SADDAM
CNN: Iraqi war crimes court set up
Saddam always said he'd tell the world of his real connections with the
Reagan and Bush administrations if he got the chance. Now, thanks to an
"amazing coincidence," he won't get his day in a world court. That's
because 3 days before his alleged capture, the Bush interim government
in Iraq set up a special war crimes tribunal that will be closed to the
world except for "outside experts" (hand-picked by the Bush junta, of
course). How very, very convenient. As the AFP reported on December 10, "Back in
Iraq...the Governing Council approved late last night the creation of
an Iraqi penal tribunal to try former members of Saddam Hussein's regime
for their crimes against humanity.. Council members have said US overseer
Pau Bremer has to sign the tribunal statutes, but a coalition spokesman has
insisted it was the Governing Council that was taking the decisions
about the court and not the US-led occupation authority."
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
WATER
Alternet: The Battle for Water
We are taught in school that the Earth has a closed hydrologic system; water is continually being recycled through rain and evaporation and none of it leaves the planet's atmosphere. Not only is there the same amount of water on the Earth today as there was at the creation of the planet, it's the same water. The next time you're walking in the rain, stop and think that some of the water falling on you ran through the blood of dinosaurs or swelled the tears of children who lived thousands of years ago.
Alternet: The Battle for Water
We are taught in school that the Earth has a closed hydrologic system; water is continually being recycled through rain and evaporation and none of it leaves the planet's atmosphere. Not only is there the same amount of water on the Earth today as there was at the creation of the planet, it's the same water. The next time you're walking in the rain, stop and think that some of the water falling on you ran through the blood of dinosaurs or swelled the tears of children who lived thousands of years ago.
Monday, December 15, 2003
SADDAM
Rense: They Got The Wrong Guy
War is peace, Orwell said. It has never been clearer than now.
The theatrical apprehension of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from his pathetic hole in the dirt is a prima facie example of how the American vision of life and the world has become totally twisted. It was the culmination of an unjust war against a defenseless people, this ritual roughing up of a tired old man who was never more than a puppet following the orders of the master manipulators who always planned to do him in when it became convenient.
Saddam was never a danger to America, despite all the pre-war rhetoric that has all been proven false.
George W. Bush - and Bill Clinton and the elder Bush before him - killed many times more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. The 20,000 or so Iraqi innocents who perished in the recent bombing of the Cradle of Civilization were at least ten times more than the number of political malcontents who ran afoul of the murderous machismo of Saddam's inflexible rule, and the utter destruction of this functioning nation-state was certainly something Hussein never contemplated.
Rense: They Got The Wrong Guy
War is peace, Orwell said. It has never been clearer than now.
The theatrical apprehension of fallen Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from his pathetic hole in the dirt is a prima facie example of how the American vision of life and the world has become totally twisted. It was the culmination of an unjust war against a defenseless people, this ritual roughing up of a tired old man who was never more than a puppet following the orders of the master manipulators who always planned to do him in when it became convenient.
Saddam was never a danger to America, despite all the pre-war rhetoric that has all been proven false.
George W. Bush - and Bill Clinton and the elder Bush before him - killed many times more Iraqis than Saddam ever did. The 20,000 or so Iraqi innocents who perished in the recent bombing of the Cradle of Civilization were at least ten times more than the number of political malcontents who ran afoul of the murderous machismo of Saddam's inflexible rule, and the utter destruction of this functioning nation-state was certainly something Hussein never contemplated.
VANDALISM
Zürich: Sprayer festgenommen
Die Stadtpolizei Zürich hat in der Nacht auf Montag einen 17-jährigen Schweizer festgenommen, der zuvor eine Hauswand in der City besprayt hatte.
Der Sachschaden an der Hausfassade beläuft sich auf rund 2000 Franken.
Eine Streifenwagenpatrouille sah, wie eine vermummte Person an der Gottfried Keller-Strasse eine Hauswand besprayte. Als der Sprayer die Polizisten bemerkte, rannte er weg. Obwohl er stürzte, konnten ihn die Beamten erst beim Stadelhoferplatz stoppen, wie die Stadtpolizei mitteilte.
Der 17-Jährige leistete heftige Gegenwehr, so dass er nur «mit angemessener Gewalt» festgenommen werden konnte. Weil er über Schmerzen im linken Arm klagte, brachte ihn die Sanität ins Spital, wo eine Fraktur des Ellbogens festgestellt wurde.
Zürich: Sprayer festgenommen
Die Stadtpolizei Zürich hat in der Nacht auf Montag einen 17-jährigen Schweizer festgenommen, der zuvor eine Hauswand in der City besprayt hatte.
Der Sachschaden an der Hausfassade beläuft sich auf rund 2000 Franken.
Eine Streifenwagenpatrouille sah, wie eine vermummte Person an der Gottfried Keller-Strasse eine Hauswand besprayte. Als der Sprayer die Polizisten bemerkte, rannte er weg. Obwohl er stürzte, konnten ihn die Beamten erst beim Stadelhoferplatz stoppen, wie die Stadtpolizei mitteilte.
Der 17-Jährige leistete heftige Gegenwehr, so dass er nur «mit angemessener Gewalt» festgenommen werden konnte. Weil er über Schmerzen im linken Arm klagte, brachte ihn die Sanität ins Spital, wo eine Fraktur des Ellbogens festgestellt wurde.
IRAQ: SADDAM
Truthout: We Caught The Wrong Guy
Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. That sounds pretty deranged, right? Perhaps, but it is also accurate. The unifying thread binding together everyone assembled at that Tikrit farmhouse is the simple fact that all of them - the soldiers as well as Hussein - have received pay from the United States for services rendered.
Independent: 'We Never Had WMD' Saddam Tells Interrogators
Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, claiming that they were an invention of the US government to justify an invasion, it was reported last night.
Although Saddam was captured without a fight and was initially said to be co-operative, US intelligence sources said that he had since been unco-operative and defiant under questioning.
Independent: Saddam's Capture Will Not
Stop Resistance by Robert Fisk
"Peace" and "reconciliation" were the patois of Downing Street and the White House yesterday. But all those hopes of a collapse of resistance are doomed. Saddam was neither the spiritual nor the political guide to the insurgency that is now claiming so many lives in Iraq - far more Iraqi than Western lives, one might add - and, however happy Messrs Bush and Blair may be at the capture of Saddam, the war goes on.
Online Journal: Will Saddam's Capture Prove
To Be A Trap For Bush?
"There is another possibility that whoever thought this through had done his homework very well, and the timing was impeccable. If true, students of propaganda will be using this incident as a case study for decades to come."
It was pretty much of a shock to learn of Saddam Hussein's capture so soon. Then again, come to think of it, no! George W. Bush's popularity is dipping badly and those niggling questions about Sept 11 are now gaining feverish momentum.
Rense: Saddam Betrayed - He Was A Prisoner
It's becoming increasingly clear Saddam had apparently been betrayed by his own closest protectors weeks ago and was being kept a prisoner in a hole in the ground while they tried to arrange to sell him for the $25 million - or more - in US reward money
Truthout: We Caught The Wrong Guy
Saddam Hussein, former employee of the American federal government, was captured near a farmhouse in Tikrit in a raid performed by other employees of the American federal government. That sounds pretty deranged, right? Perhaps, but it is also accurate. The unifying thread binding together everyone assembled at that Tikrit farmhouse is the simple fact that all of them - the soldiers as well as Hussein - have received pay from the United States for services rendered.
Independent: 'We Never Had WMD' Saddam Tells Interrogators
Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, claiming that they were an invention of the US government to justify an invasion, it was reported last night.
Although Saddam was captured without a fight and was initially said to be co-operative, US intelligence sources said that he had since been unco-operative and defiant under questioning.
Independent: Saddam's Capture Will Not
Stop Resistance by Robert Fisk
"Peace" and "reconciliation" were the patois of Downing Street and the White House yesterday. But all those hopes of a collapse of resistance are doomed. Saddam was neither the spiritual nor the political guide to the insurgency that is now claiming so many lives in Iraq - far more Iraqi than Western lives, one might add - and, however happy Messrs Bush and Blair may be at the capture of Saddam, the war goes on.
Online Journal: Will Saddam's Capture Prove
To Be A Trap For Bush?
"There is another possibility that whoever thought this through had done his homework very well, and the timing was impeccable. If true, students of propaganda will be using this incident as a case study for decades to come."
It was pretty much of a shock to learn of Saddam Hussein's capture so soon. Then again, come to think of it, no! George W. Bush's popularity is dipping badly and those niggling questions about Sept 11 are now gaining feverish momentum.
Rense: Saddam Betrayed - He Was A Prisoner
It's becoming increasingly clear Saddam had apparently been betrayed by his own closest protectors weeks ago and was being kept a prisoner in a hole in the ground while they tried to arrange to sell him for the $25 million - or more - in US reward money
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Autobomben töten zehn Menschen
Auch nach der Verhaftung von Saddam Hussein geht die Terror-Serie im Irak weiter. Heute morgen explodierten vor zwei Polizeistationen Autobomben - zehn Menschen starben.
Bagdad - Der erste Anschlag habe sich in der Ortschaft Husseinijah etwa 30 Kilometer nördlich der irakischen Hauptstadt ereignet, teilte ein Polizeisprecher mit. Neun Menschen seien getötet worden, viele weitere seien zudem verwundet worden. Über dem Tatort stieg dichter Rauch auf. Die US-Armee riegelte das Gebiet ab.
Eine zweite Autobombe ging vor einer Polizeistation im Bagdader Stadtteil Amirijah in die Luft. Der Fahrer des Wagens wurde getötet, mindestens acht Menschen wurden dabei verletzt, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Kurz zuvor hatten Sprengstoffexperten eine Autobombe entschärft, die in der Umgebung gefunden worden war.
Spiegel: Autobomben töten zehn Menschen
Auch nach der Verhaftung von Saddam Hussein geht die Terror-Serie im Irak weiter. Heute morgen explodierten vor zwei Polizeistationen Autobomben - zehn Menschen starben.
Bagdad - Der erste Anschlag habe sich in der Ortschaft Husseinijah etwa 30 Kilometer nördlich der irakischen Hauptstadt ereignet, teilte ein Polizeisprecher mit. Neun Menschen seien getötet worden, viele weitere seien zudem verwundet worden. Über dem Tatort stieg dichter Rauch auf. Die US-Armee riegelte das Gebiet ab.
Eine zweite Autobombe ging vor einer Polizeistation im Bagdader Stadtteil Amirijah in die Luft. Der Fahrer des Wagens wurde getötet, mindestens acht Menschen wurden dabei verletzt, wie die Polizei mitteilte. Kurz zuvor hatten Sprengstoffexperten eine Autobombe entschärft, die in der Umgebung gefunden worden war.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
IRAQ
Reuters: Saddam Hussein reportedly arrested
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been arrested, an Iraqi Kurdish representative in Iran says, but the U.S. Defence Department says it can not confirm the report.
"I confirm that Saddam has been arrested," Nazem Dabag, representative in Iran of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters on Sunday.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted PUK leader Jalal Talabani as saying that Saddam had been captured in his home town of Tikrit.
"The American forces in Tikrit announced that Saddam was arrested on Sunday. The Americans said that they will announce the news officially in the next few hours," IRNA quoted Talabani as saying.
The news agency report was from Qasr-e Shirin in Iran across the border from Iraq. A Talabani aide said the Kurdish leader was in Tehran on his way to France.
The U.S. Defence Department said it could not confirm the report. Washington has made Saddam number one on its list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, and placed a $25 million (14 million pounds) reward on his head.
U.S. officials had said Saddam, 66, had eluded American troops by moving every few hours, probably in disguise and aided by members of his clan.
Reuters: Saddam Hussein reportedly arrested
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been arrested, an Iraqi Kurdish representative in Iran says, but the U.S. Defence Department says it can not confirm the report.
"I confirm that Saddam has been arrested," Nazem Dabag, representative in Iran of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), told Reuters on Sunday.
The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted PUK leader Jalal Talabani as saying that Saddam had been captured in his home town of Tikrit.
"The American forces in Tikrit announced that Saddam was arrested on Sunday. The Americans said that they will announce the news officially in the next few hours," IRNA quoted Talabani as saying.
The news agency report was from Qasr-e Shirin in Iran across the border from Iraq. A Talabani aide said the Kurdish leader was in Tehran on his way to France.
The U.S. Defence Department said it could not confirm the report. Washington has made Saddam number one on its list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, and placed a $25 million (14 million pounds) reward on his head.
U.S. officials had said Saddam, 66, had eluded American troops by moving every few hours, probably in disguise and aided by members of his clan.
Friday, December 12, 2003
IRAQ: PROFIT OVER PEOPLE
Pacific News: U.S. Arrests Iraqi Union Leaders
SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend.
On Dec. 6, according to a union spokesperson interviewed by phone, a convoy of 10 Humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.
"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says IFTU spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted over the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint, Muhsin says. The union had few resources, "but we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.
Früher hat man die Mafia losgeschickt um die Gewerkschaften von ihrem subversiven Treiben abzuhalten. Heute hat man das Militaer
Pacific News: U.S. Arrests Iraqi Union Leaders
SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. occupation forces in Iraq escalated their efforts to paralyze Iraq's new labor unions with a series of arrests this weekend.
On Dec. 6, according to a union spokesperson interviewed by phone, a convoy of 10 Humvees and personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters building of the Transport and Communications Workers union, in Baghdad's central bus station, which has been used since June as the office of the Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). Twenty soldiers jumped out, stormed into the building, put handcuffs on eight members of the Federation's executive board, and took them into detention.
"They gave no reason at all, despite being asked over and over," says IFTU spokesperson Abdullah Muhsin. Soldiers painted over the name of the federation on the front of the building with black paint, Muhsin says. The union had few resources, "but we did have a few files, and they took those," Muhsin adds. Ironically, the office had posters on the walls condemning terrorism, which soldiers tore down in the raid.
Früher hat man die Mafia losgeschickt um die Gewerkschaften von ihrem subversiven Treiben abzuhalten. Heute hat man das Militaer
ISRAEL
WSWS: Ethnic Cleansing Now Official Israeli Government Policy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ministers have openly declared that Palestinians must be driven out to make way for Jewish settlements in land occupied illegally since the 1967 war.
Sharon and his cabinet utilised the November 15 ambush of Israeli security forces in Hebron by Islamic Jihad and the ensuing gun battle that killed 12 members of the Israeli armed forces and injured 15, as well as three of the Palestinian attackers, to make their announcements.
Sharon himself called for "territorial contiguity" between Kiryat Arba, a settlement overlooking Hebron, the tiny Zionist enclaves and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a religious site venerated by both Moslems and Jews, inside the city. Palestinians living between the settlement, the enclaves and the Tomb would be forced to leave their homes to make way for the settlers-a policy known throughout the world as ethnic cleansing. He told army commanders in Hebron that Israel had to "take advantage of the opportunity" to "minimise the number of Palestinians living among Jewish settlers" and establish "Jewish points of presence". He described this as "an appropriate Zionist response" to such attacks.
Sharon's newly appointed foreign affairs minister and main leadership rival, Benyamin Netanyahu, was even more explicit. "We are going to cleanse the whole area and do the work ourselves." he declared
WSWS: Ethnic Cleansing Now Official Israeli Government Policy
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his ministers have openly declared that Palestinians must be driven out to make way for Jewish settlements in land occupied illegally since the 1967 war.
Sharon and his cabinet utilised the November 15 ambush of Israeli security forces in Hebron by Islamic Jihad and the ensuing gun battle that killed 12 members of the Israeli armed forces and injured 15, as well as three of the Palestinian attackers, to make their announcements.
Sharon himself called for "territorial contiguity" between Kiryat Arba, a settlement overlooking Hebron, the tiny Zionist enclaves and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a religious site venerated by both Moslems and Jews, inside the city. Palestinians living between the settlement, the enclaves and the Tomb would be forced to leave their homes to make way for the settlers-a policy known throughout the world as ethnic cleansing. He told army commanders in Hebron that Israel had to "take advantage of the opportunity" to "minimise the number of Palestinians living among Jewish settlers" and establish "Jewish points of presence". He described this as "an appropriate Zionist response" to such attacks.
Sharon's newly appointed foreign affairs minister and main leadership rival, Benyamin Netanyahu, was even more explicit. "We are going to cleanse the whole area and do the work ourselves." he declared
IRAQ
WSWS: US, Israel Prepare Mass Killings In Iraq
The Bush administration is about to launch a campaign of wholesale killings in Iraq with the assistance of the Israeli military, according to both US and Israeli sources quoted in several recent news reports.
Frustrated over the growing popular resistance to the US military occupation and determined to reduce US casualties in Iraq before next November's election, the administration has authorized a policy that could well resemble the infamous "Operation Phoenix" assassination program run by the CIA during the Vietnam War. That operation claimed the lives of as many as 41,000 Vietnamese over a four-year period beginning in 1968.
In preparation for the new counterinsurgency campaign, the US military has brought urban warfare specialists from the Israeli Defenses Force (IDF) to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the headquarters of the US Special Forces. They are training assassination teams in methods that the IDF has used to suppress Palestinian resistance to the Israel occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"This is basically an assassination program.... This is a hunter-killer team," a former senior intelligence official told the British Guardian newspaper. He warned that Washington's reliance on Israeli assistance in launching the operation would only intensify anger over the US occupation throughout the Middle East.
"It is bonkers, insane," the former official said. "Here we are-we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."
The Guardian also cited intelligence sources in Washington as reporting that Israeli military "consultants" have been sent to Iraq to advise US forces there on counterinsurgency operations.
According to the British newspaper, the new operation also includes the deployment of killer squads inside Syria to hunt down suspected resistance fighters from other Arab countries before they cross the border into Iraq.
Meanwhile, an article by Seymour Hersh, the veteran US investigative reporter, appeared in this week's New Yorker magazine also warning of a "major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq" and providing additional confirmation of Israel's role in training those who will carry out the assassination program.
According to Hersh, a new Special Forces group-Task Force 121-has been formed, drawing upon Army Delta Force troops, Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitaries. "Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination," he reports.
Hersh continues: "According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. Israeli commandos are expected to serve as ad-hoc advisers-again, in secret-when full-field operations begin."
US and Israeli officials have refused to comment on the record about this collaboration on the Iraqi counterinsurgency campaign. "No one wants to talk about this; it's incendiary," an Israeli official told Hersh. "Both governments have decided at the highest level that it is in their interest to keep a low profile on US-Israeli cooperation" on the assassination program
WSWS: US, Israel Prepare Mass Killings In Iraq
The Bush administration is about to launch a campaign of wholesale killings in Iraq with the assistance of the Israeli military, according to both US and Israeli sources quoted in several recent news reports.
Frustrated over the growing popular resistance to the US military occupation and determined to reduce US casualties in Iraq before next November's election, the administration has authorized a policy that could well resemble the infamous "Operation Phoenix" assassination program run by the CIA during the Vietnam War. That operation claimed the lives of as many as 41,000 Vietnamese over a four-year period beginning in 1968.
In preparation for the new counterinsurgency campaign, the US military has brought urban warfare specialists from the Israeli Defenses Force (IDF) to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the headquarters of the US Special Forces. They are training assassination teams in methods that the IDF has used to suppress Palestinian resistance to the Israel occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"This is basically an assassination program.... This is a hunter-killer team," a former senior intelligence official told the British Guardian newspaper. He warned that Washington's reliance on Israeli assistance in launching the operation would only intensify anger over the US occupation throughout the Middle East.
"It is bonkers, insane," the former official said. "Here we are-we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams."
The Guardian also cited intelligence sources in Washington as reporting that Israeli military "consultants" have been sent to Iraq to advise US forces there on counterinsurgency operations.
According to the British newspaper, the new operation also includes the deployment of killer squads inside Syria to hunt down suspected resistance fighters from other Arab countries before they cross the border into Iraq.
Meanwhile, an article by Seymour Hersh, the veteran US investigative reporter, appeared in this week's New Yorker magazine also warning of a "major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq" and providing additional confirmation of Israel's role in training those who will carry out the assassination program.
According to Hersh, a new Special Forces group-Task Force 121-has been formed, drawing upon Army Delta Force troops, Navy SEALs and CIA paramilitaries. "Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination," he reports.
Hersh continues: "According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. Israeli commandos are expected to serve as ad-hoc advisers-again, in secret-when full-field operations begin."
US and Israeli officials have refused to comment on the record about this collaboration on the Iraqi counterinsurgency campaign. "No one wants to talk about this; it's incendiary," an Israeli official told Hersh. "Both governments have decided at the highest level that it is in their interest to keep a low profile on US-Israeli cooperation" on the assassination program
EURO VS. DOLLAR
Hindustan Times: OPEC may trade oil in euros to compensate for dollar decline
OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.
Another alternative is to trade in a basket of currencies other than the greenback, Silva told Venezuela's state news agency, Venpres.
"There is a talk of trading crude in euros. It is one of the alternatives," the former Venezuelan oil minister said from Vienna late on Monday.
"It is possible that the organisation will discuss that, and make a decision at some point in time," he said.
Silva did not provide more details.
Goodbye USA
Hindustan Times: OPEC may trade oil in euros to compensate for dollar decline
OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.
Another alternative is to trade in a basket of currencies other than the greenback, Silva told Venezuela's state news agency, Venpres.
"There is a talk of trading crude in euros. It is one of the alternatives," the former Venezuelan oil minister said from Vienna late on Monday.
"It is possible that the organisation will discuss that, and make a decision at some point in time," he said.
Silva did not provide more details.
Goodbye USA
IRAQ: LIBERATORS?
Information Clearinghouse: Take no Prisoners
Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.
U.S. Marines execute an Iraqi to the cheers of fellow marines
-:WARNING:-
This video should only be viewed by a mature audience
VIDEO
Page Updated: 12/11/03 2:13 PM: PST.
Transcript:
CNN Presents: Fit To Kill
Aired October 26, 2003 - 20:00 ET
CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer.
RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge.
RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again.
CROWLEY: Inexplicable to some, but not to generations of veterans
Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
(2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
Das Video zeigt wie ein US-Soldat einen verwundeten, am Boden liegenden Iraker hinrichtet und die ganze Sache ziemlich cool findet. Kriegsverbrechen auf CNN
Information Clearinghouse: Take no Prisoners
Another proud moment in U.S. Military History.
U.S. Marines execute an Iraqi to the cheers of fellow marines
-:WARNING:-
This video should only be viewed by a mature audience
VIDEO
Page Updated: 12/11/03 2:13 PM: PST.
Transcript:
CNN Presents: Fit To Kill
Aired October 26, 2003 - 20:00 ET
CROWLEY: Wounded, another Iraqi writhes on the ground next to his gun. The Marines kill him -- then cheer.
RIDDLE: Like, man, you guys are dead now, you know. But it was a good feeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
CROWLEY: When the battle is over and you are still standing, the adrenalin rush is huge.
RIDDLE: I mean, afterwards you're like, hell, yeah, that was awesome. Let's do it again.
CROWLEY: Inexplicable to some, but not to generations of veterans
Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
(2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
Das Video zeigt wie ein US-Soldat einen verwundeten, am Boden liegenden Iraker hinrichtet und die ganze Sache ziemlich cool findet. Kriegsverbrechen auf CNN
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Haaretz: Explosions Rock Central Baghdad Near US Compound
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three loud explosions boomed through central Baghdad early Friday, and sirens wailed in the compound housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition.
U.S. military sources confirmed to CNN that three or four blasts had occurred in central Baghdad.
Some smoke rose inside the compound, known as the "Green Zone," but it was unclear whether it was related to the thunderous booms.
"We are aware that some explosions did take place. We do not know the location," a spokeswoman for the coalition said on customary condition of anonymity.
A spokesman said he heard three explosions.
"They were loud," he said. "But I've heard louder."
Insurgents last month fired mortars into the "Green Zone," a five-square-kilometer (two-square-mile) area that encompasses several buildings. But if Friday's explosions occurred inside, it would be the first time in several weeks that the seat of coalition power was hit.
Haaretz: Explosions Rock Central Baghdad Near US Compound
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three loud explosions boomed through central Baghdad early Friday, and sirens wailed in the compound housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition.
U.S. military sources confirmed to CNN that three or four blasts had occurred in central Baghdad.
Some smoke rose inside the compound, known as the "Green Zone," but it was unclear whether it was related to the thunderous booms.
"We are aware that some explosions did take place. We do not know the location," a spokeswoman for the coalition said on customary condition of anonymity.
A spokesman said he heard three explosions.
"They were loud," he said. "But I've heard louder."
Insurgents last month fired mortars into the "Green Zone," a five-square-kilometer (two-square-mile) area that encompasses several buildings. But if Friday's explosions occurred inside, it would be the first time in several weeks that the seat of coalition power was hit.
ANTI-SEMITISM
Haaretz: Anti-Semitism, Real And Exaggerated
Much was revealed by the study of anti-Semitism in Europe that caused such a controversy when the European Center for Monitoring Racism decided to shelve the results.
It showed a growing distancing from Israel and from European Jews, the ostensible representatives of the Jewish state. It exposed the failure of the immigrant absorption and integration policies adopted by European countries toward their Muslim minorities. And finally, the attitude to the report, whose data was not always well-grounded, showed how much hostility there is to Europe, particularly among members of the coalition parties in Israel, and the disproportionate manner in which they use the ghosts of anti-Semitism to distract themselves and Israeli public opinion in general from their own domestic problems.
First to the matter of anti-Semitism. Since September 11, it is being felt the way anger toward America is felt. But this is not the old style of race hatred against Jews; rather, it is more a general rejection of everything Israeli. Jews are identified with Israelis, just as the Israeli public is identified with its government. That first identification is more grave - it shows that hundreds of years of life in Europe and the memory of the genocide of the Jews has not been enough for the Jews to be recognized as citizens of their countries.
Add to that the criticism of Israeli policy. It can be justified, but the intensity with which it is expressed discloses not only the extent to which Germans are unable to put themselves in the place of a people suffering from constant terror; it also reveals a desire to disconnect, to get rid of decades' worth of complexes.
Haaretz: Anti-Semitism, Real And Exaggerated
Much was revealed by the study of anti-Semitism in Europe that caused such a controversy when the European Center for Monitoring Racism decided to shelve the results.
It showed a growing distancing from Israel and from European Jews, the ostensible representatives of the Jewish state. It exposed the failure of the immigrant absorption and integration policies adopted by European countries toward their Muslim minorities. And finally, the attitude to the report, whose data was not always well-grounded, showed how much hostility there is to Europe, particularly among members of the coalition parties in Israel, and the disproportionate manner in which they use the ghosts of anti-Semitism to distract themselves and Israeli public opinion in general from their own domestic problems.
First to the matter of anti-Semitism. Since September 11, it is being felt the way anger toward America is felt. But this is not the old style of race hatred against Jews; rather, it is more a general rejection of everything Israeli. Jews are identified with Israelis, just as the Israeli public is identified with its government. That first identification is more grave - it shows that hundreds of years of life in Europe and the memory of the genocide of the Jews has not been enough for the Jews to be recognized as citizens of their countries.
Add to that the criticism of Israeli policy. It can be justified, but the intensity with which it is expressed discloses not only the extent to which Germans are unable to put themselves in the place of a people suffering from constant terror; it also reveals a desire to disconnect, to get rid of decades' worth of complexes.
INTERNET
MSNBC: A Net of Control
UNTHINKABLE: How the Internet could become a tool of corporate and government power, based on updates now in the works
Picture, if you will, an information infrastructure that encourages censorship, surveillance and suppression of the creative impulse. Where anonymity is outlawed and every penny spent is accounted for. Where the powers that be can smother subversive (or economically competitive) ideas in the cradle, and no one can publish even a laundry list without the imprimatur of Big Brother. Some prognosticators are saying that such a construct is nearly inevitable. And this infrastructure is none other than the former paradise of rebels and free-speechers: the Internet
"CHECK IT"
MSNBC: A Net of Control
UNTHINKABLE: How the Internet could become a tool of corporate and government power, based on updates now in the works
Picture, if you will, an information infrastructure that encourages censorship, surveillance and suppression of the creative impulse. Where anonymity is outlawed and every penny spent is accounted for. Where the powers that be can smother subversive (or economically competitive) ideas in the cradle, and no one can publish even a laundry list without the imprimatur of Big Brother. Some prognosticators are saying that such a construct is nearly inevitable. And this infrastructure is none other than the former paradise of rebels and free-speechers: the Internet
"CHECK IT"
RUSSIA
Anti-War.com: NOW THEY'RE AFTER PUTIN
The decisive victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "United
Russia" slate of candidates for the Duma is the occasion for a new round of
Putin-bashing, with "human rights officials" condemning the election
results as "a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms."
Just what is a "human rights official," anyway? The way the Associated
Press puts it, one might almost suppose that we're talking about
elected officials here, or else guardian angels appointed by God to watch over
the human race in His stead. In either case, these unofficial officials
deserve to be recalled forthwith, just on the basis of their phony complaints
about the Russian electoral process:
"International observers delivered a blistering assessment of the vote,
calling it free but not fair. Taxpayer money and state television was
used to benefit a few parties, monitors said in their criticism."
When the Republicans run television ads featuring Bush's Top Gun
landing on that aircraft carrier, I wonder if these same monitors will lodge
complaints about inappropriate use of taxpayers' money. The
state-supported media of the OSCE countries – in whose name the rebuke to Putin was
issued – all have an indisputable political bias, and the problem is
even worse in Eastern Europe.
Bruce George, head of the OSCE's "parliamentary assembly," had the
nerve to pontificate that the election "failed to meet ... international
standards."
The White House endorsed this hypocritical hyperbole, noting "concerns
about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns."
George openly worried that, "because of the use of administrative
resourcesand the biased media, legitimate democratic opposition parties would
notget the 5 percent of the vote they need to enter parliament."
If every government that used "administrative resources" to gain
electoral advantage were to be expelled from the ranks of democratic nations, who
would be left? As for "biased media" – is this something that the
Western media, which "embedded" itself in the U.S. government's war propaganda
machine, have the right to lecture the Russians about?
The real complaint of Putin's Western critics is that the Russian
parties favored by Washington and its Euro-weenie satellites – Yabloko and the
Union of Right Forces – failed to get the 5 percent required to garner
seats in the Duma. The election was "free but not fair" – because they
didn't like the results.
Anti-War.com: NOW THEY'RE AFTER PUTIN
The decisive victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "United
Russia" slate of candidates for the Duma is the occasion for a new round of
Putin-bashing, with "human rights officials" condemning the election
results as "a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms."
Just what is a "human rights official," anyway? The way the Associated
Press puts it, one might almost suppose that we're talking about
elected officials here, or else guardian angels appointed by God to watch over
the human race in His stead. In either case, these unofficial officials
deserve to be recalled forthwith, just on the basis of their phony complaints
about the Russian electoral process:
"International observers delivered a blistering assessment of the vote,
calling it free but not fair. Taxpayer money and state television was
used to benefit a few parties, monitors said in their criticism."
When the Republicans run television ads featuring Bush's Top Gun
landing on that aircraft carrier, I wonder if these same monitors will lodge
complaints about inappropriate use of taxpayers' money. The
state-supported media of the OSCE countries – in whose name the rebuke to Putin was
issued – all have an indisputable political bias, and the problem is
even worse in Eastern Europe.
Bruce George, head of the OSCE's "parliamentary assembly," had the
nerve to pontificate that the election "failed to meet ... international
standards."
The White House endorsed this hypocritical hyperbole, noting "concerns
about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns."
George openly worried that, "because of the use of administrative
resourcesand the biased media, legitimate democratic opposition parties would
notget the 5 percent of the vote they need to enter parliament."
If every government that used "administrative resources" to gain
electoral advantage were to be expelled from the ranks of democratic nations, who
would be left? As for "biased media" – is this something that the
Western media, which "embedded" itself in the U.S. government's war propaganda
machine, have the right to lecture the Russians about?
The real complaint of Putin's Western critics is that the Russian
parties favored by Washington and its Euro-weenie satellites – Yabloko and the
Union of Right Forces – failed to get the 5 percent required to garner
seats in the Duma. The election was "free but not fair" – because they
didn't like the results.
USA-TAIWAN
WIRED: Bush Orders Taiwan to Forget about Freedom from China
Bush bluntly warned Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian against changing
the status quo with China in tough words delivered on Tuesday in a meeting
with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.Bush's comments were a warning to Chen not
to hold a referendum on the island alongside a March presidential
election, plans for which have sparked anger and fear in China that Taiwan is
creeping toward independence. 'We oppose any unilateral decision by
either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions
made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make
decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we oppose,' Bush said,
seatedwith Wen in the Oval Office.
LA TIMES: Conservatives are 'Appalled' by Bush's Anti-Democracy Move on Taiwan
To conservatives, it was a shocking scene. Bush sat chatting chummily
in the Oval Office on Tuesday with the premier of communist China and
harshlyrebuked the democratically elected leader of the United States' old
friend and ally, Taiwan. 'The only word I can use is 'appalled'," said John
Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and
a staunch administration supporter. 'The spectacle of the American
president who just gave such an eloquent speech in Whitehall barely three weeks
ago, saying the global expansion of democracy is a pillar of American
foreign policy...' His voice trailed off in disbelief. 'This just simply belies
that.' Behind the jarring imagery, however, was a simple message. The
Bush administration believes that it cannot afford a political crisis that
could draw the United States into a war over Taiwan while it has its hands
more than full with Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea [as well as the 2004
campaign].
WIRED: Bush Orders Taiwan to Forget about Freedom from China
Bush bluntly warned Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian against changing
the status quo with China in tough words delivered on Tuesday in a meeting
with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.Bush's comments were a warning to Chen not
to hold a referendum on the island alongside a March presidential
election, plans for which have sparked anger and fear in China that Taiwan is
creeping toward independence. 'We oppose any unilateral decision by
either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, and the comments and actions
made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make
decisions unilaterally to change the status quo, which we oppose,' Bush said,
seatedwith Wen in the Oval Office.
LA TIMES: Conservatives are 'Appalled' by Bush's Anti-Democracy Move on Taiwan
To conservatives, it was a shocking scene. Bush sat chatting chummily
in the Oval Office on Tuesday with the premier of communist China and
harshlyrebuked the democratically elected leader of the United States' old
friend and ally, Taiwan. 'The only word I can use is 'appalled'," said John
Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation and
a staunch administration supporter. 'The spectacle of the American
president who just gave such an eloquent speech in Whitehall barely three weeks
ago, saying the global expansion of democracy is a pillar of American
foreign policy...' His voice trailed off in disbelief. 'This just simply belies
that.' Behind the jarring imagery, however, was a simple message. The
Bush administration believes that it cannot afford a political crisis that
could draw the United States into a war over Taiwan while it has its hands
more than full with Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea [as well as the 2004
campaign].
PRIVATISATION OF WAR
Village Voice: Rumsfeld Aims to Privatize the Military
WASHINGTON, D.C.—If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.
MG: Corporations are Now Biggest Ally of the U.S. in Iraq
Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the
official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent
with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000
private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also
discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the
firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In
1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and
women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat,
occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached
the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without
it.
Village Voice: Rumsfeld Aims to Privatize the Military
WASHINGTON, D.C.—If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.
MG: Corporations are Now Biggest Ally of the U.S. in Iraq
Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established. While the
official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent
with around 9 900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000
private military contractors now on the ground. The investigation has also
discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the
firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In
1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and
women; now there are 10. The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat,
occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached
the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without
it.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
GM-FOOD
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
i-sis: GM Crops Increase Pesticide Use
Proponents claim that GM crops substantially reduce pesticide use, but new evidence shows otherwise. Lim Li Ching reports.
A new report from Dr. Charles Benbrook, director of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, Idaho, concludes that the 550 million acres of GM corn, soybeans and cotton planted in the US since 1996 has increased pesticide use (herbicides and insecticides) by about 50 million pounds. Benbrook is a respected agricultural economist and was Executive Director of the US National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture from 1984 to 1990.
MIND CONTROL
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
Commercial Alert: PUSHING THE BRAIN'S "BUY BUTTON"
Commercial Alert and prominent psychology experts sent a letter
today to Emory University President James Wagner, requesting that
Emory stop conducting neuromarketing experiments on human subjects.
Neuromarketing is a controversial new field of marketing that maps
the brain's activation responses in order prod desires for
particular products. It seeks, in the words of Forbes magazine, to
"find a buy button inside the skull." According to the Commercial
Alert letter, this marketing technique "sounds like something that
could have happened in the former Soviet Union, for the purposes of
behavior control. Yet it is happening right here in America."
PR WWATCH
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Observer: DRUG INDUSTRY SPINS MEDICAL JOURNALS THROUGH GHOSTWRITERS
"Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by
academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of
drug companies," the Observer reports. "The journals, bibles of the
profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe
and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered
evidence that many articles written by so-called independent
academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies
which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.
Estimates suggest that almost half of all articles published in
journals are by ghostwriters. While doctors who have put their
names to the papers can be paid handsomely for 'lending' their
reputations, the ghostwriters remain hidden. They, and the
involvement of the pharmaceutical firms, are rarely revealed."
SOURCE: Observer (UK), December 7, 2003
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
Spiegel: Blutiger Dienstag im Irak
Ein schwarzer Tag für die amerikanische Besatzungsmacht: Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag wurden 40 amerikanische Soldaten verletzt, drei US-Soldaten starben bei einem Unfall und drei Zivilisten bei einem Raketenangriff auf eine Moschee in Bagdad. Und dann stürzte bei Falludscha auch noch ein Hubschrauber ab.
JIHAD
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
Guardian: Jihad Has Worked - The World Is Now Split In Two
Osama bin Laden, two years and three months after the New York and Washington attacks that were part of his jihad against America, appears to be winning. He has lost his base in Afghanistan, as well as many colleagues and fighters, and his communications and finances have been disrupted. He may be buried under rubble in Afghanistan or, as Washington and London assume, be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas. But from Kandahar to Baghdad, from Istanbul to Riyadh, blood is being shed in the name of Bin Laden's jihad.
On Saturday, a Taliban bomb went off in the bazaar in Kandahar, aimed at US soldiers but wounding 20 Afghan civilians. On the same day, US planes targeted a "known terrorist" in Ghazni, also in Afghanistan, killing nine children. The deaths of the children will not help the US win hearts and minds in Afghanistan, or elsewhere; indeed, they will alienate Muslim opinion worldwide.
There is a tendency in the west to play down - or ignore - the extent of Bin Laden's success. The US and UK governments regard mentioning it as disloyal or heretical. But look back on interviews by Bin Laden in the 1990s to see what he has achieved. He can tick off one of the four objectives he set himself, and, arguably, a second.
"CHECK IT"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
Google.News: 31 US Soldiers Wounded In Iraq Car-Bombing
BAGHDAD -- Thirty-one U.S. soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to their base in a northern Iraq town Tuesday, the U.S. Army said.
Major Trey Cate of the 101st Airborne said soldiers at the base in Tal Afar, west of the city of Mosul, fired on the vehicle when it failed to stop at an entry point. The vehicle then detonated, he said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide bombing.
IRAQ
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
Washington Post: South Korean engineers quit Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 — A week after two of their colleagues were killed in
an ambush, the remaining contingent of 60 South Korean contract engineers
and technicians working for the U.S. government on a project north of the
capital has decided to leave the country.
IT IS THE largest known withdrawal of contractors over security
issues and follows a week of confrontations between the workers and
their managers that culminated with yelling and punches Sunday afternoon.
The decision by the men, who were working to fix electrical power lines, is
likely to delay one of Iraq’s most critical reconstruction projects.
The workers are subcontractors for the Washington Group International Inc.,
a construction firm based in Boise, Idaho, that has a $110 million
contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to repair sections of Iraq’s power
grid.
RUSSIA
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
Stuff.nz: Putin party heads for triumph
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin's allies are heading for overwhelming
electoral victory, crushing communist and liberal opponents in a parliamentary poll that could change the political landscape of Russia. The Communist Party called the polls a farce and accused the Kremlin of
fraud. Liberal party leaders, facing political oblivion, said the vote
concentrated too much power in the hands of the pro-Kremlin United
Russia and of nationalists. "We will have an entirely different political
picture in Russia," said Boris Nemtsov, whose pro-business Union of Right-Wing
Forces (SPS) may scrape only a few seats in the Duma lower house.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
Alternet: UN Assembly asks for court ruling on Israeli wall
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Monday voted in favor of a Palestinian-initiated resolution asking the International Court of Justice whether Israel is legally obligated to tear down its separation barrier.
The vote was 90 to 8 with 74 abstentions, with the United States and Israel among those voting "no." The European Union and associated states abstained.
Arab nations asked for the emergency session after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Nov. 28 that building the barrier into the West Bank was causing serious harm to Palestinians. He said Israel had a right to defend its citizens but that duty should not contradict international law.
USA ARMY
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
LA TIMES: Four Returning Army Divisions to Reduce Readiness
Pentagon says it's taking 'a manageable risk' by giving battle-worn troops and equipment up to six months to be combat-ready again
WASHINGTON — Its equipment and troops battered from fighting in Iraq, the Army will allow four of its divisions returning from overseas to fall to readiness levels that would make them not fully combat-ready for as long as six months, a senior Army official said Friday.
The divisions — which together make up more than 100,000 soldiers, 40% of the Army's combat troops — are reeling from yearlong deployments fighting first a war, then a counterinsurgency, that have wreaked havoc with everything from tank treads to helicopter rotors to nerves.
By permitting the divisions to, in effect, drop their guard and recharge, the Pentagon is taking a calculated risk that it won't be forced to fight a war with a major adversary like North Korea on short notice. Not since the all-volunteer military was established in 1973 has the Army allowed so many of its units to fall to such low readiness levels.
"We have a nonnegotiable contract with the U.S. people that our Army will always be ready to fight and win its wars," said the senior Army official who briefed a small group of reporters on the plans Friday on condition of anonymity, after the Army's plan was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. "But this is a fact of life. What we are seeing now is the operational tempo of our Army is going to require time to reset our equipment, reset our training, reset our soldiers so we can build this Army back up."
BUSINESS
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
NY TIMES: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
The annual celebration of the American consumer economy - the holiday
shopping season - is just underway, and Wal-Mart, the juggernaut of
retailing, already seems to have claimed its first victim. The corporate
owner of F.A.O. Schwarz stores said last week that it would file for
bankruptcy. Bemoaning the news, analysts explained that the F.A.O.
Schwarz formula of selling premium-priced toys in sumptuous surroundings could
not withstand the steady advance of Wal-Mart into the toy business. "Will
Wal-Mart Steal Christmas?" asked a Time magazine headline
USA: BUSH GANG
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co., even while championing its bid for a controversial $20 billion-plus defense contract.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
Reuter: Perle Failed To Disclose Financial Ties To Boeing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon adviser Richard Perle came under fire on Friday for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co.
Perle co-wrote a guest column in The Wall Street Journal newspaper this summer praising the plan to lease then buy 100 modified refueling planes, a year after Boeing committed to invest up to $20 million in Trireme Partners, a New York venture capital fund in which Perle is a principal.
"If ever there were an argument that traditional business practices are ill-suited for defense 'transformation', the saga of the tanker-leasing proposal would count as People's Exhibit A," Perle and a colleague wrote in the Journal on Aug. 14.
"It stinks to high heaven," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based federal budget watchdog group, of Perle's failure to disclose his ties to Boeing in the Wall Street Journal piece.
Boeing acknowledged in a recently released internal e-mail that it ghost-wrote several opinion pieces by prominent figures in favor of leasing tankers rather than buying them outright, as has been standard weapons-procurement policy. "Manche Journalisten und Kommentatoren sind nicht als Konzern-Nutten"
IRAQI RESISTANCE: SAMARRA
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
Independent: A bloody victory or dangerous fantasy? The true story of the battle of Samarra
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American military issued the
startling claim - puzzling even some within its own ranks - that its troops
killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing
red or black chequered headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked
troops in the bloodiest engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last
April - and lost.
Repeated visits to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US
soldiers, and close inspection of the battle damage by scores of
correspondents have failed to eliminate several troubling and crucial
questions. Where are the bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll
- as some suspect - a fabrication which was intended to generate positive
headlines for the US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla
attacks killed 14 foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
MEDICAL SCIENCE
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Independent: Glaxo chief: Our drugs do not work on most patients
A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them.
Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.
It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.
Monday, December 08, 2003
GRAFFITI
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
BBC: French 'love' artist discovered
France has solved the mystery of the graffiti artist who has been covering the walls of its capital city with the word Amour, or Love, for months.
The word has been appearing up to 100 times a night only to be removed by Paris street cleaners the next evening.
Liberation newspaper finally located its author, unemployed artist Jean-Luc Duez, 54, through the internet
SCIENCE
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
Guardian: 'We Can Implant Entirely False Memories'
You were abducted by aliens, you saw Bugs Bunny at Disneyland,
and then you went up in a balloon. Didn't you?
Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child - something that never happened.
Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently - a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times.
MEDIA WATCH USA
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
The Memory Hole: The US Terrorism Plot That the Media Ignores
In May 2003, white supremacists in Texas were caught with a sodium cyanide bomb, other bombs, illegal weapons, hate literature, fake I.D., and chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. In mid-November, three people pleaded guilty to related charges, while seized documents indicate that there are other co-conspirators at large. The feds have served "hundreds of subpoenas across the country," and the plot has been included in the President's daily intelligence briefings.
But most of us have never heard about it. The only media that saw fit to report about this terrorist plot within the US were a few newspapers and TV stations in Texas. The Web-based news outlet WorldNetDaily ran a story about it, but Google News shows that there hasn't been a word in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other big media outlet. Why have the media decided that this is a non-story? It's hard to say, but we can say with certainty that if Muslims had been caught with these weapons of mass destruction, fake I.D., gas masks, and books on making explosives, it would've been front-page news for days.
Below, we've collected every article about this ignored plot that we could find. All images come from CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth.
IRAQ
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
Progressiv: Rigging Iraq's Elections
Ever since Bush was unable to unearth a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, he has shifted propaganda gears and talked more about how U.S. troops are installing democracy in Iraq.
But the truth of the matter is, Bush doesn't want any old democracy in Iraq.
He only wants a so-called democracy if he can pick the head of the new government .
That's why he's resisting the call from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric to hold popular elections in June.
The Bush Administration fears that a direct election would bring a Shiite to power whom Washington might not be able to push around. That leader could align with Iran, or renationalize industries, or order the U.S. troops out. And Bush wants none of that.
RUSSIA
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
London Telegraph: Putin Takes Control Of
Parliament - Rules Like Czar
President Vladimir Putin took control of the Russian parliament last night, removing the last effective bastion of opposition to his rule and paving the way for him to assume Tsar-like power.
Exit polls last night gave United Russia, the president's party, 37 per cent of the vote, the Communists 15 per cent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats 12 per cent. Rodina, a new nationalist party, was predicted to have won nine per cent.
This would give Mr Putin's party and its allies about 58 per cent of the vote and return Russia to an era of single-party dominance after 12 years of vibrant, if corrupt, democracy.
"Schlimmer als Amerika ist Russland noch nicht. Mr. Bush und seine Republikanischen Freunde haben auch soviel Macht wie Putin"
NEW BOOK FEAT. FH451
CHECK: PEACE SIGNS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED
PREVIEW: PEACE SIGNS
BUY THE BOOK:
Spanish edition publisher:
http://www.ggili.com/
English edition publisher (February Release):
http://www.edition-olms.com
PRESS:
El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]
Avui - 4 Diciembre De 2003 [506KB PDF]
Barcelona.com
YAHOO NEWS SPAIN
YAHOO NEWS CATALANIA
CHECK: PEACE SIGNS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT ILLUSTRATED
PREVIEW: PEACE SIGNS
BUY THE BOOK:
Spanish edition publisher:
http://www.ggili.com/
English edition publisher (February Release):
http://www.edition-olms.com
PRESS:
El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]
Avui - 4 Diciembre De 2003 [506KB PDF]
Barcelona.com
YAHOO NEWS SPAIN
YAHOO NEWS CATALANIA
SCIENCE
Reuters: No Doubts Global Warming Is Real Say US Experts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There can be no doubt that global warming is real and is being caused by people, two top U.S. government climate experts said.
Industrial emissions are a leading cause, they say -- contradicting critics, already in the minority, who argue that climate change could be caused by mostly natural forces.
"There is no doubt that the composition of the atmosphere is changing because of human activities, and today greenhouse gases are the largest human influence on global climate," wrote Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, and Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Reuters: No Doubts Global Warming Is Real Say US Experts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There can be no doubt that global warming is real and is being caused by people, two top U.S. government climate experts said.
Industrial emissions are a leading cause, they say -- contradicting critics, already in the minority, who argue that climate change could be caused by mostly natural forces.
"There is no doubt that the composition of the atmosphere is changing because of human activities, and today greenhouse gases are the largest human influence on global climate," wrote Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, and Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
USA: COINTELPRO
the Village Voice: J. Edgar Hoover Back at the 'New' FBI
If you go around telling people, "We're going to ferret out information on demonstrations," that deters people. People don't want their names and pictures in FBI files.
—American University constitutional law professor Herman Schwartz, commenting on FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89, October 15, 2003, "Tactics Used During Protests and Demonstrations"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americans of a certain age remember the FBI's counter-intelligence operation, COINTELPRO, which, during its years of operation from 1956 to 1971, surveilled, infiltrated, manipulated, and tried to provoke criminal activities by entirely lawful civil rights and anti-war demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to oppose government policies.
In the 1970s, the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities so exposed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's relentless violations of the Bill of Rights, very much including the First Amendment, that Attorney General Edward Levi—the best constitutionalist in that office in our history—established new FBI guidelines to keep its agents within the bounds of the Constitution.
And Senator Frank Church of Idaho, chairman of that Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, pledged in 1975, "The American people need to be reassured that never again will an agency of the government be permitted to conduct a secret war against those citizens it considers a threat to the established order."
the Village Voice: J. Edgar Hoover Back at the 'New' FBI
If you go around telling people, "We're going to ferret out information on demonstrations," that deters people. People don't want their names and pictures in FBI files.
—American University constitutional law professor Herman Schwartz, commenting on FBI Intelligence Bulletin no. 89, October 15, 2003, "Tactics Used During Protests and Demonstrations"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americans of a certain age remember the FBI's counter-intelligence operation, COINTELPRO, which, during its years of operation from 1956 to 1971, surveilled, infiltrated, manipulated, and tried to provoke criminal activities by entirely lawful civil rights and anti-war demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to oppose government policies.
In the 1970s, the Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities so exposed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's relentless violations of the Bill of Rights, very much including the First Amendment, that Attorney General Edward Levi—the best constitutionalist in that office in our history—established new FBI guidelines to keep its agents within the bounds of the Constitution.
And Senator Frank Church of Idaho, chairman of that Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, pledged in 1975, "The American people need to be reassured that never again will an agency of the government be permitted to conduct a secret war against those citizens it considers a threat to the established order."
IRAQ: LIKE THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
NY TIMES: Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.
In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.
The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories.
Underlying the new strategy, the Americans say, is the conviction that only a tougher approach will quell the insurgency and that the new strategy must punish not only the guerrillas but also make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating.
"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."
"Was der Captain hier sagt ist uebelster Rassismus"
NY TIMES: Tough New Tactics by U.S. Tighten Grip on Iraq Towns
As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire.
In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.
The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories.
Underlying the new strategy, the Americans say, is the conviction that only a tougher approach will quell the insurgency and that the new strategy must punish not only the guerrillas but also make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating.
"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."
"Was der Captain hier sagt ist uebelster Rassismus"
Friday, December 05, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
UPI: Interview with anti-U.S. Iraqi cell
(Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on meetings United Press International's Baghdad correspondent P. Mitchell Prothero had with a top member of an anti-U.S. Iraqi guerrilla group)
"Wait fifteen minutes," Abu Mujhid says after looking at his watch. Sipping a 7-UP soda after having broken his Ramadan fast just after nightfall in mid-November, Abu Mujhid -- not his real name -- has just been challenged by a reporter to prove he commands a resistance cell that performs violent attacks on American troops occupying his home town of Baghdad.
It's a critical question for men claiming to be part of anti-U.S. forces. Most demand money for exclusive interviews and eventually approach journalists working in Iraq. These interviews usually end with some unknown man wearing a kaffiya -- or Arabic headscarf -- around his face, holding an AK-47 and talking about some unverifiable incident in which he personally killed scores of American troops.
But Abu Mujhid has never asked a reporter for money. And he sits at a table in Western dress for this meeting -- one of four he and his men conducted with United Press International -- his round face clearly identifiable in a public place.
The conditions placed on the meetings were that UPI not use a satellite telephone -- from which a location can easily be tracked by U.S. intelligence -- or cameras and recording devices. Each of the meetings was after nightfall, in a public place and the location and timing of the interviews were never set in advance. Abu Mujahid also disclosed the neighborhood he lives and operates from but asked it not be identified in the article. He also said that he alone could be quoted for the story.
Sixteen minutes after Abu Mujhid told UPI to wait, four mortar rounds fired from a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood about 3 miles away flew overhead, landing in the compound of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
"God willing we hit something this time," he says, wryly smiling. "Our mortars are very inaccurate. We cannot wait to aim them, so we use timers.
"The American helicopters come too fast for us to properly use the mortars as we were trained to. But we are finding ways to fight these helicopters. Before we would shoot flares at them. But this did no good. Now some of our colleagues have SA-7s or Strellas (Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles), but me and my colleagues have no such equipment."
UPI: Interview with anti-U.S. Iraqi cell
(Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on meetings United Press International's Baghdad correspondent P. Mitchell Prothero had with a top member of an anti-U.S. Iraqi guerrilla group)
"Wait fifteen minutes," Abu Mujhid says after looking at his watch. Sipping a 7-UP soda after having broken his Ramadan fast just after nightfall in mid-November, Abu Mujhid -- not his real name -- has just been challenged by a reporter to prove he commands a resistance cell that performs violent attacks on American troops occupying his home town of Baghdad.
It's a critical question for men claiming to be part of anti-U.S. forces. Most demand money for exclusive interviews and eventually approach journalists working in Iraq. These interviews usually end with some unknown man wearing a kaffiya -- or Arabic headscarf -- around his face, holding an AK-47 and talking about some unverifiable incident in which he personally killed scores of American troops.
But Abu Mujhid has never asked a reporter for money. And he sits at a table in Western dress for this meeting -- one of four he and his men conducted with United Press International -- his round face clearly identifiable in a public place.
The conditions placed on the meetings were that UPI not use a satellite telephone -- from which a location can easily be tracked by U.S. intelligence -- or cameras and recording devices. Each of the meetings was after nightfall, in a public place and the location and timing of the interviews were never set in advance. Abu Mujahid also disclosed the neighborhood he lives and operates from but asked it not be identified in the article. He also said that he alone could be quoted for the story.
Sixteen minutes after Abu Mujhid told UPI to wait, four mortar rounds fired from a southwestern Baghdad neighborhood about 3 miles away flew overhead, landing in the compound of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
"God willing we hit something this time," he says, wryly smiling. "Our mortars are very inaccurate. We cannot wait to aim them, so we use timers.
"The American helicopters come too fast for us to properly use the mortars as we were trained to. But we are finding ways to fight these helicopters. Before we would shoot flares at them. But this did no good. Now some of our colleagues have SA-7s or Strellas (Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles), but me and my colleagues have no such equipment."
Thursday, December 04, 2003
USA-ISRAEL
Independent: Bush Warns Israel To Tread Carefully
The United States has privately told Israel of three "red lines" it must not cross in its dealing with the Palestinians and the wider Middle East, according to the Israeli press.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, the three red lines are: not to harm the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; not to "shock the region"; and not to create "facts on the ground" that could jeopardise the Palestinian state promised in the US-backed "road-map" for peace.
If the reports are true, much less is being asked of Israel than in June, when the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his then Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, agreed to the road-map.
But Israel has either crossed or come close to crossing all three red lines in recent months. In September, after a series of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, the Israeli cabinet decided to expel Mr Arafat, only to back away from the decision. In October, Israel risked destabilising the region when it carried out an air strike on a disused Palestinian militant base in Syria.
Independent: Bush Warns Israel To Tread Carefully
The United States has privately told Israel of three "red lines" it must not cross in its dealing with the Palestinians and the wider Middle East, according to the Israeli press.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, the three red lines are: not to harm the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; not to "shock the region"; and not to create "facts on the ground" that could jeopardise the Palestinian state promised in the US-backed "road-map" for peace.
If the reports are true, much less is being asked of Israel than in June, when the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and his then Palestinian counterpart, Abu Mazen, agreed to the road-map.
But Israel has either crossed or come close to crossing all three red lines in recent months. In September, after a series of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, the Israeli cabinet decided to expel Mr Arafat, only to back away from the decision. In October, Israel risked destabilising the region when it carried out an air strike on a disused Palestinian militant base in Syria.
MIND CONTROL
softagent: mind_control_with_silent_sound_//
//.[T]he mind-altering mechanism is based on a subliminal carrier technology : the Silent Sound Spread Spectrum (SSSS) , sometimes called "S-quad" or "Squad" . It was developed by Dr Oliver Lowery of Norcross , Georgia, and is described in US Patent #5,159,703 , "Silent Subliminal Presentation System" , dated October 27 , 1992_//
The abstract for the patent reads :
//."[A] silent communications system in which nonaural carriers , in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally , for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers , earphones , or piezoelectric transducers . The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical , magnetic , or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener."_//
//."[A]ccording to literature by Silent Sounds , Inc. , it is now possible , using super computers , to analyse human emotional EEG patterns and replicate them, then store these "emotion signature clusters" on another computer and , at will , "silently induce and change the emotional state in a human being"_//
softagent: mind_control_with_silent_sound_//
//.[T]he mind-altering mechanism is based on a subliminal carrier technology : the Silent Sound Spread Spectrum (SSSS) , sometimes called "S-quad" or "Squad" . It was developed by Dr Oliver Lowery of Norcross , Georgia, and is described in US Patent #5,159,703 , "Silent Subliminal Presentation System" , dated October 27 , 1992_//
The abstract for the patent reads :
//."[A] silent communications system in which nonaural carriers , in the very low or very high audio-frequency range or in the adjacent ultrasonic frequency spectrum are amplitude- or frequency-modulated with the desired intelligence and propagated acoustically or vibrationally , for inducement into the brain, typically through the use of loudspeakers , earphones , or piezoelectric transducers . The modulated carriers may be transmitted directly in real time or may be conveniently recorded and stored on mechanical , magnetic , or optical media for delayed or repeated transmission to the listener."_//
//."[A]ccording to literature by Silent Sounds , Inc. , it is now possible , using super computers , to analyse human emotional EEG patterns and replicate them, then store these "emotion signature clusters" on another computer and , at will , "silently induce and change the emotional state in a human being"_//
CHOMSKY
Guardian: Noam Chomsky: You Ask The Questions
Professor Noam Chomsky, 74, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into the only Jewish family in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood. He took a degree and then a PhD in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. At the age of 29, he published Syntactic Structures, which revolutionised the study of language. In 1964, he began openly resisting the Vietnam War, and published his first collection of political writings five years later. He has remained a major authority on both linguistics and political theory ever since. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Carol, and has three children.
Is anti-Semitism on the increase?
Ricardo Parreira, London
In the West, fortunately, it scarcely exists now, though it did in the past. There is, of course, what the Anti-Defamation League calls "the real anti-Semitism", more dangerous than the old-fashioned kind: criticism of policies of the state of Israel and US support for them, opposition to a vast US military budget, etc. In contrast, anti-Arab racism is rampant. The manifestations are shocking, in elite intellectual circles as well, but arouse little concern because they are considered legitimate: the most extreme form of racism.
Guardian: Noam Chomsky: You Ask The Questions
Professor Noam Chomsky, 74, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into the only Jewish family in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood. He took a degree and then a PhD in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. At the age of 29, he published Syntactic Structures, which revolutionised the study of language. In 1964, he began openly resisting the Vietnam War, and published his first collection of political writings five years later. He has remained a major authority on both linguistics and political theory ever since. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Carol, and has three children.
Is anti-Semitism on the increase?
Ricardo Parreira, London
In the West, fortunately, it scarcely exists now, though it did in the past. There is, of course, what the Anti-Defamation League calls "the real anti-Semitism", more dangerous than the old-fashioned kind: criticism of policies of the state of Israel and US support for them, opposition to a vast US military budget, etc. In contrast, anti-Arab racism is rampant. The manifestations are shocking, in elite intellectual circles as well, but arouse little concern because they are considered legitimate: the most extreme form of racism.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Diane Rehm: "Why do you think he [Bush] is suppressing that [Sept. 11] report?"
Howard Dean: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?"
The Diane Rehm Show," NPR, Dec. 1
Diane Rehm: "Why do you think he [Bush] is suppressing that [Sept. 11] report?"
Howard Dean: "I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?"
The Diane Rehm Show," NPR, Dec. 1
BUSH: PROPAGANDA WATCH
Washington Post: The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
In Iraq Picture, Bush Is Holding the Centerpiece
President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.
In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.
The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
"Der Typ lügt, betrügt und bescheisst wohl bei allem was er tut"
Washington Post: The Bird Was Perfect But Not For Dinner
In Iraq Picture, Bush Is Holding the Centerpiece
President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.
In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.
The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.
But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
"Der Typ lügt, betrügt und bescheisst wohl bei allem was er tut"
NOAM CHOMSKY
Heise: Der amerikanische Dissident
Es scheint paradox zu sein: Der Sprachwissenschaftler, den keine geringere Zeitung als die New York Times als den "wohl wichtigsten lebenden Intellektuellen" bezeichnete, verdankt diesen Ruhm nicht vorrangig seiner linguistischen Arbeit, sondern der Theorie, dass die US-Medien wie die New York Times kritische Stimmen wie die seine überhaupt nicht zu Wort kommen lassen
Als Noam Chomsky, Sohn zweier Hebräischlehrer, nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Linguistik studierte, war der Behaviorismus in voller Blüte. Pawlow hatte Jahrzehnte zuvor den sogenannten bedingten Reflex entdeckt; das Läuten einer Glocke löste bei einem Hund den Speichelfluss aus, nachdem dieser immer die Glocke vor dem Essen zu hören bekam. Einige Wissenschaftler vor Chomsky (vor allem B.F. Skinner) wandten diese Entdeckung auf das Erlernen von Sprachen an und schlussfolgerten, dass Kinder ihre Muttersprache wohl auch durch Übung und Erfahrung lernten - Sprachenlernen als Reflex.
Heise: Der amerikanische Dissident
Es scheint paradox zu sein: Der Sprachwissenschaftler, den keine geringere Zeitung als die New York Times als den "wohl wichtigsten lebenden Intellektuellen" bezeichnete, verdankt diesen Ruhm nicht vorrangig seiner linguistischen Arbeit, sondern der Theorie, dass die US-Medien wie die New York Times kritische Stimmen wie die seine überhaupt nicht zu Wort kommen lassen
Als Noam Chomsky, Sohn zweier Hebräischlehrer, nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Linguistik studierte, war der Behaviorismus in voller Blüte. Pawlow hatte Jahrzehnte zuvor den sogenannten bedingten Reflex entdeckt; das Läuten einer Glocke löste bei einem Hund den Speichelfluss aus, nachdem dieser immer die Glocke vor dem Essen zu hören bekam. Einige Wissenschaftler vor Chomsky (vor allem B.F. Skinner) wandten diese Entdeckung auf das Erlernen von Sprachen an und schlussfolgerten, dass Kinder ihre Muttersprache wohl auch durch Übung und Erfahrung lernten - Sprachenlernen als Reflex.
AFGHANISTAN IRAQ
Scotsman: Inside story of how Washington is losing its bottle
IN NEW York the mood is buoyant as the American economy continues to purr at a satisfying rate, but 250 miles to the south in Washington DC there is increasing private gloom among those in the know that events in Afghanistan and Iraq are going badly wrong - and growing despair about what to do about it.
President Bush’s bold Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad gave US troops a much-needed fillip and he said all the right things. But behind the scenes the war on terror is going badly wrong in its two main theatres. "In both places it is worse than you think," I was warned before arriving in the US capital for a series of off-the-record briefings. The warning was accurate.
Take Afghanistan first. You don’t read or see much about it these days. The reality is grim. The Taliban is resurgent; al-Qaeda is there too, but not as relevant as it was. Attacks on aid workers are soaring; many are refusing to leave the urban areas. The warlords are back in control of the countryside, where opium production is already above pre-invasion levels. "Afghanistan is a narco-economy once more," said one intelligence analyst.
The Taliban regularly mounts attacks in the rural areas and is expected to hit urban centres with greater force. "If they knew how weak we were," confided one intelligence source, "they would have done it already." Coalition forces are confined to Vietnam-style strategic hamlets from which they emerge for operations only in great force, before returning to their enclaves. Hamid Karzai’s grip on power is tenuous..
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page that loads of recruits are quitting the fledgling Afghan army because of pitiful pay. The US won’t provide figures, but an Afghan officer said: "We have roughly 6,000 trained soldiers, out of whom no less than 2,000 have left." The US says it plans to have 70,000 soldiers in the force; nobody has any idea from whence they will come.
"Zu Afghanistan kann man eigentlich nur eines sagen...nachdem der Westen einen Krieg gegen die falschen führte, hat er versagt, versagt und nochmals versagt. "
Scotsman: Inside story of how Washington is losing its bottle
IN NEW York the mood is buoyant as the American economy continues to purr at a satisfying rate, but 250 miles to the south in Washington DC there is increasing private gloom among those in the know that events in Afghanistan and Iraq are going badly wrong - and growing despair about what to do about it.
President Bush’s bold Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad gave US troops a much-needed fillip and he said all the right things. But behind the scenes the war on terror is going badly wrong in its two main theatres. "In both places it is worse than you think," I was warned before arriving in the US capital for a series of off-the-record briefings. The warning was accurate.
Take Afghanistan first. You don’t read or see much about it these days. The reality is grim. The Taliban is resurgent; al-Qaeda is there too, but not as relevant as it was. Attacks on aid workers are soaring; many are refusing to leave the urban areas. The warlords are back in control of the countryside, where opium production is already above pre-invasion levels. "Afghanistan is a narco-economy once more," said one intelligence analyst.
The Taliban regularly mounts attacks in the rural areas and is expected to hit urban centres with greater force. "If they knew how weak we were," confided one intelligence source, "they would have done it already." Coalition forces are confined to Vietnam-style strategic hamlets from which they emerge for operations only in great force, before returning to their enclaves. Hamid Karzai’s grip on power is tenuous..
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported on its front page that loads of recruits are quitting the fledgling Afghan army because of pitiful pay. The US won’t provide figures, but an Afghan officer said: "We have roughly 6,000 trained soldiers, out of whom no less than 2,000 have left." The US says it plans to have 70,000 soldiers in the force; nobody has any idea from whence they will come.
"Zu Afghanistan kann man eigentlich nur eines sagen...nachdem der Westen einen Krieg gegen die falschen führte, hat er versagt, versagt und nochmals versagt. "
PEAK OIL
Guardian: Bottom of the barrel
The world is running out of oil - so why do politicians refuse to talk about it?
The oil industry is buzzing. On Thursday, the government approved the development of the biggest deposit discovered in British territory for at least 10 years. Everywhere we are told that this is a "huge" find, which dispels the idea that North Sea oil is in terminal decline. You begin to recognise how serious the human predicament has become when you discover that this "huge" new field will supply the world with oil for five and a quarter days.
Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the resource upon which our lives have been built is running out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. This is a civilisation in denial.
Oil itself won't disappear, but extracting what remains is becoming ever more difficult and expensive. The discovery of new reserves peaked in the 1960s. Every year we use four times as much oil as we find. All the big strikes appear to have been made long ago: the 400m barrels in the new North Sea field would have been considered piffling in the 1970s. Our future supplies depend on the discovery of small new deposits and the better exploitation of big old ones. No one with expertise in the field is in any doubt that the global production of oil will peak before long.
The only question is how long. The most optimistic projections are the ones produced by the US department of energy, which claims that this will not take place until 2037. But the US energy information agency has admitted that the government's figures have been fudged: it has based its projections for oil supply on the projections for oil demand, perhaps in order not to sow panic in the financial markets....
"CHECK IT"
more info about peak oil: fromthewilderness.com
Guardian: Bottom of the barrel
The world is running out of oil - so why do politicians refuse to talk about it?
The oil industry is buzzing. On Thursday, the government approved the development of the biggest deposit discovered in British territory for at least 10 years. Everywhere we are told that this is a "huge" find, which dispels the idea that North Sea oil is in terminal decline. You begin to recognise how serious the human predicament has become when you discover that this "huge" new field will supply the world with oil for five and a quarter days.
Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the resource upon which our lives have been built is running out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. This is a civilisation in denial.
Oil itself won't disappear, but extracting what remains is becoming ever more difficult and expensive. The discovery of new reserves peaked in the 1960s. Every year we use four times as much oil as we find. All the big strikes appear to have been made long ago: the 400m barrels in the new North Sea field would have been considered piffling in the 1970s. Our future supplies depend on the discovery of small new deposits and the better exploitation of big old ones. No one with expertise in the field is in any doubt that the global production of oil will peak before long.
The only question is how long. The most optimistic projections are the ones produced by the US department of energy, which claims that this will not take place until 2037. But the US energy information agency has admitted that the government's figures have been fudged: it has based its projections for oil supply on the projections for oil demand, perhaps in order not to sow panic in the financial markets....
"CHECK IT"
more info about peak oil: fromthewilderness.com
IRAQ
informationclearinghouse: Bush And Blair Are In Trouble by John Pilger
December 02, 2003: (New Statesman) Shortly before the disastrous Bush visit to Britain, Tony Blair was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. It was an unusual glimpse of a state killer whose effete respectability has gone. His perfunctory nod to "the glorious dead" came from a face bleak with guilt. As William Howard Russell of the Times wrote of another prime minister responsible for the carnage in the Crimea, "He carries himself like one with blood on his hands." Having shown his studied respect to the Queen, whose prerogative allowed him to commit his crime in Iraq, Blair hurried away. "Sneak home and pray you'll never know," wrote Siegfried Sassoon in 1917, "The hell where youth and laughter go."
Their lying has finally become satire. Bush told David Frost that the world really had to change its attitude about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons because they were "very advanced". My personal favourite is Donald Rumsfeld's assessment. "The message," he said, "is that there are known knowns - there are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns ... things we do not know we don't know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
And Blair and his foreign secretary dare to suggest that the millions who have rumbled the Bush gang are "fashionably anti-American". An instructive example of their own mendacity was demonstrated recently by Jack Straw. On BBC Radio 4, defending Bush and Washington's doctrine of "preventive war", Straw told the interviewer: "Article 51 [of the United Nations Charter], to which you referred earlier - you said it only allows for self-defence. It actually goes more widely than that because it talks about the right of states to take what is called 'preventive action'."
Straw's every word was false, an invention. Article 51 does not refer to "the right of states to take preventive action" or anything similar. Nowhere in the UN Charter is there any such reference. Article 51 refers only to "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs" and goes on to constrain that right further. Moreover, the UN Charter was so framed as to outlaw any state's claimed right to preventive war.
"CHECK IT"
informationclearinghouse: Bush And Blair Are In Trouble by John Pilger
December 02, 2003: (New Statesman) Shortly before the disastrous Bush visit to Britain, Tony Blair was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. It was an unusual glimpse of a state killer whose effete respectability has gone. His perfunctory nod to "the glorious dead" came from a face bleak with guilt. As William Howard Russell of the Times wrote of another prime minister responsible for the carnage in the Crimea, "He carries himself like one with blood on his hands." Having shown his studied respect to the Queen, whose prerogative allowed him to commit his crime in Iraq, Blair hurried away. "Sneak home and pray you'll never know," wrote Siegfried Sassoon in 1917, "The hell where youth and laughter go."
Their lying has finally become satire. Bush told David Frost that the world really had to change its attitude about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons because they were "very advanced". My personal favourite is Donald Rumsfeld's assessment. "The message," he said, "is that there are known knowns - there are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns - that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns ... things we do not know we don't know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
And Blair and his foreign secretary dare to suggest that the millions who have rumbled the Bush gang are "fashionably anti-American". An instructive example of their own mendacity was demonstrated recently by Jack Straw. On BBC Radio 4, defending Bush and Washington's doctrine of "preventive war", Straw told the interviewer: "Article 51 [of the United Nations Charter], to which you referred earlier - you said it only allows for self-defence. It actually goes more widely than that because it talks about the right of states to take what is called 'preventive action'."
Straw's every word was false, an invention. Article 51 does not refer to "the right of states to take preventive action" or anything similar. Nowhere in the UN Charter is there any such reference. Article 51 refers only to "the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs" and goes on to constrain that right further. Moreover, the UN Charter was so framed as to outlaw any state's claimed right to preventive war.
"CHECK IT"
ISRAEL
Guardian: 'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'
Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians
For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.
Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel.
Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians.
"I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
"Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case."
The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.
Guardian: 'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'
Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians
For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.
Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel.
Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians.
"I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life.
"Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case."
The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children.
USA: COINTELPRO
SPTIMES: An un-American Activity: Ashcroft's Cointelpro
When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in May 2002 that he was
lifting restrictions on domestic spying by the FBI - rules that had
been put in place in response to the bureau's excesses during the 1960s and
'70s - he promised the sweeping new powers would be used only 'for the
purpose of detecting and preventing terrorism.' Now we know better. A
classified FBI intelligence memorandum has recently come to light demonstrating
that the FBI is using this new authority to spy on nonviolent antiwar
demonstrators. Ashcroft seems to be ushering us back to the bad old
days of J. Edgar Hoover... The parallels to Hoover's Cointelpro days, when
civil rights leaders and anti-Vietnam protesters were put under surveillance
and sabotaged, are too great to ignore. Ashcroft has exploited the nation's
fears against terrorism - just as Hoover used the communist scare - to
justify the elimination of most protections for citizen privacy.
Progressiv: It's official: Cointelpro is back.
The infamous FBI counterintelligence program of the 1960s and '70s,
which spied on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and disrupted the Panthers
and the American Indian Movement, is being revived right now by Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
FBI headquarters sent out a memo last month to local law enforcement
agencies telling them to gather intelligence on anti-war protesters who
were assembling in Washington and San Francisco, according to The New
York Times. "Report any potentially illegal acts" to FBI counterterrorism
task forces, the memo said.
The basis for viewing these protesters as terrorists is flimsy, as even
the
memo seems to acknowledge. The FBI "possesses no information indicating
that violent or terrorist activities are being planned as part of the
protests," the memo said. So why are they being treated as such?
One law enforcement official suggested to the Times that some
protesters may be acting in league with terrorists by distracting the FBI with a
big demonstration while a terrorist attack is planned for somewhere else.
That's pretty far-fetched, if you ask me
What is CointelPRO?: cointel.org
SPTIMES: An un-American Activity: Ashcroft's Cointelpro
When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in May 2002 that he was
lifting restrictions on domestic spying by the FBI - rules that had
been put in place in response to the bureau's excesses during the 1960s and
'70s - he promised the sweeping new powers would be used only 'for the
purpose of detecting and preventing terrorism.' Now we know better. A
classified FBI intelligence memorandum has recently come to light demonstrating
that the FBI is using this new authority to spy on nonviolent antiwar
demonstrators. Ashcroft seems to be ushering us back to the bad old
days of J. Edgar Hoover... The parallels to Hoover's Cointelpro days, when
civil rights leaders and anti-Vietnam protesters were put under surveillance
and sabotaged, are too great to ignore. Ashcroft has exploited the nation's
fears against terrorism - just as Hoover used the communist scare - to
justify the elimination of most protections for citizen privacy.
Progressiv: It's official: Cointelpro is back.
The infamous FBI counterintelligence program of the 1960s and '70s,
which spied on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and disrupted the Panthers
and the American Indian Movement, is being revived right now by Attorney
General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
FBI headquarters sent out a memo last month to local law enforcement
agencies telling them to gather intelligence on anti-war protesters who
were assembling in Washington and San Francisco, according to The New
York Times. "Report any potentially illegal acts" to FBI counterterrorism
task forces, the memo said.
The basis for viewing these protesters as terrorists is flimsy, as even
the
memo seems to acknowledge. The FBI "possesses no information indicating
that violent or terrorist activities are being planned as part of the
protests," the memo said. So why are they being treated as such?
One law enforcement official suggested to the Times that some
protesters may be acting in league with terrorists by distracting the FBI with a
big demonstration while a terrorist attack is planned for somewhere else.
That's pretty far-fetched, if you ask me
What is CointelPRO?: cointel.org
IRAQ: INTERVIEW
A-Infos: Of Course, It Was All About Iraq's Resources
Gulf News: Interview with Noam Chomsky
Simon Mars: Do you think control over energy resources was
the main reason for the invasion of Iraq?
Noam Chomsky: They didn't decide to invade Eastern Congo
where there's much worse massacres going on. Of course it
was Iraq's energy resources. It's not even a question.
Iraq's one of the major oil producers in the world. It has
the second largest reserves and it's right in the heart of
the Gulf's oil producing region, which US intelligence
predicts is going to be two thirds of world resources in
coming years.
The invasion of Iraq had a number of motives, and one was to
illustrate the new National Security Strategy, which
declares that the United States will control the world
permanently by force if necessary and will eliminate any
potential challenge to that domination. It is called
pre-emptive war.........
"CHECK IT"
A-Infos: Of Course, It Was All About Iraq's Resources
Gulf News: Interview with Noam Chomsky
Simon Mars: Do you think control over energy resources was
the main reason for the invasion of Iraq?
Noam Chomsky: They didn't decide to invade Eastern Congo
where there's much worse massacres going on. Of course it
was Iraq's energy resources. It's not even a question.
Iraq's one of the major oil producers in the world. It has
the second largest reserves and it's right in the heart of
the Gulf's oil producing region, which US intelligence
predicts is going to be two thirds of world resources in
coming years.
The invasion of Iraq had a number of motives, and one was to
illustrate the new National Security Strategy, which
declares that the United States will control the world
permanently by force if necessary and will eliminate any
potential challenge to that domination. It is called
pre-emptive war.........
"CHECK IT"
USA: ELECTRONIC VOTING
WIRED: Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge
Diebold Election Systems is withdrawing legal threats against voting
activists and Internet service providers for publishing copies of
internal staff e-mails that the company says were stolen from its servers. The
documents pointed to security flaws with Diebold's computerized voting
machines and suggested the company knew about those flaws long before
it sold machines to several states, including California, Maryland and
Georgia.
Beginning in August, Diebold issued cease-and-desist letters to more
than a dozen individuals who posted the documents or links to sites hosting
them on the Internet. The company claimed copyright infringement under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, a law designed to guard
against the improper use of creative works. Diebold said the documents revealed
proprietary information about the workings of its e-voting system that
would benefit its competitors.
WIRED: Diebold Backs Off Legal Challenge
Diebold Election Systems is withdrawing legal threats against voting
activists and Internet service providers for publishing copies of
internal staff e-mails that the company says were stolen from its servers. The
documents pointed to security flaws with Diebold's computerized voting
machines and suggested the company knew about those flaws long before
it sold machines to several states, including California, Maryland and
Georgia.
Beginning in August, Diebold issued cease-and-desist letters to more
than a dozen individuals who posted the documents or links to sites hosting
them on the Internet. The company claimed copyright infringement under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, a law designed to guard
against the improper use of creative works. Diebold said the documents revealed
proprietary information about the workings of its e-voting system that
would benefit its competitors.
IRAQ: SAMARRA
WSWS: Massacre in Samarra: US lies and self-delusion
The US military’s initial account of Sunday’s firefight in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, uncritically relayed to the American people by a servile media, has proven to be a tissue of lies. It turns out that the “major victory” over the Iraqi resistance consisted of American forces blasting away indiscriminately in Samarra’s city center, killing innocent men, women and children, damaging property and buildings—including a mosque and a kindergarten—and further enraging the local population.
The Samarra incident in its various aspects—the battle itself, the military’s claims, the media’s role—is a microcosm of the US occupation of Iraq.
WSWS: Massacre in Samarra: US lies and self-delusion
The US military’s initial account of Sunday’s firefight in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, uncritically relayed to the American people by a servile media, has proven to be a tissue of lies. It turns out that the “major victory” over the Iraqi resistance consisted of American forces blasting away indiscriminately in Samarra’s city center, killing innocent men, women and children, damaging property and buildings—including a mosque and a kindergarten—and further enraging the local population.
The Samarra incident in its various aspects—the battle itself, the military’s claims, the media’s role—is a microcosm of the US occupation of Iraq.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
MARKETING TERROR
SIA NEWS: Does al-Qaeda exist?
'Al-Qaeda bombing foiled' says the front page of today's UK Sun, reporting the arrest yesterday of 24-year-old student Sajid Badat in Gloucester, England, on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity. Other reports have referred to Badat as 'having links with al-Qaeda' and being a potential 'suicide bomber' (1).
Also this week, media reports claim that al-Qaeda may have developed 'car-bomb capability' in the USA, and that al-Qaeda has compiled a 'kidnappers' manual' and is plotting to snatch American troops from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Every day since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 there have been media reports about al-Qaeda - its leaders, members, capabilities, bank accounts, reach and threat. What is this al-Qaeda? Does such a group even exist?
Some terrorism experts doubt it. Adam Dolnik and Kimberly McCloud reckon it's time we 'defused the widespread image of al-Qaeda as a ubiquitous, super-organised terror network and call it as it is: a loose collection of groups and individuals that doesn't even refer to itself as al-Qaeda'. Dolnik and McCloud - who first started studying terrorism at the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies in California - claim it was Western officials who imposed the name 'al-Qaeda' on to disparate radical Islamic groups and who blew Osama bin Laden's power and reach 'out of proportion'. Both are concerned about the threat of terror, but argue that we should 'debunk the myth of al-Qaeda' (2)...
There is a 'rooted public perception of what al-Qaeda is', says Dolnik, who is currently carrying out research on the Terrorism and Political Violence Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore; but, he says, such perceptions are far from accurate. Dolnik argues that where many imagine that al-Qaeda is 'a super organisation of thousands of super-trained and super-secret members who can be activated any minute', in fact it is better understood as something like a 'global ideology that has not only attracted many smaller regional groups, but has also facilitated the boom of new organisations that embrace this sort of radical and violent thinking'. Dolnik and others believe that, in many ways, the thing we refer to as 'al-Qaeda' is largely a creation of Western officials.
"Es mag Al-Qaida so nicht geben aber das ist egal. Als BRAND eignet sich das naemlich hervorragend um den Leuten glauben zu machen, der boese Osama sei so etwas wie Dr. Evil oder Golfinger von James Bond..Damit erzeugt man in der Oeffentlichkeit viel groessere Angst, als wenn man von einem losen Zusammenschluss radikaler, muslimischer Gruppierungen spricht. Von der Angst der Massen profitieren schlussendlich Politiker und Konzerne und darum ist die Sache durchaus so gewollt"
SIA NEWS: Does al-Qaeda exist?
'Al-Qaeda bombing foiled' says the front page of today's UK Sun, reporting the arrest yesterday of 24-year-old student Sajid Badat in Gloucester, England, on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity. Other reports have referred to Badat as 'having links with al-Qaeda' and being a potential 'suicide bomber' (1).
Also this week, media reports claim that al-Qaeda may have developed 'car-bomb capability' in the USA, and that al-Qaeda has compiled a 'kidnappers' manual' and is plotting to snatch American troops from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Every day since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 there have been media reports about al-Qaeda - its leaders, members, capabilities, bank accounts, reach and threat. What is this al-Qaeda? Does such a group even exist?
Some terrorism experts doubt it. Adam Dolnik and Kimberly McCloud reckon it's time we 'defused the widespread image of al-Qaeda as a ubiquitous, super-organised terror network and call it as it is: a loose collection of groups and individuals that doesn't even refer to itself as al-Qaeda'. Dolnik and McCloud - who first started studying terrorism at the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies in California - claim it was Western officials who imposed the name 'al-Qaeda' on to disparate radical Islamic groups and who blew Osama bin Laden's power and reach 'out of proportion'. Both are concerned about the threat of terror, but argue that we should 'debunk the myth of al-Qaeda' (2)...
There is a 'rooted public perception of what al-Qaeda is', says Dolnik, who is currently carrying out research on the Terrorism and Political Violence Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore; but, he says, such perceptions are far from accurate. Dolnik argues that where many imagine that al-Qaeda is 'a super organisation of thousands of super-trained and super-secret members who can be activated any minute', in fact it is better understood as something like a 'global ideology that has not only attracted many smaller regional groups, but has also facilitated the boom of new organisations that embrace this sort of radical and violent thinking'. Dolnik and others believe that, in many ways, the thing we refer to as 'al-Qaeda' is largely a creation of Western officials.
"Es mag Al-Qaida so nicht geben aber das ist egal. Als BRAND eignet sich das naemlich hervorragend um den Leuten glauben zu machen, der boese Osama sei so etwas wie Dr. Evil oder Golfinger von James Bond..Damit erzeugt man in der Oeffentlichkeit viel groessere Angst, als wenn man von einem losen Zusammenschluss radikaler, muslimischer Gruppierungen spricht. Von der Angst der Massen profitieren schlussendlich Politiker und Konzerne und darum ist die Sache durchaus so gewollt"
IRAQI RESISTANCE: PROPAGANDA WATCH
online.info: US Army Samarra 'Victory' Story Falls Apart
Coverage Of Samarra Firefight Disputed
All the people in town today are asking for revenge. They want to kill the Americans like they killed our civilians. Give me a gun, and I will also fight." -Iraqi ER worker
NEW YORK -- One week after newspapers were forced to correct front-page reports that two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq had been "mutilated," coverage of a weekend firefight between U.S. soldiers and guerrillas in Samarra is being questioned as Iraq officials and witnesses claim the U.S. military vastly overestimated the number of Iraqis killed by American troops.
Numerous newspapers on Monday played up as front page news the Sunday clash between rebel forces and U.S. soldiers in the city of Samarra, with most declaring that between 46 and 54 Iraqis had been killed and using only U.S. military officials as their sources. After a run of bad news for the U.S. in Iraq -- including a record monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers -- the military portrayed this as a major victory, and the press seemed to accept it.
Neither The New York Times, New York Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Washington Post, or Knight Ridder included any civilian witnesses or Iraqi hospital accounts in their initial reports Monday. Many flatly reported the death tally and account of the battle without noting this was "according to military officials." The Times topped its front page with the declarative headline: "46 Iraqis Die in Fierce Fight Between Rebels and GIs," and this was common treatment. The Los Angeles Times account, however, noted that the 54 deaths had yet to be confirmed and included hospital officials' contentions that only nine people had died.
ICH: Eyewitness Report - The 'Battle' At Samarra
Translated and compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr
(ICH) -- In the 24 hours following what is now being called the Battle of Samarra' Arab and international news media are beginning to piece together a picture of what really transpired. Two separate American columns on opposite sides of the city were simultaneously ambushed by Iraqi Resistance fighters.
A ferocious battle ensued in which the Iraqis battled the US forces who fired back indiscriminately with everything from automatic weapons to tank cannon and rockets from helicopter gunships.
After inflicting casualties on the Americans the Resistance fighters withdrew. The American troops, however, continued to shell and rocket residential quarters of Samarra' for hours as if to punish residents and drive a wedge between them and the Iraqi Resistance.
The result has been quite the opposite. As the people of Samarra' awakened Monday to survey the battle damage they talked to the press of their outrage at the brutality of the American aggressors and their resolve to join the ranks of the Resistance.
After initially claiming that they had killed 46 Resistance fighters in their Sunday battle against two simultaneous attacks in Samarra', US aggressor spokesmen on Monday claimed that they had actually
killed 54 Iraqis as they used tanks and cannon to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes.
Iraqi witnesses, however, painted a different story. The Associated Press reported that residents of Samarra' disputed those American figures, saying at most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue. The AP, afraid to challenge the official American story directly, observed: "there was no way to reconcile the accounts."
Al-Jazeera TV reported that hospital sources in the city reported US gunfire killed eight people, all of them civilians. The Arabic language daily newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Tuesday on the basis of hospital reports that ten persons were killed in the attack...........
"Samarra liegt der naehe von zwei Shiitischen Heiligtuemern. Bis jetzt wurde der groesste Teil der Angriffe auf Amerikaner von Sunnitschen Gebieten gestartet. Die Shiiten stellen 60% der Bevoelkerung des Irak und haben bis jetzt noch keinen militaerischen Wiederstand geleistet. Das koennte sich schnell aendern. Dann hat die USA eine noch viel groesseres Problem als sie bereits haben"
online.info: US Army Samarra 'Victory' Story Falls Apart
Coverage Of Samarra Firefight Disputed
All the people in town today are asking for revenge. They want to kill the Americans like they killed our civilians. Give me a gun, and I will also fight." -Iraqi ER worker
NEW YORK -- One week after newspapers were forced to correct front-page reports that two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq had been "mutilated," coverage of a weekend firefight between U.S. soldiers and guerrillas in Samarra is being questioned as Iraq officials and witnesses claim the U.S. military vastly overestimated the number of Iraqis killed by American troops.
Numerous newspapers on Monday played up as front page news the Sunday clash between rebel forces and U.S. soldiers in the city of Samarra, with most declaring that between 46 and 54 Iraqis had been killed and using only U.S. military officials as their sources. After a run of bad news for the U.S. in Iraq -- including a record monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers -- the military portrayed this as a major victory, and the press seemed to accept it.
Neither The New York Times, New York Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Washington Post, or Knight Ridder included any civilian witnesses or Iraqi hospital accounts in their initial reports Monday. Many flatly reported the death tally and account of the battle without noting this was "according to military officials." The Times topped its front page with the declarative headline: "46 Iraqis Die in Fierce Fight Between Rebels and GIs," and this was common treatment. The Los Angeles Times account, however, noted that the 54 deaths had yet to be confirmed and included hospital officials' contentions that only nine people had died.
ICH: Eyewitness Report - The 'Battle' At Samarra
Translated and compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr
(ICH) -- In the 24 hours following what is now being called the Battle of Samarra' Arab and international news media are beginning to piece together a picture of what really transpired. Two separate American columns on opposite sides of the city were simultaneously ambushed by Iraqi Resistance fighters.
A ferocious battle ensued in which the Iraqis battled the US forces who fired back indiscriminately with everything from automatic weapons to tank cannon and rockets from helicopter gunships.
After inflicting casualties on the Americans the Resistance fighters withdrew. The American troops, however, continued to shell and rocket residential quarters of Samarra' for hours as if to punish residents and drive a wedge between them and the Iraqi Resistance.
The result has been quite the opposite. As the people of Samarra' awakened Monday to survey the battle damage they talked to the press of their outrage at the brutality of the American aggressors and their resolve to join the ranks of the Resistance.
After initially claiming that they had killed 46 Resistance fighters in their Sunday battle against two simultaneous attacks in Samarra', US aggressor spokesmen on Monday claimed that they had actually
killed 54 Iraqis as they used tanks and cannon to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes.
Iraqi witnesses, however, painted a different story. The Associated Press reported that residents of Samarra' disputed those American figures, saying at most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue. The AP, afraid to challenge the official American story directly, observed: "there was no way to reconcile the accounts."
Al-Jazeera TV reported that hospital sources in the city reported US gunfire killed eight people, all of them civilians. The Arabic language daily newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported on Tuesday on the basis of hospital reports that ten persons were killed in the attack...........
"Samarra liegt der naehe von zwei Shiitischen Heiligtuemern. Bis jetzt wurde der groesste Teil der Angriffe auf Amerikaner von Sunnitschen Gebieten gestartet. Die Shiiten stellen 60% der Bevoelkerung des Irak und haben bis jetzt noch keinen militaerischen Wiederstand geleistet. Das koennte sich schnell aendern. Dann hat die USA eine noch viel groesseres Problem als sie bereits haben"
EURO VS. DOLLAR
Reuters: Gold Hits New High On Surging Euro
LONDON (Reuters) - Gold jumped in Europe on Tuesday to its highest in more than 7-1/2 years for the second session in a row as fund buyers seized on a surging euro and news that Barrick Gold Corp would reduce its forward sales to zero over time.
The chief executive of Barrick said the firm would no longer sell its gold forward at set prices, announcing a change in its long-established hedging policy.
Greg Wilkins told Reuters the world's third biggest gold producer and largest hedger would look at ways to reduce its forward sales program in a measured way.
"This represents one of the medium term shocks I've been highlighting that could happen in the gold market and that is that we might see faster than expected producer de-hedging next year," said John Reade of UBS Investment Bank.
Reuters: Gold Hits New High On Surging Euro
LONDON (Reuters) - Gold jumped in Europe on Tuesday to its highest in more than 7-1/2 years for the second session in a row as fund buyers seized on a surging euro and news that Barrick Gold Corp would reduce its forward sales to zero over time.
The chief executive of Barrick said the firm would no longer sell its gold forward at set prices, announcing a change in its long-established hedging policy.
Greg Wilkins told Reuters the world's third biggest gold producer and largest hedger would look at ways to reduce its forward sales program in a measured way.
"This represents one of the medium term shocks I've been highlighting that could happen in the gold market and that is that we might see faster than expected producer de-hedging next year," said John Reade of UBS Investment Bank.
GENEVA ACCORD
financial times: Israel Attacks Powell For
Talks On Geneva Plan
JERUSALEM - Israel sharply criticised Colin Powell, US secretary of state, on Tuesday for agreeing to meet later this week the authors of an unofficial peace plan known as the "Geneva accord", which was launched on Monday.
"I think he [Powell] is making a mistake," Ehud Olmert, deputy prime minister, told Israel Radio. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."
Mr Powell has expressed his willingness to meet Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo accords, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian cabinet minister and joint author of the Geneva accord. But the plan has come under attack by the Israeli government led by Ariel Sharon, prime minister, with some ministers calling its authors "traitors".
financial times: Israel Attacks Powell For
Talks On Geneva Plan
JERUSALEM - Israel sharply criticised Colin Powell, US secretary of state, on Tuesday for agreeing to meet later this week the authors of an unofficial peace plan known as the "Geneva accord", which was launched on Monday.
"I think he [Powell] is making a mistake," Ehud Olmert, deputy prime minister, told Israel Radio. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."
Mr Powell has expressed his willingness to meet Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo accords, and Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former Palestinian cabinet minister and joint author of the Geneva accord. But the plan has come under attack by the Israeli government led by Ariel Sharon, prime minister, with some ministers calling its authors "traitors".
QUOTE OF THE DAY
During an argument between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Peres said that Isralis' policies of continued violence might "turn the US against us".
To this Sharon retorted:
"EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON'T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL;
WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
October 3, 2001
(IAP News)
During an argument between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Peres said that Isralis' policies of continued violence might "turn the US against us".
To this Sharon retorted:
"EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON'T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL;
WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
October 3, 2001
(IAP News)
ANTI-SEMITISM
Al Ahram: Israel's anti-Semitism
The Israeli right stands guilty of more than hypocrisy when they accuse others of being anti-Semitic, writes Ibrahim Nafie
Israel and Zionist organisations are becoming increasingly dependent upon the charge of "anti- Semitism" as a political weapon. Individuals and organisations, indeed entire nations and societies, have found themselves so besmirched.
Anti-Semitism has a very precise definition. It refers to remarks or acts targeting the ethnic group termed Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs. Israeli and Zionist media and political forces have warped this definition in several ways. Above all they have manipulated the concept of Semitic ethnicity so as to apply to Jews alone, thereby enabling them to level the allegation of anti-Semitism against the Arabs in spite of the fact that they constitute the majority of the Semitic peoples. In addition, they have stretched the definition of anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Israel and Israeli policy. Thus, anyone who speaks out against the aggression and inhumane practices inflicted against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation forces risks being branded "anti-Semitic".
Al Ahram: Israel's anti-Semitism
The Israeli right stands guilty of more than hypocrisy when they accuse others of being anti-Semitic, writes Ibrahim Nafie
Israel and Zionist organisations are becoming increasingly dependent upon the charge of "anti- Semitism" as a political weapon. Individuals and organisations, indeed entire nations and societies, have found themselves so besmirched.
Anti-Semitism has a very precise definition. It refers to remarks or acts targeting the ethnic group termed Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs. Israeli and Zionist media and political forces have warped this definition in several ways. Above all they have manipulated the concept of Semitic ethnicity so as to apply to Jews alone, thereby enabling them to level the allegation of anti-Semitism against the Arabs in spite of the fact that they constitute the majority of the Semitic peoples. In addition, they have stretched the definition of anti-Semitism to include any criticism of Israel and Israeli policy. Thus, anyone who speaks out against the aggression and inhumane practices inflicted against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation forces risks being branded "anti-Semitic".
USA
Pravda.ru: World War 4 In 2004
Bush's Operation Clean Sweep - World War IV In 2004
Even though Bush II will lose the popular vote in the US presidential election of 2004, his Electoral College victory seems assured. With Republican party governors firmly in charge of Florida, California, Texas and New York, and supported by a whopping Bush campaign war chest approaching $200 million, dubious electronic voting schemes courtesy of Diebold, Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors (http://www.blackboxvoting.com), it seems certain that Bush will make it back to the Oval Office through the back door that is the Electoral College. And if not the Electoral College then by benefit of a rebel attack on US soil which kills thousands of Americans and leads to the suspension of the US Constitution. That according to General Tommy Franks, USA (Ret.), who opined in the magazine Cigar Aficionado that the US will have to shed its constitution in favor of a military style of government. Even the notorious aristocrat Alexander Hamilton would have been appalled as such a statement, as would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But these are mediocre times in history; particularly, and dangerously, in America where its people have eliminated those who might have continued to wage a struggle for an equitable form of government in the US, as well as engage the world through international treaty building.
Pravda.ru: World War 4 In 2004
Bush's Operation Clean Sweep - World War IV In 2004
Even though Bush II will lose the popular vote in the US presidential election of 2004, his Electoral College victory seems assured. With Republican party governors firmly in charge of Florida, California, Texas and New York, and supported by a whopping Bush campaign war chest approaching $200 million, dubious electronic voting schemes courtesy of Diebold, Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors (http://www.blackboxvoting.com), it seems certain that Bush will make it back to the Oval Office through the back door that is the Electoral College. And if not the Electoral College then by benefit of a rebel attack on US soil which kills thousands of Americans and leads to the suspension of the US Constitution. That according to General Tommy Franks, USA (Ret.), who opined in the magazine Cigar Aficionado that the US will have to shed its constitution in favor of a military style of government. Even the notorious aristocrat Alexander Hamilton would have been appalled as such a statement, as would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But these are mediocre times in history; particularly, and dangerously, in America where its people have eliminated those who might have continued to wage a struggle for an equitable form of government in the US, as well as engage the world through international treaty building.
Monday, December 01, 2003
![El Pais - 26 De Noviembre de 2003 [743KB JPG]](http://www.theantiwarposter.com/prensas/El_Pais.jpg){kind=link}
USA
Counterpunch: Wag the Turkey WAYNE MADSEN
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the
movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that
the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a
"traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I
contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge
boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active
duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at
6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under
cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for
two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM.
Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark
from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar
where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were
downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and
non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits,
home fries, and toast.
Counterpunch: Wag the Turkey WAYNE MADSEN
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the
movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that
the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a
"traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I
contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge
boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active
duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at
6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under
cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for
two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM.
Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark
from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar
where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were
downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and
non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits,
home fries, and toast.
USA-ISRAEL
Tom Paine: Prominent American Rabbi Speaks Out
The second most influential Jew in America -- after Paul Wolfowitz --
has broken his silence and sharply attacked the policies of Israel's
government. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform
Judaism said the government's settlement policy endangers the future of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Yoffie went as far as warning
that Israel is becoming an apartheid state, something most peace activists
say has already happened. For its part, the Bush administration decided to
give Israel a slap on the wrist for its illegal settlement activity, by
reducing its loan guarantees to Israel this year by nearly $290 million, a
paltry sum when compared with the $3 billion in direct economic and military
aid Israel receives each year from the United States
Tom Paine: Prominent American Rabbi Speaks Out
The second most influential Jew in America -- after Paul Wolfowitz --
has broken his silence and sharply attacked the policies of Israel's
government. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the president of the Union for Reform
Judaism said the government's settlement policy endangers the future of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Yoffie went as far as warning
that Israel is becoming an apartheid state, something most peace activists
say has already happened. For its part, the Bush administration decided to
give Israel a slap on the wrist for its illegal settlement activity, by
reducing its loan guarantees to Israel this year by nearly $290 million, a
paltry sum when compared with the $3 billion in direct economic and military
aid Israel receives each year from the United States
IRAQI RESISTNACE
Washington Post: 7 Spaniards Killed In Iraqi Ambush, Japanese Diplomats Slain in Separate Attack
LATIFIYA, Iraq, Nov. 29 -- More than a dozen insurgents ambushed and
killed
seven Spanish intelligence officers on Saturday on a highway near this
town
south of Baghdad, according to witnesses and Spanish officials. The
closely coordinated attack, in which gunmen fired from moving cars and
behind a concrete wall, was the latest in a series against European
troops taking part in the U.S.-led occupation. Witnesses said the ambush was
carried out by loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein using
automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
In a separate attack north of Baghdad, two Japanese diplomats were
killed in an ambush near Hussein's home town of Tikrit, according to the
Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Japanese government is weighing whether to
dispatch noncombat troops to help rebuild Iraq, a contribution desperately being
sought by the U.S. government but opposed by many Japanese.
Washington Post: 7 Spaniards Killed In Iraqi Ambush, Japanese Diplomats Slain in Separate Attack
LATIFIYA, Iraq, Nov. 29 -- More than a dozen insurgents ambushed and
killed
seven Spanish intelligence officers on Saturday on a highway near this
town
south of Baghdad, according to witnesses and Spanish officials. The
closely coordinated attack, in which gunmen fired from moving cars and
behind a concrete wall, was the latest in a series against European
troops taking part in the U.S.-led occupation. Witnesses said the ambush was
carried out by loyalists of former president Saddam Hussein using
automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
In a separate attack north of Baghdad, two Japanese diplomats were
killed in an ambush near Hussein's home town of Tikrit, according to the
Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Japanese government is weighing whether to
dispatch noncombat troops to help rebuild Iraq, a contribution desperately being
sought by the U.S. government but opposed by many Japanese.
IRAQ
orlando sentinel: Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed,
wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq
since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to
the Pentagon.
Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by
the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the
numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to
accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers.
orlando sentinel: Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed,
wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq
since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to
the Pentagon.
Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by
the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the
numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to
accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers.
FINANCE
Independent: Dollar plunges to all-time low against euro
The dollar tumbled across the board yesterday, hitting an all-time low against the euro amid fears that Wall Street was betting against the US currency. The euro traded as high as $1.2018 - above $1.20 for the first time - as the dollar slid to new multi-year lows against sterling and the Canadian dollar and a six-month low against the Swiss franc.
With American markets shut for Thanksgiving, traders focused on a string of negative news on the dollar. including yesterday's report in The Independent that the leading financiers George Soros and Warren Buffett had taken "short positions".
Yesterday's fall added to the massive selling of the world's largest currency, which has tumbled by 14 per cent against the euro so far this year. The financial markets are growing increasingly concerned that the US will not be able to attract enough investment to fund its burgeoning current account deficit, which is running at record levels
( Some Wall Street Banks are now warning their clients that as long as the Bush Federal Reserve insists
on keeping interest levels at artificial lows (to give the false impression that the economy is in better shape than it is), the dollar is in serious danger of collapse.)
Independent: Dollar plunges to all-time low against euro
The dollar tumbled across the board yesterday, hitting an all-time low against the euro amid fears that Wall Street was betting against the US currency. The euro traded as high as $1.2018 - above $1.20 for the first time - as the dollar slid to new multi-year lows against sterling and the Canadian dollar and a six-month low against the Swiss franc.
With American markets shut for Thanksgiving, traders focused on a string of negative news on the dollar. including yesterday's report in The Independent that the leading financiers George Soros and Warren Buffett had taken "short positions".
Yesterday's fall added to the massive selling of the world's largest currency, which has tumbled by 14 per cent against the euro so far this year. The financial markets are growing increasingly concerned that the US will not be able to attract enough investment to fund its burgeoning current account deficit, which is running at record levels
( Some Wall Street Banks are now warning their clients that as long as the Bush Federal Reserve insists
on keeping interest levels at artificial lows (to give the false impression that the economy is in better shape than it is), the dollar is in serious danger of collapse.)
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