HEADLINES

Ex-officer: Bush file's details caused concern: Two forms in Bush's publicly released military files — his enlistment application and a background check — contain blacked-out entries in response to questions about arrests or convictions.

George's war : Did daddy pull strings to get him a cozy billet? Did he actually show up for duty? And do the latest documents released by the White House prove anything at all?

W.House Sees 'Gutter Politics' in Bush Guard Flap : The White House, stung by election-year charges that President Bush shirked Vietnam War-era military duties, accused critics on Wednesday of "trolling for trash" and ruled out the blanket release of medical or disciplinary records.

Pundits on the Right: Some Doubts About Bush : There are three things one can usually depend on: death, taxes, and conservative columnists strongly supporting President Bush. Well, maybe two things.

One Veterans Outrage: Bush, like all good, upstanding autocratic imperial heads of empire cares about one thing and one thing only, power and expansion. God help anything or anyone that has the nerve to get in the way! After all, his "majesty" must make the world safe for "democracy." He must "civilize" the "uncivilized"

UK: Army probe over Iraqi PoW death: The Ministry of Defence is probing claims an Iraqi prisoner of war was beaten to death by a British soldier.

Blair's claim is simply incredible: A former senior intelligence officer challenges Lord Hutton's account

Medical evidence does not support suicide by Kelly: Our criticism of the Hutton report is that its verdict of "suicide" is an inappropriate finding. To bleed to death from a transected artery goes against classical medical teaching,

Dirty-bomb suspect can see lawyer : In December, a federal court ruled that President Bush lacked the power to hold Padilla. But last month a federal appeals court approved the administration's request to delay the order while the Justice Department appeals it to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to review the constitutionality of indefinitely holding U.S. citizens.

Defense Contractors Owe $3 Billion In US Taxes: Under procedures already authorized by a law allowing the Defense Department to levy up to 15% of each contract to satisfy tax debts, the department could have collected at least $100 million of those tax debts in 2002, the GAO found. Instead, it collected just $687,000.

Israel 'poised to boycott barrier hearings': Legal advisers in Israel today recommended that Ariel Sharon's government should boycott forthcoming international hearings on Israel's West Bank separation barrier, according to reports.

In case you missed it: No Exit: From an interview with Israeli soldiers conducted by Israeli journalist Uri Blau and printed in Kol Ha'Ir, a Jerusalem weekly, in September 2001. Translated from the Hebrew by Tal Haran.

Report slams airline computer screening : A congressional report to be published Friday slams the planning for a controversial new computer screening system designed to identify potential terrorists among airline passengers, saying it has failed a series of tests set by lawmakers.

Ridge Unaware of TSA's Threatening Email to Armed Pilots: The Transportation Security Administration's recent email to participants in the armed pilots program, threatening them with dismissal and fines if they disclosed classified information about the program to members of Congress, was apparently sent without the knowledge or approval of the cabinet secretary who supervises TSA.

Justice Scalia Defends Trip With Cheney: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia strongly indicated he will ignore calls to recuse himself from a court case involving his friend and hunting partner, Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bereaved Uzbek mother jailed: A woman whose son was allegedly boiled to death in an Uzbek prison has herself been jailed on charges of religious extremism and plotting against the state. See also: Our Presidents New Best Friend Boils People Alive:

Chilean Delegation In UN Was Eavesdropped : The telephone lines of the Chilean mission in UN was tapped during the debates on the Iraqi war last year, an official statement of the Chilean Government announced

Retail sales fall : Consumer spending in U.S. slows, driven by a larger-than-expected decline in auto sales.

If Your Heart Isn't Broken, Check Your Pocketbook: If you aren't mad as hell, you sure should be! If you don't care about the fact that more Americans are out of work, or that the economy stinks, or that the environment is going to hell, or that the rest of world thinks we're insane to continue to be ruled by the bush administration, then think about this.

02/11/04: Up to 47 die as car bomb strikes Iraq army centre : UP to 47 people died today when a suicide attacker blew up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of hundreds of Iraqis waiting outside an army recruiting centre in Baghdad.

Fourteen Palestinians killed in Gaza clashes during Israeli operations; Hamas vows revenge: It was one of the bloodiest days in Gaza in months, with the fiercest fighting occurring in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City. Twelve people, including the son of a prominent Palestinian leader and a senior Hamas activist, were killed and more than 40 were wounded, Palestinian doctors said.

US forces kill ''10 armed Iraqis'' as four Iraqi officers shot dead in Baghdad area :

Afghan official killed in suicide attack: A suicide attacker fatally shot a senior intelligence official Wednesday, then blew himself up as guards tried to arrest him in eastern Afghanistan, an official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

David Kay: No point in searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: The former chief of the group of experts responsible for finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, David Kay, said there was no point in continuing to hunt for arms he said "really did not exist."

Money for Iraq fight running out: AS the carnage in Iraq continued last night, US military chiefs warned they would run out of money for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq at the end of September unless President George W. Bush asked Congress for more funds

Pentagon eager to wash hands of Iraq mess it created: The only question is whether Rumsfeld and Company can keep the lid on all the boiling pots until they can pass the CPA and the whole nation-rebuilding buck to the State Department.

Study of Rhetoric On Iraq Is Urged : David Kay, the former chief U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, said yesterday that President Bush's new commission on intelligence should study how the president and his senior policymakers used the information they received from intelligence agencies.

The Tale Of The Lying Defector: How An Iraqi "Fabricator" Duped America's Spooks

Rumsfeld "Unaware" Of WMD Claim: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he cannot remember hearing the claim that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

Powell exposed by his barefaced lies on Iraq: Powell's "evidence" and "facts" have proved to be not only "assertions" and "conjecture", but erroneous ones at that. But one year, one war, no UN resolution and thousands of deaths later, we are still waiting for someone to pay the price for a conflict that never needed to start and sparked a resistance that shows no sign of ending.

Official questions Bush Al Qaeda claim : President George W. Bush was probably wrong when he asserted in his 2002 State of the Union address that U.S. forces routing Al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan had found designs for nuclear power plants, according to one of the three members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

See What Happens When You Don’t Read?: "Does he have the faintest idea what he’s talking about?" So wondered Andrew Sullivan, formerly among George W. Bush’s most voluble admirers

In case you missed it: White man's burden : The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history. Two of them, journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, say it's possible. But another journalist, Thomas Friedman (not part of the group), is skeptical

Security, Terror, and the Psychodynamics of Empire: Americans, like our President, are notorious for our lack of knowledge and lack of interest in the views of people of other countries and other cultures. Remember Freedom Fries? In clinical jargon, we describe those who feel that they should be treated special because of the type of person they are, and who lack empathy for others, as "narcissistic." Thus, America exhibits a kind of social narcissism.

Sharon to ask Bush for $2b for disengagement, fence : Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will ask US President George W. Bush for $2 billion in aid next week to finance the evacuation of settlements in the Gaza strip and several settlements in the West Bank.

In case you missed it: Liberating America From Israel : Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president during the past 35 years had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

In case you missed it: Iran-Contra and the Israeli Lobby: Excerpted from the book "Covert Action the Roots of Terrorism: Today, the U.S. Government and its goose-stepping corporate media tightly control the most powerful propaganda apparatus the world has ever seen.

This war is not yet over : The consequences of Iraq could still break Blair and Bush, and change forever the way our world is ordered

Six U.S. governors make surprise trip to Baghdad: With violence persisting in Iraq, the trip was kept secret journalists were not allowed to report on their arrival on a C130 military jet until hours later

Al-Qaida finds Iraq a lost cause : A letter seized from an al-Qaida courier shows Osama bin Laden has made little headway in recruiting Iraqis for a holy war against America.

Al Qaeda may launch fresh attacks: Al Qaeda is under pressure to strike another high-value Western target and may be looking at attacking chemical plants or shooting down planes with surface-to-air missiles, a top German intelligence official said on Tuesday.

Libya decided 10 years ago against developing WMD, Foreign Minister says: "We had the equipment, we had the material and the know-how and the scientists. But we never decided to produce such weapons. To have flour, water and fire does not mean that you have bread."

A cloud over Cheney: THE JUSTICE Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, French prosecutors, and the Nigerian government are all investigating allegations that a Halliburton subsidiary paid millions of dollars in bribes to Nigerian officials during the 1990s, when Vice President Dick Cheney was the Halliburton CEO.

Net tightens as Washington inquiries lead back to Cheney: The political future of the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is at stake in Washington, where a grand jury investigation is questioning Administration officials about his office's role in leaking the name of a CIA operative for political motives.

New questions arise on Halliburton, Iran: The Treasury Department is raising new questions about whether Halliburton violated the federal law barring U.S. companies from doing business with Iran.

Kuwaiti lawmakers request probe in Halliburton case: A group of lawmakers requested a parliamentary probe Wednesday into allegations of overcharging and profiteering in an Iraq fuel contract involving state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. and the Kuwaiti supplier of a Halliburton subsidiary.

Army Changes Explanation on Halliburton: After stating that a multi-agency team of government experts evaluated Halliburton Co.'s new Iraq contract, the Army Corps of Engineers now says it alone picked the company despite allegations that it overcharged U.S. taxpayers.

Bush seeks $1 trillion debt boost: President Bush, saying the economic recovery is firmly in place, yesterday proposed adding $1 trillion to the national debt to fund the cost of shifting to a partially privatized Social Security system.

Two Bulgarian Banks Named In Saddam's Money Laundry: At least two Bulgarian banks have done the washing of about USD 40 B of Saddam Hussein, with the late British tycoon Robert Maxwell servicing as a go-between

U.N. oil-for-food chief denies receiving Saddam bribes : The head of the U.N. oil-for-food program denied Tuesday that he ever took bribes from Saddam Hussein's government.

Outlawing dissent: Spying on peace meetings, cracking down on protesters, keeping secret files on innocent people -- how Bush's war on terror has become a war on freedom.

Cross-Border Church Visit Costs Man $10,000 : Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington's tough new security rules.

UK: Ministers attempt to halt US human rights cases against British firms: The Government has made a formal intervention in the US justice process in an attempt to stop British companies being sued in America for alleged human rights violations committed around the world.

Love across the lines : It was never going to be easy for the American sergeant and the Iraqi doctor who fell in love in Baghdad - he was kicked out of the army and the country and she was threatened in the street. But now the couple, who married last August and haven't seen each other since, are to be reunited.

OPEC Cuts Oil Production, U.S. Scolds : The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would also seek immediately to eliminate 1.5 million barrels a day of leakage being pumped above existing supply quotas.

Oil Prices Rise After News of OPEC 1 Mbpd Cut : Oil prices rose on Tuesday after an OPEC delegate said the cartel planned to slice a million barrels per day from official output limits from the start of April, and clamp down on leakage.

Russia: Yukos Says National Oil Output To Surpass Saudi Arabia's By 2009: "I see Russia [becoming the] number one producer of crude [oil] -- if you take gas and oil it is number one [already] -- by 2009. I think by that time they will bypass Saudi [Arabia]," Kukes said.

Did Bush Spike Probe of Pakistan's Dr. Strangelove?: BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast and Tariq Ali discuss how the Bush administration stopped an investigation that might have revealed Pakistan's top nuclear scientist helped share nuclear secrets with Iran, North Korea and Libya

Pyongyang denies buying nuclear secrets : North Korea today denied buying nuclear secrets from Pakistan, accusing the US of inventing the claim to justify an invasion.

Déjá-Vu All Over Again: How Reliable is U.S. Intelligence on North Korea's Nuclear Program

Venezuela's Chavez Says Foes Receive U.S. Funding : Renewing charges of U.S. involvement in efforts to oust him, the left-wing leader said he would present documents showing that this financing was being channeled through "institutions created by the U.S. state."

U.S. Denies Charges It Funding Venezuela Opposition: State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters. "I think there's been some harping on this in Venezuela ... but what we're doing is we're supporting democracy, as we do many, many places around the hemisphere and around the world."

Exclusive: Kerry Blocked Law, Drew Cash : A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the nation's most expensive construction project. John Kerry (news - web sites) stepped in and blocked the legislation.

Snow Launches U.S. Crackdown on Cuba Dealings : Snow said. "We are cutting off American dollars headed to Fidel Castro. At the same time, we are reaching out to the freedom-loving people of Cuba."

Economists say U.S. growth spurt will end, crisis looms : The U.S. economy is enjoying a growth spurt that will not last beyond 2004 because it is driven by military spending and tax cuts while the Bush administration turns a blind eye to a looming deficit crisis, American economists said in Havana on Monday.

Muslim girl killed by Russian racists: Racist attacks occur regularly in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and other large Russian cities - usually targeting Muslim students and migrants from the Central Asia and the Caucasus region.

What's behind the violent uprisings in Haiti?

02/10/04: White House Releases Bush Military Record : The White House, facing election-year questions about President Bush's military service, released pay records and other information Tuesday that it said supports Bush's assertion that he fulfilled his duty as a member of the Air National Guard during the Vietnam war.

Pakistan Hires Bush's Man As US Lobbyist: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has hired Frank Howard Jr., the man who managed President George W Bush's election campaign in 2001, as his key lobbyist in Washington.

Scores killed in Iraq blast: Up to 50 people are feared dead and dozens wounded after a car bomb ripped through a police station south of Baghdad.

Doubts, dissent stripped from public Iraq assessment: The public version of the U.S. intelligence community's key prewar assessment of Iraq's illicit arms programs was stripped of dissenting opinions, warnings of insufficient information and doubts about deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's intentions, a review of the document and its once-classified version shows.

Jay Bookman: Bush bullied CIA in order to dupe us: The Bush administration is now admitting that WMD were never the reason for the war. They chose to invade Iraq not to protect us from anthrax or nuclear attack, but because they hoped that an invasion would inspire new respect for U.S. power and would allow us to use Iraq as a base from which to transform the entire Arab world.

David H. Hackworth: Calling Maj. Ritter: What a shame that the president and his platoon of let’s-get-Saddam neocons, Congress and the CIA’s Tenet didn’t listen to the man-in-the-know when he cautioned: “U.S. and Iraqi casualties will be significant. ... We can’t go to war based on ignorance.”

Russia proved right on Iraq WMD: Russia's UN ambassador: "We said that we don't have information which would prove that the WMD, weapons of mass destruction, programmes remain in Iraq.

Pundit O'Reilly Now Skeptical About Bush : Conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly said on Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Trust fades as war cry rings too hollow : President Bush's appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday was the last straw. For months, I've been hoping that the cache of weapons would actually turn up. For months, I've suffered cruel jokes about me trusting a Bush. And for months, I've watched the rationale for the war on Iraq shift from one that I could digest to one that makes me want to throw up. Now I feel betrayed.

Bush cried 'wolf' on Iraq's threat: It was all scare tactics. We now know Saddam had no serious ties to the 9/11 terrorists, and he had bowed to the United Nations and scrapped his nuclear, chemical and biological programs. The British report was bogus. Bush was crying wolf, and he's now scrambling to justify a $150 billion war, 600 U.S. and allied deaths and 13,000 Iraqi deaths. 02/10/04

In case you missed it: Powell Dismisses Latest Iraqi Offers :10/05/2002: Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed as "utter nonsense" Iraq's call Tuesday for talks on resuming weapons inspections and hinted that President Bush is nearing a decision on how to deal with Saddam Hussein.

In case you missed it: 02/25/2003: Rumsfeld: Iraqi chemical, biological weapons more lethal today

No Contract Certainty In Iraq Post Handover : Two U.S. government officials said Monday that there was no absolute certainty that recently awarded oil contracts in Iraq would be honored by a new Iraqi government, once a transition takes place in July.

What did the Vice-President do for Halliburton?: Cheney earned forty-four million dollars during his tenure at Halliburton. Although he has said that he “severed all my ties with the company,” he continues to collect deferred compensation worth approximately a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year

Transportation Security Abominations: As if the continuing swirl of corruption surrounding Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney, and a growing number of Bush administration connections and officials weren’t enough, more and more examples of outright executive branch malfeasance are surfacing on a daily basis. 02/10/04

Iraq governor feels heat of democracy: Sabri al-Rumayith's plight in this Shi'ite town of a million highlights problems faced by U.S. occupiers as they try to shape Iraq's future.

Iraq: Uranium Contamination: Recently completed laboratory analyses show two members of Uranium Medical Research Centre’s (UMRC) field investigation team are contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU).

First award for depleted uranium poisoning claim : A SCOTS ex-soldier has become the first veteran to win a pension appeal after being diagnosed with depleted uranium (DU) poisoning during the 1991 Gulf war.

Defense Dept. Seeks Bush's Guard File : The Defense Department has requested that President Bush's payroll records from his service in the National Guard be sent to Washington from a DOD archive in Colorado, to ascertain whether they can be released to news organizations

Ex-judge on Iraq inquiry 'involved in cover-up' : Laurence Silberman, a retired judge nominated by the Bush administration as the co-chairman of the commission investigating pre-war intelligence on Iraq, was involved in a major cover-up during the Reagan era, his critics alleged yesterday.

9/11 Panel Threatens to Issue Subpoena for Bush's Briefings: Members of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks warned the White House on Monday that it could face a politically damaging subpoena this week if it refused to turn over information from the highly classified Oval Office intelligence reports given to President Bush before 9/11.

Canadian tried in secret: Ex-Ontario resident pleads guilty in U.S. to terror charges: While it has been reported that Jabarah had been co-operating with American agents and faced unknown charges, his case has been shrouded in secrecy. Hearings have been held in private. There is no listing of his case on New York court databases and prosecutors with the Southern District of New York state won't comment to reporters.

Bush Aides Testify in CIA officer Valerie Plame Leak Probe : Several sources involved in the leak case said the questioning suggests prosecutors are preparing to seek testimony from Novak and perhaps other journalists. "

'Press freedom under fire': If the first casualty of war is truth, then the War on Terror has dealt a body blow to those trying to get at the bottom of the story: journalists.

The Wars of the Texas Succession: For four generations the Bush family has thrived by exploiting its political connections, especially in the secret world of intelligence, to get ahead in business, as well as exploiting its business connections, especially in finance and oil, to get ahead in politics.

Wounded U.S. veterans get a raw deal at home : There's no emotional sting like the one inflicted by that 500 number. It's larger now, the total of Americans dead from an Iraq war launched on false pretenses, but 500 is getting a lot of usage as the ultimate cost of this mess. It's a cost 500 can't begin to illuminate.

Shaken father writes to president : Burying a child will no doubt be the hardest task that his mother and I shall ever have to do. The one question I have, and the one question I would like you to answer, is, "Why did my son and every other soldier that was killed, maimed and wounded have to suffer settling your vendetta?

Americans should be expressing some outrage: I keep asking myself, "Where is the outrage in this country? When are we going to wake up and see what's happening under the 'leadership' of George W. Bush?" People need to inform themselves. Forget the soundbites -- do some serious reading. You'll see that Bush, while sending us into a disastrous war, has ignored the real issues facing us.

Dollar slide ignores G7 warning: The dollar has sunk against other major currencies, squashing hopes that a meeting of leading industrial nations in Florida could stem its decline.

Senator Tim Ferguson: A New American Century? Not! : Even as the dollar is steadily dropping against the Euro after the end of fighting in Iraq, Washington appears to be deliberately worsening the dollar fall in public comments. What is taking place is a power game of the highest geopolitical significance, the most fateful perhaps, since the emergence of the United States in 1945 as the world's leading economic power.

Social Security Reform to Drive Up Debt: Tapping the bond markets to pay for private accounts proposed by Bush's Social Security Commission would increase the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio by 23.6 percentage points by 2036, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said in its annual Economic Report of the President.

An Antiwar Forum in Iowa Brings Federal Subpoenas: "I've heard of such a thing, but not since the 1950's, the McCarthy era," said David D. Cole, a Georgetown law professor. "It sends a very troubling message about government officials' attitudes toward basic liberties."

Governor Calls for 'Cyber Court' : Gilmore told the House Science committee, the commission will recommend that a "cyber court" be created with extraordinary powers to authorize electronic surveillance and secret searches of suspected hackers' homes and offices.

Ivanov Says Russia May Pull Out of Arms Treaty: Special to The Moscow Times Russia may abandon a security treaty limiting conventional weapons and troop deployments in Europe, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at an international security conference in Munich on Monday, unless it is changed to rule out NATO forces in the Baltic states.

Israel looks at new barrier route as criticism grows: The wreckage of a bus in which a suicide bomber killed 11 people in Jerusalem is being flown to the Netherlands in an Israeli public relations offensive to justify its national security barrier.

Sharon's policies sabotaging creation of a Palestinian state: Ali Jarbawi has long seen the creation of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, as the best solution to the Middle East conflict. But the professor of political science from Bir Zeit university in the West Bank is not sure any more.

Blair to meet Gaddafi: Prime Minister Tony Blair plans landmark talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in recognition of Tripoli's decision to renounce weapons of mass destruction.

Agency: Iraqi defector made up weapons report: A classified "fabrication notification" about the defector, a former Iraqi major, was issued by the DIA to other U.S. intelligence agencies in May 2002, but it was then repeatedly overlooked, three senior intelligence officials said.

02/09/04: The WMD Inspector No One Heeded : St. Matthew wrote: "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country."

Scott Ritter: Kerry, Too, Needs to Clear the Air: The problem for Sen. Kerry, of course, is that he, too, is culpable in the massive breach of public trust that has come to light regarding Iraq, WMD and the rush to war.

Missed Signals On WMD?: The intelligence failure in Iraq began with U.N. weapons inspectors, who gathered detailed evidence that Saddam Hussein had destroyed his weapons of mass destruction in 1991 but never presented those findings forcefully to the world, according to Iraq's top nuclear scientist.

Beat the Press: Russert declines to give Bush the "Russert treatment"; Bush slides, elides and glides.

War on Iraq, not a defense of America: Nuclear weapons -- a Bush fiction: On October 6, 2002, George Bush declared that "we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

In a tight spot on Iraq, Bushies just lie : Don't look now, but you're about to see this administration pull another fast one on an all too gullible American public.

Gore Says Bush Betrayed the U.S. by Using 9/11 as a Reason for War in Iraq : In a withering critique of the Bush administration, former Vice President Al Gore on Sunday accused the president of betraying the country by using the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the invasion of Iraq.

In S. Jersey, plans for WMD seen as an imminent threat : Some of America's weapons of mass destruction hide in plain sight.

Two US soldiers killed: "There were two US soldiers killed and two wounded in northern Iraq in the Sinjar area while conducting EOD operations."

Police major in attack on US troops: "The attacker who was killed was identified later as an active Iraqi Police major," said a statement from the Fourth Infantry Division.

Ignorance is no excuse : This war is not just killing Iraqi civilians, resistance fighters and coalition soldiers. It's murdering any pretence that we live in countries that value, let alone practice, the principle of democratic accountability. It calls into question our ability to rein in political excess and to root out state-sponsored incompetence.

Jimmy Breslin: Bloomberg Fails to Ask Why: Bloomberg's request was about a 19-year-old who was shot dead in a war in Iraq that was started and continues because of George Bush and no one else. The blood of 525 Americans is on his hands.

Now They Tell Us: In the period before the war, US journalists were far too reliant on sources sympathetic to the administration. Those with dissenting views—and there were more than a few—were shut out. Reflecting this, the coverage was highly deferential to the White House.

Administration Distorted Intelligence Reports: If you listen only to weapons inspector David Kay, you would have the impression that the Bush administration was nothing but an innocent victim of poor intelligence information.

The real voice of America : Many Vietnam veterans wrote to say they are deeply shamed by what their nation has done in Iraq.

US power and influence warrant careful scrutiny : Writers of columns get a lot of hate mail. Apart from the letters that are personally abusive, the most common theme is my so-called anti-American stance. It seems that if you write anything negative about America, you get branded.

A Jihad warrior in London : Now serving a 12-year sentence, Salim Boukhari tells Peter Taylor how in London he learned to be one of Osama bin Laden's 'mujads'

Arab Newspaper Says Al Qaeda Has Ukrainian Nukes: A pan-Arab newspaper said Sunday that the al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden bought tactical nuclear weapons from Ukraine in 1998 and is storing them in safe places for possible use.

How US put rogue atom scientist out of business: America closed down the Pakistani-based "nuclear supermarket" by confronting President Pervaiz Musharraf with "mind boggling" evidence and threatening isolation and economic sanctions, it emerged yesterday.

Assuming our generational responsibilities: Bush is betting that Congress and voters will accept his budget – and the priorities it reflects – because they have no choice. Wars are expensive, he argues, and tax cuts are his pledge. Put those things together and you get, inexorably, record deficits. If Americans buy that argument, Bush is home free, and the Democrats are cooked.

Gaza Settlers to Defy Sharon: Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip are preparing to move 500 families to the area in an effort to thwart a plan by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to evacuate most settlements in the strip.

Arafat aide: PA may declare independent state in territories : The possibility was raised at a meeting of Palestinian leaders over the weekend, said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a former minister in the Palestinian cabinet.

Classified Israeli military data on 'special arms' on Internet: Secret Israeli military documents related to the Jewish state's arsenal of "special arms" have been published on the Internet.

Israeli minister urges missionaries to convert Muslims: Tourism Minister Elon told the Christians that Israel would not accept any missionary attempts to convert Jews, but suggested they turn their attention to Muslim militants in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Nato happy to ignore explosion in Afghan opium output, says Russia : Russia's defence minister "It is understandable that by allowing drug peddling in Afghanistan, the [Nato] alliance ensures loyalty of warlords on the ground and of some Afghan leaders."

Afghanistan 'Becoming Narco-State' : Production of opium – the raw material for heroin – has boomed in the two years since a US-led offensive ousted the Taliban regime for sheltering al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Nine die in Haiti street battles as rebels seize town: Hundreds of people looted shipping containers in the Haitian town of St Marc yesterday, a day after armed opponents of the government drove police out in a widening uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Avoiding another no-win war: China will sacrifice lives for Taiwan - US won't: While Taiwan is a vital interest of China and China has explicitly stated it will bear any sacrifice, including millions of lives and even entire cities to regain it, Taiwan is not a comparable vital interest for the United States.

02/09/04:  Terror by another name: If a “rogue nation” or swarthy men with foreign accents did it, we know what we’d call it. What the world’s most powerful military did to the village of Abou Siffa must be called the same thing: terrorism.

The terrible human cost of Bush and Blair's military adventure: 10,000 civilian deaths: UK and US authorities discourage counting of deaths as a result of the conflict. But academics are monitoring the toll and have identified a grim new milestone

No Need For An Investigation! McCain Says Bush did not manipulate Iraq intelligence: U.S. Senator John McCain, who will sit on a commission investigating failures in the intelligence used to justify the Iraq war, said on Friday he did not believe President George W. Bush had manipulated information.

France Denies All Allies' Iraq Intelligence Wrong : Senator John McCain told reporters at a global security conference: "It wasn't just an American intelligence failure, it was German, it was French, it was British, it was Israeli -- it was all intelligence failures, and we need to find out why that happened."

Iraqi exile admits he never checked WMD intelligence: Technical experts were baffled by weapons data that 'did not fit in'

Blix says Iraq threat exaggerated: Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has accused London and Washington of exaggerating the threat of Iraqi weapons to justify waging war and says they should have been more sincere.

Ability to make WMDs reason enough for war: Bush, Cheney: President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney said on Saturday that the war in Iraq was justified because Saddam Hussein could have made weapons of mass destruction.

In case you missed it: Carnegie Report : WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications: Administration officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq’s WMD and ballistic missile programs.There was no evidence to support the claim that Iraq would have trans-ferred WMD to Al Qaeda and much evidence to counter it.

Powell says Iraq arms furore gets on his nerves: Secretary of State Colin Powell has accused critics of politicising the United States' failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and said it is getting on his nerves.

The New Great Game: Crude oil, once seen as a wealth-creating blessing for mankind, is fast turning into the “devil’s tears”. The struggle to control the world’s remaining energy reserves increasingly culminates in bloody conflicts and the killing of innocent civilians, with the war in Iraq only being the latest example.

We were misled, say families of British dead: When Tony Blair was preparing Britain for the war in Iraq 12 months ago, he had the unanimous backing of the families of the nation's troops who were being sent there. But now many of the relatives of the 58 Britons who have died in Iraq are openly accusing Mr Blair of having misled them about the case for invading the country.

Britain spied on UN allies over war vote : Britain helped America to conduct a secret and potentially illegal spying operation at the United Nations in the run-up to the Iraq war, The Observer can reveal.

Memo asking UK to spy on security council for US PDF Format

It comes down to this: What did Blair know?: The public thinks he is lying. The experts can't believe what he is saying. How did Tony Blair get himself into such an unholy mess and this country into such an unnecessary war?

Transcript: Interview with President George W. Bush: Meet the Press with Tim Russert: Russert: Prime Minister Blair has set up a similar commission in Great Britain. President Bush: Yeah. Russert: His is going to report back in July. Ours is not going to be until March of 2005, five months after the presidential election. President Bush: Yeah. [Etc.... Etc.... Etc...]

Naomi Klein: Hold Bush to His Lie: If you believe the White House, Iraq's future government is being designed in Iraq. If you believe the Iraqi people, it is being designed at the White House. Technically, neither is true: Iraq's future government is being engineered in an anonymous research park in suburban North Carolina.

Daily U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq : As of Friday, Feb. 6, 529 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

Video: The Fog of War: Robert S. McNamara and Errol Morris in Discussion: This event took place on Wednesday February 4, 2004 in Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley.

At Least 7 Nations Tied To Pakistani Nuclear Ring : U.S. and U.N. investigators say Khan's nuclear trading network represents one of the most egregious cases of nuclear proliferation ever discovered.

Disgraced scientist can keep his money: Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has pledged that the disgraced founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program can keep the vast wealth he accumulated selling bomb-making technology to rogue states around the world.

Armor From Home: Amid Shortage of Gear, Some U.S. Soldiers Must Equip Themselves

Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight : Concerns that militants might assemble a bomb or another weapon on board were a key factor in the series of recent cancellations of transatlantic flights.

Bush the Budget Buster : Conservatives and other limited-government types are furious at President George W. Bush for his big-spending ways. One group said the Republican-controlled government is dispensing cash like a "drunken sailor."

Results From Poll on Bush, Economy

Corporate Profits Don't Lead to Hiring : The lagging job market could become a key tripwire for President Bush in this year's election. An economic recovery without jobs may not sit well with voters, who could side with Democrats suggesting that Bush has favored big business at the expense of workers.

Chinese Workers Pay for Wal-Mart's Low Prices : Retailer Squeezes Its Asian Suppliers to Cut Costs

K.G.B. continues its dirty business?: Chechen rebels have denied involvement in the bomb attack on a commuter train in Moscow. It is amazing that the explosion happened just few weeks before the Russian presidential election and the only one person would gain from the bombing is Mr. Putin.

Mass resignations hit Fatah movement : About 300 members of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement have resigned, protesting against lack of reforms within the organisation.

Soldiers may be charged over Iraqi death in custody: Army prosecutors have been asked to bring charges against a number of soldiers after the death of an Iraqi civilian prisoner in British custody in Iraq.

Afghan Boy Talks About Guantanamo : A 15-year-old boy released after spending a year at the U.S. prison for terror suspects in Cuba says he was detained after Afghan militiamen falsely accused him of being a Taliban sympathizer.

02/07/04: Factional fighting claims 20 lives in northeast Afghanistan : At least 20 people have been killed and 40 others wounded in a fierce infighting between two Afghan warlords in a northeastern province of Afghanistan, the state-run television reported on Saturday evening.

Two killed in Iraq checkpoint attack: Two Iraqi men have been killed and two teenagers have been wounded after US soldiers returned fire after an attack on a checkpoint in the northern town of Samarra, witnesses and medics said.

Israeli helicopter attack kills 12-year-old boy: An Israeli helicopter gunship attacked a car carrying members of the Islamic Jihad on a busy Gaza City street on Saturday, killing a 12-year-old boy and wounding 10 people, according to the military and witnesses.

Islamic Jihad vows revenge after Israel kills activist, boy in copter attack : The bodyguard of Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, Abdullah Shami, was killed Saturday when an Israeli helicopter launched a missile into a car in Gaza City, witnesses said.

Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network : President George W. Bush's choice to co-chair his commission to investigate intelligence failures prior to the Iraq War is a long-time, right wing political activist closely tied to the neo-conservative network that led the pro-war propaganda campaign

Democrats Assail Bush's Iraq Intel Panel : ``We had an opportunity to have a truly independent commission that could have brought fresh eyes to the subject. Instead, we have a commission wholly owned by the executive branch investigating the executive branch,'' House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said.

Now it's a battle for the truth: It is unnerving to watch the world's most powerful intelligence chief with his back to the wall. But when the CIA's director, George Tenet, stood up at Georgetown University to explain his handling of the prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons, there was little doubt he was on the defensive and his career was on the line.

Scott Ritter accuses CIA Director George Tenet of deception: Audio

Well, the fix, as they say, is in: The commission doesn't appear to have any subpoena power, only the right to "full and complete access to information relevant to its mission as described in section 2 of this order."

Kay queries White House war talk: The White House may have ignored some aspects of intelligence on Iraq in the run-up to war, former chief US weapons inspector David Kay has suggested.

Bush, Aides Ignored CIA Caveats on Iraq : Clear-Cut Assertions Were Made Before Arms Assessment Was Completed:

Bush's moral authority implodes in wake of exaggerated Iraqi threats: George W. Bush's policy of "pre-emptive" attacks on countries that may threaten the United States is dead.

8 Questions for George W. Bush: Unlike many of Bush's WMD assertions, these questions are based on real evidence.

Cut through the Bush budget flimflam: Perhaps the Bush administration is more clever than we know. Maybe it figures that if it sends up an outlandishly deceptive budget, Americans will be distracted enough to stop asking questions about what happened to those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Poll: Bush Slip Began After Weapons News : President Bush's January decline in public opinion started soon after a top adviser on the search for weapons of mass destruction said he did not believe Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons, a tracking poll suggests.

Doubts over 'Confession' by Pakistani Nuclear Expert: If Musharraf's government were to be connected to Khan's nuclear deals, the U.S. might be forced under existing nonproliferation law to impose sanctions on Pakistan at a moment when it most needs the South Asian nation's help.

Hon. Ron Paul Of Texas: Congress Abandoned its Duty to Debate and Declare War: It is truly disturbing to see many who abdicated their congressional responsibility to declare or reject war, who timidly voted to give the president the power he wanted, now posturing as his harshest critics.

Tariq Ali speaks on the subjects of War, Empire, and Resistance: Using models such as the Roman and British Empires to illustrate his argument Tariq Ali paints a vivid picture of the American Empire, as he sees it, and the NeoCon engine driving it forward. A riveting lecture punctuated with bursts of humour, this is a must see video

Documents for O'Neill Book Were Classified : Documents given to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill for an insider book on his two years in President Bush's Cabinet contained classified information, successor John Snow told Congress in a letter on Friday.

Treasury Gave Secret Papers to Ex-Secretary: The department says it failed to properly screen documents that were used in a tell-all book.

An Experiment in Transparency: These documents are drawn from a collection of 19,000 files of Paul H. O'Neill, the U.S. Treasury Secretary for the first two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. The posting of these files is meant to encourage more productive, fact-based public dialogues.

Making Money on Terrorism: In the long run, the biggest beneficiaries of the Administration's "war on terror" may be the "destroyers," not the rebuilders. The nation's "Big Three" weapons makers--Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman--are cashing in on the Bush policies of regime change abroad and surveillance at home.

The secret society that ties Bush and Kerry: Both Sen Kerry, now the Democrat front runner, and President Bush belong to the 172-year-old society, which aims to get its members into positions of power. This presidential election seems destined to become the first in history to pit one Skull and Bones member against another.

51 per cent say Blair should go: Tony Blair's loss of public trust after the war on Iraq and the Hutton report is underlined today by a poll for The Independent showing more than half of voters want him to resign.

Blair knew better than to go to war on the word of a spy : Intelligence, like media reports, must always be taken with a pinch of salt

John Pilger: BBC Machinations: The Blair gang became hysterical when Andrew Gilligan told the truth about their "liberation" of Iraq and a deception intended to cover their violence - a violence that took up to 55,000 lives, including 9,600 civilians: a violence that kills or injures 1,000 Iraqi children every month as a result of unexploded cluster bombs that the British military scattered in urban areas:

Ex-envoy won't back off of Bush: Wilson says his wife was smeared because of his Iraq stance

U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan : The Prime Minister's Office, views the pipeline to Haifa as a "bonus" the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq.

Mr. Sharon's Plan : Mr. Sharon's Gaza withdrawal is merely the tip of a far broader and still mostly secret plan for unilateral action he is preparing, one that could fundamentally change the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the coming months -- and not necessarily for the better.

Bomb Wounds Two Soldiers In Baghdad : Roadside bombs are a major threat to U.S. troops across the country. A review of Pentagon casualty reports shows that of 39 deaths in January that the Army attributed to hostile action, 23 involved attacks with homemade bombs, which the military calls "improvised explosive devices."

Insurgents attack Iraqi soldiers: Insurgents fired a rocket propelled grenade today at a bus carrying Iraqi soldiers west of Baghdad, wounding five of them and a civilian bystander, officials said.

Puerto Rican Soldiers Depart For Iraq : At least 12 soldiers from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican descent have been killed in Iraq. The island's 4 million residents cannot vote for president and have no vote in U.S. Congress. They were made American citizens in 1917.

Army chiefs snub soldier who lost leg : A WEST Lothian soldier whose leg was amputated due to the lack of vital surgical equipment in Iraq has been refused compensation by Army chiefs.

Military Sexual Assault Probe Ordered : Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has ordered an investigation into the treatment of servicewomen in the Gulf war zone who report sexual assaults by their male comrades-in-arms, the Pentagon said Friday.

AP Finds Bush Proposed Cuts to Research : President Bush asked Congress to eliminate an $8.2 million research program on how to decontaminate buildings attacked by toxins - the same day a poison-laced letter shuttered Senate offices.

US Cuts Aid to Ecuador Over International Criminal Court: The United States is withholding millions of dollars in military aid to Ecuador because of Ecuador's reluctance to sign an agreement with the US that would grant US military immunity from the International Criminal Court.

Are You On Uncle Sam's No Fly List?: Why would two women in their 50's, U.S. citizens, San Francisco homeowners and long-time peace activists with no criminal records be on a federal watch list with suspected terrorists?

Children's Defense Fund Analysis shows Bush Administration Budget Takes from Poor Children to Give to the Rich

01/06/04: Bush Names Panel to Study Iraq Intel Woes: Choosing former Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb and retired judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, to head the panel.

Scott Ritter: Not everyone got it wrong on Iraq's weapons: The Bush administration, relied on rumor, speculation, exaggeration and falsification to mislead the American people and their elected representatives into supporting a war that is rapidly turning into a quagmire. We knew the truth about Iraq's WMD. Sadly, no one listened.

In case you missred it: Pentagon's intelligence service reported no reliable evidence of Iraqi weapons last September : The Pentagon's intelligence service reported last September that it had no reliable evidence that Iraq had chemical agents in weaponized form, officials said Friday.

In case you missred it: John Pilger: THE BIG LIE Sep 22 2003: An investigation of files and archive film for my TV documentary Breaking The Silence, together with interviews with former intelligence officers and senior Bush officials have revealed that Bush and Blair knew all along that Saddam Hussein was effectively disarmed.

In case you missed it: The 'Clean Break' Plan: Implications for US Middle East Policy : A Clean Break recommended toppling the government of Iraq, "rolling back" Syria and Iran, and "electrifying" support for Israel in the US Congress in exchange for new missile defense contract opportunities. Three of the eight authors have since become prominent policymakers in the U.S. government.

Iraqi detainees allege mistreatment and abuse: Though they have received minimal attention in the U.S. press, allegations of mistreatment of detainees have been surfacing persistently for at least the last six months.

UK Lawyer Named In Bribery Inquiry: A solicitor in a small north London firm has been named in connection with a $180m (£100m) French and American corruption investigation which could lead to the indictment of Dick Cheney, the US vice-president.

The day Cheney was rocked to the core: If United States Vice President Dick Cheney was hoping that the cold, crisp air of Davos and his private audience with Pope John Paul II late last month would revive his spirits, as well as his standing in the polls, he must be deeply disappointed.

Iraq threat was limited, troops told: Australian troops fighting in Iraq were told in an official briefing days before entering the country that Saddam Hussein did not have the capability to launch weapons of mass destruction against its neighbours.

McCain to be on Iraq panel; report due in '05, official says : President Bush will name Sen. John McCain to a commission that will investigate Iraq intelligence failures, an administration official said Thursday.

In case you missed it: McCain Returns to New Hampshire to Stump for Bush : Sen. John McCain, called into action by Vice President Dick Cheney, returned to the site of his greatest political triumph Monday and campaigned for the man who ended his dreams for the White House in 2000 - President Bush

STUPIDITY IS ALL AROUND : -Bush must be laughing his ass off. Voters too dim to recall yesterday's news are letting him get away with running on the imaginary successes of a phony record. Lazy journalists are allowing him to run on a patently fictional platform of promises while ignoring the disastrous realities he has planned for 2004

Explosion on Moscow Metro Kills 39 : A powerful explosion, apparently set off by a suicide bomber, ripped through a packed underground train in Moscow in morning rush-hour on Friday, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 100.

U.S. Soldier Killed, One Wounded in Mortar Attack : One U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in a mortar attack on U.S. military installations near Baghdad airport Thursday, a U.S. Army spokesman said.

CIA denies claims that Iraq posed 'imminent' danger: The director of the CIA, George Tenet, contradicted yesterday claims made, or implied, by the Bush administration that Iraq had posed an imminent danger to the West before the United States-led invasion last March. Intelligence reports had "never said there was an imminent threat", he said.

Ex-defence secretary blasts Blair : Tony Blair came under further attack today over his claim that he did not know key facts about Iraqi weapons on the eve of sending British troops into battle.

Blair 'fully informed on arms intelligence' : Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon yesterday played down suggestions that Prime Minister Tony Blair was not fully informed about the details of key intelligence reports in the lead-up to war in Iraq.

Team Spirit: Anyone with a passing acquaintance of recent history knows exactly how, and why, the intelligence data concerning Iraq's nonexistent WMD came to be used as a justification for military aggression. Indeed, this history is so open, so transparent and so widely available that a cynic might suspect that these government-appointed "investigations" are actually designed to obscure the already evident truth.

Blind Into Baghdad : The U.S. occupation of Iraq is a debacle not because the government did no planning but because a vast amount of expert planning was willfully ignored by the people in charge. The inside story of a historic failure

Scott Ritter: Confronting the Theocracy of Evil: The pervasiveness in America today of the 'theocracy of evil' has led to a widespread 'ends justify the means' mentality that may prove fatal to a democratic institution founded on the principle of the rule of law.

Ground Zero : After shooting up the day-care center, the killer explained: "I heard the guy who runs this place might attack me. I needed answers: Did he have a gun, a knife -- or nothing?" The cops roll their eyes -- another nutball. "So," says an officer, humoring him, "did he have any weapons?" The killer shakes his head. "Nah, don't look like it. But he could have had some. What's the difference? -- Say, you fellas aren't going to lock me up, are you? It was an honest mistake. I just got bad advice, that's all."

Washington conceals US casualties in Iraq: Estimates on the number of US soldiers, sailors and Marines medically evacuated from Iraq by the end of 2003 because of battlefield wounds, illness or other reasons range from 11,000 to 22,000, a staggering figure by any standard.

US Soldier: "Sometimes it is a soldier’s duty to tell the truth, no matter what" : "Sometime you have to weigh your duty to your government, and the duty to your fellow soldiers to protect them and keep them safe. I feel the duty to my fellow soldier out weighs any loyalty to my government. I do not see this as treason or betraying my command, especially in light of how badly the government has betrayed our troops at every level.

Spies, Lies, and Weapons:: How could we have been so far off in our estimates of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs? A leading Iraq expert and intelligence analyst in the Clinton Administration—whose book The Threatening Storm proved deeply influential in the run-up to the war—gives a detailed account of how and why we erred

Iraq Shiite leader targeted by assassins : The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority escaped an assassination bid, as two young Iraqis accused by insurgent groups of collaborating with US occupiers were shot dead by masked men in the restive town of Fallujah west of Baghdad.

Iraqi cleric 'was not attacked': Supporters of the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia Muslims, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have denied reports that he has been the target of an attack.

Faulting U.S., Germany Frees a 9/11 Suspect: Citing a refusal by the United States to allow testimony from a suspected member of Al Qaeda in its custody, a German court on Thursday acquitted a former roommate of Mohamed Atta who was accused of providing support to suicide pilots in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Cheney's staff focus of probe: Federal law enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year.

Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows : Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.

Poll Notes Decline in Support for Bush : For the first time, more voters in this poll's two years of tracking the question said they would definitely vote against Bush than said they would definitely vote for him.

Support for War in Iraq Drops: Today, Americans are evenly divided on whether it was worth going to war at all, and more people disapprove than approve of the way President George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq.

Noam Chomsky: "Another Four Years Of The Same Policies Could Be Extremely Dangerous For The Country And The World" Audio and text

The Realities of War : Well America, welcome to the real world of Warfare. American Soldiers and Marines can and do get every bit as vicious as any Iraqi that ever lived. Maybe it hasn't reached the point of total insanity in Iraq yet, but it will.

Alleged Nuclear Offer to Iraq Is Revisited : Memos Indicate Attempt to Sell Pakistani Bomb Plans, Equipment on Eve of '91 War

US gives clean chit to Musharraf in nuke proliferation: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has asserted that the Government of Pakistan was not involved in nuclear proliferation, only individuals were being investigated, and that President Pervez Musharraf "is the right man at the right time in the leadership of Pakistan."

'Supermarket' trade in nuclear technology alarms UN inspector : The UN's top nuclear official called for a new international regime to destroy the flourishing black market in nuclear technology yesterday, describing current controls as "kaput".

UK: This covert experiment in injustice : Blunkett's proposals for secret trials will shame the country

After questioning, Sharon remains under suspicion : Senior police officials do not believe the case against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should be closed, and there is certainly room for the prosecution to consider indicting him, police sources said last night following a two-hour interrogation of the premier.

Mossad mulled killing Vanunu : The Mossad spy agency considered killing nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu in 1986, but decided instead to abduct him for trial on treason charges, a former Mossad director told Reuters yesterday.

Rebel massacre in Ugandan camp: At least 40 people have been killed in an attack by Lord's Resistance Army rebels near Lira in northern Uganda.

Twelve rebels among 17 killed in Kashmir clashes: Seventeen people, including 12 rebels, were killed in gunbattles across Kashmir on Friday, the largest one-day death toll since New Delhi began talks with Kashmir's main separatist alliance last month.

02/05/04: Blair Admits Ignorance On WMD: Tony Blair admitted yesterday that when he asked MPs to vote for war he had been unaware that the claim that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes referred only to battlefield weapons, not missiles.

There Was No Failure Of Intelligence: US Spies Were Ignored, Or Worse, If They Failed To Make The Case For War

Rumsfeld:2002 Iraq WMD Remark May Have Been Misleading : -Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld acknowledged Wednesday that remarks he made in 2002 claiming to know where Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were stored may have been misleading.

A Must Listen: ABC Australia: Interview with former weapons inspector, Scott Ritter: Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter says that in 1998 when he left the U.N. "there was not a single intelligence service in the world that said Iraq maintained massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction".

Don't be fooled again : Where do you even start? Perhaps with the comedy of George Bush demanding "to know the facts" about Iraq's non-existent arsenal of weapons of mass destruction - casting himself as an aggrieved American voter, somehow hoodwinked into the war with Iraq.

Robert Fisk: Blame the BBC: An interview with Robert Fisk, award-winning journalist with The Independent of London, covers the current disaster in Iraq and the efforts by those responsible for the illegal invasion to divert attention by looking for fictitious sources of faulty intelligence

Iraq Eyewitness Reports: Devastation and brutality of the war, occupation and the continuing effects of pre-war sanctions

U.S. Opens Door to Possibly Delaying Iraq Handover: Senior U.S. officials opened the door on Wednesday to delaying the planned June 30 handover of sovereignty to Iraqis by saying they could not rule out considering this possibility.

Insurgent Iraqis Vow to Take Over Cities: A coalition of insurgent groups has vowed to take over cities vacated by U.S. troops, and warned of "harsh consequences" for Iraqis who resist, according to pamphlets circulating in this hotbed of anti-American resistance.

Iraq: US rethink of 30 June deadline? : US officials have hinted for the first time that the date of handing power over to Iraqis could be negotiated.

Banking on Empire: Iraqi ministries will now be able to borrow billions of dollars to buy much-needed equipment from overseas suppliers, but only by mortgaging the national oil revenues through a bank managed by New York-based multinational JP Morgan Chase.

Halliburton Faces Bribes Inquiry: Criminal investigators in the US have opened an inquiry into allegations that Halliburton was involved in $180m in bribes paid to Nigerian officials during the late 1990s, when Vice-president Dick Cheney was company chief.

Investigation Reveals Reconstruction Racket in Iraq: A team of investigative reporters in Iraq have found a pattern of waste, fraud and abuse among U.S. companies receiving multi-million-dollar reconstruction contracts in the country, including massive over-charges for projects; shoddy work or a failure to complete tasks; and ignoring local experts who contend they could do the job better and cheaper.

Kissinger: Founding father of preemption: The current United States policy of preemption is often termed unprecedented, but a look at then-national security advisor Henry Kissinger's "secret-sensitive" recommendations regarding the destabilization of Chilean president Salvador Allende Gossens in the early 1970s proves otherwise.

The Military records of George Walker Bush: The following documents were obtained using the processes outlined in the Freedom Of Information Act

Palestinian malnutrition at African levels under Israeli curbs, say MPs: Malnutrition rates in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank are as bad as those in sub-Saharan Africa, MPs said yesterday. They warned that the Israeli security fence around the occupied territories was "destroying the Palestinian economy and creating widespread poverty".

Ariel Sharon Faces Police Interrogation: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was questioned by police Thursday in a bribery case that could force his resignation, and critics charged his talk of removing Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip was meant to deflect attention from the scandal.

UK: Shelve Israel trade deal, say MPs : MPs today deliver the most damning verdict yet from a British parliamentary group on Israel's behaviour in the Palestinian occupied territories and calls for suspension of its billion-pound European Union trade agreement.

Failed Strategies, Continued Resistance May Force Bush and Sharon to Change Course : Since taking office in 2000 the two men have been close allies, sharing a belief in the effectiveness of brute force and in their own infallibility. Sharon’s aim was to destroy the Palestinians as a people and turn them into powerless subjects of a greater Israel. Bush set out to establish America’s military supremacy

German court clears Mzoudi 9/11 suspect: A German court Thursday cleared a Moroccan student of ac