PROPAGANDA WATCH
NY Times: BUSH SEEKS SCAPEGOATS FOR 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED' STUNT
As the propaganda that led America to attack Iraq continues to fall apart, President Bush is looking for scapegoats for his own PR
stunts. "The triumphal 'Mission Accomplished' banner was the pride of the White House advance team, the image makers who set the stage
for the president's close-ups. On May 1, on a golden Pacific evening aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, they made sure that the
banner was perfectly captured in the camera shots of President Bush's speech declaring major combat in Iraq at an end. But on
Tuesday in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush publicly disavowed the banner... 'I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious
advance man from my staff. They weren't that ingenious, by the way.' ... The banner 'was suggested by those on the ship,' [Bush
press secretary Scotty McClellan] said. 'They asked us to do the production of the banner, and we did. They're the ones who put it
up.' The man responsible for the banner, Scott Sforza, a former ABC producer now with the White House communications office, was
traveling overseas on Tuesday and declined to answer questions. He is known for the production of the sophisticated backdrops that
appear behind Mr. Bush with the White House message of the day, like 'Helping Small Business,' repeated over and over." On May 16th
the New York Times reported that "White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president" came up with the
carrier landing stunt. We wonder, is that super-sexy flight suit President Bush wore on its way to the Smithsonian, or the shredder?
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
PROPAGANDA WATCH
Poynter: FOX GETS THE MEMO
Charlie Reina, a former producer for Fox News, has posted a letter
to the Poynter Institute's online journalism forum, explaining how
the network deliberately slants the news. "Editorially, the FNC
newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of
management," he writes. "The pressure ranges from subtle to
direct. First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most
high-profile political operatives of recent times. ... The roots of
FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in
the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each
morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often,
suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel
responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the
bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem
to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo
is behind it."
"Fox: fair and balanced reporting"
Poynter: FOX GETS THE MEMO
Charlie Reina, a former producer for Fox News, has posted a letter
to the Poynter Institute's online journalism forum, explaining how
the network deliberately slants the news. "Editorially, the FNC
newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of
management," he writes. "The pressure ranges from subtle to
direct. First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most
high-profile political operatives of recent times. ... The roots of
FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in
the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each
morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often,
suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel
responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the
bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem
to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo
is behind it."
"Fox: fair and balanced reporting"
MEDIA WATCH
Alternet: BY-PASSING THE MEDIA FILTER' ON THE IRAQ WAR
As part of its PR strategy to 'by-pass the media filter' that it claims is distorting public perception of the Iraq war with too
much negative reporting, the Bush administration has been granting interviews to smaller, more friendly media. A 'media by-pass'
tactic of a different sort is being used by critics of the war who, as we've documented in our book Weapons of Mass Deception, have
been locked out of mainstream media coverage. Alternet has announced that "A provocative new DVD that documents how the Bush
Administration exaggerated the threat of Iraq, debuts today. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald,
"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War" takes you behind the scenes, as CIA, Pentagon and foreign service experts speak out
and reveal the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that the Bush administration used to deceive the public." Word of the DVD is
"going to millions of MoveOn members, Nation subscribers, Working Assets customers, and others as part of an unprecedented,
simultaneous effort to bypass the film and media gatekeepers and take the information directly to the people."
Alternet: BY-PASSING THE MEDIA FILTER' ON THE IRAQ WAR
As part of its PR strategy to 'by-pass the media filter' that it claims is distorting public perception of the Iraq war with too
much negative reporting, the Bush administration has been granting interviews to smaller, more friendly media. A 'media by-pass'
tactic of a different sort is being used by critics of the war who, as we've documented in our book Weapons of Mass Deception, have
been locked out of mainstream media coverage. Alternet has announced that "A provocative new DVD that documents how the Bush
Administration exaggerated the threat of Iraq, debuts today. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald,
"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War" takes you behind the scenes, as CIA, Pentagon and foreign service experts speak out
and reveal the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that the Bush administration used to deceive the public." Word of the DVD is
"going to millions of MoveOn members, Nation subscribers, Working Assets customers, and others as part of an unprecedented,
simultaneous effort to bypass the film and media gatekeepers and take the information directly to the people."
PR WATCH
NY Times: COPYRIGHT VS. DEMOCRACY
"Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, is waging
legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of
college students, who are posting on the Internet copies of the
company's internal communications about its electronic voting
machines," reports John Schwartz. The company's attorneys have sent
letters threatening legal action against the students, who are
circulating "thousands of e-mail messages and memorandums dating to
March 2003 from January 1999 that include discussions of bugs in
Diebold's software and warnings that its computer network are
poorly protected against hackers." Questions are also being raised
about whether Diebold's voting machines can be trusted to deliver
an honest result. "Diebold has become a favorite target of
advocates who accuse it of partisanship," Schwartz states. "Company
executives have made large contributions to the Republican Party
and the chief executive, Walden W. O'Dell, said in an invitation to
a fund-raiser that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year.'"
"Man muss sich das mal Vorstellen. Diebold E Systems ist einer der groessten Hersteller von elektronischer Wahlsoftware in den USA. Das heisst die Leute werden bei den naechsten Praesidentschafts-Wahlen mit Touchscreen Bildschirmen abstimmen koennen. Es soll damit verhindert werden, dass es wieder so ein Chaos gibt wie bei der geklauten Wahl im Jahr 2000. Es wird auch keine Zettel mehr geben mit denen man das Wahl-Resultat ueberpruefen koennte. Das Problem ist, dass das System mit Leichtigkeit gehackt und die Abstimmungsergebnisse veraendert werden koennen. Es ist schon bei verschieden Wahlen bei denen das System zum Einsatz kam zu groesseren Unregelmaessigkeiten gekommen. Dies wird von Internen Memos der Firma Diebold belegt. Jetzt findet Diebold dieses Memos seien Copyright geschuetzt und duerften nicht weiterverbreitet werden. Das heisst, die Information die beweist dass die Amerikanische Wahlsoftware absolut unsicher ist und Wahlen damit manipuiert werden koennen soll faktisch zensiert werden. Der Sinn des Copyrights war es mal die Ideen von Kuenstlern und Erfindern zu schuetzen, leider ist das Copyright zur Hure der Konzerne verkommen."
mehr Infos unter: Blackboxvoting.com
Update: Wired: Calif. Halts E-Vote Certification
SACRAMENTO, California -- Uncertified software may have been installed on electronic voting machines used in one California county, according to the secretary of state's office.
Marc Carrel, assistant secretary of state for policy and planning, told attendees Thursday at a panel on voting systems that California was halting the certification process for new voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.
NY Times: COPYRIGHT VS. DEMOCRACY
"Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, is waging
legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of
college students, who are posting on the Internet copies of the
company's internal communications about its electronic voting
machines," reports John Schwartz. The company's attorneys have sent
letters threatening legal action against the students, who are
circulating "thousands of e-mail messages and memorandums dating to
March 2003 from January 1999 that include discussions of bugs in
Diebold's software and warnings that its computer network are
poorly protected against hackers." Questions are also being raised
about whether Diebold's voting machines can be trusted to deliver
an honest result. "Diebold has become a favorite target of
advocates who accuse it of partisanship," Schwartz states. "Company
executives have made large contributions to the Republican Party
and the chief executive, Walden W. O'Dell, said in an invitation to
a fund-raiser that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year.'"
"Man muss sich das mal Vorstellen. Diebold E Systems ist einer der groessten Hersteller von elektronischer Wahlsoftware in den USA. Das heisst die Leute werden bei den naechsten Praesidentschafts-Wahlen mit Touchscreen Bildschirmen abstimmen koennen. Es soll damit verhindert werden, dass es wieder so ein Chaos gibt wie bei der geklauten Wahl im Jahr 2000. Es wird auch keine Zettel mehr geben mit denen man das Wahl-Resultat ueberpruefen koennte. Das Problem ist, dass das System mit Leichtigkeit gehackt und die Abstimmungsergebnisse veraendert werden koennen. Es ist schon bei verschieden Wahlen bei denen das System zum Einsatz kam zu groesseren Unregelmaessigkeiten gekommen. Dies wird von Internen Memos der Firma Diebold belegt. Jetzt findet Diebold dieses Memos seien Copyright geschuetzt und duerften nicht weiterverbreitet werden. Das heisst, die Information die beweist dass die Amerikanische Wahlsoftware absolut unsicher ist und Wahlen damit manipuiert werden koennen soll faktisch zensiert werden. Der Sinn des Copyrights war es mal die Ideen von Kuenstlern und Erfindern zu schuetzen, leider ist das Copyright zur Hure der Konzerne verkommen."
mehr Infos unter: Blackboxvoting.com
Update: Wired: Calif. Halts E-Vote Certification
SACRAMENTO, California -- Uncertified software may have been installed on electronic voting machines used in one California county, according to the secretary of state's office.
Marc Carrel, assistant secretary of state for policy and planning, told attendees Thursday at a panel on voting systems that California was halting the certification process for new voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.
MEDIA WATCH
New York Times: CBS CAVES TO PRESSURE, DUMPS REAGAN MOVIE
TV docu-dramas, such as this Sunday's red, white and blue Iraqi war
mythology Saving Private Lynch, always play fast and loose with the
facts, twisting reality into fiction for entertainment's sake. But
a much hyped CBS miniseries on Ronald Reagan drew the wrath of the
Right, and CBS has dumped the show. The New York Times reports that
"CBS executives ... denied they were capitulating to pressure from
Republicans and conservative groups in moving the 'The Reagans' to
the pay cable channel Showtime, a sister network at Viacom. The
decision, they argued, was instead 'a moral call,' reached after
concluding that the four-hour television movie carried a liberal
political agenda and treated the Reagans unfairly. ... On Oct. 28,
the Media Research Center ... wrote a letter to a list of 100 top
television sponsors urging them to 'refuse to associate your
products with this movie.' At around the same time Michael
Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from
Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com.
... Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the
fray."
New York Times: CBS CAVES TO PRESSURE, DUMPS REAGAN MOVIE
TV docu-dramas, such as this Sunday's red, white and blue Iraqi war
mythology Saving Private Lynch, always play fast and loose with the
facts, twisting reality into fiction for entertainment's sake. But
a much hyped CBS miniseries on Ronald Reagan drew the wrath of the
Right, and CBS has dumped the show. The New York Times reports that
"CBS executives ... denied they were capitulating to pressure from
Republicans and conservative groups in moving the 'The Reagans' to
the pay cable channel Showtime, a sister network at Viacom. The
decision, they argued, was instead 'a moral call,' reached after
concluding that the four-hour television movie carried a liberal
political agenda and treated the Reagans unfairly. ... On Oct. 28,
the Media Research Center ... wrote a letter to a list of 100 top
television sponsors urging them to 'refuse to associate your
products with this movie.' At around the same time Michael
Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from
Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com.
... Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the
fray."
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
QUOTE OF THE DAY
John Swinton, the former chief of staff of THE NEW YORK TIMES, called by his peers, "The Dean of his profession," was asked in 1953 to give a toast before the New York Press Club. He rose and gave this toast: "There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; To lie outright; To pervert; To vilify; To fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
John Swinton, the former chief of staff of THE NEW YORK TIMES, called by his peers, "The Dean of his profession," was asked in 1953 to give a toast before the New York Press Club. He rose and gave this toast: "There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; To lie outright; To pervert; To vilify; To fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
USA
Democraticunderground: The Top Ten Conservative Idiots
To borrow a phrase from Joe Lieberman, it was a banner week for George W. Bush (1,2) who is still trying to sort out the whole "Mission Accomplished" Aircraft Carrier fiasco. And he's also got some pretty interesting "spin" about the increasing number of dead American soldiers in Iraq. Meanwhile, for the first time ever, we have a Democrat on the list (at least, it's someone who identifies himself as such). Despite the fact that our country has gone to hell in a handbasket over the last three years Zell Miller (3) has decided to endorse the chimp for reelection. Rounding out the list, we've got an out-of-control CEO (5), three conservative child molesters (6,7), a racist motel owner (8), a couple of stupid congressional staffers (9), and the ever-popular NRA (10). As usual, don't forget the key!
Democraticunderground: The Top Ten Conservative Idiots
To borrow a phrase from Joe Lieberman, it was a banner week for George W. Bush (1,2) who is still trying to sort out the whole "Mission Accomplished" Aircraft Carrier fiasco. And he's also got some pretty interesting "spin" about the increasing number of dead American soldiers in Iraq. Meanwhile, for the first time ever, we have a Democrat on the list (at least, it's someone who identifies himself as such). Despite the fact that our country has gone to hell in a handbasket over the last three years Zell Miller (3) has decided to endorse the chimp for reelection. Rounding out the list, we've got an out-of-control CEO (5), three conservative child molesters (6,7), a racist motel owner (8), a couple of stupid congressional staffers (9), and the ever-popular NRA (10). As usual, don't forget the key!
Monday, November 03, 2003
SCHWEIZ: POLIZEIGEWALT
Beobachter: Dein Freund und Schläger
Übergriffe, Drogendeals, Rassismus: Die Ordnungshüter kommen nicht mehr aus den negativen Schlagzeilen heraus. Sind sie nur übereifrig oder einfach überfordert?
Zürcher Polizisten gehen in die Fahrschule.» Diese Meldung, unlängst in der Tagespresse erschienen, hört sich lustig an, hat aber einen tristen Hintergrund: In den letzten drei Jahren ist es wiederholt zu Unfällen mit Polizeiautos gekommen, bei denen Unbeteiligte zum Teil schwer verletzt oder gar getötet wurden.
Doch manchen Beamten mangelt es nicht bloss an Fahrkünsten. Schweizweit sorgen Kantons- und Stadtpolizisten mit brutalen Übergriffen, Fremdenfeindlichkeit und internen Skandalen für Empörung (siehe «Polizeientgleisungen der Vergangenheit»).
Beobachter: «Rambotypen sind unerwünscht»
Polizeigewalt lasse sich nur durch vermehrte Ausbildung und einen klaren Führungsstil verhindern, sagt Jean Scheiben, Chef des Psychologischen Dienstes der Kantonspolizei Bern.
Beobachter: Entgleisungen der Vergangenheit
Wo die Polizei dieses Jahr negative Schlagzeilen gemacht hat – eine Auswahl.
Beobachter: Dein Freund und Schläger
Übergriffe, Drogendeals, Rassismus: Die Ordnungshüter kommen nicht mehr aus den negativen Schlagzeilen heraus. Sind sie nur übereifrig oder einfach überfordert?
Zürcher Polizisten gehen in die Fahrschule.» Diese Meldung, unlängst in der Tagespresse erschienen, hört sich lustig an, hat aber einen tristen Hintergrund: In den letzten drei Jahren ist es wiederholt zu Unfällen mit Polizeiautos gekommen, bei denen Unbeteiligte zum Teil schwer verletzt oder gar getötet wurden.
Doch manchen Beamten mangelt es nicht bloss an Fahrkünsten. Schweizweit sorgen Kantons- und Stadtpolizisten mit brutalen Übergriffen, Fremdenfeindlichkeit und internen Skandalen für Empörung (siehe «Polizeientgleisungen der Vergangenheit»).
Beobachter: «Rambotypen sind unerwünscht»
Polizeigewalt lasse sich nur durch vermehrte Ausbildung und einen klaren Führungsstil verhindern, sagt Jean Scheiben, Chef des Psychologischen Dienstes der Kantonspolizei Bern.
Beobachter: Entgleisungen der Vergangenheit
Wo die Polizei dieses Jahr negative Schlagzeilen gemacht hat – eine Auswahl.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
MSNBC: A War in the Dark
Who Is The Enemy? U.S. soldiers still don’t really know who they are fighting. Culture clashes, communication gaps and poor preparations have hurt intelligence on the ground. And any way you cut it, the difficulties don’t spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s
It’s hard to know your enemy when you don’t speak his language. In Iraq, when guerrillas place an IED (improvised explosive device) by the side of the road, they sometimes write a warning on the street—in Arabic. The locals understand to steer clear; the Americans drive right into the trap. “Everyone knows about it except us,” grouses Lt. Julio Tirado of the 124th Infantry Regiment, Florida National Guard, patrolling warily in the town of Ramadi.
MSNBC: A War in the Dark
Who Is The Enemy? U.S. soldiers still don’t really know who they are fighting. Culture clashes, communication gaps and poor preparations have hurt intelligence on the ground. And any way you cut it, the difficulties don’t spell s-u-c-c-e-s-s
It’s hard to know your enemy when you don’t speak his language. In Iraq, when guerrillas place an IED (improvised explosive device) by the side of the road, they sometimes write a warning on the street—in Arabic. The locals understand to steer clear; the Americans drive right into the trap. “Everyone knows about it except us,” grouses Lt. Julio Tirado of the 124th Infantry Regiment, Florida National Guard, patrolling warily in the town of Ramadi.
ISRAEL
Washington Post: Top Israeli Officer Says Tactics Are Backfiring
Israel's senior military commander told columnists for three leading newspapers this week that Israel's military tactics against the Palestinian population were too repressive and were fomenting explosive levels of "hatred and terrorism" that might become impossible to control.
In remarks that suggest a dramatic split with the approach of the current government, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, chief of staff of the Israeli armed forces, said that crackdowns, curfews and roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were crippling the lives of innocent Palestinians and that the military's tactics were now threatening Israel's own interests.
Washington Post: Top Israeli Officer Says Tactics Are Backfiring
Israel's senior military commander told columnists for three leading newspapers this week that Israel's military tactics against the Palestinian population were too repressive and were fomenting explosive levels of "hatred and terrorism" that might become impossible to control.
In remarks that suggest a dramatic split with the approach of the current government, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, chief of staff of the Israeli armed forces, said that crackdowns, curfews and roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were crippling the lives of innocent Palestinians and that the military's tactics were now threatening Israel's own interests.
ISRAEL
Sunday Herald: Is Israel losing its army?
With pilots refusing to attack Palestine, the top brass briefing against hard-line policies and outrage at conscription, the Israeli army is at crisis point. By Robert Tait in Jerusalem
Sunday Herald: Is Israel losing its army?
With pilots refusing to attack Palestine, the top brass briefing against hard-line policies and outrage at conscription, the Israeli army is at crisis point. By Robert Tait in Jerusalem
911
Sunday Herald: Five Israelis were seen filming as jet liners ploughed into the Twin Towers on September 11,
Were they part of a massive spy ring which shadowed the 9/11 hijackers and knew that al-Qaeda planned a devastating terrorist attack on the USA? Neil Mackay investigates
THERE was ruin and terror in Manhattan, but, over the Hudson River in New Jersey, a handful of men were dancing. As the World Trade Centre burned and crumpled, the five men celebrated and filmed the worst atrocity ever committed on American soil as it played out before their eyes.
Who do you think they were? Palestinians? Saudis? Iraqis, even? Al-Qaeda, surely? Wrong on all counts. They were Israelis – and at least two of them were Israeli intelligence agents, working for Mossad, the equivalent of MI6 or the CIA.
Sunday Herald: Five Israelis were seen filming as jet liners ploughed into the Twin Towers on September 11,
Were they part of a massive spy ring which shadowed the 9/11 hijackers and knew that al-Qaeda planned a devastating terrorist attack on the USA? Neil Mackay investigates
THERE was ruin and terror in Manhattan, but, over the Hudson River in New Jersey, a handful of men were dancing. As the World Trade Centre burned and crumpled, the five men celebrated and filmed the worst atrocity ever committed on American soil as it played out before their eyes.
Who do you think they were? Palestinians? Saudis? Iraqis, even? Al-Qaeda, surely? Wrong on all counts. They were Israelis – and at least two of them were Israeli intelligence agents, working for Mossad, the equivalent of MI6 or the CIA.
EU
Guardian: Israel outraged as EU poll names it a threat to peace
Israel has been described as the top threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row.
The survey, conducted in October, of 500 people from each of the EU's member nations included a list of 15 countries with the question, 'tell me if in your opinion it presents or not a threat to peace in the world'. Israel was reportedly picked by 59 per cent of those interviewed.
The leaking of the results of the poll to El Pais and the International Herald Tribune has sparked a bitter row, with a major Jewish human rights and lobbying group, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, demanding that the EU be excluded from the Israel-Palestinian peace process and accusing Europe of suffering the worst outbreak of 'anti-semitism' since World War Two.
Israeli Ministers and spokesman have also been at pains recently to insist that a definition of modern 'anti-semitism' should include criticism of the way the state of Israel chooses to protect itself, defining that criticism as an overt attack on Israel's survival.
Also die neue israelische Definition von Anti-Semitismus ist: Kritik = Anti-Semitismus"
Guardian: Israel outraged as EU poll names it a threat to peace
Israel has been described as the top threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, by an unpublished European Commission poll of 7,500 Europeans, sparking an international row.
The survey, conducted in October, of 500 people from each of the EU's member nations included a list of 15 countries with the question, 'tell me if in your opinion it presents or not a threat to peace in the world'. Israel was reportedly picked by 59 per cent of those interviewed.
The leaking of the results of the poll to El Pais and the International Herald Tribune has sparked a bitter row, with a major Jewish human rights and lobbying group, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, demanding that the EU be excluded from the Israel-Palestinian peace process and accusing Europe of suffering the worst outbreak of 'anti-semitism' since World War Two.
Israeli Ministers and spokesman have also been at pains recently to insist that a definition of modern 'anti-semitism' should include criticism of the way the state of Israel chooses to protect itself, defining that criticism as an overt attack on Israel's survival.
Also die neue israelische Definition von Anti-Semitismus ist: Kritik = Anti-Semitismus"
USA
Guardian: Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations
WASHINGTON (AP) - Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday.
The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and individual contractors turned up more than $500,000 in donations to the president's 2000 campaign, more than they gave collectively to any other politician over the past dozen years.
The report was released by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based research organization that produces investigative articles on special interests and ethics in government. Its staff includes journalists and researchers
Guardian: Report Links Iraq Deals to Bush Donations
WASHINGTON (AP) - Companies awarded $8 billion in contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan have been major campaign donors to President Bush, and their executives have had important political and military connections, according to a study released Thursday.
The study of more than 70 U.S. companies and individual contractors turned up more than $500,000 in donations to the president's 2000 campaign, more than they gave collectively to any other politician over the past dozen years.
The report was released by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based research organization that produces investigative articles on special interests and ethics in government. Its staff includes journalists and researchers
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Aberdeen news: AP: Israel to Raze With Robot Bulldozers
JERUSALEM - The giant Caterpillar bulldozer, used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, now comes with a controversial new feature: remote control.
Israel says its remote-control technology will lower risks to soldiers. But Palestinians fear it will lead to more frequent raids using the machines and make the three-year conflict even bloodier.
The remote-controlled D-9 bulldozer and a remote-control version of the Humvee, equipped with machine guns, were developed by the Israeli army and the Technion Institute of Technology. Both machines are U.S.-made, with Israeli modifications. They are expected to go into service in the next few weeks.
Aberdeen news: AP: Israel to Raze With Robot Bulldozers
JERUSALEM - The giant Caterpillar bulldozer, used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, now comes with a controversial new feature: remote control.
Israel says its remote-control technology will lower risks to soldiers. But Palestinians fear it will lead to more frequent raids using the machines and make the three-year conflict even bloodier.
The remote-controlled D-9 bulldozer and a remote-control version of the Humvee, equipped with machine guns, were developed by the Israeli army and the Technion Institute of Technology. Both machines are U.S.-made, with Israeli modifications. They are expected to go into service in the next few weeks.
IRAQ
Gazette: Iraq Copter Attack Kills 16 U.S. Troops
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- Leaflets seen in mosques in this tense Sunni Muslim region warned of new attacks using "modern and advanced methods" only days before gunners brought down a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, killing 16 and wounding 20 others.
The Sunday attack on the helicopter, carrying dozens of soldiers on their way home for leave, was the deadliest single strike against U.S. forces since the war began March 20.
Three other Americans - one 1st Armored Division soldier and two civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - were also killed Sunday in separate attacks, making it the bloodiest day for U.S. forces since March 23.
Witnesses said the attackers used shoulder-fired missiles against the Chinook, a sign of the increasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. fighters as the insurgency intensifies.
Gazette: Iraq Copter Attack Kills 16 U.S. Troops
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- Leaflets seen in mosques in this tense Sunni Muslim region warned of new attacks using "modern and advanced methods" only days before gunners brought down a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter, killing 16 and wounding 20 others.
The Sunday attack on the helicopter, carrying dozens of soldiers on their way home for leave, was the deadliest single strike against U.S. forces since the war began March 20.
Three other Americans - one 1st Armored Division soldier and two civilians working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - were also killed Sunday in separate attacks, making it the bloodiest day for U.S. forces since March 23.
Witnesses said the attackers used shoulder-fired missiles against the Chinook, a sign of the increasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. fighters as the insurgency intensifies.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Observer: Rebel war spirals out of control as US intelligence loses the plot
The ghosts of Vietnam are returning as Baathists, zealots, criminals, tribal leaders and al Qaeda unite in a deadly alliance of hatred. Special report by Peter Beaumont in London and Patrick Graham in Baghdad
Sharp disagreements are emerging between the US and the UK over the exact nature of the Iraqi resistance, amid warnings that the US is losing the intelligence war against the rebels.
After eight days in which Iraqi fighters have scored a series of major blows to the coalition and its Iraqi allies, intelligence and military officials in Iraq and on both sides of the Atlantic are at odds over whether they are fighting a Saddam-led movement or a series of disparate partisan groups. They are just as divided on finding a way to halt the escalating violence.
Observer: Rebel war spirals out of control as US intelligence loses the plot
The ghosts of Vietnam are returning as Baathists, zealots, criminals, tribal leaders and al Qaeda unite in a deadly alliance of hatred. Special report by Peter Beaumont in London and Patrick Graham in Baghdad
Sharp disagreements are emerging between the US and the UK over the exact nature of the Iraqi resistance, amid warnings that the US is losing the intelligence war against the rebels.
After eight days in which Iraqi fighters have scored a series of major blows to the coalition and its Iraqi allies, intelligence and military officials in Iraq and on both sides of the Atlantic are at odds over whether they are fighting a Saddam-led movement or a series of disparate partisan groups. They are just as divided on finding a way to halt the escalating violence.
Friday, October 31, 2003
ISRAEL
Guardian: Our strategy helps the terrorists - army chief warns Sharon
Israel's army chief has exposed deep divisions between the military and Ariel Sharon by branding the government's hardline treatment of Palestinian civilians counter-productive and saying that the policy intensifies hatred and strengthens the "terror organisations".
Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya'alon also told Israeli journalists in an off-the-record briefing that the army was opposed to the route of the "security fence" through the West Bank. The government also contributed to the fall of the former Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, by offering only "stingy" support for his attempts to end the conflict, he said.
Guardian: Our strategy helps the terrorists - army chief warns Sharon
Israel's army chief has exposed deep divisions between the military and Ariel Sharon by branding the government's hardline treatment of Palestinian civilians counter-productive and saying that the policy intensifies hatred and strengthens the "terror organisations".
Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya'alon also told Israeli journalists in an off-the-record briefing that the army was opposed to the route of the "security fence" through the West Bank. The government also contributed to the fall of the former Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, by offering only "stingy" support for his attempts to end the conflict, he said.
USA
SIdney Morning Herald: Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy'
A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
"What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel.
"[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed".
Ms Kwiatkowski, who retired this year after 20 years service, was a Middle East specialist in the office of the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, headed by Douglas Feith.
SIdney Morning Herald: Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy'
A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line.
"What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel.
"[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed".
Ms Kwiatkowski, who retired this year after 20 years service, was a Middle East specialist in the office of the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, headed by Douglas Feith.
USA
Al-Jazeera: Chomsky: Bush may invent another 'threat'
Leading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq
Al-Jazeera: Chomsky: Bush may invent another 'threat'
Leading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq
UK
Al-Jazeera: George Galloway's historic speech
George Galloway's historic speech, which could change the face of British politics for ever, is given in its entirety below
It is a misunderstanding created by circumstances that I am interested only in Middle Eastern affairs - notably, the struggle for self determination of the Palestinian people and against the horrific effects of sanctions and war on the Iraqi people during Saddam's vile dictatorship.
I have been, of course, passionately engaged in these issues but my interest in opposing all forms of imperialism - including the fashionable neo-liberal version of Mr Blair - arises from a deep patriotism about my own islands.
Empire resulted in the cruelty and oppression of millions outside these islands but it also helped to sustain the power of a ruling elite whose basic greed and sometimes malice, where it was not mere indifference and incompetence, oppressed its own people first before it turned its gaze on peoples of different hue and faith.
"VIVA LA REVOLUTION"
Al-Jazeera: George Galloway's historic speech
George Galloway's historic speech, which could change the face of British politics for ever, is given in its entirety below
It is a misunderstanding created by circumstances that I am interested only in Middle Eastern affairs - notably, the struggle for self determination of the Palestinian people and against the horrific effects of sanctions and war on the Iraqi people during Saddam's vile dictatorship.
I have been, of course, passionately engaged in these issues but my interest in opposing all forms of imperialism - including the fashionable neo-liberal version of Mr Blair - arises from a deep patriotism about my own islands.
Empire resulted in the cruelty and oppression of millions outside these islands but it also helped to sustain the power of a ruling elite whose basic greed and sometimes malice, where it was not mere indifference and incompetence, oppressed its own people first before it turned its gaze on peoples of different hue and faith.
"VIVA LA REVOLUTION"
Thursday, October 30, 2003
IRAQ
Democracy Now: “This is a Resistance Movement, Whether We Like It or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
Britain Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk discusses the increasing resistance against the U.S. occupation in Iraq and counters the Bush administration’s claims that attacks on U.S. troops are coming from foreign fighters. [Includes transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk joins us on the phone right now. Middle East correspondent for the London independent. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Robert.
ROBERT FISK: Hello, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, the killings in Iraq continue. We hear about one side. We hear about the continual killings of U.S. service men and women. We hear about the bombings of the Red Cross, the bombings of the police stations in Baghdad and Fallujah. You've spent a lot of time in Iraq. Can you explain?
ROBERT FISK: Well, I think, you know, part of the explanation needs to include a kind of a cultural comment. We were just listening to your reading of the news where we were hearing you quoting American statesmen as saying that-- talking about the number of foreign fighters in Iraq. Well, I can tell you there are at least 200,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and 146,000 of them are wearing American uniform. You know, Americans in Iraq did not grow up in Tikrit eating dates for breakfast. The largest number of foreign fighters in Iraq, a thousand times over anything Al Qaeda can do, are western soldiers. And we need to realize that we're maintaining an occupation there.
"CHECK IT"
Democracy Now: “This is a Resistance Movement, Whether We Like It or Not” – Robert Fisk on Iraq
Britain Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk discusses the increasing resistance against the U.S. occupation in Iraq and counters the Bush administration’s claims that attacks on U.S. troops are coming from foreign fighters. [Includes transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: Robert Fisk joins us on the phone right now. Middle East correspondent for the London independent. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Robert.
ROBERT FISK: Hello, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, the killings in Iraq continue. We hear about one side. We hear about the continual killings of U.S. service men and women. We hear about the bombings of the Red Cross, the bombings of the police stations in Baghdad and Fallujah. You've spent a lot of time in Iraq. Can you explain?
ROBERT FISK: Well, I think, you know, part of the explanation needs to include a kind of a cultural comment. We were just listening to your reading of the news where we were hearing you quoting American statesmen as saying that-- talking about the number of foreign fighters in Iraq. Well, I can tell you there are at least 200,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and 146,000 of them are wearing American uniform. You know, Americans in Iraq did not grow up in Tikrit eating dates for breakfast. The largest number of foreign fighters in Iraq, a thousand times over anything Al Qaeda can do, are western soldiers. And we need to realize that we're maintaining an occupation there.
"CHECK IT"
AFGHANISTAN
Asia Times: Taliban raise the stakes in Afghanistan
After two years of guerilla warfare with almost dry supply
lines, the Taliban are now in a position around the important cities of south
and southeastern Afghanistan to begin the next phase of their campaign to
oust foreign troops from the country. At present, they are poised to close
in on Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad, Asadabad and Gardez.
Asia Times: Taliban raise the stakes in Afghanistan
After two years of guerilla warfare with almost dry supply
lines, the Taliban are now in a position around the important cities of south
and southeastern Afghanistan to begin the next phase of their campaign to
oust foreign troops from the country. At present, they are poised to close
in on Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad, Asadabad and Gardez.
INTERNET WATCH
Age: White House site prevents Iraq material being archived
The White House website effectively prevents search engines indexing and archiving material on the site related to Iraq.
The directories on a site which can be searched by the bots sent out by search engines can be limited by means of a file called robots.txt, which resides in the root directory of a site.
Adding a directory to robots.txt ensures that nothing in that folder will ever show up in a search and will never be archived by search sites.
The White House's robots.txt file lists a huge number of directories all related to Iraq.
Age: White House site prevents Iraq material being archived
The White House website effectively prevents search engines indexing and archiving material on the site related to Iraq.
The directories on a site which can be searched by the bots sent out by search engines can be limited by means of a file called robots.txt, which resides in the root directory of a site.
Adding a directory to robots.txt ensures that nothing in that folder will ever show up in a search and will never be archived by search sites.
The White House's robots.txt file lists a huge number of directories all related to Iraq.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Washington Post: Officers See No Sign Of Foreign Fighters
Commanders of U.S. military forces responsible for monitoring the border between Iraq and Syria say there is no evidence from human intelligence sources or radar surveillance aircraft indicating that significant numbers of foreign fighters are crossing into Iraq illegally.
Washington Post: Officers See No Sign Of Foreign Fighters
Commanders of U.S. military forces responsible for monitoring the border between Iraq and Syria say there is no evidence from human intelligence sources or radar surveillance aircraft indicating that significant numbers of foreign fighters are crossing into Iraq illegally.
MEDIA WATCH
MMN: Who killed 3 US security guards in Gaza?
"In terms of motive, almost no credible Middle East analyst doubts that Israel is the only political beneficiary from the attack."
On October 15, a large roadside bomb was detonated under an easily recognisable US convoy escorted by Palestinian security in the Gaza Strip. The huge explosion tore through the vehicle, leaving three of its occupants dead and one injured.
An anonymous call to Agence France Presse came from someone claiming to represent an umbrella organisation, the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), and saying they were responsible for the attack. As soon as this claim became public, the PRC leadership denied any knowledge of it and disassociated itself from the attack.
“From the very beginning we have denied responsibility for what happened today,” PRC head Yassir Zanoun told the Times. Unusually, no other group or individual has claimed responsibility, leaving a question mark over who the culprits are.
However, much of the media decided to throw caution to the wind and point the finger of blame in one direction. “Palestinians bomb US convoy” was the front page headline of The Guardian the following day. “Palestinian guerrillas blew up a US diplomatic convoy” claimed the Daily Telegraph, which also allowed itself to indulge in some of the worst misinformation available in the mainstream media: “It may well be that Hamas or Islamic Jihad employed the flag of convenience of ‘Popular Resistance Committee’…there is no doubting the common ideological well-spring from which all these groups drink. Young people in the occupied territories are indoctrinated from an early age into the Wahhabist version of Islam that so inspired Osama bin Laden.” Most were a little more sober with their wording, but clearly implied that it was only a question of which Palestinian faction.
MMN: Who killed 3 US security guards in Gaza?
"In terms of motive, almost no credible Middle East analyst doubts that Israel is the only political beneficiary from the attack."
On October 15, a large roadside bomb was detonated under an easily recognisable US convoy escorted by Palestinian security in the Gaza Strip. The huge explosion tore through the vehicle, leaving three of its occupants dead and one injured.
An anonymous call to Agence France Presse came from someone claiming to represent an umbrella organisation, the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), and saying they were responsible for the attack. As soon as this claim became public, the PRC leadership denied any knowledge of it and disassociated itself from the attack.
“From the very beginning we have denied responsibility for what happened today,” PRC head Yassir Zanoun told the Times. Unusually, no other group or individual has claimed responsibility, leaving a question mark over who the culprits are.
However, much of the media decided to throw caution to the wind and point the finger of blame in one direction. “Palestinians bomb US convoy” was the front page headline of The Guardian the following day. “Palestinian guerrillas blew up a US diplomatic convoy” claimed the Daily Telegraph, which also allowed itself to indulge in some of the worst misinformation available in the mainstream media: “It may well be that Hamas or Islamic Jihad employed the flag of convenience of ‘Popular Resistance Committee’…there is no doubting the common ideological well-spring from which all these groups drink. Young people in the occupied territories are indoctrinated from an early age into the Wahhabist version of Islam that so inspired Osama bin Laden.” Most were a little more sober with their wording, but clearly implied that it was only a question of which Palestinian faction.
IRAQ
Financial Times: Iraq business deals may be invalid, law experts warn
The US-led provisional authority in Iraq may be breaking international
law by selling state assets, experts have warned, raising the prospect that
contracts signed now by foreign investors could be scrapped by a future
Iraqi government. International businesspeople attending a conference
in London this week heard that some orders issued by the US-led Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) may be in breach of the 1907 Hague
Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Is what they are doing legitimate, is it legal?" asked Juliet Blanch,
a partner at the London-based international law firm Norton Rose. "Most
[experts] believe that their actions are not legal", she said. "There
would be no requirement for a new government to ratify their [actions]."
International law obliges occupying powers to respect laws already in
force in a country "unless absolutely prevented" from doing so.
According to international law experts, that throws doubt on the
legality of the CPA's September 19 order opening the Iraqi economy to foreign
investment. In what amounted to a blueprint for transforming Iraq into
a market economy, Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide
range of state-owned Iraqi assets, barring natural resources such as oil.
However, such sweeping economic reform may not be legal, as the UK
government was privately warned by its chief law officer in the first
days of the war. In his private advice, later leaked to the press, Lord
Goldsmith wrote that "the imposition of major structural economic
reforms would not be authorised by international law."
Financial Times: Iraq business deals may be invalid, law experts warn
The US-led provisional authority in Iraq may be breaking international
law by selling state assets, experts have warned, raising the prospect that
contracts signed now by foreign investors could be scrapped by a future
Iraqi government. International businesspeople attending a conference
in London this week heard that some orders issued by the US-led Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) may be in breach of the 1907 Hague
Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Is what they are doing legitimate, is it legal?" asked Juliet Blanch,
a partner at the London-based international law firm Norton Rose. "Most
[experts] believe that their actions are not legal", she said. "There
would be no requirement for a new government to ratify their [actions]."
International law obliges occupying powers to respect laws already in
force in a country "unless absolutely prevented" from doing so.
According to international law experts, that throws doubt on the
legality of the CPA's September 19 order opening the Iraqi economy to foreign
investment. In what amounted to a blueprint for transforming Iraq into
a market economy, Order 39 permitted full foreign ownership of a wide
range of state-owned Iraqi assets, barring natural resources such as oil.
However, such sweeping economic reform may not be legal, as the UK
government was privately warned by its chief law officer in the first
days of the war. In his private advice, later leaked to the press, Lord
Goldsmith wrote that "the imposition of major structural economic
reforms would not be authorised by international law."
IRAQ
Sidney Morning Herald: Bush may have to cut and run
After yet another bloody day in Iraq, US President George Bush dropped
his enthusiastic message that the latest wave of attacks was evidence of
just how much "progress" was being made in bringing freedom to the country.
Bush's Democratic opponents had been scathing when he proffered this
view on Monday following the death of nearly 40 Iraqis and one American in a
wave of suicide bombings that also left about 230 wounded. "If this is
progress, I don't know how much progress we can take," Senator Tom
Daschle retorted.
Sidney Morning Herald: Bush may have to cut and run
After yet another bloody day in Iraq, US President George Bush dropped
his enthusiastic message that the latest wave of attacks was evidence of
just how much "progress" was being made in bringing freedom to the country.
Bush's Democratic opponents had been scathing when he proffered this
view on Monday following the death of nearly 40 Iraqis and one American in a
wave of suicide bombings that also left about 230 wounded. "If this is
progress, I don't know how much progress we can take," Senator Tom
Daschle retorted.
USA
Iview: Bush's Support For Sharon
What message is Bush trying to send to the rest of the world, especially to the Muslim world? Is it kosher to strike any country and ignore international laws?
The level of hypocrisy, double-talk and the neo-Pharaonic display of might, practiced by the Bush (Jr.) Administration, is sufficient to make any decent, peace-loving person question his/her fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. Truly, there is no system more corrupt and more hypocritical than a system that represents itself as the example of justice, the example of freedom, the example of democracy, the example of human rights and can go all over this earth telling other people how to strengthen out their houses, how to manage their affairs, how to abide by international laws while it does exactly the opposite - defying international laws, courting authoritarian regimes, bugging its own citizenry, misleading all humanity, denying basic human rights and setting precedence for pre-emptive strikes as if we are living in caves in pre-historic times.
Iview: Bush's Support For Sharon
What message is Bush trying to send to the rest of the world, especially to the Muslim world? Is it kosher to strike any country and ignore international laws?
The level of hypocrisy, double-talk and the neo-Pharaonic display of might, practiced by the Bush (Jr.) Administration, is sufficient to make any decent, peace-loving person question his/her fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. Truly, there is no system more corrupt and more hypocritical than a system that represents itself as the example of justice, the example of freedom, the example of democracy, the example of human rights and can go all over this earth telling other people how to strengthen out their houses, how to manage their affairs, how to abide by international laws while it does exactly the opposite - defying international laws, courting authoritarian regimes, bugging its own citizenry, misleading all humanity, denying basic human rights and setting precedence for pre-emptive strikes as if we are living in caves in pre-historic times.
ROGUE STATE USA
Minnesota Daily: U.S. becoming the monster it fears
Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross publicly criticized the U.S. government for the prolonged and seemingly indefinite detention of 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The committee’s action illuminates two distinct but related problems: Current U.S. policy offends common human decency and violates international law.
The committee delegates are the only outsiders with access to the detainees captured in Afghanistan, Bosnia and possibly elsewhere. The committee normally visits under strict confidentiality — they usually reveal findings only to the detaining government. They prefer quiet diplomacy because governments are more likely to give them access. Accordingly, the committee’s public announcement was extraordinary.
Minnesota Daily: U.S. becoming the monster it fears
Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross publicly criticized the U.S. government for the prolonged and seemingly indefinite detention of 600 people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The committee’s action illuminates two distinct but related problems: Current U.S. policy offends common human decency and violates international law.
The committee delegates are the only outsiders with access to the detainees captured in Afghanistan, Bosnia and possibly elsewhere. The committee normally visits under strict confidentiality — they usually reveal findings only to the detaining government. They prefer quiet diplomacy because governments are more likely to give them access. Accordingly, the committee’s public announcement was extraordinary.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Washington Post: The Danger of Defeat
When you journey abroad, news from home tends to arrive in disjointed snippets. But rarely has such a tidbit seemed as unrooted in reality as the comment of President Bush that reached here a day after a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad. The attacks, Bush said, resulted from the progress of the occupation and the desperation of the insurgents.
Here's the reality: Insurgents are waging a strategic and malevolently clever campaign that is achieving, in its terms, considerable success. The kind of progress that Bush seeks cannot be accomplished under current conditions of danger and uncertainty. What Iraqis need as they emerge from decades of stifling repression is a richness of contact with the world and a faith that change -- true, structural change -- is possible. Both of those -- the contact and the faith -- are undermined, deliberately and successfully, by terrorism aimed at any vulnerable point of intersection between cooperating Iraqis and well-wishing foreigners.
Washington Post: The Danger of Defeat
When you journey abroad, news from home tends to arrive in disjointed snippets. But rarely has such a tidbit seemed as unrooted in reality as the comment of President Bush that reached here a day after a series of devastating bombings in Baghdad. The attacks, Bush said, resulted from the progress of the occupation and the desperation of the insurgents.
Here's the reality: Insurgents are waging a strategic and malevolently clever campaign that is achieving, in its terms, considerable success. The kind of progress that Bush seeks cannot be accomplished under current conditions of danger and uncertainty. What Iraqis need as they emerge from decades of stifling repression is a richness of contact with the world and a faith that change -- true, structural change -- is possible. Both of those -- the contact and the faith -- are undermined, deliberately and successfully, by terrorism aimed at any vulnerable point of intersection between cooperating Iraqis and well-wishing foreigners.
IRAQ
Telegraph: New Iraq 'Well On Way To Becoming Islamic State'
WASHINGTON -- The United States is failing in its mission to create a secular, overtly pro-Western Iraq, a leading adviser to the American administrator Paul Bremer said yesterday.
Instead, the new, democratic Iraq appears bound to be an Islamic state - with an official role for Islam, and Islamic law enshrined in its constitution.
That prospect is triggering alarm and opposition from the White House and the Pentagon, Noah Feldman, a leading American expert in Islamic law, told The Daily Telegraph.
Dr Feldman served as senior constitutional adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, working closely with Mr Bremer. Returning from Baghdad this summer, the New York University law professor now works as an unpaid adviser to the CPA, to the White House, and to different factions in the Iraqi Governing Council.
One senior administration official declared before the war that the first foreign policy of a democratic Iraq would be to recognise Israel.
"I don't know what he was smoking when he said that," said Dr Feldman. He argued that Iraqi-Israeli relations were off the radar, as Washington struggled simply to keep Iraq from slipping into disaster.
"The end constitutional product is very likely to make many people in the US government unhappy. It's not going to look the way people imagined it looking," said Dr Feldman.
"Any democratically elected Iraqi government is unlikely to be secular, and unlikely to be pro-Israel. And frankly, moderately unlikely to be pro-American." "Und darum wird es keinen wirklich demokratischen Irak oder Nahen Osten geben"
Telegraph: New Iraq 'Well On Way To Becoming Islamic State'
WASHINGTON -- The United States is failing in its mission to create a secular, overtly pro-Western Iraq, a leading adviser to the American administrator Paul Bremer said yesterday.
Instead, the new, democratic Iraq appears bound to be an Islamic state - with an official role for Islam, and Islamic law enshrined in its constitution.
That prospect is triggering alarm and opposition from the White House and the Pentagon, Noah Feldman, a leading American expert in Islamic law, told The Daily Telegraph.
Dr Feldman served as senior constitutional adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority, working closely with Mr Bremer. Returning from Baghdad this summer, the New York University law professor now works as an unpaid adviser to the CPA, to the White House, and to different factions in the Iraqi Governing Council.
One senior administration official declared before the war that the first foreign policy of a democratic Iraq would be to recognise Israel.
"I don't know what he was smoking when he said that," said Dr Feldman. He argued that Iraqi-Israeli relations were off the radar, as Washington struggled simply to keep Iraq from slipping into disaster.
"The end constitutional product is very likely to make many people in the US government unhappy. It's not going to look the way people imagined it looking," said Dr Feldman.
"Any democratically elected Iraqi government is unlikely to be secular, and unlikely to be pro-Israel. And frankly, moderately unlikely to be pro-American." "Und darum wird es keinen wirklich demokratischen Irak oder Nahen Osten geben"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Arab News: 233 Attacks On US In Last Week Alone
BAGHDAD -- In a dramatic upsurge in attacks, resistance fighters destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush of multinational troops stationed south of the capital, US and coalition officials said yesterday.
US policy in Iraq suffered another setback when the international Red Cross announced it was reducing its international staff in the country, two days after a deadly suicide car-bombing at its Baghdad headquarters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged the Red Cross and other non-government organizations to remain in Iraq because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."
The latest attacks - 233 over the last seven days according to the US military - have driven the combat death toll during the occupation over the number killed before President George W. Bush declared an end to active combat on May 1.
Two American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed and one was wounded late Tuesday when their Abrams main battle tank apparently hit a land mine near Balad, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad, division spokeswoman Maj. Jossyln Aberle said.
Arab News: 233 Attacks On US In Last Week Alone
BAGHDAD -- In a dramatic upsurge in attacks, resistance fighters destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush of multinational troops stationed south of the capital, US and coalition officials said yesterday.
US policy in Iraq suffered another setback when the international Red Cross announced it was reducing its international staff in the country, two days after a deadly suicide car-bombing at its Baghdad headquarters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged the Red Cross and other non-government organizations to remain in Iraq because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."
The latest attacks - 233 over the last seven days according to the US military - have driven the combat death toll during the occupation over the number killed before President George W. Bush declared an end to active combat on May 1.
Two American soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed and one was wounded late Tuesday when their Abrams main battle tank apparently hit a land mine near Balad, 70 kilometers north of Baghdad, division spokeswoman Maj. Jossyln Aberle said.
ZIONISM
Rense: Armageddon - Zionism's Diabolical Goal
I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together with 25 other couples -- half of them from the United States -- moved onto land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off 750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international law.
One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said: "All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land to us, the Jews."
This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn. What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years, just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
About the author: Grace Halsell was a White House speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson and has covered both the Korean and Vietnam wars as a journalist. She is the author of several books including Prophecy and Politics (Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, Connecticut) and The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1993, Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004- 0539), from which this article was reprinted. Actually, the above article appeared in The Spectrum, Vol. 4, Number 10.
"CHECK IT"
Rense: Armageddon - Zionism's Diabolical Goal
I first went to Jerusalem in 1979 to research a book dealing with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. While there I met many third generation Americans, such as Bobby and Linda Brown of Brooklyn, who together with 25 other couples -- half of them from the United States -- moved onto land of the Palestinians and took the land at gunpoint. They staked off 750 acres and put a strong iron fence around it. Israeli soldiers guard this settlement night and day. That is illegal under every international law.
One evening, we sat under the stars looking at the flickering lights of Palestinian villages. Bobby Brown, with a wave of his arm, said: "All the Palestinians have to leave this land. God gave this land to us, the Jews."
This incident made a deep impression on me. I knew Bobby Brown could not use an Uzi and confiscate land at gunpoint in Brooklyn. What made it all right for him to use a gun and take land from Palestinians?
And moreover, why did we, as American taxpayers, give Israel the money to pay for the weapons to confiscate Palestinian land?
Had God deeded the land to Bobby Brown?
Had the Palestinians been living there for 2,000 years, just holding it until Bobby Brown could claim it?
About the author: Grace Halsell was a White House speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson and has covered both the Korean and Vietnam wars as a journalist. She is the author of several books including Prophecy and Politics (Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, Connecticut) and The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read (1993, Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company, P.O. Box 539, Dubuque, Iowa, 52004- 0539), from which this article was reprinted. Actually, the above article appeared in The Spectrum, Vol. 4, Number 10.
"CHECK IT"
MIDDLE EAST
Joe Vialls: Russia Ready to Vaporize the Jewish State
And then kick America out of the Eastern Hemisphere’s oilfields
When the end finally comes for Israel, it will all be over in microseconds. Flying faster than rifle bullets,
the Sunburns will approach Tel Aviv and Haifa at twice the speed of sound, detonating in blinding white
200 Kiloton flashes designed to instantly transform animal vegetable and mineral into heat and light.”
"interesting article"
Joe Vialls: Russia Ready to Vaporize the Jewish State
And then kick America out of the Eastern Hemisphere’s oilfields
When the end finally comes for Israel, it will all be over in microseconds. Flying faster than rifle bullets,
the Sunburns will approach Tel Aviv and Haifa at twice the speed of sound, detonating in blinding white
200 Kiloton flashes designed to instantly transform animal vegetable and mineral into heat and light.”
"interesting article"
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Independent: Silenced witnesses
In a seven-week period this spring, two overseas observers were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and a third left brain dead. But has the truth yet been told? John Sweeney investigates
James Miller taught my children to surf. Together, the two of us went to Kosovo, Chechnya and Zimbabwe. He was funny, decent to the core, a genius behind the camera lens. Together, we celebrated winning a Royal Television Society gong by having one shandy too many. I fell into an argument with an irritating cove in a penguin suit. James stepped in, threatening to take said cove outside and sort him out. At which point, some PR floozie whispered in my ear: "Do you know who that is?" No. "It's the head of ITV." Don't watch it much anyway. James and I had so much fun and, occasionally, we did the work.
I was in Baghdad when I heard the news. He had been shot in Rafah, at the fag-end of the Gaza Strip, and was dead.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
Independent: Silenced witnesses
In a seven-week period this spring, two overseas observers were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and a third left brain dead. But has the truth yet been told? John Sweeney investigates
James Miller taught my children to surf. Together, the two of us went to Kosovo, Chechnya and Zimbabwe. He was funny, decent to the core, a genius behind the camera lens. Together, we celebrated winning a Royal Television Society gong by having one shandy too many. I fell into an argument with an irritating cove in a penguin suit. James stepped in, threatening to take said cove outside and sort him out. At which point, some PR floozie whispered in my ear: "Do you know who that is?" No. "It's the head of ITV." Don't watch it much anyway. James and I had so much fun and, occasionally, we did the work.
I was in Baghdad when I heard the news. He had been shot in Rafah, at the fag-end of the Gaza Strip, and was dead.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
IRAQ
New Zealand Herald: Robert Fisk: Ramadan revenge - a message sent and a lesson learned
Understanding the brain. That's what you have to do in a guerrilla war. Find out how it works, what it's trying to do.
Ramadan? An attack on US headquarters in Baghdad and six suicide bombings, all at the start of Ramadan? Thirty-four dead and 200 wounded? Where have I heard those statistics before?
And how could they be so well co-ordinated - not sophisticated, perhaps, but well-timed, down to the last second? And why the Red Cross?
I knew that building, admired the way in which the International Red Cross staff refused to associate themselves with the American occupation - even at the cost of their lives, because the guards outside their Baghdad headquarters carried no guns.
So here's the answer to question one. Algeria. After the Algerian Government in 1991 banned democratic elections that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front to power, a growing Muslim revolt turned into a blood-curdling battle between the Islamic Armed Group - many of its adherents cut their battle teeth in Afghanistan - and a brutal Government army and police force. Within three years, the Islamists - aided, it seems, by army intelligence officers - were perpetrating massacres against the villagers of what was called the "Blida triangle", a three-cornered territory around the Islamist city of Blida outside Algiers.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
New Zealand Herald: Robert Fisk: Ramadan revenge - a message sent and a lesson learned
Understanding the brain. That's what you have to do in a guerrilla war. Find out how it works, what it's trying to do.
Ramadan? An attack on US headquarters in Baghdad and six suicide bombings, all at the start of Ramadan? Thirty-four dead and 200 wounded? Where have I heard those statistics before?
And how could they be so well co-ordinated - not sophisticated, perhaps, but well-timed, down to the last second? And why the Red Cross?
I knew that building, admired the way in which the International Red Cross staff refused to associate themselves with the American occupation - even at the cost of their lives, because the guards outside their Baghdad headquarters carried no guns.
So here's the answer to question one. Algeria. After the Algerian Government in 1991 banned democratic elections that would have brought the Islamic Salvation Front to power, a growing Muslim revolt turned into a blood-curdling battle between the Islamic Armed Group - many of its adherents cut their battle teeth in Afghanistan - and a brutal Government army and police force. Within three years, the Islamists - aided, it seems, by army intelligence officers - were perpetrating massacres against the villagers of what was called the "Blida triangle", a three-cornered territory around the Islamist city of Blida outside Algiers.
"CHECK IT CHECK IT CHECK IT"
ZIONISM
Rense: Makow - The Real Cause of 'Anti Semitism' by By Henry Makow, PhD
My Jewish mother was born in Poland in 1919. She remembered visiting her grandfather's vast "estate" as a child and riding in a big carriage drawn by four white horses.
This story contradicted my image of Jewish poverty and persecution in Poland, and I questioned her about it.
She reassured me that her family had means. (Unfortunately her rich grandfather remarried and disowned her father. No more invitations.)
On the other hand, my father's family fit my preconception. His father eked out a living as Secretary for a labor union. They lived in a two-room flat and sublet one room. Sometimes Poles threw stones at them in the park. A quota meant that he could not attend university.
The popular image of Jewish history is closer to my father's story. But we cannot have an accurate impression without my mother's.
Israel Shahak's book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion; The Weight of 3000 Years" (1994) shows how the past provides a key to understanding the present.
According to Shahak, the Jewish elite always had a symbiotic relationship with the governing class. The Jews would "administer the oppression" of the masses. In return, the governing class would force Jews to obey their "leaders." Sometimes a pogrom would do the trick.
Rense: Makow - The Real Cause of 'Anti Semitism' by By Henry Makow, PhD
My Jewish mother was born in Poland in 1919. She remembered visiting her grandfather's vast "estate" as a child and riding in a big carriage drawn by four white horses.
This story contradicted my image of Jewish poverty and persecution in Poland, and I questioned her about it.
She reassured me that her family had means. (Unfortunately her rich grandfather remarried and disowned her father. No more invitations.)
On the other hand, my father's family fit my preconception. His father eked out a living as Secretary for a labor union. They lived in a two-room flat and sublet one room. Sometimes Poles threw stones at them in the park. A quota meant that he could not attend university.
The popular image of Jewish history is closer to my father's story. But we cannot have an accurate impression without my mother's.
Israel Shahak's book "Jewish History, Jewish Religion; The Weight of 3000 Years" (1994) shows how the past provides a key to understanding the present.
According to Shahak, the Jewish elite always had a symbiotic relationship with the governing class. The Jews would "administer the oppression" of the masses. In return, the governing class would force Jews to obey their "leaders." Sometimes a pogrom would do the trick.
ISRAEL
Guardian: Israel tells foreign backers of Geneva peace initiative they threaten road map
The Israeli government has launched a diplomatic offensive to discourage foreign support for a groundbreaking peace initiative that its supporters say has exposed the bankruptcy of Ariel Sharon's policies.
The foreign ministry summoned a senior Swiss diplomat to protest against his government's support for the "Geneva initiative" made public two weeks ago by leftwing Israeli politicians and a group of Palestinian leaders.
Two years of secretive negotiations were led by the former Israeli cabinet minister, Yossi Beilin, and a close ally of Yasser Arafat, Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Their agreement was for the Palestinians to renounce the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel and for the evacuation of almost all Jewish settlements on the West Bank beyond what Israel defines as Jerusalem
Guardian: Israel tells foreign backers of Geneva peace initiative they threaten road map
The Israeli government has launched a diplomatic offensive to discourage foreign support for a groundbreaking peace initiative that its supporters say has exposed the bankruptcy of Ariel Sharon's policies.
The foreign ministry summoned a senior Swiss diplomat to protest against his government's support for the "Geneva initiative" made public two weeks ago by leftwing Israeli politicians and a group of Palestinian leaders.
Two years of secretive negotiations were led by the former Israeli cabinet minister, Yossi Beilin, and a close ally of Yasser Arafat, Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Their agreement was for the Palestinians to renounce the right of refugees to return to their former homes in Israel and for the evacuation of almost all Jewish settlements on the West Bank beyond what Israel defines as Jerusalem
IRAQ
Guardian: Powell begs aid agencies to stay in Baghdad
Terrorists will win if humanitarian workers retreat, says secretary of state, as frontline charity pulls out its staff
Médecins sans Frontières, a frontline aid agency with a reputation for working in warzones where other agencies refuse to go, is to join the exodus of international workers from Baghdad despite a plea for it to stay from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The withdrawal of MSF is a huge symbolic blow to US attempts to restore a semblance of normality to Baghdad and the rest of central Iraq. If the aid agencies judge central Iraq too dangerous to operate in, it will be even harder for Washington and London to persuade private companies to take up reconstruction contracts in the country. "Und genau das ist der Grund warum Hilfswerke angegriffen werden"
Guardian: Powell begs aid agencies to stay in Baghdad
Terrorists will win if humanitarian workers retreat, says secretary of state, as frontline charity pulls out its staff
Médecins sans Frontières, a frontline aid agency with a reputation for working in warzones where other agencies refuse to go, is to join the exodus of international workers from Baghdad despite a plea for it to stay from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The withdrawal of MSF is a huge symbolic blow to US attempts to restore a semblance of normality to Baghdad and the rest of central Iraq. If the aid agencies judge central Iraq too dangerous to operate in, it will be even harder for Washington and London to persuade private companies to take up reconstruction contracts in the country. "Und genau das ist der Grund warum Hilfswerke angegriffen werden"
IRAQ
Spiegel: Bush warnt Iran und Syrien
George W. Bush zeigt auch angesichts der jüngsten Selbstmordanschl?ge im Irak H?rte: "Wir werden nicht weichen", sagte er. Der US-Pr?sident macht vor allem ausl?ndische Terroristen für die Anschl?ge verantwortlich, die aus Iran und Syrien in das Land einsickerten
"Die (Anh?nger der Partei Saddams) Baathisten versuchen, Chaos und Angst zu schaffen, weil ihnen bewusst ist, dass ein freier Irak ihnen die umfassenden Privilegien versagt, die sie unter Saddam Hussein hatten", sagte Bush. "Ausl?ndische Terroristen versuchen, Angst zu erzeugen, weil sie einen freien und friedlichen Staat fürchten in der Mitte eines Teils der Welt, in dem Terror Rekruten gefunden hat", fügte er hinzu.
– very soon – a guerrilla resistance must start. No doubt the Americans will claim that these attacks are "remnants" of Saddam's regime or "criminal elements". But that will not be the case. Robert Fisk, 17. April 2003
Spiegel: Bush warnt Iran und Syrien
George W. Bush zeigt auch angesichts der jüngsten Selbstmordanschl?ge im Irak H?rte: "Wir werden nicht weichen", sagte er. Der US-Pr?sident macht vor allem ausl?ndische Terroristen für die Anschl?ge verantwortlich, die aus Iran und Syrien in das Land einsickerten
"Die (Anh?nger der Partei Saddams) Baathisten versuchen, Chaos und Angst zu schaffen, weil ihnen bewusst ist, dass ein freier Irak ihnen die umfassenden Privilegien versagt, die sie unter Saddam Hussein hatten", sagte Bush. "Ausl?ndische Terroristen versuchen, Angst zu erzeugen, weil sie einen freien und friedlichen Staat fürchten in der Mitte eines Teils der Welt, in dem Terror Rekruten gefunden hat", fügte er hinzu.
– very soon – a guerrilla resistance must start. No doubt the Americans will claim that these attacks are "remnants" of Saddam's regime or "criminal elements". But that will not be the case. Robert Fisk, 17. April 2003
UK: DAVID KELLY
Rense: The Murder Dr. David Kelly - Part 2
In Part One of this report, we examined evidence ignored by the national media, both in the U.S. and U.K., that shows fairly conclusively (at least to this writer) that Dr. David Kelly did not commit suicide. * (For an expanded, detailed report of more evidence see the URL in the footnote below.) In this last part, we will look at Kellyâs involvement in and/or knowledge of the secrets of several governments so explosive that once he was adjudged ãunreliableä he had to be eliminated.)
In 1984 Dr. Kelly was invited by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to take the position of chief microbiologist at its secret facility at Porton Down. Kelly had been working in the NERC Institute of Virology in Oxford. He brought a number of scientists with him from there to Porton Down.
At the Hutton inquiry, Brian Jones testified as to Kellyâs involvement, with the highest security clearance, in analyzing top-secret information regarding biological weapons of the U.K. and other governments. Jones was director of a department on the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS). That involvement, beginning in 1987, presumably continued until his death and through his several other jobs as weapons ãinspectorä in Russia and (for UNSCOM) in Iraq.
Rense: The Murder Dr. David Kelly - Part 2
In Part One of this report, we examined evidence ignored by the national media, both in the U.S. and U.K., that shows fairly conclusively (at least to this writer) that Dr. David Kelly did not commit suicide. * (For an expanded, detailed report of more evidence see the URL in the footnote below.) In this last part, we will look at Kellyâs involvement in and/or knowledge of the secrets of several governments so explosive that once he was adjudged ãunreliableä he had to be eliminated.)
In 1984 Dr. Kelly was invited by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to take the position of chief microbiologist at its secret facility at Porton Down. Kelly had been working in the NERC Institute of Virology in Oxford. He brought a number of scientists with him from there to Porton Down.
At the Hutton inquiry, Brian Jones testified as to Kellyâs involvement, with the highest security clearance, in analyzing top-secret information regarding biological weapons of the U.K. and other governments. Jones was director of a department on the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS). That involvement, beginning in 1987, presumably continued until his death and through his several other jobs as weapons ãinspectorä in Russia and (for UNSCOM) in Iraq.
IRAQ
NY Times Op-Ed: A Willful Ignorance by Paul Krugman
According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.
Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes
NY Times Op-Ed: A Willful Ignorance by Paul Krugman
According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.
Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes
ELECTRONIC WARFARE
the news insider: Suspicious Blackouts
Who is Targeting Global Power Grids?
In July 2002, President Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 16 (PD-16), a secret plan for the United States to wage cyber-warfare against other countries. Under the directive, the Pentagon -which is under the control of neo-conservative zealots who make Dr. Strangelove seem relatively sane- is authorized to use electronic weaponry to bring down the electrical grids of enemy nations.
Bush's signature of the secret directive was not disclosed until February 7, 2003, when it was reported in the Washington Post. Although the PD-16 is secret, a few of its main elements have leaked out to the media. They include hacking computer systems to overload switches and substations to cause total or partial grid collapse. But the attacks can be much more brutal in nature. The Pentagon got a leg up on collapsing grids during the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia. NATO planes scattered graphite ribbons over electrical power lines around Belgrade, causing major shorts that resulted in cascading power failures throughout the grid. It took up to seven hours for technicians in the Yugoslav capital to restore power.
Since Bush's offensive cyber-war directive was signed, the world has witnessed some of the most unexplained massive blackouts in the history of the modern age of electricity. The Pentagon has indeed -through manipulative schemers like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired Admiral John Poindexter-championed such ideas as a stock market betting parlor for future terrorist attacks and an Internet-based personal information surveillance program (both fortunately killed off by Congress). It is thus not too far-fetched to consider the possibility that the recent spate of blackouts around the world are the result of another harebrained operation cooked up by the neo-cons to demonstrate America's superiority in cyber-warfare.
the news insider: Suspicious Blackouts
Who is Targeting Global Power Grids?
In July 2002, President Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 16 (PD-16), a secret plan for the United States to wage cyber-warfare against other countries. Under the directive, the Pentagon -which is under the control of neo-conservative zealots who make Dr. Strangelove seem relatively sane- is authorized to use electronic weaponry to bring down the electrical grids of enemy nations.
Bush's signature of the secret directive was not disclosed until February 7, 2003, when it was reported in the Washington Post. Although the PD-16 is secret, a few of its main elements have leaked out to the media. They include hacking computer systems to overload switches and substations to cause total or partial grid collapse. But the attacks can be much more brutal in nature. The Pentagon got a leg up on collapsing grids during the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia. NATO planes scattered graphite ribbons over electrical power lines around Belgrade, causing major shorts that resulted in cascading power failures throughout the grid. It took up to seven hours for technicians in the Yugoslav capital to restore power.
Since Bush's offensive cyber-war directive was signed, the world has witnessed some of the most unexplained massive blackouts in the history of the modern age of electricity. The Pentagon has indeed -through manipulative schemers like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired Admiral John Poindexter-championed such ideas as a stock market betting parlor for future terrorist attacks and an Internet-based personal information surveillance program (both fortunately killed off by Congress). It is thus not too far-fetched to consider the possibility that the recent spate of blackouts around the world are the result of another harebrained operation cooked up by the neo-cons to demonstrate America's superiority in cyber-warfare.
911
NY Times: Administration Faces Supoenas From 9/11 Panel
MADISON, N.J., Oct. 25 — The chairman of the federal commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said that the White
House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence
documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if
they were not turned over within weeks.
The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New
Jersey, also said in an interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member
commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive
branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration
in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.
NY Times: Administration Faces Supoenas From 9/11 Panel
MADISON, N.J., Oct. 25 — The chairman of the federal commission
investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said that the White
House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence
documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if
they were not turned over within weeks.
The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New
Jersey, also said in an interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member
commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive
branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration
in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.
IRAQ
Daily Star: Spoils of war: United States puts Iraq up for sale as American firms hog the gravy train
Six foreign banks will get 'fast-track' entry and be allowed to buy up
to 100% of local banks within 5 years. This has raised fears among Iraqis,
who are grappling with lawlessness, 60% unemployment, and dysfunctional
electricity and water supplies 5 months after the fall of the Baath
regime, that their economy will be dominated by foreigners. They doubt Iraq's
oil wealth, the 2nd largest after Saudi Arabia can be kept out of the
equation for long. 'This is a prelude to include oil,' says Iraqi financial
expert Ridha al-Qoreishi. 'The United States will have control of all the Arab
oil in the Gulf, or 60% of the crude in the world, which reinforces their
hold on the world economy.' On 9/24, confirming the pre-war fears of Russia,
France and China, Nabil Ahmed al-Musawi, one of the
[Pentagon-appointed] Governing Council's 25 members, said US companies would receive
preferential treatment to exploit Iraq's oil reserves.
Daily Star: Spoils of war: United States puts Iraq up for sale as American firms hog the gravy train
Six foreign banks will get 'fast-track' entry and be allowed to buy up
to 100% of local banks within 5 years. This has raised fears among Iraqis,
who are grappling with lawlessness, 60% unemployment, and dysfunctional
electricity and water supplies 5 months after the fall of the Baath
regime, that their economy will be dominated by foreigners. They doubt Iraq's
oil wealth, the 2nd largest after Saudi Arabia can be kept out of the
equation for long. 'This is a prelude to include oil,' says Iraqi financial
expert Ridha al-Qoreishi. 'The United States will have control of all the Arab
oil in the Gulf, or 60% of the crude in the world, which reinforces their
hold on the world economy.' On 9/24, confirming the pre-war fears of Russia,
France and China, Nabil Ahmed al-Musawi, one of the
[Pentagon-appointed] Governing Council's 25 members, said US companies would receive
preferential treatment to exploit Iraq's oil reserves.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
UN Wire: ISRAELI DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS IN GAZA IS ILLEGAL, ANNAN AND UN ENVOY SAY
New York, Oct 27 2003 3:00PM
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy for the Middle East today strongly deplored Israel's continuing demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings as illegal, especially the destruction of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip last night.
"The Secretary-General continues to follow with great concern the ongoing cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians," a spokesperson for Mr. Annan <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=596">told a news briefing in New York. "He deplores all acts that fuel and intensify the conflict. The Secretary-General reminds the Israeli authorities that house demolitions amount to collective punishment, which is a clear violation of international humanitarian law."
During the past month, 2,000 people became homeless as Israel destroyed some 200 buildings in the Gaza Strip, spokesperson Marie Okabe said. In that connection, the Secretary-General deplored the destruction by the Israeli military of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.
Terje Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the punitive destruction last night of the buildings, "owned by families of Palestinian security personnel," violated international law.
"Such actions are also counterproductive towards Israel's legitimate security concerns, for they foster anger and despair among Palestinians," he said in a statement.
In other news, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said a Hezbollah unit fired mortars and missiles towards Israeli positions in the Shabaa farms area, located near the line of withdrawal by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army subsequently responded with artillery and aerial bombs, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). No casualties have been reported.
"Link by Celsius 233"
UN Wire: ISRAELI DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS IN GAZA IS ILLEGAL, ANNAN AND UN ENVOY SAY
New York, Oct 27 2003 3:00PM
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior envoy for the Middle East today strongly deplored Israel's continuing demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings as illegal, especially the destruction of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip last night.
"The Secretary-General continues to follow with great concern the ongoing cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians," a spokesperson for Mr. Annan <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=596">told a news briefing in New York. "He deplores all acts that fuel and intensify the conflict. The Secretary-General reminds the Israeli authorities that house demolitions amount to collective punishment, which is a clear violation of international humanitarian law."
During the past month, 2,000 people became homeless as Israel destroyed some 200 buildings in the Gaza Strip, spokesperson Marie Okabe said. In that connection, the Secretary-General deplored the destruction by the Israeli military of three 13-story buildings in the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.
Terje Roed-Larsen, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said the punitive destruction last night of the buildings, "owned by families of Palestinian security personnel," violated international law.
"Such actions are also counterproductive towards Israel's legitimate security concerns, for they foster anger and despair among Palestinians," he said in a statement.
In other news, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said a Hezbollah unit fired mortars and missiles towards Israeli positions in the Shabaa farms area, located near the line of withdrawal by Israeli forces.
The Israeli army subsequently responded with artillery and aerial bombs, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). No casualties have been reported.
"Link by Celsius 233"
SYRIA VS. ISRAEL
Telegraph: Syria threatens to attack Golan settlers if Israel strikes again
Syria has threatened to attack Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights if Tel Aviv launches another assault on its territory.
In a move that will raise tension after Israel struck a suspected terrorist training camp near Damascus earlier this month, Farouk Sharaa, Syria's foreign minister, warned that further "aggression" would prompt Syria to use "other cards".
Syrian foreign minister Farouk Sharaa
Mr Sharaa's threat, in an interview with The Telegraph, raises - for the first time since the Israeli raid - the prospect of Syria attacking the area seized from it by Israel in 1967.
The foreign minister also claimed that Syria was unable to stop resistance fighters pouring across the border into Iraq to attack American troops. "They are very determined and many of them dream of seeing an American tank," he said.
Telegraph: Syria threatens to attack Golan settlers if Israel strikes again
Syria has threatened to attack Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights if Tel Aviv launches another assault on its territory.
In a move that will raise tension after Israel struck a suspected terrorist training camp near Damascus earlier this month, Farouk Sharaa, Syria's foreign minister, warned that further "aggression" would prompt Syria to use "other cards".
Syrian foreign minister Farouk Sharaa
Mr Sharaa's threat, in an interview with The Telegraph, raises - for the first time since the Israeli raid - the prospect of Syria attacking the area seized from it by Israel in 1967.
The foreign minister also claimed that Syria was unable to stop resistance fighters pouring across the border into Iraq to attack American troops. "They are very determined and many of them dream of seeing an American tank," he said.
IRAQ
Slate: Rumsfeld's Pentagon Papers
His leaked memo is the most astonishing document of this war so far.
Donald Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo—which was leaked to USA Today on Wednesday and picked up by the rest of the media, for the most part with a shrug, on Thursday—may be the most important, even stunning official document yet to come out of this war.
It puts the lie to the Bush administration's PR campaign that postwar Iraq is progressing nicely and that the media are exaggerating the setbacks. (If the media are exaggerating, this memo indicates, then so, too, is Secretary Rumsfeld.) It reads eerily like some internal mid-'60s document from The Pentagon Papers that spelled out how badly things were going in Vietnam (just as President Lyndon B. Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, were publicly proclaiming tunnel light and victories). To use a phrase coined during LBJ's tenure to describe the ever-widening fissure between rhetoric and reality, Rumsfeld's memo marks the first unconcealable eruption of a "credibility gap" in the wartime presidency of George W. Bush
Slate: Rumsfeld's Pentagon Papers
His leaked memo is the most astonishing document of this war so far.
Donald Rumsfeld's war-on-terror memo—which was leaked to USA Today on Wednesday and picked up by the rest of the media, for the most part with a shrug, on Thursday—may be the most important, even stunning official document yet to come out of this war.
It puts the lie to the Bush administration's PR campaign that postwar Iraq is progressing nicely and that the media are exaggerating the setbacks. (If the media are exaggerating, this memo indicates, then so, too, is Secretary Rumsfeld.) It reads eerily like some internal mid-'60s document from The Pentagon Papers that spelled out how badly things were going in Vietnam (just as President Lyndon B. Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, were publicly proclaiming tunnel light and victories). To use a phrase coined during LBJ's tenure to describe the ever-widening fissure between rhetoric and reality, Rumsfeld's memo marks the first unconcealable eruption of a "credibility gap" in the wartime presidency of George W. Bush
USA
Financial Times: Naming of agent 'was aimed at discrediting CIA'
In a rare hearing called by Senate Democratic leaders... Vince
Cannistraro, former CIA operations chief, [testified that Valerie Plame]: 'was outed
as a vindictive act because the agency was not providing support for
policy statements that Saddam Hussein was reviving his nuclear programme.' The
leak was a way to 'demonstrate an underlying contempt for the
intelligence community, the CIA in particular'. He said that in the run-up to the
Iraq war, the White House had exerted unprecedented pressure on the CIA and
other intelligence agencies to find evidence that Iraq had links to
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and that Baghdad was trying to build a nuclear
bomb... [He testified that] Dick Cheney and his top aide Lewis Libby
went to CIA headquarters to press mid-level analysts to provide support for
the claim... Mr Cannistraro said his information came from current agency
analysts.
Financial Times: Naming of agent 'was aimed at discrediting CIA'
In a rare hearing called by Senate Democratic leaders... Vince
Cannistraro, former CIA operations chief, [testified that Valerie Plame]: 'was outed
as a vindictive act because the agency was not providing support for
policy statements that Saddam Hussein was reviving his nuclear programme.' The
leak was a way to 'demonstrate an underlying contempt for the
intelligence community, the CIA in particular'. He said that in the run-up to the
Iraq war, the White House had exerted unprecedented pressure on the CIA and
other intelligence agencies to find evidence that Iraq had links to
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and that Baghdad was trying to build a nuclear
bomb... [He testified that] Dick Cheney and his top aide Lewis Libby
went to CIA headquarters to press mid-level analysts to provide support for
the claim... Mr Cannistraro said his information came from current agency
analysts.
IRAN WMD
SF Chronicle: U.S. gleans facts on Iran from debatable source Nuclear arms allegations derived in part from rebel group's data
Tehran -- Both Iran and Iraq were accused by the United States of developing banned weapons, and in both cases much of the intelligence came from exile groups whose credibility has been questioned.
Now, some fear that despite the deal struck between Iran and European foreign ministers last week to allow inspections of nuclear sites, the United States may be proceeding down a warpath toward Iran, as it did with Iraq, based in part on faulty intelligence peddled by politically ambitious exiles.
In the case of Iraq, much of the Bush administration's information about Saddam Hussein's alleged programs to build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons came from sources associated with the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an exile group favored by senior U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. With the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, many of the INC's claims have been discounted.
SF Chronicle: U.S. gleans facts on Iran from debatable source Nuclear arms allegations derived in part from rebel group's data
Tehran -- Both Iran and Iraq were accused by the United States of developing banned weapons, and in both cases much of the intelligence came from exile groups whose credibility has been questioned.
Now, some fear that despite the deal struck between Iran and European foreign ministers last week to allow inspections of nuclear sites, the United States may be proceeding down a warpath toward Iran, as it did with Iraq, based in part on faulty intelligence peddled by politically ambitious exiles.
In the case of Iraq, much of the Bush administration's information about Saddam Hussein's alleged programs to build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons came from sources associated with the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an exile group favored by senior U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. With the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, many of the INC's claims have been discounted.
AFGHANISTAN
The Hindu: Taliban has de facto control in some districts: UN
United Nations, Oct. 25. (PTI): Expressing serious concern over resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, a top United Nations peacekeeping official has said the militia has established de facto control over administration in several border districts and that could affect the electoral process in the war-torn country.
Because of deteriorating security situation, all UN missions have been suspended in Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces which, in turn, has greatly restricted reconstruction process and world body's ability to monitor the political process in the south, he said.
The primary sources of insecurity remained terrorist attacks and cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, al Qaeda and Hizb-I-Islam insurgents, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council yesterday, days before a UNSC mission to the country.
"Die Amerikaner moegen gut darin sein wehrlose Laender ins Mittelalter zuruekzubomben aber beim Wiederaufbau haben Sie in den letzten 50 Jahren nur versagt"
The Hindu: Taliban has de facto control in some districts: UN
United Nations, Oct. 25. (PTI): Expressing serious concern over resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan, a top United Nations peacekeeping official has said the militia has established de facto control over administration in several border districts and that could affect the electoral process in the war-torn country.
Because of deteriorating security situation, all UN missions have been suspended in Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces which, in turn, has greatly restricted reconstruction process and world body's ability to monitor the political process in the south, he said.
The primary sources of insecurity remained terrorist attacks and cross-border infiltration by suspected Taliban, al Qaeda and Hizb-I-Islam insurgents, Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council yesterday, days before a UNSC mission to the country.
"Die Amerikaner moegen gut darin sein wehrlose Laender ins Mittelalter zuruekzubomben aber beim Wiederaufbau haben Sie in den letzten 50 Jahren nur versagt"
Monday, October 27, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Guardian: Death of a town
With ruthless efficiency, the Israeli army has been crushing and rocketing the Palestinian refugee town of Rafah in a manner which rivals the destruction of Jenin last year. But it is all in the name of stopping terrorism so the international community has remained silent. Chris McGreal reports
For two weeks now, the Israeli army has been grinding its way through Rafah refugee camp in the southern tip of the Gaza strip. "Operation Root Canal" is ostensibly aimed at destroying some of the dozens of tunnels the military says are used for smuggling weapons under the border with Egypt.
As about 65 tanks, armoured vehicles and mammoth armour-plated bulldozers rolled into Rafah, the Israeli army said it had intelligence that surface-to-air missiles were being hauled through the tunnels. But there was no sign of them as dozens of Palestinians attempted to exact some kind of price for the attack with pistols, AK-47s and homemade hand grenades. By the time the Israelis withdrew to the fringes of the camp where the tanks and bulldozers are perpetually at work, 18 Palestinians were dead, including three children under 15 years old, and more than 120 were wounded.
Just three tunnels were found, and no weapons. But in the process, the military crushed or rocketed nearly 200 homes, throwing about 1,700 people onto the street. The army claimed it never happened, that just 10 homes were wrecked, and then sent back the bulldozers to grind the evidence that the houses ever existed into the dirt.
Guardian: Death of a town
With ruthless efficiency, the Israeli army has been crushing and rocketing the Palestinian refugee town of Rafah in a manner which rivals the destruction of Jenin last year. But it is all in the name of stopping terrorism so the international community has remained silent. Chris McGreal reports
For two weeks now, the Israeli army has been grinding its way through Rafah refugee camp in the southern tip of the Gaza strip. "Operation Root Canal" is ostensibly aimed at destroying some of the dozens of tunnels the military says are used for smuggling weapons under the border with Egypt.
As about 65 tanks, armoured vehicles and mammoth armour-plated bulldozers rolled into Rafah, the Israeli army said it had intelligence that surface-to-air missiles were being hauled through the tunnels. But there was no sign of them as dozens of Palestinians attempted to exact some kind of price for the attack with pistols, AK-47s and homemade hand grenades. By the time the Israelis withdrew to the fringes of the camp where the tanks and bulldozers are perpetually at work, 18 Palestinians were dead, including three children under 15 years old, and more than 120 were wounded.
Just three tunnels were found, and no weapons. But in the process, the military crushed or rocketed nearly 200 homes, throwing about 1,700 people onto the street. The army claimed it never happened, that just 10 homes were wrecked, and then sent back the bulldozers to grind the evidence that the houses ever existed into the dirt.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Independent: Rafah, a buffer zone of rubble where families have to live on a football field By Justin Huggler in Rafah
Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli army in Rafah's refugee camps are now living packed into dangerously cramped and unhygienic conditions in the changing rooms of a football stadium.
Up to 45 people are in one small room, while others are in rooms that open on to filthy, mosquito-ridden lavatories. Still others are living in the ruins of their homes, sheltering under four floors of fallen concrete that could collapse farther at any moment.
From the extent of the destruction, it has become clear that the demolitions, which began two weeks ago, are not just aimed at finding tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons, as the Israeli army claims. The intent is also to clear a broad swath of land adjacent to the Egyptian border, which runs next to Rafah, and create a de facto buffer zone to make the building of tunnels far harder.
The destruction in Rafah, the only Palestinian city close to an international border, is extraordinary. Entire streets have been bulldozed. The road still passes up the middle, but on either side are just mounds of rubble where houses used to be. In other places, a few useless walls have been left standing.
In the first raid alone, 150 homes were demolished and more than 1,500 people left homeless, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. And the destruction did not end there. The Israeli army has made fresh incursions, demolishing more homes in other parts of the refugee camps around Rafah. The number left homeless is now believed to be more than 2,000.
"Terrorismus ist nicht die Waffe der Schwachen. Terrorismus ist die Waffe von Staaten"
"CHECK IT"
Independent: Rafah, a buffer zone of rubble where families have to live on a football field By Justin Huggler in Rafah
Palestinians whose homes have been demolished by the Israeli army in Rafah's refugee camps are now living packed into dangerously cramped and unhygienic conditions in the changing rooms of a football stadium.
Up to 45 people are in one small room, while others are in rooms that open on to filthy, mosquito-ridden lavatories. Still others are living in the ruins of their homes, sheltering under four floors of fallen concrete that could collapse farther at any moment.
From the extent of the destruction, it has become clear that the demolitions, which began two weeks ago, are not just aimed at finding tunnels used by Palestinian militants to smuggle weapons, as the Israeli army claims. The intent is also to clear a broad swath of land adjacent to the Egyptian border, which runs next to Rafah, and create a de facto buffer zone to make the building of tunnels far harder.
The destruction in Rafah, the only Palestinian city close to an international border, is extraordinary. Entire streets have been bulldozed. The road still passes up the middle, but on either side are just mounds of rubble where houses used to be. In other places, a few useless walls have been left standing.
In the first raid alone, 150 homes were demolished and more than 1,500 people left homeless, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. And the destruction did not end there. The Israeli army has made fresh incursions, demolishing more homes in other parts of the refugee camps around Rafah. The number left homeless is now believed to be more than 2,000.
"Terrorismus ist nicht die Waffe der Schwachen. Terrorismus ist die Waffe von Staaten"
"CHECK IT"
VENEZUELA VS. USA
Boston: U.S. Denies Alleged CIA 'Subversion' in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen and diplomats on Thursday dismissed allegations by Venezuelan officials and lawmakers that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to topple leftist President Hugo Chavez.
ADVERTISEMENT
The accusation against the CIA, part of a recent war of words between Washington and Caracas, was made earlier this month by Chavez's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. It was repeated on Wednesday by two political allies of the president in the National Assembly.
Lawmakers Nicolas Maduro and Juan Barreto presented a video which they said showed an alleged CIA "colonel" instructing local recruits in subversion tactics.
But three U.S. congressmen who held talks with Chavez on Thursday poured cold water on the allegations.
"The era of the CIA in its historical role of undermining governments in the world and especially in Latin America is over," Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat, told reporters. He was accompanied by Rep. Cass Ballenger, a North Carolina Republican, and New York Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks.
"Und wer soll das bitteschoen glauben? Die USA hatten noch beim letzten Putschversuch in Venezuela die Finger im Spiel"
Boston: U.S. Denies Alleged CIA 'Subversion' in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - U.S. congressmen and diplomats on Thursday dismissed allegations by Venezuelan officials and lawmakers that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to topple leftist President Hugo Chavez.
ADVERTISEMENT
The accusation against the CIA, part of a recent war of words between Washington and Caracas, was made earlier this month by Chavez's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel. It was repeated on Wednesday by two political allies of the president in the National Assembly.
Lawmakers Nicolas Maduro and Juan Barreto presented a video which they said showed an alleged CIA "colonel" instructing local recruits in subversion tactics.
But three U.S. congressmen who held talks with Chavez on Thursday poured cold water on the allegations.
"The era of the CIA in its historical role of undermining governments in the world and especially in Latin America is over," Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat, told reporters. He was accompanied by Rep. Cass Ballenger, a North Carolina Republican, and New York Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks.
"Und wer soll das bitteschoen glauben? Die USA hatten noch beim letzten Putschversuch in Venezuela die Finger im Spiel"
USA
Al-JAzeera: Anti-war marches in Washington
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington on Saturday to express fierce opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Al-JAzeera: Anti-war marches in Washington
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington on Saturday to express fierce opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Pravda: Robert Fisk: One, two, three, what are they fighting for?
The worst problem facing US forces in Iraq may not be armed resistance but a crisis of morale. Robert Fisk reports on a near-epidemic of indiscipline, suicides and loose talk
I was in the police station in the town of Fallujah when I realised the extent of the schizophrenia. Captain Christopher Cirino of the 82nd Airborne was trying to explain to me the nature of the attacks so regularly carried out against American forces in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town. His men were billeted in a former presidential rest home down the road - "Dreamland", the Americans call it - but this was not the extent of his soldiers' disorientation. "The men we are being attacked by," he said, "are Syrian-trained terrorists and local freedom fighters." Come again? "Freedom fighters." But that's what Captain Cirino called them - and rightly so.
Here's the reason. All American soldiers are supposed to believe - indeed have to believe, along with their President and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld - that Osama bin Laden's "al-Qa'ida" guerrillas, pouring over Iraq's borders from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (note how those close allies and neighbours of Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey are always left out of the equation), are assaulting United States forces as part of the "war on terror"........
Pravda: Robert Fisk: One, two, three, what are they fighting for?
The worst problem facing US forces in Iraq may not be armed resistance but a crisis of morale. Robert Fisk reports on a near-epidemic of indiscipline, suicides and loose talk
I was in the police station in the town of Fallujah when I realised the extent of the schizophrenia. Captain Christopher Cirino of the 82nd Airborne was trying to explain to me the nature of the attacks so regularly carried out against American forces in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town. His men were billeted in a former presidential rest home down the road - "Dreamland", the Americans call it - but this was not the extent of his soldiers' disorientation. "The men we are being attacked by," he said, "are Syrian-trained terrorists and local freedom fighters." Come again? "Freedom fighters." But that's what Captain Cirino called them - and rightly so.
Here's the reason. All American soldiers are supposed to believe - indeed have to believe, along with their President and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld - that Osama bin Laden's "al-Qa'ida" guerrillas, pouring over Iraq's borders from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (note how those close allies and neighbours of Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey are always left out of the equation), are assaulting United States forces as part of the "war on terror"........
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Independent: '40 dead' as blasts rock Baghdad
International Red Cross headquarters and police stations targeted in fresh wave of attacks
Up to 40 people are feared dead after a a wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad today, including a huge blast at the headquarters of the International Red Cross.
At least 12 people are thought to have died after an ambulance packed with explosives rammed into security barriers outside the aid agency's offices.
Three other bombs are reported to have exploded in the Iraqi capital, leaving dozens more victims after two police stations were hit on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
It was also announced that three American soldiers were killed and four wounded in further attacks. Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded yesterday in Baghdad after their patrol was targeted by a roadside bomb. In nearby Abu Ghraib, one soldier was killed and two wounded after an attack on their Military Police unit.
Independet: Wolfowitz survives hotel rocket attack
In a daring attack anti-American guerrillas yesterday fired a barrage of rockets at the al-Rashid hotel, a symbol of the US occupation, in the heart of Baghad, killing one US soldier and wounding 15 other people, mostly Americans
Independent: '40 dead' as blasts rock Baghdad
International Red Cross headquarters and police stations targeted in fresh wave of attacks
Up to 40 people are feared dead after a a wave of bomb attacks in Baghdad today, including a huge blast at the headquarters of the International Red Cross.
At least 12 people are thought to have died after an ambulance packed with explosives rammed into security barriers outside the aid agency's offices.
Three other bombs are reported to have exploded in the Iraqi capital, leaving dozens more victims after two police stations were hit on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
It was also announced that three American soldiers were killed and four wounded in further attacks. Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded yesterday in Baghdad after their patrol was targeted by a roadside bomb. In nearby Abu Ghraib, one soldier was killed and two wounded after an attack on their Military Police unit.
Independet: Wolfowitz survives hotel rocket attack
In a daring attack anti-American guerrillas yesterday fired a barrage of rockets at the al-Rashid hotel, a symbol of the US occupation, in the heart of Baghad, killing one US soldier and wounding 15 other people, mostly Americans
Friday, October 24, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
MSNBC: 3 American soldiers, 4 Iraqis killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 — Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four others were wounded Friday in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad, while another American died in a shootout in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said. Separately, two children were killed and three adults were wounded in a grenade attack on a police station in the northern city of Mosul, police said. At least two other Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded when rockets fell on a Baghdad neighborhood overnight
MSNBC: 3 American soldiers, 4 Iraqis killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 — Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four others were wounded Friday in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad, while another American died in a shootout in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said. Separately, two children were killed and three adults were wounded in a grenade attack on a police station in the northern city of Mosul, police said. At least two other Iraqis were killed and seven more were wounded when rockets fell on a Baghdad neighborhood overnight
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: APARTHEID WALL
Reuters: Israel Has Plans For Extending Security Fence
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel has prepared a plan to extend a security barrier into the eastern part of the West Bank which, if completed, would completely encircle Palestinians, a senior security source said on Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, when asked about the plan in a television interview, confirmed its existence but gave no details about exactly when or where it would be built.
"At the moment, we are planning the route and when it will be ready, it will be brought before the government (for approval)," Sharon said in response to a question about where the eastern portion of the fence will be located.
Israel has already built a 90-mile barrier, which is expected to extend 180 miles by the end of the year, in what it says an attempt to keep Palestinian suicide bombers away. Palestinians say the fence, built inside the West Bank, is a land grab keeping them from their property.
Reuters: Israel Has Plans For Extending Security Fence
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel has prepared a plan to extend a security barrier into the eastern part of the West Bank which, if completed, would completely encircle Palestinians, a senior security source said on Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, when asked about the plan in a television interview, confirmed its existence but gave no details about exactly when or where it would be built.
"At the moment, we are planning the route and when it will be ready, it will be brought before the government (for approval)," Sharon said in response to a question about where the eastern portion of the fence will be located.
Israel has already built a 90-mile barrier, which is expected to extend 180 miles by the end of the year, in what it says an attempt to keep Palestinian suicide bombers away. Palestinians say the fence, built inside the West Bank, is a land grab keeping them from their property.
E-VOTING
Indymedia: Indymedia fights Diebold's legal attempt to silence discussions about e-voting
Documents are publicly available that detail vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. Diebold has been sending cease and desist letters to internet service providers (ISPs) that host the documents or links to them. Numerous Indymedia servers have been targeted by Diebold in its campaign to suppress this critical information.
Indymedia will defend its right to post internal memos and documents detailing vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. The documents were made publicly available, and subsequently reported by writer Bev Harris on her websites blackboxvoting.com and blackboxvoting.org.
The vast information contained in these documents is still being investigated by top computer scientists and researchers, but a set of widely circulated internal memos detail Diebold's flippant disregard of test runs, accuracy audits, and security for its voting machines. System tests (much like a dress rehearsal) are often required by local election laws--Diebold memos mention how they simply changed the name "memory test" to "***System Test Passed***" as if the machine performed a self audit. The memos also say how Diebold installed new versions of the voting software that were left untested.
Their election results are not secure, as evidenced by this comment in one email regarding the "contents" (i.e. the votes) of the e-voting machines: "Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file." Diebold's Republican executives have touted e-voting as a solution to the punchcard voting systems that scandalized Florida in 2000. In fact, this evidence of security and reliability flaws raises serious questions about this "solution" to election woes in the US.
Indymedia: Indymedia fights Diebold's legal attempt to silence discussions about e-voting
Documents are publicly available that detail vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. Diebold has been sending cease and desist letters to internet service providers (ISPs) that host the documents or links to them. Numerous Indymedia servers have been targeted by Diebold in its campaign to suppress this critical information.
Indymedia will defend its right to post internal memos and documents detailing vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. The documents were made publicly available, and subsequently reported by writer Bev Harris on her websites blackboxvoting.com and blackboxvoting.org.
The vast information contained in these documents is still being investigated by top computer scientists and researchers, but a set of widely circulated internal memos detail Diebold's flippant disregard of test runs, accuracy audits, and security for its voting machines. System tests (much like a dress rehearsal) are often required by local election laws--Diebold memos mention how they simply changed the name "memory test" to "***System Test Passed***" as if the machine performed a self audit. The memos also say how Diebold installed new versions of the voting software that were left untested.
Their election results are not secure, as evidenced by this comment in one email regarding the "contents" (i.e. the votes) of the e-voting machines: "Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file." Diebold's Republican executives have touted e-voting as a solution to the punchcard voting systems that scandalized Florida in 2000. In fact, this evidence of security and reliability flaws raises serious questions about this "solution" to election woes in the US.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
ITAR: 11 US Troops Wounded In Iraq Wednesday
BEIRUT, October 23 (Itar-Tass) - Eleven U.S. soldiers were wounded in various parts of Iraq during the past 24 hours as a result of armed actions of resistance fighters against the coalition troops, Al-Jazeera TV station of Qatar reports.
The attackers threw several grenades at a military police patrol in El-Habbani, 75 kilometres away from Baghdad. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded. An armoured jeep struck a mine on a highway connecting El-Amiriya and El-Falluja. According to witnesses, four U.S. soldiers were gravely wounded and taken to hospital. A patrol car struck a mine in Kirkuk. Two soldiers were wounded.
ITAR: 11 US Troops Wounded In Iraq Wednesday
BEIRUT, October 23 (Itar-Tass) - Eleven U.S. soldiers were wounded in various parts of Iraq during the past 24 hours as a result of armed actions of resistance fighters against the coalition troops, Al-Jazeera TV station of Qatar reports.
The attackers threw several grenades at a military police patrol in El-Habbani, 75 kilometres away from Baghdad. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded. An armoured jeep struck a mine on a highway connecting El-Amiriya and El-Falluja. According to witnesses, four U.S. soldiers were gravely wounded and taken to hospital. A patrol car struck a mine in Kirkuk. Two soldiers were wounded.
USA/ISRAEL USS LIBERTY
Toronto Star: Lyndon Johnson ordered cover-up: Former navy lawyer
WASHINGTON — A former navy lawyer who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former president Lyndon Johnson and his defence secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.
In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired captain Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary."
Boston was senior legal counsel to the navy's original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he's a military man, and "when orders come, I follow them."
UPI: New charges vs. Israel in '67 ship attack
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A private commission investigating the
1967 attack on the U.S. spy ship USS Liberty on Wednesday released the sworn
testimony of one naval investigator that the Israelis knew the ship was
American and intended to "murder its entire crew." Israeli aircraft
and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 U.S.
sailors and injuring 172 others in one of the deadliest attacks
suffered by a U.S. ship that remained afloat.
The Israeli government claimed it was a case of "mistaken identity" and
that their pilots were gunning for a 1937-era Egyptian freighter, but
this claim set off a 36-year controversy between the two countries. Both
U.S. and Israel groups have investigated the attack over the years, but the
issue has never been settled. Coming now, the evidence becomes part of
a controversy over Israelis influence in Washington and whether it has
tilted the Bush administration toward Jerusalem.
Toronto Star: Lyndon Johnson ordered cover-up: Former navy lawyer
WASHINGTON — A former navy lawyer who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former president Lyndon Johnson and his defence secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.
In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired captain Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary."
Boston was senior legal counsel to the navy's original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he's a military man, and "when orders come, I follow them."
UPI: New charges vs. Israel in '67 ship attack
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A private commission investigating the
1967 attack on the U.S. spy ship USS Liberty on Wednesday released the sworn
testimony of one naval investigator that the Israelis knew the ship was
American and intended to "murder its entire crew." Israeli aircraft
and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 U.S.
sailors and injuring 172 others in one of the deadliest attacks
suffered by a U.S. ship that remained afloat.
The Israeli government claimed it was a case of "mistaken identity" and
that their pilots were gunning for a 1937-era Egyptian freighter, but
this claim set off a 36-year controversy between the two countries. Both
U.S. and Israel groups have investigated the attack over the years, but the
issue has never been settled. Coming now, the evidence becomes part of
a controversy over Israelis influence in Washington and whether it has
tilted the Bush administration toward Jerusalem.
MEDIA WATCH
Codoh: Why we few criticize Israel by Joseph Sobran
WASHINGTON - People sometimes ask me why I'm so critical of Israel, as
if I should be devoting more of my attention to Sri Lanka, or perhaps Zaire.
But the question is always a little nervous, as it wouldn't be if I were
writing equally often about Sri Lanka or Zaire.
I could understand this curiosity if some other small, remote country
were one of the world's four or five military powers; if it received a
quarter of our foreign aid; if it were constantly on our front pages; and if
its sympathizers regularly occupied much of the op-ed space of The New York
Times and other major newspapers. But there is only one country of whom
these things are true, and that is Israel.
Nobody thinks it's odd that there should be 20 columnists who are
apologists for Israel; but apparently it is unfathomable that there
should be one or two who are critical of Israel.
Codoh: Why we few criticize Israel by Joseph Sobran
WASHINGTON - People sometimes ask me why I'm so critical of Israel, as
if I should be devoting more of my attention to Sri Lanka, or perhaps Zaire.
But the question is always a little nervous, as it wouldn't be if I were
writing equally often about Sri Lanka or Zaire.
I could understand this curiosity if some other small, remote country
were one of the world's four or five military powers; if it received a
quarter of our foreign aid; if it were constantly on our front pages; and if
its sympathizers regularly occupied much of the op-ed space of The New York
Times and other major newspapers. But there is only one country of whom
these things are true, and that is Israel.
Nobody thinks it's odd that there should be 20 columnists who are
apologists for Israel; but apparently it is unfathomable that there
should be one or two who are critical of Israel.
IRAQ
Sojourners: The Burden of Truth
Two former CIA analysts talk about the lies behind the Iraq war and the heavy weight of conscience.
"It's the first time that I've seen such a long-term, orchestrated plan of deception by
which one branch of our government deliberately misled the other on a
matter of war and peace. Here was a very calculated plan, proceeding
from a 'Mein Kampf' type of document... The first objective was to deceive
Congress into approving the plans. They succeeded masterfully. They had
their war, and they thought that in the wake of the war, with Iraqis
opening their arms to us, no one would really care whether there were,
in fact, weapons of mass destruction. They were absolutely wrong on that.
People do care, as one by one our servicemen and women are killed in a
war fought on false pretences."
Sojourners: The Burden of Truth
Two former CIA analysts talk about the lies behind the Iraq war and the heavy weight of conscience.
"It's the first time that I've seen such a long-term, orchestrated plan of deception by
which one branch of our government deliberately misled the other on a
matter of war and peace. Here was a very calculated plan, proceeding
from a 'Mein Kampf' type of document... The first objective was to deceive
Congress into approving the plans. They succeeded masterfully. They had
their war, and they thought that in the wake of the war, with Iraqis
opening their arms to us, no one would really care whether there were,
in fact, weapons of mass destruction. They were absolutely wrong on that.
People do care, as one by one our servicemen and women are killed in a
war fought on false pretences."
MEDIA WATCH
WMERA: Reversing Reality: Newspaper Coverage of Israel and Palestine
Recently, the Bay Area-based organization If Americans Knew conducted statistical studies of two local newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News. The results showed a consistently inaccurate and highly distorted picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the news coverage of both papers. In every category examined, Israeli deaths were covered at far higher rates—2 to 25 times greater—than Palestinian ones.
The San Francisco Chronicle gave readers a false sense of parity between Israelis and Palestinians by reporting nearly equal numbers of deaths on both sides, despite the fact that Palestinians are being killed at a rate three to four times greater than Israelis.
The San Jose Mercury News, analysis revealed, actually inverted the death rates in its front-page headlines.
The fact that the media have been criticized by partisans on both sides of the issue has made it difficult for the largely non-aligned American public to evaluate the quality of the reporting they receive on this issue. For this reason, If Americans Knew has begun issuing report cards on media coverage of this critically important conflict. The studies, which examine six-month time periods, are based on quantitative criteria, in order to refute any charges of subjective interpretation.
WMERA: Reversing Reality: Newspaper Coverage of Israel and Palestine
Recently, the Bay Area-based organization If Americans Knew conducted statistical studies of two local newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News. The results showed a consistently inaccurate and highly distorted picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the news coverage of both papers. In every category examined, Israeli deaths were covered at far higher rates—2 to 25 times greater—than Palestinian ones.
The San Francisco Chronicle gave readers a false sense of parity between Israelis and Palestinians by reporting nearly equal numbers of deaths on both sides, despite the fact that Palestinians are being killed at a rate three to four times greater than Israelis.
The San Jose Mercury News, analysis revealed, actually inverted the death rates in its front-page headlines.
The fact that the media have been criticized by partisans on both sides of the issue has made it difficult for the largely non-aligned American public to evaluate the quality of the reporting they receive on this issue. For this reason, If Americans Knew has begun issuing report cards on media coverage of this critically important conflict. The studies, which examine six-month time periods, are based on quantitative criteria, in order to refute any charges of subjective interpretation.
OCCUPPIED TERRITORIES
Reuters: Israel Plans 323 New Homes at W.Bank Settlements
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced Thursday it will go ahead with plans for construction of hundreds of new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank , the second time in a month it has defied a U.S.-backed peace plan on this issue.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the project as well as Israel's decision Wednesday to press on with construction of a barrier in the West Bank despite a United Nations resolution demanding it be torn down.
Reuters: Israel Plans 323 New Homes at W.Bank Settlements
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced Thursday it will go ahead with plans for construction of hundreds of new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank , the second time in a month it has defied a U.S.-backed peace plan on this issue.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the project as well as Israel's decision Wednesday to press on with construction of a barrier in the West Bank despite a United Nations resolution demanding it be torn down.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
USA
Asia Times: Cheney's grip tight on foreign policy reins
WASHINGTON - The image was not an edifying one: the president of the United States a horse, his vice president, the rider.
But that is the picture Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used to describe the power relationship between US President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in a recent interview with the National Journal.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Biden's account, sometimes talks Bush into pursuing a more conciliatory foreign policy line, as he has done with North Korea or the United Nations from time to time.
"Like with a horse, Powell is always able to lead Bush to the water. But just as he is about to put his head down, Cheney up in the saddle says, 'Un-uh', and yanks up the reins before Bush can drink the water. That's my image of how it goes," Biden said
Asia Times: Cheney's grip tight on foreign policy reins
WASHINGTON - The image was not an edifying one: the president of the United States a horse, his vice president, the rider.
But that is the picture Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used to describe the power relationship between US President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in a recent interview with the National Journal.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, according to Biden's account, sometimes talks Bush into pursuing a more conciliatory foreign policy line, as he has done with North Korea or the United Nations from time to time.
"Like with a horse, Powell is always able to lead Bush to the water. But just as he is about to put his head down, Cheney up in the saddle says, 'Un-uh', and yanks up the reins before Bush can drink the water. That's my image of how it goes," Biden said
USA
Washington Post: Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins
Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets.
To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.
Washington Post: Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins
Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets.
To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.
IRAQ
BBC: Halliburton in Iraq fuel costs row
Halliburton, the oil services and construction group, has been accused by US lawmakers of charging "inflated prices" when they sell petrol to US troops in Iraq.
Halliburton charges the US government more than $1.59 (£0.95) for a gallon of petrol used by the US Army Corp of Engineers in Iraq, according to US Representatives Henry Waxman and John Dingell.
The price charged is much higher than that paid by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation when it imports petrol from Turkey or other neighbouring countries at 98 cents or less for a gallon.
BBC: Halliburton in Iraq fuel costs row
Halliburton, the oil services and construction group, has been accused by US lawmakers of charging "inflated prices" when they sell petrol to US troops in Iraq.
Halliburton charges the US government more than $1.59 (£0.95) for a gallon of petrol used by the US Army Corp of Engineers in Iraq, according to US Representatives Henry Waxman and John Dingell.
The price charged is much higher than that paid by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation when it imports petrol from Turkey or other neighbouring countries at 98 cents or less for a gallon.
IRAQ
USA Today: After grim Rumsfeld memo, White House supports him
WASHINGTON — The United States has no yardstick for measuring progress in the war on terrorism, has not "yet made truly bold moves" in fighting al-Qaeda and other terror groups, and is in for a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a memo that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent to top-ranking Defense officials last week.
USA Today: After grim Rumsfeld memo, White House supports him
WASHINGTON — The United States has no yardstick for measuring progress in the war on terrorism, has not "yet made truly bold moves" in fighting al-Qaeda and other terror groups, and is in for a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a memo that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent to top-ranking Defense officials last week.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Aljazeera: Iraqi Resistance Looks Set To Intensify
Spin doctors are well aware it is easier to sell a simple lie than tell a complex, often uncomfortable, truth.
That is why the United States dismisses armed resistance to its occupation of Iraq as "terrorism - pure and simple".
Since the start of the US-led occupation of Iraq in April Washington has been at pains to characterise attacks against its forces as the work of Saddam loyalists.
As recently as June, Paul Bremer, Iraq's occupation administrator, told a Congressional subcommittee the resistance was coming from remnants of the Baath party and the Republican Guard.
But since then he has changed his tune, and this week he sounded his first note of alarm over the presence of Islamist groups.
Bremer admission
"Starting in July, we saw them begin to regroup and come back in. There's no question we have scores of Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida terrorists here. And we have problems, particularly at the Syrian border of people still coming into the country," he said.
Iraqi analysts like Salman al-Jumaili, doctor of political science at Baghdad University, agree.
Al-Jumali has studied the backgrounds of resistance fighters killed in combat.
"You will find that the vast majority of them are Islamists - I mean Sunni and Shia Muslims - who are fighting for the sole purpose of pushing America out of Iraq," he told Aljazeera net.
Aljazeera: Iraqi Resistance Looks Set To Intensify
Spin doctors are well aware it is easier to sell a simple lie than tell a complex, often uncomfortable, truth.
That is why the United States dismisses armed resistance to its occupation of Iraq as "terrorism - pure and simple".
Since the start of the US-led occupation of Iraq in April Washington has been at pains to characterise attacks against its forces as the work of Saddam loyalists.
As recently as June, Paul Bremer, Iraq's occupation administrator, told a Congressional subcommittee the resistance was coming from remnants of the Baath party and the Republican Guard.
But since then he has changed his tune, and this week he sounded his first note of alarm over the presence of Islamist groups.
Bremer admission
"Starting in July, we saw them begin to regroup and come back in. There's no question we have scores of Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida terrorists here. And we have problems, particularly at the Syrian border of people still coming into the country," he said.
Iraqi analysts like Salman al-Jumaili, doctor of political science at Baghdad University, agree.
Al-Jumali has studied the backgrounds of resistance fighters killed in combat.
"You will find that the vast majority of them are Islamists - I mean Sunni and Shia Muslims - who are fighting for the sole purpose of pushing America out of Iraq," he told Aljazeera net.
ISRAEL
Scotsman: Israel Rejects Demand to Take Down Wall
Israel’s vice minister today rejected an overwhelming call by the United Nations to dismantle a massive barrier being built along the line with the West Bank and inside parts of the territory.
The fence will continue to be built,” said Ehud Olmert, dismissing the UN General Assembly as hostile to the Jewish state.
Israel says the wall is necessary to keep suicide bombers out of the country. The Palestinians say Israel is using the barrier as a pretext to take Palestinian land.
In Jerusalem, Israel’s police minister visited the main holy site in the city. It was the first high-level tour of the compound since Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted there three years ago.
The visit ended without incident, although Palestinians criticised it as a provocation.
Violence continued to flare in the West Bank and Gaza today. Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian militants in a series of raids and clashes. Two Jewish settlers and two Palestinians were also wounded in the violence
Olmert, speaking to Israel Radio, dismissed the resolution as an example of the world’s hostility toward Israel. "Boese Boese Welt"
Asked if Israel would stop building the barrier, Olmert laughed and told the radio presenter, “You have a sense of humour.”
Scotsman: Israel Rejects Demand to Take Down Wall
Israel’s vice minister today rejected an overwhelming call by the United Nations to dismantle a massive barrier being built along the line with the West Bank and inside parts of the territory.
The fence will continue to be built,” said Ehud Olmert, dismissing the UN General Assembly as hostile to the Jewish state.
Israel says the wall is necessary to keep suicide bombers out of the country. The Palestinians say Israel is using the barrier as a pretext to take Palestinian land.
In Jerusalem, Israel’s police minister visited the main holy site in the city. It was the first high-level tour of the compound since Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted there three years ago.
The visit ended without incident, although Palestinians criticised it as a provocation.
Violence continued to flare in the West Bank and Gaza today. Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian militants in a series of raids and clashes. Two Jewish settlers and two Palestinians were also wounded in the violence
Olmert, speaking to Israel Radio, dismissed the resolution as an example of the world’s hostility toward Israel. "Boese Boese Welt"
Asked if Israel would stop building the barrier, Olmert laughed and told the radio presenter, “You have a sense of humour.”
ISRAEL
Guardian: Key UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
On the day Israel announced it would defy the UN over its security fence, Simon Jeffery reviews the world body's key resolutions on the Middle East
Both the United Nations general assembly and its 15-member security council, the body with the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, have passed resolutions relating to the division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the subsequent Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1947. The security council has alone passed over 200.
Unlike that body, the general assembly does not have the power to make its resolutions legally binding under the UN charter. However, it is an important indicator of international opinion and today called on Israel to dismantle its West Bank "security fence". Its other notable resolutions include the following:
181
The 1947 resolution that endorsed the partition plan for Palestine.
3379
Passed in 1975, resolution 3379 stated that Zionism to be a form of racism and racial discrimination. This has remained a controversial topic, and its resurgence at the UN 2001 anti-racism summit in South Africa saw both Israel and the US walk out.
The security council's resolutions deal with the day-to-day and year-to-year episodes in the conflict. Though not explicitly legally-binding as those issued under chapter seven of the charter (which include the 1950 and 1991 resolutions ahead of the Korean and Gulf wars), they have consistently called for actions to bring peace forward. They include:
Guardian: Key UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
On the day Israel announced it would defy the UN over its security fence, Simon Jeffery reviews the world body's key resolutions on the Middle East
Both the United Nations general assembly and its 15-member security council, the body with the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, have passed resolutions relating to the division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the subsequent Arab-Israeli conflict since the 1947. The security council has alone passed over 200.
Unlike that body, the general assembly does not have the power to make its resolutions legally binding under the UN charter. However, it is an important indicator of international opinion and today called on Israel to dismantle its West Bank "security fence". Its other notable resolutions include the following:
181
The 1947 resolution that endorsed the partition plan for Palestine.
3379
Passed in 1975, resolution 3379 stated that Zionism to be a form of racism and racial discrimination. This has remained a controversial topic, and its resurgence at the UN 2001 anti-racism summit in South Africa saw both Israel and the US walk out.
The security council's resolutions deal with the day-to-day and year-to-year episodes in the conflict. Though not explicitly legally-binding as those issued under chapter seven of the charter (which include the 1950 and 1991 resolutions ahead of the Korean and Gulf wars), they have consistently called for actions to bring peace forward. They include:
SITE OF THE DAY
Bist Du Toy und kannst nicht selber zeichnen? Check den Grafitti Creator 2 und sei King.
Bist Du Toy und kannst nicht selber zeichnen? Check den Grafitti Creator 2 und sei King.
STREETART
BBC: Graffiti star sneaks work into Tate
A painting smuggled into Tate Britain by graffiti artist Banksy went unnoticed until it crashed to the floor hours later.
Banksy, best known for creating the sleeve of Blur's current album, glued the painting to the wall on Wednesday after visiting the gallery in disguise.
The picture consisted of a rural scene with an image of police tape stencilled on to it.
It has now been placed in the London gallery's lost property section.
The painting was accompanied by a card which read "Banksy 1975. Crimewatch UK Has Ruined The Countryside For All Of Us. 2003. Oil On Canvas".
cool
BBC: Graffiti star sneaks work into Tate
A painting smuggled into Tate Britain by graffiti artist Banksy went unnoticed until it crashed to the floor hours later.
Banksy, best known for creating the sleeve of Blur's current album, glued the painting to the wall on Wednesday after visiting the gallery in disguise.
The picture consisted of a rural scene with an image of police tape stencilled on to it.
It has now been placed in the London gallery's lost property section.
The painting was accompanied by a card which read "Banksy 1975. Crimewatch UK Has Ruined The Countryside For All Of Us. 2003. Oil On Canvas".
cool
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
LADY DI CONSPIRACY
Propagandamatrix: Princess Diana Predicted Her Own Assassination
British newspapers today broke the astounding story of how Princess Diana wrote that she would be killed in an incident made to look like a car accident ten months before her death.
The princess predicted: “This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous.” She said "XXXXXXXXXXX is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry”.
The blanked out 'xxxxxxx' is very likely to be MI5/MI6, who also recently did the dirty work of finishing off David Kelly.
Propagandamatrix: Princess Diana Predicted Her Own Assassination
British newspapers today broke the astounding story of how Princess Diana wrote that she would be killed in an incident made to look like a car accident ten months before her death.
The princess predicted: “This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous.” She said "XXXXXXXXXXX is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry”.
The blanked out 'xxxxxxx' is very likely to be MI5/MI6, who also recently did the dirty work of finishing off David Kelly.
911
News24: FBI: Moussaoui not involved
Washington - The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has concluded that
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in America in connection
with the September 11 attacks, was not involved in the strikes, Time
magazine reported on Sunday.
The news weekly, in its edition appearing on Monday, quotes
unidentified sources as saying the FBI has long believed that the Moroccan-born
Frenchman "played no part in the 9/11 scheme and was only a minor
player in al-Qaeda."
Moussaoui was detained by US authorities on an immigration violation
less than a month before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade
Centre and the Pentagon.
News24: FBI: Moussaoui not involved
Washington - The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has concluded that
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in America in connection
with the September 11 attacks, was not involved in the strikes, Time
magazine reported on Sunday.
The news weekly, in its edition appearing on Monday, quotes
unidentified sources as saying the FBI has long believed that the Moroccan-born
Frenchman "played no part in the 9/11 scheme and was only a minor
player in al-Qaeda."
Moussaoui was detained by US authorities on an immigration violation
less than a month before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade
Centre and the Pentagon.
IRAQ
Telegraph: US army chiefs plan 'strategic exit' from Iraq
United States commanders in Iraq have drawn up detailed proposals for a
rapid reduction of troop numbers over the next 18 months in the first
indication of formal planning for an exit strategy. The plans, which
have been put to Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, but not yet
approved by him, suggest reducing the American forces from 130,000 to about 100,000
by next summer.
Commanders told the Washington Post the aim was to show they could
reduce the force without compromising Iraq's stability, leaving fewer then
50,000 US troops by mid-2005. The timetable would be attractive to the White
House in the countdown to next year's election, but it may yet prove
unrealistic given the instability in post-Saddam Iraq.
Telegraph: US army chiefs plan 'strategic exit' from Iraq
United States commanders in Iraq have drawn up detailed proposals for a
rapid reduction of troop numbers over the next 18 months in the first
indication of formal planning for an exit strategy. The plans, which
have been put to Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, but not yet
approved by him, suggest reducing the American forces from 130,000 to about 100,000
by next summer.
Commanders told the Washington Post the aim was to show they could
reduce the force without compromising Iraq's stability, leaving fewer then
50,000 US troops by mid-2005. The timetable would be attractive to the White
House in the countdown to next year's election, but it may yet prove
unrealistic given the instability in post-Saddam Iraq.
ARABIA
Guardian: The return of Arabophobia
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are only the latest in a long line of Arab bogeymen
First, they tried to dismiss Iraqi resistance as the work of "Saddam loyalists". Then they sought to blame "outside forces". Now, as it becomes clear that Iraqis of all sects oppose the occupation, a third explanation has arisen. Terrorism, anarchy and criminality are prevalent in Iraq because ... er ... terrorism, anarchy and criminality are what Iraqis do.
Arabophobia has been part of western culture since the Crusades, with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden only the latest in a long line of Arab bogeymen. For centuries the Arab has played the role of villain, seducer of our women, hustler and thief - the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilisation.
"CHECK IT"
Guardian: The return of Arabophobia
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are only the latest in a long line of Arab bogeymen
First, they tried to dismiss Iraqi resistance as the work of "Saddam loyalists". Then they sought to blame "outside forces". Now, as it becomes clear that Iraqis of all sects oppose the occupation, a third explanation has arisen. Terrorism, anarchy and criminality are prevalent in Iraq because ... er ... terrorism, anarchy and criminality are what Iraqis do.
Arabophobia has been part of western culture since the Crusades, with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden only the latest in a long line of Arab bogeymen. For centuries the Arab has played the role of villain, seducer of our women, hustler and thief - the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilisation.
"CHECK IT"
AFGHANISTAN
Aljazeera: The picture which shames US army
A secretly taken picture of an American soldier frisking an Afghan child has shocked human rights campaigners across the world.
Aljazeera: The picture which shames US army
A secretly taken picture of an American soldier frisking an Afghan child has shocked human rights campaigners across the world.
RUSSIA
Observer: Torture now routine for Putin's police
Once the policeman's gas mask was sealed tight around his face, Denis, 18, lasted 90 seconds before passing out. After a heavy beating by police fists and batons, Denis had still not confessed to stealing a car radio from a garage near his home. So two officers handcuffed his hands behind his back and clamped the 'elephant mask', as it is called, to his bruised head. They shut its valves and then waited.
'I thought it was all over, that I was going to die,' said Denis, a hardy car mechanic whose experience of police torture has left him unable to walk the streets without a gang of friends by his side.
Observer: Torture now routine for Putin's police
Once the policeman's gas mask was sealed tight around his face, Denis, 18, lasted 90 seconds before passing out. After a heavy beating by police fists and batons, Denis had still not confessed to stealing a car radio from a garage near his home. So two officers handcuffed his hands behind his back and clamped the 'elephant mask', as it is called, to his bruised head. They shut its valves and then waited.
'I thought it was all over, that I was going to die,' said Denis, a hardy car mechanic whose experience of police torture has left him unable to walk the streets without a gang of friends by his side.
IRAQ
Reuters: Bremer Fought to Weaken Iraqi Oil Watchdog-Sources
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - During three months of tough negotiations,
Iraq's U.S. administrator fought hard to trim the powers of an
independent watchdog being set up to monitor how he spends Iraq's oil money,
international agency officials said on Friday.
At one point, administrator Paul Bremer suspended the talks for six
weeks to show his displeasure with efforts by the agencies -- including the
United Nations and World Bank -- to ensure the independence of the new
watchdog agency, to be known as the International Advisory and
Monitoring Board, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Reuters: Bremer Fought to Weaken Iraqi Oil Watchdog-Sources
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - During three months of tough negotiations,
Iraq's U.S. administrator fought hard to trim the powers of an
independent watchdog being set up to monitor how he spends Iraq's oil money,
international agency officials said on Friday.
At one point, administrator Paul Bremer suspended the talks for six
weeks to show his displeasure with efforts by the agencies -- including the
United Nations and World Bank -- to ensure the independence of the new
watchdog agency, to be known as the International Advisory and
Monitoring Board, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is
that they don't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda.
You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and
everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean
anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a
question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's
the one you're not allowed to talk about." -- Noam Chomsky
"The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is
that they don't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda.
You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and
everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean
anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a
question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's
the one you're not allowed to talk about." -- Noam Chomsky
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