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Thanks For The Memories: Revisiting Saddam's CIA Connection: Flash Presentation.

Bush woos Hispanic immigrants : President George Bush is expected to unveil proposals today to allow at least some of the estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the US to become legal guest workers, in an election-year gambit aimed at the country's fast-growing Hispanic electorate.

Conservatives simmer as spending mushrooms under Bush : Conservatives wait warily as President Bush makes final decisions about his election-year budget, three years into an administration on whose watch spending has mushroomed by 23.7 percent, the fastest pace in a decade.

The God Gulf : Expect Republicans to wage religious warfare by trotting out God as the new elephant in the race, and some Democrats to respond with hypocrisy, by affecting deep religious convictions. This campaign could end up as a tug of war over Jesus.

Libya starts peace talks with Israel: Libya, long one of Israel's most implacable enemies, has extended diplomatic feelers to the Jewish state.

A new Mideast? Is Israel missing its chance? : As an Israel wary of trusting its traditional blood enemies, faces a new, post-Saddam Middle East, could the real risk be that of squandering unfamiliar opportunities for peace?

It's because they fear us, say teenage refuseniks jailed by Israeli army : Haggai Matar never expected that his sentence would be so harsh. But as the teenage refusenik reports to a military prison today, he says he will draw comfort from the judges' description of him as a threat to the survival of Israel.

Israel to Take No Action Against Soldiers : No action will be taken against Israeli soldiers who shot and wounded a Jewish-Israeli protester during a demonstration over a controversial West Bank barrier, the army said Tuesday.

Israeli official proposes 'ethnic cleansing': A member of the Likud party has proposed “massive ethnic cleansing” of non-Jews in Palestine-Israel as a “final solution” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Kremlin committing genocide against Chechens: About a quarter of the Chechen population died not in natural disasters, but as a result of purposeful actions by another nation; they died the same way the Jews or Gypsies did, while the world was totally silent

Four countries defy US order to put sky marshals on planes: America's demand for air marshals on all transatlantic flights encountered further problems yesterday when four countries said they would not comply and a fifth said it believed sufficient precautions were already in place.

EarthLink Cutting Another 1,300 Jobs: EarthLink Inc. is cutting another 1,300 jobs, or 40 percent of its work force, and outsourcing the work of some of its call centers to other companies as part of a major restructuring that started a year ago.

Silicon Valley falls to Bangalore: The inevitable has happened. Bangalore , which grew under the shadow of America's Silicon Valley over the last two decades, has finally overtaken its parent.

Barclays hints at more jobs for India: One of Britain's biggest banks has shrugged off reports of consumer resistance to relocating jobs in India and says its aim is to reshape its business to make it more competitive in a global environment.

White-collar jobs leaving U.S.: Where blue-collar jobs once went, first, outside the parent corporation to smaller non-unionized companies, or "out-sourcing" and, later, often entirely outside the country itself, or "off-shoring" — white-collar jobs are now beginning to go.

Firms Defend Moving Tech Jobs Overseas : -Worried about possible government reaction to the movement of U.S. technology jobs overseas, leading American computer companies are defending recent shifts in employment to Asia and elsewhere as necessary for future profits and warning policy makers against restrictions.

Credit Card Delinquencies Hit a New High: The weak U.S. job market helped nudge credit card delinquencies to a record high in the third quarter of 2003, a banking trade association said in a report released on Tuesday.

Are Debtor Prisons Returning To America?: Hospitals hound uninsured patients for bill payments and now rank among America's most aggressive debt-collectors using one of the harshest and least-known collections tactics of all: seeking the arrest of no-show debtors.

No respite in sight for diving dollar : The prospect of British holidaymakers to the US enjoying a two-dollar pound this summer loomed larger last night after the American currency received a fresh battering on the foreign exchanges.

01/06/03: Army Delays Discharge for Some G.I.'s in Afghanistan and Mideast: The Army is preparing an order that would require about 7,000 troops now in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan to remain on duty through the end of their deployments this spring, even if they could otherwise leave the service before then.

Assad given weapons ultimatum: America and Britain rebuffed President Bashar Assad of Syria yesterday, telling him bluntly that Damascus must give up its weapons of mass destruction or face ostracism - even if neighbouring Israel keeps its nuclear arms

17 Canadians reported in US custody in Iraq : At least 17 people from Canada believed to be part of a designated terrorist group are being heldunder guard by US forces in Iraq, it is reported here Tuesday.

Bush to unveil immigration changes : President Bush will propose immigration-law changes to allow workers from Mexico to enter the United States if they have jobs waiting for them, officials said yesterday in previewing an election-year measure intended to bolster support among Hispanic voters.

Delay on Kelly report pressures Blair: Lord Hutton has delayed publication of his report on the events leading to the death of scientist David Kelly because he has yet to apportion blame on the central figures in the drama

From afar, Americans try to steer presidential election: A collection of American civil-liberties and antiwar organizations from around the globe, will launch a campaign around Europe to try to influence the US presidential election.

US Army's Advanced Riot Control Agent Device ( ARCAD )Reborn: Newly-released US government documents indicate that recent Pentagon research on so-called "non-lethal" weapons is a revived version of a weapons program that was cancelled due to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Information Warfare or Yesterday's News?: Pentagon media contractor loses battle for Iraqi audiences

Explosions Kill at Least 12 in Southern Afghanistan: Two bombs have exploded in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people, most of them children, and wounding dozens.

Four shot in Iraqi protest over pay: Iraqi police have opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Basra

Two French nationals killed in Iraq: Two French nationals have been shot dead in northern Iraq, the French foreign ministry has said.

Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenager in West Bank camp: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager in a refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian medical and security sources revealed.

Iraq Eyes Federal System for Postwar Rule: The Governing Council is close to agreeing on a federal system for Iraq and will defer until next year the explosive issue of whether to give greater autonomy to the northern Kurdish region.

Robert Fisk: Iraqis Still Find Dead Soldiers From Old Wars: "We still find the dead," Jabar said. "We found a group of dead soldiers the other day - Iraqis and Iranians all mixed up together ..."

Military split on use of special forces: Under Rumsfeld's direction, secret commando units known as hunter-killer teams have been ordered to "kick down the doors," as the generals put it, all over the world

Iraqi judges hesitant to try Saddam: "I have been a judge for 32 years, and they are teaching me the ABCs of law? I ought to be teaching them," the head of the Appellate Court says with contempt after attending the two-week course organized by the U.S. Defense Strategy for International Studies.

How the war machine is driving the US economy: What do the war in Iraq and the economic recovery in the United States have in common? More than one might expect, to judge from the last couple of rounds of US growth figures.

30 Second Video: In My Country

President Served Friday With Personal 9-11 RICO Complaint: On Friday, Philip J. Berg, attorney for 9-11 widow Ellen Mariani, served President Bush and top officials in his Administration with a personal summons.

Bush Grabs New Power for FBI : The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge.

White House Seeks Secrecy on Detainee : In an extraordinary request, the Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to let it keep its arguments secret in a case involving an immigrant's challenge of his treatment after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Judges who oppose Ashcroft's policies find an ally: A prominent federal judge in Brooklyn has added his voice to those of prosecutors who have been quietly seething because Attorney General John Ashcroft regularly overrules them and directs that they seek capital punishment when they have recommended against it.

Interrogation, Torture, the Constitution, and the Courts: The government's assertion that torture and summary executions might be carried out without recourse to the law clearly shocked the court. Reminiscent of Argentina's "dirty war" or the Soviet Gulag, the notion of a legal vacuum in which abuses can be freely committed hardly squares with American constitutional traditions.

Jimmy Breslin : Dark Passage For America: This is all because of this nice, new, clean shaven, Bible quoting, psalm singing Ashcroft and his people. He is a walking symbol of the banality of evil.

30 Second Video: Polygraph: Americans are dying for the truth.

Credibility And Virginity: What President Bush does not understand (don't worry, I'm not going through the whole list) is that credibility, like virginity, cannot be recovered once it's lost.

George W. Bush: Words vs. Deeds : George W. Bush not only lies about what he has done and what he is going to do—he even lies about what his is doing.

John le Carré: The novelist who came in from the Cold War: "The war on Iraq was illegitimate . . . It was a criminal and moral conspiracy. No provocation, no link with al-Qaeda, no weapons of Armageddon. Tales of complicity and Osama were self-serving bullshit. It was an old colonial war dressed up as a crusade for Western life and liberty

Even with Iraq, Iran, Libya defanged, Israel’s leaders still prepare for war : Even though the military threat to Israel has been unquestionably and significantly reduced, Israel is showing no sign of compromising on its nuclear arsenal.

Syria says WMD "natural" to counter Israel: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been quoted defending his country's right to acquire weapons of mass destruction so long as it faces "aggression" by Israel.

Israel: PM's associate warns: 'It's how the Nazis came to power' : A source close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon complained Monday night that several of the proposals made by Likud convention activists for changes to the party constitution were reminiscent "of how the Nazis came to power in Germany."

Ex-Mossad chief: Road map cannot be implemented : Israel, the United States and the Palestinians all know the road map peace plan cannot be implemented.

Israeli 'water for arms' deal with Turkey : Israel and Turkey have agreed an extraordinary "water for arms" deal which will see millions of gallons of fresh water shipped in giant tankers across the eastern Mediterranean and into Israeli ports.

U.S. evangelical Christians have become influential supporters of the Jewish state: The rapturous response to Robertson in Israel last month is just one example of how a large and growing group of conservative American Christians has entered the Jewish state's political scene with startling vigor, even as the Holy Land's indigenous Arab Christian communities wither because of violence and a dying economy.

Lord Knows What Robertson Wants: Why, for heaven's sake, would a divine power described in Scripture as supremely wise and just employ a self-indulgent, partisan hack with a history of bigotry and greed as his spinmeister?

30 Second Video: Child's Pay : Guess who's going to pay of President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?

Guess What? : Army Clears Halliburton of Overbilling, Report Says

No end in sight to dollar's descent : The low level of American rates has reduced the appeal of investing in the dollar at a time when the US needs to attract growing sums of over seas investment to fund its current account deficit.

U.S. Refuses to Lift Sanctions on Libya : President Bush refused to lift U.S. sanctions against Libya on Monday, saying Moammar Gadhafi must take concrete steps to fulfill a pledge to scrap his chemical and nuclear weapons programs.

Pakistan Called Libyans' Source of Atom Design: Pakistan was the source of the centrifuge design technology that made it possible for Libya to make major strides in the last two years in enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons, Bush administration officials in Washington and other Western experts said Monday.

US sticks with Musharraf: The Bush administration seems to have to concluded that it will bank on Musharraf's support in its global "war on terrorism". Thus a decision has been made at the highest levels that all necessary measures must be taken to ensure the personal security of Pakistan's president.

Osama's New Year Message :This is the third message exclusively relating to Iraq attributed to him since before the US-led invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces.

Robert Fisk: Water Is Bringing Marsh Arabs' World Back To Life: Saddam's destruction of the Marsh Arabs was widely condemned outside Iraq, although you have to come here to appreciate his ruthlessness of purpose.

France Plays Down Claim Attack Caused Plane Crash : France said on Monday it attached little credence to a previously unknown Islamic group's claim to have brought down a plane that crashed off Egypt, killing 133 French tourists and 15 other people.

Georgia: A small pawn in the Great Game: As Georgia welcomes in a new president this week after the US-encouraged regime change in November - despite Russia's last-minute efforts to mediate between warring sides - Moscow and Washington appear to be on the verge of a micro-Cold War over the country.

U.S. Labor Department offers employers tips to avoid overtime pay: The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.

U.S. expels Cuban diplomat, accusing him of associating with criminal elements : The expulsion of Roberto Socorro Garcia, a third secretary at the Cuban mission in Washington, was carried out last month without announcement.

On the edge of lunacy : British foreign aid is now targeted at countries willing to sell off their assets to big business. So what on earth is going on? Why are swivel-eyed ideologues in London a more deserving cause than starving refugees in Somalia? To understand what is happening, we must first revise our conception of what foreign aid is for.

Policy irking visitors: The decision to begin fingerprinting and photographing travellers was made long before the terror threat level in the U.S. was raised to orange -- or high -- alert on Dec. 21.

Protests widen over sky marshals: More countries have joined the protests against American proposals to place armed guards on US-bound flights.

Doughnut man in a jam: A health food executive is serving 15 months in a US federal prison for wilfully mislabelling doughnuts as low-fat.

01/05/03: Kurdish Region in Northern Iraq Will Get to Keep Special Status: The Bush administration has decided to let the Kurdish region remain semi-autonomous as part of a newly sovereign Iraq despite warnings from Iraq's neighbors and many Iraqis not to divide the country into ethnic states, American and Iraqi officials say.

Shiites Against Federal Iraq: "All Iraqis belong to one country," Sadr : Iraqi Shiites vehemently rejected the Kurdish-proposed federalism of Iraq, joining an increasingly growing Arab, Sunni and Turkoman opposition to the drive.

Can the US keep Iraqi Shiites happy for long?: British officials publicly worried recently that the United States-led coalition occupying Iraq had only about a year before the Shiites of Iraq turned against it.

Britain: Bin Ladin jihad tape 'genuine': In the recorded message, broadcast exclusively by Aljazeera on Sunday, bin Ladin condemned Middle Eastern governments for betraying Arab and Muslim causes and urges his coreligionists to resist the West.

Iraq Police Chief Says U.S. Army Gunned Down Family: The police chief investigating the deaths of an Iraqi family gunned down in their car in northern Iraq said on Monday he was convinced U.S. troops were responsible, although the army has denied involvement.

US Coalition forces Above the Law, According to the CPA: How have the Coalition Forces in Iraq been getting away with killing Iraqi civilians, religious leaders, demonstrators, and foreign journalists?

Iraq Women Alone, Distraught as U.S. Rounds Up Men : "When I see my wife pushed like a dog against the wall, as an Iraqi Muslim, will I keep silent?" said Mohammad Obeid, a trader.

U.S. Discharges Troops for Abuse in Iraq: The U.S. Army discharged three soldiers for abusing prisoners at a detention center in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman said Monday.

British forces will remain in Iraq until at least 2006: British officials said that even after a new Iraqi-run authority was set up, the threat of terrorism would remain and "there will be a large American and British presence" for the foreseeable future.

Army Order Aims To Stretch Ranks: Desperate to stretch its limited ranks, the U.S. Army is expected this week to prohibit still more soldiers now in Iraq and soon to be deployed there from leaving military service.

Injured soldier sobered in combat: "I thought it'd be kind of enjoyable," May said. "War, Iraq -- this is going to be awesome. Not really."

'Our guy' for Iraq may end up biting us : In 1918 and 1919, its hour of triumph, the British Empire garrisoned the Middle East with an army of a million men. No other significant military force in the region could dispute Britain's mastery. Iraq's future seemingly was for Britain to determine. It is from Britain's experience in that respect that Americans entering the year 2004 have so much to learn.

Bully goes to war – blames God : The born-again bully occupies the White House. He picks on weak targets, taunts them – “bring ‘em on – gets others to fight for him and then serves turkey to his proxy warriors on Thanksgiving. But worse than his addiction for playing dress up for photo ops, he has made bullying into official U.S. policy.

Bush aims to dodge tough poll issues : There may be a conflict raging in Iraq that is killing US soldiers on a daily basis. There may be the threat of an economic crisis, too much unemployment and political debate infused with vitriol levels unseen for years. Yet President George W Bush is planning to win re-election by turning reality on its head.

Bush & Democracy Hypocrisy: Bush was aided and abetted by a national news media in which big-name journalists were more concerned about wrapping themselves in the flag and protecting their paychecks than in performing the deeper patriotic duty of arming the American public with reliable facts and encouraging a healthy debate.

Why the ' weapons of mass deception' are a death sentence for democracy: All the talk about "weapons of mass destruction", "links with international terrorism", "acquisition of nuclear weapons" and so on was based on deliberate misrepresentation.

Imagine: A Must Watch 30 Second Video.

In Bush's America, Rules of War Trump Civil Law: Applying battlefield justice to the murky struggle against terrorism is dangerous--and possibly illegal.

Private agendas provide distraction from world's real priorities : American power and extreme Islamist violence has persuaded far too many people that the "war on terror" is what global politics is really about in the early 21st century. The "war on terror" is a huge distraction from the real priorities that face the world.

Al-Qaida 'as dangerous as before 9/11' : Lawmakers warned that even with the holiday season safely over, Americans are still at risk from al-Qaida, which "remains as dangerous as it was before Sept. 11."

United States Militarism, Global Instability and Environmental Destruction: While the terrorism which is carried out by non state actors and military dictatorships is treated with constant attention by the mainstream media, terrorism's victims are small compared to the millions of people who die from preventable hunger, disease and state sponsored war.

Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World: Exposing the fallacy that Britain is a force for democracy and human rights.

In case you missed it: Bin Laden's strong links to Britain: His connection to Britain is so strong that in recent years Washington faced calls to add the UK to its black list of states sponsoring terrorism.

In case you missed it: Algeria's terror connection: Former chief prosecutor in the French anti-terrorist courts, Ms Irene Stoller, told the BBC's File on 4 radio programme that for too long the authorities in London refused to act because they did not feel directly threatened.

The evidence against Blair that Hutton cannot ignore : On such crucial matters as individual probity and waging war, MPs should not let Blair off the hook.

Let the blind lead the blind: “Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder!... Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction!” said Keller to the working women and men assembled in Carnegie Hallin 1916, the year before the US entered the European war. 

Israeli Security official: Fence to annex 6 percent of W. Bank : Six percent of West Bank territory will effectively be annexed into the Green Line with the completion of the separation fence planned for the end of 2005, a security official said on Sunday.

Israel to reject the Hague court's authority on fence : Israel will inform the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that it rejects its authority to deliberate on the building of the separation fence, senior political sources in Jerusalem said Sunday.

The Geneva Bubble: What catches the eye, not only in this preface but in the document as a whole, is that while the refugees' right of return is an obstacle that has to be removed if peace and reconciliation are to be achieved, the Jewishness of Israel - i.e. the Jewishness of the original state with the annexed blocks of settlements in the Occupied Territories and greater Jerusalem - is not an obstacle at all.

In case you missed it: Israelis and Indians: Palestinian tactics are often attacked or defended on dubious grounds. Whether these tactics are terrorist is irrelevant; some terrorism is defensible, some not. The same applies to whether the acts are murders.

In case you missed it: Robert Fisk: Massacre in Sanctuary; Eyewitness: Qana-South Lebanon: the place where the Israeli shells killed 102 people, mostly women and children, taking refuge in a United Nations headquarters on April 18, 1996.

Video: People And The Land: "If you only see one movie about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, see People and the Land".

In case you missed it: The Armageddon Network: Mr. Saba's book is replete with examples of how programs Messrs. Perle and Bryen created or administered provided a Measure of economic renaissance for Israel, but at great cost to the U. S.

Edgar Bronfman accuses EU of encouraging anti-Semitism : A charge that the European Union is encouraging anti-Semitism for political reasons was one of the statements made in an article by Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), that appears today in the Financial Times.

5 IDF conscripts sentenced to year in jail for refusing to serve : Five teenaged conscientious objectors who refused to join the Israel Defense Forces were sentenced to one year imprisonment each on Sunday.

Retired officer returns badge of rank to protest IDF policies: A retired Israel Defense Forces officer said Sunday he has turned in his badge of rank to the country's military chief to protest Israel's policies in the territories.

Afghan attack injures two US soldiers: Insurgents attacked a US military convoy in southern Afghanistan, injuring two government soldiers, a provincial governor said on Monday

Shapiray's burqa says it all for Afghan women and notions of freedom: A 25-year-old female social worker from the rural province of Farah, stood up and said what no one else had dared say: that many of the jirga's committee chairmen were criminals. Instead of being given influential positions, they should be tried for their crimes.

New Afghan army rejects trained professionals: The new Afghan National Army is having a troubled infancy. About half the 9,000 soldiers trained so far have deserted, and it's unlikely the new force will reach its goal of 10,000 recruits in time for national elections next year.

Rest of world gets sick of propping up Bush's deficit: If 2003 goes down as the year Greenspan and Bush saved the world from deflation, then the subsequent years may record how America was laid low by the cure.

While Abuses Are Confirmed : THE LATEST REPORT from the Department of Justice's inspector general on the treatment of immigration detainees rounded up after Sept. 11, 2001, is among the most disturbing to date.

Torture by proxy : How immigration threw a traveler to the wolves: On Sept. 26, 2002, U.S. immigration officials seized a Syrian-born Canadian at Kennedy International Airport, because his name had come up on an international watch list for possible terrorists. What happened next is chilling.

Missteps Seen in Muslim Chaplain's Spy Case: "This whole thing makes the military prosecutors look ridiculous," said John L. Fugh, a retired major general and onetime judge advocate general, the highest uniformed legal officer in the Army.

US troop toll nears 500 as four die: Four American soldiers died at the hands of Iraqi insurgents at the weekend, pushing the US death toll since the war started last March closer to the 500 mark.

Faces Of Death: Pictures Of U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq

Fifth Letter Bomb Targets EU Official : A letter bomb addressed to a senior member of the European Parliament burst into flames Monday, the fifth mail attack in two weeks on European Union targets

01/04/04: Bomb kills 10 in Philippines gym: At least 61 people, including Bataga, were wounded and three of the mayor's bodyguards were among the dead, police said

US troops kill four Iraqi civilians : Four Iraqis, including two women and a child, have been killed when a US convoy opened fire on a family car trying to overtake it in a northern Iraqi town.

Robert Fisk: British soldiers ' kicked Iraqi prisoner to death': Eight young Iraqis arrested in Basra were kicked and assaulted by British soldiers, one of them so badly that he died in British custody.

Conflicting numbers and a Surreal Press Conference: On a daily basis US soldiers are dying here, as well as being severely wounded.  Many have suffered permanent brain damage, loss of feet, legs, hands, arms. There lives are changed forever by permanent disabilities; rather than the impression the mainstream media leaves of injured by cuts and bruises.

CIA plans new secret police to fight Iraq terrorism: Nine months after the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime and his feared mukhabarat (intelligence) operatives, Iraq is to get a secret police force again - courtesy of Washington.

Blair's Visit to Troops Choreographed Ahead of Hutton Report : The Prime Minister also used today’s visit to shift the argument over whether the war against Saddam Hussein was justified away from the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction

Scott Ritter: The search for Iraqi WMD has become a public joke. But I, for one, am not laughing: The misrepresentation and distortion of fact carried out by President Bush and Prime Minister Blair is no joke, but rather represent an assault on the very fabric of the concept of a free and democratic society which they espouse to serve.

The truth about WMD lies beyond Hutton : It is quite clear that throughout 2002 both Washington and London were actively seeking, contrary to intelligence assessments, evidence to justify the case for war.

Washington begins handover without firm plan: One of the thorniest issues will be giving US troops immunity from prosecution for any action they may take, a standard US demand when it deploys troops overseas.

Let's Play Pretend: Let's pretend we captured huge stores of WMD's but now we have destroyed them. Now what? Do you feel better? Do you feel justified? Vindicated? Let's pretend like we do.

Saddam’s capture: was a deal brokered behind the scenes?: When it emerged that the Kurds had captured the Iraqi dictator, the US celebrations evaporated. David Pratt asks whether a secret political trade-off has been engineered

Al-Qaeda exodus triggers panic: THE sudden movement of large numbers of highly trained al-Qaeda terrorists across the Middle East triggered the panic over possible attacks on Western aircraft which led to the grounding of international flights to the United States last week.

British Airways refusing to fly sky marshals: report: British Airways (BA) would rather cancel flights to the United States than be forced to carry armed sky marshals, a London newspaper reported on Sunday, citing an internal company memo.

UK says terror alerts may disrupt flights for years: The Sunday Telegraph quoted security sources as saying two al Qaeda members were at large in Britain and planned to detonate a shoe bomb or similar device in an aircraft lavatory.

Crying Wolf On Terrorism?: Terrorism expert Paul Beaver tell Chen, "We've got to the stage in Western Europe where nobody actually takes any notice of American alerts anymore because there's so many of them."

Jimmy Breslin : The New American System Of Justice: In all my time in my city I have never seen this many guns. Not just little guns that you fit in a holster. But great big cannons that were being held by men peering out from under helmets and dressed otherwise for battle.

America: The real danger lies within : An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.

In case you missed it: The Secret Government : Bill Moyers, documents U.S. support of terrorist regimes and the brutality of Americas foreign policy.

How much is a liar's word worth?: The truth is out there -- has been out there for more than a decade -- but few Americans are able to withstand the shock of facing it head-on. 

Quarantining dissent : How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech : Police Detective John Lanachione, testified that the Secret Service told local police to confine "people that were there making a statement pretty much against the president and his views" in a so-called free- speech area.

At What Price Security ?: Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security”. The meaning is obvious; you can’t ensure freedom by taking it away. Yet that is exactly what our government has been doing in the 27 months since September 11, 2001.

From Rogue Nuclear Programs, Web of Trails Leads to Pakistan: The Pakistani leaders who denied for years that scientists at the country's secret A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories were peddling advanced nuclear technology must have been averting their eyes from a most conspicuous piece of evidence: the laboratory's own sales brochure, quietly circulated to aspiring nuclear weapons states

Libya bought Pakistan N-plans: The son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has revealed that Libya bought plans to make a nuclear bomb from Pakistani scientists as part of the quest for weapons of mass destruction it has now promised to abandon.

Life under martial law in Aceh: The Indonesian military's offensive against separatist rebels in the northern province of Aceh has made it extremely difficult to get impartial information about what is happening there.

Swiss banned crashed Egyptian airline: Boeing 737 crashed into the Red Sea, killing 148 people, has been banned from flying over Swiss airspace since October 2002 due to safety concerns.

Bush's Budget for 2005 Seeks to Rein In Domestic Costs: the president's proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, would control the rising cost of housing vouchers for the poor, require some veterans to pay more for health care, slow the growth in spending on biomedical research and merge or eliminate some job training and employment programs.

Spotlight falls on Bush brother's share dealing: Neil Bush, the scandal-struck younger brother of President George W Bush, is under the spotlight once more, after it emerged that he made more than £100,000 in a single day, buying and selling shares in an obscure company where he had been a consultant.

Judge: WTO arrests lacked cause: Seattle police who arrested World Trade Organization protesters four years ago had no probable cause to do so, a federal judge has ruled, possibly leaving the city vulnerable to damages from a class-action lawsuit.

TSA Chief At Dulles Is Charged With DWI : The chief of the Transportation Security Administration at Dulles International Airport was placed on administrative leave yesterday after being charged with drunken driving while he was on duty for a New Year's Eve Code Orange alert, officials said.

In this data-mining society, privacy advocates shudder: "I consider the issue of public records on the Internet to be one of the most challenging public policy issues of our time," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Israel faces SA-style boycott : "There is a danger that we will be exposed to an international boycott as was the case before the fall of the regime in South Africa," Justice Minister Tommy Lapid

Babies who threaten to topple Israel : A looming birthrate crisis could make Jews a minority in their homeland within 20 years . Now figures released last week show that immigration - to a country beset by violence and a faltering economy - has collapsed to its lowest level in 15 years, dramatically cutting the population growth.

01/03/04 Egypt Crash Plane Tried to Turn Back, All 148 Died : Egypt's civil aviation minister said the causes of the crash were "entirely technical," and one of his senior aides said there was no sign of terrorism.

Four dead in Nablus slaughter: Israeli occupation soldiers have killed four Palestinians in an ongoing invasion of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

US soldier killed in Iraq mortar attack: An army spokesman said several mortars were fired at a base near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two others, all from the 4th Infantry Division.

Bulgarian soldiers refuse duty in Iraq after deadly attack: Some 30 Bulgarian soldiers have pulled out a 500-man battalion heading for Iraq following attacks there in which five Bulgarian soldiers died, the chief of staff of the army said Friday.

Train attacked in Western Iraq : Attackers derailed a train in western Iraq, hitting it with a Rocket-Propelled Grenade, a US military statement said Saturday.

US soldiers ransack Sunni mosque : The American troops who burst into his mosque on Thursday morning had smashed down the front gate, broken the air conditioners and ripped up the carpets. They had also thrown several Korans on the floor and allegedly punched the man giving the call to prayer in the face.

Dutch marine charged with murder of Iraqi civilian: A Dutch marine has been arrested on charges of killing an Iraqi civilian. Pending an investigation into the incident, the suspected soldier has been detained and repratriated to the Netherlands.

Iraq faces ethnic conflict on new front after crisis talks fail: The north of Iraq was threatened by ethnic conflict yesterday as crisis talks between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk failed to prevent continuing bloodshed in the divided city.

Hawijah holds clues to cause of anti-US insurgency : Sheikh Ghassan said hostility towards US troops in Hawijah could increase given the perceived US bias towards Kurds, who want Kirkuk in an autonomous Kurdish federation within Iraq.

U.S. Bombs S. Baghdad After Copter Crash : Reuters news agency reported that its team at the scene was fired at by U.S. troops and three were later detained by the military.

Robert Fisk: Far From Baghdad, Soldiers And Pilgrims Shake Hands: Two American Humvees and military police having their pictures taken by Iranian pilgrims. Impossible. Incredible. The sons of the Islamic Revolution chatting to the military representatives of the Great Satan. But true.

U.S. Restricts Demonstrations In Iraq : A statement issued by the U.S.-led authority and broadcast by the Iraqi media network Wednesday, December 31, said no individual or group is allowed to organize marches or demonstrations or even gather in streets, public places or buildings at any time without a prior from the occupation command.

In case you missed it: AP Video: US troops shoot dead at least four pro-Saddam protestors in Iraq [If our troops behaved this way in the U.S there would be an outrage. Why do we not condemn the shooting of Iraqi Civilians?]

US Military Mis-Information and Terrorism in Iraq: Like other repressive dictatorships and regimes, the US military has now followed suit in Iraq by attempting to select what its personnel should and should not read.

US military personnel blocked from accessing Electronic Iraq : Any soldiers reading may be interested to know that, unless they've also blocked Google, you can still get access to blocked sites by clicking on the cached version of the site, essentially a giant mirror of the Internet.

William Pfaff: Bush is ignoring the political lesson of Vietnam : The possibility that the United States might lose the Iraq war has yet to be seriously discussed at the level of national politics and policy. There is an all but universal assumption that American power will in the end crush anything that resists it.

Rebranding Bush as man of peace : The White House has retreated from its doctrine of regime change and pre-emptive military action and is returning to traditional diplomacy in an effort to repackage George Bush as a president for peace.

Why Bush must be captured and tried alongside Saddam Hussein: As the new year unfolds, one unmistakable fact remains unreported in America’s submissive mainstream media: our President George W. Bush is a war criminal.

In case you missed it: Is America Becoming Fascist? : The similarities between American fascism and particularly the National Socialist precedent, both historical and theoretical, are remarkable. Fascism is home, it is here to stay, and it better be countered with all the intellectual resources at our disposal.

In case you missed it: The Political - Christian Right : From shamelessly manipulating their gullible followers, to supporting murderous dictators and death squads, to repeatedly lying to cover their sins...the Christian Right has sold its soul in a bid to gain personal fortune for its leaders, and in an attempt to take control of the Republican Party.

Child, Old Woman Ground Flights: American Mistake About Suspects Identity Confirmed: The investigators interrogated the six persons whose names appeared on the FBI's list and who had booked flights from Paris to Los Angeles. These individuals proved to be a child whose name was supposed to be that of the director of a terrorist group based in Tunisia, a Welsh insurance agent, an elderly Chinese woman who once ran a Paris restaurant, and three French citizens.

Flight Groundings Lead Allies to Query Washington: In another indication of the turmoil resulting from the increased security measures, an American official said that the cancellation of the British Airways flights was not in response to United States safety concerns, but rather was prompted by the refusal of British pilots to fly with armed marshals on board.

U.S. intelligence used for propaganda: Earlier this month, U.S. military forces quietly released nearly all the Iraqi scientists and technicians who had any connection with Iraq's programs for weapons of mass destruction. This move indicated that the United States believes that there is nothing to gain from interrogating these individuals and that there are no such programs in Iraq.

Feeling Patriotic? It's easy to hate when our essence is filled with fear. It's easy to be worked into a patriotic frenzy, seeing only black and white, ignoring the gray of history. It's easy to focus on ourselves and block out whatever we find distasteful and unpleasant. Like the thousands of innocent civilians we have massacred in Iraq.

In case you missed it: "The Panama Deception" : This film shows how the U.S. attacked Panama and killed 3 or 4 thousand people in an invasion that the rest of the world was against. (Sound familiar?) It won the Academy Award for best documentary.

Suspecting US Motives: Suspicions will only be deepened by the news this week that 30 years ago, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo, Washington was seriously considering invading and occupying the production fields of Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia.

Political Fundraising in Texas Is Target of Probe: Authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into whether corporate money, including hundreds of thousands of dollars linked to U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, improperly financed the Republican Party's takeover of the Texas Capit

Bush 'Doling Out Monopolies' To Corporate Cronies in Iraq: A scathing letter from two ranking minority members of Congress lashed out against the Bush administration's "irresponsible" policy of "doling out monopolies" to pet contractors for reconstruction projects in Iraq at a huge expense to U.S. taxpayers.

UK: Tories' new credo has US roots : The pro-American Tory leader has produced an almost exact replica of the landmark "I Believe" declaration made by the US philanthropist, John D Rockefeller Jnr, in 1941.

U.S. Boosts Musharraf Watch After Attacks- Report : After two recent assassination attempts that bear the markings of al Qaeda, the U.S. government is stepping up efforts to protect Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Libya's untimely deal is shrouded in mystery : All in all, Gaddafi's calculations are made with little regard for diplomacy, realpolitik or the basic rules of political engagement. The handling of the WMDs file was not very much dissimilar.

Robert Fisk: Mr Bush has one priority for 2004: Get America out of Iraq. Fast. Iraq is breaking up into rebels and collaborators, with a vast heap of innocent bodies turning up each day at the morgues

Iraq Isn't Vietnam, But They Rhyme: "History doesn't repeat itself, at best it rhymes," Mark Twain is credited with saying. This is a wise warning. A close examination of Iraq and Vietnam quickly makes clear the limits of any analogy.

U.S. border closing plans revealed: The United States would virtually close the Canada-U.S. border if a terrorist attack were launched anywhere near it, according to documents obtained under access-to-information legislation.

The CIA Agent Flap: FBI Asks for Reporters to Talk: FBI investigators looking into the criminal leak of a CIA agent’s identity have asked Bush Administration officials including senior political adviser Karl Rove to release reporters from any confidentiality agreements regarding conversations about the agent.

Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant discloses missing keys : The Energy Department’s Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge discovered about 200 keys to protected areas were missing, an agency spokesman confirmed Friday.

Bush Drug Proposal Enrages Veterans: Plan may alienate military retirees by imposing higher fees for prescriptions

George Will's Ethics: None of Our Business? : It turns out that George Will was among a number of prominent individuals to receive $25,000 per day of conversation on a board of advisers for Hollinger International, a newspaper firm controlled by magnate Conrad Black. It didn't stop Will from lavishing praise on Black in print -- without a word about their financial tie.

Israel: State funding $1m road to Kahane seminary at illegal outpost : Critics of the government charge that its outpost removal program is a sham, since most of the outposts taken down so far are uninhabited, consisting of a temporary structure or a container, while populated outposts have been largely untouched.

Israel: Why I paint things black : To the reader who wrote in to complain that I'm always criticizing Sharon and painting things black, I have two answers.

Robert Fisk: Christmas Appeal for Forgotten Peoples

Public likely ate suspect cow meat : Northwest residents probably have eaten meat from a Holstein with mad cow disease, agriculture officials said Friday, as several grocery chains recalled specific kinds of beef that could contain the cow's meat.

The Meatrix: The lie we tell ourselves about where our food comes from. Flash presentation.

01/02/03: Robertson: God Intervening for Bush in 2004: "The Lord has just blessed him," Robertson said of Bush. "I mean, he could make terrible mistakes and comes out of it. It doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad, God picks him up because he's a man of prayer and God's blessing him."

Death is close say island hunger strikers: Asylum seekers on a hunger strike in protest at their apparent life sentence on a near-bankrupt South Pacific island say they will be dead within a week.

We will sew eyes, say detainees : FOUR men who sewed their lips together during the hunger strike on Nauru have threatened to "sew their eyes" if detainees' cases are not reviewed by January 10.

Cracks Appear in U.S.-Trained Iraq Corps : Some U.S. trainers in Tikrit say the Iraqi force is ill-equipped, prone to corruption and so trigger-happy that some have shot at their own comrades. Added to that is the threat of anti-American guerrillas targeting Iraqis cooperating with the coalition.

Portraits of the Northern Californians killed last year in Iraq

N Korea 'allows US nuclear visit': North Korea has reportedly agreed to let a group of US experts visit its top nuclear facility at Yongbyon.

Pope urges UN role in new global order: THE Pope launched a thinly-veiled attack on the war strategy against Iraq of Tony Blair and George W Bush yesterday when he called for a "new international order" underpinned by the authority of the United Nations.

Dispatch From The Provinces: Free of Saddam, Jailed by Poverty: A family of seven has moved into a large public bathroom. Dirty carpets cover the floor, and a shoe-shine box sits near the entryway. The man living here stands up and apologizes to us for his home.

Will The New Year Teach Our Leaders What The Past 10,000 Have Not: Despite the historical constancy, our current political leadership, perhaps resulting from their seeming aversion to actual military experience, expect any and all foreign states to welcome our uniformed and heavily armed surrogates with floral bouquets and hugs… or so we're told.

Three more killed in tense Kirkuk: Two Kurds have been stabbed to death and an Arab killed in clashes with police in the Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk's future could make or break new Iraq. : Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen claims over Kirkuk are couched in explosive rhetoric and sometimes marred by bloodshed like incidents over the new year, but the fate of this northern oil centre could well be a factor in making or breaking US plans to reshape Iraq.

Killings Sow Fear Among Christians in Southern Iraq : - Bashir Toma Elias was killed by a single shot to the head in the middle of Basra's bazaar on Christmas Eve as he prepared to head home to celebrate with his wife and five children.

US Soldier Killed in Helicopter Crash in Iraq: U.S. military said that a military observation helicopter which crashed in central Iraq on Friday was shot down by guerrillas.

Robert Fisk: A Cruel Sense of Humor is All That is Left for Iraqis to Cling to After a Suicide Bombing

Nearly one U.S. soldier a day killed since Saddam capture: Since the Dec. 13 arrest of the ousted Iraqi strongman, at least 23 American soldiers in all have died there.

Their Photos Tell the Story: There were 506 killed by the time the newspaper closed last Friday. Since then, another seven have died. The newspaper has said this is the deadliest year for the U.S. military since 1972, when 640 were killed in Vietnam.

Return of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secret: Since 1991, the media have been banned from covering the arrival of remains at Dover. The air base houses the military's largest mortuary, where bodies are prepared for burial before they are sent to the families' hometowns.

Faces Of The Fallen: The human cost behind the numbers.

After Iraq duty, divergent paths: One soldier forged an unbreakable bond with a bloodied comrade who looked up at him and implored, "Bro, don't leave me." The other cried openly at the news that his best friend had lost both legs when that rocket-propelled grenade exploded Nov. 7.

U.S. Prepares for Risky Iraq Troop Rotation : The Pentagon is gearing up for a massive rotation of about a quarter million troops in and out of Iraq, a giant logistics chore complicated by concerns about opportunistic attacks targeting Americans as they arrive or depart.

US planning huge mission in Baghdad: The United States is planning a 3000 embassy in Baghdad, making it the largest US diplomatic mission anywhere in the world.

British forces to stay in Iraq for another year : GEOFF Hoon, the Defence Secretary, acknowledged yesterday that the continued instability in Iraq meant British forces would be present in the country for at least another year.

Families dispute ID of 'most wanted': The families of senior Iraqis captured by the US since the fall of Saddam have complained that their relatives had been wrongly identified as important regime members and that some had been tortured in custody.

In Iraq's shadows, U.S. snipers : "I shot one guy in the head, and his head exploded," said Sergeant Randy Davis, one of about 40 snipers in the U.S. Army's new 3,600-soldier Stryker Brigade, from Fort Lewis, Washington. "Usually, though, you just see a dust cloud pop up off their clothes, and see a little blood splatter come out the front."

Phoenix Rising : With the 2004 electoral clock ticking amid growing public concern about U.S. casualties and chaos in Iraq, the Bush administration's hawks are upping the ante militarily. To those familiar with the CIA's Phoenix assassination program in Vietnam, Latin America's death squads or Israel's official policy of targeted murders of Palestinian activists, the results are likely to look chillingly familiar.

Israel continues assassination policy: In what appears to be a continuation of the Israeli policy of extra-judicial killings, Israeli helicopter gunships fired two missiles at a car carrying Hamas activist Jamal al-Jarah in Gaza city. Ten Palestinian bystanders were injured.

Twilight Zone / An American dream: This is the story of another boy, the seventh in the past few months who was killed for no good reason. It's the story of another Palestinian who was shot with appalling thoughtlessness by Israeli soldiers

Fantasy of the final solution: This is the version that the morally shriveled men around U.S. President George W. Bush wish us to believe. They point us to a few "rogue" men -- sinister, dark-skinned men with black mustaches -- who have massive underground bunkers concealing huge and shiny contraptions with which they can destroy everything unless they are prevented from doing so by the brave and insouciant GI Joe.

"David Kay leaving empty handed" : Is Kay leaving because he's becoming increasingly frustrated with the inability of his team to find any WMD evidence remotely congruous with pre-war Bush administration claims?

Is War about Oil or Bad Ideas?: Name a war and the alleged causes are numerous: man's innate aggression, vainglorious princes, stupid tyrants, imbalances of power, preserving the union, the military industrial complex, ties to al-Qaeda, WMDs, democracy, freedom, and a hundred other reasons. And what about access to natural resources like, say, black gold? Such issues are rarely mentioned.

Willie Nelson: What Ever Happened To Peace On Earth?: There's so many things going on in the world, Babies dying. Mothers crying. How much oil is one human life worth. And what ever happened to peace on earth.

Eight Facts About Iraq: The Bush administration, its accomplices in the news media, and the conservative talk show hacks who do the bidding of the Republican party have sold America a bill of goods.

Powell outlines US priorities for new year: Powell said the United States would "stand by the Iranian people, and others living under oppressive regimes," was "working for the advent of a free Cuba,"

Cuban leader sees invasion risk as 'real': Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, dismissing U.S. charges that Cuba is developing weapons of mass destruction as the words of a "liar," says Bush administration policies have made the risk of U.S. invasion "a real, present danger for us."

Will the French Indict Cheney?: Yet another sordid chapter in the murky annals of Halliburton might well lead to the indictment of Dick Cheney by a French court on charges of bribery, money-laundering and misuse of corporate assets.

France 'confirms' fighter escorts: France accused the FBI of making mistakes over identifying "suspicious" names on passenger lists.

Lessons from America’s fiscal recklessness: George W Bush has done more to wreck US economic policy than any other President in American history, exceeding even his mentor, Ronald Reagan.

Private earthquake relief to Iran allowed by US: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published the following list of organizations through which aid to earthquake victims in Bam can be channeled

Iran Criticizes U.S. Quake Relief Efforts : The criticism came as the Bush administration considered sending Sen. Elizabeth Dole to Iran as part of a relief mission after the 6.6-magnitude quake, and asked President Mohammad Khatami whether Tehran would allow a Dole-led delegation, an administration official said Friday.

Under God: For the heathens like us here at Animal Control, religious wars are always fun to watch. Especially when they take place here in the United States.

In a crisis, America's cattle lobby counts on its clout: Cattle and livestock interests gave almost $22 million to political campaigns since the 1990 elections, with three-quarters going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance.

01/01/03: Nine killed in Aceh concert blast: A one-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy were said to be among the dead. The Indonesian army blamed the blast on Aceh separatists, but a rebel spokesman denied they would target civilians.

Toll rises to eight in Iraq bombing : The death toll rose to eight in a car bomb attack that destroyed a Baghdad restaurant crowded with New Year's Eve revelers, officials said Thursday

Three U-S soldiers wounded, several insurgents killed in Afghanistan: The military says the clash began yesterday afternoon when a small group of insurgents fired on a U-S patrol near the Pakistan border. A U-S spokesman says the patrol returned fire and chased the insurgents, killing three.

One South Korean shot to death in Iraq: A South Korean has been shot to death in a gunbattle near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.

Robert Fisk: War Takes An Inhuman Twist With Cats, Dogs and Donkeys Turned Into Bombs

FBI agents detain, board British Airways plane in Washington: report: US fighter jets escorted a British Airways passenger plane to Washington's international airport where it was detained on the tarmac so its 247 passengers could be questioned by federal agents.

US has got wrong men, Iraqi families claim : Americans accused of letting many real culprits of Saddam's regime go free, while 'most wanted' were tortured

Release From Jail Sought for Cleared Terrorism Suspect : Benatta is one of the last lost men of 9/11. Jailed on the day of the 2001 attacks, the Algerian air force lieutenant has spent more than two years in federal prisons -- much of that time in solitary confinement -- even though the FBI formally concluded in November 2001 that he had no connection to terrorism.

Terrorism Case Thrown Into Turmoil : The verdict in the nation's first terrorist trial after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks left both sides claiming victory. But several recent developments -- including revelations that prosecutors may have withheld key exonerating evidence -- have thrown the case into turmoil. U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen is considering throwing out the convictions and starting over.

Musharraf tightens grip on Pakistan: Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf, has won vast powers, including the authority to dismiss the elected government, after the Senate approved a set of sweeping constitutional amendments.

Dictatorship goes constitutional: Many Iraqis and Afghan are also busy digging their own grave as the US oversees their constitution developing process. Americans too are not spared as their representative in Congress are leading by example through extending governmental power to suppress the free and open exchange of knowledge and information or to intimidate individuals exercising free inquiry.

Brazil judge orders US citizens fingerprinted: A Brazilian judge, furious at US plans to fingerprint and photograph Brazilians entering the United States, has ordered Brazil to do the same to US citizens.

Japan government considers pre-emptive military strikes : Critics say it augurs a return to Japan's militaristic phase of the early 1900s, and could violate the war-renouncing constitution.

UK welcomed Pinochet's Chilean coup, documents reveal: While accepting that the coup leaders would crack down hard on their leftist opponents, London's ambassador to Chile said Pinochet was better for Britain than the deposed Socialist government of president Salvador Allende.

American Found Dead in Oman, Police Investigating : Two Westerners have been shot in mysterious circumstances in the past two months in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state.

Bush is author of dark chapter for America: As the year of the war on Iraq draws to a close, the larger perspective that emerges is clear: George W. Bush, a small man in a big job, has dragged America into one of its darkest chapters.

In case you missed it: The Lie Factory - How the Neocons & the Office of Special Plans Pushed Disinformation and Bogus Intelligence on Iraq

Bush Brother Makes Big One-Day Profit : Presidential brother Neil Bush made at least $798,218 on three stock trades in a small U.S. high-tech company where he had been a consultant, according to his tax returns, including $171,370 buying and selling the company's shares in a single day.

12/31/03 Heath feared US plan to invade Gulf : Ted Heath's government feared - at the height of the 1973 oil crisis - that the White House was planning to invade Saudi Arabia and the Gulf to secure fuel supplies, according to Downing Street files released today.

1973 US threat to seize oilfields: The JIC believed that military action would take the form of an airborne operation, possibly using bases in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Iran (then a US ally) or Israel.

I really feel a draft!: I found myself late this afternoon with my 15 year old son talking his learner's permit exam at the DMV. Imagine my surprise to see that all the examiner's cubicles have a hastily copied black and white sheet posted in them which reads:

Don't Be Fooled: Still No Independent Investigation of Leak of CIA Identity: Let not yesterday's maneuver obscure the fact that in naming Fitzgerald, who remains under the authority of Ashcroft's deputy, the Bush administration has rejected the only appropriate course-naming a complete outsider to be special counsel.

Iran's Orphanages Overflow After Quake : Six-year-old Atefeh Razmi plays with a puzzle in the children's care center, waiting for her parents to come pick her up. ``They will come see me soon,'' she says, smiling. But like the 80 other children at the Kermanian Nursery Center, Atefeh is newly orphaned: Her parents were among the more than 28,000 people killed in southeast Iran's earthquake.

Israeli soldier arrested over shooting of British activist: An Israeli soldier has been arrested in connection with a shooting in the Gaza Strip in April that left British peace activist Tom Hurndall brain dead, the Army has said.

Relative Humanity: The Fundamental Obstacle to a One State Solution : Good riddance! The two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is finally dead. But someone has to issue an official death certificate before the rotting corpse is given a proper burial and we can all move on and explore the more just, moral and therefore enduring alternative for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Mandate Palestine: the one-state solution.

Afghanistan halts vote on a new constitution : Representatives of the Northern Alliance faction, which helped U.S. forces throw out the Pashtun-dominated Taliban in late 2001, have put up stubborn resistance.

Milosevic trial sets precedent: US granted right to censor evidence: "The normally simultaneous broadcast of the testimony would “be delayed for a period of 48 hours to enable the US government to review the transcript and make representations as to whether evidence given in open session should be redacted in order to protect the national interests of the US.”

5 Killed in Blast at Baghdad Restaurant : A large explosion ripped through a restaurant in central Baghdad on New Year's Eve, killing five people. Witnesses said the blast was caused by a car bomb.

Dispatch From The Provinces: First hand news vs. CNN: We were hoping to take pictures, and find out what happened. But the usual policy of the military here of preventing photos of US military hardware wreckage was in force. The first soldier we’d come upon said to us, “Sure you can take pictures. Then I’ll take your camera.”

Iraq: Beyond the hype and media distortions. The reality of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" A Must Watch Flash Presentation

Remembering Those who Lost Their Lives in the Iraq Invasion of 2003

Democracy Now!: A Review of 2003 With Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Katha Pollitt: A Must Listen

Vietnam War Era-style "Phoenix" Assassination Program Implemented in U.S.-Occupied Iraq : U.S. counter-insurgency program in Iraq, resembling CIA covert assassinations during Vietnam War. A Must Listen

Their Media War and Ours in 2004 : A Call to Educate, Organize and Mobilize: In 2003, media that once was a casual complaint became an issue around which millions were organizing. The outcry against the pathetic cheerleading that called itself TV coverage of the war in Iraq, and the battle to stop new FCC rules demonstrated that there is a large constituency for media activism and organization.

David H. Hackworth: Saddam in the Slammer, so why are we on Orange?: Almost daily we’re told that another American soldier has sacrificed life or limb in Iraq. For way too many of us – unless we have a white flag with a blue star in our window – these casualty reports have become as big a yawn as a TV forecast of the weather in Baghdad.

Five dead in Iraq anti-Kurds demo: Thousands demonstrate against the Kurds' claim over Kirkuk: Five people are believed dead and dozens more wounded after gunfire erupted during a demonstration in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Robert Fisk: The Occupiers, As Ever, Are Damned Either Way - Especially When The Innocent Die: Cigarette sellers don't have names. They said he was called Fouad but even the shopkeeper whose nephew drove the wounded, screaming man to hospital didn't know his family name.

Hawks tell Bush how to win war on terror : President George W Bush was sent a public manifesto yesterday by Washington's hawks, demanding regime change in Syria and Iran and a Cuba-style military blockade of North Korea backed by planning for a pre-emptive strike on its nuclear sites.

The Greatest Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself: So why is the U.S. government aiding the terrorists in terrorizing Americans?

A citizen's duty is to ferret out the truth: Bush can get away with this cynical game because too many Americans have no sense of what being a real citizen of a democracy means.

Body bags make reality of war sink in : Over here (in the U.S.), we think of numbers, but when you actually see the body bags, the reality of war sets in,"

In Sunni Bastion, They Are Ready for a Fight: Even with Hussein in custody, anti-American sentiment fuels Iraqi midsection's insurgency.

Return of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secret: Since 1991, the media have been banned from covering the arrival of remains at Dover. In March, before the Iraq war began, the Pentagon clamped down on similar coverage from military installations around the world, such as Ramstein Air Base in Germany or in Afghanistan. "The prohibition includes ...