Uncompetitive oil company practices, regressive energy policy keep gas prices high Israel wants U.S. endorsement of fence A majority of Norwegians want to bring troops home from Iraq: poll The Dogs That Didn't Bark: Why Colin Powell and George Tenet aren't bashing Richard Clarke. I.R.S. Request for More Terrorism Investigators Is DeniedMany countries, including the United States, have agreed to abide by the findings of the international court.
The ICJ judgment was handed down on 31 March 2004. The Court found that the United States had violated its international obligations under the VCCR, and that it must provide 'effective judicial review and reconsideration' of the impact of the violations on the cases of the foreign nationals involved. The Court noted with 'great concern' that an execution date had been set for Osvaldo Torres, whose appeals in the domestic courts have been exhausted.
9/11 panel testifying to itself?WASHINGTON, March 30 - The Bush administration has scuttled a plan to increase by 50 percent the number of criminal financial investigators working to disrupt the finances of Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations to save $12 million, a Congressional hearing was told on Tuesday.
How Clarke 'Outsourced' Terror IntelHowever, only two of them have above-top-secret clearance and are allowed to look at 300-plus documents of that classification. The other eight commission members will be allowed only to look at a 17- page summary of those documents.
I also learned from a Universal Press International report ("9/11 director gave evidence to own inquiry") that the commission's executive director and one of the 10 members are so close to the events being investigated that they have been interviewed as part of the inquiry:
1. Philip Zelikow, the executive director, worked on the Bush-Cheney transition team. His former boss was Condoleezza Rice.
2. Commission member Jamie Gorelick was a senior official in the attorney general's office during the Clinton administration.
Medical evacuations in Iraq war hit 18,000 Treasury Used to Attack Kerry Pelosi Statement on Treasury Department's Analysis of Democratic Tax Plan Treasury chief calls outsourcing beneficial: Snow Says it Ultimately Helps Economy Impeachable OffensesThe former counterterrorism chief tapped a private researcher to develop intelligence on Al Qaeda. The disclosure sheds new light on White House frustrations with the FBI
Never mind the torture and political prisoners, he's Bush's manPresident George W. Bush--whose own election was dubious--has seized monarchical powers in sending this nation into war without any legitimate congressional declaration of war or equivalent congressional action. He has lied to the United States Congress and to the American people about the rationale for the war. He has imprisoned American citizens without charges and denied them access to lawyers and the courts. He has thus trampled on the United States Constitution and he has violated his oath of office.
Ballot Error Effect Cited: Orange County registrar says incorrect electronic ballots may have altered a race's outcome, but says results will be certified today. Floor Statement of Sen. Daschle on the Abuse of Government Power Arms hunter to tell congress no Iraqi WMD foundBecause Rice isn't president of the United States. George W. Bush is. And so we must read his lips.
Here is what those lips said publicly about al-Qaida between Jan. 1, 2001, just before Bush was sworn in as president, and Sept. 10, 2001: Nothing.
There were zero references to al-Qaida during these months. That's according to Federal News Service, which transcribes every presidential utterance - speeches, news conferences, impromptu musings at photo ops, off-the-cuff remarks made striding toward a helicopter, official comments with foreign dignitaries. The search was conducted including the phrase "al Q" - to capture every possible spelling or translation for al-Qaida. Still nothing.
Of course, the president did mention terrorism, terrorists and counterterrorism 24 times before 9/11. But eight of these comments referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Another eight involved a range of terrorist threats, including ethnic terrorism in Macedonia and Basque separatists in Spain.
In the remaining eight references to terrorism, the new president offered his idea for how to combat it: the Reagan-era missile-defense system formerly known as Star Wars.
On Jan. 8, 2001, after a meeting in Austin, Texas, with congressional defense experts, the president-elect referred to missile defense as necessary to guard against "the real threats of the 21st century." In a Feb. 10, 2001, radio address, Bush said, "we must make sure our country itself is protected from attack from ballistic missiles and high-tech terrorists." On Feb. 27, in Bush's first address before a joint session of Congress, the new president delivered the clearest exposition of his thoughts on terrorism.
"Our nation also needs a clear strategy to confront the threats of the 21st century, threats that are more widespread and less certain. They range from terrorists who threaten with bombs to tyrants and rogue nations intent upon developing weapons of mass destruction," Bush said. "To protect our own people, our allies and friends, we must develop and deploy effective missile defenses."
The British threat: By hardening its policy on nuclear weapons, New Labour is encouraging proliferation 9/11 panel to ask Rice about discrepancies On Family Planning, US vs. Much of the World: De-emphasis on contraception runs contrary to global goalsWASHINGTON - The new chief US weapons hunter in Iraq will tell lawmakers this week in his first congressional briefings that his teams have not found any banned arms, but it is too early to reach conclusions and the search will continue, US officials said on Monday.
White House Said to Agree to Let Rice Testify Publicly Poll: Bush's position against Kerry strengthens Bush, Kerry neck and neck: poll Senate Panels to Get New Iraq Weapons ReportWASHINGTON -- The world's rising disapproval of US foreign policy stems in part from opposition to the war in Iraq and the "with us or against us" tone of the world's only superpower.
But beneath the focus on geopolitics, such hot-button social issues as family planning and women's reproductive rights are also demonstrating America's shifting stature in the world - especially as the Bush administration seeks to placate its socially conservative base.
[...]
"It's one of the most drastic examples of US isolation," says Sharon Camp, president of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an international reproductive-rights organization. Pointing to the Santiago meeting, she adds, "When every country, and in such a Catholic-dominated region, votes against your position, that's a remarkable defeat."
This Isn't AmericaWASHINGTON, March 29 -- The new chief American weapons inspector in Iraq has prepared a classified report on the hunt for illicit weapons there and will brief two Senate committees in closed sessions on Tuesday about his interim findings, Congressional officials say.
The report, by Charles A. Duelfer, who took over the search in January, will be the first status report by the American government since October. It comes at a time when a host of government panels are looking into what appear to be intelligence mistakes disclosed by the failure of inspectors so far to find the chemical and biological weapons in Iraq that the Bush administration cited as a principal reason for going to war there a year ago.
At Least 23 Killed in Uzbekistan ClashesLast week an opinion piece in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin said, "This isn't America; the government did not invent intelligence material nor exaggerate the description of the threat to justify their attack."
So even in Israel, George Bush's America has become a byword for deception and abuse of power. And the administration's reaction to Richard Clarke's "Against All Enemies" provides more evidence of something rotten in the state of our government.
The truth is that among experts, what Mr. Clarke says about Mr. Bush's terrorism policy isn't controversial. The facts that terrorism was placed on the back burner before 9/11 and that Mr. Bush blamed Iraq despite the lack of evidence are confirmed by many sources -- including "Bush at War," by Bob Woodward.
8 Terror Suspects Arrested in EnglandTASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) -- Police and military clashed with suspected terrorists, including three female suicide bombers, and 23 people were killed in a third day of violence Tuesday that rattled the Uzbek capital during a sweep to round up Islamic militants, witnesses and authorities said.
Government forces besieged an apartment building near the presidential residence in northern Tashkent for nearly five hours after confronting the suicide bombers. Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the day.
Attacks on Sunday and Monday had killed another 19 people and wounded 26 in the worst unrest in this majority Muslim country since the secular government became a staunch U.S. ally after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Uzbekistan hosts hundreds of U.S. troops at a tightly secured military base near the Afghan border.
Rice to testify in public, under oath: Bush, Cheney also will go before full 9/11 panelLONDON, March 30 -- British anti-terrorism police swept through London and other parts of Southeastern England today arresting eight people suspected of preparing a terrorist attack and confiscating about 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the key ingredient in making explosives.
In an unusual press conference called to alert the public, Peter Clarke, chief of the anti-terrorist branch of the London metropolitan police and national anti-terrorism coordinator, said the eight men "have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism."
"Let's declassify all of it," Clarke said, echoing calls by Democrats familiar with his 2002 testimony, who dismissed the Republican demands as political posturing and said there was no substantive conflict. He said the full record would only prove that the Bush administration neglected the threat of terrorism in the nine months leading up to the attacks, which killed about 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
U.S. officials told NBC News that the full record of Clarke's testimony two years ago would not be declassified. They said that at the request of the White House, however, the CIA was going through the transcript to see what could be declassified, with an eye toward pointing out contradictions.
Clarke challenges Rice to reveal secret emails When the Umpires Take Sides Iraqi Defector Behind America's WMD Claims Exposed as 'Out-and-Out Fabricator'Several hundred people stormed the small yard of President Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, yesterday afternoon, pounding on his windows, shoving signs at others and challenging Rove to talk to them about a bill that deals with educational opportunities for immigrants.
Rapid Growth of "Dead Zones" in Oceans Threatens PlanetThe case for war against Iraq was dealt another embarrassing blow yesterday due to claims by an American newspaper that the first-hand intelligence source on Saddam Hussein's alleged mobile bioweapons labs was a politically motivated Iraqi defector now dismissed as an "out-and-out fabricator".
Iraq War Launched to Protect Israel - Bush AdviserJEJU, South Korea - The spread of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in the oceans, a graveyard for fish and plant life, is emerging as a threat to the health of the planet, experts say.
For hundreds of millions of people who depend on seas and oceans for their livelihoods, and for many more who rely on a diet of fish and seafood to survive, the problem is acute.
Some of the oxygen-deprived zones are relatively small, less than one square kilometer (0.4 square miles) in size. Others are vast, measuring more than 70,000 square kilometers.
"Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I'll tell you what I think the real threat (is) and actually has been since 1990 -- it's the threat against Israel," Zelikow told a crowd at the University of Virginia on Sep. 10, 2002, speaking on a panel of foreign policy experts assessing the impact of 9/11 and the future of the war on the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
"And this is the threat that dare not speak its name, because the Europeans don't care deeply about that threat, I will tell you frankly. And the American government doesn't want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it is not a popular sell," said Zelikow.
[...]
In his university speech, Zelikow, who strongly backed attacking the Iraqi dictator, also explained the threat to Israel by arguing that Baghdad was preparing in 1990-91 to spend huge amounts of "scarce hard currency" to harness "communications against electromagnetic pulse", a side-effect of a nuclear explosion that could sever radio, electronic and electrical communications.
That was "a perfectly absurd expenditure unless you were going to ride out a nuclear exchange -- they (Iraqi officials) were not preparing to ride out a nuclear exchange with us. Those were preparations to ride out a nuclear exchange with the Israelis", according to Zelikow.
Iraq faces $310bn debt crisisSo many British security firms are cashing in on the violence in Iraq that armed private security men now outnumber most of the national army contingents in the country.
Give Him a Tasking and Caveat the Report In a War on Terror, Not All the Rules of War ApplyIraq is heading for economic meltdown under the weight of its $310 billion international debt and reparations bill.
Tom Maertens: Clarke's public service Greens, ORVs toe to toe over 'feet vs. fuel' in U.S. top courtOne reason could be that the C.I.A. was traumatized in the 1970's by revulsion over the discovery that it had established, with White House knowledge, a unit capable of assassinating foreign leaders, and had plotted with mobsters and Cuban exile leaders to assassinate Fidel Castro and, in the Congo, thought about eliminating Patrice Lumumba. Mr. Lumumba was in fact killed by rivals in 1961, though apparently without American help, Congressional investigators later concluded.
Some plots revealed in 1975 by a Senate committee led by Frank Church could have come from a Peter Sellers movie. One involved Iraq - where a colonel became a target in 1960 because he was suspected of helping the Soviet Union. A C.I.A. group called the "Health Alteration Committee" proposed to mail him a monogrammed handkerchief treated with poison, the Church committee reported: "During the course of this committee's investigation, the C.I.A. stated that the handkerchief was 'in fact never received (if, indeed, sent).' It added that the colonel 'suffered a terminal illness before a firing squad in Baghdad (an event we had nothing to do with) not very long after our own handkerchief proposal was considered.' "
"The committee believes that, short of war, assassination is incompatible with American principles, international order and morality," the Church committee concluded. "It should be rejected as a tool of foreign policy."
Occupiers Spend Millions On Private Army of Security MenWASHINGTON -- To hear opposing sides tell it, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide between a flood of lawsuits paralyzing federal agencies or swarms of dirt bikes and four-wheelers trashing pristine public lands after it hears oral arguments in a Utah case Monday.
Nader, Kerry to Discuss Defeating Bush Global Warming Spirals UpwardsAn army of thousands of mercenaries has appeared in Iraq's major cities, many of them former British and American soldiers hired by the occupying Anglo-American authorities and by dozens of companies who fear for the lives of their employees.
A Town's Future Is Leaving the Country: The 1,500 residents of Clintwood learn the meaning of outsourcing the hard way.Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have jumped abruptly, raising fears that global warming may be accelerating out of control.
Measurements by US government scientists show that concentrations of the gas, the main cause of the climate exchange, rose by a record amount over the past 12 months. It is the third successive year in which they have increased sharply, marking an unprecedented triennial surge.
Army Spouses Expect Reenlistment Problems"Unless we can reverse some of these trade inequalities, the working class will simply be ruined. They'll flip burgers, go on welfare or sell drugs," said Lewis Loflin, an adjunct professor at Virginia Highlands Community College in nearby Abingdon who runs a website criticizing the region's failed efforts at economic development.
Iraqi Defector's Tales Bolstered U.S. Case for War: Colin Powell presented the U.N. with details on mobile germ factories, which came from a now-discredited source known as 'Curveball.'This change is reflected in a recent poll conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, and in dozens of supplemental interviews. The poll, the first nongovernmental survey of military spouses conducted since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, included more than 1,000 spouses living on or near the 10 heaviest-deploying Army bases.
While most of them said they have coped well, three-quarters said they believe the Army is likely to encounter personnel problems as soldiers and their families tire of the pace and leave for civilian lives.
Lt. Gen. Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck, the Army's personnel chief, said in an interview that, overall, The Post/Kaiser/Harvard poll results seemed to reflect those of the service's internal surveys.
Missed Opportunities Shadow 9/11 Attacks: As Al Qaeda plotted, the U.S. couldn't link its intelligence or find a way to kill Bin Laden. Commission Chairman: Rice Should Appear In Public Prosecutor officially recommends indicting SharonWASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's prewar claims that Saddam Hussein had built a fleet of trucks and railroad cars to produce anthrax and other deadly germs were based chiefly on information from a now-discredited Iraqi defector code-named "Curveball," according to current and former intelligence officials.
Official Is Said to Recommend Sharon ChargeJERUSALEM, March 28 (Reuters) - Israel's chief prosecutor on Sunday officially recommended indicting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a long-running corruption scandal, Army Radio said.
Winton Pitcoff: Has Homeownership Been Oversold? 1660s justice, American-styleJERUSALEM, March 27 -- Israel's state prosecutor has decided to recommend that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon be indicted on charges of taking bribes from a real estate developer, Israeli news media reported Saturday night.
Occupiers spend millions on private army of security menIn the 1660s, England's Lord Clarendon was in the habit of sending prisoners to remote islands and military garrisons in order to put them out of reach of the due process protections afforded by English courts. For these misdeeds, Clarendon was impeached, and in 1679 Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus Act which made it illegal to ship prisoners away to deprive them of their rights.
It appears the Bush administration never got that memo.
Iraq faces $310bn debt crisisAn army of thousands of mercenaries has appeared in Iraq's major cities, many of them former British and American soldiers hired by the occupying Anglo-American authorities and by dozens of companies who fear for the lives of their employees.
There are serious doubts even within the occupying power about America's choice to send Chilean mercenaries, many trained during General Pinochet's vicious dictatorship, to guard Baghdad airport.
Casualties among the mercenaries are not included in the regular body count put out by the occupation authorities, which may account for the persistent suspicion among Iraqis that the US is underestimating its figures of military dead and wounded.
Iraq is heading for economic meltdown under the weight of its $310 billion international debt and reparations bill.
[...]
The IMF is due to publish a debt plan for Iraq next month. It is expected to demand widescale privatisation of Iraq's energy industry and public services in return for write-offs.
Delay shield, say former top brassThe next terrorist attack will be bigger than 9/11, predicts the deputy commander of the U.S. Northern Command.
Halliburton lobby costs see big dropA group of 49 retired US generals and admirals is urging President George Bush to postpone the deployment this year of a multibillion-dollar missile shield and spend the money instead on securing potential terror targets.
The officers, including retired admiral William Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1985 to 1989, describe the complex technology as untested and a poor use of scarce funds.
"As you have said, Mr President, our highest priority is to prevent terrorists from acquiring and employing weapons of mass destruction," the letter says. The letter was to be released at a news conference in Washington.
As the "militarily responsible course of action", the signatories urge that funds planned for missile defence go to bolstering nuclear weapons depots and protecting US ports and borders.
Newsview: Cross Bush, Face PaybackWASHINGTON -- Halliburton, the oil and construction conglomerate formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, dramatically reduced what it spent on lobbying Congress and the federal government after the Bush-Cheney administration took office in January 2001.
A White House "Adept at Revenge." W. Va. Sen. on Iraq: 'My Vote Was Wrong'WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is playing supercharged hardball in going after his own former anti-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke. It's a risky strategy that shows the single-mindedness of Bush and his re-election team in trying to deflect politically damaging criticism.
But Bush and his chief political adviser, Karl Rove, are essentially following the same game plan that the late Lee Atwater -- an early political mentor of Rove's -- used to get the first President Bush elected in 1988: define and undercut an opponent early with a fusillade of negative attacks.
``This team is tough. You cross them and they go after you and raise questions about you and your credibility rather than what you have to say,'' said Thomas Mann, a scholar with the Brookings Institution.
Others who have fallen out of favor over Iraq include former economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni and former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki. All voiced concerns about either the expense or number of troops needed to occupy Iraq. All were treated dismissively by the White House. All are gone, but their estimates proved accurate.
Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV drew the administration's wrath by suggesting Bush exaggerated Saddam's nuclear capabilities. A federal grand jury is investigating whether a White House official illegally disclosed that Wilson's wife was a CIA officer to get back at him.
On the domestic front, Paul O'Neill was fired as Treasury secretary in December 2002 after publicly questioning the need for additional Bush tax cuts -- another core campaign issue for Bush.
Administration officials now are waging a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit Richard Foster, a Medicare accountant who publicly said he was forbidden by his superiors from sharing with Congress a higher -- and more accurate -- cost estimate for the administration's Medicare program.
John DiIulio quit as director of Bush's office of faith-based initiatives in 2002, telling Esquire magazine that ``Mayberry Machiavellis'' led by Rove were basing policy only on re-election concerns. He later apologized for making what he said were rude remarks.
Author who uncovered John Kerry surveillance files reports some stolenCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)--U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller regrets his vote to authorize a war against Iraq.
``If I had known then what I know now, I would have voted against it,'' Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Friday. ``I have admitted that my vote was wrong.''
Bush Against RasulThe man who uncovered evidence the FBI tailed presidential candidate John Kerry for months in 1971 said some of those files were stolen this week.
Author Gerald Nicosia reported to police Friday that three of the 14 boxes of once-secret FBI files he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act were taken from his Corte Madera home Thursday.
Particular files from the remaining 11 boxes were also taken, Nicosia said, including files containing documents about Kerry that hadn't been reviewed yet by others.
"The three files folders about John Kerry were taken," Nicosia said. "Those revelations are lost now, at least to me."
General predicts mass destruction: Terrorists seeking to outdo 9/11, conference toldEverything has already been said about Guantanamo, the "legal black hole" in which the United States has imprisoned more than 600 people for two years without trial. In the name of the antiterrorist struggle, the American army considers it has the right to keep Afghans, Pakistanis, Jordanians, French, Chinese, and British...citizens of 42 countries in all- locked up on this piece of Cuban territory. Only one has so far been allowed to meet with a lawyer. No family has been admitted on to the base.
Under international and domestic pressure, the Bush administration has begun to correct its aim. The three minors jailed for over a year, aged 13 to 15 years old, were freed in January, followed by several groups of Afghan, British, and Pakistani detainees.
The next terrorist attack will be bigger than 9/11, predicts the deputy commander of the U.S. Northern Command.
"It's gonna come. It's gonna come. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," said Lt.-Gen. Edward Anderson.
"I think that, when they look at the United States and Canada, they're not looking at doing little, small things," Anderson told the Calgary Herald editorial board Friday. "I think they want to do a big one.
"They want to do one bigger than 9/11. And so how do they do that? In my opinion, weapons of mass destruction -- a chem or bio attack of some sort."
The Daily Show's fake news steals ratings from the real news Saddam betrayed by bodyguardIf you're looking to buy a copy of Robert Greenwald's superb documentary, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War," don't go to your local Wal-Mart. Anderson Merchandising, the company that picks the movies that are sold in the retail chain, has told the distributor of the movie that the film is inappropriate for Wal-Mart.
What Should We Do about the Elections? Bush adds to coffers in Kerry's backyardSaddam Hussein was finally betrayed by a relative who was one of his closest bodyguards, a BBC programme reveals.
Tensions run high as visit ignites clashesPresident Bush attended a splashy campaign fund-raiser yesterday on the home turf of presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry, calling his rival "one of the main opponents of tax relief" and pulling in $1.2 million at a cocktail reception in the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.
Navy Public Affairs Officer Who Worked in Iraq Condemns President Bush & The U.S. Invasion Living weapons labs: War American-style U.S. troops buying own armor for Iraq dutyA brawl erupted between opponents and supporters of President Bush last night behind police barricades a block from his fund-raiser at the Park Plaza Hotel.
Neither Silent Nor a Public Witness: Presidential Adviser Rice Becomes a 9/11 Focal Point as Contradictions Appear In rush to defend White House, Rice trips over own wordsAP) -- Soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor -- and in many cases, their families are buying it for them -- despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way.
Body armor distributors have received steady inquiries from soldiers and families about purchasing the gear, which can cost several thousand dollars. Though the military has advised them not to rely on third-party suppliers, many soldiers say they want it before they deploy.
Last October, it was reported that nearly one-quarter of American troops serving in Iraq did not have ceramic plated body armor, which can stop bullets fired from assault rifles and shrapnel.
Running scared: The Bush administration fears voters will believe Richard Clarke's allegations, writes Philip James U.S. Marine, 15 Iraqis Killed in Fallujah Firefight: Freelance ABC Cameraman Among Dead Action to Protect Salmon Urged: Scientists say their advice was dropped from a report to the U.S. fisheries service. In Army Survey, Troops in Iraq Report Low MoraleDeputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage contradicted Rice's claim that the White House had a strategy before Sept. 11 for military operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban. The CIA contradicted Rice's earlier assertion that Bush had requested a CIA briefing in the summer of 2001 because of elevated terrorist threats. And Rice's assertion this week that Bush had told her on Sept. 16, 2001, that "Iraq is to the side" appeared to be contradicted by an order signed by Bush on Sept. 17 directing the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq.
Rice, in turn, has contradicted Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that Clarke was "out of the loop" and his intimation that Clarke had been demoted. Rice has also given various conflicting accounts. She criticized Clarke for being the architect of failed Clinton administration policies, but also said she had retained Clarke so the Bush administration could continue to pursue Clinton's terrorism policies.
[...]
Rice so far has refused to provide testimony under oath to the commission that could possibly resolve the contradictions. Wednesday night, she told reporters, "I would like nothing better in a sense than to be able to go up and do this, but I have a responsibility to maintain what is a long-standing constitutional separation between the executive and the legislative branch."
[...]
Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste disclosed this week that Rice had asked, in her private meetings with the commission, to revise a statement she made publicly that "I don't think anybody could have predicted that those people could have taken an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center ... that they would try to use an airplane as a missile." Rice told the commission that she had misspoken; the commission has received information that prior to Sept. 11, U.S. intelligence agencies, and Clarke, had talked about terrorists using airplanes as missiles.
In an op-ed essay Monday in the Washington Post, Rice wrote that "through the spring and summer of 2001, the national security team developed a strategy to eliminate" al Qaeda that included "sufficient military options to remove the Taliban regime" including the use of ground forces.
But Armitage, testifying this week as the White House representative, said the military part was not in the plan before Sept. 11. "I think that was amended after the horror of 9/11," he said. McCormack said Rice's statement was accurate because the team had discussed including orders for such military plans to be drawn up.
In the same article, Rice belittled Clarke's proposals by writing: "The president wanted more than a laundry list of ideas simply to contain al Qaeda or 'roll back' the threat. Once in office, we quickly began crafting a comprehensive new strategy to 'eliminate' the al Qaeda network." Rice asserted that while Clarke and others provided ideas, "No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration." That same day, she said most of Clarke's ideas "had been already tried or rejected in the Clinton administration."
But in her interview with NBC two days later, Rice appeared to take a different view of Clarke's proposals. "He sent us a set of ideas that would perhaps help to roll back al Qaeda over a three- to five-year period; we acted on those ideas very quickly. And what's very interesting is that ... Dick Clarke now says that we ignored his ideas, or we didn't follow them up."
"We Should Have Had Orange or Red-Type of Alert in June/July of 2001"A slim majority of Army soldiers in Iraq -- 52 percent -- reported that their morale was low, and three-fourths of them said they felt poorly led by their officers, according to a survey taken at the end of the summer and released yesterday by the Army.
The Real Puzzle is Elsewhere Why Can't the Media Call Bush a Liar?A former FBI wiretap translator with top-secret security clearance, who has been called "very credible" by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has told Salon she recently testified to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that the FBI had detailed information prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that a terrorist attack involving airplanes was being plotted.
Kerry: WMD `joke' no laughing matter How Did Suharto Steal $35 Billion? - Cronyism 101. By Brendan I. KoernerEven Maher Abdallah Ahmad, the dashing Al-Jazeera correspondent who reminded U.S. reporters that they can't possibly get the story right if they don't speak the language, delivered his ominous warnings about the future ("the war has not yet begun -- this is just a warm-up") with a charismatic smile.
Known Human Rights Abusers Continue to be Trained at the School of the AmericasThis butchery of March 11 (will the terrorists succeed in constraining the inhabitants of the whole world to stay locked up at home the 11th of each month?) forces us to review a certain number of principles and facts ignored up to now through the irresponsibility, casualness, and contempt on the part of those who have governed us the last few years.
The actions called "preventative" by Bush and "anticipatory" in the Aznar version against an indeterminate enemy, whose base (in Arabic: al-Qaeda) easily moves from country to country and whose place is precisely the absence of place, have proven to be swats in the air that produce exactly the opposite effect to the one expected: they have multiplied attacks as a function of the microscopic dissemination of the enemy's members and of the accident of opportunities offered, while always taking into account their instantaneous impact on the planetary media.
Think Again: Misreporting Stem Cell ResearchWASHINGTON - March 25 - Despite the U.S. Army's claim that Latin American soldiers and police undergo a stringent vetting process before receiving military training at the controversial Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), the successor institute to the School of the Americas (SOA), new research reveals that a number of students with well documented histories of human rights abuses in their home countries have recently attended the institution. These students were Colonel Francisco del Cid Diaz of El Salvador, Major Filmann Urzagaste Rodriguez of Bolivia, and three Colombian police officers Captain Dario Sierro Chapeta, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Patino Fonseca, and Captain Luis Benavides.
[...]
Katherine McCoy (as part of a Master of Science in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison) conducted a statistical study of nearly 12,000 students from six countries. She concluded that the more classes a student took at the SOA the more likely they were to commit human rights abuses in their country of origin.
EXCLUSIVE: Condoleezza Rice Threatens Jamaica Over AristideLast week some journalists thought they had found a juicy story, full of conflict: The military was doing an apparent end run around the Bush administration's restrictive policy on stem cell research. "The Pentagon has granted $240,000 to a Swedish team for embryonic stem-cell research linked to Parkinson's disease... despite U.S. government limits on stem-cell research," reported Reuters on March 17. The president may have curtailed research "in this country," noted MSNBC host Keith Olbermann in reaction to the news, but he "never mentioned Sweden." "Let's see if we got this straight," added the Dallas Morning News. "An injection of federal money triggers the restrictions on [stem cell] research at American universities... So the Pentagon finds a university in Sweden that is happy to conduct the research."
Um, no. The supposed "Sweden loophole" - a distinction between using federal funds for American university stem cell research and research abroad - is nonsense. Despite the misleading Reuters report, the Pentagon was in fact supporting research on two stem cell lines that had been derived by Swedish researchers before the president's August 2001 deadline and were therefore eligible for federal funding. This non-story created considerable confusion, however, and underscores key deficiencies in the way journalists have covered stem cell and cloning issues in the United States. These failings aren't trivial: They've often helped to mask serious flaws in the president's policies.
Ex-Bush aide disrobes the emperorRandall Robinson, who accompanied Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on his historic return trip back to the Caribbean, reveals that National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice is telling the Jamaican government if Aristide is not immediately expelled from the country and anything happens to American forces in Haiti, consequences would be exacted against Jamaica in full force by the U.S.
Bush's brand new enemy is the truthIt wasn't exactly John Dean and Watergate. But the 2 1/2 hours Richard Clarke spent Wednesday before a commission investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks could help determine the 2004 presidential race.
9/11 Panel Members, Insiders All, Question Friends, but Too Gingerly for Some Viewers Probe may force DeLay to step down Molly Ivins: A sad tale of arrogance and ignorance: 9/11 hearings put Bush further on the defensive Unborn Victims of PollutionOne of the first official acts of the current Bush administration was to downgrade the office of national coordinator for counterterrorism on the National Security Council - a position held by Richard Clarke. Clarke had served in the Pentagon and State Department under presidents Reagan and Bush the elder, and was the first person to hold the counterterrorism job created by President Clinton. Under Clinton, he was elevated to cabinet rank, which gave him a seat at the principals' meeting, the highest decision-making group for national security.
Robert C. Koehler: Silent GenocideThe Senate today passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA). "Abortion has nothing to do with this bill," said proponents. Indeed, the bill's authors declared that they specifically exempted abortion. "We'll come back and debate that issue some other time," said Senator Graham of South Carolina. And without a doubt, that debate will be easier for the anti-choice side now that it is enshrined in federal law that a two-celled zygote - a fertilized egg - is a fully human being that can be the victim of a crime.
Bush Critic Says U.S. Underestimated Terror Threat MIA WMDs--For Bush, It's a Joke"After the Americans destroyed our village and killed many of us, we also lost our houses and have nothing to eat. However, we would have endured these miseries and even accepted them, if the Americans had not sentenced us all to death."
This will not be easy to read, especially if you've projected evil out of your own heart, into some cave in Afghanistan or a spider hole in Iraq, and reduced the age-old question it inspires to this one: How can we bomb it off the face of the earth?
Before the damage we inflict grows greater, before history's judgment gets worse, before we contaminate the whole world - even before we vote in the next election - we must stop what we're doing. We must stop now.
It's time to listen for a moment not to defense analysts, briefing officers, pols or pundits, but to people like Jooma Khan, a grandfather who lives in a village in Laghman Province, in northeastern Afghanistan, who is quoted above. Surely he deserves 30 seconds of our undivided attention.
"When I saw my deformed grandson," he told an interviewer in March of 2003, "I realized that my hopes of the future have vanished for good. (This is) different from the hopelessness of the Russian barbarism, even though at that time I lost my older son Shafiqullah. This time, however, I know we are part of the invisible genocide brought on us by America, a silent death from which I know we will not escape."
It's standard fare humor. Bush says he is preparing for a tough election fight; then on the large video screens a picture flashes showing him wearing a boxing robe while sitting at his desk. Bush notes he spends "a lot of time on the phone listening to our European allies." Then we see a photo of him on the phone with a finger in his ear. There were funny bits about Skull and Bones, his mother, and Dick Cheney. But at one point, Bush showed a photo of himself looking for something out a window in the Oval Office, and he said, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere."
The audience laughed. I grimaced. But that wasn't the end of it. After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Nope," he said. "No weapons over there." More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: "Maybe under here." Laughter again.
Disapproval must have registered upon my face, for one of my tablemates said, "Come on, David, this is funny." I wanted to reply, Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it. Instead, I took a long drink of the lovely white wine that had come with our dinner. It's not as if I was in the middle of a talk-show debate and had to respond. This was certainly one of those occasions in which you either get it or don't. And I wasn't getting it. Or maybe my neighbor wasn't.
U.N. Rights Panel Condemns Israel's Killing of Hamas Leader Attack on the 'war-time president'Rice's Refusal Bothers Commissioners Actuary: I was told to conceal costs of Medicare Bush chided for oil prices AznarizationBabies whose fathers served in the first Gulf war are 50 per cent more likely to have physical abnormalities than those born to soldiers not sent to the region, according to a study published today.
Bush is a fear presidentDoes Bush risk being "Aznarized" from now to November 3? That is, to pay at the ballot box for having played with the truth?
New Spanish Leader Resists Pressure Over Iraq Troops Terror-Fight Criticism Tests Bush's Best AssetRoosevelt devoted his time in office to management of fear, from the economic horror of the Depression, through the massacre of 3,000 soldiers and sailors at Pearl Harbor, to the invasion at Normandy. Bush has chosen to manage by fear, through a simpler war of his own making, against an enemy that is little more than a gang of murderous thugs.
9/11 commission questions Richard ClarkeWASHINGTON -- With polls showing most voters unhappy about President Bush's handling of the economy and divided over his course in Iraq, the president's strongest asset in the 2004 campaign has been the unwavering sense among most Americans that he is providing resolute leadership against terrorism.
But two days of public testimony before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- along with the release earlier this week of a critical book by the president's former top counterterrorism adviser -- have offered the most forceful challenge yet to Bush's record in combating the terrorist threat.
Enemies of the Truth"I believe the Bush administration in the first eight months considered terrorism an important issue, but not an urgent issue," Clarke said.
Clarke said he had trouble making his case to the Bush administration, which only allowed him to report to agency deputies rather than to agency heads, as he had in previous administrations.
Widow of Soldier in Jessica Lynch Unit Blasts BushRichard Clarke alleges that Mr Bush has done a "terrible job" on terrorism and charges that many in the administration, including Mr Bush himself, saw 9/11 more as an opportunity to go after Iraq than to strike back against al-Qaida. Every form of rebuttal and smear in the book - grudgebearer, minor official, friend of John Kerry - is now being deployed against the White House's accuser. Just about the only consolation for Mr Clarke is that Ariel Sharon is not in charge of the administration's response.
U.S. Pushes to Boost Use of Ozone Damaging FumigantAt a ceremony on Tuesday marking the one-year anniversary of the Iraqi attack on Pvt. Jessica Lynch's Army unit, the widow of a soldier who died in the fight blasted President Bush for "lying to America" to justify the Iraq war.
In bitter comments beside the grave of Army Specialist James Kiehl, widow Jill Kiehl accused Bush of fabricating reasons to launch the invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"The evidence that's starting to come out now feels like he (Bush) was misleading us," Kiehl said, holding the couple's 10-month-old son Nathaniel, born seven weeks after his father died.
"It's almost as though he had things fixed so it would look like he needed to go to war," she said.
The Perfect Storm That's About to Hit: Rising Oil Prices and a Weak Dollar could Shatter the Global EconomyU.S. fruit growers in Montreal this week will push for an increase in their use of a pesticide known to destroy the ozone layer, claiming that exemptions for developing nations on the chemical are unfair.
Methyl bromide, a fumigant that kills soil and food pests, is due to be phased out by developed nations by January 1, 2005, under the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the atmosphere.
Newly Released Documents Shed Light on Microsoft TacticsThe average nationwide price of a gallon of gasoline in America reached a record high of $1.77 this month. The steady spike in prices has left analysts wondering if this is a harbinger of even more dramatic increases as motorists head into the spring and summer months. Get ready for what might become the economy's version of the perfect storm later this summer. The devastation could quickly spread to the UK and the rest of the world, with dire consequences for the global economy. The first hint of what might be in store came last month when Opec announced its decision to withdraw 1m barrels of crude oil a day from the market. Opec is worried about the weakening value of the dollar: it has lost one-third of its value in just under two years. Since Opec sells oil for dollars, the oil-producing countries are losing precious revenue as the value of the dollar continues to erode. And because oil-producing countries then turn around and purchase much of their goods and services from the EU and must pay in euros, their purchasing power continues to deteriorate. (The euro is currently valued at $1.23.)
Among the documents introduced in court this week was a letter from June 1990 in which Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told Andrew S. Grove, the chief executive of Intel at the time, that any support given to the Go Corporation, a Silicon Valley software company, would be considered an aggressive move against Microsoft.
Other evidence presented by the plaintiffs' lawyers at trial yesterday gave an account of how Microsoft violated a signed secrecy agreement with Go and showed that Microsoft possessed technical documents from Go that it should not have had access to.
[...]
[...] lawyers for the plaintiffs contend that the documents show how Microsoft unfairly dominated the market. "All of Microsoft's conduct was designed to acquire and hang on to their monopoly,'' said Eugene Crew, a lawyer at Townsend, Townsend & Crew, based in San Francisco. "Consumers were harmed by being deprived of choice. The greatest harm out of the Go story was the suppression of innovation and new technology by Microsoft."
Microsoft has already paid $1.6 billion in its efforts to settle consumer antitrust claims filed in 10 states.
Welcome to Armageddon: The White House hasn't found any weapons of mass destruction because it's looking in the wrong placeIn nominating William G. Myers III for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, President Bush is seeking to elevate a lawyer who has worked vigorously for private firms in opposing environmental protection. That alone should give pause.
The Killing of Sheik Yassin Lifting the Shroud Iraqi Violence Continues Unabated; al-Tikriti Dies Dick Clarke Is Telling the Truth: Why he's right about Bush's negligence on terrorism. Powell Slips, 'Crusade' Re-Enters US Lexicon on WarSay you were a terrorist in the late 1990s, around the time Osama bin Laden was planning the attack on the World Trade Center, and you wanted to get your hands on some weapons of mass destruction. You could have tried to track them down in Iraq, at one of the chemical-weapons facilities that the Bush administration accused Saddam Hussein of operating. Of course, neither the United Nations nor the U.S. military has managed to find a single chemical weapon in Iraq, so you probably would have come away empty-handed.
Or you could have just paid a visit to Newport, Tennessee, population 7,242. There, east of town, past the Pigeon River and the True Gospel Free Will Baptist Church and the county dump, you would have stopped near a gated drive that led up a steep slope known as Rock Hill. Beyond that gate, in a small wooden shed, you would have found what you were after. No intricate alarm system to disable, not even a padlock on the shed's door -- just a thin pine branch jammed in the hasp. And behind that door, canisters filled with PFIB, a deadly, lung-attacking gas restricted under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.
[...]
EPA officials stumbled across the shed packed with PFIB in 2000, when they were called in to shut down a private chemical laboratory on Rock Hill. As an on-scene coordinator for the EPA's Emergency Response and Removal Branch, the federal government's SWAT team for chemical disasters, Ullock has had to clean up some of the worst toxic hazards in the United States. But even he was horrified by what awaited him on that isolated hilltop in Tennessee. The lab contained about 7,000 gas cylinders and other containers -- many of them unlabeled and leaking -- filled with hundreds of potentially deadly chemicals. Among them were phosgene, the gas responsible for 80 percent of the chemical-warfare casualties during World War I, and PFIB, 10 times more deadly than phosgene. The PFIB, it turned out, had been manufactured for the U.S. Army a decade earlier for chemical-defense research. But such security risks, the Army insists, are not its problem. "Safety and security at private chemical facilities are the responsibility of that company," the Army's Research, Development and Engineering Command said in a statement issued to Salon and Rolling Stone.
Democrats Say Bush Abuses Power in Slamming CriticWASHINGTON - Two-and-a- half years after assuaging Muslim anger over US President George W. Bush's use of the word "crusade" to describe anti-terror efforts, Secretary of State Colin Powell slipped and allowed the term to re-enter the lexicon.
US Blocks UN Rebuke of Israel for AssassinationWASHINGTON - Democrats on Tuesday accused the White House of election-year "abuses of power" in trying to discredit former top U.S. counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, who has accused President Bush of ignoring threats from al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Critical Mass: Iraq Charges Against Bush Begin to MountUNITED NATIONS - The United States used its political muscle Tuesday to thwart an unequivocal condemnation of Israel for the targeted assassination of a wheel-chair bound Palestinian described as the spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.
A presidential statement by the 15-member U.N. Security Council condemning the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, 67, was blocked by the United States because it insisted on changing the text to include a denunciation of Hamas for its ''terrorist activities''.
Sudan foes to meet over DarfurWASHINGTON - Criticism of President Bush's motives and decision-making in attacking Iraq last year may be acquiring critical mass with voters following criticism by former top counterterrorism official Richard Clarke.
Political consultants and analysts said Clarke's allegation that Bush ignored the al Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11 attacks and was obsessed by a desire to invade Iraq were especially damaging because they confirmed other previous revelations from policy insiders.
"Each of these revelations adds to the others so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and the message gets reinforced with voters," said Richard Rosecrance, a political scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Bush 'was fixated with Saddam after September 11' Bush ignored threat: terror expert Bush staff 'ignored' al-Qa'ida warnings Bush staff 'ignored' al-Qaeda warningsThe Sudanese government and rebel groups have agreed to hold talks aimed at resolving the conflict in the western province of Darfur.
The peace talks will reportedly be held in neighbouring Chad despite earlier reservations by the rebels.
Debate Grows Over Bush's Handling of Terror Threat Kerry Gets Some Help From GOP Senator U.S. Business Group Slams Bush 'Deception' Over Iraq War Is the Fed Playing Election-Year Politics? "Good Policing is Policing You Don't See" You want names? Kennedy tells GOP to go first Sudan slams UN for 'heap of lies'
- The Health and Human Services general inspector's office is investigating a claim by the government's top expert on Medicare costs that the administration concealed from Congress the true cost of the program.
- The House Ethics Committee plans to investigate whether threats and bribes were used to pass the bill in the House.
- The General Accounting Office (GAO) is investigating whether the Bush administration spent millions of taxpayer dollars on TV ads touting the Medicare reform law that look suspiciously like Bush campaign commercials.
Sudan: Darfur is World's Greatest Humanitarian Disaster, Says UN Official Jackson Browne: Songs of Cuba, Silenced in AmericaSudan has accused a senior UN official of fabricating allegations of human rights abuses in the troubled western province of Darfur.
The Humanitarian Affairs Ministry said claims by Mukesh Kapila were "a heap of lies", Sudanese radio reported.
On Friday, Mr Kapila described the situation in Darfur as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
US Business Group Slams Bush 'Deception' Over Iraq WarLOS ANGELES -- Carlos Varela, the great Cuban singer-songwriter, applied for a visa to come to the United States to sing his powerful, amazing songs. He had concerts planned in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Our government turned him down.
Company With Ties To VP Cheney's Energy Task Force Faces Criminal Indictment For Gaming California Electricity Market Dave Zweifel: High debt casts shadow on economy Transcript: Critical Memoir White House tries to discredit counterterrorism coordinator Condoleezza Rice: 9/11: For The Record Cheney, other administration officials step up criticism of former adviser who wrote book Billions wiped off stock marketNEW YORK - A US business group that monitors federal spending took out a full-page advert in The New York Times, likening President George W. Bush to a corrupt chief executive officer who has forfeited public trust.
Timed to coincide with the weekend anniversary of the US-led war against Iraq, the advertisement -- paid for by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities -- said Bush's case for invasion "was built entirely out of falsehoods."
When Rupert Murdoch Calls...Condoleezza Rice Answers FBI Budget Cut After Sept. 11 Attacks Memoir Criticizes Bush 9/11 Response: President Pushed Iraq Link, Aide Says White House Rebuttal to Clarke Interview White House Counters Clarke Criticism: Spokesman Calls Charge That Bush Failed to Act Against Al Qaeda 'Irresponsible' White House Reels From Insider Expose Debate Grows Over Bush's Handling of Terror Threat Analysis: Bush 'ignored al-Qaida alert' Bush ordered terror adviser to find Iraq link Bush attacked on terrorism record Ex-Aide: Bush Sought Iraq-9/11 Link Bush bullied his way into Iraq War WHITE HOUSE MEMOIR: Bush quickly sought Iraqi 9/11 link Ex-counterterrorism chief says Bush politicized response to 9/11 Rice in dark on al-Qaida before 9/11, book says Former Terrorism Official Criticizes White House on 9/11 Book: Bush team dismissed al-Qaida Bush ignored terror threat, claims ex-aide Hours After 9/11 Rumsfeld: Let's Bomb Iraq Carter savages Blair and Bush: 'Their war was based on lies'LONDON (Reuters) - Over 20 billion pounds has been wiped off the value of Britain's biggest shares after Israel's assassination of the leader of militant group Hamas added to already heightened security concerns.
Clarke Pulls The Plug FBI Budget Squeezed After 9/11: Request for New Counterterror Funds Cut by Two-ThirdsHe said: "There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently. That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for [the] 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And I think that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the allegations were based on uncertain intelligence ... a decision was made to go to war [then people said] 'Let's find a reason to do so'."
Ex-Aide Assails Bush on War on Terrorism NEWSWEEK: In the Months Before 9/11, Justice Department Curtailed Highly Classified Program to Monitor Al Qaeda Suspects in the U.S. Did Bush Press For Iraq-9/11 Link? Bush regime didn't see Al Qaeda threat: Ex-adviserMounting evidence suggests that an important turning point may be close. According to several studies, oil production is expected to begin a permanent decline within a few years, prompting social and economic upheaval across the globe.
Robert Fisk: New Iraq? Hooded Protest and Masked Statistics Clinton: Bush Had Urgent Warnings on Al-QaedaDuring the Reagan era Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were key players in a clandestine program designed to set aside the legal lines of succession and immediately install a new "President" in the event that a nuclear attack killed the country's leaders. The program helps explain the behavior of the Bush Administration on and after 9/11
WASHINGTON -- Senior Clinton administration officials called to testify next week before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks say they are prepared to detail how they repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation -- and how the new administration was slow to act.
Whitman Denies Knowing Mercury Study Was Stalled Ex-Advisor Says Bush Eyed Bombing of Iraq on 9/11 Interior's weak ethicsMore than 100 women have been raped in a single attack carried out by Arab militias in Darfur in western Sudan.
Speaking to the BBC, the United Nations co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said the conflict had created the worst humanitarian situation in the world.
He said more than one million people were being affected by ethnic cleansing.
He said the fighting was characterised by a scorched-earth policy and was comparable in character, if not in scale, to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Forest Service Dropping Endangered Species, Ripairen & Archaeological Reviews Bush Campaign Gear Made in Burma McCain Backs Kerry on National Security Last Rites for the Bush Doctrine General Sacked by Bush Says He Wanted Early Elections 10.000 Civilians Killed in Iraq in a YearOn March 13 the Iranian news agency Mehr reported a story that, if true, is surely the biggest news of this election year: "U.S. forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq. A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that U.S. forces, with the help of British forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to conceal their actions."
According to Mehr's source, the parts are old ones, just the kind the U.S. gave to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Once they are "discovered," they would be the smoking gun that George W. needs to get re-elected.
Five days after Mehr broke this story, a Google and Lexis/Nexis search failed to find it reported in any U.S. news source. Not even a story to say "We checked and found nothing to support the allegations." Why? Two possibilities come to mind. Perhaps American journalists in Iraq, and their editors at home, saw it and said "Oh, that's silly. With all the serious stuff we have to investigate, why waste a good reporter's precious time on such nonsense?" They are not warmongers or conspirators, just serious professionals doing their job in the approved manner. They got their jobs by sticking to mainstream "common sense" thinking. Why change now?
Original Superfund Site Declared CleanIn a report made public a few days before the first anniversary of the United States' start of the war in Iraq, Amnesty International denounces the "flagrant human rights violations" there.
In Iraq, Shock And Deja Vu: A Year Later, Baghdad in Flames Tells Another Story"This is a way for them to talk about how this is a turning point and that we're cleaning up these sites when in fact there's no money to clean up these sites," Gibbs said. "We have less cleanup and I think it's a big (public relations) thing and they're using Love Canal to cover their tracks."
White House feels blast impact: Official optimism on Iraq takes a hit Poland 'Misled' on Iraq, President Says An Outside Takeover of the Sierra Club 'Liberating' Saudi's Shi'ites (and their oil) Mysterious Fax Adds to Intrigue Over the Medicare Bill's CostBaghdad's night is our midday, so when a bomb ripped through the Mount Lebanon Hotel yesterday, we saw something eerily reminiscent of last year's shock and awe. The night over Baghdad, illuminated in an orange glow of flames and destruction.
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- Late one Friday afternoon in January, after the House of Representatives had adjourned for the week, Cybele Bjorklund, a House Democratic health policy aide, heard the buzz of the fax machine at her desk. Coming over the transom, with no hint of the sender, was a document she had been seeking for months: an estimate by Medicare's chief actuary showing the cost of prescription drug benefits for the elderly.
Bush tries to rally faltering coalitionThe United Nations has begun supplying emergency aid to the victims of fighting in a western Sudan region.
The United Nations refugee agency is mounting an emergency airlift in eastern Chad to bring supplies to more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees.
The operation coincides with a UN World Food Programme airlift of supplies into northern Darfur, which has been cut off by the conflict since November.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Army Intelligence and Security Command agents overstepped their authority when they sought information on civilian participants at a University of Texas conference on Islam, the Army said.
Reining in Our Weaponry: Is U.S. Air Force Lost in Space?TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the signing of Iraq's interim constitution, there have been reports that U.S. forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq.
Indeed, past Pentagon war games have found that use of space weapons often led to rapid escalation of hostilities -- in some cases straight to all-out nuclear war.
| Program | Description |
|---|---|
| Active Denial System ACTD | This nonlethal antipersonnel weapon transmits high power microwave energy that is absorbed in the frst layers of skin, producing a near-instantaneous, severely painful sensation. ADS will not cause long-term damage to the targets. Research is ongoing on both land and airborne variants of ADS. |
| Advanced Tactical Laser ACTD | Will demonstrate a high-energy laser weapon system for precision tactical airborne applications. This laser will provide warfghters with ultra precision and the ability to manage precise effects on an operator's target of choice. It will have a range of more than 10 km and a one second-to-kill capability. |
| Advanced Tactical Targeting Technology ACTD | By sharing the measurement of radar signals, this ACTD will leverage data from any airborne platforms, such as fghters, to detect and locate enemy surface-to-air radars to an accuracy of 50 meters, from 50 miles away, and within ten seconds after the enemy's radar turns on. This would enable transformational persistent ISR capabilities to the battlespace without reliance on current high-density, low-demand platforms. Using data links to connect them to strike platforms, every sensor would become a shooter or linked to a shooter. |
| Common Aero Vehicle | It will guide and dispense conventional weapons,sensors, or other payloads worldwide from and through space within one hour of tasking. It would be able to strike a spectrum of targets, including mobile targets, mobile time sensitive targets, strategic relocatable targets, or fixed hard and deeply buried targets. |
| Cooperative Persistent Surveillance Strike Vehicle | Would be a light weight search and destroy system to perform near all-weather surveillance and attack. |
| Evolutionary Air and Space Global Laser Engagement (EAGLE) Airship Relay Mirrors | Will significantly extend the range of both the Airborne Laser and Ground-Based Laser by using airborne, terrestrial, or space-based lasers in conjunction with space-based relay mirrors to project different laser powers and frequencies to achieve a broad range of effects from illumination to destruction. |
| Strike Aircraft | Would be a modified 747-400 capable of standoff strikes against hardened and deeply buried targets while beyond the range of theater air defenses as well as counter-CBRNE and SEAD missions. A simultaneous attack by 20 aircraft could destroy 1500 targets in less than 15 minutes. |
| Ground Based Laser | Would propagate laser beams through the atmosphere to Low-Earth Orbit satellites to provide robust defensive and offensive space control capability. |
| High Powered Microwave Airborne Electronic Attack | Will develop and demonstrate an anti-electronics high powered microwave weapon against soft electronic-containing targets from an airborne platform at military significant ranges. |
| Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle | Would operate like an aircraft from conventional runways within the CONUS and reach time-critical targets up to 9,000 nautical miles away within two hours with payloads up to 12,000 pounds. |
| Hypersonic Standoff Weapon | Would be an air-launched,deep-strike weapon capable of delivering munitions and unitary warheads. Missile launch would be subsonic, typically at altitudes between 30,000-40,000 feet. It is expected to travel up to 1000 nautical miles and then deploy submunitions (e.g., WASAAMM or Small Diameter Bomb)or perform direct attack. |
| Hypervelocity Missile | Would be an air-launched missile that travels at hypersonic speeds with 1000 nautical miles of range.It would provide a rapid response capability against high-value and emerging targets,arriving at its target in less than 30 minutes from maximum range. |
| Hypervelocity Rod Bundles | Would provide the capability to strike ground targets anywhere in the world from space. |
| Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range | Will be a stealthy precision cruise missile designed to launch from outside area defenses to kill a wide variety of targets, including hardened targets, both fixed and mobile. It will extend the current production Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile range from 200 nautical miles to over 500 nautical miles.(Near-term) |
| Long-Range Cruise Missile | Would be a stealthy,air-launched cruise missile designed to accommodate multiple, independently targetable conventional warheads that can strike well defended targets greater than 2000 nautical miles away. |
| Low Cost Persistent Area Dominance Miniature Missile | Would be a light-weight search and destroy system in which up to 16-36 missiles would join to form a cooperative grid to detect and destroy time critical targets under most weather conditions. |
| Military Intelligence Tactical Element Urban Surveyor | Would add to overall urban situational awareness by looking into individual structures and determining as best as possible the internal layout of the structure and the activity of people inside the structure as well as match individuals with those on a database. It could also attack targets in those structures with a 300 kilowatt laser. |
| New Long-Range Platform | Would be a modifed, wide-bodied aircraft that could launch 40 long-range conventional cruise missiles and/ or standoff hypervelocity missiles. In a permissive environment, it could penetrate enemy airspace and drop various PGMs. It would be able to reach 97 percent of the countries of the world from CONUS with one aerial refueling or one stopover without entering hostile territory. It requires no in-theater basing and can be refueled at nearly any large airfeld. |
| Next Generation Gunship | Would provide persistent application of tailored precision frepower to defeat, destroy, disperse, and deny using lethal and/ or non-lethal means. Its utility would be measured by its ability to integrate lethality, connectivity, and survivability through a persistent presence to achieve the desired effects. |
| Robust Autonomous Attack Missile | Would be an air-launched interdiction weapon that would provide autonomous, stand-off capability against a variety of mobile land and sea targets. Different versions under consideration could carry small diameter bombs, SEAD micro missiles, or surveillance equipment. |
| Small Diameter Bomb | Will enable strike aircraft to carry far more PGMs per sortie. For example, a B-52 that can drop 12 2000 pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions today will be able to drop more than 100 small diameter bombs against multiple targets. It will also enable smaller platforms such as UCAVs to deploy PGMs and increase the F/ A-22 . s effectiveness by enabling it to carry many PGMs internally so it can remain stealthy and perform the transformational capabilities of the Global Strike CONOPS. ( Near-term) |
| Solid State Laser ( 100 kW) | Will enable several shots of high-energy laser per minute on fghters, bombers, transports, etc. ( Mid-term) |
| Space-Based Radio Frequency Energy Weapon | Would be a constellation of satellites containing high-power radio-frequency transmitters that possess the capability to disrupt/ destroy/ disable a wide variety of electronics and national-level command and control systems. It would typically be used as a non-kinetic anti-satellite weapon. |
| Space-Based Space Surveillance System | Will be a constellation of optical sensing satellites to track and identify space forces in deep space to enable offensive and defensive counterspace operations. ( Near-term) |
| Wide Area Search Autonomous Attack Miniature Munition ( WASAAMM) | Would be a miniature smart cruise missile with the ability to loiter over and search for a specifc target, signifcantly enhancing time-critical targeting of moving or feeting targets. When the target is acquired, WASAAMM can either attack or relay a signal to obtain permission to attack. Due to its very small size, the WASAAMM has stealth qualities. |
Report about DARPATech 2004
Prowling for Laughs From Today's Foreign Policy Spain Likely to Pull Troops From Iraq: Prime Minister-Elect Zapatero Calls War 'a Disaster,' Calls for U.N. Action Voters dump Blair allies to sink war policyIn the cavernous conference hall at the Marriott Anaheim, Darpa's Ted Bially sketched out a vision of tomorrow's fighting force. Fleets of drones do most of the fighting, he said, and a couple of humans would be left to make a few big-picture decisions. Across the corridor, at the agency's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems' display, was a prediction by Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia) in big, bright letters. By 2010, he foretold, one-third of America's deep-strike aircraft would fly without a pilot. (By 2015, a third of the ground vehicles are supposed to be unmanned, too.)
General Criticizes Halliburton Conduct Haiti's Aristide Leaves Exile for Jamaica Blow to Bush: An Ally in Spain Is Rejected by Antiwar Voters The truth leaks outThe Socialists' stunning victory in Spain's general election has sent shock waves through Downing Street and the White House, where hopes were pinned on success for a key ally in the war in Iraq.
Damage from Warming Becoming 'Irreversible,' Says New Report Report Sees Bleak Trend in U.S. News MediaONE YEAR LATER, the lies that led to the war in Iraq are coming unraveled. Last week, even CIA Director George Tenet admitted that he had privately disputed public statements made by top government officials who had twisted intelligence reports.
Tape Find That Casts Doubt on West's Spy Network: Intelligence sources say their monitoring gave no reason to suspect an al-Qaida attack in Europe was imminentWASHINGTON - Most U.S. news media are experiencing a steady decline in their audiences and are significantly cutting their investment in staff and resources, according to a report issued on Monday.
The study on the state of the U.S. news media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which is affiliated with Columbia University's graduate journalism school, found only ethnic, alternative and online media were flourishing.
"Trust in journalism has been declining for a generation," said project director Tom Rosenstiel. "This study suggests one reason is that news media are locked in a vicious cycle. As audiences fragment, newsrooms are cut back, which further erodes public trust."
Circulation of English-language daily newspapers has dropped 11 percent since 1990; network news ratings are down 34 percent since 1994; late night local TV news viewership fell 16 percent lower since 1997 and cable news viewership has been flat since late 2001.
US 'Interrogated Suspects 200 Times'The videotape that threw western intelligence services into a spin yesterday was found in a rubbish bin near a large, gleaming, Saudi-financed mosque that has links to al-Qaida.
Spain's New Leader Calls for Foreign Policy Overhaul New Spanish Leader Lashes Out at Bush, Blair Over Iraq War Relatives of US Soldiers Killed in Iraq Protest Outside US Base U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under ScrutinyThree Britons released from Guantanamo Bay last week claim they were interrogated by the British Secret Service, as well as brutalized by their American captors.
Rhuhel Ahmed, 22, Asif Iqbal, 22, and Shafiq Rasul, 26, all from Tipton, West Midlands, alleged that MI5 officers and Foreign Office officials took part in some of the 200 interrogations during their two-year detention at the US naval base in Cuba. They earlier claimed that they were beaten by US guards and ordered to answer questions at gunpoint. For three months they claimed they were held in solitary confinement when they had to survive on tiny portions of food, described by one of the men as "nouvelle cuisine American-style".
CIA In Syria?WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines.
2004 Campaign: A 'Shocking' StumbleWhat's happening in Syria has all the hallmarks of a classic, 1950s-era, Cold War-style CIA coup d'etat scheme.
The West Was Warned. Now It Is Paying The Price Of The "War On Terror"The president's ad team, led by Austin, Texas-based media maven Mark McKinnon, had carefully road-tested the spots in focus groups, and Bush himself signed off. But the rollout of the ads, which argue that Bush has made the country "safer, stronger," was quickly marred by charges from some 9/11 families that the Bush team was seeking to exploit the attacks for political gain.
They had been warned. The Aznars and the Blairs and the Bushes had been told by those who were their allies - France and Germany and many others, not to mention the Arabs - that their crusade against al-Qa'ida could most cruelly rebound upon them. The Madrid bombings are not only a terrible revenge for Spain's participation in "part two" of the "war on terror" - the illegal invasion of Iraq - but a cruel and incrementally more painful attack on civilians by al-Qa'ida.
One Year Later, and the Debate Rages OnWASHINGTON (AP) -- The removal of souvenir debris from the scenes of the Sept. 11 attacks reached the highest levels of government, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and FBI Director Robert Mueller's chief of anti-terrorism, a Justice Department investigation has found.
The practice was so widespread inside the FBI that it even forced prosecutors in Minnesota to drop plans to prosecute a company that had taken a fire truck door from the World Trade Center, according to a still-confidential report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report said the Justice Department inspector general confirmed that Rumsfeld "has a piece of the airplane that flew into the Pentagon" inside his Defense Department office.
Furious Spanish Protesters Chant: 'Our Dead, Your War': Spanish Police Arrest Five Muslims as Crowds Accuse Aznar of Cover-UpTom Andrews on Saturday will be marking the anniversary of America's attack on Iraq, but he won't be celebrating.
Government Secrecy Growing Since Sept. 11 Terrorist AttacksTHREE Moroccans and two Indians have been arrested in Spain for the Madrid train bombings on Thursday. All five are thought to be linked to two militant Islamic groups which were named as the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and Salafia Jihadi.
One Year Later, and the Debate Rages OnABERDEEN, Md. -- People who live near the sprawling military weapons training facility here have long worried about toxic chemicals leaching into their water supply. The U.S. Army, acknowledging those concerns, has for years provided them with detailed base maps and information on where the trouble might be found.
In New York City, Fewer Find They Can Make ItTom Andrews on Saturday will be marking the anniversary of America's attack on Iraq, but he won't be celebrating.
One Bold Thinker Among the DemocratsNew York's unemployment rate jumped in January from 8.0 to 8.4 percent, the worst performance among the nation's top 20 cities. It has lost 230,000 jobs in the past three years. Demand for emergency food has risen 46 percent over the past three years, and 900,000 New Yorkers receive food stamps. Inflation, foreclosures, evictions and personal bankruptcies are rising sharply. Fifty percent of the city's black males no longer are employed.
A fundamental shift has occurred, he [Rep. Barney Frank] says. "The ability of the private sector in this country to create wealth is now outstripping its ability to create jobs. The normal rule of thumb by which a certain increase in the gross domestic product would produce a concomitant increase in jobs does not appear to apply."
Medicare Analyst Confirms MuzzlingWashington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago.
U.S. Wants Military Control in Iraq, Even After Sovereignty Handed Over Hollywood disaster film set to turn heat on Bush Agency Initiates Steps for Selective Draft: Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled AmericansHe said his boss told him he'd be fired if he gave lawmakers higher cost estimates for the prescription-drug bill.
WASHINGTON - The nation's top Medicare cost analyst confirmed yesterday that his former boss had ordered him to withhold from lawmakers unfavorable cost estimates about the Medicare prescription-drug bill. He said the estimates exceeded what Congress seemed willing to accept by more than $100 billion.
Mexican Worker Deaths Rise SharplyWASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote.
Donor bodies blown up for army testsThe jobs that lure Mexican workers to the United States are killing them in a worsening epidemic that is now claiming a victim a day, an Associated Press investigation has found. Though Mexicans often take the most hazardous jobs, they are more likely than others to be killed even when doing similarly risky work.
The death rates are greatest in several Southern and Western states, where a Mexican worker is four times more likely to die than the average U.S.-born worker. These accidental deaths are almost always preventable and often gruesome: Workers are impaled, shredded in machinery, buried alive. Some are 15 years old.
Occupation Forces Official Claims to Have No Information About ...TEHRAN, March 12 (Mehr News Agency) -- Over the past few days, in the ... have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of ...
EPA Data On Water Purity Faulted The Bush administration packs the courts with anti-environmental judges DARPA Wants All-Seeing Blimp Pointed Questions on Missile Defense System Fred Kaplan: Bush's Latest Missile-Defense Folly Missile Defense Still Uncertain No More Excuses on Jobs Pentagon Comptroller critical of Halliburton Report: Halliburton admits giving faulty cost estimatesShane Wolf told the Mehr News Agency that the occupation forces have ... US forces unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons ...
The Associated Press reported Friday that Department of Defense documents show that company officials of a Halliburton Co. unit admitted making mistakes in cost estimates on a $2.7 billion contract to serve American troops in Iraq and Kuwait.
My Hell in Camp X-RAYWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush has marked International Women's Week by paying tribute to women reformers -- but one of those he cited is really a man.
"Earlier today, the Libyan government released Fathi Jahmi. She's a local government official who was imprisoned in 2002 for advocating free speech and democracy," the president said in a speech at the White House on Friday.
The only problem was that, by all other accounts, "she" is in fact "he".
Bush vows to protect traditional marriage from courtsA BRITISH captive freed from Guantanamo Bay today tells the world of its full horror - and reveals how prostitutes were taken into the camp to degrade Muslim inmates.
The father-of-three, from Manchester, told how he was assaulted with fists, feet and batons after refusing a mystery injection.
He said detainees were shackled for up to 15 hours at a time in hand and leg cuffs with metal links which cut into the skin.
Their "cells" were wire cages with concrete floors and open to the elements - giving no privacy or protection from the rats, snakes and scorpions loose around the American base.
He claims punishment beatings were handed out by guards known as the Extreme Reaction Force. They waded into inmates in full riot-gear, raining blows on them.
A diet of foul water and food up to 10 years out-of-date left inmates malnourished.
Nuke missile mishap allegedIn a speech expressing his solidarity with the National Association of Evangelicals at its annual convention here, President George W. Bush forcefully restated his call for passage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Bush, speaking on Thursday via teleconference displayed on three giant screens in the mammoth New Life Church, gave a hearty endorsement to the association, which boasts a membership including 45,000 congregations, with 30 million members.
Several prominent evangelical Protestants in Washington have told the White House that backing the constitutional amendment is vital to getting evangelical voters to turn out on Election Day. And the convention organizers were aware of their clout. A slogan on the back of the convention program reads: "What Can 30 Million Evangelicals Do For America? Anything We Want."
Missile with nuclear warhead reportedly damaged at sub base near Seattle Ladder punctures nuclear warheadA report says the Trident's nose cone was struck by a ladder during unloading, costing a captain his job.
Lawmakers seek facts in nuke incident 7 cadavers blown up during landmine experiment at Fort Sam U.S. Army uses cadavers in landmine tests Bodies donated to New Orleans medical school were sold to army for landmine tests US army tested mines on donated corpses Bodies donated to medical school sold on to US armySEATTLE (AP) -- A ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead was damaged in November while it was being offloaded from a submarine at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, a defense official said Thursday, speaking the condition of anonymity.
U.S. Senate Panel Accord on Memo Probe CollapsesWASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is paying $340,000 a month to the Iraqi political organization led by Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the interim Iraqi government who has close ties to the Bush administration, for "intelligence collection" about Iraq, according to Defense Department officials.
Attacks on the Press 2003 Jonathan Schell: The Empire BackfiresWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee effort to devise a bipartisan request for federal prosecutors to probe a scandal in which Republican staffers improperly accessed sensitive Democratic computer memos collapsed in bitter disarray on Thursday night.
Al Jazeera Goes to JailSeen in another, less dramatic light, the American imperial solution has interposed a huge, unnecessary roadblock between the world and the Himalayan mountain range of urgent tasks that it must accomplish no matter who is in charge: saving the planet from overheating; inventing a humane, just, orderly, democratic, accountable global economy; redressing mounting global inequality and poverty; responding to human rights emergencies, including genocide; and, of course, stopping proliferation as well as rolling back the existing arsenals of nuclear arms. None of these exigencies can be met as long as the world and its greatest power are engaged in a wrestling match over how to proceed.
Does the world want to indict and prosecute crimes against humanity? First, it must decide whether the International Criminal Court will do the job or entrust it to unprosecutable American forces. Do we want to reverse global warming, and head off the extinction of the one-third of the world's species that, according to a report published in Nature magazine, are at risk in the next fifty years? First, the world's largest polluter has to be drawn into the global talks. Do we want to save the world from weapons of mass destruction? First, we have to decide whether we want to do it together peacefully or permit the world's only superpower to attempt it by force of arms.
No wonder, then, that the Administration, as reported by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in these pages, has mounted an assault on the scientific findings that confirm these dangers to the world [see "The Junk Science of George W. Bush," March 8]. The United States' destructive hyperactivity in Iraq cannot be disentangled from its neglect of global warming. Here, too, ideology is the enemy of fact, and empire is the nemesis of progress.
If the engine of a train suddenly goes off the rails, a wreck ensues. Such is the war in Iraq, now one year old. At the same time, the train's journey forward is canceled. Such is the current paralysis of the international community. Only when the engine is back on the tracks and starts in the right direction can either disaster be overcome. Only then will everyone be able to even begin the return to the world's unfinished business.
Those Who Deny the Crimes of the PastSalah Hassan looks sad and very tired. The Al Jazeera cameraman, a 33-year-old father of two, is recounting his tale of incarceration in a soft and matter-of-fact tone.
[...]
Once inside the sprawling prison, Hassan says, he was greeted by US soldiers who sang "Happy Birthday" to him through his tight plastic hood, stripped him naked and addressed him only as "Al Jazeera," "boy" or "bitch." He was forced to stand hooded, bound and naked for eleven hours in the bitter autumn night air; when he fell, soldiers kicked his legs to get him up again. In the morning, Hassan says, he was made to wear a dirty red jumpsuit that was covered with someone else's fresh vomit and interrogated by two Americans in civilian clothes. They made the usual accusations that Hassan and Al Jazeera were in cahoots with "terrorists."
Haiti Support Network News Conference on Aristide (C-SPAN video) In-Depth: The Full Story of Aristide's Kidnapping Haiti rally wants Aristide's return Kerry to Campaign Heavily in Texas Black Members of Congress to Aid Kerry Unscripted Kerry calls GOP liarsThe U.S. Marines stood by and did nothing while the library at the Aristide Foundation was burned. With my own eyes I saw the American Marines stand and watch while rebels cut a woman and shot her. I yelled at them, "Do something!" and they swung their guns around toward me and yelled, "Get back!"
While I hid in a field the American Marines put their hats on the bodies of dead people and posed for pictures with them. It made me sick because in Haiti we respect the dead. The Americans scare me; I don't believe that they want anything good for the Haitian people because they support the criminals who oppose democracy.
Hillary: Beware of Voting Machines Made of Steal Ginsburg Has Ties to Activist Group Gasoline Prices: a Case of Cheating, Not CompetingSeemingly unaware that his microphone was still on, Sen. John Kerry used uncharacteristically harsh language Wednesday to describe Republicans as "crooked" and "lying" during a quiet exchange with several workers at the Hill Mechanical Group in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood.
If the recent sticker shock at the gasoline pump feels familiar, that's because it is the same old story that led California's electricity market to become the embarrassment of the nation.
California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is convening today in Los Angeles a panel of industry experts who have blamed the run-up on OPEC crude oil prices, environmentally sensitive fuel and free-market pressures. But the problem is as simple as California's electricity crisis turned out to be: A few giant energy corporations have manipulated supply to keep profits high.
During the blackouts, electricity barons like Ken Lay blamed the crisis on overuse and market restraints, but state investigations later found the real problem was that unregulated electricity plants were strategically shut down to reduce supply and make prices skyrocket.
The new Pentagon papersWASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will answer privately all questions raised by a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the White House said Tuesday, softening its insistence that Bush's testimony be limited to an hour.
Election problems in California and one Florida county stir bad memories of 2000A high-ranking military officer reveals how Defense Department extremists suppressed information and twisted the truth to drive the country to war.
White House vs. 9/11 Panel: Resistance, Resolution Oil majors face battle over Mexico LNG plants Support for Bush Falls on Economy and Iraq Bush's Insider Connections Preceded Huge Profit On Stock Deal Iran demands entry to nuclear clubThe 2004 presidential race could turn on the Sunshine State, just as it did in 2000. And the early evidence suggests Bush is in big trouble.
March 9, 2004 | PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- Voters in Florida go to the polls Tuesday for the state's Democratic presidential primary. But with the outcome of that race a foregone conclusion and with the Bush-Cheney campaign flooding Florida's airwaves with controversial new TV commercials -- all eyes are on November. And for the moment, at least, Democrats are feeling cautiously optimistic about their presidential prospects in a state they believe they won four years ago.
Reports of Rape in Pacific Spur Air Force StepsPARIS - Iran on Sunday surprised the international community, and above all the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), by seeking to join the world's atomic club, calling on its members for a prompt entry.
"We want Iran to be recognized as a member of the nuclear club, that means Iran be recognized as a country having the nuclear fuel cycle, and enriching uranium. This is very difficult for the world to accept," Hassan Rohani, the secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS), announced ahead of an important meeting this week of the IAEA. Five countries are officially inside that club - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Afghanistan: Abuses by U.S. Forces: Beatings in Detention; No Legal ProcessVIENNA, March 8 (Mehr News Agency) -- As part of the agreement to deliver the equipment ... He said long-range missiles and launchers were also part of the cargo. ...
Vanessa Redgrave joins relatives of Guantánamo detainees to push for trials in their home countries Plugging Leaks: More details emerge on the Plame investigation, as Karl Rove's testimony is revealed for the first time. Robert Scheer: The lies that bind White House team to Iraq An empty sort of freedom Gasoline at the Pump a Penny Short of Historic High, Averaging $1.74 a Gallon American troops are killing and abusing Afghans, rights body says Father of Iraq's nuclear bomb program says U.N. should investigate what inspectors knew before U.S.-led war(New York, March 8, 2004) -- U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan have arbitrarily detained civilians, used excessive force during arrests of non-combatants, and mistreated detainees, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
'Saddam had nuclear programme destroyed'BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) The father of Iraq's nuclear bomb program, speaking publicly for the first time since U.S. forces occupied Baghdad, called Monday for a U.N. probe of what nuclear inspectors knew before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
'Our Polio Test Was Conclusive' - DR Haruna KaitaJafar Dhia Jafar, the father of Iraq's nuclear programme, told a conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut that UN inspectors had "reached total conviction" that Iraq was free of nuclear weapons before the US led invasion of Iraq.
"It was clear that reports of the United Nations to the Security Council should have been clear and courageous," Jafar said. "I believe the United Nations should also investigate the facts that were known before the war and why they (nuclear inspectors) did not declare them to the security council."
Have Rove & Bush Lost Their Mojo? International Election Monitors Take on Florida Hans Blix: Bush and Blair behaved as if they were on a 'witch hunt' over Iraqi weapons William Rivers Pitt: Selling Death for Fun and ProfitDr Kaita: Well, finally I had to define to them what a fake drug is, and concluded that the Oral Polio Vaccine is nothing but a fake drug too, and what do NAFDAC do to fake drugs, they burn them and prosecute those who import them into the country. So this has even strengthen our resolve that those who imported this fake drug in the name of Polio Vaccines must be prosecuted like any other criminals apprehended by NAFDAC. We are no more calling for their stoppage but for their prosecution because they are importing into Nigeria fake drugs in the guise of polio vaccine because they contain substances which are not suppose to be in them, and that is what amounts to fake drug. They don't have NAFDAC batch numbers, and they are contaminated with toxic substances.
Sooner or later, if you live in a world without consequences, you will say or do something so utterly reprehensible, so completely beyond the pale, that those who behold your pestiferous splendor will be left, simply, in awe. This world without consequences has been the realm of the Bush administration for three long years.
The Pentagon's Secret Scream: Sonic devices that can inflict pain--or even permanent deafness--are being deployed.SEATTLE -- The news last month that the vast Saudi oil fields are in decline is a far bigger story than most in the media, or the United States, seem to realize. We may begrudge the Saudis their 30-year stranglehold on the world economy. But even the possibility that the lords of oil have less of the stuff than advertised raises troubling questions. How long will the world's long-term oil supplies last? As important, what will the big importing nations, like the U.S., do the day world oil production hits its inevitable peak?
As U.S. Detains Iraqis, Families Plead for News Mishaps run deeper than new machines: Poll workers, voters cite tied-up hotline, poor training, confusionSOUTH POMFRET, Vt. -- Marines arriving in Iraq this month as part of a massive troop rotation will bring with them a high-tech weapon never before used in combat -- or in peacekeeping. The device is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone so excruciating to humans, its boosters say, that it causes crowds to disperse, clears buildings and repels intruders.
"[For] most people, even if they plug their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine," says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp., the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. "It will knock [some people] on their knees."
Subpoenas seek to show attempts to discredit envoy President's panel skewed facts, 2 scientists say High death toll in HaitiDevelopment. An inquiry advocates stopping all oil extraction financing by 2008.
Has the World Bank (WB) tripped up on a carpet it wove itself? Once again, it finds itself forced to carry on a delicate balancing exercise. The tightrope the Bank finds itself walking is called the EIR (Extractive Industries Review), an independent evaluation of the extractive sector (oil, coal, gas) ordered in 2001 by the principal funding agency for development. WB President James Wolfensohn's objective was to respond to NGO critics of collateral damages associated to such mega works' projects- attacks on the environment, human rights violations. The problem is that the EIR's conclusions (two years of work directed by Emil Salim, see
The Panamerican Health Organization said today the main hospital in Port-Au-Prince is holding the bodies of nearly 200 victims of violence during a month-long revolt in Haiti, suggesting the death toll in the uprising could be far higher than so far reported.
US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's 'forced' exit Blix: Iraq war was illegalPresident Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from and the Marines' arrival in Port-au-Prince are far from having solved Haiti's problems. George W. Bush, who took the trouble to telephone Jacques Chirac to thank him for his help, will continue to need allies to get the country up and running again.
A radioactive nightmare in Concord, MassachusettsBlair's defence is bogus, says the former UN weapons inspector
The former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has declared that the war in Iraq was illegal, dealing another devastating blow to Tony Blair.
Mr Blix, speaking to The Independent, said the Attorney General's legal advice to the Government on the eve of war, giving cover for military action by the US and Britain, had no lawful justification. He said it would have required a second United Nations resolution explicitly authorising the use of force for the invasion of Iraq last March to have been legal.
Senator Edward Kennedy Speech To The Council On Foreign RelationsThe waitress at the ice cream shop in Concord, Massachusetts, was surprised. "A Superfund site?" she asked incredulously. "On Main Street?" It's not just a Superfund site but one dubbed by a cleanup contractor as "near the tip of the peak in terms of [cleanup] difficulty." It's radioactive.
New job numbers dog Bush campaignWhere was the CIA Director when the vice president was going nuclear about Saddam going nuclear?
American payrolls grew by just 21,000 jobs last month, far less than the 125,000 to 145,000 analysts were expecting and hoping for. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 5.6 percent with 8.1 million people out of work. But 392,000 people dropped out of the labor market, many of them presumed to have lost hope of finding work.
While President Bush was meeting at the White House with business leaders, his top economic advisers were presenting Congress with their annual outlook, which projects U.S. employers will create 2.6 million jobs this year.
"A year ago, the administration estimated that nearly 2 million jobs would be added in the second half of 2003," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). "In fact, less than 200,000 jobs were created during that period." Mankiw said earlier estimates turned out wrong because "the head winds that this economy has been experiencing are stronger than all economists, both those inside and outside government, thought they were."
Chris Floyd: Operation SweatshopThe Federal Election Commission yesterday set in motion regulatory proceedings that could severely restrict new pro-Democratic groups seeking to defeat President Bush.
The proposed regulations, drafted by the agency's general counsel, would severely crimp the fundraising and spending activities of "527" groups, named for the section of the tax code that governs their activities. But advocates of the tough regulations suffered a setback when a Democratic commissioner in a position to cast the key swing vote said she is likely to oppose any changes in the rules that would take effect before the November elections.
Report Finds Republican Aides Spied on Democrats Experts Say U.S. Never Spoke to Source of Tip On BioweaponsJean-Bertrand Aristide's move to raise Haiti's minimum wage was the last straw for American corporations and elitist U.S. factions.
This week, the Bush administration added another violent "regime change" notch to its gunbelt, toppling the democratically elected president of Haiti and replacing him with an unelected gang of convicted killers, death squad leaders, militarists, narcoterrorists, CIA operatives, hereditary elitists and corporate predators -- a bit like Team Bush itself, in other words.
The Bush administration's prewar assertion that Saddam Hussein had a fleet of mobile labs that could produce bioweapons rested largely on information from an Iraqi defector working with another government who was never interviewed by U.S. intelligence officers, according to current and former senior intelligence officials and congressional experts who have studied classified documents.
Insurer warns of global warming catastrophe The Pentagon Sounds The Alarm on Global Warming: Why Isn't President Bush Listening? (Utne Reader, 4 March 2004) Global warming warning (Daily News, 4 March 2004) The Building You're In Fuels Global Warming (LA Times, 4 March 2004)More than ever, hostile countries that share borders are working together to save their common environments.
Global warming costs to spiral out of control, warns Swiss Re (Business Report, 4 March 2004)Buildings and their construction account for nearly half of all the greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumed in this country each year. Globally, the percentage is even greater. And architects hold the key to turning down the global thermostat.
Spies, Lies, and Little BombshellsJamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was "extremely disappointed" at the involvement of "Western partners" in the hasty departure of Aristide, who flew Sunday to asylum in the Central African Republic aboard an American-supplied jet.
Speaking for the trading bloc, Patterson decried what he said was the U.N. Security Council's failure to respond to its appeals last week for an international peacekeeping force to restore order before Aristide fled the country.
"We believe that we put forward a very compelling case before the Security Council on Thursday of last week. The Security Council failed to respond then," said Patterson.
[...]
CARICOM said the circumstances were suspicious and called for an independent international inquiry into allegations that U.S. troops forced Aristide from office.
"The situation calls for an investigation of what transpired and we believe that it should be done under the auspices of some independent body such as the United Nations," Patterson said at the end of the 24-hour emergency session.
He said Aristide's claim that he was forced to step down constituted a "very dangerous precedent not only for Haiti, but also for democratically elected leaders and governments throughout the region.
"We could not fail to observe that what was impossible on Thursday could be accomplished in an emergency meeting on Sunday. We are disappointed in the extreme at the failure to act," Patterson said.
Caribbean Won't Help With PeacekeepingTwo strong women created havoc in Britain last week, exposing the sad disarray of Washington's War on Terror and its misuse of electronic intelligence.
House Votes to Give 9/11 Panel More TimeKINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - More than a dozen Caribbean nations rejected joining any peacekeeping force for Haiti Wednesday, criticizing the way President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to flee his country.
Soldier Denied Health Care After Speaking with Journalist Reporters on the Job (Christian Science Monitor, 3 March 2004) David Suzuki slams Australia over attitude to global warming (Terra Daily, 3 March 2004)WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House passed legislation Wednesday giving the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks more time to finish its work.
Under the bill, approved by voice vote, the commission would receive an additional 60 days to issue its final report, or until July 26. The bipartisan panel also would have until Aug. 26 to wind down its business, a period when it declassifies information for public release.
Iraqi Exile Attains his Goal As Tension Builds in Venezuela, Chavez Warns U.S. to Stay OutFed Chairman Alan Greenspan's Feb. 25 testimony to the House Budget Committee provided an unintentionally candid look at the Bush administration's deliberate fiscal policy of bankrupting the federal government to justify a sweeping program of privatization.
Growing Controversy over Haiti's Rebels and Refugees Asia Times Online - News from greater China; Hong Kong and Taiwan Might of U.S. did not make right in HaitiChavez's speech was the harshest he has made yet against his U.S. counterpart, George W. Bush. He said that if Washington interferes in Venezuelan politics against him, not one drop of Venezuelan petroleum will go to the United States.
Currently, Venezuela exports 1.5 million barrels of oil to the U.S. market daily.
Chavez also suggested the possibility of U.S. military intervention, and said that in such a case there would be enough mountain, enough jungle, enough savannah, enough dignity and also enough guts to confront an attack.
U.S. allegedly blocked extra bodyguardsAristide's fear for his life as rebels neared and international pressure forced him to give up power and allow the U.S. and France to arrange his departure.
Aristide says he was kidnappedThe United States allegedly blocked Haitian President Jean Bertrand-Aristide's last-minute attempt to bolster his personal bodyguards.
President Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped' Congresswomen call Haiti events "U.S.-backed coup d'etat" Sen. Kent Conrad: "BUSH FY 2005 BUDGET CONFIRMS PRESIDENT AS MOST FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE IN NATION'S HISTORY" Kerry's Support for the Invasion of Iraq and the Bush Doctrine Still UnexplainedEx-leader's bodyguards detail flight
China Slams US Human Rights Record, Cites War in Iraq, Afghanistan Record Defense Budget Reflects Wrong Priorities, Experts Charge Melting of Glaciers Requires Urgent Action 'Bullet Magnets' Prepare for Iraqi FrontlineAs casualties mount and disorder continues in Iraq, and as the lies that were put forward to garner support of the invasion are exposed, Massachusetts senator John Kerry and his supporters have desperately sought to defend his decision to back the U.S. invasion and occupation. Their failure to make a convincing case may spell trouble for Senator Kerry's dreams of capturing the White House in November.
Senator Kerry, like President Bush, believes that while it is okay for the United States and a number of its regional allies to possess a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, countries the United States does not like must be prevented, by military force if necessary, from doing the same. And Senator Kerry — like President Bush — apparently believes that unilateral military intervention, not comprehensive arms control treaties, is the way to deal with the threat of proliferation.
And, if the country targeted for invasion does not really have such weapons, Senator Kerry — like President Bush — will simply claim that they do anyway.
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Last modified: Mon May 10 23:49:30 CDT 2004