinzelt staatliche Funktionen übernommen.

Spiegel: Widerstandsgruppe will US-Verwalter Garner töten
Im Irak hat sich eine Widerstandsbewegung gegen die alliierten Truppen gegründet. Sie kündigte den bewaffneten Kampf gegen die Amerikaner und Briten im Land an. Die einflussreichste schiitische Oppositionsgruppe lehnt dagegen den bewaffneten Widerstand ab.

SCHWEIZ

Tagesanzeiger: Die Berner Stadtregierung entmachtet ihren Hardliner
Kurt Wasserfallen darf nicht mehr über die Berner Polizei gebieten. Das hat die Stadtregierung entschieden, um einen Exodus von Polizeioffizieren zu verhindern

Die «Vertrauenskrise» gehe hauptsächlich auf unterschiedliche Auffassungen über die Grundsätze der Polizeiarbeit zurück. Die Stadtregierung befürworte eine «auf Dialog und Deeskalation beruhende Strategie», wie sie seit dem Amtsantritt von Polizeikommandant Daniel Blumer vor zwei Jahren «konsequent» umgesetzt worden sei. Dessen politischer Vorgesetzter Kurt Wasserfallen hingegen, der im Nationalrat als drogenpolitischer Hardliner auftritt, hatte sich gerade in letzter Zeit mit harten Worten und Taten gegen Demonstranten in Szene gesetzt.

SARS-PEKING

Tagesanzeiger: Peking unter Quarantäne
Im Kampf gegen die Lungenkrankheit Sars sind die Universitätsklinik und alle Gefängnisse der chinesischen Hauptstadt hermetisch abgeriegelt worden

Straitstimes: Beijing starts quarantines after WHO advisory

ISRAEL

Democracynow.org: Democracy Now! Talks To Photographer Who Witnessed Killing Of AP
Cameraman,

On Saturday an Israeli soldier shot and killed an Associated Press
cameraman in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday. Nazeh Darwazeh,
45, was filming Israeli troops firing on rock-throwing Palestinians. Then, an Israeli
soldier pointed his gun at the journalists and fired. Darwazeh was shot
in the head. He and the other cameramen covering the melee wore brightly
colored vests that said "Press" in bold letters. The Foreign Press
Association in Israel called for a comprehensive investigation into
Dawarzeh's shooting. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights yesterday
accused the IDF of stepping up the attacks on the media, "in an attempt
to gag it and prevent public debate on the acts of the Israeli army." The
IDF has killed seven journalists - six Palestinians and one Italian - in
the past two years in the territories. Abed Qusini a Reuters photographer
who was standing next to Nazeh Darwazeh when he was shot, talked to
Democracy Now! on Monday, April 21, 2003. Below is a rush transcript of an
interview between Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and Abed Qusini.

ISRAEL WMD


Truthseeker: MSNBC Reveals Facts on Israel's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Here is MSNBC, giving us more information on Israel's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) than I've seen in any left-wing or peace-activist news source. Here is the mainstream U.S. media, that beast we love to hate, giving us a story that gives away the store.

It's a story we expect the elite media to hide, because it is so embarrassing to U.S. policymakers. How could anyone cheer for the carnage in Iraq, where no WMD have yet been found, if they knew that Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation with a proven WMD arsenal? How could anyone approve of a U.S. policy that kills where WMD don't seem to exist and turns a blind eye where they obviously do?

Far from hiding the story, though, MSNBC uses its graphic skills to put all the details just a mouse-click away. What's going on?

MSNBC: Strategic Israel

IRAQ

Washington Post: U.S. Planners Surprised by Strength of Iraqi Shiites
As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq's future mount,
Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites'
organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an
anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country. The
burst of Shiite power -- as demonstrated by the hundreds of thousands who
made a long-banned pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala yesterday -- has
U.S. officials looking for allies in the struggle to fill the power vacuum
left by the downfall of Saddam Hussein..."

SITE OF THE DAY

STOPJAYGARNER.COM
StopJayGarner.com is an international coalition advocating for the United Nations - not weapons maker Jay Garner - to oversee Iraq's transition to democracy. Read more and take action here!

CNN PROPAGANDA WATCH

Heise: Bewusste Täuschung oder reiner Zufall?
Bei CNN ist bei der Oscar-Verleihung am lautesten gebuht worden

Dass man seinen Augen nicht trauen darf, ist bekannt. Zu oft wurden und werden nicht nur in Kriegszeiten Fotos und Filme so manipuliert, dass sie einen bestimmten propagandistischen Zweck erfüllen. Dass man aber auch seinen Ohren nicht mehr trauen darf, hat bisher nur einer in aller Deutlichkeit öffentlich ausgesprochen: Der ehemalige irakische Informationsminister Saeed al-Sahaf, der auf einer mittlerweile legendären Pressekonferenz Journalisten verraten hat, dass der zuvor zu hörende Einschlag von Bomben in Wirklichkeit nur die Detonation von amerikanischen "Sound-Containern" gewesen sei.


Audio and Documentation

SPANIEN

Spiegel: Neues Gesetz gegen Anti-Kriegs-Demonstrationen

Spanien plant erstmals seit Ende der Franco-Diktatur die Ausweitung der Militärrechtsprechung. Diese sieht unter anderem vor, die Beteiligung an Demonstrationen gegen den Krieg unter Strafe zu stellen.

Heise: Demonstrationen als Wehrkraftzersetzung

Spanien will Zivilisten, die gegen einen Krieg protestieren, vor ein Militärgericht stellen

Mit Gefängnis zwischen "einem Jahr und sechs Jahren" soll bestraft werden, wer "in einem internationalen bewaffneten Konflikt, an dem sich Spanien beteiligt, öffentlich Handlungen vornimmt, um diese Beteiligung in Misskredit zu bringen". Das ist ein Auszug aus dem Artikel 49 eines Gesetzesentwurfs des spanischen Verteidigungsministeriums zur Reform des Militärgesetzes. Auszüge aus dem Gesetzesentwurf hat am Dienstag die spanische Tageszeitung El Pais veröffentlicht. Mit der Vorlage soll das Delikt der Wehrkraftzersetzung wieder eingeführt und die Militärgerichtsbarkeit ausgeweitet werden. Zivilpersonen, die gegen Kriege protestieren, wie im Fall des Irak, sollen dann vor Militärgerichte gestellt werden.

IRAQ

Moscow Times: Global Eye -- Dark Passage
Not since "Mein Kampf" has a geopolitical punch been so blatantly telegraphed, years ahead of the blow.

Adolf Hitler clearly spelled out his plans to destroy the Jews and launch wars of conquest to secure German domination of world affairs in his 1925 book, long before he ever assumed power. Despite the zigzags of rhetoric he later employed, the various PR spins and temporary justifications offered for this or that particular policy, any attentive reader of his vile regurgitation could have divined his intentions as he drove his country -- and the world -- to murderous upheaval.

Similarly -- in method, if not entirely in substance -- the Bush Regime's foreign policy is also being carried out according to a strict blueprint written years ago, then renewed a few months before the Regime was installed in power by the judicial coup of December 2000.

IRAQ

Asiatimes: Freedom unbound, and out of control

BAGHDAD - The imam was on fire. "None of us want an occupation of an Islamic country!" he seethed over the (very loud) loudspeakers of the Abu Hanifah mosque in the capital during Salat al-Juma prayers last Friday afternoon.

"Not Shi'ites! Not Sunnis! The soldiers of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, will destroy any American or Israeli troops - just wait! We will not let any government trick us! No one can be the governor of Iraq if he is not a good Muslim and applies sharia [Islamic law]!"
When the celebrated Sunni Doctor Ahmad al-Qubaisee got to the obligatory part that goes "America is the enemy of God! Israel is the enemy of God! Down with Israel! Down with America!" - his voice rose to a shrill hectoring screech that harmonized sweetly with the occasional staccato pop-pop-pop sound of Kalashnikovs going off in the distance.
The imam was breathing fire, and the crowd was catching. It was the sort of stump speech that's designed to pack them in in this part of the world, and liberated Baghdad proved no exception. Thousands strong when the sermon began, the crowd had been expanding by the minute, overflowing the mosque and taking over every available speck of pavement on Omar Abduaziz Street in the northwestern Adhamiya district. By mid-afternoon, everything not able to walk, crawl or roll out of reach of the crowd - including a surrounded tanker truck complete with hapless driver trapped in the cab - found itself blocked in by prayer rugs and unable to move

IRAQ-MOSUL

Yellowtimes: Mosul Dangerously Close to Civil War

TORONTO (NFTF.org) -- Sources in Mosul with access to satellite phones (Iraqi entrepreneurs are selling a minute of conversation for 10 U.S. dollars) have said that the city is on the verge of a civil war. All the military hardware abandoned by the Iraqi Army and Republican Guard have been confiscated by the PUK and KDP Kurdish factions who are now employing them to threaten the Arab, Chaldean Christian, and Turkomen communities in the north, the sources say.

Apparently, the Kurdish militia are refusing to leave Mosul which is starting to exasperate U.S. forces in the region. For their part, the U.S. is trying to maintain control and civility by assuring the non-Kurd majority in the city that it will not be occupied by Kurdish militia for much longer.

WORLD NEWS

Harpers: Weekly Review

Chaos ruled Baghdad for a second week; much of the city, already without water, food, electricity, a stable currency, or a governing body, was on fire, though the rampant looting that defined the country's first days of liberation abated when there was nothing left to loot. Iraqis exercised their newfound freedom to complain, with tens of thousands publicly protesting their conditions and the possibility of a long-term American occupation. U.S. officials insisted they were not interested in occupying Iraq, but expected to retain four military bases there to be used for future crises. The White House was said to regard Syria, Cuba, and Libya as members of a "junior varsity axis of evil," but although the administration repeated accusations that Syria was providing sanctuary to Iraqi fugitives, Colin Powell assured the world that Washington has no war plan "right now" to address that country's disobedience. Another administration official worried about wasting an opportunity in the Middle East: "We have to make it clear that we didn't just come to get rid of Saddam. We came to get rid of the status quo." .....

IRAQ

Guardian: How American power girds the globe with a ring of steel
New bases take Pentagon's armed presence far and wide

Whenever America goes to war, the spoils of victory invariably include more US military bases overseas.
Having vanquished Saddam Hussein, the Pentagon is planning to establish four US bases in Iraq, according to reports in Washington yesterday.

The Iraqi deployment plans fall into the century-old pattern of US foreign bases being built on the back of military victory. They are also the latest episode in an extraordinary surge in America's projection of military muscle since September 11.

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Electronic-Intifada: The men who are selling Palestine
David Hirst, the veteran correspondent for The Guardian, reported in 1996 on fears in Yasser Arafat's entourage that the Israelis would turn the Palestinian security forces against the Palestinian leader. According to Hirst, a Palestinian official said that the Israelis had so "penetrated" the security forces "that some of its leaders now depend on them at least as much as they do on Arafat. The time is coming when the Israelis decide that Arafat - who argues too much - has served his purpose." The official told Hirst that, "the Israelis are grooming Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas], one of the secret negotiators of the Oslo accord, to take Mr. Arafat's place, and that they will count on Muhammad Dahlan, head of Preventative Security in Gaza, to lead the putsch."


Spiegel: Arafat und Abbas einigen sich im letzten Moment
Die Krise um die Bildung einer neuen Palästinenser-Regierung wurde in letzter Sekunde entschärft. Präsident Jassir Arafat und der designierte Ministerpräsident Mahmud Abbas haben sich nach wochenlangem Machtkampf auf ein Kabinett geeinigt.

USA-GUANTANAMO

Spiegel: US-Militär hält Kinder gefangen
Menschenrechtsgruppen sind empört: Die Amerikaner halten auf ihrem Stützpunkt Guantanamo Bay auf Kuba auch Jugendliche unter 16 Jahren gefangen.

ABC: Children Being Held At Guantanamo Terror Camp
The US military has revealed it is holding juveniles at its high-security prison for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, known as Camp Xray.
The commander of the joint task force at Guantanamo, Major General Geoffrey Miller, says more than one child under the age of 16 is at the detention centre.
However, Maj Gen Miller has revealed little more about their welfare.
Maj Gen Miller says the US is holding "juvenile enemy combatants" at the centre, confirming rumours of children being held

IRAQ

BBC: Blix: 'US undermined inspectors'
American officials tried to discredit the work of inspectors in Iraq to further their own case for war, the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has charged

USA

Washingtonmonthly: Practice to Deceive
Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan.

Imagine it's six months from now. The Iraq war is over. After an initial burst of joy and gratitude at being liberated from Saddam's rule, the people of Iraq are watching, and waiting, and beginning to chafe under American occupation. Across the border, in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, our conquering presence has brought street protests and escalating violence. The United Nations and NATO are in disarray......

CHECK IT

IRAQ

canada.com: Looted Iraqi antiquities already surfacing on world art markets
WASHINGTON (AP) - Art collectors and dealers say they already are getting queries about artifacts looted from Iraq's museums, and the FBI said Monday that at least one suspected piece has been seized at an American airport.
Thousands of items, some dating back many thousands of years, were taken when U.S. forces overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime. Some have blamed the Americans for failing to protect Iraq's cultural and historical sites They point out that the troops were quick to secure the Oil Ministry in Baghdad.

WSWS.org/Rense: US Implicated In Planned Theft Iraqi Antiquities
As the full extent of the looting of Iraq's National Museum in Baghdad emerges, it becomes clear that there was nothing accidental about it. Rather it was the result of a long planned project to plunder the artistic and historical treasures that are held in the museums of Iraq.
Had the National Museum of Iraq been looted by poor slum dwellers it would have been crime enough, and the responsibility would have rested with the American administration that refused, despite repeated warnings, to provide for the security of Baghdad's cultural buildings.
Once the museum staff were able to communicate with the outside world, however, it became apparent that the looting was not random. It was the work of people who knew what they were looking for and came specially equipped for the job.

CHIAPAS

Zmag: Kommunique des Geheimen Revolutionären Indigenen Komitees
Generalkommando der Zapatistischen Armee der Nationalen Befreiung
von Subcommandante Marcos

An das Volk von Mexiko:
An die Völker der Welt:
Brüder und Schwestern:

Auf der ganzen Welt finden heute Mobilisierungen statt, um gegen den Krieg der Vereinigten Staaten und Großbritanniens gegen die irakische Bevölkerung zu protestieren.

Wir möchten daher unsere Worte mit einem Gruß an alle Menschen beginnen, die weltweit und in andere Teile Mexikos demonstrieren, um "Nein" zum Krieg der Mächtigen zu sagen.

Denn man kann einen Krieg nicht ablehnen ohne klar zu definieren, wer ihn führt, genau wie man kein Verbrechen verurteilen kann, ohne den Mörder zu erwähnen.

Dort oben, wo das Geld Gott und Meister ist, feiern sie einen Sieg, der nichts anderes ist als eine Attrappe, die mit arabischem Blut bemalt ist, das, wie wir nicht vergessen sollten, menschliches Blut ist, auch wenn die großen Medienmonopole uns gerne vom Gegenteil überzeugen würden.

SARS

Tagesanzeiger: Peking schliesst Schulen
Aus Angst vor einer Ausbreitung der Lungenkrankheit Sars hat die chinesische Hauptstadt Peking alle Schulen geschlossen.

SouthAsiaTimes: HONGKONG: Health officials stumped by more resistant cases showing up
Unlike the first cases of Sars in the territory, recent ones appear to be less responsive to treatment

News24: SARS Mutates - Now Hitting Intestines, Too
HONG KONG -- The deadly Sars virus is now attacking the intestines as well as the respiratory system, a leading Hong Kong microbiologist said on Tuesday.
Speaking on Hong Kong radio station RTHK, Professor Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University said the change may indicate the virus has mutated as many experts feared.
Professor Peiris is one of the microbiologists at the forefront of the Hong Kong research into the Sars virus which on Tuesday claimed another five people in the territory bringing the total deaths to 99.
His comments come amid growing concern that the virus is becoming more virulent with many doctors noting changes in the way the disease behaves and who it proves fatal to.

News24: More Scientists Say
SARS Is A BioWeapon
Moscow - The deadly pneumonia that has killed more than 100 people around the world may be a man-made biological weapon, Russian experts said on Friday.
Nikolai Filatov, head of Moscow's epidemiological services, told the Gazeta daily that he thought the pneumonia was man-made because "there is no vaccine for this virus, its make-up is unclear, it has not been very widespread and the population is not immune to it."

IRAQ

Tagesanzeiger: Massenproteste gegen die USA
Hunderttausende Schiiten haben ihre Pilgerfahrt in Karbala fortgesetzt. Begleitet wurden die Feierlichkeiten von anti-amerikanischen Protesten.

Am Mittwochmorgen waren in der ganzen Stadt Parolen gegen die USA zu hören. Auch gegen den von Washington favorisierten Oppositionsführer Ahmed Chalabi richteten sich die Proteste.
«Wir lehnen die Besatzung ab, wir wollen eine gewählte Regierung, die das Volk repräsentiert», sagte einer der Organisatoren der Pilgerfahrt, Scheich Rajed Haidari. Bereits am Dienstag hatten tausende Pilger gegen die US-Besatzung demonstriert.

USA

Tagesanzeiger: Powell droht Frankreich
«Wir müssen alle Aspekte unserer Beziehungen zu Frankreich überprüfen», sagte US-Aussenminister Colin Powell in einem Fernsehinterview mit Blick auf das Verhalten Frankreichs im Uno-Sicherheitsrat. Er drohte mit Konsequenzen.

BBC: Q&A: US-French relations on ice
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has warned France that there will be consequences following its refusal to support military action against Iraq.
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds looks at what those consequences might be and why

Ny Times: France Urging U.N. to Suspend Iraq Penalties
UNITED NATIONS, April 22 — The French ambassador to the United Nations called today for the immediate suspension of most United Nations sanctions against Iraq, allowing unrestricted nonmilitary trade to resume.

The move by the ambassador, Jean Marc de la Sablière, was intended to avert a new Security Council showdown over the role of the United Nations and could also be an attempt by France to avoid the possibility of being frozen out of plans for a postwar Iraq.

HOAX

disinfopedia: NEO-NAZI HOAX EXPLOITS IRAQI WAR BIAS

An anti-Semitic web site called the "Barnes Report" is distributing
fake whistleblower memos on media bias in the Iraq war that attempt
to exploit public skepticism about the accuracy of U.S. news
coverage. Excerpts from the alleged memos appear on a series of web
pages titled "Controlling the News." The "memos" instruct reporters
to avoid showing scenes of violence from the war and to stress
images that depict U.S. policy in a favorable light. Peace
activists tempted to believe the hoax should note that the "Barnes
Report" is an anti-Semitic web site whose primary propaganda goal
is disparagement of Jews and denial that the Nazi Holocaust ever
occurred.

"Den Artikel habe ich auch gepostet..hier ist der link: Barnes Report"

PROPAGANDA WATCH

Salon: POSTER BOY FOR WAR
Just when you thought American TV couldn't stoop any lower, now we
have the plight of Ali Abbas, a 12-year-old Iraqi boy who lost both
of his arms, along with his parents, three siblings and ten other
relatives, in a missile strike on Baghdad. Now he has become "a
redemption story, the kind we like," muses Joan Walsh. The U.S.
military has flown him to Kuwait, where reporters are breathlessly
following his medical treatment. "But some of the stories have
tried to deal with an uncomfortable fact. Ali is, um, well, he's
angry at the U.S. for killing his family," Walsh writes. "And
American journalists have been flummoxed by how to report on his
feelings." CNN hit bottom Wednesday morning, when anchor Kyra
Phillips asked Ali's physician, "Doctor, does he understand why
this war took place? Has he talked about Operation Iraqi Freedom
and the meaning? Does he understand it?"

USA

Usimc: POETRY IS DANGEROUS AGAIN
New Mexico high school teacher Bill Nevins is fighting a March 17
suspension from his teaching job, after a student on his poetry
team read an anti-war poem over the school's closed circuit TV
system. School administrators have accused him of "permitting"
students to participate in after-hours poetry contests at a local
bookstore without school permission. (Kids these days. Why can't
they just watch TV like decent folks?)
SOURCE: Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, April 17, 2003

More web links related to this story are available at: http://www.prwatch.org/spin/April_2003.html#1050552002

PROPAGANDA WATCH

NY Times: SADDAM DID 9/11 -- THE BIG LIE TACTIC WORKS AGAIN
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels observed that "the bigger
the lie, the more people will believe it." The Big Lie technique
has worked well in Bush's war on Iraq. The New York Times reports
that "organizers of the antiwar movement lament how well the
administration argued that there was a link between Al Qaeda and
Iraq, playing on Americans' residual anger and fear after the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. About half the American public,
according to several polls, believed that Saddam Hussein was
personally involved in planning the attacks -- an argument the
administration did not make." On the contrary, officials including
Powell, Cheney and Bush, in tandem with Fox and other pro-war
media, repeatedly linked Iraq to the 9/11 attacks, although there
still exists no credible evidence for it. This is the essence of
the Big Lie technique, when authorities repeat an outrageous
falsehood until it is widely believed. Opinion polls and interviews
with US troops show the effectiveness of the Big Lie.
SOURCE: New York Times, April 20, 2003