NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN

Pakistan: Why Blame America?

By Yamin Zakaria

The US air strikes carried out on the 13th of January 2006, on the remote Pakistani village of Damadola was a clear act of terrorism. Out of the 18 civilians killed, 10 were women and children. It seems US terrorism inside Pakistan is becoming routine, earlier on the 7th of January 2006 at least eight civilians were killed by the US helicopters attack. To be precise, such acts are state-terrorism or primary-terrorism as opposed to the usual: secondary-terrorism of individuals or groups! The bombings were indiscriminate and without warning, like the routine bombings of the defenceless Iraqi cities or the Palestinian villages and towns. Continued

The Poisoning of the Well


By Manuel Valenzuela

At a time when millions needed to find solace and answers to the evil witnessed on 9/11 Christian extremism opened its doors. When the world was spinning out of control, bursting America’s bubble of security, fundamentalist Christianity took full advantage, absorbing those wanting to understand why God had allowed such wickedness upon our shores. Continued

Attacks Kill 15 in Iraq: Explosions killed 15 people in Baghdad Friday. The attacks were carried out as the first final tally of election results were released confirming that Shiite parties will dominate Iraq's new government

12 Killed In Continuing Violence: Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of seven civilians just east of the village of Dujail, in an area where 35 police recruits were abducted on Tuesday.

Shiites win Iraq election but without majority: Religious Shiite parties surged to victory in Iraq's general election but must find coalition partners after failing to secure an overall majority, according to uncertified results.

Iraq tops list of threatened minorities : Violence and repression directed against the world's minorities have struck hardest in Iraq, according to a report presented at the United Nations.

A Town Becomes a Prison: "Our city has become a battlefield," 35 year-old engineer Fuad Al-Mohandis told IPS at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. "So many of our houses have been destroyed, and the Americans are placing landmines in areas where they think there might be fighters, even though most of the time it is near the homes of innocent civilians."

Battlefield Iraq: Combat veterans Sean Huze, Paul Rieckhoff and Jimmy Massey discuss the truth -- and the lies -- about the war in Iraq.

Deadline passes with no word on fate of US hostage: U.S. officials insisted there were no plans to release women prisoners, despite remarks to the contrary by the Iraqi Justice Ministry.

I Want You To Pay!: With the billions of dollars appropriated by the United States for Iraqi reconstruction mostly spent, Japan, Australia and other nations in US President George W Bush's "coalition of the willing" are likely to be asked to shoulder much of the burden for funding the large number of unfinished projects.

Just How Big is the Defense Budget?: The congressional press release numbers are more than $200 billion wrong.

Trial Illuminates Dark Tactics of Interrogation: It was dubbed the "sleeping bag technique."

ElBaradei rejects EU’s request to condemn Iran : Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN’s nuclear monitor, has turned down a request by the European Union to issue a far-reaching condemnation of Iran’s nuc­lear programme when the agency’s board meets in extraordinary session next month.

Iran starts transferring foreign assets: Iran, which could face UN economic sanctions over its atomic programme, has bitter memories of its US assets being frozen shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Syria backs Iran in nuclear standoff: "We support Iran regarding its right to peaceful nuclear technology," Assad said at a news conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the start of two days of meetings.

Iran's energy needs will not be met by oil alone : The international pressure over our nuclear plants is unfair and unjustified

What they don't want you to know about the coming oil crisis: Soaring fuel prices, rumours of winter power cuts, panic over the gas supply from Russia, abrupt changes to forecasts of crude output... Is something sinister going on? Yes, says former oil man Jeremy Leggett, and it's time to face the fact that the supplies we so depend on are going to run out

Nigeria militants say all oil producers at risk: Militants behind attacks aimed at disrupting Nigeria's oil exports said they will target all producers in the country, in a message singling out U.S.-based Chevron.

U.S. Rejects Truce Offer From bin Laden : Breaking more than a year's silence, Osama bin Laden warned Americans in an audiotape released on Thursday that Al Qaeda was planning more attacks on the United States, but he offered a "long truce" on undefined terms.

US wrong to sniff blood in bin Laden tape-analysts: Michael Scheuer, a former top CIA official who once led the spy agency's hunt for bin Laden, said the Bush administration failed to understand al Qaeda and would shrug off the tape at its peril.

It's all about the voice: Osama bin Laden, master media manipulator turned global politician, is back. Talk about astonishing timing.

Drug gang plan to smuggle in Osama's guys: A drug-trafficker who admitted importing a quarter-ton of cocaine from Mexico also plotted to smuggle 20 men he said were Iraqi terrorists into the United States, charging them $8000 a head.

Chirac raises threat of nuclear strikes: Jacques Chirac, the French president, has provoked concern and criticism from opposition parties at home and in Germany after suggesting the threat of a nuclear strike against any state that launches terrorist attacks on French soil

In case you missed it: ' Video: The Power of Nightmares: Part 1 '. Part 2 - Part 3" In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.

U.S. Press Quiet On Israeli Spy Affair: Ex-Pentagon man gets 12 years in AIPAC case : Franklin was also found guilty of sharing classified information with Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000.

Ex-Pentagon analyst jailed for passing US secrets to Israel: A former Pentagon analyst was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison on Friday for passing U.S. defense information to two pro-Israel lobbyists and for sharing classified information with an Israeli diplomat.

Pity the Region : America has a starring role in The Great War for Civilisation and it is not a flattering one. She is America, righteous of voice but tone-deaf to history, jealous of power but so entwined with Israel that she sometimes reads the other character's lines as her own.

Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela will assist Bolivia: Hugo Chávez, declared that the three countries are preparing an urgent program to assist the new president of Bolivia, Evo Morales. Chavez said he wanted something on paper by Sunday (January 22), in time for Morales' inauguration

Revolution in the Andes : Fidel Castro's prophecy has at last been fulfilled as Bolivia joins Latin America's 'axis of good'

Bolivia's Morales talks tough over missile saga: Bolivia President elect Evo Morales vowed tough punishment on Wednesday for military chiefs who sent the country's only missiles to the United States to be destroyed, apparently without the outgoing president's consent.

CIA warned its operatives to stay out of Italy, according to e-mail: The CIA warned its operatives to stay out of Italy after learning that Italian prosecutors were preparing to seek arrest warrants in the agency's 2003 kidnapping of a radical Muslim preacher, according to an e-mail message recovered from the computer drive of the chief suspect in the case.

The CIA is engaging in an unlawful practice –”extraordinary rendition”: In a history-making lawsuit, the ACLU is challenging the practice on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an entirely innocent victim of rendition who was released without ever being charged.

US poised for radical reform of foreign aid programme: The Bush administration wants its multibillion-dollar aid programmes to serve its foreign policy goals better. Critics are worried that by in effect merging USAID into the State Department, the agency will lose some of its independence, and development will become purely politicised.

Depleted Uranium - A Hidden Looming Worldwide Calamity: There's possibly one threat that tops all others both in gravity and because it's been deliberately concealed from the public - never discussed, explained or had any action taken to remediate it. It's the global threat from the toxic effects of depleted uranium (DU)More on this topic

Whitewash: Administration defends NSA wiretapping: The Bush administration offered its fullest defense to date on Thursday of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying that authorization from Congress to deter future terrorist attacks "places the president at the zenith of his powers in authorizing the NSA activities."

Why Stanford prof is suing Bush over NSA spying: ``It is not simply what the president is having the NSA do. It is the unilateral and unconstitutional means by which he is doing it.''

U.S. Obtains Internet Users' Search Records: Yahoo and others reveal queries from millions of people; Google refuses. Identities aren't included, but the data trove stirs privacy fears.

Ominous sign / The president's growing disregard for the law: President Bush's latest tool for disrespecting the Constitution, Congress and the American people, used more than a hundred times so far, is the presidential signing statement.

Tripping Up on Trips: Judges Love Junkets as Much as Tom DeLay Does : The judicial seminars are conducted under the innocuous-sounding banner of "judicial education." In reality, these slanted multiday sessions mock the ideal of an independent, impartial judiciary, and pose a threat to the appearance and reality of judicial integrity.

Charles Sullivan : Talking Revolution : We will never have a just society by being silent and remaining ignorant. We have no rational choice but to open our eyes and to see things as they really are. We have a moral obligation not only to speak out against injustice; we have an obligation to act against it. That is our duty as citizens; it is our duty as servants of justice and peace.

What They Won't Tell You Corruption Is Really All About : Beyond the brazen vote-buying/bribery that our money-drenched political process periodically is afflicted with is the far more systematic way America's entire political debate is artificially limited to ensure an outcome favorable to Big Money interests.

British firms top foreign spending on US lobbyists: BRITISH companies have spent more than $165 million (£93.7 million) since 1998 with an American lobbying industry that is being described by US Democrats as “part of a poison tree of corruption”.

When it comes to spin, Washington is no match for Wall Street. : . Ignored was the fact that November’s deficit was still the third largest monthly deficit ever, and regardless of expectations, an unmitigated economic disaster. Such a "celebration" is akin to a student celebrating an “F” on his report card, as it represents an improvement on the “F-“ earned the prior semester.

USDA blocks real probes, records fake ones: The Department of Agriculture has effectively blocked employees from pursuing complaints of anti-competitive behavior in the livestock industry and inflated the number of investigations it has conducted to make it appear it is vigorously upholding the law, the department's inspector general reported Wednesday.

01/19/06

Full Text of Bin Laden Tape

Bin Laden appears to be addressing the American people:

By The Associated Press

My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that. Continued

Iraq police fear 34 recruits killed after ambush: As many as 34 Iraqi police recruits may have been killed by insurgents after being ambushed in a rebel area north of Baghdad, police said on Thursday.

U.S. forces close road, forcing Iraqi drivers onto a killing field: Thirty people were dragged from their cars Wednesday and shot dead execution-style in farming areas in Nibaei, a town near Dujail, about 50 miles north of the capital, said police Lt. Qahtan al-Hashmawi.

Bombings On Same Baghdad Street Kill 23: A suicide attacker detonated an explosive vest in a crowded downtown coffee shop Thursday and another bomb exploded seconds later under a nearby car, killing at least 23 people and wounding 26, police and hospital officials said.

US-Iraqi troops search for 50 kidnapped police recruits : "Dozens of armed men, wearing police and Iraqi army uniform,manned mobile checkpoints and kidnapped 50 police recruits north of Meshahadah town," the source said.

Italy to pull troops out of Iraq : Italy will withdraw 1 000 of its 2 600 troops in Iraq by June and aims to finish its mission there by the end of this year, Defence Minister Antonio Martino said on Thursday.

Jazeera airs new images of US journalist in Iraq: Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday that Carroll's kidnappers had threatened to kill her within 72 hours unless all Iraqi women detainees were freed.

Iraqi Officials Ask US to Release 6 Female Prisoners : Iraqi officials say they have asked U.S. forces to release six of eight Iraqi female prisoners, but they say the move is not related to the demand of a militant group that kidnapped an American journalist.

Witness: Officer said interrogation rules not followed: An Army officer charged with killing an Iraqi general during questioning said interrogation rules were being flouted "every day" in Iraq, a witness testified late Wednesday at the officer's court-martial.

Bin Laden offers Americans truce:  In an audio tape broadcast on Aljazeera, Osama bin Laden has warned that al-Qaida was preparing an attack very soon, but also offered Americans a "long-term truce". 

U.S. targeted-killings of al Qaeda suspects rising: U.S. sources said Washington would not have undertaken the airstrike without an OK from Pakistani officials, while experts dismissed Pakistan's angry public response.

Ted Rall: Death From Above: U.S. Drone Planes Have a Nearly Perfect Record of Failure

Robert Scheer: What's Up With Osama Bin Laden? : Now we are left holding the bag in two desperate countries with bleak futures where perpetrators of 9/11 are reportedly thriving and guerilla warfare and terror bombings have continued to increase.

Noam Chomsky, 'The War on Terror', (full text): Described by The New Yorker as 'one of the greatest minds of the 20th century', Noam Chomsky gave the 2006 Amnesty Lecture, hosted by Trinity College Dublin, on January 18th. The theme of the lecture was 'The War on Terror'.

Military Attack against Iran Now Imminent : World renowned investigative reporter and terror expert, reveals that the US and Israel will destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in less than 10 weeks from now.

Iranian president in Damascus to consolidate alliance with Syria: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria Thursday to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting U.S. pressure and the threat of international sanctions.

In case you missed it: Iran in the Crosshairs : Iran's danger to America is not its nuclear program but its plan to introduce a euro-based energy exchange

In case you missed it: Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse: Despite the complete absence of coverage from the five U.S. corporate media conglomerates, these foreign news stories suggest one of the Federal Reserve's nightmares may begin to unfold in the spring of 2006, when it appears that international buyers will have a choice of buying a barrel of oil for $60 dollars on the NYMEX and IPE - or purchase a barrel of oil for €45 - €50 euros via the Iranian Bourse.

Clinton calls for Iran sanctions: During a speech at Princeton University, the former first lady also placed the onus on Palestinians to make peace possible with Israel

Latest remarks on Iran indicate Israel stepping up campaign:- Israel is stepping up its campaign against Iran's nuclear ambitions and is in 'advanced talks' with the United States and European countries over a package of sanctions that would be applied against Iran should it continue its nuclear programme.

Spreading War, Not Democracy: The Bush Administration and their Democratic allies believe that the war in Iraq and now Iran is in Israel’s interest.

Charley Reese: Ariel Sharon: He treated the so-called road map to peace like the joke that it is.

Likud beefs up campaign staff with Schwarzenegger aide : Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday hired American political strategist, John McLaughlin, to work as his party's campaign advisor and pollster in the upcoming general elections.

Empirical news: The secret's out: Bush is overtaken by events—and overwhelmed

Niger Delta: U.S. May Delay Troops Deployment: Pentagon sources confirmed that officials are reviewing an agreement with Nigeria that would have marines protect oil facilities because of the growing battle between Nigerian armed forces and insurgents.

Chris Floyd: Loot the Vote: : The Bush Faction's Future Victories are Already in the Bag

Paul Craig Roberts: Evidence of a Stolen Election: The electronic voting machines leave virtually no paper trail and their use involves private potentially partisan corporations tabulating the votes with proprietary software that is not transparent.

UK: Torture flights: what No 10 knew and tried to cover up : Leaked memo reveals strategy to deny knowledge of detention centres

UK: Foreign Office paper reveals British knowledge of torture flights

Read the leaked memo in full  Pdf document

Scotland: Executive accused of turning a blind eye to US 'torture flights': THE SNP today accused the Scottish Executive of turning a blind eye to so-called torture flights as it published pictures of alleged CIA planes at Edinburgh Airport.

Justice Department to declare warrantless wiretaps legal: In a detailed 42-page legal memorandum set for release this evening the Bush Justice Department will defend the President's warrantless wiretap program as legal.

A Message From Kevin Benderman: Karen Kwiatkowski on a prisoner of conscience in the military gulag.

Editorial: The Alito vote : Americans will regret his confirmation

Rightwing group offers students $100 to spy on professors : 31 academics listed as 'worthy of scrutiny'

John Pilger :Australia: A First-Rate Country Run By Second-Rate People: Like Bush's America, Howard's Australia is not so much a democracy as a plutocracy, governed for and by the "big end of town", even though, as Mark Twain pointed out, this is "an entire continent peopled by the lower orders".

Not all Fascism looks like Adolf Hitler: 2 Minute video exposes the NeoConservative Manifesto

Ron Paul: Searching for a New Direction : The Abramoff scandal has been described as the biggest Washington scandal ever - True reform is impossible without addressing the immorality of wealth redistribution. Merely electing new leaders and writing more rules to regulate those who petition Congress will achieve nothing.

Another Undeclared War?
 
 By Patrick J. Buchanan
 
Is the United States about to launch a second preemptive war, against a nation that has not attacked us, to deprive it of weapons of mass destruction that it does not have? Continued

2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was recently declassified by the State Department. Continued

US Franchised Torture Refuses To Go Away

By Gajendra Singh 

It is not the divine right of Christian West to subjugate and rule the Middle East, Africa or Asia through the power of its guns.  The Iraqi resistance to U.S.-led occupation from the very beginning has made it clear that the era of colonization is over. Continued

Colin Powell, talks about Iran, rendition, the decisions that took the US and Britain to war

By BBC

Jeremy Paxman, has been speaking to Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell - about Iran, rendition, the decisions that took the US and Britain to war, and that notorious presentation to the United Nations on Iraq's weapons programme. It's worth watching.

Nearly 50 Killed in Latest Wave of Attacks: In the town of Nibaei in northern Iraq, police found the bodies of 25 people who had been shot in the back of their heads, a police spokesman there said in an interview

Veteran reporter says 3,000-4,000 Iraqis killed every month: Between 3,000 and 4,000 Iraqis are killed every month, rendering "ridiculous" US President George W. Bush's estimate of about 30,000 civilian casualties since the start of the war, veteran British journalist Robert Fisk said Wednesday

Female detainees set free in Iraq : The group holding US journalist Jill Carroll has said she will die unless all Iraqi women prisoners are freed.

Surface-to-Air Missile Downed U.S. Chopper in Iraq: It's a troubling new development because there are hundreds — and by some estimates thousands — of SA-7 missiles that are unaccounted for in Iraq.

US helicopters in Iraq face menace of 'aerial bombs': The new home-made weapons, known to the Americans as "aerial improvised explosive devices" have been used on numerous occasions.

Official US agency paints dire picture of 'out-of-control' Iraq : Account belies picture painted by White House

Baghdad Burning: Iraqi Girl Blog: A Tribute to Iraqi Ingenuity

Scott Ritter: The Military Recruiter's Lament: As recruiters struggle to overcome the national aversion to military service that has gripped the country, their superiors wrestle to pin down the underlying reasons behind this failure of the American people to heed the call of the trumpet. 

Iran scorns EU trio's draft nuclear resolution: European powers began circulating a draft resolution on Wednesday that asks the U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Iran to the Security Council, drawing a scornful response from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

China, Russia would fight Iran oil sanctions: experts: U.N. Security Council heavyweights China and Russia have too much riding on Iran's energy sector to let the West slap sanctions on Tehran to punish its nuclear ambitions, experts say.

Moscow Will Not Follow West’s Cue on Iran: Moscow has signaled a change in its stance toward Tehran. In recent days, officials including Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov have indicated they would not block a Security Council referral, although they would likely still oppose sanctions

The west has picked a fight with Iran that it cannot win : Iran is a serious country, not another two-bit post-imperial rogue waiting to be slapped about the head by a white man. It is the fourth largest oil producer in the world. Its population is heading towards 80 million by 2010. Its capital, Tehran, is a mighty metropolis half as big again as London.

Noam Chomsky : Iran would be “crazy” not to develop nuclear weapons. : U.S., Israel pushing Iran on nukes

Avoiding a War with Iran : The toppling of Iran’s theocratic regime would consolidate dwindling resources under the stars and stripes and guarantee continued supremacy of US financial institutions, American energy giants, and the faltering greenback. Additionally, it would defang a potential rival to an emergent Israel, which sees itself as the prevailing power in the region.

India, Iran and the nuclear challenge : Siding again with the U.S. and its allies in their illegal pressure on Iran will weaken India's hand on the civil nuclear cooperation and energy fronts

U.S. nuclear forces, 2006: As of January 2006, the U.S. stockpile contains almost 10,000 nuclear warheads. This includes 5,735 active or operational warheads: 5,235 strategic and 500 nonstrategic warheads. Approximately 4,225 additional warheads are held in the reserve or inactive stockpiles

Another Witness Testifies with Perjury into Assassination of Hariri : The witness Ibrahim Michel Jarjoura said he was forced to offer a false and fabricated testimony against Syria at the international investigation committee into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik al-Hariri because he was under threats and pressures to do so.

US freezes assets of Syrian intelligence chief: The United States on Wednesday froze the U.S. assets of Syrian military intelligence director Asef Shawkat, accusing him of fomenting terrorism against Israel and backing Syria's intrusion in Lebanon.

Hamas support grows after Israelis shoot militant leader :"People will show solidarity with the martyrs and the organisation they belong to."

Snatch squad quells protest over Jewish evictions: After days of skirmishes in Hebron, which saw teenage settlers vandalising Palestinian property in the town and hurling rocks at the Israeli police, the local media had talked of an "Israeli intifada".

Leading candidates for high post in House are both strong on Israel : Tom DeLay’s Jewish friends — and enemies — can expect the same friendliness to Israel and affection for faith-based funding from whomever replaces him as majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Taliban say 'hundreds' of suicide attackers ready: A Taliban commander said on Tuesday hundreds of his guerrillas were ready to launch suicide attacks across Afghanistan to drive out foreign forces.

U.S. envoy: Be ready for Taliban violence: The British-led military force that will move soon into southern Afghanistan must be ready to fight militant Taliban insurgents, the U.S. envoy to NATO warned.

Rome prosecutors to charge U.S. soldier with murdering Italian agent in Iraq: Italian prosecutors investigating the killing of an Italian secret service agent at a checkpoint in Iraq plan to charge a U.S. soldier with murder and attempted murder, Italian media reported Tuesday.

US refuses to hand over 4 marines charged with rape : Philippine judge last week issued arrest warrants for the marines, held in custody by the U.S. embassy, in a bid to pressure Washington to hand them over.

Australia: PM knew of wheat deal: Labor: SENIOR Howard government ministers must offer themselves as witnesses at the AWB inquiry as evidence mounts that they ignored its illicit payments to Saddam Hussein's regime, Labor says.

White House Silent on Abramoff Meetings : Abramoff had "a few staff-level meetings" at the Bush White House, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. But he would not say with whom Abramoff met, which interests he was representing or how he got access to the White House

Abramoff Met With Bush In May 2001 ; The Texas Observer reports that Abramoff met with Bush on May 9, 2001, with his clients, the Coushatta tribe. (The chairman of the Coushatta tribe initially denied the meeting occured, but subsequently admitted that it did.) Abramoff charged his client 25,000 to arrange the meeting.

Lawmakers pressured Interior while getting large donations from Abramoff tribes : Nearly three dozen members of Congress, including leaders from both parties, pressed the government to reject a Louisiana Indian casino while they collected large donations from rival tribes and their lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Corruption Digest : Here is your briefing on how America's political system is being sold to the highest bidders.

Corruption? Congressman made personal loan to bank president shortly before bank extended him $250,000-plus loan

Democrats and Other False Friends: "George Bush would be in severe political trouble if there were an opposition political party in the country.

Paul Craig Roberts: Gore Is Right: Former vice president Al Gore gave what I believe to be the most important political speech in my lifetime, and the New York Times, "the newspaper of record," did not report it. Not even excerpts.

Gore responds to White House 'hypocrisy' comments: "There are two problems with the Attorney General's effort to focus attention on the past instead of the present Administration's behavior."

Senate candidate unapologetic for saying GOP hijacked by fanatics: Ohio's Republican leader wants Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hackett to apologize for calling some conservative Republicans religious fanatics and comparing them to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Newspapers Across the Country Oppose Alito Nomination: Urge Senate to Stop his Nomination to the Supreme Court

Buffett: U.S. Trade Deficit Is a Threat: The U.S. trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to "political turmoil," billionaire investor Warren Buffett warned.

Supreme Court backs Oregon assisted suicide law: In a 6-3 vote, justices ruled that a federal drug law could not be used to prosecute Oregon doctors who prescribed overdoses intended to facilitate the deaths of terminally ill patients.

01/17/06

“War on Terror” Continues to Create Terrorists

By Ivan Eland

The CIA’s recent botched attempt to kill al Qaeda’s number two man, Ayman Zawahiri, in Pakistan illustrates why the Bush administration’s overly aggressive “war on terror” actually motivates terrorists to attack the United States. Continued

Imperial Mongering from Gladstone to ‘King George’

By Pierre Tristam

Until the latter days of 2001 President Bush’s skeletal talents for peacetime democracy were creaking out of the closet and down the ravine of opinion polls. He was a Hoover in the making (the president or the vacuum, your pick). Osama bin Laden to the rescue. His one-hit wonder on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon did wonders for a presidency looking for salvation. And the most imperial presidency in the nation’s history was off on its wolves’ hunt, with democracy for a battle flag. Continued

Eight killed in Iraq violence: Violence flared in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk with gunmen killing at least eight Iraqis, including a senior army commander and his brother.

USAID Paper Details Security Crisis in Iraq: The U.S. Agency for International Development paints a dire and detailed picture of the Iraq security situation in its request for contractors to bid on its $1.32 billion, 28-month project to help stabilize 10 major Iraqi cities.

Jazeera airs video of kidnapped US journalist: The abductors of U.S. journalist Jill Carroll have threatened to kill her if the United States does not free Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours, Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday

Shocking War Admission From Colin Powell: In a candid interview just hours ago, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell talks about mistakes made in the decision to go to war with Iraq. "We were wrong," Powell says.

Iraq Interior Minister Okayed Torture: Ex-General: Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh and senior officials at his ministry have condoned torture and abuses of detainees, a ministry's whistle-blower who was in charge of the special forces unit said in new statements.

US officer tried over Iraqi death : The court-martial of a US officer charged with murdering an Iraqi general who was being held in custody has begun in Colorado.

Islamists gain ground from American push for Mideast democracy: President Bush's efforts to spread democracy to the Middle East have strengthened Islamists across the region, posing fresh challenges for the United States, according to U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and democracy experts.

War's Stunning Price Tag : Why were the costs so vastly underestimated? Elsewhere in the government, it is standard practice to engage in an elaborate cost-benefit analysis for major projects. The war in Iraq was a war of choice, an immense "project," and yet it now appears that there was virtually no analysis of the likely costs of a prolonged occupation.

Some Iraq Rebuilding Funds Go Untraced: The Coalition Provisional Authority, which existed from shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 until June 2004, was allocated more than $38 billion in U.S. and Iraqi funds. It spent $19.7 billion of U.N.-administered Iraqi oil money

‘We Weren’t Ready for It’: A woman who lost both legs in Iraq on taking care of America’s injured veterans

American who advised Pentagon says he wrote for magazine that found forged Niger documents: A controversial neoconservative who occasionally consulted for the Bush Defense Department has confirmed that he was a contributor to the Italian magazine Panorama, whose reporter first came across forged documents which purported that Iraq was seeking to obtain uranium from Niger.

U.S. Military Called On to Compensate Iraqi Civilians: U.S.-based humanitarian groups are urging the administration of President George W. Bush to compensate the families of innocent Iraqi citizens killed as a result of aerial bombings by the U.S. military.

Juan Cole: Cheney will Ask Mubarak for Egyptian Troops for Iraq: Will Cairo counter Tehran?

Iraq sailor killed in clash with Iran ship: An Iraqi sailor was killed and nine were captured by an Iranian Navy vessel during a skirmish in the Gulf near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, an Iraqi official said Tuesday.

Putin: Iran Hasn't Ruled Out Uranium Enrichment In Russia : --Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Iran hasn't excluded the possibility of conducting its uranium enrichment in Russia - a proposal that could be a way out of escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

Russian FM against Iranian sanctions : "Sanctions are in no way the best, or the only way to solve the problem (with Iran). We remember the history of the sanctions regime against Iraq, and we know how it ended.

Iran crisis talks expose west's split with China : The London meeting between senior officials from the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - the five permanent members of the UN security council - plus Germany, was held to try to avoid a repetition of the security council divisions that marked the run-up to the war in Iraq. The west's fear is that China could exercise its veto on Iran's behalf.

Israel Sends Diplomatic Team to Persuade Moscow to Give Up Iran: Israel dispatched a diplomatic team to Russia on Tuesday in an effort to persuade Moscow that Iran should be referred to the United Nations Security Council, reports quoted by CNSNews website said.

US senators say military strike on Iran must be option: Republican and Democratic senators said on Sunday the United States may ultimately have to undertake a military strike to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but that should be the last resort.

Gordon Prather: What noncompliance?

Iran's President lets CNN back in after apology: Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has allowed CNN to resume operating in the country after the American cable news network apologised for mistakenly quoting him saying Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons, State radio reported on Tuesday

Iran Has an 'Inalienable Right' to Nuclear Energy: Iran has an "inalienable right" to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes such as the production of electric energy, and the enrichment of uranium for its nuclear reactors. Could it be that Iran's plan for an oil exchange trading in Euros is the real issue? Or is it Israel?

Mike Whitney: Reinventing Sharon, Friedman Style : “Is there an Arab Sharon?” Freidman wonders; implying that peace would be possible if only the Palestinians could produce leader similar to Ariel Sharon.

Cheney and Netanyahu Pushing For War Against Syria: An ever-more-desperate Dick Cheney is pulling out all the stops to install "Clean Break" hawk Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu as the next Israeli Prime Minister, to push for an immediate confrontation between Israel and Syria.

Report: Germany provided passports to Mossad agents : A spokesman for the BND confirmed that his organization is cooperating with the Mossad, but refused to respond to the reported information that the organization supplied the Mossad with passports.

Remember Afghanistan? Insurgents bring suicide terror to country : A suicide bomber yesterday rode into town, killing at least 20 in the deadliest insurgent attack since the US invasion. More than 1,600 were killed in 2005, and the murder rate is rising. The rule of law has collapsed. The government is trapped in its own fortified compound in the capital.

Chinese Detainees' Lawyers Will Take Case to High Court: Lawyers for a group of Chinese nationals held in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with no hope of release are taking the rare step of asking the Supreme Court to intervene immediately, saying only the high court can resolve the constitutional crisis their case presents.

ACLU Sues to Stop Domestic Spying Program : Civil liberties groups filed lawsuits in two cities Tuesday seeking to block President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, arguing the electronic surveillance of American citizens was unconstitutional.

Gore: Bush 'Repeatedly and Persistently' Broke the Law : Former Vice President Al Gore called Monday for an independent investigation of President Bush's domestic spying program, contending the president "repeatedly and persistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

White House Accuses Gore of Hypocrisy : McClellan said the Clinton-Gore administration had engaged in warrantless physical searches, and he cited an FBI search of the home of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames without permission from a judge

Why Doesn’t Presidential Dismantling of the Constitution Warrant the Same Intense Scrutiny as Presidential Adultery?

Alito Hearings: The Democrats' Katrina: For a constitutional confrontation at least five years in the making, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee looked as prepared to confront Samuel Alito as FEMA chief Michael Brown did in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Enabling Danger: The press has recently been reporting on the issue of surveillance pertaining to four "key" 9/11 hijackers. Specifically, Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) has gone public with accusations that the Pentagon had four of the 9/11 hijackers under its surveillance in December of 2000.

Charles Sullivan : In Defense of Progressive Values : In reality America no longer has two major political parties—the Democrats and the Republicans. Sometime ago these two parties merged into a single party that only represents the interests of wealth and power.

Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends :As the bureau was running down those leads, its director, Robert S. Mueller III, raised concerns about the legal rationale for a program of eavesdropping without warrants, one government official said. Mr. Mueller asked senior administration officials about "whether the program had a proper legal foundation," but deferred to Justice Department legal opinions, the official said.

Shell may pull out of Niger Delta after 17 die in boat raid : The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell was considering pulling out of the volatile Niger Delta region yesterday after heavily armed militants stormed one of its facilities and killed at least 17 people.

Dr. Michelle Bachelet Victor In Chilean Election: Bachelet's 53.5 percent to Pinera's 46.5 percent marked a trend throughout Latin America of leftist electoral victories. Leftists now run Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela, with the inclusion of Chile, the political sentiment of the region is unmistakable.

Global warming: Is it too late to save our planet?: GLOBAL warming is irreversible and billions of people will die over the next century, one of the world's leading climate change scientists claimed yesterday.

California Executes Blind, Deaf Wheelchair-bound Man, 76: California has executed a blind, deaf 76-year-old wheelchair-bound man through lethal injection after the US Supreme Court and the state's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused his appeals for clemency in a case that is stoking the capital punishment debate.

Children can’t “opt out” of Pentagon recruitment database : Parents cannot remove their children’s names from a Pentagon database that includes highly personal information used to attract military recruits, the Vermont Guardian has learned.

01/16/06

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968

By 1967, King had also become the country's most prominent opponent of the Vietnam War, and a staunch critic of overall U.S. foreign policy, which he deemed militaristic. In his "Beyond Vietnam" speech delivered at New York's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967 -- a year to the day before he was murdered -- King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." Continued

Bush Has Crossed the Rubicon

by Paul Craig Roberts

Dictatorships seldom appear full-fledged but emerge piecemeal. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with one Roman legion he broke the tradition that protected the civilian government from victorious generals and launched the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Fearing that Caesar would become a king, the Senate assassinated him. From the civil wars that followed, Caesar’s grandnephew, Octavian, emerged as the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. Continue

Dusting off the Brown-shirts and Jackboots

By Mike Whitney

We’re finally beginning to see the effects of Bush’s profligate spending, “unsustainable” trade deficits, and the economic master-plan to reorder American society. And, don’t think that that the poker-faced Sam Alito doesn’t factor heavily in this new paradigm of class-division and elite rule. He’s the last vital part of the neocon strategy for tossing America’s struggling middle class overboard and paddling pell-mell towards the shore of the new world order. Continued

War Waged Without Obligation

By Ron Fullwood

What if Bush didn't need to go to Congress to get approval to wage war? What if Bush could wage war from his Oval Office without a massive deployment of troops or weaponry that would need continuous funding from a reluctant Congress? That's the future, and I think Americans may buy it. Continued

Saving the House

By DAVID BROOKS

I don't know what's more pathetic, Jack Abramoff's sleaze or Republican paralysis in the face of it. Abramoff walks out of a D.C. courthouse in his pseudo-Hasidic homburg, and all that leading Republicans can do is promise to return his money and remind everyone that some Democrats are involved in the scandal, too. That's a great G.O.P. talking point: some Democrats are so sleazy, they get involved with the likes of us. Continued

Twenty security men killed in Iraq : Twenty Iraqi national guards were killed on Monday in a roadside bomb which was placed by insurgents on a main road connecting the Iraqi city of Baghdad and central and southern towns.

Car bomb Kills Six: A car bomb also killed six people and wounded 19 in the town of Muqdadiya.

Two policemen killed, seven corpses found in Baghdad: Two Iraqi policemen were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad and the police found seven unidentified corpses, a police source told Xinhua on Monday.

Tribal leader killed: A car bomb detonated Monday next to a police convoy, killing a 6-year-old child and five police officers, a police operations center and hospital said.

Two U.S. Soldiers killed in helicopter crash: Two Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers were killed Jan. 16 when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed in a swampy area north of Taji at approximately 8:20 a.m.

Another US helicopter hit in Iraq : A US helicopter has been shot down north of Baghdad. Eyewitnesses said they saw a rocket hit the helicopter in an area where the small town of Mishahda is situated.

Tariq Ali: Iraq's destiny still rests between God, blood and oil : By year three of Iraq's occupation, for most western citizens the fact that they live in a world subjugated by lies, half-truths and suppressed facts has become part of everyday life.

227 Iraqi ballot boxes tossed amid fraud

'Marshall Plan' for Iraq Fades: Once the $18.6 billion for reconstruction is spent, the nation might have to rely on private investment. 'No pain, no gain,' a U.S. official says.

Helen Thomas: Dubya makes his war pitch : As opposition to the war grows, Bush seems to be more frantic in flailing against war critics.

Saddam Hussein's $300 Million Australian Slush Fund: Statements today by SeniorCounsel to theCole Commission of Inquiry concerning the state of the Australian Wheat Board's knowledge of kickback arrangements with Saddam Hussein underline the depth of the scandal which Australia now confronts.

Diplomat cleared AWB over phone: ONE of Australia's most experienced diplomats has emerged as a key player in the Iraq wheat sales scandal. But under the terms of the Howard Government's inquiry into corruption in the UN oil-for-food program, he may never be questioned.

At least 26 dead in Afghan bombings: Bombers killed at least 26 people in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after a Canadian diplomat and two civilians were killed in the area.

More to die, Taliban says: A suicide bomb attack that killed a senior Canadian envoy and wounded three soldiers is only the first that Canada can expect as it triples its force in Afghanistan, a man purported to be a Taliban spokesman warns.

Guess who's coming to dinner? : It is hard to say how many people would have mourned Ayman al-Zawahiri if he had indeed been killed on Friday by the US missiles that hit a Pashtun area near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. - At least 17 dead, including women and children, were found in the rubble.

Pakistanis vent fury over US attack: Up to 10,000 people reportedly protested at rallies in the largest city, Karachi. Many chanted: "Death to America!" Demonstrators demanded the resignation of Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf

Russian Expert Says Israel Likely to Bomb Iran in Spring: This move, however, would create serious problems for Israel, Markov said. “This would lead to a significant destabilization of the situation in the Middle East, including a dramatic increase in [terrorist] attacks by Islamists on Israel,” he said.

Israeli Air Force (IAF) trained for Iran attack : IAF pilots have completed their mission training and fighter jets have been prepared for an Israeli attack on Iran, the British Sunday Times reported.

US, EU up pressure for action on Iran: Officials from the United States and European Union are pressing Russia and China to support tough diplomatic steps to curb Iran's nuclear programme at talks in London among UN Security Council powers.

Iran issues stark warning on oil price : Iran stepped up its defiance of international pressure over its nuclear programme yesterday by warning of soaring oil prices if it is subjected to economic sanctions.

Putin urges caution on Iran, holds out hope on enrichment offer: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday against hasty decisions in tackling the dispute over Iran's nuclear program and held out hope on Tehran accepting a Russian offer to enrich uranium for its nuclear power plant.

Iran nuclear bid 'fault of West' : Saudi Arabia has said the West is partly to blame for the current nuclear stand-off with Iran because it allowed Israel to develop nuclear weapons.

Cheney heads for Egypt, Saudi Arabia: On Tuesday, the US vice-president is scheduled to meet Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, officials said on Sunday.

CNN banned from Iran for nuclear translation gaffe : Iran on Monday banned CNN journalists from working there after the broadcaster misquoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tehran wanted nuclear weapons.

In case you missed it: Arundhati Roy: “Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy, Buy One Get One Free”: As we lurch from crisis to crisis, beamed directly into our brains by satellite TV, we have to think on our feet. On the move. We enter histories through the rubble of war. Ruined cities, parched fields, shrinking forests, and dying rivers are our archives.

Israel Bars Hamas from Voting in East Jerusalem

Anger helps Hamas rise in politics : Even here in Biddu, a traditionally secular West Bank town just a few kilometers from Jerusalem, the radical Islamic group Hamas is on the rise in an atmosphere of pessimism, anger and joblessness

Bolton Threatens U.N. over Israel Bashing: American ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has sent a sharply worded letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, threatening to cut U.S. funding to the U.N. if the world body continues to promote anti-Israel events.

Merkel's 24-Hour Massage of Bush's Psyche: Love of a political nature has definitely broken out between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President George W. Bush. That may explain why, according to this account of the trip from Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Merkel gets away with discussing issues that past German Chancellors wouldn't have dared broach.

A Victim of Pinochet Is Chile's New Leader : President-elect Michelle Bachelet, who was imprisoned and tortured under the right-wing dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, was praised Monday as a symbol of reconciliation who can help Chile come to terms with its traumatic political past

Translator's Conviction Raises Legal Concerns: - For three years federal agents trailed Mohammed Yousry, a chubby 50-year-old translator and U.S. citizen who worked for radical lawyer Lynne Stewart. Prosecutors wiretapped his phone, and FBI agents shadowed and interviewed him. They read his books and notepads and every file on his computer.

Give Me Liberty or Let Me Think About It: What the wiretapping debate says about freedom.

Al Gore "Constitution In Grave Danger" : Complete text of Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall : We have a duty as Americans to defend our citizens' right not only to life but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the Executive Branch and the President's apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law.

Charley Reese: A Plus for Charity: Sin is paying off for some American charities as scared politicians in Washington try to dump their Jack Abramoff campaign contributions. Putting daylight between themselves and this first-class crook will not be easy

If You Don't Know K Street, You Don't Know Jack: To understand the culture of corruption that infects Washington, DC, it's important to understand the origins of the K Street Project.

Ohio Republican Tied to Lobbyist to Cede Post : Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, said Sunday he will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee.

Abramoff scandal threatens GOP ascendancy: In Georgia, Ralph Reed's candidacy for lieutenant governor is jeopardized

Pombo Defends Himself Over Reports On FDIC Probe, Abramoff Case: House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo said Monday he and other congressmen weren't attempting to block a federal investigation of a prominent Texas political contributor, but were trying instead to keep a government agency from wrongly seizing the man's property.

Dumping Lieberman: Are Connecticut Democrats ready to replace Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the primary election?

Ga. House OKs New Voter ID Requirements : Under a law passed last year - but blocked from taking effect by a federal judge in October - voters must show photo identification at the polls. Those who do not have a driver's license can use a state-issued photo ID. But they cost up to $35, and were not made widely available.

IRS collects political links of taxpayers: Michigan is among 20 states where party affiliations had been tracked by government.

Seniors denied Rx drug benefits: Medicare's new prescription-drug program is causing thousands of low-income seniors and disabled Americans to lose their drug benefits, prompting at least 14 states to pay for their prescriptions.

Low-Income Seniors Get Tangled In Medicare Glitch: Programs that provide free or deeply discounted drugs for the elderly and the disabled are being eliminated by a number of pharmaceutical companies as the new Medicare drug benefit takes effect, in a move that could cut off many seniors from their medicine.

Deficit Will Climb in 2006, White House Says : Even though administration officials and lawmakers have known for months that the next year's deficit would be higher, Mr. Bush and Republican leaders in Congress are pushing hard to pass nearly $90 billion in tax cuts for the next five years.

Environment in crisis: 'We are past the point of no return' : The world has already passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilisation as we know it is now unlikely to survive, according to James Lovelock, the scientist and green guru who conceived the idea of Gaia - the Earth which keeps itself fit for life.

01/15/06

No need to panic over Iranian nukes
 
 United Nations sanctions won't work but there's still plenty of time for patient talks.
 
 By Gwynne Dyer
 
When the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed last Tuesday that Iran had broken the seals on its nuclear research facility at Natanz, many people reacted as if the very next step was the testing of an Iranian nuclear weapon. Continued

More Lies about Iran

By Mike Whitney

The Bush administration does not accept the internationally-recognized treaty rights of Iran because it believes that all law flows from Washington; a fact that is tragically evident in its torturing of prisoners, spying on American citizens, and its vast destruction of Iraq. Continued

Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified


By Norman G. Finkelstein

The recent proposal that Norway boycott Israeli goods has provoked passionate debate. In my view, a rational examination of this issue would pose two questions: 1) Do Israeli human rights violations warrant an economic boycott? and 2) Can such a boycott make a meaningful contribution toward ending these violations? I would argue that both these questions should be answered in the affirmative. Continued

Narcissism, the Public, and the President

By Stephen Soldz

At an observable level, narcissism involves a self-centeredness that makes one oblivious to the emotional existence of others. Continued

7 Killed In Continuing Violence: Gunmen shot dead a police brigadier and major after abducting them on Saturday in the village of Ulwiya near Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

Iraq war seen as a financial loser : As the toll of American dead and wounded mounts in Iraq, some economists are arguing that the war's costs, broadly measured, far outweigh its benefits.

US military releases 500 prisoners : THE US military overnight had released about 500 prisoners cleared of ties to Iraq's insurgency, including a pair of journalists who had been held in Iraqi prisons for months

Noam Chomsky: 'There Is No War On Terror': The acclaimed critic of U.S. foreign policy analyzes Bush's current political troubles, the war on Iraq, and what's really behind the global 'war on terror.'

Pakistan fury as CIA airstrike on village kills 18: Pakistan is preparing to lodge a formal diplomatic protest over the attack, which killed at least 18 people, because it was launched from four pilotless aircraft which intruded 30 miles into Pakistani air space from Afghanistan

US policies "break human rights law": "The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions," said Dick Marty, the head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe. "The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law."

Canadian killed in Afghanistan: One Canadian was killed and three others were wounded after a suicide car bomber struck their military convoy in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday.

Senators Support Penalties Against Iran ;Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said sanctions will be tough but that Iran poses a greater danger to the United States than Iraq at this point and must be contained.

West is in dark ages, says Iran's President : Leader threatens retaliation if the US and EU continue to try to block nuclear programme

Uri Avnery: Uri Avnery: With Friends like these… : IN ONE of the stream of speeches in which George W. Bush is now trying to defend his ill-fated invasion of Iraq, this week he let loose a sentence that should light all the red lights. In this sentence he castigated his opponents for asserting that he had attacked Iraq "for the oil and for Israel".

Mossad works with German passports: Israeli agents camouflage themselves with delicate employments in Middle East crisis areas also with German passports and German legends. At present use the Mossad German travel documents for instance with employments in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It concerns among other things a preparation of possible air raids on Iranian goals

German secret service issues passports for Mossad : Mossad agents are using German passports during their covert operations in Middle Eastern countries

Israel approves East Jerusalem vote:, Arrests two of the candidates: Police arrested on Sunday the number-two man on the Hamas party list for the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Tir. Two candidates for the Hamas list in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Tutah and Ahmed Atun, were also arrested.

Hebron settlers: No calm unless eviction orders rescinded : A senior official of the settler community of Hebron has said that the only way that there will be calm in the West Bank city is if Israeli authorities rescind the eviction orders issued to eight Jewish families who have occupied Palestinian-owned homes in Hebron's wholesale market area for years.

How to buy friends and influence politics "Now here's the thing," commented Iraq expert Juan Cole. "If a Palestinian-American had diverted $140,000 from a Muslim charity to 'security equipment' and 'sniper lessons' for Palestinians on the West Bank, that individual would be in Gitmo so fast that the sonic boom would rattle your windows...

Ethics Committees Won't Commit to Action : The leaders of Congress' ethics committees are not committing to any investigation of misconduct despite the growing revelations about the favors that lobbyist Jack Abramoff won for clients and the largesse he arranged for lawmakers.

Laura Bush backs domestic spying program: First lady Laura Bush said Sunday that the U.S. government is right to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists,

The Imperial Presidency at Work : You would think that Senators Carl Levin and John McCain would have learned by now that you cannot deal in good faith with a White House that does not act in good faith. Yet both men struck bargains intended to restore the rule of law to American prison camps. And President Bush tossed them aside at the first opportunity.

A court seat for privilege...: Alito claimed membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton when he applied for a promotion in the Reagan administration in 1985. Alito said, ''I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion

How One Man Launched a Revolution: Paine convinced an America already at war with Britain that it was fighting not merely for lower tariffs or the right to elect representatives to Parliament but for its own inevitable independence.

The day the music died : Author and critic Nik Cohn has been obsessed by New Orleans for more than 30 years, Six months after Hurricane Katrina he revisited the city and was stunned by what he found.

01/14/06

U.S. Marine among 7 killed in latest violence: A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded four other people when it blew up next to a police patrol in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Bishops Urge U.S. to Transition Out of Iraq: "Our nation's military forces should remain in Iraq only as long as it takes for a responsible transition, leaving sooner than later," said Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Berlin admits giving US bombing targets in Iraq : Chancellor Angela Merkel's fence-mending visit to the United States is being overshadowed by a growing scandal over reports that German intelligence had fed America key information about military targets in Iraq before the US invasion.

Mossad works with German passports: Israeli agents camouflage themselves with delicate employments in Middle East crisis areas also with German passports and German legends. At present use the Mossad German travel documents for instance with employments in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It concerns among other things a preparation of possible air raids on Iranian goals

President Ahmadinezhad Says Iran Not Interested in Acquiring Nuclear Weapons : He said: "unfortunately today humanity is plagued with some leaders who only see their immediate surroundings. Those who believe they have greater rights than other nations, simply because they possess a large nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal. They are convinced that they can impose their views on others.

'Air Strikes Under Consideration': Western powers are already planning use of the military option in the face of Iran's insistence that it will go ahead with what it calls its nuclear research programme, a leading expert says.

Israel could launch air strikes if talks fail : Israel has drawn up plans for strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities with bunker busting bombs supplied by the US.

Israel Threathens Iran With Military Strike: : Israeli officials said they remain hopeful that concerted international diplomacy can end the crisis, but that a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities - led by others - is possible.

U.S try's to swing election: Says may review Palestinian aid if Hamas elected: U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority would be reviewed and possibly reduced if it gave Hamas a role in government after this month's Palestinian election, U.S. diplomatic sources said on Friday.

Amira Hass: Prisoners in Their Own Land: More than 800,000 Palestinians Sealed Off in Northern West Bank

How the FBI Spied on Edward Said: That the FBI should monitor the legal political activities and intellectual forays of such a man elucidates not only the FBI's role in suppressing democratic solutions to the Israeli and Palestinian problems, it also demonstrates a continuity with the FBI's historical efforts to monitor and harass American peace activists.

How Mossad got the wrong man: A Moroccan catering worker was mistakenly killed in Norway, by two Israelis after they got out of a car beside him. They thought they were killing Ali Hassan Salame, the Palestinian behind the Munich Games massacre.

Zawahri alive: The report came after U.S. sources said a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted Zawahri, but a senior Pakistani official said the al Qaeda leader was not there at the time.

Pakistan Condemns Purported CIA Airstrike: An AP reporter who visited Damadola about 12 hours after the attack saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and were digging for more bodies in the rubble.

Ex-Taliban Minister Killed in Afghanistan : In the southern city of Kandahar, two men on a motorbike fatally shot Mohammed Khaksar, the former Taliban deputy interior minister, as he walked with two of his children, said Mohammed Jan Khan, a student who witnessed the shooting.

Chavez denounces bid to block jet sale: President Hugo Chavez on Friday blasted an attempt by the U.S. to block Spain from selling Venezuela 12 military planes with American parts, calling it proof of Washington's "imperialism."

Spain defies US over arms sales: A row erupted between the US and Spain yesterday after Washington tried to block Madrid from selling military aircraft to the left-wing Government of President Chávez of Venezuela. Spain reacted with defiance, saying that the $2 billion (£1.2 billion) deal for military aircraft, which contain US technology, would go ahead.

NSA used city police as trackers: The National Security Agency used law enforcement agencies, including the Baltimore Police Department, to track members of a city anti-war group as they prepared for protests outside the sprawling Fort Meade facility, internal NSA documents show.

United States of Fear: A new doc on Peru chronicles how fear of terrorism was exploited to undermine democracy. Sound familiar?

Where is the new Godard? : A New Wave film from the Vietnam era reveals how muted opposition to the Iraq war has been

Australia: How we wrongly locked away 60 people: UP to 60 Australian residents, many suffering severe mental problems, may have been mistakenly incarcerated in detention centres by overzealous Immigration Department officials.

The States Step In As Medicare Falters: Seniors Being Turned Away, Overcharged Under New Prescription Drug Program

01/12/05

U.S. Bombs Pakistan

The soul of a nation is fatally wounded

By Abid Ullah Jan

Aircraft from Afghanistan have once more attacked Pakistan killing 18 Pakistanis in remote villages. Even non-US sources, such as Al-Jazeera has adopted the tone of embedded journalists, telling the world that the US attack on Pakistan killed 18 people in “a village stronghold of pro-Taliban Islamists.” Continued

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11

By Jason Leopold

The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups. Continued

U.S. missiles kill 18 civilians in Pakistan: No al-Qaeda member or foreign citizen among those who died.

2 Killed As Army Helicopter Crashes In Firefight In Iraq: A U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter went down near Mosul in northern Iraq on Friday while aiding Iraqi police who came under hostile fire, and its two pilots were killed, military officials said.

3 Policemen Killed: Two policemen were killed and five wounded when a car bomb struck their patrol in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. ISKANDARIYA - A police patrol found the body of a policeman blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back near the town of Iskandariya,

Shi'ite bloc short of Iraq parliament majority: With six of 275 seats yet to be allocated, the Alliance and their present Kurdish coalition partners were also one seat shy of the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution, figures provided by source at the Electoral Commission showed.

U.S. seeking Arab peacekeepers in Iraq: Cheney will raise with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Arab leaders the possibility of dispatching Arab and Islamic troops to Iraq to pave the way for the reduction of American forces.

Murder charge dropped against soldier: The Army has decided to drop a murder charge against one of two soldiers accused in the suffocation death of an Iraqi general during interrogation and will pursue administrative discipline instead, his attorney said Thursday.

Records show Army ended abuse probe early: The Army closed a criminal investigation of abuse allegations by an Iraqi detainee last year, finding no reason to believe his claims, even though no Americans involved in the case were questioned, according to Pentagon records made public Thursday.

New Pentagon Memos Show High-Level Authorization Of Detainee Abuse: "It just confirms that the policies that were adopted at Guantanamo were adopted as a matter of policy and over significant objections, not just within the FBI but within units of the Army,"

Baghdad Burning: Iraqi Girl Blog: I've spent the last two days crying: It is said he lived long enough to talk to police and then he died.

How To Cover a Kidnapping: It isn't that easy.: The Baghdad foreign press corps rallied to the aid of Christian Science Monitor stringer Jill Carroll immediately upon learning that kidnappers had snatched her in the Baghdad neighborhood of Adil on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Ray McGovern : Proof Bush Deceived America: Senior CIA officials had concluded that “the quality of the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction didn’t really matter,” since war was inevitable.

War pimp alert: U.S. president: Iran trying to secretly develop nuclear weapon, wants to destroy Israel : U.S. President George Bush, speaking at a Washington press conference, said: "Iran armed with a nuclear weapon poses a great threat to the security of the world.

US wants Iran punished for asserting its rights: The US says it supports Iran being punished for moving ahead with civil nuclear research and development, because the US claims to know what Iran intends to do with such civil technology

Iran threatens to end all voluntary cooperation if referred to U.N. Security Council : Iran threatened on Friday to block inspections of its nuclear sites if confronted by the U.N. Security Council over its atomic activities. The president reaffirmed his country's intention to produce nuclear energy.

China:Referring Iran To UN Might Toughen Its Nuclear Stand : -China's U.N. ambassador expressed concern Friday that referring Iran to the Security Council might toughen Tehran's position on its nuclear program.

Israeli Air Force Intelligence: Iran beefing up air defenses: The source described the present Iranian air defenses as "good." It is known that Iran has deployed Soviet-origin anti-aircraft systems around the 1000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear reactor.

A Proud Nation Surrounded by Nuclear States : Can there be a military solution to the dispute?

Mike Whitney: The Countdown to War with Iran : We know that the U.S. has developed a new regime of low-yield “usable” nuclear weapons to destroy underground bunkers. We also know that the militarists in the Pentagon have threatened to use nuclear weapons in a “first strike” preemptive attack.

US set to clinch nuclear deal with India: AS WASHINGTON steps up pressure on Iran and North Korea to abandon suspected nuclear weapons programs, US officials are completing a nuclear deal with India that critics says is a threat to non-proliferation efforts.

Palestinian killed in W Bank invasion : A Palestinian was killed and another blew himself up during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank, an Israeli security official has said.

Israeli Occupation Forces Cantonizes W. Bank, Sealing in Palestinians : For a month now, since the second week of December 2005, the Israel Defense Forces has severed the northern part of the West Bank from other sections, and prohibited residents from traveling toward Ramallah and points southward.

Israeli army uprooting olive groves: The Israeli army has been destroying, uprooting and in some cases, stealing Palestinian olive trees in several parts of the West Bank, grove owners and witnesses say.

USA threats after boycott support: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Norway with "serious political consequences" after Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen admitted to supporting a boycott of Israeli goods.

Norwegian: Minister Apology Over Boycott Backing: A senior Norwegian government minister has apologised after she lent her backing to a boycott of Israeli goods.

US Law Unclear if Bush Can Invade Without Congress OK: Alito : Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said US law is unclear as to whether President George W. Bush could launch a military invasion of Iran or Syria without congressional approval

List of Alito “Murder Board” Participants; Includes Lawyers Who Approved Warrantless Surveillance : During this morning’s hearing, Sen. Russ Feingold noted that the same lawyers who created the legal justifications for Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program coached Alito about how to answer questions during the confirmation hearings:

Alito Witness Disappears From List: Report: Name pulled after group dissed nominee

Nato denies misuse of Kosovo camp : Nato has denied that one of its Kosovo detention centres has been used by the US to interrogate militant Islamist suspects under its rendition programme.

'Almost No Governments Are Telling The Truth' About CIA Affair: Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who is investigating the CIA affair for the European Council, believes recent evidence intercepted by Swiss intelligence is an 'additional indicator of the existence of secret prisons.'

Padilla Pleads Not Guilty and Is Ordered Held Without Bail : "He pleads absolutely not guilty to the charges contained in the indictment," Mr. Padilla's lawyer, Michael Caruso, said before Magistrate Judge Barry Garber of the Federal District Court in Miami.

Need a laugh?: We found Padilla's al Qaeda application, U.S. says: Prosecutors said the U.S. government discovered alleged terrorist José Padilla's written application to join al Qaeda

U.S. Seeks to Avoid Detainee Ruling: The Bush administration took the unusual step yesterday of asking the Supreme Court to call off a landmark confrontation over the legality of military trials for terrorism suspects, arguing that a law enacted last month eliminates the court's ability to consider the issue.

The head of the Guantanamo defense team: help wanted: The chief defense counsel for detainees at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says more defense attorneys are needed. Marine Colonel Dwight Sullivan says the prosecution team has 17 members while the defense has only four.

Foreign fighters flood into Afghanistan : The fighters, including Jordanians, Yemenis, Egyptians and Gulf Arabs, stepped up their campaign two months ago with a series of suicide bombings against NATO peacekeepers, United States troops and Afghan government leaders.

Afghanistan: Harsh winter Kills Refugees: A child, a woman and an elderly man froze to death in a camp in the southeastern Paktia province last week, said refugee representative Murad Khan.

SOS for African drought victims: According to the UN food aid agency, preliminary assessments show that those affected include an estimated 2.5 million in Kenya, 1.4 million in Somalia, 1.5 million in Ethiopia and 60,000 in Djibouti.

United States formally prohibits arms sale to Venezuela : The United States government has formally prohibited Spain from selling 12 military planes and eight frigates to Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, because they contain North American technology.

John Perkins: Predictions of an Economic Hit Man: The controversial author explains why Bolivia's new president, Argentina's anti-IMF rebellion and the NYC transit strike are all harbingers of things to come.

Doctors confirm jailed Haiti priest has leukemia: Jean-Juste is widely viewed as the natural successor to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted by an armed revolt in February 2004.

Feds probe Mideast cell phone buys: "Upon the arrival of special agents, and as a result of subsequent interviews, it was discovered that members of the group were linked to suspected terrorist cells stationed within the Metroplex."

Pentagon grilled over database on war critics: Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday asked for answers on an obscure Pentagon agency that included reports on student anti-war protests and other peaceful civilian demonstrations in a database meant to detect terrorist activities.

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide if Police Can Barge in Unannounced : "Forget the ongoing privacy debate over U.S. government spying on telephone conversations--soon you may not have the right to tell cops to wait until you open your door

Newt's New Con : Of all the voices berating the Republican Party for its culture of corruption, none rings more hollow than Newt Gingrich's. According to the Associated Press, the former House Speaker has said he is considering running for President in 2008

Hang in, and Raise Hell: Corrupt politicians think we're morons. It's time to strike back -- with reform, not cheap cynicism.

National ID, State Nightmare : An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver's licenses by 2008 isn't just upsetting civil libertarians and immigration rights activists.

US budget deficit to surge above $400bn: Spending on Gulf Coast reconstruction has led the Bush administration to revise upwards sharply its estimates for the federal budget deficit in 2006, by 17 per cent to $400bn, sparking calls for further spending restraint and adding to concerns about extending tax cuts.

01/12/06

New Army Documents Confirm Black Ops "Special Access Program"

Unit Covered Up Detainee Abuse


Included in the release is the first publicly available government document confirming the existence of a secret “Special Access Program” involving a special ops unit, Task Force 6-26, which has been implicated in numerous detainee abuse incidents in Iraq, and whose operatives used fake names to thwart an Army investigation. Continued

Gag Reflex

By Chris Floyd

This week's revelation of how U.S. doctors are force-feeding captives on hunger strike in Bush's concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay still has the power to shock and sicken -- not just from the savage act itself, but also for the wider moral defeat it represents: another open embrace of raw brutality, another step in America's accelerating plunge into vicious despotism. Continued

NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying On Millions Of Americans

Former Employee Admits to Being a Source for The New York Times

By BRIAN ROSS

He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA programs is used. Continued 

Of The Evil Empire

Imperialist Devastation of Peoples and the Evils Done in our Names

By Manuel Valenzuela

The world burns while we live lives of consumption and production, happy worker bees stuck in hour long commutes working most of our productive lives. We live in peace and harmony at home, distracted from reality by our television screens and movie theatres, by our lavish lifestyles and wasteful society. In the land of the individual the communality of peoples is an alien principle. Content, conformist and passive thanks to our nation of plenty, we care not for peoples outside our borders. Continued

U.S. soldiers killed six insurgents Wednesday in Baghdad: Gunmen killed four people near Mosul on Wednesday, including a former senior member of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party. A roadside bomb also killed two policemen outside Samarra, north of Baghdad. And the U.S. military said seven bodies "with evidence of torture" were found at a sewage plant.

US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer : A senior British officer has criticised the US army for its conduct in Iraq, accusing it of institutional racism, moral righteousness, misplaced optimism, and of being ill-suited to engage in counter-insurgency operations.

'I'm a door kicker-inner,' one young Marine blurted out: “WHY can’t we live together in peace?”, read the graffiti written on a wall in Fallujah by a weary American soldier. Next to it a colleague had scrawled: “Die ragheads die!”

Insurgents and Al Qaeda clash in Iraq : The battle, which the insurgents said was fought on Oct. 23, was one of several clashes between Al Qaeda and local Iraqi guerrilla groups that have broken out in recent months across the Sunni Triangle

Worries grow over reporter: Jill Carroll, 28, who spoke Arabic, was on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor when gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator in western Baghdad.

An Incendiary Threat in Iraq : Iraq's most powerful Shiite politician has just dealt a huge blow to American-backed efforts to avoid civil war through the creation of a new, nationally inclusive constitutional order.

Berlin's Spies Reportedly Helped US: German intelligence agents, were active in Iraq during the entire war and even helped the United States choose bombing targets.

Iraq War “Not Worth Fighting” for 55% of Americans : A majority of adults in the U.S. regret their government’s decision to launch the coalition effort, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 55 per cent of respondents think that, considering the costs versus the benefits to the United States, the war with Iraq was not worth fighting.

Arianna Huffington: Murtha Takes the Fight to Bush -- and Across America: The well-spring of sentiment against the war that he tapped into when he first spoke out in November is still very much alive. He hit a nerve, one that strikes at the heart of the administration's signature policy initiative: the invasion of Iraq.

U.S. law professor : Iraq war is "Pure Evil": Wars, death, destruction, human misery and loss of personal security are all misfortunes that people of good faith try to avoid or lesson among their fellow humans -- but when these misfortunes become pure evil, it is more often than not in the context of planned aggression, such as the American campaign against Iraq.

In case you missed it: The Lie Factory : The inside story of how the Bush administration pushed disinformation and bogus intelligence and led the nation to war.

The yes man and the thug : In his disturbing new book, Times reporter James Risen reveals how George Tenet's gutless surrender to war-obsessed Donald Rumsfeld led to the total breakdown of U.S. intelligence.

The Impeachment of George W. Bush: . People have begun to speak of impeaching President George W. Bush--not in hushed whispers but openly, in newspapers, on the Internet, in ordinary conversations and even in Congress. As a former member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon, I believe they are right to do so.

Khadr quiet, polite in first appearance : Omar Khadr was a tall, subdued and polite presence Wednesday at a U.S. military tribunal where his lawyers berated prosecutors for saying the Canadian teen is a dangerous terrorist who murdered an American medic.

General Asserts Right On Self-Incrimination In Iraq Abuse Cases: Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, a central figure in the U.S. detainee-abuse scandal, this week invoked his right not to incriminate himself in court-martial proceedings against two soldiers accused of using dogs to intimidate captives at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Why the Bush Doctrine Violates the Constitution: When President Bush signed the new law, sponsored by Senator McCain, restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees, he also issued a Presidential signing statement. That statement asserted that his power as Commander-in-Chief gives him the authority to bypass the very law he had just signed.

Bush must honor the rule of law: President Bush has declared himself free to ignore any law that he thinks limits his ability to fight terrorism. This is an extraordinary claim for any president in a country that prides itself on a rule of law binding government officials as well as ordinary citizens.

Proof of CIA Prisons 'Could Create a Firestorm': Swiss newspaper Sonntags Blick claims to have the first hard evidence that Swiss Intelligence intercepted a fax proving that the CIA operated secret prisons in Europe, where al-Qaeda sympathizers were detained and interrogated. Now that word has leaked out, according to this article from France's Le Monde, the 'confusion in Switzerland is palpable.'

Hamas drops call for destruction of Israel from manifesto : The manifesto makes no mention of the destruction of the Jewish state and instead takes a more ambiguous position by saying that Hamas had decided to compete in the elections because it would contribute to "the establishment of an independent state whose capital is Jerusalem".

Israel: U.S. promoting Olmert and Kadima ahead of elections : Labor Party MK Isaac Herzog accused the Bush administration Thursday of intervening in internal Israeli politics and promoting Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Kadima party ahead of the March elections.

Juan Cole: The jailer: Ariel Sharon is lauded for breaking with his hard-line past. But the truth is that he simply embraced a smarter way of locking up the Palestinians.

Sharon's second `big plan': Sharon was very close to the goal he had been aiming to achieve ever since he became an adult: a goal that has nothing to do with peace - to remove the Arab demographic threat unilaterally.

Europeans Say Iran Talks Reach 'Dead End': The British, French and German foreign ministers said Thursday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program had reached a "dead end" and the Islamic republic should be referred to the U.N. Security Council.

US Rice Calls For UN To Demand Iran Stop Nuclear Program : Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, coordinating with European allies, called on Thursday for the United Nations to take up Iran's " defiance" and demand it halt its nuclear program.

Iran says not worried at Security Council referral

Rafsanjani: Iran will break down colonial taboos: "They plan to deprive the Third World countries particularly the Islamic states of nuclear technology, keeping them always some steps behind."

A Test of Wills Between Iran and the West : Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with Fox News, said Wednesday that the United States would seek the adoption of "a resolution that could be enforced by sanctions, were they to fail to comply with it." Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain told the Parliament the same thing, saying that "we have to decide what measures to take and we obviously don't rule out any measures at all."

Let's make sure we do better with Iran than we did with Iraq : The west's next step on Tehran's nuclear plans should be to understand the regime and society, not to start bombing

In case you missed it: Video: “What the World Thinks of America,”: An exhaustive international survey shows conclusively that the planet has a great deal to fear from the people of the United States. By this we mean the majority of the white people of America, a group so alienated from the rest of humanity that they represent a collective threat to the survival of the species.

Bolivia strongly rejects Chávez' remarks: Bolivian Army commander general Marcelo Antezana Thursday replied to Chávez' declarations on Tuesday suggesting that some Bolivian military officers would be involved in a conspiracy against Morales allegedly planned by the US Embassy in La Paz.

Brazil says US wants to block aircraft deal with Venezuela : Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday there appear to be signs of U.S. attempts to block a sale of Brazilian-made military planes to Venezuela

Venezuela's Jews Defend Chavez: The Venezuelan Jewish community leadership and several major American Jewish groups are accusing the Simon Wiesenthal Center of rushing to judgment by charging Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, with making antisemitic remarks.

Judge Alito, in His Own Words : Judge Alito has said some truly disturbing things about his view of the law. In three days of testimony, he has given the American people reasons to be worried - and senators reasons to oppose his nomination....

Judge Samuel Alito and The `Führerprinzip' : Alito's nomination must be decisively defeated in the Senate, or the Supreme Court will fall fatally into the hands of a cabal of outright "Schmittlerian" Nazis, led by Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Alito—all members of the self-avowed "conservative revolutionary" Federalist Society.

GOP Group to Donate Abramoff-Related Funds : The chairman of the Republican Governors Association said his group will donate to charity $500,000 in campaign contributions linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Lobbyists' scandal has a K Street home : Capitol Hill is where Congress sits. The West Wing of the White House is where the president works. And K Street is where the lobbyists are - at least 30,000 of them.

Robert Scheer: Rise and Fall of True Believers : The plumb line that runs down through the cesspool of the festering Abramoff-DeLay scandal is the conceit that the scions of the Reagan Revolution, a generation of young Republican activists summoned by God and party, were morally superior creatures, who had only pure ideological motives for cutting the country's social-safety nets in the name of "small government."

The Crookedness of Congress is Nearing Exposure : A terror stalks the streets of Washington today the like of which has not been seen here since the War of 1812 when the British invaded the city and burned the White House. Jack Abramoff---lobbyist, con man, swindler, keeper of Washington’s buried skeletons---is singing.

George Bush's rough justice : The career of the latest supreme court nominee has been marked by his hatred of liberalism

New Orleans residents given four months to revive neighbourhoods : Residents of the most devastated areas of New Orleans reacted angrily yesterday to a blueprint for rebuilding the city that gives them four months to prove they can bring their neighbourhoods back to life or face the prospect of their homes being turned into parks or marshland.

US opens Alaskan area to oil leases: The U.S. government paved the way on Wednesday for oil drilling in an Alaskan region used by migrating caribou and birds, three weeks after Congress blocked energy development in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

01/11/06

Roadside bomb kills three U.S. soldiers in Iraq : Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb near a U.S. military patrol in the flashpoint city of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding another, one witness said.

Iraqi Politician Issues Warning to Sunnis: The most influential politician in Iraq issued a veiled warning Wednesday to Sunni Arabs that Shiites would not allow substantive amendments to the country's new constitution, including to the provision that keeps the central government weak in favor of strong provincial governments.

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq could intensify: "If we allow that to happen, then in essence we'll be doing the same thing we accused Saddam Hussein of doing," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA and State Department official. "We'll just be substituting one tyranny for another."

Report: Iraq war costs could top $2 trillion: New study takes into account long-term costs of healthcare for wounded soldiers.

US Army its own worst enemy: British officer: A senior British Army officer has written a scathing critique of the US Army and its performance in Iraq, accusing it of cultural ignorance, moralistic self-righteousness, unproductive micromanagement and unwarranted optimism.

Israelis plan pre-emptive strike on Iran : The Israeli raids would be carried out by long-range F-15E bombers and cruise missiles against a dozen key sites and are designed to set Tehran's weapons programme back by up to two years.

Russia Won't Block U.S. on Iran: The Bush administration, working intensely to galvanize international pressure on Iran, has secured a guarantee from Russia that it will not block U.S. efforts to take Tehran's nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council, American and European officials said yesterday.

Blair: 'We don't rule out any measures at all' against Iran: " We have to decide what measures to take and we obviously don't rule out any measures at all," he added.

Israel `can destroy` Iran nukes: The possibility of Israel and the United States acting jointly to destroy Iran`s nuclear facilities has long been discussed in war rooms in Washington and Tel Aviv since word first leaked out that Iran was developing a nuclear program.

Spurious attempt to tie Iran, Iraq to nuclear arms plot bypassed U.S. intelligence channels: Several U.S. and foreign intelligence sources, along with investigators, say an Iranian exile with ties to Iran-Contra peddled a bizarre tale of stolen uranium to governments on both sides of the Atlantic in the spring and summer of 2003

War pimp alert: Syria 'tried to fuel holy war in Iraq against US and Britain': President Bashar al-Assad of Syria secretly incited Iraq's top Shia leader to declare holy war against US and British forces, according to Washington's former administrator in the country.

Well he would say that, wouldn't he?: He blames the worst mistakes of the US occupation of Iraq on (in order): the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon, the White House, the Turks and the British. Anyone but him

Syria In Their Sights : The neocons plan their next “cakewalk.”: The United States is indeed pursuing a hard-edged regime-change strategy for Syria. And it isn’t necessarily going to be a Cold War—in fact, it could well get very hot very soon.

The Bush/Blair legacy: world-wide desillusionment: While before world opinion was able to fool itself into believing that there was an element of decency, ethics, respect for human rights or other aspect of higher moral ground in US/UK policies, the combined effort of Bush and Blair was able to completely remove whatever was left of that illusion.

Docs concealed PM's disease despite disclosure promise : At a press conference held December 26, a week after Sharon's first hospitalization for a minor stroke, doctors reported that Sharon's neurological examination was normal.

How Quickly They Forget the Real Sharon: On the morning of the day Ariel Sharon had his stroke last week, Ha'aretz ran an analysis -- aptly titled "Eating Palestine for Breakfast" -- that captured the real Ariel Sharon. It may be the last honest analysis ever to see the light of day in the mainstream media

Likud ministers say no to Netanyahu's call to quit : The four Likud ministers refused on Wednesday night to accede to party leader Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that they submit their letters of resignation from the government by Thursday.

Abramoff and the Israeli Connection : Washington sleazebag funneled money to Israel's "settler" movement

Amnesty Releases New Gitmo Torture Testimony : Amnesty International released new testimonies alleging the use of torture and ill treatment against prisoners in the U.S. detention center and additional details on several detainee cases.

How the US Press Squelches Bush Impeachment Drive: There are now eight members of Congress who have put their names to a bill calling for a special committee of the House to investigate impeachable crimes by the Bush administration. To date, all of them are Democrats.

New inquest opens into CIA leak: The Federal Prosecutor's Office has announced it will investigate the leak and publication of secret information on alleged CIA prisons in Europe.

CIA Prison Investigator Mulls New Document : The head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe said Tuesday the purported Egyptian government document naming countries where such prisons existed is a new lead which must be followed up.

Video: Secrets of the CIA : An insight into the decisions and strategies that the Central Intelligence Agency has come to regret, including the Bay of Pigs operation and involvement with the Khmer Rouge. - Real Media

Chávez slams U.S. over planes: Venezuela's president told soldiers he will buy jets from Russia or China if the U.S. won't send parts for his country's F-16s.

Bush's Con Jobs: Will the US Need an IMF Bail Out?: President George W. Bush has destroyed America's economy along with America's reputation as a truthful, compassionate, peace-loving nation that values civil liberties and human rights.

Our final goal must be to offer a global new deal : We will be judged on how we deliver the resources to prove that making poverty history was not a passing fashion

55-year term for pot, gun upheld: An appeals court on Monday upheld the 55-year mandatory sentence of a Utah man who carried a firearm while dealing pot, a penalty that had been decried as unconstitutional by dozens of former judges and prosecutors and as unjust by the sentencing judge hims

01/10/06

U.S. can open private mail

U.S. officials can open personal mail arriving from abroad

By Reuters

"Customs and Border Protection is charged with making sure that terrorists and terrorists' weapons don't enter the country," said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the customs agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Continued

Iraq Celebrates Four-Day Festival of Eid : There were no reports of violence in Iraq as of midday Tuesday.

Bremer claims he was used as Iraq ‘fall guy’: A Pentagon spokesman on Monday confirmed that Mr Bremer had sent Mr Rumsfeld a memo based on a report by the Rand Corporation consultancy that recommended 500,000 US troops would be needed to pacify Iraq – far more than were sent. But Mr Bremer’s advice was rejected by military leaders and Mr Rumsfeld.

In case you missed it: So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go? : At the end of the Iraq war, vast sums of money were made available to the US-led provisional authorities, headed by Paul Bremer, to spend on rebuilding the country. By the time Bremer left the post eight months later, $8.8bn of that money had disappeared. Ed Harriman on the extraordinary scandal of Iraq's missing billions

owell admits errors in war: He says lack of troops impeded U.S. success : Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday night in the Twin Cities that he harbors no regrets about the U.S. invasion of Iraq but acknowledged wartime mistakes and warned that Iraq's eventual government might not be as broad-based as American leaders had hoped.

Dahr Jamail : 'Democracy' Brings Bleak Days; Many Iraqis see dismal days ahead in the face of rising violence and the decision by the U.S. administration not to seek any further funds for reconstruction.

Two British men to be tried on charges of leaking alleged Al-Jazeera memo : Two British men were ordered Tuesday to stand trial later this month on charges of leaking a government memo in which U.S. President George W. Bush reportedly discussed bombing the headquarters of the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera.

Abduction of American Reporter in Iraq Blacked Out By U.S. News Outlets : The Monitor revealed that the reporter, Carroll, is a stringer for the paper who has written many stories for the newspaper for about a year, the last four or five months reporting from Iraq.

US sees Iraqi oil production choked for years: Shell's vice-president recently stated that any auction of Iraqi's oilfields was unlikely before 2007," said the EIA report released late in December 2005 and carried on its website

Enough of his excuses: Blair must be impeached over Iraq: The only way parliament can regain the trust of disaffected voters is to admit that it was wrong to support the war

What We Don't Know Can Hurt Us: There is an bill in Congress to investigate Bush for impeachable crimes. Did you know that? If not, maybe you should be asking your local media outlets why you don’t know about it.

Citizen's Tribunal Indicts Bush Administration for War Crimes: An unprecedented series of indictments alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity, in five separate areas, on moral, political, and legal grounds, will be delivered by a citizens' tribunal to President Bush at the front gate of the White House this Tuesday, January 10th.

MoveOn.org Surrenders: We’ve got a war going on and advocacy groups who allegedly oppose it should stand up to it, not pander to those who do.

War crimes tribunals to resume at Guantanamo: U.S. military tribunals convene on Wednesday in the war crimes trials of two Guantanamo prisoners, a Yemeni accused of guarding Osama bin Laden and a Canadian captured in Afghanistan when he was just 15 and charged with murdering an Army medic.

U.S. Defends Prison Camp at Guantanamo: The representatives of the German political parties stand completely behind Merkel and are even sending her to Washington with clear mandate:

Swiss claim proof that CIA ran Europe jails : European investigators looking into allegations of secret CIA-run prisons in Europe said yesterday that an Egyptian government message naming countries where such prisons existed could amount to indirect proof of the claims.

CIA faces new secret jails claim: The CIA kept 23 people in a secret prison in Romania and maintained similar facilities in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia and Kosovo, according to allegations contained in a leaked Swiss intelligence report

Rumsfeld’s Archipelago of Gulags : Focus on Cuban camp obscured far worse activities around the world.

The Rise & Fall of Imperial Democracies: From the Beltway to Bangkok, Moscow to Manila, elected leaders are using the threat of terror to grab more power—and making the threat worse.

Indian States Monitoring Cybercafe Users: The southern Indian state of Kerala will join two other states in requiring cybercafes to record the names and addresses of their customers in an effort to combat online fraud, virus attacks and terrorism, an official said Tuesday.

Iran reopens nuclear research plant: In defiance of protests from the West, Iran says it has removed UN seals at its nuclear facilities and resumed controversial research work.

East Arabs can vote in Jerusalem, but Hamas can't run : Palestinians in East Jerusalem will be able to vote in the upcoming Palestinian Legislative Council elections on January 25, but Hamas candidates will not be able to run in the elections there, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday afternoon.

Ariel Sharon: The Accused : The man who is now Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, sent Lebanese militiamen into the Palestine refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. When they left 36 hours later at least 800 people lay dead after a rampage of murder, torture and rape.

N. Korean Leader Visiting China: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has traveled to China on a rare trip outside his country, a South Korean military intelligence official said Tuesday.

Anti-War Group Has Documents Proving NSA Spied on Them :

Judges request surveillance details: Judges bypassed in domestic wiretap spying program receive secret intelligence briefing

In case you missed it: Alito Defended Wiretap Protections in 1984 Memo: The attorney general should be immune from lawsuits over illegal wiretaps, Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote in a 1984 memorandum as a government lawyer in the Reagan administration.

Thom Hartmann: Challenging Abramoff's "Artificial Aristocracy": That Jack Abramoff exclusively gave his money to conservative Republicans shouldn't surprise us. - To understand why, we have to understand the core conservative governing principle - aristocracy.

Who Got What: Jack Abramoff Lobbying and Political Contributions, 1999 - 2006: Here is a detailed look at Abramoff's lobbying, and political contributions from Abramoff, the tribes that hired him, and SunCruz Casinos, since 1999.

By the Numbers: Lobbying in America : Here are a few quick facts showing the size and scope of this burgeoning Washington, DC industry.

From Big-Time Lobbyist to Object of Derision : Jack Abramoff, former superlobbyist and newly convicted felon, is learning how unpleasant disgrace can be. - Mr. Abramoff's ties to the Republican Party stretch into the executive branch, and he could implicate up to 12 members of Congress, people involved in the case said.

Attorney: $115,000 paid to DeLay's wife fair : Christine DeLay was paid the money during a three-year period by the Alexander Strategy Group, a Washington lobbying firm that is now the object of a criminal probe.

Figuring Out Alito: If the Judiciary Committee really wants to know where Alito stands, they'll raise the specter of Bush v. Gore.

Al Gore really did beat George W. Bush in 2000:

Internal Justice Dept. Document Alleges Drug Trafficking Links, Money Laundering and Conspiracy to Murder

Doctors Without Borders Aid Worker Describes Dire Humanitarian Situation in Southern Sudan:

Why budget fixes can't wait: Rising longevity, healthcare costs, and federal obligations will force a reckoning in the US, experts say.

01/09/06

Scandal of force-fed prisoners

Hunger strikers are tied down and fed through nasal tubes, admits Guantánamo Bay doctor

By David Rose

New details have emerged of how the growing number of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay are being tied down and force-fed through tubes pushed down their nasal passages into their stomachs to keep them alive. They routinely experience bleeding and nausea, according to a sworn statement by the camp's chief doctor. Continued

How Many Iraqis Have Died Since the US Invasion in 2003?

30,000? No. 100,000? No.

By ANDREW COCKBURN

President Bush's off-hand summation last month of the number of Iraqis who have so far died as a result of our invasion and occupation as "30,000, more or less" was quite certainly an under-estimate. The true number is probably hitting around 180,000 by now, with a possibility, as we shall see, that it has reached as high as half a million. Continued

Scott Ritter, "We don't get it that wrong"

Scott Ritter speaking at the Commonwealth Club

George W. Bush was not the originator of the policy that led to the invasion of Iraq. He inherited from the administration of Bill Clinton, a policy of regime change. Listen here.

Like arsenic in the water supply, lobbyists have poisoned Washington

Both Democrats and Republicans have got rich off the millions that flow to those in power, leaving the poor sidelined

By Gary Younge

Court papers reveal that this key financier of the Bush administration's high-minded agenda of moral piety is a foul-mouthed, greedy bigot. In intercepted emails, he refers to his Native American clients - whom he played off against each other for millions of dollars which he then used to pamper politicians - as "morons", "monkeys", "fucking troglodytes" and "losers".  Continued

Suicide bombers kill 28 at Iraqi ministry: Two suicide bombers dressed as senior police officers blew themselves up inside the Iraqi Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad on Monday, killing 28 people and wounding 25 as officials marked National Police Day.

Five Bodies Found In Baghdad: Gunmen also killed an Iraqi intelligence officer in western Baghdad

Three Marines Killed In Fallujah: Three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks while conducting combat operations against the enemy in Fallujah Jan 8.

Iraqi Judge Killed In Kirkuk: An Iraqi judge responsible for investigating terrorist-related crimes was killed as he left for work in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said

US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist : American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

MPs leaked Bush plan to hit al-Jazeera : Two Labour MPs have defied the Official Secrets Act by passing on the contents of a secret British document revealing how President George Bush wanted to bomb the Arabic TV station, al-Jazeera.

Iraqi widows feel lost in land that cannot provide: Behind the daily bloodshed and attacks that make headlines across the world, there is a growing population of widows.

raqi widows feel lost in land that cannot provide: Behind the daily bloodshed and attacks that make headlines across the world, there is a growing population of widows.

Bush has planned exit strategy: “Once we set up a friend as the head of Iraq, the new Iraqi president is going to ask the American military to withdraw,” U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, said Friday in a telephone interview from his home.

U.S. Kills Eight Civilians Including Women and Children In Pakistan: “The helicopter fired one missile, which completely destroyed the house,” said another official source.

Pakistan protests to U.S. over incident: Pakistan has protested to the U.S. military in Afghanistan over firing at a Pakistani village near the Afghan border that killed eight people, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Taliban's Omar calls for jihad against U.S: "The United States has forcibly occupied the real and financial resources of the Muslim world so jihad has become obligatory for Muslims in light of the Holy Koran." he was quoted as saying.

U.S. Warns the Netherlands : A decision not to send more troops in Afghanistan would be damaging for Dutch interests in the US, former American diplomat Paul Bremer III warned on Monday.

15-Year-Old Combatant to Face Guantanamo Trial Three Years Later : Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, faces imminent trial by military commission at Guantanamo Bay for war crimes he had allegedly committed at the age of 15, his lawyers say.

War pimp alert: An Attack on Iran is Inevitable: A military confrontation with Iran is inevitable. Israel will need to destroy as much of Iran’s nuclear weapons capability as possible. If it does not, Iran’s ayatollahs will launch nuclear-armed ballistic missiles at Israel.

Russia hopes Iran nuclear dispute not to trigger war: Russia has been resisting calls from the United States and the European Union to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions

Plane crash kills Iran commander : A small military passenger jet crashed in northwestern Iran today, killing the commander of the ground forces of the elite Revolutionary Guards. It was the second time in two months that a military plane has crashed in Iran.

Palestinians Won’t Miss Sharon: Palestinians are not weeping for “the butcher of Beirut,” Ariel Sharon, as he battles for his life. One of the world’s most ruthless leaders

U.S. Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact : A Conservative Total for U.S. Aid to Israel: $91 Billion—and Counting

Losing the War on Terrorism: It is impossible to exaggerate the damage caused by the President's improvident decisions. Yes, these tactics are immoral. Yes, they violate American norms and values. Yes, they are in many respects illegal. All this, by itself, is enough to warrant condemnation by Congress and the public.

Belafonte Calls Bush 'Greatest Terrorist' : The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Bolivia's Morales makes China overture: Bolivia's president elect invited energy-hungry China on Sunday to help develop his country's vast gas reserves after his government carries out plans to nationalize them.

Prof, Wife Accused of Being Cuban Agents : A college professor and his wife, a college administrator, have been charged with being longtime illegal agents of Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to documents filed Monday.

Frank Rich : The Wiretappers That Couldn't Shoot Straight : The louder the reports of failures on this president's watch, the louder he tries to drown them out by boasting that he has done everything "within the law" to keep America safe and by implying that his critics are unpatriotic, if not outright treasonous.

Angry and Furious at the Collaborationist Democrats: Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, and Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, a man known for some sensitivity to civil liberties infringements, and a substantial number of congressmen, plus the New York Times, all knew of Bush's illegal spying.

Specter Seeks AG's Testimony on Spying : The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify publicly on the legality of warantless eavesdropping on telephone conversations between suspected terrorists and people in the United States.

The NSA Spy Engine - Echelon : A top-secret program code-named Tempest, is capable of reading computer monitors, cash registers and automatic teller machines from as far away as a half-mile and is being used to keep a close eye on an untold number of American citizens, the sources said, pointing to a little known declassified document that sheds light on the program.

Cracks in an evil edifice : America's monstrous system of commercial political lobbying has long needed to be cut down to size. In Washington, more than 35,000 professional lobbyists now spend at least $5bn every year trying to influence the votes of members of the US Congress.

A Donor Who Had Big Allies: In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions.

Joe Conason: Let us prey: Jack Abramoff and his deeply religious right-wing cronies express their "biblical worldview" by swindling Indian tribes and bribing legislators. Verily, mysterious are the ways of the Lord.

Jack Abramoff's, former firm takes survival course : Lawyers for the firm represented George W. Bush in the weeks after the disputed 2000 election. Its partnership ranks include high-powered lawyers like John Scalia, the son of Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court.

In case you missed it: Controversial lobbyist had close contact with Bush team: In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies

The Case Against Alito : There's reason to think that Alito's views on executive power are the main reasons Bush wants him on the Court.

China’s Stranglehold on the Dollar : China’s action signals that we are entering a period of economic instability, where America’s future is largely in the hands of its creditors. Economic policy in China will now determine the interest rates on mortgages in America.

U.S. firms ducking out of promises made on pensions : The death knell for the traditional company pension has been tolling for some time now in the United States. Companies in ailing industries like steel, airlines and auto parts have thrown themselves into bankruptcy and turned over their ruined pension plans to Washington.

01/08/06

Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children

By Philip Watts

John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody – including by crushing that child’s testicles. Continued

Swiss may have known about secret CIA prisons

By Scott Capper

The Swiss intelligence community has allegedly been aware of secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe for nearly two months according to leaked documents. Continued

Army Won't Try Officer in Afghan Abuse Case

The U.S. Army has dropped its case against the only officer to face criminal charges in connection with the beating deaths of two prisoners held by the U.S. in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said Saturday. Continued

The Economic Costs Of The Iraq War:
 
 Linda Bilmes
 Kennedy School, Harvard University
 And
 Joseph E. Stiglitz
 University Professor, Columbia University
 
 We estimate that the total economic costs of the war, including direct costs and macroeconomic costs, lie between $1 and $2 trillion. Continued

The 'Fin de Regime'?

An out-of-touch George Bush now presides over a lost foreign war and a morass of influence peddling

By Eric Margolis

China's Taoists philosophers warned that you become what you hate. We see this paradox in Washington, where the current administration increasingly reminds one of the old Soviet Union. Continued

Marines died short of armor

By Michael Moss

A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials. Continued

US helicopter "crash" kills12: The UH-60 Blackhawk came down just before midnight on Saturday, some 12km (seven miles) east of the town of Talafar, seen as a rebel stronghold

Three Marines killed in Fallujah : Three Marines assigned to Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), were killed by small-arms fire in separate attacks .

Marine killed by IED near Ferris : His vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against the enemy near Ferris, Jan 7.

Marine killed by IED near Al Karmah : His vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against the enemy near Al Karmah Jan 7.

Two civilians killed in Kirkuk: Two civilians were killed and two wounded when gunmen opened fire from their car at a crowd in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police sources said.

Two killed in suicide car bomb attack in Baghdad : A suicide car bomb struck a convoy of security officials in southern Baghdad on Sunday, killing two of them and wounding five others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

Policeman killed in gunmen attack in western Baghdad : Unidentified gunmen attacked police patrols in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing one policeman and wounding 13 others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

U.S. troops raid Sunni clerics' Iraq office: In one room, cupboards used to store the shoes of those attending prayers had what appeared to be Christian crosses scrawled on them. Other footage showed papers strewn on office floors and windows smashed.

Kurds nominate Talabani for Iraqi presidency: Political sources say that Iraq's other main parties are unlikely to try to block the Kurdish nomination.

Sheehan Urge Supporters to Take Action : Activist Cindy Sheehan told supporters at a peace forum Saturday that troops would get out of Iraq if millions of U.S. citizens took the simple step that she did outside President Bush's vacation home last summer.

Stirling Newberry: "Got Impeachment?": Within the Democratic Party there is an argument over whether support for impeachment will marginalize the party. It will not, but it has to be handled the right way.

Top armyman wants Blair impeached: A leading British Army officer believes Prime Minister Tony Blair should be impeached for his role in the war in Iraq, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: The Real Choice in Iraq: The requisite first step to that end is for the president to break out of his political cocoon. His policymaking and his speeches are the products of the true believers around him who are largely responsible for the mess in Iraq.

Merkel says Guantanamo should be shut :: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview published days before her first visit to the United States, said Washington should close its Guantanamo Bay prison camp and find other ways of dealing with terror suspects.

US may move some Guantanamo inmates to Afghanistan : The U.S. government has chosen the site of a former Soviet-era prison near the capital, Kabul, to house the prisoners, the British newspaper reported

US accused of backing kidnappers of Iranian soldiers : Iran said on Saturday that kidnappers who had taken nine Iranian border guards as hostage in the eastern parts of the country were linked to the Taliban and supported by the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran's nuclear ambitions pose the next big test: Israel's acting leader has already been briefed on plans to strike at atomic facilities

War pimp alert: Iran rejection of nuclear deal becoming clear: Rice: Rice said she hoped "diplomacy has not been exhausted," but added that it was "becoming clearer" Iranians are not accepting a diplomatic compromise that constrains their nuclear ambitions.

Iran to remove UN seals at atomic research sites: Iran said yesterday it was preparing to remove UN seals at some nuclear research and development sites, despite strong Western opposition to its decision to resume atomic research halted over two years ago.

War pimp alert: UK cleared nuclear cargo to Iran : Defence experts demand tightening of export regulations on potential weapon materials

Bullying Iran is not an option : Before Western leaders seek sanctions against Iran, they should put their own houses in order on nuclear weapons and nuclear power

Iran's peaceful nuclear activities cannot be prevented by 'doubt creating' policy : Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Afro-Arab affairs Mohammad-Reza Baqeri said here Sunday that by raising doubts (about Iran's nuclear program), Western nations cannot prevent Iran's peaceful nuclear activities which are in line with international rules and regulations.

'He is the King Kong of massacres' : Hamad Shamus remembers the morning in September 1982 when the right-wing Lebanese forces and their Israeli advisers sealed the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps on the outskirts of Beirut and began to massacre the Palestinians inside.

Aid to Israel is Out of Hand: We should save our hard-earned tax dollars to support that peace, not the entrenchment of Israeli colonialism, and the future of conflict and violence it guarantees.

Canada and Australia close embassies in Jordan : AMMAN: The Canadian and Australian embassy in Jordan today shut their doors to the public because of an undisclosed security threat a day after Britain closed its embassy in Amman for the same reason, diplomats said.

Bush announces radical shift in foreign policy; No U.S. media report it: Buried in the UK's Financial Times - and as far as I can tell, not reported anywhere else - are the details of a State Department briefing this week in which the Bush administration very publicly said it is essentially scrapping U.S. support for NATO and the United Nations. No joke.

Headlines Continued Here

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