OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Haaretz: The Day The Road Map Died
Sharon used delaying and evasive tactics, and presented firm reservations about the map, but was careful to avoid conflict with the U.S. administration... Sharon's tactics paid off. The Americans blame the Palestinians for the failure."
The "road map" for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict died last Thursday. The funeral took place in the office of Condoleezza Rice in the White House, during a pleasant conversation among the U.S. national security adviser and her aides and on the Israeli side, the prime minister's bureau chief Dov Weisglass, Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon and the prime minister's foreign policy adviser, Shalom Tourgeman. It had a short life, did the road map, which was cut short before it was realized. In its place the "Bush vision" has returned to diplomatic discourse, as the political goal of Israel and the United States.
The public may have difficulty distinguishing between the concepts, but for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the death of the road map is a great political victory. The plan for an imposed international agreement has already been removed from the path, the political process has been frozen until the departure of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, and Israel is enjoying freedom of action.
Sharon spoke of several months of waiting, during which he will try to implement the road map, before he abandons it and goes over to unilateral disengagement. But the waiting period has been drastically shortened, and Washington is now willing to hear about disengagement steps, on condition that they suit the Bush vision.
In his June 2002 speech, President George W. Bush called for a change in leadership as a condition for Palestinian independence. Israel rejoiced at the public letter of dismissal to Yasser Arafat.
"CHECK IT"
Thursday, January 29, 2004
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Haaretz: IDF Indiscriminate Killing
"Reality shows that under Ariel Sharon's government, violent friction has become the only contact between Israelis and Palestinians and the government is doing nothing to instruct the army to behave in a restrained manner in its ongoing security operations."
The dry account provided by the army said an armored force entered the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza early yesterday morning to strike at Islamic Jihad activists. According to the Israel Defense Forces report, a firefight ensued between armed Palestinians and the armored force and the IDF identified direct hits on 10 armed men. The result is that at least nine Palestinians were killed in the incident, five of them from the Islamic Jihad. The Palestinians said an 11-year-old boy and three workers were killed and an ambulance driver was wounded.
It was another one of those routine reports that the Israeli public has grown used to. Apparently the public is accepting a situation in which military activity in Palestinian towns is accompanied by indiscriminate killing.
With a kind of collective shrug, the killing is excused as something self-evident in the circumstances of the war, in which it is difficult to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians. Nobody disputes the need to chase down activists from terror groups that want to strike in Israeli population centers, and the circumstances of the incident are such that occasionally innocent civilians can be accidentally harmed because terrorists operate in their midst.
Haaretz: IDF Indiscriminate Killing
"Reality shows that under Ariel Sharon's government, violent friction has become the only contact between Israelis and Palestinians and the government is doing nothing to instruct the army to behave in a restrained manner in its ongoing security operations."
The dry account provided by the army said an armored force entered the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza early yesterday morning to strike at Islamic Jihad activists. According to the Israel Defense Forces report, a firefight ensued between armed Palestinians and the armored force and the IDF identified direct hits on 10 armed men. The result is that at least nine Palestinians were killed in the incident, five of them from the Islamic Jihad. The Palestinians said an 11-year-old boy and three workers were killed and an ambulance driver was wounded.
It was another one of those routine reports that the Israeli public has grown used to. Apparently the public is accepting a situation in which military activity in Palestinian towns is accompanied by indiscriminate killing.
With a kind of collective shrug, the killing is excused as something self-evident in the circumstances of the war, in which it is difficult to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians. Nobody disputes the need to chase down activists from terror groups that want to strike in Israeli population centers, and the circumstances of the incident are such that occasionally innocent civilians can be accidentally harmed because terrorists operate in their midst.
UK: HUTTON WHITEWASH
Scotsman: Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes
Blair Government Over Iraq War
WSWS: Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes
Blair Government Over Iraq War
AFP: Judge Who Cleared Blair,
Blamed BBC Accused Of Whitewash
Greg Palast: Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on BBC's Investigation Of Iraq War Claims CHECK IT
Scotsman: Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes
Blair Government Over Iraq War
WSWS: Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes
Blair Government Over Iraq War
AFP: Judge Who Cleared Blair,
Blamed BBC Accused Of Whitewash
Greg Palast: Lord Hutton Blesses Blair's Attack on BBC's Investigation Of Iraq War Claims CHECK IT
UK: HUTTON INQUIRY
Independent: Demands grow for inquiry into the case for war as Hutton is accused of a 'whitewash'
The BBC chairman Gavyn Davies became the first casualty of the inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly as Lord Hutton was accused last night of presiding over a "whitewash".
Tony Blair, his former director of communications Alastair Campbell and the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon were all cleared of any improper behaviour leading up to the suicide of the weapons expert, bringing barely disguised relief in Government circles
The 740-page report sent shockwaves through the BBC. Lord Hutton said that the BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan's allegation that the Government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons and included intelligence it knew to be probably wrong or questionable was "unfounded
Independent: Lord Hutton's statement
Media Guardian: Press rounds on Hutton
The government may have won the battle but it appears to have comprehensively lost the war against the media, which today leapt instinctively to the BBC's defence in the face of what they widely consider to be a "whitewash" report into the Kelly affair.
In a powerful statement the Independent has a plain white front page with the word "Whitewash?" in red taking centreplace.
It asked was "all this an establishment whitewash?", adding "what of the central issues which Lord Hutton felt it could not address?".
The Daily Mail also delivered an unequivocal front page with former Telegraph editor and military author Sir Max Hastings on the front page. "We have the wretched spectacle of a BBC chairman resigning while Alastair Campbell crows from the summit of his dunghill" are his words above a picture of David Kelly's rose-strewn grave.
The Mirror also went for the jugular with two headlines: "UNFOUNDED... the charge they 'sexed up' dossier" above a picture gallery of the Labour threesome - Geoff Hoon, Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell. Beneath is "UNFOUND... the WMD they took us to war over" with full story across pages 2,4,5,6,8 and 9.
Independent: Demands grow for inquiry into the case for war as Hutton is accused of a 'whitewash'
The BBC chairman Gavyn Davies became the first casualty of the inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly as Lord Hutton was accused last night of presiding over a "whitewash".
Tony Blair, his former director of communications Alastair Campbell and the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon were all cleared of any improper behaviour leading up to the suicide of the weapons expert, bringing barely disguised relief in Government circles
The 740-page report sent shockwaves through the BBC. Lord Hutton said that the BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan's allegation that the Government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqi weapons and included intelligence it knew to be probably wrong or questionable was "unfounded
Independent: Lord Hutton's statement
Media Guardian: Press rounds on Hutton
The government may have won the battle but it appears to have comprehensively lost the war against the media, which today leapt instinctively to the BBC's defence in the face of what they widely consider to be a "whitewash" report into the Kelly affair.
In a powerful statement the Independent has a plain white front page with the word "Whitewash?" in red taking centreplace.
It asked was "all this an establishment whitewash?", adding "what of the central issues which Lord Hutton felt it could not address?".
The Daily Mail also delivered an unequivocal front page with former Telegraph editor and military author Sir Max Hastings on the front page. "We have the wretched spectacle of a BBC chairman resigning while Alastair Campbell crows from the summit of his dunghill" are his words above a picture of David Kelly's rose-strewn grave.
The Mirror also went for the jugular with two headlines: "UNFOUNDED... the charge they 'sexed up' dossier" above a picture gallery of the Labour threesome - Geoff Hoon, Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell. Beneath is "UNFOUND... the WMD they took us to war over" with full story across pages 2,4,5,6,8 and 9.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
BREAK DANCE
CNN: Papal blessing for break-dancers
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In an unusual spectacle at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II presided over a performance of break-dancers who leaped, flipped and spun their bodies to beats from a tinny boom box.
The 83-year-old pontiff seemed to approve, waving his hand after each dancer completed a move, then applauding for the entire group. He watched the performance from a raised throne.
"For this creative hard work I bless you from my heart," he said.
CNN: Papal blessing for break-dancers
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In an unusual spectacle at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II presided over a performance of break-dancers who leaped, flipped and spun their bodies to beats from a tinny boom box.
The 83-year-old pontiff seemed to approve, waving his hand after each dancer completed a move, then applauding for the entire group. He watched the performance from a raised throne.
"For this creative hard work I bless you from my heart," he said.
USA VS. CUBA
Herald Tribune: Klayman says Castro has biochemical weapons in Cuba
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Larry Klayman stepped up his call Tuesday to forcibly remove Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whom he described as "a master terrorist" and a primary threat to U.S. security.
Five Republican and three Democratic candidates seeking the vacant Senate seat created by the retirement of three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes, spoke about their campaigns Tuesday during a two-hour forum at the 10th annual planning meeting hosted by The Associated Press
"Mr. Klayman geht wohl vorallem um die Stimmen de Exil-Kubaner in Florida"
Herald Tribune: Klayman says Castro has biochemical weapons in Cuba
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Larry Klayman stepped up his call Tuesday to forcibly remove Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whom he described as "a master terrorist" and a primary threat to U.S. security.
Five Republican and three Democratic candidates seeking the vacant Senate seat created by the retirement of three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes, spoke about their campaigns Tuesday during a two-hour forum at the 10th annual planning meeting hosted by The Associated Press
"Mr. Klayman geht wohl vorallem um die Stimmen de Exil-Kubaner in Florida"
USA
Information Clearinghouse: US denies ' imminent' threat warning
THE White House today denied it ever warned that Saddam Hussein posed an "imminent" threat to the United States.
It is already smarting from the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
"I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent'. Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering' threat," spokesman Scott McClellan said.
But if US President George W. Bush never called Saddam's Iraq an "imminent threat" in so many words, he said it was "urgent".
Vice President Dick Cheney called it "mortal" and it was "immediate" to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In an October 7, 2002 televised speech to the nation, Bush likened the standoff with Iraq to the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when Soviet missiles were revealed to be based just 145km off US shores.
In that same speech, he warned that Saddam "could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists" like the al-Qaeda network behind the September 11, 2001, attacks
Information Clearinghouse: US denies ' imminent' threat warning
THE White House today denied it ever warned that Saddam Hussein posed an "imminent" threat to the United States.
It is already smarting from the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
"I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent'. Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering' threat," spokesman Scott McClellan said.
But if US President George W. Bush never called Saddam's Iraq an "imminent threat" in so many words, he said it was "urgent".
Vice President Dick Cheney called it "mortal" and it was "immediate" to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In an October 7, 2002 televised speech to the nation, Bush likened the standoff with Iraq to the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when Soviet missiles were revealed to be based just 145km off US shores.
In that same speech, he warned that Saddam "could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists" like the al-Qaeda network behind the September 11, 2001, attacks
IRAQI RESISTANCE
ADN News: Car bomb explodes in front of Baghdad hotel
BAGHDAD, Iraq (January 27, 9:03 p.m. AST) - A car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in central Baghdad on Wednesday, partially destroying the three-story building and killing at least three people, police said.
At least three gutted cars were seen in front of the al-Shaheen hotel, only their metal skeletons remaining. Another car was half burned a little distance away in the street in Karadah district. What looked like pieces of flesh lay on the ground in front of the hotel.
Karadah police chief Kadhim Khalas said three people were killed and four injured
ADN News: Car bomb explodes in front of Baghdad hotel
BAGHDAD, Iraq (January 27, 9:03 p.m. AST) - A car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in central Baghdad on Wednesday, partially destroying the three-story building and killing at least three people, police said.
At least three gutted cars were seen in front of the al-Shaheen hotel, only their metal skeletons remaining. Another car was half burned a little distance away in the street in Karadah district. What looked like pieces of flesh lay on the ground in front of the hotel.
Karadah police chief Kadhim Khalas said three people were killed and four injured
IRAQI RESISTANCE
AP: Six US Soldiers Killed In Iraq Road Bombings
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United Nations agreed Tuesday to send a team to Iraq to help break the impasse over electing a new government, as the deaths of six more American soldiers in roadside bombings underscored concerns about security in the volatile nation.
A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others Tuesday night, hours after another bombing west of the capital killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the military said. In addition, two employees of Cable News Network died in a shooting south of Baghdad.
AP: Six US Soldiers Killed In Iraq Road Bombings
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The United Nations agreed Tuesday to send a team to Iraq to help break the impasse over electing a new government, as the deaths of six more American soldiers in roadside bombings underscored concerns about security in the volatile nation.
A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others Tuesday night, hours after another bombing west of the capital killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the military said. In addition, two employees of Cable News Network died in a shooting south of Baghdad.
USA
Guardian: The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists by George Soros
Fundamentalism has spawned an ideology of American supremacy
The invasion of Iraq was the first practical application of the pernicious Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action, and it elicited an allergic reaction worldwide - not because anyone had a good word to say about Saddam Hussein, but because we insisted on invading Iraq unilaterally without any clear evidence that he had anything to do with September 11 or that he possessed weapons of mass destruction.
The gap in perceptions between America and the rest of the world has never been wider. Abroad, America is seen as abusing the dominant position it occupies; opinion at home has been led to believe that Saddam posed a clear and present danger to national security. Only in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion are people becoming aware they have been misled
Guardian: The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists by George Soros
Fundamentalism has spawned an ideology of American supremacy
The invasion of Iraq was the first practical application of the pernicious Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action, and it elicited an allergic reaction worldwide - not because anyone had a good word to say about Saddam Hussein, but because we insisted on invading Iraq unilaterally without any clear evidence that he had anything to do with September 11 or that he possessed weapons of mass destruction.
The gap in perceptions between America and the rest of the world has never been wider. Abroad, America is seen as abusing the dominant position it occupies; opinion at home has been led to believe that Saddam posed a clear and present danger to national security. Only in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion are people becoming aware they have been misled
USA
San Francisco Gate: Are Parallels To Nazi Germany Crazy?
The customers always write. I get about 400 e-mails in response to my columns every week, which might explain why I didn't answer yours. Here, slightly edited, is one of the more interesting ones from last week. It's from Herr Moellers in Germany:
"Dear Mr. Sorensen,
"I have many American friends and used to go on business travel to the U.S. a lot (I stopped doing that after even our European governments have given in to Uncle Sam's appetite for information about individuals traveling to God's Own Country), and I am shocked by the deterioration of democracy in a country that I used to love. This administration is a shame and the destabilization they have brought to the world is scaring the s** out of me.
"My father was a Nazi soldier and he realized during the war what he and most of his generation was led into. I have learned from him that a nation can be guilty and that we must stop the arrogance of the powers at the very beginning. To me, America is becoming truly scary and the parallels to the development in Germany of the thirties (although the reason behind it are totally different) are sickening.
"Thank you for writing about this development. The world is waiting for signs of opposition in the Unilateral States of America!"
Herr Moellers' e-mail is typical of a half dozen or so I've received over the past year from people with intimate knowledge of Nazi Germany.
I respect experience, so I'm inclined to believe what these people are telling me. Perhaps their memories help explain the attitude of Germans toward the Bush administration these days.
They've been there, they've done that. They know what a corrupt government smells like.
But are they "over the top"? Are they overreacting to a normal swing of the pendulum in American politics?
To make a comparison between Germany in the 1930s and America now, I relied on a Web site called "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust." The passages in quotations below are taken from the site.
"With Adolf Hitler's ascendancy to the chancellorship, the Nazi Party quickly consolidated its power. Hitler managed to maintain a posture of legality throughout the Nazification process."
Whether by chance or design, George W. Bush is the most powerful American president in modern history. Not only does he have both houses of Congress beholden to him, but the majority of the Supreme Court is acting like a quintet of Bush lapdogs. And it all appears legal.
"Domestically, during the next six years, Hitler completely transformed Germany into a police state."
Civil libertarians insist that this is happening here now, with the USA Patriot Act in force and Patriot II on the table.
"Hitler engaged in a 'diplomatic revolution' by negotiating with other European countries and publicly expressing his strong desire for peace."
Nobody can accuse Bush of being overly diplomatic, but, like all political leaders, he is an apostle for peace, even while starting two wars during his brief tenure.
In 1933, the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, was burned to the ground. Nobody knows for sure who set the fire. The Nazis blamed communists. "This incident prompted Hitler[,then Germany's chancellor,] to convince [German President Paul von] Hindenburg to issue a Decree for the Protection of People and State that granted Nazis sweeping power to deal with the so-called emergency."
The Reichstag fire parallels the Sept. 11 attacks here, and Hindenburg's decree parallels our USA Patriot Act.
Soon after Hitler took power, the concentration camp at Dachau was created and "the Nazis began arresting Communists, Socialists and labor leaders ... . Parliamentary democracy ended with the Reichstag passage of the Enabling Act, which allowed the government to issue laws without the Reichstag."
"CHECK IT"
San Francisco Gate: Are Parallels To Nazi Germany Crazy?
The customers always write. I get about 400 e-mails in response to my columns every week, which might explain why I didn't answer yours. Here, slightly edited, is one of the more interesting ones from last week. It's from Herr Moellers in Germany:
"Dear Mr. Sorensen,
"I have many American friends and used to go on business travel to the U.S. a lot (I stopped doing that after even our European governments have given in to Uncle Sam's appetite for information about individuals traveling to God's Own Country), and I am shocked by the deterioration of democracy in a country that I used to love. This administration is a shame and the destabilization they have brought to the world is scaring the s** out of me.
"My father was a Nazi soldier and he realized during the war what he and most of his generation was led into. I have learned from him that a nation can be guilty and that we must stop the arrogance of the powers at the very beginning. To me, America is becoming truly scary and the parallels to the development in Germany of the thirties (although the reason behind it are totally different) are sickening.
"Thank you for writing about this development. The world is waiting for signs of opposition in the Unilateral States of America!"
Herr Moellers' e-mail is typical of a half dozen or so I've received over the past year from people with intimate knowledge of Nazi Germany.
I respect experience, so I'm inclined to believe what these people are telling me. Perhaps their memories help explain the attitude of Germans toward the Bush administration these days.
They've been there, they've done that. They know what a corrupt government smells like.
But are they "over the top"? Are they overreacting to a normal swing of the pendulum in American politics?
To make a comparison between Germany in the 1930s and America now, I relied on a Web site called "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust." The passages in quotations below are taken from the site.
"With Adolf Hitler's ascendancy to the chancellorship, the Nazi Party quickly consolidated its power. Hitler managed to maintain a posture of legality throughout the Nazification process."
Whether by chance or design, George W. Bush is the most powerful American president in modern history. Not only does he have both houses of Congress beholden to him, but the majority of the Supreme Court is acting like a quintet of Bush lapdogs. And it all appears legal.
"Domestically, during the next six years, Hitler completely transformed Germany into a police state."
Civil libertarians insist that this is happening here now, with the USA Patriot Act in force and Patriot II on the table.
"Hitler engaged in a 'diplomatic revolution' by negotiating with other European countries and publicly expressing his strong desire for peace."
Nobody can accuse Bush of being overly diplomatic, but, like all political leaders, he is an apostle for peace, even while starting two wars during his brief tenure.
In 1933, the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, was burned to the ground. Nobody knows for sure who set the fire. The Nazis blamed communists. "This incident prompted Hitler[,then Germany's chancellor,] to convince [German President Paul von] Hindenburg to issue a Decree for the Protection of People and State that granted Nazis sweeping power to deal with the so-called emergency."
The Reichstag fire parallels the Sept. 11 attacks here, and Hindenburg's decree parallels our USA Patriot Act.
Soon after Hitler took power, the concentration camp at Dachau was created and "the Nazis began arresting Communists, Socialists and labor leaders ... . Parliamentary democracy ended with the Reichstag passage of the Enabling Act, which allowed the government to issue laws without the Reichstag."
"CHECK IT"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Guardian: Insurgents Attack Polish Forces in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents attacked the headquarters of Polish
forces in a southern city, triggering a gunbattle that killed one Iraqi
policeman. In Baghdad, guerrillas fired a rocket into the U.S. compound but caused
on casualties. As attacks continued, Iraq's interim interior minister
blamed Osama bin Laden's terror network al-Qaida for many of the suicide car
bombings in the country in recent weeks.
"Es gibt nach wie vor keinen einzigen ausländischen Kämpfer den die Amerikaner vorzeigen könnten um ihre behauptungen von Al-Quida Terroristen im Irak zu untermauern."
Guardian: Insurgents Attack Polish Forces in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents attacked the headquarters of Polish
forces in a southern city, triggering a gunbattle that killed one Iraqi
policeman. In Baghdad, guerrillas fired a rocket into the U.S. compound but caused
on casualties. As attacks continued, Iraq's interim interior minister
blamed Osama bin Laden's terror network al-Qaida for many of the suicide car
bombings in the country in recent weeks.
"Es gibt nach wie vor keinen einzigen ausländischen Kämpfer den die Amerikaner vorzeigen könnten um ihre behauptungen von Al-Quida Terroristen im Irak zu untermauern."
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Asia Times: Targeting weak points: Iraq's oil pipelines
As with all models of asymmetrical warfare, a central element in the strategy of the Iraqi insurgency has been to attack weak point targets of least resistance, mainly through rudimentary attacks on supply lines, transports, or convoys and sabotage of the most vulnerable points of the Iraqi infrastructure. Seeking to enhance the disruptive effects of their attacks, the insurgents have also implemented specific attacks on the networks of oil pipelines.
Tactically, these attacks seek to disrupt the overall reconstruction effort and, with the Iraqi oil sector playing such a significant role both in terms of post-conflict economics and regional geopolitics, also serve as a major psychological blow to the stabilization effort
Asia Times: Targeting weak points: Iraq's oil pipelines
As with all models of asymmetrical warfare, a central element in the strategy of the Iraqi insurgency has been to attack weak point targets of least resistance, mainly through rudimentary attacks on supply lines, transports, or convoys and sabotage of the most vulnerable points of the Iraqi infrastructure. Seeking to enhance the disruptive effects of their attacks, the insurgents have also implemented specific attacks on the networks of oil pipelines.
Tactically, these attacks seek to disrupt the overall reconstruction effort and, with the Iraqi oil sector playing such a significant role both in terms of post-conflict economics and regional geopolitics, also serve as a major psychological blow to the stabilization effort
IRAQ
Islamonline: U.S.-Occupied Iraq Ready To Cooperate With Israel
BAGHDAD, January 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A minister appointed by the U.S.-handpicked Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC) said Sunday, January 25, his "country" was ready to sell electricity to Israel.
Interim Electricity Minister Aiham al-Samarrai was quoted by the Qatari news agency as telling reporters "it was necessary to change the old mindset that banned dealing with them (Israel). It is a democratic world." "Der kleine Zyniker hat nur vergessen, dass er nicht vom Irakischen Volk, sondern von den Amerikanern gewählt wurde...wie demokratisch"
Islamonline: U.S.-Occupied Iraq Ready To Cooperate With Israel
BAGHDAD, January 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A minister appointed by the U.S.-handpicked Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC) said Sunday, January 25, his "country" was ready to sell electricity to Israel.
Interim Electricity Minister Aiham al-Samarrai was quoted by the Qatari news agency as telling reporters "it was necessary to change the old mindset that banned dealing with them (Israel). It is a democratic world." "Der kleine Zyniker hat nur vergessen, dass er nicht vom Irakischen Volk, sondern von den Amerikanern gewählt wurde...wie demokratisch"
IRAQI RESISTANCE
Santa Fe News: Seven Iraqi Police Killed In Attacks; Search Continues For Americans Missing In Mosul
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents fired a rocket at the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition after gunmen killed seven Iraqi policemen in a pair of attacks west of Baghdad. A senior Iraqi official blamed al-Qaida for many of the suicide bombings around the country in recent weeks.
In the north, military divers searched Monday the muddy waters of the Tigris River for three missing U.S. soldiers, including two pilots of an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed Sunday in Mosul during rescue operations after a patrol boat capsized.
It was the fifth U.S. helicopter lost in Iraq this month, three of which were downed by hostile fire.
Santa Fe News: Seven Iraqi Police Killed In Attacks; Search Continues For Americans Missing In Mosul
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents fired a rocket at the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition after gunmen killed seven Iraqi policemen in a pair of attacks west of Baghdad. A senior Iraqi official blamed al-Qaida for many of the suicide bombings around the country in recent weeks.
In the north, military divers searched Monday the muddy waters of the Tigris River for three missing U.S. soldiers, including two pilots of an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter that crashed Sunday in Mosul during rescue operations after a patrol boat capsized.
It was the fifth U.S. helicopter lost in Iraq this month, three of which were downed by hostile fire.
IRAQI WMD
SMH: Nearly all WMD claims wrong: Kay
The Central Intelligence Agency's outgoing chief weapons inspector, David Kay, has concluded that the US was almost certainly wrong in its pre-war belief that Iraq had any significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Kay, who headed the US search for WMDs after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime until he resigned on Friday, based his views on his team's interviews with Iraqi scientists, reviews of documents and examinations of facilities and other materials.
"I'm personally convinced that there were not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction," he said on Saturday. "We don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that you would expect to find if the production was going on. I think they gradually reduced stockpiles throughout the 1990s."
SMH: Nearly all WMD claims wrong: Kay
The Central Intelligence Agency's outgoing chief weapons inspector, David Kay, has concluded that the US was almost certainly wrong in its pre-war belief that Iraq had any significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Kay, who headed the US search for WMDs after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime until he resigned on Friday, based his views on his team's interviews with Iraqi scientists, reviews of documents and examinations of facilities and other materials.
"I'm personally convinced that there were not large stockpiles of newly produced weapons of mass destruction," he said on Saturday. "We don't find the people, the documents or the physical plants that you would expect to find if the production was going on. I think they gradually reduced stockpiles throughout the 1990s."
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
IRAQ WAR
Independent: No humanitarian case for Iraq war, says rights group
The United States and Britain had no justification for invading Iraq either on the grounds of alleged threats from illicit weapons and terrorism, or as a humanitarian mission, an international civil rights group said yesterday.
The failure to find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has left President George Bush and Tony Blair claiming that the invasion was on humanitarian grounds, said a hard-hitting annual report of Human Rights Watch. It said that the West had done nothing when Saddam massacred Kurds and Shias in the past, and there was no evidence of any continuing mass killings at the start of the war in March 2003.
The report claimed that the US and British occupation forces had "sidelined human rights... as a matter of secondary importance. The rule of law has not arrived and Iraq is still beset by the legacy of human rights abuses of the former government, as well as new ones that have emerged under the occupation." The reasons given for war by Mr Bush and Mr Blair - WMD and Saddam's alleged links with international terrorism - hadnot been proved, said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the organisation
Independent: No humanitarian case for Iraq war, says rights group
The United States and Britain had no justification for invading Iraq either on the grounds of alleged threats from illicit weapons and terrorism, or as a humanitarian mission, an international civil rights group said yesterday.
The failure to find Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has left President George Bush and Tony Blair claiming that the invasion was on humanitarian grounds, said a hard-hitting annual report of Human Rights Watch. It said that the West had done nothing when Saddam massacred Kurds and Shias in the past, and there was no evidence of any continuing mass killings at the start of the war in March 2003.
The report claimed that the US and British occupation forces had "sidelined human rights... as a matter of secondary importance. The rule of law has not arrived and Iraq is still beset by the legacy of human rights abuses of the former government, as well as new ones that have emerged under the occupation." The reasons given for war by Mr Bush and Mr Blair - WMD and Saddam's alleged links with international terrorism - hadnot been proved, said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the organisation
UK
News of the World: Cash-Strapped Student
Auctions Virginity For Tuition
A student is so hard up she has decided to make the ultimate sacrifice ...she is selling her virginity to the highest bidder on the internet.
So far more than 400 men, many of them sickos, have placed bids offering 18-year-old Rosie Reid up to £10,000 for sex.
The drastic action has left Rosie's parents sickened. Her doctor dad has told her she "is selling her soul". Her nurse mum is outraged.
And Rosie is even willing to sleep with a man despite it being abhorrent to her"she is a LESBIAN.
But she would rather prostitute herself than see her studies suffer
News of the World: Cash-Strapped Student
Auctions Virginity For Tuition
A student is so hard up she has decided to make the ultimate sacrifice ...she is selling her virginity to the highest bidder on the internet.
So far more than 400 men, many of them sickos, have placed bids offering 18-year-old Rosie Reid up to £10,000 for sex.
The drastic action has left Rosie's parents sickened. Her doctor dad has told her she "is selling her soul". Her nurse mum is outraged.
And Rosie is even willing to sleep with a man despite it being abhorrent to her"she is a LESBIAN.
But she would rather prostitute herself than see her studies suffer
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES:
Palestine Chronicle: Israel's 'Wall' and Why It's Not a 'Fence'
Israelis claim that since most of the length of the 'Wall' is made up of barbed wide, it should be called a 'fence' .."
By RAY HANANIA
The Palestine Chronicle
The Palestinians call it the Wall. Israelis cleverly give it a softer spin as "the fence." Palestinians say it's intended to destroy Palestine. The Israelis hide their reasons for building it behind the broad claim that it will somehow prevent "terrorism."
This week, I had a chance to understand the "Wall" close-up, described in detailed photographs and personal testimonies from three Palestinians who spoke at the Palestinian American Congress conference in Chicago.
And what I learned about the Wall shocked even me.
Mohammed Alatar, a member of Palestinians for Peace and Democracy in Dallas, Texas, presented a lengthy Power-Point display on the true insidious nature of the Wall. (By the way. Alatar's poignant power point presentation is on my web page at www.hanania.com and you can download your own copy and see it for yourself.)
Let me address the issue of the word "fence" head on. Israelis claim that since most of the length of the "Wall" is made up of barbed wide, electrical wire and a fence, it should be called a "fence." But my response is simple. So what? Many of the concentration camps erected by the Nazis during World War II were bordered not by walls, but by fences, too. Does it make it any more innocent?
Palestine Chronicle: Israel's 'Wall' and Why It's Not a 'Fence'
Israelis claim that since most of the length of the 'Wall' is made up of barbed wide, it should be called a 'fence' .."
By RAY HANANIA
The Palestine Chronicle
The Palestinians call it the Wall. Israelis cleverly give it a softer spin as "the fence." Palestinians say it's intended to destroy Palestine. The Israelis hide their reasons for building it behind the broad claim that it will somehow prevent "terrorism."
This week, I had a chance to understand the "Wall" close-up, described in detailed photographs and personal testimonies from three Palestinians who spoke at the Palestinian American Congress conference in Chicago.
And what I learned about the Wall shocked even me.
Mohammed Alatar, a member of Palestinians for Peace and Democracy in Dallas, Texas, presented a lengthy Power-Point display on the true insidious nature of the Wall. (By the way. Alatar's poignant power point presentation is on my web page at www.hanania.com and you can download your own copy and see it for yourself.)
Let me address the issue of the word "fence" head on. Israelis claim that since most of the length of the "Wall" is made up of barbed wide, electrical wire and a fence, it should be called a "fence." But my response is simple. So what? Many of the concentration camps erected by the Nazis during World War II were bordered not by walls, but by fences, too. Does it make it any more innocent?
USA
Alternet: America's Empire of Bases
As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize – or do not want to recognize – that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire – an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order.
It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories.
Alternet: America's Empire of Bases
As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize – or do not want to recognize – that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire – an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order.
It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)