MIDDLE EAST
Guardian: Israeli fighter jets strike south Lebanon
Israeli fighter jets today attacked Hizbullah guerrilla targets in south Lebanon, Israeli military officials said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said that Israeli warplanes hit Hizbullah bases in the Bekaa Valley, the area of south Lebanon that is closest to the Syrian border.
Israel's Channel Two TV said that at least four explosions were heard. There were two targets but no immediate reports of casualties, the report said. The air strike followed a border incident yesterday, in which Hizbullah guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile at a bulldozer clearing explosives. An Israeli soldier was killed and another seriously wounded.
The Israeli army today changed its account of the border incident to acknowledge that the soldier killed in the clash had actually been on Lebanese and not Israeli soil at the time.
"We deviated [from standard procedure] by going into Lebanon," Reuters reported Brigadier General Yair Golan as saying.
"From their [Hizbullah's] standpoint [the attack] is legitimate, although not from ours," Brig Gen Golan said. "It is very serious and an escalation ... it is a provocation by Hizbullah."
"Israel schickt Soldaten über die Grenze nach Libanon. Sie werden, was vorauszusehen war, attackiert. Israel nennt das eine Provokation und bombardiert im Gegenzug Hisbollah Stellungen im Libanon um nachher Syrien die Schuld für den Zwischenfall zu geben.?????"
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Monday, January 19, 2004
IRAQ
Guardian: Why The US Is Running
Scared Of Elections In Iraq
Washington's Plan To Transfer Power Without A Direct Vote Is A Fraud
The occupation of Iraq continues to get worse for George Bush and Tony Blair. The deaths of at least 20 people in a suicide bomb attack outside the coalition headquarters in Baghdad yesterday morning underlines the spiralling unrest in the country. The toll of US casualties since Saddam Hussein's capture is higher than in the same period before it. Angry protests over unemployment and petrol shortages have erupted in several cities in the south, in areas under British control.
Guardian: Why The US Is Running
Scared Of Elections In Iraq
Washington's Plan To Transfer Power Without A Direct Vote Is A Fraud
The occupation of Iraq continues to get worse for George Bush and Tony Blair. The deaths of at least 20 people in a suicide bomb attack outside the coalition headquarters in Baghdad yesterday morning underlines the spiralling unrest in the country. The toll of US casualties since Saddam Hussein's capture is higher than in the same period before it. Angry protests over unemployment and petrol shortages have erupted in several cities in the south, in areas under British control.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Washington Post: Clerics Urge Shiites to Protest
Call for Iraqi Elections Carries Hint of Violence
KARBALA, Iraq, Jan. 16 -- Preachers in Shiite Muslim mosques appealed to their followers Friday to prepare for demonstrations, strikes and possible confrontations with occupation troops to back up demands for elections in advance of a transfer of authority from a U.S.-led administration to Iraqis.
The calls increased pressure on the Bush administration and its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council to satisfy demands by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most influential cleric, for elections. President Bush's chief administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and top Governing Council leaders are scheduled to meet in New York next week in hopes of enlisting U.N. help in changing Sistani's mind.
Washington Post: Clerics Urge Shiites to Protest
Call for Iraqi Elections Carries Hint of Violence
KARBALA, Iraq, Jan. 16 -- Preachers in Shiite Muslim mosques appealed to their followers Friday to prepare for demonstrations, strikes and possible confrontations with occupation troops to back up demands for elections in advance of a transfer of authority from a U.S.-led administration to Iraqis.
The calls increased pressure on the Bush administration and its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council to satisfy demands by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most influential cleric, for elections. President Bush's chief administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and top Governing Council leaders are scheduled to meet in New York next week in hopes of enlisting U.N. help in changing Sistani's mind.
DOCUMENTARY: CARLYLE GROUP
Informationclearinghouse: Exposed: The Carlyle Group
Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy.
I defy you to watch this 48 minute documentary and not be outraged about the depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our government and the first family.
Note: The first one minute forty seven seconds of this program is in broadcast in Dutch, The remainder is in English
WATCH IT HERE
Informationclearinghouse: Exposed: The Carlyle Group
Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy.
I defy you to watch this 48 minute documentary and not be outraged about the depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our government and the first family.
Note: The first one minute forty seven seconds of this program is in broadcast in Dutch, The remainder is in English
WATCH IT HERE
IRAQ: VIDEO
Rense: Video - Iraqi Farmers Slaughtered By US Apache Copter
In the video, the 'vehicle' on the left side of the frame is clearly a farm tractor...
"The clip was cut from a longer video obtained by ABC News last week and verified by a senior US army official." - WRH.com
Download the MPEG movie HERE
Rense: Video - Iraqi Farmers Slaughtered By US Apache Copter
In the video, the 'vehicle' on the left side of the frame is clearly a farm tractor...
"The clip was cut from a longer video obtained by ABC News last week and verified by a senior US army official." - WRH.com
Download the MPEG movie HERE
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
IRAQ WAR: LIES, LIES, LIES
NY Times: Hussein Warned Iraqis to Beware Outside Fighters, Document Says
Saddam Hussein warned his Iraqi supporters to be wary of joining forces with foreign Arab fighters entering Iraq to battle American troops, according to a document found with the former Iraqi leader when he was captured, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.
The document appears to be a directive, written after he lost power, from Mr. Hussein to leaders of the Iraqi resistance, counseling caution against getting too close to Islamic jihadists and other foreign Arabs coming into occupied Iraq, according to American officials.
"Es gab keine Massenvernichtungswaffen, es gab keine Verbindung zu Al-Quida. Es gab niemals einen pausiblen Grund f?r einen pr?ventiven Angriffskrieg."
NY Times: Hussein Warned Iraqis to Beware Outside Fighters, Document Says
Saddam Hussein warned his Iraqi supporters to be wary of joining forces with foreign Arab fighters entering Iraq to battle American troops, according to a document found with the former Iraqi leader when he was captured, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.
The document appears to be a directive, written after he lost power, from Mr. Hussein to leaders of the Iraqi resistance, counseling caution against getting too close to Islamic jihadists and other foreign Arabs coming into occupied Iraq, according to American officials.
"Es gab keine Massenvernichtungswaffen, es gab keine Verbindung zu Al-Quida. Es gab niemals einen pausiblen Grund f?r einen pr?ventiven Angriffskrieg."
PR WATCH
Columbia Journalism Review: Answer the &$%#* Question!
Ever Wonder Why They Won?t? They?ve Been Media-Trained. And the Public Is the Loser
Columbia Journalism Review editor Trudy Lieberman, after examining transcripts from some 50 major news shows, concludes that "journalism has morphed into a cog in a great public relations
machine." Lieberman blames the prevalence of PR-driven media training: "At a time when the audience makes decisions based on perceptions rather than facts, the goal is to create positive perceptions of companies and their products, politicians and their policies." Recent interview excerpts illustrate how "trained" guests can easily gain control, especially when the "unwritten rules" discourage journalists from insisting on real answers
Columbia Journalism Review: Answer the &$%#* Question!
Ever Wonder Why They Won?t? They?ve Been Media-Trained. And the Public Is the Loser
Columbia Journalism Review editor Trudy Lieberman, after examining transcripts from some 50 major news shows, concludes that "journalism has morphed into a cog in a great public relations
machine." Lieberman blames the prevalence of PR-driven media training: "At a time when the audience makes decisions based on perceptions rather than facts, the goal is to create positive perceptions of companies and their products, politicians and their policies." Recent interview excerpts illustrate how "trained" guests can easily gain control, especially when the "unwritten rules" discourage journalists from insisting on real answers
CRIME
Oberhesische Presse: Mit Helikopter Graffiti-Sprayern auf der Spur
...Der BGS ?bernehme bahnpolizeiliche Aufgaben und ?berwache regelm??ig die Gegend entlang der Bahnschienen in Marburg, sagte der Inspektionsleiter des BGS Gie?en, Udo Becker. ?Erg?nzend zu Streifenwagen setzen wir Hubschrauber ein?, sagte Becker. Ziel des Helikopter-Einsatzes ist laut Becker die ?Beobachtung von Sachbesch?digungen? im Zuge der Gefahrenabwehr. So haben die BGS-Mitarbeiter am Wochenende mit einem W?rmebildger?t unter anderem nach Sachbesch?digungen wie Graffiti-Zeichnungen und illegalen M?llablagerungen gesucht, erkl?rte Becker....
Oberhesische Presse: Mit Helikopter Graffiti-Sprayern auf der Spur
...Der BGS ?bernehme bahnpolizeiliche Aufgaben und ?berwache regelm??ig die Gegend entlang der Bahnschienen in Marburg, sagte der Inspektionsleiter des BGS Gie?en, Udo Becker. ?Erg?nzend zu Streifenwagen setzen wir Hubschrauber ein?, sagte Becker. Ziel des Helikopter-Einsatzes ist laut Becker die ?Beobachtung von Sachbesch?digungen? im Zuge der Gefahrenabwehr. So haben die BGS-Mitarbeiter am Wochenende mit einem W?rmebildger?t unter anderem nach Sachbesch?digungen wie Graffiti-Zeichnungen und illegalen M?llablagerungen gesucht, erkl?rte Becker....
USA: VOTE FRAUD 2000
Weeklydig: Winning the Election - The Republican Way: Racism, Theft and Fraud in Florida
When future historians want to know what happened to America in 2000,
they'll read Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. The book
follows the paper trail of perjury, deception and incompetence left by the
Bush family, and the billionaires who fund them, as they trample through
the world - from mining disaster cover-ups to the California energy scandal
to the pre-9/11 intelligence black-out that let a handful of Saudi
terrorists slip past the NSA, FBI and CIA.
Interview with Greg Palast....
"CHECK IT"
Weeklydig: Winning the Election - The Republican Way: Racism, Theft and Fraud in Florida
When future historians want to know what happened to America in 2000,
they'll read Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. The book
follows the paper trail of perjury, deception and incompetence left by the
Bush family, and the billionaires who fund them, as they trample through
the world - from mining disaster cover-ups to the California energy scandal
to the pre-9/11 intelligence black-out that let a handful of Saudi
terrorists slip past the NSA, FBI and CIA.
Interview with Greg Palast....
"CHECK IT"
USA
Onlinejournal: Paranoid shift
"Perhaps the biggest hidden reason people don't make the paranoid shift is that knowledge brings responsibility. If we acknowledge that an inner circle of ruling elites controls the world's most powerful military and
intelligence system; controls the international banking system; controls the most effective and far-reaching propaganda network in history; controls all three branches of government in the world's only superpower; and
controls the technology that counts the people's votes, we might be then forced to conclude that we don't live in a particularly democratic system. And then voting and making contributions and trying to stay informed
wouldn't be enough. Because then the duty of citizenship would go beyond serving as a loyal opposition, to serving as a 'loyal resistance' - like the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, except that in this case the
resistance to fascism would be on the side of the national ideals, rather than the government.
"CHECK IT"
Onlinejournal: Paranoid shift
"Perhaps the biggest hidden reason people don't make the paranoid shift is that knowledge brings responsibility. If we acknowledge that an inner circle of ruling elites controls the world's most powerful military and
intelligence system; controls the international banking system; controls the most effective and far-reaching propaganda network in history; controls all three branches of government in the world's only superpower; and
controls the technology that counts the people's votes, we might be then forced to conclude that we don't live in a particularly democratic system. And then voting and making contributions and trying to stay informed
wouldn't be enough. Because then the duty of citizenship would go beyond serving as a loyal opposition, to serving as a 'loyal resistance' - like the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, except that in this case the
resistance to fascism would be on the side of the national ideals, rather than the government.
"CHECK IT"
BALKAN
Chroniclesmagazine: JIHADIST HOTBED IN THE BALKANS: THE TRUTH IS OUT
For years we have been warning that flawed pro-Muslim Western policies would turn the Balkans from a “protectorate of the New World Order into an Islamic threat to Western interests” (Chronicles, December 2001). This has already happened, according to a spate of media reports and statements by Western governments and top diplomats over the past few weeks.
“US to build Balkan anti-terrorism center in Bulgaria,” news agencies reported on January 6, to monitor and detect terrorist threats to the United States and Balkan countries. In addition to the CIA-staffed center, Bulgarian media reported that the FBI also plans to set up an office in Sofia working with the center. US intelligence experts are quoted as saying that al-Qaida has a training base in the Balkans and uses the region as a terror route to West.
During the war Bosnia become a training camp for Islamist activists from all over the world, the magazine quotes a French expert as saying, with up to 5,000 foreign volunteers fighting with Izetbegovic’s troops. Many remained behind, “too many to be safe,” according to George Friedman, director of Stratfor. The Balkans are “of strategic importance” to Al-Qa’ida, he says; the organization can use the region for its objectives at any time.
"Wer hat wohl die Islamisten während des Krieges nach Bosnien gebracht und Unterstützt? Genau, der Westen."
Chroniclesmagazine: JIHADIST HOTBED IN THE BALKANS: THE TRUTH IS OUT
For years we have been warning that flawed pro-Muslim Western policies would turn the Balkans from a “protectorate of the New World Order into an Islamic threat to Western interests” (Chronicles, December 2001). This has already happened, according to a spate of media reports and statements by Western governments and top diplomats over the past few weeks.
“US to build Balkan anti-terrorism center in Bulgaria,” news agencies reported on January 6, to monitor and detect terrorist threats to the United States and Balkan countries. In addition to the CIA-staffed center, Bulgarian media reported that the FBI also plans to set up an office in Sofia working with the center. US intelligence experts are quoted as saying that al-Qaida has a training base in the Balkans and uses the region as a terror route to West.
During the war Bosnia become a training camp for Islamist activists from all over the world, the magazine quotes a French expert as saying, with up to 5,000 foreign volunteers fighting with Izetbegovic’s troops. Many remained behind, “too many to be safe,” according to George Friedman, director of Stratfor. The Balkans are “of strategic importance” to Al-Qa’ida, he says; the organization can use the region for its objectives at any time.
"Wer hat wohl die Islamisten während des Krieges nach Bosnien gebracht und Unterstützt? Genau, der Westen."
QUOTE OF THE DAY
John Kerry Responds to Secretary O’Neill’s Iraq Charges
“These are very serious charges by a former high ranking Administration official. We already knew the Administration failed to focus on the threat from Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda. We already knew the Administration broke every promise they made to work through the U.N., use the resolution to enforce inspections, build a coalition, and plan for peace. But Secretary O’Neill’s revelations would mean the Administration never intended to even try to keep those promises. It would mean they were dead-set on going to war alone since almost the day they took office and deliberately lied to the American people, Congress, and the world. It would mean that for purely ideological reasons they planned on putting American troops in a shooting gallery occupying an Arab country almost alone. The White House needs to answer these charges truthfully because they threaten to shatter their already damaged credibility as never before.”
John Kerry Responds to Secretary O’Neill’s Iraq Charges
“These are very serious charges by a former high ranking Administration official. We already knew the Administration failed to focus on the threat from Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda. We already knew the Administration broke every promise they made to work through the U.N., use the resolution to enforce inspections, build a coalition, and plan for peace. But Secretary O’Neill’s revelations would mean the Administration never intended to even try to keep those promises. It would mean they were dead-set on going to war alone since almost the day they took office and deliberately lied to the American people, Congress, and the world. It would mean that for purely ideological reasons they planned on putting American troops in a shooting gallery occupying an Arab country almost alone. The White House needs to answer these charges truthfully because they threaten to shatter their already damaged credibility as never before.”
USA: IRAQ WAR
NY Times OP/ED: The Faulty Weapons Estimates
There seems little doubt that the Bush administration's prime justification for invading Iraq — the fear that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction — was way off base. Nine months of fruitless searching have made that increasingly clear.
But last week three new reports cast further doubt on the administration's reckless rush to invade Iraq. Taken together, they paint a picture far different from the one presented to Americans early last year. They depict a world in which Saddam Hussein, though undeniably eager to make Iraq a threatening world power, was far from any serious steps to do that. The reports strengthen our conviction that whatever threat Iraq posed did not require an immediate invasion without international support. And they underline the importance of finding out how far the Bush administration's obsession with the Iraqi dictator warped the American intelligence reports that did so much to convince Congress and the public that the attack was justified.
"Die NY Times fordert nun eine unabhängige Untersuchung darüber, wie es zum Irak Krieg gekommen ist. Die NY Times hätte sich besser vor einem halben Jahr darüber Gedanken gemacht, als Sie fast täglich Regierungs-Propaganda auf Seite 1 abdruckte"
NY Times OP/ED: The Faulty Weapons Estimates
There seems little doubt that the Bush administration's prime justification for invading Iraq — the fear that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction — was way off base. Nine months of fruitless searching have made that increasingly clear.
But last week three new reports cast further doubt on the administration's reckless rush to invade Iraq. Taken together, they paint a picture far different from the one presented to Americans early last year. They depict a world in which Saddam Hussein, though undeniably eager to make Iraq a threatening world power, was far from any serious steps to do that. The reports strengthen our conviction that whatever threat Iraq posed did not require an immediate invasion without international support. And they underline the importance of finding out how far the Bush administration's obsession with the Iraqi dictator warped the American intelligence reports that did so much to convince Congress and the public that the attack was justified.
"Die NY Times fordert nun eine unabhängige Untersuchung darüber, wie es zum Irak Krieg gekommen ist. Die NY Times hätte sich besser vor einem halben Jahr darüber Gedanken gemacht, als Sie fast täglich Regierungs-Propaganda auf Seite 1 abdruckte"
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Morpheus: "Do you want to know what it is? The matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or turn on your television set. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
That you are a slave, Neo, like everyone else, you were born into a prison that you cannot see, that you cannot smell, or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."
Morpheus: "Do you want to know what it is? The matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or turn on your television set. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
That you are a slave, Neo, like everyone else, you were born into a prison that you cannot see, that you cannot smell, or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."
Monday, January 12, 2004
VIDEO
Information Clearinghouse: Breaking The Silence
A hard hitting special report into the "war on terror" Award winning journalist John Pilger
"Download it"
Information Clearinghouse: Breaking The Silence
A hard hitting special report into the "war on terror" Award winning journalist John Pilger
"Download it"
USA: 911
USA Politics Today: Why Is Bush And His National Security Team Acting So Guilty About 9/11?
Early in 2002, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said "no one could have predicted that they would try to use a hijacked airplane as a missile…” to bring down the World Trade Towers.
Early in 2004 she is fighting hard not to have to repeat that claim under oath.
Because it was a lie.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on New York and Washington most Americans were ready to believe that Osama Bin Laden hit us with a sucker punch that no one could have seen coming. The evidence is now overwhelming that the punch was telegraphed in advance and that gross incompetence let that punch land and do its terrible damage.
Just before Christmas, and under-reported by the press, was this startling statement by Thomas Kean, chairman of the independent commission investigating 9/11:
"This was not something that had to happen."
Mr. Kean is a Republican. He’s the former governor of New Jersey and now a university president. He was appointed commission chairman by President Bush. He’s hardly one to make wild and outrageous statements. His view that 9/11 could have been prevented clearly comes from information Mr. Kean has learned from looking at official classified documents.
And now Mr. Kean and other members of the investigating commission want Ms Rice and other responsible government officials to testify in public and under oath about what they knew about terrorist activity in the months prior to 9/11--and what they did with that information. The commission wants to know why those charged with U.S. security failed to keep us secure.
Ms Rice doesn’t want to go there. Neither for that matter does President Bush. They are resisting the request to testify. And they have made clear they don't want to do it under oath or in public.
The Bush White House fought mightily against creating the Kean commission in the first place. When public pressure forced Congress to go ahead despite their objections, the White House did everything possible to throw nails in the road. They insisted on a two-year time-table. Then they dragged their feet for months in appointing commission members. They even tried to slip pet lap dog Henry Kissinger in as chairman. When that failed, they put the commission on a starvation budget. Then they fought attempts by the commission to see critical documents. Now they don’t want to testify in public or under oath.
Do you get the impression the administration has something to hide?
USA Politics Today: Why Is Bush And His National Security Team Acting So Guilty About 9/11?
Early in 2002, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said "no one could have predicted that they would try to use a hijacked airplane as a missile…” to bring down the World Trade Towers.
Early in 2004 she is fighting hard not to have to repeat that claim under oath.
Because it was a lie.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on New York and Washington most Americans were ready to believe that Osama Bin Laden hit us with a sucker punch that no one could have seen coming. The evidence is now overwhelming that the punch was telegraphed in advance and that gross incompetence let that punch land and do its terrible damage.
Just before Christmas, and under-reported by the press, was this startling statement by Thomas Kean, chairman of the independent commission investigating 9/11:
"This was not something that had to happen."
Mr. Kean is a Republican. He’s the former governor of New Jersey and now a university president. He was appointed commission chairman by President Bush. He’s hardly one to make wild and outrageous statements. His view that 9/11 could have been prevented clearly comes from information Mr. Kean has learned from looking at official classified documents.
And now Mr. Kean and other members of the investigating commission want Ms Rice and other responsible government officials to testify in public and under oath about what they knew about terrorist activity in the months prior to 9/11--and what they did with that information. The commission wants to know why those charged with U.S. security failed to keep us secure.
Ms Rice doesn’t want to go there. Neither for that matter does President Bush. They are resisting the request to testify. And they have made clear they don't want to do it under oath or in public.
The Bush White House fought mightily against creating the Kean commission in the first place. When public pressure forced Congress to go ahead despite their objections, the White House did everything possible to throw nails in the road. They insisted on a two-year time-table. Then they dragged their feet for months in appointing commission members. They even tried to slip pet lap dog Henry Kissinger in as chairman. When that failed, they put the commission on a starvation budget. Then they fought attempts by the commission to see critical documents. Now they don’t want to testify in public or under oath.
Do you get the impression the administration has something to hide?
AFGHANISTAN
ABC News: Thousands Of Recruits Desert Afghan Army
Almost one-third of Afghanistan's nascent national army has deserted after completing training by instructors from the United States, France and Britain.
The Afghan National Army currently boasts about 10,000 troops.
That number was already dwarfed by the 100,000 or so militia members loyal to warlords around the country.
The Afghan army has been charged with the responsibility of disarming, demobilising and reintegrating the militia men.
But after receiving about $65 a month during training, 3,000 Afghan army recruits have deserted.
ABC News: Thousands Of Recruits Desert Afghan Army
Almost one-third of Afghanistan's nascent national army has deserted after completing training by instructors from the United States, France and Britain.
The Afghan National Army currently boasts about 10,000 troops.
That number was already dwarfed by the 100,000 or so militia members loyal to warlords around the country.
The Afghan army has been charged with the responsibility of disarming, demobilising and reintegrating the militia men.
But after receiving about $65 a month during training, 3,000 Afghan army recruits have deserted.
ISRAEL
AP: 120,000 Protest Sharon Settlement 'Evacuation' Plan
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- More than 100,000 settlers and their backers on Sunday protested the Israeli prime minister's plans to evacuate Jewish settlements as part of a peace agreement or a unilateral withdrawal from Palestinian areas.
The demonstrators filled a Tel Aviv square to listen to ministers from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's own Cabinet heap criticism on him. Some threatened to leave the ruling coalition of he carries out the plan.
Sharon has warned that in a peace deal, Israel would not be able to retain all of its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. He has also said some settlements would be moved if peace efforts collapse and Israel moves unilaterally to draw its own boundary with Palestinian areas.
AP: 120,000 Protest Sharon Settlement 'Evacuation' Plan
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- More than 100,000 settlers and their backers on Sunday protested the Israeli prime minister's plans to evacuate Jewish settlements as part of a peace agreement or a unilateral withdrawal from Palestinian areas.
The demonstrators filled a Tel Aviv square to listen to ministers from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's own Cabinet heap criticism on him. Some threatened to leave the ruling coalition of he carries out the plan.
Sharon has warned that in a peace deal, Israel would not be able to retain all of its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. He has also said some settlements would be moved if peace efforts collapse and Israel moves unilaterally to draw its own boundary with Palestinian areas.
UK: 1984
Independent: UK City Residents Video Viewed
Up To 300 Times A Day
"Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines."
More than four million surveillance cameras monitor our every move, making Britain the most-watched nation in the world, research has revealed.
The number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras has quadrupled in the past three years, and there is now one for every 14 people in the UK. The increase is happening at twice the predicted rate, and it is believed that Britain accounts for one-fifth of all CCTV cameras worldwide. Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines.
Independent: UK City Residents Video Viewed
Up To 300 Times A Day
"Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines."
More than four million surveillance cameras monitor our every move, making Britain the most-watched nation in the world, research has revealed.
The number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras has quadrupled in the past three years, and there is now one for every 14 people in the UK. The increase is happening at twice the predicted rate, and it is believed that Britain accounts for one-fifth of all CCTV cameras worldwide. Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines.
IRAQ
Electronic Iraq: Hideous Evidence US Military
Tortures Iraqis With Electricity
January 2003 -- Sadiq Zoman Abrahim, 55 years old, was detained this past August in Kirkuk by US Soldiers during a home raid which produced no weapons. He was taken to the police office in Kirkuk, questioned by the Americans there, then transferred to Kirkuk Airport Detention Center.
It was from this detention center he was transferred to Tikrit Airport Detention Center. While in this detention center Mr. Abrahim managed to find a man who was about to be released, and have him pass on to his family information about where he was.
It was from this place that the Americans transferred him, comatose, to the hospital in Tikrit.
"CHECK IT"
Electronic Iraq: Hideous Evidence US Military
Tortures Iraqis With Electricity
January 2003 -- Sadiq Zoman Abrahim, 55 years old, was detained this past August in Kirkuk by US Soldiers during a home raid which produced no weapons. He was taken to the police office in Kirkuk, questioned by the Americans there, then transferred to Kirkuk Airport Detention Center.
It was from this detention center he was transferred to Tikrit Airport Detention Center. While in this detention center Mr. Abrahim managed to find a man who was about to be released, and have him pass on to his family information about where he was.
It was from this place that the Americans transferred him, comatose, to the hospital in Tikrit.
"CHECK IT"
USA: IRAQ WAR
Rense: Revealed - Bush Planned To Invade Iraq 9 Mos Before 911
FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY PAUL ONEILL SAYS INVASION OF IRAQ WAS PLANNED IN THE FIRST DAYS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION LONG BEFORE 9/11, IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SUNDAY ON "60 MINUTES"
The Bush Administration began laying plans for an invasion of Iraq including the use of American troops within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001, not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks as has been previously reported. That is what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Jan. 11 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
CBS News: Bush Sought ?Way? To Invade Iraq?
(CBS) A year ago, Paul O'Neill was fired from his job as George Bush's Treasury Secretary for disagreeing too many times with the president's policy on tax cuts.
Now, O'Neill - who is known for speaking his mind - talks for the first time about his two years inside the Bush administration. His story is the centerpiece of a new book being published this week about the way the Bush White House is run.
Entitled "The Price of Loyalty," the book by a former Wall Street Journal reporter draws on interviews with high-level officials who gave the author their personal accounts of meetings with the president, their notes and documents.
"surprise, surprise"
Rense: Revealed - Bush Planned To Invade Iraq 9 Mos Before 911
FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY PAUL ONEILL SAYS INVASION OF IRAQ WAS PLANNED IN THE FIRST DAYS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION LONG BEFORE 9/11, IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SUNDAY ON "60 MINUTES"
The Bush Administration began laying plans for an invasion of Iraq including the use of American troops within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001, not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks as has been previously reported. That is what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Jan. 11 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
CBS News: Bush Sought ?Way? To Invade Iraq?
(CBS) A year ago, Paul O'Neill was fired from his job as George Bush's Treasury Secretary for disagreeing too many times with the president's policy on tax cuts.
Now, O'Neill - who is known for speaking his mind - talks for the first time about his two years inside the Bush administration. His story is the centerpiece of a new book being published this week about the way the Bush White House is run.
Entitled "The Price of Loyalty," the book by a former Wall Street Journal reporter draws on interviews with high-level officials who gave the author their personal accounts of meetings with the president, their notes and documents.
"surprise, surprise"
Monday, January 05, 2004
IRAQI DEMOCRACY
IOL: US Restricts Civilian Demonstrations In Iraq
BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net) - U.S. occupation authorities in Iraq have imposed strict restrictions on the right of the Iraqi people to demonstrate, particularly in the capital Baghdad, in what Iraqi political analysts described as the real face of sugar-coated democracy clichés.
A statement issued by the U.S.-led authority and broadcast by the Iraqi media network Wednesday, December 31, said
It demanded those who want to demonstrate or organize a meeting to submit a written request to the occupation authorities no less than a day before.
The request, according to the statement, must include the purpose and duration of the demonstration, an estimate of the maximum number of demonstrators and names and addresses of the organizers.
Detention Threat
If a permit is granted, the American statement said, demonstrators would not be allowed to wear the traditional galabiya (a loose shirt-like garment), helmets, hoods or even cover their faces.
Would-be Iraqi demonstrators must also not carry guns, even the licensed, stones or sticks, added the statement.
Last but not least, any demonstration must not last more than four hours and should not be organized less than 500 meters away from the headquarters of the occupation forces and the affiliated institutions.
IOL: US Restricts Civilian Demonstrations In Iraq
BAGHDAD (IslamOnline.net) - U.S. occupation authorities in Iraq have imposed strict restrictions on the right of the Iraqi people to demonstrate, particularly in the capital Baghdad, in what Iraqi political analysts described as the real face of sugar-coated democracy clichés.
A statement issued by the U.S.-led authority and broadcast by the Iraqi media network Wednesday, December 31, said
It demanded those who want to demonstrate or organize a meeting to submit a written request to the occupation authorities no less than a day before.
The request, according to the statement, must include the purpose and duration of the demonstration, an estimate of the maximum number of demonstrators and names and addresses of the organizers.
Detention Threat
If a permit is granted, the American statement said, demonstrators would not be allowed to wear the traditional galabiya (a loose shirt-like garment), helmets, hoods or even cover their faces.
Would-be Iraqi demonstrators must also not carry guns, even the licensed, stones or sticks, added the statement.
Last but not least, any demonstration must not last more than four hours and should not be organized less than 500 meters away from the headquarters of the occupation forces and the affiliated institutions.
TERROR
Reuters: Purported Bin Laden Tape
Mentions Saddam Capture
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired an audio tape on Sunday purported to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he mentioned the arrest of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops last month.
Saddam was captured on December 13. If authenticated, the tape would prove that the man being hunted by the United States for masterminding the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, is still alive.
In Washington, a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said it might take a couple of days to determine whether the tape, which sounded like previous broadcast recordings by the al Qaeda leader, was genuine.
The voice said Muslim and Arab leaders had reason to fear the precedent of letting foreigners topple a Muslim government, "especially after they saw the capture of their former comrade in treachery and collaboration with America" -- meaning Saddam.
The recording, which rambled like a sermon between a myriad of topics, urged Muslims to fight U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and criticized Gulf Arab governments for supporting Washington's invasion of an Arab country.
Reuters: Purported Bin Laden Tape
Mentions Saddam Capture
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired an audio tape on Sunday purported to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he mentioned the arrest of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops last month.
Saddam was captured on December 13. If authenticated, the tape would prove that the man being hunted by the United States for masterminding the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, is still alive.
In Washington, a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said it might take a couple of days to determine whether the tape, which sounded like previous broadcast recordings by the al Qaeda leader, was genuine.
The voice said Muslim and Arab leaders had reason to fear the precedent of letting foreigners topple a Muslim government, "especially after they saw the capture of their former comrade in treachery and collaboration with America" -- meaning Saddam.
The recording, which rambled like a sermon between a myriad of topics, urged Muslims to fight U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and criticized Gulf Arab governments for supporting Washington's invasion of an Arab country.
ECONOMY: EURO VS. DOLLAR
Reuters: Dollar Tumbles Again to Begin Year
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar continued its downward spiral Monday, hitting yet another low against the euro, helping send gold prices to 14-year highs and pushing Japanese authorities to step in to protect the yen.
Stock markets -- which had their best year in 2003 since 1986, according to at least one calculation -- were mixed. European shares hovered around break even, but Tokyo ended its first session of 2004 up more than one percent.
The new year showed no sign of breathing new life into the U.S. currency, which tumbled last year amid doubts about the United States' ability to fund its current account gap.
Reuters: Dollar Tumbles Again to Begin Year
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar continued its downward spiral Monday, hitting yet another low against the euro, helping send gold prices to 14-year highs and pushing Japanese authorities to step in to protect the yen.
Stock markets -- which had their best year in 2003 since 1986, according to at least one calculation -- were mixed. European shares hovered around break even, but Tokyo ended its first session of 2004 up more than one percent.
The new year showed no sign of breathing new life into the U.S. currency, which tumbled last year amid doubts about the United States' ability to fund its current account gap.
USA
Toronto Star: America - The Real Danger Lies Within
PALM BEACH -- The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Acton's famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.
For America's hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex - the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness. President George Bush, who vowed his foreign policy would be "humble" and "compassionate," has turned out to be the most radical president in modern U.S. history.
"CHECK IT"
Toronto Star: America - The Real Danger Lies Within
PALM BEACH -- The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Acton's famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.
For America's hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex - the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness. President George Bush, who vowed his foreign policy would be "humble" and "compassionate," has turned out to be the most radical president in modern U.S. history.
"CHECK IT"
USA
The Telegraph: US Hawks Present War Manifesto To Bush
Tell Bush How To Win War On Terror
WASHINGTON -- President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.
The manifesto, presented as a "manual for victory" in the war on terror, also calls for Saudi Arabia and France to be treated not as allies but as rivals and possibly enemies.
The manifesto is contained in a new book by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser and "intellectual guru" of the hardline neo-conservative movement, and David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter. They give warning of a faltering of the "will to win" in Washington.
In the battle for the president's ear, the manifesto represents an attempt by hawks to break out of the post-Iraq doldrums and strike back at what they see as a campaign of hostile leaking by their foes in such centres of caution as the State Department or in the military top brass.
The Telegraph: US Hawks Present War Manifesto To Bush
Tell Bush How To Win War On Terror
WASHINGTON -- President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.
The manifesto, presented as a "manual for victory" in the war on terror, also calls for Saudi Arabia and France to be treated not as allies but as rivals and possibly enemies.
The manifesto is contained in a new book by Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser and "intellectual guru" of the hardline neo-conservative movement, and David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter. They give warning of a faltering of the "will to win" in Washington.
In the battle for the president's ear, the manifesto represents an attempt by hawks to break out of the post-Iraq doldrums and strike back at what they see as a campaign of hostile leaking by their foes in such centres of caution as the State Department or in the military top brass.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
QUOTES OF THE DAY
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." - Dick Cheney, August 26 2002
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." - George W. Bush, September 12 2002
"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." - Ari Fleischer, December 2 2002
"We know for a fact that there are weapons there." - Ari Fleischer, January 9 2003
"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." - George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28 2003
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." - Colin Powell, February 5 2003
"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons." - George Bush, February 8 2003
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." - George Bush, March 17 2003
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes." - Ari Fleischer, March 21 2003
"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." - Gen. Tommy Franks, March 22 2003
"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad." - Donald Rumsfeld, March 30 2003.
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." - Dick Cheney, August 26 2002
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." - George W. Bush, September 12 2002
"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." - Ari Fleischer, December 2 2002
"We know for a fact that there are weapons there." - Ari Fleischer, January 9 2003
"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." - George W. Bush, State of the Union address, January 28 2003
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more." - Colin Powell, February 5 2003
"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons." - George Bush, February 8 2003
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." - George Bush, March 17 2003
"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes." - Ari Fleischer, March 21 2003
"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." - Gen. Tommy Franks, March 22 2003
"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad." - Donald Rumsfeld, March 30 2003.
IRAQ
Information Clearinghouse: Inside Iraq - 'Where Are
Our Human Rights?' By Dahr Jamail Independent American Journalist in Iraq
(ICH) -- So far, every single journalist I've spoken with here has told me that they had followed the news closely prior to their arrival. But after being here even just a day, they have been astonished at how terrible the situation truly is.
It has now been over 9 months since the 'war' ended. The country of Iraq remains in chaos, and the lack of consistent basic services such as petrol, security, electricity, and running water continue to afflict Iraqis.
So many times I've heard people discuss that even though Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator, he still managed to get the electricity, water, and communications systems back up and running three months after the Gulf War. For the record, several engineers I've spoken with have stated that these portions of the infrastructure suffered far greater damage then, than during the more recent Anglo-American Invasion.
Each day I walk by a communications building that was bombed last March. While the building remains in shambles, a metal tower has been erected, and every other day a new dish appears on it. Several times when I've walked by it I see that the machine gun toting security guards near the 'entrance' of what is left of the building are wearing Bechtel security badges.
Meanwhile, in other parts of Baghdad there are no land lines, and I've yet to see one of the communication centers being rebuilt.
The lesson seems to be that if repairing/rebuilding something in Iraq isn't necessary to serve US and British interests, it is left as it is. Most Iraqis I speak with continue to wonder just when, exactly will the rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure begin.
Information Clearinghouse: Inside Iraq - 'Where Are
Our Human Rights?' By Dahr Jamail Independent American Journalist in Iraq
(ICH) -- So far, every single journalist I've spoken with here has told me that they had followed the news closely prior to their arrival. But after being here even just a day, they have been astonished at how terrible the situation truly is.
It has now been over 9 months since the 'war' ended. The country of Iraq remains in chaos, and the lack of consistent basic services such as petrol, security, electricity, and running water continue to afflict Iraqis.
So many times I've heard people discuss that even though Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator, he still managed to get the electricity, water, and communications systems back up and running three months after the Gulf War. For the record, several engineers I've spoken with have stated that these portions of the infrastructure suffered far greater damage then, than during the more recent Anglo-American Invasion.
Each day I walk by a communications building that was bombed last March. While the building remains in shambles, a metal tower has been erected, and every other day a new dish appears on it. Several times when I've walked by it I see that the machine gun toting security guards near the 'entrance' of what is left of the building are wearing Bechtel security badges.
Meanwhile, in other parts of Baghdad there are no land lines, and I've yet to see one of the communication centers being rebuilt.
The lesson seems to be that if repairing/rebuilding something in Iraq isn't necessary to serve US and British interests, it is left as it is. Most Iraqis I speak with continue to wonder just when, exactly will the rebuilding of the damaged infrastructure begin.
WWII
Rense: In 'Eisenhower's Death Camps' - A US Prison Guard's Story
In October, 1944, at age eighteen, I was drafted into the U.S. army. Largely because of the "Battle of the Bulge," my training was cut short. My furlough was halved, and I was sent overseas immediately. Upon arrival in Le Havre, France, we were quickly loaded into box cars and shipped to the front. When we got there, I was suffering increasingly severe symptoms of mononucleosis, and was sent to a hospital in Belgium. Since mononucleosis was then known as the "kissing disease," I mailed a letter of thanks to my girlfriend.
By the time I left the hospital, the outfit I had trained with in Spartanburg, South Carolina was deep inside Germany, so, despite my protests, I was placed in a ãrepo depotä(replacement depot). I lost interest in the units to which I was assigned and don't recall all of them: non-combat units were ridiculed at that time. My separation qualification record states I was mostly with Company C, 14th Infantry Regiment, during my seventeen-month stay in Germany, but I remember being transferred to other outfits also.
Rense: In 'Eisenhower's Death Camps' - A US Prison Guard's Story
In October, 1944, at age eighteen, I was drafted into the U.S. army. Largely because of the "Battle of the Bulge," my training was cut short. My furlough was halved, and I was sent overseas immediately. Upon arrival in Le Havre, France, we were quickly loaded into box cars and shipped to the front. When we got there, I was suffering increasingly severe symptoms of mononucleosis, and was sent to a hospital in Belgium. Since mononucleosis was then known as the "kissing disease," I mailed a letter of thanks to my girlfriend.
By the time I left the hospital, the outfit I had trained with in Spartanburg, South Carolina was deep inside Germany, so, despite my protests, I was placed in a ãrepo depotä(replacement depot). I lost interest in the units to which I was assigned and don't recall all of them: non-combat units were ridiculed at that time. My separation qualification record states I was mostly with Company C, 14th Infantry Regiment, during my seventeen-month stay in Germany, but I remember being transferred to other outfits also.
Monday, December 29, 2003
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Infromation Clearinghouse: Hooded Men Executing Saddam Officials by Robert Fisk in Baghdad
28 December 2003: (The Independent) General Charles de Gaulle gave the French resistance 48 hours to régler les comptes - settle accounts - after the liberation of France. But after the "liberation" of Iraq, the Baath party's enemies have declared it open season to hunt down and murder hundreds of the former regime's officials - with not the slightest attempt by the Anglo-American armies or their newly installed police force to end the bloodshed.
In the Shia city of Najaf, 42 ex-members of the Baath have been murdered and not a single arrest has followed. In Basra, controlled by British troops, almost 50 Baathists have been found with their hands bound behind their backs and a single bullet hole in the neck. Again, there have been no arrests. Hussam Thafer, a doctor at the Baghdad city mortuary, says that every day he receives "five or six" bodies of people who worked for the old regime.
Some of the killings may be personal revenge. The Independent on Sunday has learned of one young Shia who hunted down his former torturer in Baghdad, calmly told the man's family that he intended to execute him, refused financial retribution for his suffering and went on to murder the man. But many of the killings are being carried out systematically - and with the same cruelty Saddam's own henchmen once used against the regime's opponents.
Major-General Khalaf al-Alousi, a former director of the secret police in Baghdad, was assassinated on a Sunday afternoon this month when he visited a home he was renovating in Yarmouk. His wife, Um Ali, described how two men in black hoods were waiting for them in the yard and another in the house, and how she knew they were going to kill her husband . "I shouted and begged them not to do it, for the sake of his daughters," she said. The ex-general tried to talk to his killers. "I never saw such calm before," Um Ali said later. The gunmen fired 17 bullets into their victim
Infromation Clearinghouse: Hooded Men Executing Saddam Officials by Robert Fisk in Baghdad
28 December 2003: (The Independent) General Charles de Gaulle gave the French resistance 48 hours to régler les comptes - settle accounts - after the liberation of France. But after the "liberation" of Iraq, the Baath party's enemies have declared it open season to hunt down and murder hundreds of the former regime's officials - with not the slightest attempt by the Anglo-American armies or their newly installed police force to end the bloodshed.
In the Shia city of Najaf, 42 ex-members of the Baath have been murdered and not a single arrest has followed. In Basra, controlled by British troops, almost 50 Baathists have been found with their hands bound behind their backs and a single bullet hole in the neck. Again, there have been no arrests. Hussam Thafer, a doctor at the Baghdad city mortuary, says that every day he receives "five or six" bodies of people who worked for the old regime.
Some of the killings may be personal revenge. The Independent on Sunday has learned of one young Shia who hunted down his former torturer in Baghdad, calmly told the man's family that he intended to execute him, refused financial retribution for his suffering and went on to murder the man. But many of the killings are being carried out systematically - and with the same cruelty Saddam's own henchmen once used against the regime's opponents.
Major-General Khalaf al-Alousi, a former director of the secret police in Baghdad, was assassinated on a Sunday afternoon this month when he visited a home he was renovating in Yarmouk. His wife, Um Ali, described how two men in black hoods were waiting for them in the yard and another in the house, and how she knew they were going to kill her husband . "I shouted and begged them not to do it, for the sake of his daughters," she said. The ex-general tried to talk to his killers. "I never saw such calm before," Um Ali said later. The gunmen fired 17 bullets into their victim
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Electronic Intifada: 117 Palestinians killed, hundreds injured during media's "relative calm"
On December 25, an Israeli assassination squad killed five Palestinians in Gaza, and injured fifteen. Three of the dead were civilians. A short time later, a Palestinian blew himself up at a bus stop in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, killing four Israelis, three of whom were confirmed by Ha'aretz to be soldiers.
Many leading media organizations were quick to declare that these two incidents marked the end of a period of "relative calm" or "lull" in Israeli-Palestinian violence, that had supposedly lasted since the last Palestinian suicide attack in Haifa on 4 October.
In fact, the period since 4 October has been one of intense Israeli violence, in which 117 Palestinians were killed, including 23 children. At the same time, Israel destroyed almost five hundred Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Territories.
Electronic Intifada: 117 Palestinians killed, hundreds injured during media's "relative calm"
On December 25, an Israeli assassination squad killed five Palestinians in Gaza, and injured fifteen. Three of the dead were civilians. A short time later, a Palestinian blew himself up at a bus stop in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, killing four Israelis, three of whom were confirmed by Ha'aretz to be soldiers.
Many leading media organizations were quick to declare that these two incidents marked the end of a period of "relative calm" or "lull" in Israeli-Palestinian violence, that had supposedly lasted since the last Palestinian suicide attack in Haifa on 4 October.
In fact, the period since 4 October has been one of intense Israeli violence, in which 117 Palestinians were killed, including 23 children. At the same time, Israel destroyed almost five hundred Palestinian homes throughout the Occupied Territories.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Independent: Checkpoints Prove Useless Against Suicide Bombers in Iraq by Robert Fisk
A severed arm with a hand still attached to it lay a few metres from the broken gates of the mayor's office in Karbala yesterday, a piece of humanity every bit as bloody as the story of the seventh-century Shia martyr Hussein, the golden dome of whose shrine could be seen through the smog to the east.
They said the arm belonged to a police major - one of 11 cops killed in the four ferocious attacks on Saturday in this most holy of cities - but others claimed it belonged to the man who drove the truck-bomb right up to the gates.
In the parking lot outside, stunned Polish and Bulgarian troops, many of them in the clapped-out Russian vehicles that Saddam's own army used until its demise eight months ago, looked at the scene with a strange mixture of awe and contempt. Four Bulgarians were killed a mile away when another man drove an oil tanker right up to their camouflaged headquarters.
When I approached one Bulgarian officer a few metres from the 20-foot hole that the bomb had blasted in the road, he turned away in tears
Independent: Checkpoints Prove Useless Against Suicide Bombers in Iraq by Robert Fisk
A severed arm with a hand still attached to it lay a few metres from the broken gates of the mayor's office in Karbala yesterday, a piece of humanity every bit as bloody as the story of the seventh-century Shia martyr Hussein, the golden dome of whose shrine could be seen through the smog to the east.
They said the arm belonged to a police major - one of 11 cops killed in the four ferocious attacks on Saturday in this most holy of cities - but others claimed it belonged to the man who drove the truck-bomb right up to the gates.
In the parking lot outside, stunned Polish and Bulgarian troops, many of them in the clapped-out Russian vehicles that Saddam's own army used until its demise eight months ago, looked at the scene with a strange mixture of awe and contempt. Four Bulgarians were killed a mile away when another man drove an oil tanker right up to their camouflaged headquarters.
When I approached one Bulgarian officer a few metres from the 20-foot hole that the bomb had blasted in the road, he turned away in tears
UK
Scotsman: Blair under fire again for WMD claims
CLAIMS that weapons inspectors have uncovered massive evidence that Saddam Hussein had a network of clandestine laboratories have landed Tony Blair in trouble for the second time in a month after they were rubbished by the United States’ top man in Iraq.
Paul Bremer, unaware the claims had been made by the Prime Minister, said the comments sounded like a "red herring" put about to undermine the coalition by someone opposed to military action.
Scotsman: Blair under fire again for WMD claims
CLAIMS that weapons inspectors have uncovered massive evidence that Saddam Hussein had a network of clandestine laboratories have landed Tony Blair in trouble for the second time in a month after they were rubbished by the United States’ top man in Iraq.
Paul Bremer, unaware the claims had been made by the Prime Minister, said the comments sounded like a "red herring" put about to undermine the coalition by someone opposed to military action.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
IRAQ
information clearinghouse: From joy to despair: Iraqis pay for Saddam's capture by Robert Fisk
27 December 2003: (The Independent) Ali Salman Ali was the first victim of Saddam's capture, but he died on Christmas Day. As his father Salman Ghazi, 71, tells it, Ali must have been among the first of Iraq's Shia Muslims to scream his delight in the street after the former dictator emerged from his hole in the ground.
"He shouted that the Americans had come to save us and liberated us from that terrible regime," Mr Ghazi said yesterday, his sun-blasted, lined face and dark eyes staring at my notebook.
Behind me, the 12 cousins of Ali Salman Ali were heaving his cheap wooden coffin from the Baghdad mortuary on to the back of a rusting white pick-up with a cracked windscreen and a toy rabbit swinging from a chain over the mirror.
The Baghdad morgue is a grim enough place at any hour, let alone on a grey, greasy, wet Boxing Day and - though Christmas would have had no place in the family's observances - there was a kind of weariness among the men in their damp tribal robes with frayed golden fringes standing in the mud yesterday.
It had taken Ali Salman Ali two weeks to die.
information clearinghouse: From joy to despair: Iraqis pay for Saddam's capture by Robert Fisk
27 December 2003: (The Independent) Ali Salman Ali was the first victim of Saddam's capture, but he died on Christmas Day. As his father Salman Ghazi, 71, tells it, Ali must have been among the first of Iraq's Shia Muslims to scream his delight in the street after the former dictator emerged from his hole in the ground.
"He shouted that the Americans had come to save us and liberated us from that terrible regime," Mr Ghazi said yesterday, his sun-blasted, lined face and dark eyes staring at my notebook.
Behind me, the 12 cousins of Ali Salman Ali were heaving his cheap wooden coffin from the Baghdad mortuary on to the back of a rusting white pick-up with a cracked windscreen and a toy rabbit swinging from a chain over the mirror.
The Baghdad morgue is a grim enough place at any hour, let alone on a grey, greasy, wet Boxing Day and - though Christmas would have had no place in the family's observances - there was a kind of weariness among the men in their damp tribal robes with frayed golden fringes standing in the mud yesterday.
It had taken Ali Salman Ali two weeks to die.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
BBC: Troops dead in Iraq city blasts
Six coalition soldiers have been killed and many others injured after several blasts in the Iraqi city of Karbala, military officials say.
BBC: Troops dead in Iraq city blasts
Six coalition soldiers have been killed and many others injured after several blasts in the Iraqi city of Karbala, military officials say.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship . . . voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering
"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship . . . voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering
IRAQ: PROFIT OVER PEOPLE
Spiegel: IRAK-WIEDERAUFBAU: "Zur Kolonie degradiert"
Die US-Regierung verspricht ein "Wirtschaftswunder zwischen Euphrat und Tigris" und setzt dabei auf ein klassisches neoliberales Konzept: Radikalprivatisierung. Konzernen aus den USA, Großbritannien und den übrigen Staaten der Kriegskoalition bieten sich im Irak fortan unbegrenzte Möglichkeiten
Während Bremer einerseits noch den Versorgungsstaat alter Schule fortführt, setzt er an anderer Stelle auf Radikalprivatisierungen. Mit einem "Gesetz zur Regelung für Auslandsinvestitionen" hat er ausländischen Interessenten einen fast schrankenlosen Zugriff auf irakische Unternehmen ermöglicht. Investoren können die Firmen zu 100 Prozent der Anteile übernehmen und sämtliche Gewinne außer Landes schaffen. Ihre Aktivitäten sollen ab 2004 überdies vollständig von Steuern und Zöllen befreit werden. Nach Einschätzung des irakische Ökonomen Kamil Mahdi wird das Land mit diesem Gesetz zur Kolonie degradiert. "Die Amerikaner", so schrieb er im britischen "Guardian", sollten die Privatisierung sein lassen, bis Normalität eingekehrt ist und eine verfassungsmäßige Regierung eingesetzt wurde." Die Mitarbeiter mehrerer Staatsbetriebe haben schon angekündigt, ihre Arbeitgeber notfalls mit Waffengewalt gegen ausländische Übernahmen zu verteidigen.
Spiegel: IRAK-WIEDERAUFBAU: "Zur Kolonie degradiert"
Die US-Regierung verspricht ein "Wirtschaftswunder zwischen Euphrat und Tigris" und setzt dabei auf ein klassisches neoliberales Konzept: Radikalprivatisierung. Konzernen aus den USA, Großbritannien und den übrigen Staaten der Kriegskoalition bieten sich im Irak fortan unbegrenzte Möglichkeiten
Während Bremer einerseits noch den Versorgungsstaat alter Schule fortführt, setzt er an anderer Stelle auf Radikalprivatisierungen. Mit einem "Gesetz zur Regelung für Auslandsinvestitionen" hat er ausländischen Interessenten einen fast schrankenlosen Zugriff auf irakische Unternehmen ermöglicht. Investoren können die Firmen zu 100 Prozent der Anteile übernehmen und sämtliche Gewinne außer Landes schaffen. Ihre Aktivitäten sollen ab 2004 überdies vollständig von Steuern und Zöllen befreit werden. Nach Einschätzung des irakische Ökonomen Kamil Mahdi wird das Land mit diesem Gesetz zur Kolonie degradiert. "Die Amerikaner", so schrieb er im britischen "Guardian", sollten die Privatisierung sein lassen, bis Normalität eingekehrt ist und eine verfassungsmäßige Regierung eingesetzt wurde." Die Mitarbeiter mehrerer Staatsbetriebe haben schon angekündigt, ihre Arbeitgeber notfalls mit Waffengewalt gegen ausländische Übernahmen zu verteidigen.
SADDAM
Arabnews: Saddam Threatens To Expose US
JEDDAH -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, now being grilled by American investigators, has reportedly warned US authorities that he will expose Washington's "political games" and its behind-the-scene role in the occupation of Kuwait.
"Saddam threatened that if they continue to pressure him he will reveal startling facts - about America's political games with his country - that would shock the whole world," Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted a high-level European source as saying.
The source said Saddam had stopped answering the investigators' questions and asked them to "give him enough time to clear his mind." He did not elaborate further, the source added.
Arabnews: Saddam Threatens To Expose US
JEDDAH -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, now being grilled by American investigators, has reportedly warned US authorities that he will expose Washington's "political games" and its behind-the-scene role in the occupation of Kuwait.
"Saddam threatened that if they continue to pressure him he will reveal startling facts - about America's political games with his country - that would shock the whole world," Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted a high-level European source as saying.
The source said Saddam had stopped answering the investigators' questions and asked them to "give him enough time to clear his mind." He did not elaborate further, the source added.
IRAQ: DEMOCRACY?
Independent: Iraq through the American looking glass by Robert Fisk (complete)
26 December 2003 : (The Independent) Something very unpleasant is being let loose in Iraq. Just this week, a company commander in the US 1st
Infantry Division in the north of the country admitted that, in order to elicit information about the guerrillas who are killing American troops, it
was necessary to "instill fear" in the local villagers. An Iraqi interpreter working for the Americans had just taken an old lady from her home to
frighten her daughters and grand-daughters into believing that she was being arrested.
A battalion commander in the same area put the point even more baldly. "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for
projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," he said. He was speaking from a village that his men had surrounded with barbed
wire, upon which was a sign, stating: "This fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."
Try to explain that this treatment - and these words - offend the very basic humanity of the people whom the Americans claimed they came to
"liberate" and you are met in Baghdad with the same explanation: that a very small "remnant" of "diehards" - loyal to the now-captured Saddam
Hussein, etc, etc - have to be separated from the civilians whom they are "intimidating".
To point out that the intimidation is largely coming from the American occupation force - to the horror of the British in southern Iraq who
fear, understandably, that Iraqi revenge will be visited upon them as it was on the Italians and the Spanish - is useless.
Instead, we are told that American troops are winning those famous hearts and minds with the spirit of Christmas. There was a grim example of
this - and the inherent racism that pervades even reporting of such events - on the Associated Press wire agency just this week.
Describing how an American soldier in a Santa Claus hat was giving out stuffed animals to children, reporter Jason Keyser wrote that one
11-year- old child "looked puzzled, then smiled" as the soldier gave him a small, stuffed goat. Then the report continued: "Others in the crowd of mostly
Muslims grabbed greedily at the box," adding the soldier's remark that: "They don't know how to handle generosity."
I don't doubt the soldier's wish to do good. But what is one to make of the "mostly Muslims" who "grabbed greedily" at the gifts? Or the soldier's
insensitive remarks about generosity? Iraqi newspapers have been front--paging a Christmas card produced by US troops in Baghdad: "1st
Battalion, 22nd Infantry Wishes you a very Merry Christmas!" it says. But the illustration is of Saddam Hussein in his scruffy beard just
after his capture, with a Santa hat superimposed on top of his head. Funny enough for us, no doubt - I can't personally think of a better fall-guy for St
Nicholas - but a clear insult to Sunni Arabs who, however much they may loathe the beast of Baghdad, will see in this card a deliberate attempt
to humiliate Muslim Iraqis. It is for Iraqis to demean their ex-president - not their American occupiers.
It's almost as if the occupying powers want to look through Alice's looking glass. This week, we had the odd statement by British General Graeme
Lamb that Saddam could be compared to the Emperor Caligula. Now the good general was probably relying on Suetonius's Twelve Caesars for his views on
Caligula. But if anything, the Roman was a good deal more insane than Saddam and even more heedless of human life.
The crazy Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, might have been a more appropriate parallel. But what was all this supposed to achieve? A serious war
crimes trial - preferably outside Iraq and far from the country's contaminated judiciary - is the way to define the nature of Saddam's repulsive
regime.
All references to the ex-dictator as Hitler, Stalin, Attila the Hun or Caligula - like all suggestions that Tony Blair or George Bush are
Winston Churchill - are infantile. And again, they will appear insulting to the Sunni Muslims of Iraq, the one community which the Americans should be
desperate to placate, since it is the Sunnis who are primarily resisting the occupation.
But the looking-glass effect seems to have taken hold of US pro-consul Paul Bremer's entire authority. Like President George Bush, Bremer has now
taken to repeating the absurdity that the greater the West's success in Iraq, the more frequent will be the attacks on American troops.
"I personally feel that we'll actually have more violence in the next six months," he said a couple of week ago, "and the violence will be
precisely because of the fact that we're building momentum toward success." In other words, the better things become, the worse they're going to get. And
the greater the violence, the better we're doing in Iraq.
I wouldn't worry about this nonsense so much if it wasn't mirrored on the ground in Iraq. Take the US claim - now regarded as an absurdity - that
they killed "54 insurgents" in Samara a month ago. The truth is that they killed at least eight civilians and there's not a smidgen of evidence
that they killed anyone else. But still they insist on sticking to the story of their great victory.
Last week, they pushed out a similar version of the same story. This time there were 11 dead "insurgents" in Samara. But when The Independent
investigated, it could only find records of four dead civilians and a lot of wounded. None of the wounded - presumably "insurgents" if the
Americans believe their own story - had been visited in hospital by US forces who might, if they didn't question them, at least have apologised.
An even more peculiar habit has now manifest itself among spokesmen for the occupation authorities. When a tank drove over a prominent Shiite
Muslim cleric in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City three weeks ago, they claimed this was a "traffic accident", as if driving an M1A1 Abrams tank over a
car and a robed prelate is the kind of thing that can happen on any downtown street.
A few days later, after a truck-bomber crashed into a car and killed 17 civilians, the occupation lads churned out the same rubbish again. It
was, they said, a "traffic accident" involving a petrol tanker. But there was no tanker attached to the lorry.
The first American troops on the scene found the grenades intended to detonate the bomb and the victims were all blasted to bits - not
burned, as they would have been if the petrol tanker had simply caught fire. Those of us who reached the scene shortly after the slaughter could still smell
the explosives. But it was a "traffic accident".
Only yesterday we had an equally bizarre event. Jets, C-130 aircraft mounted with chain guns, and heavy artillery were all reported to be
striking "guerrilla bases" in Operation Iron Hammer south of Baghdad. But investigation proved that the targets were empty fields and that some
of the heavy guns were firing blank rounds as part of an artillery maintenance routine.
So let's get this right. Insurgents are civilians. Truck bombs and tanks that crush civilians are traffic accidents. And the "liberated"
civilians who live in villages surrounded by razor wire should endure "a heavy dose of fear and violence" to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Somewhere along the way, they will probably be told about democracy as well.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Independent: Iraq through the American looking glass by Robert Fisk (complete)
26 December 2003 : (The Independent) Something very unpleasant is being let loose in Iraq. Just this week, a company commander in the US 1st
Infantry Division in the north of the country admitted that, in order to elicit information about the guerrillas who are killing American troops, it
was necessary to "instill fear" in the local villagers. An Iraqi interpreter working for the Americans had just taken an old lady from her home to
frighten her daughters and grand-daughters into believing that she was being arrested.
A battalion commander in the same area put the point even more baldly. "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for
projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them," he said. He was speaking from a village that his men had surrounded with barbed
wire, upon which was a sign, stating: "This fence is here for your protection. Do not approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."
Try to explain that this treatment - and these words - offend the very basic humanity of the people whom the Americans claimed they came to
"liberate" and you are met in Baghdad with the same explanation: that a very small "remnant" of "diehards" - loyal to the now-captured Saddam
Hussein, etc, etc - have to be separated from the civilians whom they are "intimidating".
To point out that the intimidation is largely coming from the American occupation force - to the horror of the British in southern Iraq who
fear, understandably, that Iraqi revenge will be visited upon them as it was on the Italians and the Spanish - is useless.
Instead, we are told that American troops are winning those famous hearts and minds with the spirit of Christmas. There was a grim example of
this - and the inherent racism that pervades even reporting of such events - on the Associated Press wire agency just this week.
Describing how an American soldier in a Santa Claus hat was giving out stuffed animals to children, reporter Jason Keyser wrote that one
11-year- old child "looked puzzled, then smiled" as the soldier gave him a small, stuffed goat. Then the report continued: "Others in the crowd of mostly
Muslims grabbed greedily at the box," adding the soldier's remark that: "They don't know how to handle generosity."
I don't doubt the soldier's wish to do good. But what is one to make of the "mostly Muslims" who "grabbed greedily" at the gifts? Or the soldier's
insensitive remarks about generosity? Iraqi newspapers have been front--paging a Christmas card produced by US troops in Baghdad: "1st
Battalion, 22nd Infantry Wishes you a very Merry Christmas!" it says. But the illustration is of Saddam Hussein in his scruffy beard just
after his capture, with a Santa hat superimposed on top of his head. Funny enough for us, no doubt - I can't personally think of a better fall-guy for St
Nicholas - but a clear insult to Sunni Arabs who, however much they may loathe the beast of Baghdad, will see in this card a deliberate attempt
to humiliate Muslim Iraqis. It is for Iraqis to demean their ex-president - not their American occupiers.
It's almost as if the occupying powers want to look through Alice's looking glass. This week, we had the odd statement by British General Graeme
Lamb that Saddam could be compared to the Emperor Caligula. Now the good general was probably relying on Suetonius's Twelve Caesars for his views on
Caligula. But if anything, the Roman was a good deal more insane than Saddam and even more heedless of human life.
The crazy Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, might have been a more appropriate parallel. But what was all this supposed to achieve? A serious war
crimes trial - preferably outside Iraq and far from the country's contaminated judiciary - is the way to define the nature of Saddam's repulsive
regime.
All references to the ex-dictator as Hitler, Stalin, Attila the Hun or Caligula - like all suggestions that Tony Blair or George Bush are
Winston Churchill - are infantile. And again, they will appear insulting to the Sunni Muslims of Iraq, the one community which the Americans should be
desperate to placate, since it is the Sunnis who are primarily resisting the occupation.
But the looking-glass effect seems to have taken hold of US pro-consul Paul Bremer's entire authority. Like President George Bush, Bremer has now
taken to repeating the absurdity that the greater the West's success in Iraq, the more frequent will be the attacks on American troops.
"I personally feel that we'll actually have more violence in the next six months," he said a couple of week ago, "and the violence will be
precisely because of the fact that we're building momentum toward success." In other words, the better things become, the worse they're going to get. And
the greater the violence, the better we're doing in Iraq.
I wouldn't worry about this nonsense so much if it wasn't mirrored on the ground in Iraq. Take the US claim - now regarded as an absurdity - that
they killed "54 insurgents" in Samara a month ago. The truth is that they killed at least eight civilians and there's not a smidgen of evidence
that they killed anyone else. But still they insist on sticking to the story of their great victory.
Last week, they pushed out a similar version of the same story. This time there were 11 dead "insurgents" in Samara. But when The Independent
investigated, it could only find records of four dead civilians and a lot of wounded. None of the wounded - presumably "insurgents" if the
Americans believe their own story - had been visited in hospital by US forces who might, if they didn't question them, at least have apologised.
An even more peculiar habit has now manifest itself among spokesmen for the occupation authorities. When a tank drove over a prominent Shiite
Muslim cleric in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City three weeks ago, they claimed this was a "traffic accident", as if driving an M1A1 Abrams tank over a
car and a robed prelate is the kind of thing that can happen on any downtown street.
A few days later, after a truck-bomber crashed into a car and killed 17 civilians, the occupation lads churned out the same rubbish again. It
was, they said, a "traffic accident" involving a petrol tanker. But there was no tanker attached to the lorry.
The first American troops on the scene found the grenades intended to detonate the bomb and the victims were all blasted to bits - not
burned, as they would have been if the petrol tanker had simply caught fire. Those of us who reached the scene shortly after the slaughter could still smell
the explosives. But it was a "traffic accident".
Only yesterday we had an equally bizarre event. Jets, C-130 aircraft mounted with chain guns, and heavy artillery were all reported to be
striking "guerrilla bases" in Operation Iron Hammer south of Baghdad. But investigation proved that the targets were empty fields and that some
of the heavy guns were firing blank rounds as part of an artillery maintenance routine.
So let's get this right. Insurgents are civilians. Truck bombs and tanks that crush civilians are traffic accidents. And the "liberated"
civilians who live in villages surrounded by razor wire should endure "a heavy dose of fear and violence" to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Somewhere along the way, they will probably be told about democracy as well.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
PROPAGANDA WATCH
British Journalism Review: Britain’s security services and journalists: the secret story
British journalists – and British journals – are being manipulated by the secret intelligence agencies, and I think we ought to try and put a stop to it.
The manipulation takes three forms. The first is the attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people, or for spies to go themselves under journalistic “cover”. This occurs today and it has gone on for years. It is dangerous, not only for the journalist concerned, but for other journalists who get tarred with the espionage brush. Farzad Bazoft was a colleague of mine on the London Observer when he was executed by Saddam Hussein for espionage. It did not, in a sense, matter whether he was really a spy or not. Either way, he ended up dead.
The second form of manipulation that worries me is when intelligence officers are allowed to pose as journalists in order to write tendentious articles under false names. Evidence of this only rarely comes to light, but two examples have surfaced recently – mainly because of the whistleblowing activities of a couple of renegade officers – David Shayler from MI5 and Richard Tomlinson from MI6.
The third sort of manipulation is the most insidious – when intelligence agency propaganda stories are planted on willing journalists, who disguise their origin from their readers. There is – or has been until recently – a very active programme by the secret agencies to colour what appears in the British press, called, if publications by various defectors can be believed, “I/Ops”. That is an abbreviation for Information Operations, and I am – unusually – in a position to provide some information about it.
British Journalism Review: Britain’s security services and journalists: the secret story
British journalists – and British journals – are being manipulated by the secret intelligence agencies, and I think we ought to try and put a stop to it.
The manipulation takes three forms. The first is the attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people, or for spies to go themselves under journalistic “cover”. This occurs today and it has gone on for years. It is dangerous, not only for the journalist concerned, but for other journalists who get tarred with the espionage brush. Farzad Bazoft was a colleague of mine on the London Observer when he was executed by Saddam Hussein for espionage. It did not, in a sense, matter whether he was really a spy or not. Either way, he ended up dead.
The second form of manipulation that worries me is when intelligence officers are allowed to pose as journalists in order to write tendentious articles under false names. Evidence of this only rarely comes to light, but two examples have surfaced recently – mainly because of the whistleblowing activities of a couple of renegade officers – David Shayler from MI5 and Richard Tomlinson from MI6.
The third sort of manipulation is the most insidious – when intelligence agency propaganda stories are planted on willing journalists, who disguise their origin from their readers. There is – or has been until recently – a very active programme by the secret agencies to colour what appears in the British press, called, if publications by various defectors can be believed, “I/Ops”. That is an abbreviation for Information Operations, and I am – unusually – in a position to provide some information about it.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Counterpunch: Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, Rafah Counts the Dead Merry Christmas December 25, 2003
Israeli occupation forces left the center of Rafah, although as is
normal the Israelis remain at the border they have created. The Wall the
Israelis are building with armoured machines is overshadowed only by its many
sniper posts. Israeli soldiers remain daily to shoot and shell into the homes
at whatever is the latest point in the "border." The line changes as the
Israelis demolish more houses, turning what once was the center of the
city into the border.
The Israelis killed ten Palestinians in Rafah yesterday. Forty
Palestinians are in the hospital. The number of demolished homes is yet to be
determined as Israeli tanks and bulldozers have just left the Yibna Camp where
they attacked heavily yesterday. Palestinian medical and search crews are
beginning to dig through the rubble looking for bodies, as several
people report fears that there is a family still inside one of the demolished
houses.
Israeli occupation forces not only destroyed more people's homes, but
demolished the UNWRA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) Clinic as
well. The Israelis continue to target the United Nations unchallenged
Counterpunch: Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, Rafah Counts the Dead Merry Christmas December 25, 2003
Israeli occupation forces left the center of Rafah, although as is
normal the Israelis remain at the border they have created. The Wall the
Israelis are building with armoured machines is overshadowed only by its many
sniper posts. Israeli soldiers remain daily to shoot and shell into the homes
at whatever is the latest point in the "border." The line changes as the
Israelis demolish more houses, turning what once was the center of the
city into the border.
The Israelis killed ten Palestinians in Rafah yesterday. Forty
Palestinians are in the hospital. The number of demolished homes is yet to be
determined as Israeli tanks and bulldozers have just left the Yibna Camp where
they attacked heavily yesterday. Palestinian medical and search crews are
beginning to dig through the rubble looking for bodies, as several
people report fears that there is a family still inside one of the demolished
houses.
Israeli occupation forces not only destroyed more people's homes, but
demolished the UNWRA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) Clinic as
well. The Israelis continue to target the United Nations unchallenged
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Al Jazeera: US bombs Baghdad for third night
US-led occupation forces have bombed Baghdad for the third consecutive night as resistance fighters lobbed at least three mortar bombs at the occupying administration headquarters.
The night attack came 17 hours after resistance fighters fired more than a dozen rockets and mortar bombs in central Baghdad, hitting the vicinity of the US headquarters, two hotels occupied by Westerners, two embassies and an apartment bloc.
Al Jazeera: US bombs Baghdad for third night
US-led occupation forces have bombed Baghdad for the third consecutive night as resistance fighters lobbed at least three mortar bombs at the occupying administration headquarters.
The night attack came 17 hours after resistance fighters fired more than a dozen rockets and mortar bombs in central Baghdad, hitting the vicinity of the US headquarters, two hotels occupied by Westerners, two embassies and an apartment bloc.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
SADDAM
Asia Times: Will Saddam go on trial?
NO: US cannot afford embarrassment of public trial
'SADDAM Hussein was wise not to wait too long,' said Colonel James Hickey, commander of the American forces that took the former Iraqi leader prisoner on Sunday.
'We were about to clear that (underground facility) in a military sort of way,' he added, explaining that 'things like that are cleared with hand grenades, small arms, things like that.' But Col Hickey's instructions were to 'capture or kill' Saddam, and the latter managed to get his hands up in time.
The Bush administration is probably wishing quite hard by now that Saddam had waited a little longer and been killed in his hole. While others debate where he should be tried and by whom, and whether he should face the death penalty or not, United States President George W. Bush's people will be realising just about now that they can't afford to give him a fair trial at all.
He would certainly be convicted in the end: Evidence of Saddam's crimes over the years is overwhelming. But in a fair trial, with normal rules of evidence and reasonably competent defence lawyers, it would be impossible to stop the defence from pointing out that every US administration from 1980 to 1992 (all Republican administrations, as it happens) was directly or indirectly complicit in his crimes
Asia Times: Will Saddam go on trial?
NO: US cannot afford embarrassment of public trial
'SADDAM Hussein was wise not to wait too long,' said Colonel James Hickey, commander of the American forces that took the former Iraqi leader prisoner on Sunday.
'We were about to clear that (underground facility) in a military sort of way,' he added, explaining that 'things like that are cleared with hand grenades, small arms, things like that.' But Col Hickey's instructions were to 'capture or kill' Saddam, and the latter managed to get his hands up in time.
The Bush administration is probably wishing quite hard by now that Saddam had waited a little longer and been killed in his hole. While others debate where he should be tried and by whom, and whether he should face the death penalty or not, United States President George W. Bush's people will be realising just about now that they can't afford to give him a fair trial at all.
He would certainly be convicted in the end: Evidence of Saddam's crimes over the years is overwhelming. But in a fair trial, with normal rules of evidence and reasonably competent defence lawyers, it would be impossible to stop the defence from pointing out that every US administration from 1980 to 1992 (all Republican administrations, as it happens) was directly or indirectly complicit in his crimes
MIDDLE EAST
Guardian: If Libya Can Disarm...Why Not Israel?
We Can No Longer Ignore The World's Fifth-Largest Nuclear Power
There's a logic to these things. Muammar Gadafy, growing older, and his isolated Libya, growing poorer, were getting nothing worthwhile from the atomic bomb they hadn't built yet or chemicals they had scant residual use for. Logic - and common sense - meant changing tack. Good for logic. But logic doesn't stop there.
What next? If weapons of mass destruction are a menace in unstable regions such as the Middle East, if their availability must be reduced, then logic begins to move us closer to the confrontation we never seek with the nuclear power we - let alone Messrs Bush and Blair - seldom mention: Israel.
Nobody, including the Knesset, quite knows what happens inside the Dimona complex, but if you put together a compote of usually reliable sources (the Federation of American Scientists, Jane's Intelligence Review, the Stockholm Institute), a tolerably clear picture emerges. Ariel Sharon probably has more than 200 nuclear warheads this morning - more if the 17 years since Mordechai Vanunu's kidnapping have been devoted to building stockpiles.
Guardian: If Libya Can Disarm...Why Not Israel?
We Can No Longer Ignore The World's Fifth-Largest Nuclear Power
There's a logic to these things. Muammar Gadafy, growing older, and his isolated Libya, growing poorer, were getting nothing worthwhile from the atomic bomb they hadn't built yet or chemicals they had scant residual use for. Logic - and common sense - meant changing tack. Good for logic. But logic doesn't stop there.
What next? If weapons of mass destruction are a menace in unstable regions such as the Middle East, if their availability must be reduced, then logic begins to move us closer to the confrontation we never seek with the nuclear power we - let alone Messrs Bush and Blair - seldom mention: Israel.
Nobody, including the Knesset, quite knows what happens inside the Dimona complex, but if you put together a compote of usually reliable sources (the Federation of American Scientists, Jane's Intelligence Review, the Stockholm Institute), a tolerably clear picture emerges. Ariel Sharon probably has more than 200 nuclear warheads this morning - more if the 17 years since Mordechai Vanunu's kidnapping have been devoted to building stockpiles.
Monday, December 22, 2003
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish soldiers and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of liberty, democracy and respect for international law".
Spanish Primeminister Jose Maria Aznar speaking to spanish Troops during a surprise Visit in Iraq
"und das sagt er nachdem er die Spanier entgegen der Meinung von 95% der Bevölkerung, in einen illegalen Agressionskrieg gesendet hat"
Mr Aznar said he wanted to support the Spanish soldiers and their allies in "their struggle for a just cause, one of liberty, democracy and respect for international law".
Spanish Primeminister Jose Maria Aznar speaking to spanish Troops during a surprise Visit in Iraq
"und das sagt er nachdem er die Spanier entgegen der Meinung von 95% der Bevölkerung, in einen illegalen Agressionskrieg gesendet hat"
WHO CAUGHT SADDAM
Sidney Morning Herald: 'We Got Him' - Kurds Say They Caught Saddam
Washington's claims that brilliant US intelligence work led to the capture of Saddam Hussein are being challenged by reports sourced in Iraq's Kurdish media claiming that its militia set the circumstances in which the US merely had to go to a farm identified by the Kurds to bag the fugitive former president.
Sidney Morning Herald: Kurds Captured, Drugged Saddam Before US Got Him
Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.
The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".
Correspondences: Bush Lies Again - This Time About Saddam's Capture
Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces. Here is the story as best I can determine by looking through a number of articles (see full list at end of this post).
Hussein was betrayed to the Kurds by a member of the al-Jabour tribe because Hussein's son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam had previously paid 7 million pounds in blood money to the tribe with the warning that he would wipe out the entire tribe if it ever came out. (Sify report)
He was then handed over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front who negotiated a deal with US forces for political power before drugging and abandoning Hussein for pickup. Ultimately he ended up in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani (Aljazeera)
Sidney Morning Herald: 'We Got Him' - Kurds Say They Caught Saddam
Washington's claims that brilliant US intelligence work led to the capture of Saddam Hussein are being challenged by reports sourced in Iraq's Kurdish media claiming that its militia set the circumstances in which the US merely had to go to a farm identified by the Kurds to bag the fugitive former president.
Sidney Morning Herald: Kurds Captured, Drugged Saddam Before US Got Him
Saddam Hussein was found by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.
The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".
Correspondences: Bush Lies Again - This Time About Saddam's Capture
Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces. Here is the story as best I can determine by looking through a number of articles (see full list at end of this post).
Hussein was betrayed to the Kurds by a member of the al-Jabour tribe because Hussein's son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam had previously paid 7 million pounds in blood money to the tribe with the warning that he would wipe out the entire tribe if it ever came out. (Sify report)
He was then handed over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front who negotiated a deal with US forces for political power before drugging and abandoning Hussein for pickup. Ultimately he ended up in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani (Aljazeera)
IRAQ
Moscow Times: Best-Laid Plans By Chris Floyd
12/19/03: (Moscow Times) One of the constant refrains we hear from the malcontents carping about George W. Bush's triumphant crusade in Iraq is the charge -- the canard -- that the president and his crack team of advisers "had no plan" for the post-war period, that they've stumbled from crisis to crisis, changing policies without rhyme or reason, or have even "plunged off a cliff," as erstwhile war-hawk Newt Gingrich declared last week.
But to anyone not blinded by partisan ideology or irrational Bush-hatred, the evidence clearly shows that Team Bush has always had a very specific plan for remaking Iraq -- and is following it faithfully to this very day.
Of course, it's not always easy to discern the president's steadfast adherence to principle through the defeatist fog of the liberal American media. For instance, this month saw perhaps the most significant progress yet toward the fulfillment of Bush's master plan, yet there was not a word about it anywhere in America's media "Establishment." No, Britain's Financial Times and South Africa's Sunday Times provided the unvarnished truth last week.
We refer, of course, to the $40 million contract awarded by occupation authorities to a private security company called Erinys Iraq. This plucky start-up is one of the great success stories of the occupation, having already bagged big money to ride shotgun for Halliburton and Bechtel as they spread their beneficent tentacles throughout the conquered land. Now little Erinys will guard the Holy Grail of the entire invasion project: Iraq's oil industry.
Erinys is a joint venture between a large South African freebooting firm and a few choice Iraqi investors. How choice? They are intimates of Ahmad Chalabi: leader of the Iraqi National Congress exile group, member of the Bush-appointed Governing Council, convicted swindler, darling of the Pentagon -- and the Bush plan's designated tyrant-to-be, the Iraqi face of a compliant, corporate-run colonial outpost in Mesopotamia.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Moscow Times: Best-Laid Plans By Chris Floyd
12/19/03: (Moscow Times) One of the constant refrains we hear from the malcontents carping about George W. Bush's triumphant crusade in Iraq is the charge -- the canard -- that the president and his crack team of advisers "had no plan" for the post-war period, that they've stumbled from crisis to crisis, changing policies without rhyme or reason, or have even "plunged off a cliff," as erstwhile war-hawk Newt Gingrich declared last week.
But to anyone not blinded by partisan ideology or irrational Bush-hatred, the evidence clearly shows that Team Bush has always had a very specific plan for remaking Iraq -- and is following it faithfully to this very day.
Of course, it's not always easy to discern the president's steadfast adherence to principle through the defeatist fog of the liberal American media. For instance, this month saw perhaps the most significant progress yet toward the fulfillment of Bush's master plan, yet there was not a word about it anywhere in America's media "Establishment." No, Britain's Financial Times and South Africa's Sunday Times provided the unvarnished truth last week.
We refer, of course, to the $40 million contract awarded by occupation authorities to a private security company called Erinys Iraq. This plucky start-up is one of the great success stories of the occupation, having already bagged big money to ride shotgun for Halliburton and Bechtel as they spread their beneficent tentacles throughout the conquered land. Now little Erinys will guard the Holy Grail of the entire invasion project: Iraq's oil industry.
Erinys is a joint venture between a large South African freebooting firm and a few choice Iraqi investors. How choice? They are intimates of Ahmad Chalabi: leader of the Iraqi National Congress exile group, member of the Bush-appointed Governing Council, convicted swindler, darling of the Pentagon -- and the Bush plan's designated tyrant-to-be, the Iraqi face of a compliant, corporate-run colonial outpost in Mesopotamia.
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
IRAQ
Information Clearinghouse: The Americans invaded Iraq in order to remain there By Uri Avnery
The spectacle was disgusting.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!" Thus commandeth the ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs, 24, 16).
The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every person tends to gloat when his enemy falls. But he wanted to point out that this is an ugly human trait and one should try to overcome it.
And now a mighty world power has sunk to this level. It is repeatedly displaying the spectacle of American soldiers looking for lice in the hair of a miserable Saddam and poking about among his teeth.
If it is possible at all to evoke pity for a man like Saddam, who is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands, the Americans have achieved this. By showing him off as a drugged tramp, they created the opposite effect from what they wanted. The Vatican has called for mercy. The public humiliation of an Arab leader, whatever one may think about him, evokes the deepest feelings of insult and fury among tens of millions of Arabs. These feelings will strive to express themselves violently. This may cost blood, much blood.
(Not long ago, the United States cried to high heaven when the Iraqis showed off some American prisoners. But there are apparently no mirrors in Washington DC.)
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
Information Clearinghouse: The Americans invaded Iraq in order to remain there By Uri Avnery
The spectacle was disgusting.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!" Thus commandeth the ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs, 24, 16).
The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every person tends to gloat when his enemy falls. But he wanted to point out that this is an ugly human trait and one should try to overcome it.
And now a mighty world power has sunk to this level. It is repeatedly displaying the spectacle of American soldiers looking for lice in the hair of a miserable Saddam and poking about among his teeth.
If it is possible at all to evoke pity for a man like Saddam, who is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands, the Americans have achieved this. By showing him off as a drugged tramp, they created the opposite effect from what they wanted. The Vatican has called for mercy. The public humiliation of an Arab leader, whatever one may think about him, evokes the deepest feelings of insult and fury among tens of millions of Arabs. These feelings will strive to express themselves violently. This may cost blood, much blood.
(Not long ago, the United States cried to high heaven when the Iraqis showed off some American prisoners. But there are apparently no mirrors in Washington DC.)
"CHECK IT, CHECK IT, CHECK IT"
USA: E-VOTING
WIRED: At Least Five Convicted Felons Sit on Diebold Board, One Locked Up For Computer Tampering
SAN FRANCISCO -- At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold, one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.
WIRED: At Least Five Convicted Felons Sit on Diebold Board, One Locked Up For Computer Tampering
SAN FRANCISCO -- At least five convicted felons secured management positions at a manufacturer of electronic voting machines, according to critics demanding more stringent background checks for people responsible for voting machine software.
Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold, one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.
IRAQ
Counterpunch: Shooting Samarra's Schoolboys in the Back By ROBERT FISK
Phantam Insurgents in Fantasyville
Schoolboy Issam Naim Hamid is the latest of America's famous "insurgents". In Samarra--for which read Fantasyville--he was shot in the back as he tried to protect himself with his parents in his home in the Al-Jeheriya district of the ancient Abbasid city.
It was three in the morning, according to his mother, Manal, when soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division came to the house, firing bullets through the gate. One of the rounds pierced the door, punched through a window and entered Issam's back, speeding on through an outer wall. His father was hit in the ankle and was taken to Tikrit hospital yesterday in serious condition. Issam cries in pain in the Samarra emergency hospital ward, a drip-tube sticking into his stomach through a wad of bloody bandages.
The Americans claimed to have killed 54 "insurgents" after a series of guerrilla ambushes in the city last month, and the only dead to be found in the mortuaries were nine civilians, including an Iranian pilgrim to the great golden-cupolaed Shia shrine that looms over Samarra. Four days ago, they boasted of a further 11 "insurgents", but the only dead man who could be found was a vegetable seller. At the Samarra hospital, doctors also have the names of a taxi driver called Amer Baghdadi, shot dead by the Americans on Wednesday night.
Counterpunch: Shooting Samarra's Schoolboys in the Back By ROBERT FISK
Phantam Insurgents in Fantasyville
Schoolboy Issam Naim Hamid is the latest of America's famous "insurgents". In Samarra--for which read Fantasyville--he was shot in the back as he tried to protect himself with his parents in his home in the Al-Jeheriya district of the ancient Abbasid city.
It was three in the morning, according to his mother, Manal, when soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division came to the house, firing bullets through the gate. One of the rounds pierced the door, punched through a window and entered Issam's back, speeding on through an outer wall. His father was hit in the ankle and was taken to Tikrit hospital yesterday in serious condition. Issam cries in pain in the Samarra emergency hospital ward, a drip-tube sticking into his stomach through a wad of bloody bandages.
The Americans claimed to have killed 54 "insurgents" after a series of guerrilla ambushes in the city last month, and the only dead to be found in the mortuaries were nine civilians, including an Iranian pilgrim to the great golden-cupolaed Shia shrine that looms over Samarra. Four days ago, they boasted of a further 11 "insurgents", but the only dead man who could be found was a vegetable seller. At the Samarra hospital, doctors also have the names of a taxi driver called Amer Baghdadi, shot dead by the Americans on Wednesday night.
SADDAM
Counterpunch: 15 Years Too Late By ROBERT FISK
Saddam will Continue to Haunt Iraq for Years
Was this really the man with whom I shook hands almost a quarter of a century ago? I've spent 24 hours looking again and again at those videotapes. The more I look, the more Saddam turns into a wild animal. An American interviewed by the Associated Press said he'd gone straight to church to pray for him. The face I remember from my meeting with him almost a quarter of a century ago was chubby in an insolent sort of way, the moustache so well trimmed that it looked as if it had been stuck on his face with paste, the huge double-breasted suit the kind that Nazi leaders used to wear, too empty, too floppy on the shoulders.
Counterpunch: 15 Years Too Late By ROBERT FISK
Saddam will Continue to Haunt Iraq for Years
Was this really the man with whom I shook hands almost a quarter of a century ago? I've spent 24 hours looking again and again at those videotapes. The more I look, the more Saddam turns into a wild animal. An American interviewed by the Associated Press said he'd gone straight to church to pray for him. The face I remember from my meeting with him almost a quarter of a century ago was chubby in an insolent sort of way, the moustache so well trimmed that it looked as if it had been stuck on his face with paste, the huge double-breasted suit the kind that Nazi leaders used to wear, too empty, too floppy on the shoulders.
MICHAEL MOOR
Michael Moore: Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news.
What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do with the security of the United States of America.
I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free speech). I thank them for their bravery.
Michael Moore: Letters the Troops Have Sent Me... by Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
As we approach the holidays, I've been thinking a lot about our kids who are in the armed forces serving in Iraq. I've received hundreds of letters from our troops in Iraq -- and they are telling me something very different from what we are seeing on the evening news.
What they are saying to me, often eloquently and in heart-wrenching words, is that they were lied to -- and this war has nothing to do with the security of the United States of America.
I've written back and spoken on the phone to many of them and I've asked a few of them if it would be OK if I posted their letters on my website and they've said yes. They do so at great personal risk (as they may face disciplinary measures for exercising their right to free speech). I thank them for their bravery.
UK: DEMOCRACY
Guardian: 'Secret' detainee tells of jail despair
Terror suspect held for two years says he suffered mental breakdown that led to transfer to Broadmoor from high-security prison
A man detained in Britain without charge or trial for two years on the basis of secret evidence he can neither know about nor challenge has told of his despair at his treatment under anti-terrorist legislation.
Exactly two years after he was arrested at his family home in the early hours and taken to Belmarsh high-security prison, Mahmoud Abu Rideh is the first of 14 detainees held on suspicion of terrorism to speak out publicly, through a letter sent to the Guardian.
In it, he tells of his horror at his arrest, his humiliation in prison and the deterioration of his mental health. He has now been moved to the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, says the detainees are all suspected international terrorists with links to al-Qaida or related groups and that the anti-terrorist legislation under which they are held, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is essential to safeguard the public.
Human rights groups, however, have condemned detentions based on secret evidence without a criminal trial. On Thursday, the privy counsellors review committee, a cross-party group of MPs set up by Mr Blunkett, which spent 18 months reviewing the act, called for it to be scrapped.
Mr Abu Rideh claims his experiences since his arrest are an indictment of Britain. "Is this the civilisation of London? Is this Europe civilisation in the 21st century?" It was a month before he was allowed to call a lawyer and six months before he saw his wife and children.
Guardian: 'Secret' detainee tells of jail despair
Terror suspect held for two years says he suffered mental breakdown that led to transfer to Broadmoor from high-security prison
A man detained in Britain without charge or trial for two years on the basis of secret evidence he can neither know about nor challenge has told of his despair at his treatment under anti-terrorist legislation.
Exactly two years after he was arrested at his family home in the early hours and taken to Belmarsh high-security prison, Mahmoud Abu Rideh is the first of 14 detainees held on suspicion of terrorism to speak out publicly, through a letter sent to the Guardian.
In it, he tells of his horror at his arrest, his humiliation in prison and the deterioration of his mental health. He has now been moved to the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, says the detainees are all suspected international terrorists with links to al-Qaida or related groups and that the anti-terrorist legislation under which they are held, passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, is essential to safeguard the public.
Human rights groups, however, have condemned detentions based on secret evidence without a criminal trial. On Thursday, the privy counsellors review committee, a cross-party group of MPs set up by Mr Blunkett, which spent 18 months reviewing the act, called for it to be scrapped.
Mr Abu Rideh claims his experiences since his arrest are an indictment of Britain. "Is this the civilisation of London? Is this Europe civilisation in the 21st century?" It was a month before he was allowed to call a lawyer and six months before he saw his wife and children.
USA
Guardian: Bush wants Saddam to hang, but we must resist
The US president is reflecting his own brutish view of the world
It has always seemed mistaken to perceive Iraq as the epicentre of the "Iraq crisis". Events there represent only one manifestation of a much more profound issue: how the rest of the world should manage its relationship with the United States. This will be our great foreign policy dilemma for at least the first half of the 21st century.
America's wealth and power are inescapable realities. It seems self-indulgent to lavish emotional and intellectual energy on deploring the shortcomings of the world's only superpower. From Tony Blair downwards, all of us must focus on coming to terms with the US, rather than figuratively waving placards to demand that this great nation should be something other than it is.
Yet, it is hard not to hate George Bush. His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion. A few weeks ago, I heard a British diplomat observe sagely: "We must not demonise Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz." Why not? The US defence secretary and his assistant have implemented coalition policy in Iraq in a fashion that makes Soviet behaviour in Afghanistan in the 1970s appear dextrous. The British are hapless passengers on the Pentagon's juggernaut.
Guardian: Bush wants Saddam to hang, but we must resist
The US president is reflecting his own brutish view of the world
It has always seemed mistaken to perceive Iraq as the epicentre of the "Iraq crisis". Events there represent only one manifestation of a much more profound issue: how the rest of the world should manage its relationship with the United States. This will be our great foreign policy dilemma for at least the first half of the 21st century.
America's wealth and power are inescapable realities. It seems self-indulgent to lavish emotional and intellectual energy on deploring the shortcomings of the world's only superpower. From Tony Blair downwards, all of us must focus on coming to terms with the US, rather than figuratively waving placards to demand that this great nation should be something other than it is.
Yet, it is hard not to hate George Bush. His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion. A few weeks ago, I heard a British diplomat observe sagely: "We must not demonise Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz." Why not? The US defence secretary and his assistant have implemented coalition policy in Iraq in a fashion that makes Soviet behaviour in Afghanistan in the 1970s appear dextrous. The British are hapless passengers on the Pentagon's juggernaut.
IRAQ
Washington Times: National Intelligence Council Predicts Bleak Future for Iraq
The National Intelligence Council, a group under CIA Director George J.
Tenet, has released a paper that is part of an effort by intelligence
analysts to predict global events in the next 17 years. For its Middle
East section, one analyst predicts Iraq faces a broad range of outcomes,
mostly bad. Baghdad in 2020 could have democraticlike rulers, such as those in
current Lebanon, or could become a democratic "Switzerland-on-the-Tigris,"
the analyst states. In its section on future "shocks," the paper lays
out four negative outcomes, including the emergence in Iraq of a radical
Islamic regime similar to Iran's dictatorship.
Washington Times: National Intelligence Council Predicts Bleak Future for Iraq
The National Intelligence Council, a group under CIA Director George J.
Tenet, has released a paper that is part of an effort by intelligence
analysts to predict global events in the next 17 years. For its Middle
East section, one analyst predicts Iraq faces a broad range of outcomes,
mostly bad. Baghdad in 2020 could have democraticlike rulers, such as those in
current Lebanon, or could become a democratic "Switzerland-on-the-Tigris,"
the analyst states. In its section on future "shocks," the paper lays
out four negative outcomes, including the emergence in Iraq of a radical
Islamic regime similar to Iran's dictatorship.
IRAQ
Commondreams: U.S. "Torture Lite" Led To Saddam's Capture
"This guy was in interrogation. He wasn't willingly giving stuff up." That' s what an officer involved in Saddam's capture told the Washington Post. If the informant who led U.S. forces to Saddam wasn't giving information willingly, why did he give any information at all? It is hard to avoid thinking about the the dirty word that everyone is too polite to mention, the "T-word": torture.
Col. James Hickey, who commanded the capture operation, tells the story a bit differently, according to the Chicago Sun-Times: "'Once in our custody the informant was cooperative, and he did provide the crucial information. But will he receive the $25 million?' he laughed. 'I seriously doubt it.'"
"Wir bringen den Irakern Demokratie...mit den Mittel Saddams"
Commondreams: U.S. "Torture Lite" Led To Saddam's Capture
"This guy was in interrogation. He wasn't willingly giving stuff up." That' s what an officer involved in Saddam's capture told the Washington Post. If the informant who led U.S. forces to Saddam wasn't giving information willingly, why did he give any information at all? It is hard to avoid thinking about the the dirty word that everyone is too polite to mention, the "T-word": torture.
Col. James Hickey, who commanded the capture operation, tells the story a bit differently, according to the Chicago Sun-Times: "'Once in our custody the informant was cooperative, and he did provide the crucial information. But will he receive the $25 million?' he laughed. 'I seriously doubt it.'"
"Wir bringen den Irakern Demokratie...mit den Mittel Saddams"
USA
Bayarea: Courts set limits on terror detention
WASHINGTON - Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and New York handed the Bush administration's war on terrorism two stunning legal setbacks Thursday, ruling that the government does not have unchecked power to jail ``enemy combatants'' without access to the courts.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that President Bush has no authority to hold American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant without congressional approval, and ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to release the alleged ``dirty bomb'' plotter from military custody within 30 days.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals panel said the government cannot keep 660 foreign fighters captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan locked up indefinitely at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Bayarea: Courts set limits on terror detention
WASHINGTON - Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and New York handed the Bush administration's war on terrorism two stunning legal setbacks Thursday, ruling that the government does not have unchecked power to jail ``enemy combatants'' without access to the courts.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that President Bush has no authority to hold American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant without congressional approval, and ordered Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to release the alleged ``dirty bomb'' plotter from military custody within 30 days.
In San Francisco, a federal appeals panel said the government cannot keep 660 foreign fighters captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan locked up indefinitely at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
OCCUPIED TERRITORES
Spiegel: Elitesoldaten verweigern Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten
13 israelische Elitesoldaten haben Regierungschef Ariel Scharon einen Korb gegeben. In einem Brief an die Regierung kündigten die Soldaten und Offiziere der Spezialeinheit des Generalstabes an, künftig den Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten zu verweigern.
Jerusalem - Die Militärs begründeten ihren Schritt mit Sorge um die Zukunft Israels als demokratischer, zionistischer und jüdischer Staat, wie es hieß. "Wir können nicht mehr beiseite stehen. Heute sagen wir: Wir werden nicht helfen, Millionen Palästinensern ihre Menschenrechte vorzuenthalten. Wir werden nicht Schutzwall für die Siedlungskampagne sein", hieß es in dem Schreiben der Elitesoldaten. "Wir werden unsere Moral nicht durch Aufgaben einer Besatzungsarmee verunstalten lassen. Diese Grenze wird nicht mehr überschritten."
"Respect"
Spiegel: Elitesoldaten verweigern Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten
13 israelische Elitesoldaten haben Regierungschef Ariel Scharon einen Korb gegeben. In einem Brief an die Regierung kündigten die Soldaten und Offiziere der Spezialeinheit des Generalstabes an, künftig den Dienst in den besetzten Gebieten zu verweigern.
Jerusalem - Die Militärs begründeten ihren Schritt mit Sorge um die Zukunft Israels als demokratischer, zionistischer und jüdischer Staat, wie es hieß. "Wir können nicht mehr beiseite stehen. Heute sagen wir: Wir werden nicht helfen, Millionen Palästinensern ihre Menschenrechte vorzuenthalten. Wir werden nicht Schutzwall für die Siedlungskampagne sein", hieß es in dem Schreiben der Elitesoldaten. "Wir werden unsere Moral nicht durch Aufgaben einer Besatzungsarmee verunstalten lassen. Diese Grenze wird nicht mehr überschritten."
"Respect"
Saturday, December 20, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: MOSSAD-AL QAEDA
Executive Intelligence Review: Mossad Exposed in Phony`Palestinian Al-Qaeda' Caper
by Michele Steinberg and Hussein Askary
The United States government has been provided with concrete evidence that the Israeli Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services have been involved in a 13-month effort to "recruit" an Israeli-run, phony "al-Qaeda cell" among Palestinians, so that Israel could achieve a frontline position in the U.S. war against terrorism and get a green light for a worldwide "revenge without borders" policy. The question: Does the United States have the moral fiber to investigate?
Evidence of the Israeli dirty tricks burst onto the public scene on Dec. 6, when Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, held a press conference revealing the details of the alleged plot, as his agency had put the pieces together. The revelations undermine the "big lie" that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used to justify new brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and other occupied areas. Sharon claimed on Dec. 4 that Israeli intelligence had "hard evidence" of al-Qaeda operations in the Gaza Strip. Now, the top Palestinian leadership has shown the United States and other nations how Israeli intelligence entities were creating that al-Qaeda link!
Haaretz: Ibrahim, the Shin Bet wants you to join Qaida
Arabia: Palestinian Man Says Mossad Sought to Induce Him to Set up Fake Qaeda Cell in Gaza
Kilafah: PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda
Sidney Morning Herald: Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda 'poseurs'
Anti War: By Way of Deception, by Justin Raimondo
Executive Intelligence Review: Mossad Exposed in Phony`Palestinian Al-Qaeda' Caper
by Michele Steinberg and Hussein Askary
The United States government has been provided with concrete evidence that the Israeli Mossad and other Israeli intelligence services have been involved in a 13-month effort to "recruit" an Israeli-run, phony "al-Qaeda cell" among Palestinians, so that Israel could achieve a frontline position in the U.S. war against terrorism and get a green light for a worldwide "revenge without borders" policy. The question: Does the United States have the moral fiber to investigate?
Evidence of the Israeli dirty tricks burst onto the public scene on Dec. 6, when Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Services in the Gaza Strip, held a press conference revealing the details of the alleged plot, as his agency had put the pieces together. The revelations undermine the "big lie" that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has used to justify new brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and other occupied areas. Sharon claimed on Dec. 4 that Israeli intelligence had "hard evidence" of al-Qaeda operations in the Gaza Strip. Now, the top Palestinian leadership has shown the United States and other nations how Israeli intelligence entities were creating that al-Qaeda link!
Haaretz: Ibrahim, the Shin Bet wants you to join Qaida
Arabia: Palestinian Man Says Mossad Sought to Induce Him to Set up Fake Qaeda Cell in Gaza
Kilafah: PA uncovers Israelis posing as Al-Qaeda
Sidney Morning Herald: Palestinians arrest al-Qaeda 'poseurs'
Anti War: By Way of Deception, by Justin Raimondo
IRAQ 1990
RENSE: April Glaspie - Saddam Hussein Conversation 1990
Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting with U.S. Envoy
The New York Times International
Sunday, September 23, 1990
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 -- On July 25, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq summoned the United States Ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, to his office in the last high-level contact between the two Governments before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Here are excerpts from a document described by Iraqi Government officials as a transcript of the meeting, which also included the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz. A copy was provided to The New York Times by ABC News, which translated from the Arabic. The State Department has declined to comment on its accuracy.
RENSE: April Glaspie - Saddam Hussein Conversation 1990
Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting with U.S. Envoy
The New York Times International
Sunday, September 23, 1990
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 -- On July 25, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq summoned the United States Ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, to his office in the last high-level contact between the two Governments before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Here are excerpts from a document described by Iraqi Government officials as a transcript of the meeting, which also included the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz. A copy was provided to The New York Times by ABC News, which translated from the Arabic. The State Department has declined to comment on its accuracy.
Friday, December 19, 2003
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Reuters: Sharon Issues Separation Ultimatum to Palestinians
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued an ultimatum to Palestinians, saying Israel would enforce a separation denying them land they want unless progress was made on a U.S.-backed peace plan within months.
The United States and the Palestinians condemned Sharon's go-it-alone plan on Thursday, and Israeli right-wingers criticized his idea of abandoning some Jewish settlements as part of what he called essential measures for Israel's security.
His Likud party has been thrown into confusion by his apparent rethink on its long-standing resistance to abandoning land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a major policy speech Sharon, warned that, whatever happened, work would speed up on a barrier through the West Bank that he says is vital to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen.
Reuters: Sharon Issues Separation Ultimatum to Palestinians
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued an ultimatum to Palestinians, saying Israel would enforce a separation denying them land they want unless progress was made on a U.S.-backed peace plan within months.
The United States and the Palestinians condemned Sharon's go-it-alone plan on Thursday, and Israeli right-wingers criticized his idea of abandoning some Jewish settlements as part of what he called essential measures for Israel's security.
His Likud party has been thrown into confusion by his apparent rethink on its long-standing resistance to abandoning land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a major policy speech Sharon, warned that, whatever happened, work would speed up on a barrier through the West Bank that he says is vital to keep out suicide bombers and gunmen.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
AFP: US Soldier Killed In Baghdad Ambush
(AFP) - An American soldier was killed and another was wounded during an ambush in Baghdad, as violence also flared up in other areas of the country.
The soldier's unit was conducting a vehicle patrol in Baghdad's Karkh district at around 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) when the ambush occurred, the spokeswoman said Thursday.
"Another soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the incident," she said.
AFP: US Soldier Killed In Baghdad Ambush
(AFP) - An American soldier was killed and another was wounded during an ambush in Baghdad, as violence also flared up in other areas of the country.
The soldier's unit was conducting a vehicle patrol in Baghdad's Karkh district at around 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) when the ambush occurred, the spokeswoman said Thursday.
"Another soldier and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the incident," she said.
IRAQ-USA
Spiegel: Rumsfeld signalisierte grünes Licht für Einsatz chemischer Waffen
Als der einstige Reagan-Gesandte Donald Rumsfeld 1984 Saddam Hussein einen Besuch abstattete, spielte die US-Regierung ein doppeltes Spiel. Neue Dokumente belegen: Trotz Öffentlicher Verdammung chemischer Waffen lag es dem Weissen Haus daran, die Beziehungen zu Bagdad auszubauen - auch wenn Saddam die Waffen gegen Iran einsetzen würde.
Spiegel: Rumsfeld signalisierte grünes Licht für Einsatz chemischer Waffen
Als der einstige Reagan-Gesandte Donald Rumsfeld 1984 Saddam Hussein einen Besuch abstattete, spielte die US-Regierung ein doppeltes Spiel. Neue Dokumente belegen: Trotz Öffentlicher Verdammung chemischer Waffen lag es dem Weissen Haus daran, die Beziehungen zu Bagdad auszubauen - auch wenn Saddam die Waffen gegen Iran einsetzen würde.
MEDIA WATCH
Albawaba: Anatomy of a News Report on Palestine by Les Blough
The following analysis examines a typical news report on Palestine by the corporate media. In the report, a Reuters reporter, Eli Berelzon, writes a story of a Palestinian soldier attacking the Israeli army and killing two Israeli soldiers. It is a story of what appears to be a successful Palestinian military operation against the Israeli Army ... but it’s not presented that way - not at all. You may think, “But Eli only reported the facts!�. Ah, but how were they presented?
“It’s not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it� - John Pilger.
"CHECK IT"
Albawaba: Anatomy of a News Report on Palestine by Les Blough
The following analysis examines a typical news report on Palestine by the corporate media. In the report, a Reuters reporter, Eli Berelzon, writes a story of a Palestinian soldier attacking the Israeli army and killing two Israeli soldiers. It is a story of what appears to be a successful Palestinian military operation against the Israeli Army ... but it’s not presented that way - not at all. You may think, “But Eli only reported the facts!�. Ah, but how were they presented?
“It’s not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it� - John Pilger.
"CHECK IT"
SADDAM
Newsday: Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing
WASHINGTON -- The Washington congressman who criticized President Bush while visiting Baghdad last year has questioned the timing of the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted." Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
The Democratic congressman went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
Newsday: Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing
WASHINGTON -- The Washington congressman who criticized President Bush while visiting Baghdad last year has questioned the timing of the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted." Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
The Democratic congressman went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
SADDAM
Albawaba: Israel denies Qatari report saying Sharon secretly met Saddam in Baghdad following arrest
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon paid a brief visit Sunday to Baghdad to secretly meet former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Qatari newspaper reported Tuesday.
Al-Raya, citing Nasser Mahmoud – a top Iraqi politician with close links to the interim council, reported that "Sharon, accompanied by intelligence officers, landed at around 20:00 at the Baghdad airport."
According to the report, top civil administrator Paul L. Bremer received the Israeli leader and accompanied him during the meeting with Saddam Hussein.
Mahmoud added, according to the report, that during a meeting with Bremer after his arrival in Baghdad, Sharon had asked to see Saddam in person.
Following the meeting with the ousted leader, Sharon praised Bremer and the US army on the capture and said it "strengthens the US victory in Iraq".
Albawaba: Israel denies Qatari report saying Sharon secretly met Saddam in Baghdad following arrest
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon paid a brief visit Sunday to Baghdad to secretly meet former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Qatari newspaper reported Tuesday.
Al-Raya, citing Nasser Mahmoud – a top Iraqi politician with close links to the interim council, reported that "Sharon, accompanied by intelligence officers, landed at around 20:00 at the Baghdad airport."
According to the report, top civil administrator Paul L. Bremer received the Israeli leader and accompanied him during the meeting with Saddam Hussein.
Mahmoud added, according to the report, that during a meeting with Bremer after his arrival in Baghdad, Sharon had asked to see Saddam in person.
Following the meeting with the ousted leader, Sharon praised Bremer and the US army on the capture and said it "strengthens the US victory in Iraq".
SADDAM
WSWS: Bush calls for Hussein’s execution: a portrait of sadism and ignorance
Those who actually sat through the interview and who know Bush’s record, however, may not be so impressed. When he was governor of Texas, the “ultimate penalty� was altogether routine. He presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in US history, and once allowed that he spent an average of just 15 minutes reviewing cases before giving the order to put human beings—including the mentally ill—to death.
After becoming president, he has resumed the use of the federal death penalty for the first time in the US since 1963, ordering the execution of a Persian Gulf War veteran on the very eve of launching the invasion of Iraq last March
This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice. But that will be decided not by the president of the United States but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another,� said Bush, who defensively added, “You don’t want a kangaroo court.�
But that is precisely what Washington is preparing. The “citizens of Iraq� will decide nothing. They are subjects of a US military occupation, without an elected government and without even the prospect of a vote for years to come. The US will create the instrument that will render Hussein’s verdict based on the time-honored American principle of “give him a fair trial and hang him.�
The other advantage of such a procedure is that dead men tell no tales. Hussein can be denied the one defense he would inevitably make before an international court: that the greatest crimes of which he stands accused—the Iran-Iraq war, the gassing of the Kurds and suppression of the Shiites—were carried out with either the direct support or tacit approval of US administrations in Washington.
WSWS: Bush calls for Hussein’s execution: a portrait of sadism and ignorance
Those who actually sat through the interview and who know Bush’s record, however, may not be so impressed. When he was governor of Texas, the “ultimate penalty� was altogether routine. He presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in US history, and once allowed that he spent an average of just 15 minutes reviewing cases before giving the order to put human beings—including the mentally ill—to death.
After becoming president, he has resumed the use of the federal death penalty for the first time in the US since 1963, ordering the execution of a Persian Gulf War veteran on the very eve of launching the invasion of Iraq last March
This is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the ultimate justice. But that will be decided not by the president of the United States but by the citizens of Iraq in one form or another,� said Bush, who defensively added, “You don’t want a kangaroo court.�
But that is precisely what Washington is preparing. The “citizens of Iraq� will decide nothing. They are subjects of a US military occupation, without an elected government and without even the prospect of a vote for years to come. The US will create the instrument that will render Hussein’s verdict based on the time-honored American principle of “give him a fair trial and hang him.�
The other advantage of such a procedure is that dead men tell no tales. Hussein can be denied the one defense he would inevitably make before an international court: that the greatest crimes of which he stands accused—the Iran-Iraq war, the gassing of the Kurds and suppression of the Shiites—were carried out with either the direct support or tacit approval of US administrations in Washington.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an
economic war against Iraq. I admire your extraordinary efforts to
rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our
opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we
have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with
Kuwait. James Baker [US Secretary of State] has directed our official
spokesmen to emphasise this instruction. .... "
-- April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, in conversation with Saddam
Hussein, US State Department transcripts, 25th July 1990, eight days before the invasion
"President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an
economic war against Iraq. I admire your extraordinary efforts to
rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our
opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we
have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with
Kuwait. James Baker [US Secretary of State] has directed our official
spokesmen to emphasise this instruction. .... "
-- April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, in conversation with Saddam
Hussein, US State Department transcripts, 25th July 1990, eight days before the invasion
Thursday, December 18, 2003
ISRAEL
Haaretz: Justice Minister Lapid slams 'barbaric' behavior of settlers
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Thursday launched a verbal assault on residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.
Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [Eastern] banks of the Jordan [river], a solution which is not only barbaric but also utterly impossible."
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, a showcase conference on Israeli security, Lapid said that, "Even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves.
"Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where," he said.
Speakers at the Herzliya Conference revisited Thursday controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.
MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country.
"No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."
"CHECK IT"
Haaretz: Justice Minister Lapid slams 'barbaric' behavior of settlers
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid on Thursday launched a verbal assault on residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip settlements, describing their behavior as "barbaric," and accusing them of having "de facto" control in Israel.
Lapid said that the settlers "in their heart of hearts dream of the transfer of Palestinians to the [Eastern] banks of the Jordan [river], a solution which is not only barbaric but also utterly impossible."
Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, a showcase conference on Israeli security, Lapid said that, "Even though Israel is an exemplary democracy, it is de facto controlled by a small minority of Yesha settlers who represent a minority within the settlers themselves.
"Their answer to the demographic problem is for another million immigrants to arrive in the country, although no one knows from where," he said.
Speakers at the Herzliya Conference revisited Thursday controversial comments made by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before, in which he said that the Israeli Arab population posed a demographic threat to the country.
MK Azmi Bishara of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said that describing the original residents of the land as a demographic problem would be considered racist in any country.
"No people in the world like to hear that their actual existence causes a demographic problem," Bishara told Army Radio. "Even in undeveloped countries, this is thought of as racist."
"CHECK IT"
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
IRAN
Albawaba.com: Iran's Leader - Bush, Sharon
Deserve Same Fate As Saddam
Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that all Iranians were "pleased" at the arrest of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but said U.S. President George W. Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should also go.
"The Iranian nation is very pleased with his [Saddam's]arrest," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in the city of Qazvin carried live on state television.
He described the ousted Iraqi leader as a "wild animal", a "corrupt being" and a "bloodthirsty wolf", sparking chants from the crowd of "Death to Saddam", "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
However, the leader also blamed Saddam's captors of hypocrisy, citing their support of Iraq during its 1980-88 war against the Islamic republic of Iran that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians.
"The same Americans who are now happy over his arrest were at the time shaking his hand. The current U.S. defence minister [Donald Rumsfeld] met with Saddam in Baghdad, promised to help him and helped him in order to put Islamic Iran under pressure," Khamenei declared.
"I heard the U.S. president told Saddam that 'the world is a better place without you'. I want to tell the U.S. president that he should know the world would be an even better place without Bush and Sharon," Khamenei said.
Albawaba.com: Iran's Leader - Bush, Sharon
Deserve Same Fate As Saddam
Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday that all Iranians were "pleased" at the arrest of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but said U.S. President George W. Bush and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should also go.
"The Iranian nation is very pleased with his [Saddam's]arrest," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in the city of Qazvin carried live on state television.
He described the ousted Iraqi leader as a "wild animal", a "corrupt being" and a "bloodthirsty wolf", sparking chants from the crowd of "Death to Saddam", "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
However, the leader also blamed Saddam's captors of hypocrisy, citing their support of Iraq during its 1980-88 war against the Islamic republic of Iran that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians.
"The same Americans who are now happy over his arrest were at the time shaking his hand. The current U.S. defence minister [Donald Rumsfeld] met with Saddam in Baghdad, promised to help him and helped him in order to put Islamic Iran under pressure," Khamenei declared.
"I heard the U.S. president told Saddam that 'the world is a better place without you'. I want to tell the U.S. president that he should know the world would be an even better place without Bush and Sharon," Khamenei said.
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Tagesanzeiger: Bomben im Stundentakt
Nachdem bereits am frühen Morgen ein Tanklaster in Bagdad explodiert war, hat eine weitere mächtige Explosion am frühen Nachmittag den Süden der irakischen Hauptstadt erschüttert
Independent: 10 killed in Baghdad truck bombing
An explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station collided with a bus at an intersection before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 10 people amid a surge of violence since the weekend arrest of Saddam Hussein.
Twenty people were also injured in the attack in al-Bayaa, a poor district in south-west Baghdad, hospital officials said. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, deputy interior minister, said the dead were Iraqis, and that the truck driver had planned to strike the police station.
Tagesanzeiger: Bomben im Stundentakt
Nachdem bereits am frühen Morgen ein Tanklaster in Bagdad explodiert war, hat eine weitere mächtige Explosion am frühen Nachmittag den Süden der irakischen Hauptstadt erschüttert
Independent: 10 killed in Baghdad truck bombing
An explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station collided with a bus at an intersection before dawn Wednesday, killing at least 10 people amid a surge of violence since the weekend arrest of Saddam Hussein.
Twenty people were also injured in the attack in al-Bayaa, a poor district in south-west Baghdad, hospital officials said. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, deputy interior minister, said the dead were Iraqis, and that the truck driver had planned to strike the police station.
SADDAM
Iribnew: Iran Broadcasting Says Bush
Met Saddam On November 27
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani newspaper on Tuesday published a report, claiming a meeting had taken place between US President George Bush and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The Urdu language newspaper, Khabrain, quoting some reports said that during his unexpected sojourn to Baghdad, Bush met deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The daily further said that Saddam had tried to commit suicide on November 23. He was apprehended with the help of Kurd leader Jalal Talabani and Saddam's his own guards three days before he
attempted to kill himself.
The local press, like in all the other countries, gave front page extensive coverage to the stories about Saddam's arrest and the circumstances which led to his capture.
Iribnew: Iran Broadcasting Says Bush
Met Saddam On November 27
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani newspaper on Tuesday published a report, claiming a meeting had taken place between US President George Bush and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The Urdu language newspaper, Khabrain, quoting some reports said that during his unexpected sojourn to Baghdad, Bush met deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on November 27.
The daily further said that Saddam had tried to commit suicide on November 23. He was apprehended with the help of Kurd leader Jalal Talabani and Saddam's his own guards three days before he
attempted to kill himself.
The local press, like in all the other countries, gave front page extensive coverage to the stories about Saddam's arrest and the circumstances which led to his capture.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
STREETART: ACCESS FESTIVAL
Pictures from Acces-s:
PICS 1
PICS 2
EKOSYSTEM: I had asked some ekosystem friends to work on a common theme : the Access. More than 40 people sent me their contributions and I've put them together in a video. This video was shown during Acces(s) festival last november download the Video DIvx/51MB
Pictures from Acces-s:
PICS 1
PICS 2
EKOSYSTEM: I had asked some ekosystem friends to work on a common theme : the Access. More than 40 people sent me their contributions and I've put them together in a video. This video was shown during Acces(s) festival last november download the Video DIvx/51MB
SHARON
Haaretz: Sharon's Perception Of Time
"At the behest of Sharon's careful, incremental method, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed or injured over the past year; masses have fallen below the poverty line; billions of dollars have been squandered; hatred has mounted; and the demographic threat has increased."
Disturbingly, there's at least one indication that Ariel Sharon really thinks time is on his side: The prime minister clings to his belief that "a million Jews" will immigrate to Israel, and defuse the demographic threat to the Jewish state. Nary a meeting with wealthy, visiting Jews goes by without Sharon preaching to his guests about immigrating to Israel.
The troubling thing is that when a leader believes time is on his side, he has no reason to try to change reality. Yitzhak Shamir, who was sure the passage of time would strengthen the vision of Greater Israel, formulated the doctrine this way: "In the end, the Arabs will get used to the situation."
Haaretz: Sharon's Perception Of Time
"At the behest of Sharon's careful, incremental method, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed or injured over the past year; masses have fallen below the poverty line; billions of dollars have been squandered; hatred has mounted; and the demographic threat has increased."
Disturbingly, there's at least one indication that Ariel Sharon really thinks time is on his side: The prime minister clings to his belief that "a million Jews" will immigrate to Israel, and defuse the demographic threat to the Jewish state. Nary a meeting with wealthy, visiting Jews goes by without Sharon preaching to his guests about immigrating to Israel.
The troubling thing is that when a leader believes time is on his side, he has no reason to try to change reality. Yitzhak Shamir, who was sure the passage of time would strengthen the vision of Greater Israel, formulated the doctrine this way: "In the end, the Arabs will get used to the situation."
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Reuters: Saddam Arrest Cheer Fades
Into More Iraqi Anger At US
"The only difference is that Saddam would kill you in private, where the Americans will kill you in public."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein gave way to resentment toward Washington Monday as Iraqis confronted afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.
The morning after Iraq's U.S. governor revealed the ousted strongman was a disheveled prisoner, Iraqis flooded the streets to snatch up newspapers emblazoned with photos of the man who ruled them by fear, now humbled and captive.
Many were ecstatic to see Saddam captured and hoped he would answer for his deeds but said they would not rush to thank America -- in their eyes the source of their problems since a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam in April.
Reuters: Saddam Arrest Cheer Fades
Into More Iraqi Anger At US
"The only difference is that Saddam would kill you in private, where the Americans will kill you in public."
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Joy at the capture of Saddam Hussein gave way to resentment toward Washington Monday as Iraqis confronted afresh the bloodshed, shortages and soaring prices of life under U.S. occupation.
The morning after Iraq's U.S. governor revealed the ousted strongman was a disheveled prisoner, Iraqis flooded the streets to snatch up newspapers emblazoned with photos of the man who ruled them by fear, now humbled and captive.
Many were ecstatic to see Saddam captured and hoped he would answer for his deeds but said they would not rush to thank America -- in their eyes the source of their problems since a U.S.-led coalition toppled Saddam in April.
SADDAM
Spiegel: US-Demokrat wirft Bush inszenierte Festnahme vor
Nach der Festnahme Saddam Husseins triumphiert George W. Bush. Doch der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott wirft dem Präsidenten vor, er habe den Zeitpunkt der Gefangennahme Saddams aus innenpolitischen Gründen bewusst festgelegt.
Washington - Der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott sagte in einem Rundfunkinterview, das US-Militär hätte Saddam schon vor langer Zeit finden können, "wenn sie das gewollt hätten". Auf die Nachfrage, ob er die Gefangennahme für "getimt" halte, damit Bush innenpolitisch punkten könne, antwortete McDermott: "Ja, oh ja."
Spiegel: US-Demokrat wirft Bush inszenierte Festnahme vor
Nach der Festnahme Saddam Husseins triumphiert George W. Bush. Doch der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott wirft dem Präsidenten vor, er habe den Zeitpunkt der Gefangennahme Saddams aus innenpolitischen Gründen bewusst festgelegt.
Washington - Der demokratische Kongressabgeordnete Jim McDermott sagte in einem Rundfunkinterview, das US-Militär hätte Saddam schon vor langer Zeit finden können, "wenn sie das gewollt hätten". Auf die Nachfrage, ob er die Gefangennahme für "getimt" halte, damit Bush innenpolitisch punkten könne, antwortete McDermott: "Ja, oh ja."
IRAQ
Amnesty International: Iraq Tribunal Established without Consultation
Amnesty International has expressed concern to the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council about the decision to
establish an Iraqi special tribunal that was taken without prior
consultation with the Iraqi civil society or the international
community. 'We have been urging that the proposals to establish the tribunal be
subject to widespread consultation within Iraqi civil society,
especially the legal profession and human rights groups, as well as the
international community,' said Amnesty International today. 'Unfortunately, the draft
statute of the tribunal was not made public before its adoption.' Under
international humanitarian law, the authority of the CPA as an
Occupying Power to establish a tribunal of the scope envisaged for the Iraqi
special tribunal is doubtful at best.
Amnesty International: Iraq Tribunal Established without Consultation
Amnesty International has expressed concern to the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council about the decision to
establish an Iraqi special tribunal that was taken without prior
consultation with the Iraqi civil society or the international
community. 'We have been urging that the proposals to establish the tribunal be
subject to widespread consultation within Iraqi civil society,
especially the legal profession and human rights groups, as well as the
international community,' said Amnesty International today. 'Unfortunately, the draft
statute of the tribunal was not made public before its adoption.' Under
international humanitarian law, the authority of the CPA as an
Occupying Power to establish a tribunal of the scope envisaged for the Iraqi
special tribunal is doubtful at best.
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