News and Stories From Around The Globe - May 2003
See latest links
Friday 23rd May, 2003
Indonesian troops accused of massacre
Villagers say children shot in raid on rebels
Christian Science Monitor reports that evidence on the ground is growing that between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians may have died during the war - making it the deadliest campaign for noncombatants that US forces have fought since Vietnam. So much for "historically low casualties".
A Journey to the Dark Side of Baghdad
Two TIME reporters witness victims of the city's chaos firsthand
See also Crack the CIA
Two of America's Richest Assail Bush Tax Cut
Blair 'ignored advice that occupation is illegal'
Attorney General's Warning To Blair
John Pilger: "Palestine is Still the Issue" Why Has This Documentary, Never Been Shown On U.S. Broadcast Media ? Watch It online.
Chaos in Iraq: Just What the US Wanted?
The Bushmen make official that they will be overstaying their welcome, and--phone the NRA!--taking away Iraqi citizens' guns
Dancing With the Devil --by Bob Herbert "Let's see. Who's less patriotic, the Dixie Chicks or Dick Cheney's long-term meal ticket, the Halliburton Company? ...The Chicks learned how dangerous it can be to criticize the chief of a grand imperial power. Halliburton, on the other hand, can do no wrong. ...instead of being punished for its misdeeds, it[Halliburton]'s been handed a huge share of the riches to be reaped from the reconstruction of Iraq and U.S. control of Iraqi oil."
On rescuing Private Lynch and forgetting Rachel Corrie
The Israeli army got away with murder - and now all activists are at risk --by Naomi Klein "It turns out that the lives of some US citizens - even beautiful, young, white women - are valued more than others. And nothing demonstrates this more starkly than the opposing responses to Rachel Corrie and Pte Jessica Lynch. ...while Lynch's story has been distorted to make its protagonists appear more heroic, Corrie's story has been posthumously twisted to make her, and her fellow ISM activists, appear sinister."
"Thank you, Fuhrer" - Bush's message to Cubans gets ironical reply
You can read the reply here
Japan ready to strike first if threatened
PM The Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has indicated his country would be prepared to make a pre-emptive strike against a foreign threat, adopting the most strident position by a Japanese leader since World War II.
Spying under Patriot Act disclosed
The inJustice Department released information Tuesday showing that federal agents have conducted hundreds of bugging and surveillance operations and visited numerous libraries and mosques using new law-enforcement tools.
Sen. Robert Byrd, in a rare show of spine by a US Democrat, accused the Bush administration of using " false premises " to get Americans to accept what he said was an illegal and unprovoked attack on Saddam Hussein's government.
Draft changes to the Spanish military criminal code propose that participation in public acts opposing military intervention in a situation of armed conflict could lead to prison sentences of between one and six years for the people involved, if convicted of "defeatism". Civilians could find themselves before military courts.
[Remind me, what we were fighting for again?]
Iraq Oil to Flow Quickly After UN Sanctions End
Iraqis Suspect U.S. Motive Behind Sanctions Move
Army Orders Troops to Seize TV Station in Northwest Iraq A Major Balks at Directive and Gets Relieved of Duty (May 8, 2003) The U.S. Army issued orders for troops to seize this city's only television station, leading an officer here to raise questions about the Army's dedication to free speech in postwar Iraq, people familiar with the situation said. The officer refused the order and was relieved of duty.
Text of the Rockford College graduation speech by Chris Hedges
Terror Alerts Stretching Resources
Thin State officials responsible for tightening security are having to weigh the threat of terrorism against the worst budget woes in a half-century.
Israeli Defense Force Targets International Peace Groups
Attack on eye-winesses continues.
Israel discovers that democracy is not an Israeli value
Those with historically more imperial experience, British troops, are stepping in to help out the Yanks.
Bush equated with Hitler in 'Matrix' sequel (and here)
The Argentine Autonomist Movement And The Elections
The Argentine social movements are at once young and old. They were born in 1945 with the spontaneous mass mobilization that brought Peron to power. They were also born in 1959 in Cuba. The people of those movements were disappeared, tortured, and eventually killed from 1975 to 1982, first under a peronist government and then under a military dictatorship. Thirty thousand people were disappeared so that today the IMF could dictate its economic policies. We can say, with Cesar Vallejo, that those movements were killed but did not die. In December 2001, they took the streets with direct democracy and direct action.
Was He Pushed? Butcher Of Baghdad II Tommy Franks Resigns
Telecommunications Industry Has Lavished U.S. Communications Commission officials with Millions of Dollars in Travel Gifts
Google censorship
The ironic thing about checking allegations of censorship by one of the Google family of search engines is that a first natural step is … a Google search. Google News shuts out Indymedia.
Wednesday 21st May, 2003
Another massacre looming in Indonesia while the world stands by?
Jakarta sends in thousands of troops as rebel province refuses to bow to its will.
Timeline: Aceh's struggle for independence
U.S. Charged With War Crimes
The Evidence File - Court case against General Franks in Brussels
Squandering Prosperity
George W. Bush has the worst economic record of any president since Herbert Hoover.
Harper's Weekly Review
Imperial forces to Begin Seizing Weapons From Most Iraqis
Iraqi citizens will be required to turn over automatic weapons and heavy weapons under a proclamation that imperial authorities plan to issue this week, imperial officials said today.
Jessica Lynch Coverup
Tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars are being spent on covering up what happened to Jessica Lynch and her mates during and after their unit was ambushed and they were captured.
Attorneys Sue Bush for Iraqi War
German attorneys have registered a claim against U.S. "President" George W. Bush in the General Office of the Public Prosecutor in Germany. In addition to George W. Bush, the claim includes members of the German and British governments, who are all alleged to be in violation of international law in launching the war in Iraq.
Congress watches its power ebb
From controlling budgets to deciding when and why to go to war, Congress appears less relevant today than at any time in decades.
Frank Assails Wolfowitz for Remarks on Turkey
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) yesterday called for the resignation of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, accusing the Pentagon official of seeking to undermine Turkey's democratic government.
Bob Graham, friend or foe?
Political foes unite on depleted uranium munitions
Did the U.S. Media Follow the Basic Rules of Journalism, or did they “Follow the Flag”? Journalism professor Robert Jensen argues the U.S. media would fail Journalism 101
Will Changes in the Nation's Media Ownership Rules Mark "the Beginning of the End of Our Democracy"?
Democracy Now! Talks with the Widow of the Al Jazeera Journalist Who Died When U.S. Forces Shelled His Office in Baghdad
Six French journalists detained on arrival at "land of the free", sent back to France
Argentina's Cancelled Election:
It's the Economy, and the Electorate Has Decided -- But What About the IMF?
Tuesday 20th May, 2003
Thousands of Iraqis Rally to Demand U.S. Forces’ Pullout
Well hit me with a weapon of mass destruction and call me Saddam Hussein.
Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free) [recommended read]
One Nation, Under Informed
Well, didn't we do gang-busters in Iraq, huh? I saw on CNN that a train was up and running again in Baghdad commandeered by a conductor smiling with his thumbs up. Schools are opening and the Iraqi people are liberated and naming their kids "Dubya."
Terminating the Bush Juggernaut
Bush family funded Adolf Hitler
Have you ever wondered how Adolph Hitler – a mediocre painter of Austrian origin – transformed himself into Germany’s Fuhrer during the 1930s and 1940s?
Ashcroft Goes After 200-Year-Old Human Rights Law
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has launched a sweeping attack against a 214-year-old human rights law that has helped provide justice to Nazi Holocaust victims and peasants from Latin America and Asia.
Retired General Dissents, Big Media AWOL
Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni favors peace over war in the Middle East, but the large media outlets ignore his message.
Who Exactly are the Paranoid anti-Americans?
"I envision 100 million Americans looking for indicators of terrorism and promptly reporting it to a central database where it would get analyzed."
Or so says Mike Licata of the New Jersey-based Community Anti-Terrorism Training Institute.
Child Drug Abuse, Crime on the Rise in Iraq
Great, America is moulding Iraq in its own image. So much for Geneva conventions.
Iraqi Parties Say U.S. Sidelining Them
Two of Iraq’s main parties blasted the United States yesterday, accusing Washington of going back on what they said was a firm US commitment to give Iraqis a free hand in running the country.
Let's hear it for Belgium
An attempt to try Tommy Scumbag Franks for war crimes in a Belgian court has outraged the U.S.
Paths of Glory
The central dogma of American politics right now is that George W. Bush, whatever his other failings, has been an effective leader in the fight against terrorism. But the more you know about the state of the world, the less you believe that dogma.
Oil wars Pentagon's explicit policy since 1999
Richest nations arming rights abusers: Amnesty
Oh no but we are the bastions of peace aren't we?
"Land of the free"
Danny Glover Under Fire For Political Views
A Catalogue of Failures: G8 Arms Exports and Human Rights Violations
For 25 years, US law has stipulated that weapons should be kept out of the hands of governments that will use them to abuse human rights. Yet US commercial arms sales have frequently had the opposite effect. US arms sales directed to developing countries have quadrupled from 2000 to 2001, many of them with forces that persistently abuse human rights. In addition, US military aid is currently furnished to more than 30 countries identified by the US itself as having a "poor" human rights record, or worse.
U.S. POW rescue was 'stage-managed'
The dramatic rescue was a well-prepared 'infowar' operation staged for the cameras. The purpose being to shift media focus away from the killing of civilians by the US bombardment of Iraq and on to the 'heroism' of US forces.
Indonesian Military Launches a Massive Attack on Separatist Movement in Aceh
Voting for Bush, Voting to Get a Smallpox Shot
In states carried by Mr. Bush in the 2000 s-election, the vaccination rate is almost three times as high as in states won by Al Gore. This article explores the possible reasons. My theory [webeditor]? Bush voters vote out of fear, as do most Nth Americans. Nth American culture is based on fear, of everything. That’s why it’s so easy to pacify the majority of Nth Americans and make them conform to the order of the day. Must say though, can’t help but think it’s a good time to strike with a Smallpox “terrorist attack” to wipe out a few non-republican voters.
Blair Has Betrayed Britain ... Not Me
A defiant George Galloway yesterday accused Tony Blair of betraying Britain and putting the country in "the first ranks of the hated on the earth".
Many Guantanamo Bay Prisoners ‘Have Gone Crazy’
A Pakistani released from the United States’ secretive prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said yesterday that most of the 600-plus prisoners still held there on suspicion of Al-Qaeda links had become mentally disturbed. “The majority of prisoners in Camp X-Ray are not even familiar with the name Al-Qaeda.”
White House Warns on National Debt Limit
Chickens coming home to roost?
I was wrong. Free market trade policies hurt the poor
The leader of the delegation from the United Kingdom to the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Seattle 1999 says The IMF and World Bank orthodoxy is increasing global poverty. "Since leaving the cabinet a year ago, I've had the opportunity to see at first hand the consequences of trade policy. No longer sitting in the air-conditioned offices of fellow government ministers I have, instead, been meeting farmers and communities at the sharp end."
"Experts": Bush must act on N. Korea
"U.S. may need to use naval blockade to stop nuclear peril if talks fail."
Rumsfeld baffled by bin Laden
Bush Administration officials have acknowledged that the United States now faces serious obstacles in finding Osama bin Laden and other remnants of al-Qaeda's leadership.
You let al-Qaida off hook, Bush told
Democrats attack presidential record on homeland security.
Democratic Candidate Dean Blasts Bush in Iowa
Unfortunately these wads are just the other side of the same coin.
Sunday 18th May, 2003
Women in Afghanistan Fear New Taliban-Like Rule
A women's rights activist struggles to publicize the persecution of women in post-Taliban Afghanistan, where fundamentalist pressures are returning and the burqa is back. "The United States has not kept its promise of liberation."
Bet you can't wait for these dweebs to rule the entire world
One of the greatest wonders of civilisation, and probably the world's most ancient structure - the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Iraq - has been vandalised by American soldiers and airmen, according to aid workers in the area. The Pentagon has also elected to build its massive and probably permanent base right alongside the site, so that the view from the peak of the ziggurat - more or less unchanged for 6,000 years - will be radically altered.
Whose country do these damn Iraqis think they're in anyway?
Thinking they should run Iraq. The gall of it!!! U.S. and British imperial diplomats admit they have indefinitely scrapped plans for a transitional government in Iraq. Instead, they announced, the Pentagon-appointed civilian administrator in Iraq would remain in charge for an undisclosed period.
Update: Whoops, Bremer goes into damage control
What do criminals do when they want to avoid justice?
Well they try to avoid being caught. Yeah you better run. It really is pathetic.
Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate who took on the IMF and is now turning his guns on the American President
A former chairman of the White House council of economic advisers, Joseph Stiglitz, drives a bulldozer through U.S. economic policies. The American economy has lost 2 million jobs since Bush came to power. "It is not just that they do not pay much attention to it but they are positively engaged in increasing inequality," says Stiglitz.
The Western elite are getting themselves into all sorts of pickle
Come on France, forget "the inventory of press accounts," just dive on in with your own mudraking. Could be quite entertaining.
New link: The Thomas Hurndall Fund
New link: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
Saturday 17th May, 2003
Radiation is 1000 Times the Normal Levels Where U.S. Troops Used Depleted Uranium Shells in Baghdad
Never mind, the feeble cowards squatting the White House and number 10 are okay, particularly our favourite deserter.
Belgium to Send General Franks Iraq Lawsuit to U.S.
Belgium's Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said on Saturday he would send a war crimes lawsuit filed in Belgium against the commander of U.S.-led forces in Iraq to the United States next week.
Yeah THANKS America! Our lives are so much safer now that you've allowed these deluded cowards to run your country and plague our planet.
Nuclear disarmament is dead as the United States flaunts its weapons superiority and small nations rush to make their own bombs. The second cold war is here, writes Christopher Kremmer.
How to sell war to a nation of cowards
How to sell war to a nation of cowards
How to sell war to a nation of cowards
How to sell war to a nation of cowards
How to sell war to a ...
U.S. Forms Own U.N
Frustrated with the United Nations' "consistent, blatant regard for the will of its 188 member nations," the U.S. announced Monday the formation of its own international governing body, the U.S.U.N.
Do you remember where Afghanistan is?
In Afghanistan, filmmaker Jamie Doran has uncovered evidence of a massacre: Taliban prisoners of war suffocated in containers, shot in the desert under the watch of American troops. The United Nations has authorized an official investigation into the film’s allegations, but only if the security of its members can be guaranteed. And security is hard to find in northern Afghanistan. Since this documentary was filmed, eyewitnesses have been tortured. Others have disappeared or been killed.
Nth Korea to Respond with War to U.S. Strike
North Korea will respond with war to any U.S. military strike against it, South Korean television said on Saturday, citing a broadcast in the communist state.
Imperial Ambition
An Interview with Noam Chomsky by David Barsamian
Be afraid, be very pacified. You must fear for your lives god damn it!!!
Homeland Security bulletin urges vigilance. "Watchful public could stop terrorist attack." Come on don't laugh.
No Political Fallout for Bush on Weapons
The Bush regime appears to be in no political danger from the failure to find chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq, with good-for-nothing Democrats reluctant to challenge Bush on any aspect of the war and polls showing stupid Americans unconcerned about weapons discoveries. Hey America, what happened to the "The War on Terror"?
The Fall of Corporate America
Yesterday I read "support for President Bush was strong, despite tax cuts". And I wondered how much longer these half-truths would continue when the contrary was so blatantly obvious.
New Front Sets Sights On Toppling Iran Regime
A budding coalition of conservative hawks, Jewish organizations and Iranian monarchists is pressing the White House to step up American efforts to bring about regime change in Iran.
New study: Official voices, not war opponents, have dominated U.S. networks
No surprises there.
Survey: Israel yet to grasp concept of democracy
More than half the Jewish population of Israel - 53 percent - is opposed to full equal rights for Israeli Arabs, according to a survey conducted last month by the Israel Democracy Institute. [no surprises there]
Case proven - war does not eradicate terrorism
Palestinian filmmaker denied entry to that other little beacon of freedom, Israel, on "security" grounds. Yeap, those cameras make great weapons against people with something to hide.
Pentagon Whitewash
Human Rights Watch on April 25 accused the Pentagon of a whitewash, of minimizing in its public statements the deadly effect of cluster munitions on Iraqi civilians by discussing only aerial bombs and not artillery shells, which the group says caused most civilian casualties from cluster munitions in Iraq. On March 31 and April 1, and apparently on later dates as well, cluster munitions fell among Iraqi peasants in and around their homes in Nadr, Amira, Kifl and other districts mostly on Hillah's southern edge.
Extent of snooping in UK revealed
Officials in the UK are routinely demanding huge quantities of information about what people do online and who they call, say privacy experts.
The Guantánamo Scandal
The Department of Defense has held more than 600 male prisoners, some as young as 13 — and of 42 different nationalities, including citizens of our closest allies — in a concentration camp without access to family, lawyers or any semblance of due process.
Saudi Bombing - A Calculated Act With a Political Message
The brutal bombings in Riyadh that killed at least 30 people were far from random, irrational acts directed primarily at Americans, writes PNS contributor William O. Beeman. Their target -- a U.S.-based company that trains the Saudi National Guard –- suggests local, anti-monarchist motivations and attackers who may have little or no connection to Osama bin Laden. Israeli forces kill three Palestinians, including a child, and demolish four homes
Lucky they're just brown Arab rag-heads. If it was white American children being killed then the world would have to worry.
Friday 16th May, 2003
New link: Iraqi Indymedia: www.almuajaha.com - "The Iraqi Witness"
A New Kind of Democracy
A 22 year old Iraqi college student at Baghdad University speaks out about "democracy" and the occupation of Iraq.
I loathe America, and what it has done to the rest of the world
Imperial forces 'tortured Iraqi POWs'
Amnesty International is investigating claims that Iraqi prisoners of war were tortured by US and British troops.
Mass Graves
How The U.S. And Britain Are Betraying the Iraqi People. No evidence has yet been discovered that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The US and UK are therefore seeking new political cover for their illegal, unnecessary and immoral war.
The Real 'Saving of Private Lynch'
The Toronto Star has been able to interview the hospital staff and discover that not only was there no call for a "daring raid" - there no Iraqi soldiers at the hospital - the staff had actually tried to return Private Lynch to the American lines the day before she was "rescued", but had to turn back after their ambulance was fired on by US troops! But what turned up on the world's front pages is, sadly, probably the version that history will record.
New link: The Military records of George Walker Bush
Ad depicts Rumsfeld, Saddam shaking hands
The photo is real -- it was taken Dec. 20, 1983, when Rumsfeld, then a special envoy for the Reagan administration, visited Saddam to discuss U.S. support for Iraq in its war with Iran. California Peace Action and its sister Peace Education Fund incorporated the photo into an ad emblazoned with the words, Who are we arming now?
Support ad campaign
Elections vs. Democracy in Argentina by Naomi Klein
New link: www.chickenhawkcards.com
Untold stories of those who died during the war on Iraq
We will probably never know how many people died in the Iraq war, let alone much about them. Guardian journalists have spoken to relatives of the deceased of all nationalities, and here we tell 100 life stories.
Tampa cable won't air ad criticizing Bush tax cut
A TV commercial critical of President Bush's tax plan won't air in Tampa after the city's major cable provider expressed concerns about the script. Funny how they have problems with "the script" but are happy to broadcast Girls Gone Wild. Want to let them know you thought America was the "land of the free"?
View the advertisement with RealPlayer:
Stream (recommended)
Download (low-bandwidth)
Baghdad's blundering victors
Wednesday 14th May, 2003
Imperial overstretch in Iraq [recommended reading]
"Rather than the triumph of a new imperial order, the war may actually accelerate the decline of US hegemony. In late 2002, Charles Kupchan, a professor at Georgetown University and a member of the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, released a book titled The End of the American Era . Cast in mainstream political language, Kupchan argues that 'Pax Americana' will end due to 'the rise of alternative centres of power and a declining and unilateralist US internationalism'."
Bush Officials Change Tune on Iraqi Weapons
The Bush administration has changed its tune on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the reason it went to war there. Instead of looking for vast stocks of banned materials, it is now pinning its hopes on finding documentary evidence.
"Simply stated, there is no doubt Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."
Dick Cheney, 28/08/2002
(Source: The White House) |
No WMDs after all, no excuse for war, too late for anyone to care anymore. Ha-ha, suckers
"We have done this ghastly horrible inane hate-filled entirely unprovoked thing in the name of power and petroleum and military contracts and strategic empire building, our nation is numb and more bitterly divisive than ever and our leaders are not the slightest bit ashamed."
New Iraqi TV Complains of U.S. Censorship
The U.S.-sponsored Iraqi television news station complained of American censorship before its first broadcast Tuesday, including attempts to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
New policy in Iraq will authorize American G.I.'s to shoot brown Iraqi looters
Teach these Iraqis some good ol American values. I mean whose country do those Iraqis think they live in?!
Iraq's Oil Wealth Headed Toward Privatization (i.e. out of the hands of Iraqi citizens)
Listen to interview with Realplayer
GAO Won't Investigate Bush Carrier Flight
Congress' investigative agency won't look at the costs of President Bush's "Top Gun" flight to an aircraft carrier to declare an end to major fighting in Iraq. Comptroller General David Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, said Tuesday it would cost too much and take too long to do the study. [No shit, that's what he said.]
Americans losing democracy: Arundhati Roy
The United States government is waging " a spurious war on terror " that is costing Americans their freedoms and democracy, Indian writer and human rights activist Arundhati Roy said on Monday.
Galloway: fakes prove it was a smear
As Washington & Seoul prepare for talks on North Korea, Noam Chomsky discusses U.S.-Korean relations
North Korea is saying the Bush administration’s decision to keep Pyongyang on its list of "state sponsors of terrorism" is intended to provide a pretext to attack the country and make nuclear talks tougher.
Ad Critical of Bush Tax Cuts Rejected by Cable Provider; Says It's Question of Taste
The local branch of cable provider Cox Communications has refused to air a television commercial critical of President Bush's tax cut plan that re-enacts a blood plasma drive held to help pay a teacher's salary. The spot was turned down because Cox officials in Phoenix found the commercial "in poor taste," said Andrea Katsenes, company spokeswoman.
Update: In an about-face, the local branch of cable provider Cox Communications has decided to air the commercial.
View the advertisement with RealPlayer:
Stream (recommended)
Download (low-bandwidth)
Here's What's Being Said
The United States cannot turn back now. It has set itself on a path of no return. - Having stored up so many enemies, the bully must now remain forever a bully to ensure his own survival.
Belgian Lawyer Files War Crimes Complaint Against U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks
Lawyer Jan Fermon presented the complaint against Franks and a Marine officer he identified as Col. Brian P. McCoy to Belgium's federal prosecutors' office despite recent changes in the country's war crimes law to prevent such charges against Americans.
Israeli army kills three Palestinian policemen
Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian policemen in Gaza early today and attacked a Palestinian refugee camp, wounding 30 people, after 13 Israelis were hurt in Palestinian attacks.
The war that Bin Laden is winning
The U.S. withdrawal from Saudi Arabia will not save the regim
The Manipulation Of America
Notice a pattern yet?
Al-Qaida Operative Warned of Attacks in Saudi Arabia
Is The West About To Reap a Terrorist Whirlwind?
"Are We the New Nazis?"
"When they came for the Catholics I said nothing because I was not a Catholic. When they came for the Jews I said nothing because I was not a Jew. When they came for the union members I said nothing because I was not a union member. When they came for me no one said anything because they all had already been taken."
Pastor Martin Neumueller
Nazi Germany (NeoCon USA?) |
After the Iraq war
“Democracy” means that the Iraqi people—at gunpoint—are given the choice of supporting a government imposed by Washington or facing starvation. As one satirist noted recently, the despotic oil sheiks of the Gulf have lost their fear of democracy after witnessing the way in which it is practiced by George W. Bush.
Why friends of Israel should see Gaza
The Wannabe Chalabi's
Bush should be impeached and tried for war crimes
"Weapons of mass destruction? Saddam no longer had them. If he had, he would have used them. And if any are found now, the cabal that has hijacked our country will have planted them there . That is why the Bush administration has made clear it will not allow the U.N. back in the country to provide neutral inspections. Here is what is coming clear. George W. Bush and his cabal lied to the American people so they could attack another country to seize its oil wealth."
Economic Consequences of Iraq Occupation
The U.S. real economy is in virtual shambles. It is the most debt-ridden country in the world, with every American having an average debt of $12,000. Its position is worse than that of Indonesia when it imploded in 1998, and it is even worse than that of Argentina.
Cook accuses Blair of sidelining the UN in post-war Iraq
Yeap, American citizens are SO much safer now that the Bush regime is in control.
Empire economics: the U.S. is hypocritical over trade
U.S. arms experts 'leaving Iraq'
Regardless of whether someone will eventually find something banned it is now clear that the daunting arsenal described before the war by Bush and Blair - literally tons of chemicals and biological agents, able to be deployed against a foreign power within 45 minutes - simply does not exist.
The white American male, here's something to be really proud of - you're good at killing people
Tuesday 13th May, 2003
Just Another Week for The Bush Administration and the U.S. Media
These stories are headlines around the world, and in the alternative media in the United States, but as usual, these stories escape the headlines of ANY newspaper or television news.
The Press and the Myths of War
Sen. Bob Graham blows Bush's cover
The White House has been the major force blocking release of the Final Report of the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the events of 9-11. On CBS News' Face the Nation on 4/11/03, Bob Graham has publicly accused the White House of trying to cover up such ongoing threats — and its own intelligence failures — by refusing to declassify information about them. Get Ready to Impeach Bush, Cheney, Richard Meyer & More!
Harpers Weekly Review
Car Bomb In Riyadh Targets Americans
Three car bomb explosions in an American compound in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh are already being attributed to the terrorist group Al Qaeda
Where the CIA is in control, narcotics flourish
After Afghanistan, Baghdad is flooded with heroin --Baghdad: The city, which had never seen heroin, a deadly addictive drug, until March 2003, is now flooded with narcotics including heroin.
Fury rises in Baghdad as drugs return to the alleys
Clare Short: It's time for Tony Blair to go
Interview with Clare Short
Hussein Backers Regain Role in Government
The U.S. Army has allowed several once-forceful supporters of Saddam Hussein's regime back into power here , including a religious leader who just weeks ago ordered Muslims to fight American troops to the death.
At Last Some Illegal WMDs Have Been Found - In Baltimore
Petition to Senate to Investigate Oddities of 9-11
To Those Americans Who Waved The Flag And Cursed Those Who Didn't,
Welcome to the new America you helped create...
Habits and Attitudes of Free People
America is a “free country”, the “freest country in the world.” At least, that is what is almost universally accepted here simply due to the fact that it is repeated over and over again. Or is it?
Releases raise questions over Camp X-ray purpose
After nearly a year of interrogations at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, they were set free without compensation or even an apology.
New blockade imposed on Gaza
Israel imposed new restrictions on travel to and from the Gaza Strip yesterday, just hours after lifting its blockade as a goodwill gesture during a visit by the American secretary of state, Colin Powell. The restrictions include a ban on journalists travelling to the territory.
At least 40 die in Chechnya blast
More than 40 people, including six children, were killed yesterday when suicide bombers drove a truck packed with explosives into a security service building in Chechnya.
''Will Europe and Russia seek to check U.S. power?"
Now that the United States has expressed its desire to weaken the United Nations politically and to create a new world order in which the U.S. can become the sole, unrestrained power in the world, it will be important to watch how Europe responds.
Monday 12th May, 2003
Reject Nomination of Bush and Blair for Nobel Prize
A Norwegian Member of Parliament has nominated U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize for their "decisive action against terrorism." Sign this petition rejecting the Nomination.
Short launches broadside on Blair
Tony Blair is risking his own legacy because he is "increasingly obsessed with his place in history", Clare Short has said after quitting the cabinet.
Clare's resignation letter and Tony's response
U.S. rivals turn on each other as weapons search draws a blank
One key argument for war was the peril from weapons of mass destruction. Now top officials are worried by repeated failures to find the proof - and US intelligence agencies are engaged in a struggle to avoid the blame.
Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq
Task Force Unable To Find Any Weapons
Weapons taskforce leaves in failure
Eye Witnesses
Two Israelis who witnessed Palestinians being shot by the IDF could not believe their eyes.
FCC to propose easing U.S. television caps
Increasing the cap would allow large television networks to buy more local stations. It would also eliminate the need for CBS (Viacom) and Fox (News Corp), who are currently in breach of the cap, to divest stations.
Bush ally set to profit from the war on terror
James Woolsey, former CIA boss and influential adviser to President George Bush, is a director of a US firm aiming to make millions of dollars from the 'war on terror', The Observer can reveal.
Cheney’s Old Company Continues To Break Laws While Profiting From Terror
Halliburton Corp., the second largest oil services company in world, is the poster child for corporate greed and terror. And it seems that nothing will stop Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company from repeatedly breaking the law to save and earn mountains of cash.
Iraq's Crude Awakening
It's only a trickle now, but it could become a gusher that rocks the world
Move to bring Bush, Blair to trial
Initiators of the move accuse Bush and Blair of invading and occupying Iraq, destroying its infrastructures, contaminating the territory, plundering natural resources, and devastating Iraq's immense historical and humanitarian values.
"The Lies Are Brilliantly Crafted" - Interview, Greg Palast with Marc Ash
CIA (the largest and most active terror organisation in the world) to help Palestinians root out terrorist groups
Shallow Throat: How to Take Bush Down
Knock-Knock!
Land of the free and home of those who keep their mouths shut?
Murdering Solidarity
Islamic Extremism May Save Western Civilization
It would shock and probably offend most Americans to learn the truth that the reason they are here, their power, their affluence and position in the world is directly because of the Islamic religion and the Arab culture.
Saturday 10th May, 2003
Bush favors confrontational approach to Castro, Cuba
Without fanfare, U.S. government efforts to promote political change in Cuba have shifted away from the subtle "people-to-people" contacts favored by the Clinton administration to a more confrontational approach, including direct support for dissidents, two U.S. officials say.
U.S. Diplomats Decry Military Coup
Inside the beleaguered State Department, plenty of America's elite diplomats are privately seething. They are up in arms over what they see as the hijacking of foreign policy-making by the Pentagon and efforts to undercut their boss, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. " I just wake up in the morning and tell myself, ' There's been a military coup ,' and then it all makes sense," said one veteran foreign service officer.
"Go in Ali Baba! It´s all yours." - called the Americans
Crime-scene Baghdad: Eyewitnesses report that American soldiers literally opened the gates and the doors to looters of Iraqi museums. Plundered articles were often sold off openly on the streets the very same day.
U.S. pledges (again) to rebuild Afghanistan
The U.S. deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, yesterday tried to shrug off persistent criticism that the Bush administration had lost interest in Afghanistan, and promised that the United States would rebuild the war-torn country at the same time as reconstructing Iraq.
U.S. - A Nation of Cowards
For a brief moment after 9/11, we recognized some genuine heroes in our midst, those who put their lives on the line to rescue strangers and those who put their own needs in back of the needs of others in the middle of tragedy. The celebration of this heroism may have become a little gaudy, but it was sincere. Since then we seem to have become a nation of cowards celebrating illusions.
Muslims Seek Removal of U.S. Official in Iraq;
Hiring Administrator Says Guiding Arabs Like 'Herding Cats'
Corporatism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization
Huge corporations now control America's body politic by reason of their bald-faced purchases of the three branches of the American government and America's major media.
When Lying Pays Off
America's manipulative neo-conservatives, who support unending aggression against any country that does not succumb to United States political, economic, and military control and who, themselves, seized power in Washington through electoral malfeasance, are taking a page from Nazi Germany's leaders in their quest for world domination
Mayor of London: Bush Is Repellant
Fox TV hunting
We don't want biased news over here.
Fed's minutes show deep economic worries
The Federal Reserve was worried, in the hours before the outbreak of the war in Iraq, that US economic growth could be "muted for some time", according to meeting notes released Thursday.
The guys who are running America now are basically just thugs
IT was a low point in an otherwise successful war. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called it an outrage and a breach of the Geneva Convention. But for Americans such as Michael Ratner, a leading civil liberties lawyer, the parading of five US soldiers on Iraqi state television exposed a scandalous double standard.
U.S. and Britain want control of Iraqi oil
U.N. Security Council members are meeting to discuss a proposal by the United States and Britain to end 12 years of sanctions against Iraq and give them control over its oil revenues .
U.S. used deadly Depleted Uranium in Iraq
Worries are growing that another surge in long-term health problems, for Iraqi civilians and soldiers on both sides alike, is on the way .
The rape of Iraq
It is high time that what the US is doing is called by its real name. A criminal regime in Washington is carrying out the rape of Iraq.
Friday 9th May, 2003
Basra police to battle cholera
Many Iraqis have been unable to get enough drinking water because of the damage caused in the recent war in Iraq and have resorted to using contaminated water. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it expected a cholera epidemic in southern Iraq because of problems with poor sanitation.
Livingstone attacks President Bush
At long last we have some honest politicians coming out of the woodwork saying it how it is. Livingstone described the Bush administration as "unsupportable" and Bush as "corrupt". He said he would get as much pleasure from Mr Bush being forced out of office as he had done from the downfall of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein.
According to Conservative mayoral candidate Steve Norris Livingstone is not entitled to express his opinion, much like in Nazi Germany, "He has every right to his own view but not to express it when he is mayor of this city." And in yet another example of U.S. insulation the White House Press Secretary admitted to not even knowing who the mayor of London is.
Do Iraqis Count?
"Before you make the obvious retort ‘of course!’ let me define the question a little more. Following the O J Simpson trial, and his subsequent acquittal, both the prosecution and defense attorneys were interviewed. The prosecution was upset, because they had seen the trial as a test case for the rights of battered woman, and read the acquittal as demeaning of abused woman’s rights. The defense were elated because a black man had been acquitted of the murder of a white woman and man, and they read it as a precedent for black justice. I was shocked. Neither legal team mentioned, or even seemed aware, that they were supposedly trying a case where a man had been accused of the brutal murder of two people. Rather this case had been, for both sides, an opportunity to promote their political agenda on national television."
The two faces of Rummy
2000: director of a company which wins $200m contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea. 2002: declares North Korea a terrorist state, part of the axis of evil and a target for regime change.
Cheney firm paid millions in bribes to Nigerian official
The reputation of Halliburton, the oil industry giant once run by Vice-President Dick Cheney, took a new blow yesterday when it admitted one of its subsidiaries had paid millions of dollars to a Nigerian official in return for tax breaks.
Look to Iran for the Real Costs of the War in Iraq
The United States invaded Iraq--a nation without nuclear weapons--but treated North Korea much more gingerly. If you were an Iranian leadership what would you do? As far as they're concerned it's probably just a race against time.
US's "Axis of Evil" as China Sees It
Thursday 8th May, 2003
Ohh, the money is rolling - AP
Ohh, the money is rolling - Guardian
The oil grab begins. An emergency contract the Bush regime gave to Halliburton Co., the company formerly run by 'vice-President' Dick Cheney, to extinguish Iraqi oil fires also gave the firm a more lucrative role role than originally believed: running the Iraqi oil industry.
Ohh, the land of the freeee
Two radio DJs in the US have been suspended after playing Dixie Chicks songs, after their statio banned the group for its comments about President George W Bush.
Ohh, the money is rolling
Advisor Perle has given seminars on ways to profit from possible conflicts discussed by defense board he sits on. Last February, the Defense Policy Board, a group of outside advisors to the Pentagon, received a classified presentation from the super-secret Defense Intelligence Agency on the crises in North Korea and Iraq. Three weeks later, the then-chairman of the board, Richard N. Perle, offered a briefing of his own at an investment seminar on ways to profit from possible conflicts with both countries.
In the land of the free
The irony in this story is beautiful.
Presidential hopeful "sitting on damaging evidence that the Bush dictatorship could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks"
Bush was like Hitler, says former weapons man Scott Ritter
Bush used the September 11 attacks as Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag to repress domestic dissidents.
Armed Settlers Attack Palestinian Farmers
U.S. Colonel Admits 500 Tons of D.U. Were Used in Iraq
Salam Pax is back online
Sharon demands Palestinians drop right of return
Wednesday 7th May, 2003
Bush Regime Appoints State Department Official to Administer Iraq
Bush announced today he has appointed a State Department counterterrorism expert to administer Iraq. [Bush should know about being appointed: that is how he stole the presidency in the U.S.]
Rumsfeld’s Rules
Satya Sagar tries to work out who this Chickenhawk really is.
How Many Civilians Were Killed by Cluster Bombs?
The Pentagon says 1: Iraq Body Count says at least 200
Tuesday 6th May, 2003
Freedom USA
One persons experience of the Patriot Act. He's deluded into thinking the U.S. is justifiably at "war" but the description is none the less revealing.
Whose 'Road Map'?
George W. Bush has a 'road map' to peace in the Middle East – and so does would-be ethnic cleanser.
Evening Standard admits faking picture of Iraqi "liberation"
Monday 5th May, 2003
CIA & Rumsfeld's Pentagon Push For Total Control
A military dictatorship in the making
George W. Christ?
Ex-weapons inspector and former Marine Scott Ritter is calling for regime change in Washington.
U.S. soldier shot in Baghdad
Zionist Israeli Beni Elon still tring to kick Palestinians out of Palestine
So he thinks it’s all over...
When Iraqi civilians look into the faces of American troops, President Bush famously told the world on Thursday, “they see strength and kindness and goodwill”. Untrue, Mr Bush. They see occupation.
PCHR: "No exchange of fire took place when Israeli soldiers shot dead a British journalist"
"America: The failed experiment"
Saturday 3rd May, 2003
A mean-spirited America
"Today, I fear my own government more than I do terrorists."
Cuba Controversy
Michael Albert comments on the possible political paths open to Cubans. Recommended reading.
U.S. appoints top team to run Iraqi oil ministry
Establishing democracy in Iraq? 'Let’s fix it here first'
"Democracy: a form of government in which power ultimately rests with the people, either directly or through elected representatives."
Statement to the World
Western 'Human Shields' Battered in Mideast
Friday 2nd May, 2003
American denials enrage Fallujah
Iraqis vow revenge as hatred of US grows
Hatred of the Americans is boiling on the streets of Falluja, where Iraqis lobbed grenades into the U.S. military compound yesterday, wounding seven and damaging vehicles.
Pictures of massacre at Fallujah, Iraq
Oh and there's even a different kind of banner for all those people who wrote in last month embarrassingly and excitedly exclaiming they had seen a banner telling us to go home. Why is this one different? Well it's not widely acknowledged as a Pentagon media stunt: "Sooner or later, U.S. killers, we'll kick you out"
Media bosses admit pro-war bias in coverage of Iraq
Two leading media bosses have admitted what has been increasingly evident throughout the month-long war in Iraq: the American broadcast media systematically distorted the news of the war and functioned as an electronic arm of the Pentagon and the Bush dictatorship.
Pentagon was told to pour praise on Canberra
A report to the Pentagon in March advised that Australia and New Zealand be handled differently over war on Iraq, with praise being heaped on the Canberra leadership. Howard even gets to go play at Bush's house.
[Webeditor: haha, way to go New Zealand, maybe we can graduate to the axis of evil one day]
Marine investigated for war crimes after newspaper interview
A US Marine sergeant is under investigation for possible war crimes committed in Iraq based on statements he made to his hometown newspaper, military officials said today.
Thursday 1st May, 2003
Seems the London Evening Standard's editors figured the crowd in Firdus Square when Saddam's statue fell wasn't big enough - so they faked their front-page photo to make it appear much larger than it really was.
The Bush administration is keeping secret almost all of a Congressional report into Sept. 11 and may yet withhold key information from its own investigating commission under "executive privilege".
And further evidence of a bid to make the world safe for U.S. copyright law. The RIAA is apparently already helping rewrite Iraq's perfectly reasonable copyright legislation to its satisfaction.
more links
