New Orleans to Raze Public Housing: Public
housing officials decided Thursday to proceed with the
demolition of more than 4,500 government apartments here,
brushing aside an outcry from residents displaced by Hurricane
Katrina who said the move was intended to reduce the ability of
poor black people to repopulate the city.
In case you missed it:
37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty : More
than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap
between the haves and have-nots is widening
12/08/06
Honesty in Iraq
By David Swanson
How often do we hear the voices of Iraqis in American
journalism? How many of us know their stories? We've killed
650,000 of them, measured as excess deaths above the level of
deaths our sanctions were causing each year before the war.
Since the Spring of 2004 most Iraqis have viewed America as
their primary enemy. But what do we know about their lives?
Continue
The Spirit of Democracy in Venezuela
By Stephen Lendman
They gathered in the late evening pouring rain dressed in their
signature red T-shirts and caps, waving Venezuela flags and
shouting "Uh, ah, Chavez no se va" - "Uh, ah, Chavez will not
go." It continued all night in the celebratory streets of
Caracas echoing Chavez's words repeating "Libertad (liberty) and
telling the crowd this was a victory for them, for socialism and
for the Bolivarian Revolution he now wants to advance to the
next stage.
Continue
Constitution Takes New Hit from Senators at Gates
Hearing
By Ray McGovern
Tuesday’s charade at the Senate Armed Forces Committee
included repeated allusion to the biblical injunction to “speak
truth to power.” This has never been Robert Gates’ forte.
Rather, his modus operandi has always been to ingratiate himself
with the one with the power, and then recite—or write memos
setting forth—what he believes that person would like to hear.
Continue
Never Mind The Taliban
Video - Unreported World - Channel 4
Five years after the fall of the Taliban, western intervention
has produced a mafia-style state. Reporter Kate Clark and
director Tom Porter discover a fractured country and an economy
dominated by the drugs trade.
Real Video
32 Civilians
Including 'Children Killed' In US Iraq Attack:
Six children and eight women are among at least 32
people killed in a US air raid northwest of Baghdad, according
to Iraqi police and local officials.
23 killed in occupied Iraq; 35 bodies found:
Iraqi military chief vows house-to-house search in Baghdad to
find weapons
Two more U.S. soldiers killed in western Iraq:
The U.S. military said on Friday that two more U.S. soldiers
have been killed in the volatile Anbar province.
U.S. troops suffer heavy losses this month in Iraq:
At least 32 U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, according
to the Defense Department. Eleven died Wednesdayt. Another
soldier wounded Wednesday died Thursday, the military said.
Generals say plans won't work in field :
Pentagon generals believe that the Iraq Study Group's military
recommendations are unrealistic.
Kurds reject Iraq report : The Iraq Study
Group's report on the situation in Iraq has received a strong
rebuke from the leader of the northern Kurdish region of the
country.
Bush 'must adopt all Iraq plan': The main
authors of the report that aims to change US strategy in Iraq
have urged President George Bush to follow all of their
recommendations.
A Turning Point for a Panel: 4 Harrowing Days in Iraq
: For some members of the Iraq Study Group, the
turning point came during four days in Baghdad in September.
They found the trip so harrowing, they said, that they wondered
if they could afford to wait to speak out about the disaster in
Iraq.
Iraq violence could lead to regional war -Annan:
"The prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict
have become much more real" since the secretary-general's last
report, issued three months ago, Annan said. "Therefore, the
challenge is not only to contain and defuse the current violence
but also to prevent escalation."
650,000 Dead Iraqis - : In a bipartisan
Congressional briefing hosted by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich
(D-OH) and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) the authors of the Lancet
Study, which found that as many as 650,000 Iraqi civilians have
been killed during the war, will present their full findings to
Congress.
The neocons have finished what the
Vietcong started: Vietnam
traumatised the US but left its power intact; Iraq, however,
will be far more serious for the superpower
'Friendly fire' from US aircraft may have killed Royal
Marine: A SCOTTISH-based Royal Marine who died
during a battle with the Taleban in Afghanistan may have been
killed by United States forces, according to accounts by
military eyewitnesses
Gideon Levy:
The last casualty?: The numbers don't lie.
They never do. In the past month, the number of Palestinians
killed by Israeli forces was 45 times greater than the number of
Israelis killed by Palestinians.
Israeli soldiers shoot child playing with toy gun:
Israel soldiers opened fire on a group of children playing with
a plastic rifle in the Aydah refugee camp.
US bill meant to twist Hamas's arm: The
House of Representatives gave final passage Thursday to a bill
aimed at forcing the Palestinians' ruling Hamas government to
accept Israel and join negotiations toward a Palestinian state
in formerly Israeli-occupied territory.
Haniya vows not to recognise Israel : "The
Zionists ... want us to recognise the usurpation of our land ...
but these things will never happen.
Analysis: Olmert rules out talks with Syria:
Over the past three years Syrian President Bashar Assad
repeatedly called for peace talks. Some Israelis want their
government to do so, too.
Gilad Atzmon: The politics of anti-Semitism
- : Zionism is racism and Zionist ideologists are by
definition racist to the bone
Lebanese PM accuses Hezbollah of plotting coup:
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused the pro-Syrian
Hezbollah party of plotting a coup against him on Friday,
escalating the war of words between the Western-backed
government and opposition forces.
Lebanon's army denies receiving PM's order to disarm
Hezbollah: The Lebanese Army said on Friday that it
had not received orders from Prime Minister Fouad Seniora to
confiscate arms of Hezbollah as the group's chief charged in a
speech Thursday.
Analysts: U.S. at root of effort to topple Lebanese
government: American political leaders watched with
alarm during the past week as the Hezbollah militia laid siege
to the U.S.-backed Lebanese government, but few would
acknowledge publicly what most analysts and politicians here say
is obvious: American policy may bear much of the blame.
'Heavy fighting' in Somali town: Somali government
fighters, backed up by Ethiopian troops, have attacked Islamist
positions sparking heavy fighting, an Islamist leader says.
In pictures:
Was Jose Padilla Tortured?: A video of the
accused "terrorist" shows he was subjected to unduly harsh
treatment, his lawyers claim, leaving him psychologically
damaged and unfit to stand trial
U.S. asks judge to bar testimony about Padilla military
custody: Federal prosecutors asked a judge Thursday
to prevent terror suspect Jose Padilla's defense lawyers from
questioning Defense Department officials or obtaining documents
about Padilla's treatment during 3 1/2 years in military custody
as an "enemy combatant."
Rumsfeld faces personal suit by detainees:
The case is an attempt to have U.S. officials held accountable
for alleged abuse of Iraqi and Afghan civilians who were never
held as enemy combatants or charged with any crime.
Rumsfeld Wants Torture Case Dismissed:
Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is asking a
federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that would hold him
personally responsible for allegations of torture in oversees
military prisons.
New Guantanamo prison condemned : Human
Rights Watch has renewed its calls for the Guantanamo Bay
detention facility to be shut down as inmates were being moved
to a new maximum-security jail there.
'Dirty
War' extradition approved: A Uruguayan judge has
approved the extradition to Argentina of six former military and
police officers to face trial on human rights charges.
Kyrgyzstan's president wants to revoke U.S. troops'
immunity: President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Thursday
called for U.S. troops deployed in the former Soviet nation to
be stripped of diplomatic immunity after a U.S. serviceman
fatally shot a Kyrgyz civilian.
Ex-KGB spy 'was poisoned in hotel': All
seven bar staff working at the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel
that night have tested positive for polonium-210, the
radioactive isotope that killed Litvinenko. Health authorities
are trying urgently to contact the 250 customers using the busy
bar on November 1.
Fannie Mae Final Tally: $6.3 Billion Overstated:
It took an army of accountants two years and more than
$1.4 billion to quantify the mess, but Fannie Mae yesterday
issued the final tally of its accounting errors, saying it
overstated past profits by $6.3 billion.
U.S. Criminal Probe Rattles $2 Trillion Municipal Bond
Market: U.S. Justice Department prosecutors
subpoenaed more than a dozen banks and insurers three weeks ago,
seizing documents from three brokers in a search for evidence of
bid rigging. Lawyers say it's the biggest criminal investigation
of the almost 200- year-old market, where municipalities have
more than $2 trillion of debt outstanding.
$8bn spent a month leaves no money to clean toilets:
During a recent visit to a military family centre at Fort Hood
in Texas, Joyce Raezer was dismayed to find a sign in a stall in
the ladies' room. It asked women to clean up because janitorial
service had been cut back.
Impact of police being sent to Iraq felt on street:
The deployment of thousands of police officers to Iraq,
Afghanistan and other military reserve posts is costing local
law enforcement agencies up to $1.2 billion per year, according
to a new analysis of Justice Department data.
October construction activity plunges:
Construction activity in October plunged by the largest amount
since the recession in 2001 as home building fell for a record
seventh consecutive month
US subprime loans face trouble: The failure
of a small Californian mortgage lender on Thursrday increased
nervousness in the credit derivatives market about the large
number of US "subprime" mortgages extended this year.
Top-Level Insiders Selling Their Stock:
America's corporate chiefs are unloading their own stocks at one
of the boldest paces in 20 years.
Productivity growth slows sharply while factory orders
plunge: Growth in worker productivity slowed
sharply in the summer while wages and benefits rose at a rate
that was far below a previous estimate, a development likely to
ease inflation worries at the Federal Reserve.
Suburban poverty on the rise as more settle outside
cities: The suburban poor outnumbered their
inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more
than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according
to a study of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas
released Thursday.
12/07/06
Panel: U.S. Lied About Level Of Violence In Iraq
By ROBERT BURNS
U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically
underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush
administration's policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group
said.
Continue
Setting the limits of invasion journalism
By John Pilger
On 14 November, Bridget Ash wrote to the BBC’s Today
programme asking why the invasion of Iraq was described merely
as “a conflict”. She could not recall other bloody invasions
reduced to “a conflict”. She received this reply:
Continue
In case you missed it:
Orwell Rolls in His Grave
Video
"Could a media system, controlled by a few global
corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices,
be able to turn lies into truth?..."
Click to view
The Roman Empire is falling - so it turns to Iran and
Syria
By Robert Fisk
The Roman Empire is falling. That, in a phrase, is what
the Baker report says. The legions cannot impose their rule on
Mesopotamia.
Continue
Catastrophe Still Awaits
By Paul Craig Roberts
What will be the U.S. government's response to the lost
war and the terrible calamity that Bush has created in Iraq?
Continue
Hey, We Got Beat Fair and Square
By Mike Whitney
There’s plenty of gloom and doom in the report, but its
all window-dressing. We’re not pulling-out. Heck no! Baker just
wants to reduce troop levels to patch up the army and bolster
public support for the next big bloodbath.
Continue
Oil for Sale: Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization
By Antonia Juhasz
The oil companies are trying to get what they were denied before
the war or at anytime in modern Iraqi history: access to Iraq's
oil under the ground. They are also trying to get the best deal
possible out of a war-ravaged and occupied nation.
Continue
Why We're At War? : George Bush Is Not The Problem
This Is A Must watch Video
John Perkins, author of "An Economic Hitman" blows the lid of
U.S. imperiliasm and provides the reasons as to why we are at
war in the Middle East and describes the efforts of the
corporatocracy in Central and South America.
Click to view
Flirting With Fascism on CNN Headline News:
By Fair.org
Host Glenn Beck threatens Muslims with
concentration camps.
Continue
At least 17 killed in occupied Iraq:
Police found three bodies, with gunshot wounds and
signs of torture, in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles)
south of Baghdad, police said
11 U.S. occupation troops killed in one day in Iraq:
The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq
rose to 11 today when the military confirmed that another
soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.
Warning over spiralling Iraq refugee crisis:
The surging violence in Iraq has created what is becoming the
biggest refugee crisis in the world, a humanitarian group said
today.
Iraqis Say Report Offers Little Hope : "I
think this report was written in the first place to generate
agreement among the Americans themselves and to find cooperation
between the Democrats and the Republicans in order to achieve
U.S. interests," Mahmoud Othman said. "The absence of an Iraqi
representative on the panel is a shortcoming."
Only six fluent in Arabic at US Iraq embassy-panel:
Among the 1,000 people who work in the U.S. Embassy in Iraq,
only 33 are Arabic speakers and only six speak the language
fluently, according to the Iraq Study Group report released on
Wednesday.
Patrick Cockburn: Cautious words conceal the true
savagery of life in Iraq : The cautious words of
the Baker-Hamilton report stand in sharp contrast to the
savagery and terror that dominate everyday life in Baghdad. Many
of the terrible disasters it fears may occur in future are in
fact already happening.
A damning indictment of a President and his policy:
A more devastating indictment of the strategy of a sitting
American president could not be imagined. The cross-party Iraq
Study Group's recommendations on future US policy in that
blighted country were made public yesterday. Gone are the
illusions of "progress" and "victory" peddled by George Bush
White House rules out one-on-one talks with Iran:
The White House on Wednesday said it has ruled out one-on-one
talks with Iran about Iraq unless Tehran suspends nuclear
activities, after the Iraq Study Group recommended more
engagement with the Islamic republic.
Olmert rejects Syria talks : Ehud Olmert,
the Israeli prime minister, has said he has no intention of
opening peace talks with Syria, despite the recommendations of a
top-level US panel.
Nasrallah to address Beirut protest :
Demonstrators have now been on the streets of the capital,
Beirut, for seven days and another massive rally has been
arranged for Sunday.
UN: Palestinians need record aid: UN aid
groups are asking for a record $450 million in aid next year to
combat a deepening Palestinian humanitarian crisis.
Israelis piqued by Gates nuclear "confirmation":
Robert Gates, the incoming U.S. secretary of defense, won
plaudits in Washington this week for his candour on the Iraq
war. Some Israelis were less pleased, however, to hear Gates
mention with equal frankness what U.S. administrations have long
avoided saying in public -- that the Jewish state has the Middle
East's only nuclear arsenal.
Iran blasts Israel's new ministry targeting its nuclear
issue : Iran's parliament chief on Wednesday
criticized the latest decision of the Israeli government to
create a new ministry that deals mainly with Tehran's nuclear
issue, the official IRNA news agency reported
Suicide bomber hits NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan,
civilians killed : A suicide car bomber attacked a
NATO convoy Thursday in southern Afghanistan, killing and
wounding Afghan civilians in the seventh suicide attack in the
area in less than two weeks, officials said
Afghan Torture Allegations Upset Denmark :
A documentary called “The Secret War” has revealed that a group
of 31 Taliban militants were tortured in Kandahar in the custody
of U.S. soldiers after they had been captured in 2002 by Danish
troops serving as part of the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
In case you missed it:
CIA acknowledges Bush signed secret directive on
interrogating terror suspect : "a directive signed
by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up
detention facilities outside the United States and outlining
interrogation methods that may be used against detainees," the
civil liberties union said, based on its review of published
accounts.
U.S. indicts Taylor's son for torture: The
U.S. Justice Department Wednesday indicted the son of former
Liberian President Charles Taylor for torture, the first such
prosecution in U.S. history.
Stephen Lendman : The End
of the Bush Dynasty : The modern-era Bush family
dynasty goes back four generations and was connected to the
military-industrial complex of its day during and after WW I
much like the most recent two Bush generations are to the
present one.
British cops quiz Russians Poison traces in embassy:
POLICE probing the death of Alexander Litvinenko yesterday
revealed he WAS murdered - as traces of the poison that killed
him were found in our Moscow embassy.
Bolivia's president signs into law contracts
nationalizing natural gas: President Evo Morales
signed into law Sunday contracts that give the government
control over the operations of foreign energy companies,
completing a process begun May 1 with the nationalization of
Bolivia's petroleum industry.
Ecuador Correa Rejects US Bill Limiting Trade
Preferences : Ecuadorean President-elect Rafael
Correa on Thursday rejected a U.S. bill that would renew trade
preferences for the Andean countries of Peru and Colombia, but
not Ecuador and Bolivia.
Islamic Courts snubs UN resolution : The
Union of Islamic Courts executive council in Somalia has
rejected a UN resolution that authorises a regional force to
support the interim Somali government.
Amy Goodman: It's Bigotry That
Should Be Silenced : Racial profiling does not
make us safer. It simply alienates and marginalizes whole
populations. Whether it is African Americans driving while
black, or Muslims trying to fly home.
Warming threatens sea life: In a "sneak
peak" revealing a grim side effect of future warmer seas, new
NASA satellite data found that the vital base of the ocean food
web shrank as the world's seas got warmer.
Exxon Spends Millions to Cast Doubt on Warming
: The world's largest energy company is still spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund European organisations
that seek to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on global
warming and undermine support for legislation to curb emission
of greenhouse gases.
Tax break bill may open Gulf drilling: An
agreement on a tax package Thursday moved Congress closer to
opening a vast area in the Gulf of Mexico, 125 miles south of
Florida's panhandle, to oil and gas drilling.
12/06/06
Goodness Gracious! The Truth!
By Maureen Dowd
First Junior took over the house with grandiose plans to remodel
it and make it the envy of the neighborhood. But then he played
with matches and set the house on fire. So now he’s frantically
trying to stop the flames from torching the whole block.
Continue
Al-Jazeera And The Truth
By Charley Reese
You don't need an electronic bug in the offices of the
American Israeli Public Affairs Committee to know that AIPAC and
the Bush administration are putting pressure on the distributors
to shun Al-Jazeera. Denying Americans their First Amendment
right to the truth, in regard to Israel, is always Job One with
AIPAC.
Continue
No More Victims!
Its time we did something to help repair the
broken bodies of children who have been injured by U.S. bombs
and bullets. Our government has spent hundreds of billions to
destroy Iraq and hundreds of thousands of children have been
injured.
Watch this 15 minute video and discover how
you can help restore an injured Iraqi child to health.
Click here
to view
Fine Print in Defense Bill Opens Door to Martial Law
By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor
It’s amazing what you can find if you turn over a few rocks
in the anti-terrorism legislation Congress approved during the
election season.
Continue
Becoming what we
despise?
By Robert Scheer
An examining psychiatrist wrote that "as the result of his
experience during his detention and interrogation, Mr. Padilla
does not appreciate the nature and consequences of the
proceedings against him, is unable to render assistance to
counsel and has impairments in reasoning as the result of a
mental illness ... complicated by the neuropsychiatric effects
of prolonged isolation."
Continue
Congresswoman Calls For The Assassination Of Cuban
President
30 Second Video
Click here to view
At least 28 killed in another day of U.S occupation:
Mortar rounds fell on a busy commercial district of
central Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 54, police said.
Ten US troops killed in Iraq today : Ten US
troops were killed today in Iraq in four separate incidents
Study Group says administration's policy has led to
chaos in Iraq: President Bush's
policy in Iraq "is not working," a high-level commission said
bluntly on Wednesday, prodding the administration to use
diplomacy to stabilize the country and allow withdrawal of most
American combat troops by early 2008.
Iraq war costs could top $1 trillion: The
Democratic co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group said on Wednesday
that America's ability to resolve the crisis in Iraq is
narrowing and the costs could rise to more than $1 trillion
Full Text: Iraq Study Group Report:
[PDF] "We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution; in our
opinion, that approach is no longer viable." James A. Baker III,
co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group.
Why the Baker Report Leaves Iraqis Cold:
Nobody living in this country needs a high-powered bipartisan
Washington committee to tell them that (a) the situation is
"grave and dangerous"; (b) there's no "magic bullet" solution;
(c) talking to Iran and Syria is the smart thing to do; and (d)
the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki isn't up to
scratch.
New Pelosi Appointee Wants More Troops In Iraq:
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of
20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to
?dismantle the militias.?
5 Afghans, 2 Americans killed as bomber hits "security
contractors" : The bomber struck as the victims
exited the Kandahar offices of the Houston-based U.S. Protection
and Investigations security company, said Rohullah Khan, a
company official. Three other people were wounded, he said.
Taliban force British occupation forces to retreat
: British Marines attacked a Taliban-held valley in
southern Afghanistan on Tuesday but withdrew after a ferocious
counterattack that withstood repeated airstrikes and artillery
fire.
The Taliban Gets Closer to Kabul: A report
from the German military, the Bundeswehr, warns that the Taliban
is approaching Kabul and that attacks on the capital city are
likely to increase. Security in nearby districts is already
deteriorating.
Journalists Release Guantanamo
Bay Report: Titled "Broken Chains of Guantanamo",
the volume describes the extreme physical and mental torture to
which the inmates -- mostly suspected Taliban and their allies
who were picked up from Afghanistan or Pakistan -- were
subjected to.
Rice's Iran Strategy Fizzles, Cheney Waits in Wings:
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's months-long
diplomatic effort to get five other powers to agree to a tough
United Nations Security Council resolution on sanctions against
Iran now seems certain to fail, because of Russian and Chinese
resistance.
'Alternative Nobel' winner says U.S. attack on Iran
likely before 2008n: Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked
secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam war, said Wednesday
that he believed the U.S. would attack Iran before 2008 and
urged Washington insiders to make new disclosures to prevent a
new war.
Video: Dr. Javad Zarif,
Iranian Ambassador to the UN: Mr. Javad Zarif,
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, in a presentation to
students at Princeton University. In his talk, Mr. Zarif looks
to clarify various widely held misconceptions about his country
and its policies.
Euro Faces Huge Change If Others Follow Iran:
``It's something to keep a very close eye on because if''
other oil exporters ``were to shift from dollars to euros as
they invoice oil receipts changes, it improves the euro's value
as money.
Revenge of the Euro: Forget the U.S. dollar. Up,
down—who cares? If America catches a cold, Europe
barely sniffles.
Saniora appeals to protesters in Lebanon:
The Maronite Catholic Church called for parliament to convene to
settle the political crisis, proposing the formation of a new
government as a way out of the deadlock.
US Seeks To Isolate Hezbollah Supporters In South
America : The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday
sought to isolate nine people and two commercial enterprises in
South America for allegedly supporting Hezbollah, the armed
Lebanese faction the U.S. government considers a terrorist
group.
Israel
plans to destroys 42,000 homes of Palestinian Bedouins
: The Israeli interior minister, Roni Bar-On, declared that his
ministry has planned the demolition of more than 42,000 homes of
Palestinian Bedouins that were built even before 1948 when
Israel was proclaimed.
What Is It Like To Have
Your Home Demolished: 8 Minute Video: Israeli
Occupation Forces Demolish Palestinian Homes
"Bin Laden Will Be Back":
Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer , "We think bin Laden and al
Qaeda are gangsters, that nobody could possibly like them
because they flew aircraft into our buildings. But the truth of
the matter is that people hate us much more than bin Laden.
Russia demands the handover of Putin's critics in
exchange for poison case help: Russia named its
price yesterday for providing help in the investigation into the
death by poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. It demanded that
Britain hand over the enemies of President Putin who have been
given asylum in London.
Fijian prime minister sworn in : Commodore
Frank Bainimarama, Fiji's military chief, has said that troops
will suppress any uprising against the coup he launched on
Tuesday.
Hicks's lawyers granted urgent court hearing:
The legal team has launched an action against the Commonwealth,
alleging the Federal Government has failed in its duty to
protect an Australian citizen abroad.
Canada: Suspect Tortured Despite Warning:
Canadian police said Tuesday they had told U.S. authorities they
had no evidence an Ottawa software engineer was an al-Qaida
agent before Washington deported him to Syria, where he was
tortured.
Italy prosecutors want kidnap trial for CIA agents:
Italian prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday to order CIA agents
and Italian spies to stand trial on charges of kidnapping a
terrorism suspect and flying him to Egypt, where he says he was
tortured.
Son of ex-Liberian president may face U.S. torture
charges: A U.S. grand jury is being asked to indict
the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor on charges
of committing torture as chief of a violent paramilitary unit
during his father's regime, U.S. law enforcement officials said
Wednesday.
We surrender if we permit torture: The
Military Commissions Act overturns a number of legal protections
previously provided by the Constitution, not just to foreigners
but also to average American citizens. Unfortunately the Act
also enables torture. It cancels rights assigned by the Geneva
Conventions and protocols despite their protection of our own
troops.
U.S. fails to protect asylum-seekers, group says:
A Canadian refugee group says the United States is no longer a
safe haven for people who need protection, accusing Washington
of flouting international rules against torture.
Chris Hedges: George Bush’s America: “This
is part of a government campaign to silence and intimidate all
Muslims in America by persecuting their leaders. It is part of
an effort to disenfranchise American Muslims.”
Richest 2% own 'half the wealth' : The
report, says that the poorer half of the world's population own
barely 1% of global wealth.
Richest tenth own 85% of world's assets: In
terms of wealth distribution the US was among the most unequal,
whereas Japan had one of the lowest levels of inequality.
Michael T Klare : The post-abundance era :
At least some strata of the global population will continue to
experience an increase in personal wealth in the 21st century,
but the sense of abundance that characterized the late 20th
century is likely to evaporate for the great majority of us.
Ignoring the Medicare Fiasco: A new study
suggests Medicare will lose $30 billion in overpayments to
private companies over the next five years. While Republicans
made the mess, the Democrats have threatened to do little more
than spray Windex on a landfill.
Georgia foreclosures jump 99%; rate is nation's 3rd
highest: Hundreds of Georgians lost their homes
Tuesday. The houses, taken from debt-laden homeowners, were sold
to bidders on courthouse steps statewide.
12/05/06
Two More Years
By Paul Krugman
How do you ask a man to be the last to die for a bully's ego?
Continue
Solving the ‘Stability’ Problem
By Patrick J. Buchanan
America is failing in the Middle East because our leaders of
both parties will not look at the region through Arab eyes. What
Bush saw as a glorious liberation of Iraq, Arabs saw as an
invasion. Where Bush sees in Israel a model of democracy, Arabs
see a pampered agent of U.S. imperialism, persecuting and
dispossessing the Palestinian people.
Continue
The Rumsfeld Memo: “I was just about to change
everything….Really!?!”
By Mike Whitney
Rumsfeld’s memo is great reading for fiction-lovers. It
provides a revealing snapshot of a leader who carefully
considered every alternative before making a decision. It’s a
stark contrast to the intractable narcissist who ignored his
advisors and bullied his generals. But, like I said, it’s great
fiction.
Continue
Why Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television is broadcasting
Sunday Mass
By Sophie McNeill
A truck laden with yellow Hezbollah flags drives past
the Christian neighbourhood of Gemayzeh early Sunday morning in
downtown Beirut. There's a picture of Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah on the windscreen, but it's not his name that the
young men on board are chanting. "General, General!" yell these
young Shiite boys. Continue
There has to be
equality
Ismail Patel
If Britons can join the Israeli army, those who fight
for Palestine can't be treated as terrorists.
Continued
Are We Changing Planet Earth
David Attenborough - BBC Video
Documentary
David Attenborough explores just how much
climate change is altering our planet. He looks ahead to find
out what needs to be done to save Planet Earth from the worst
impact of global warming and discovers what could happen to the
planet once a 'tipping point' of carbon emissions is reached. He
also discusses the solutions we can all adopt to prevent
catastrophic change.
Click to
watch.
At least 163 killed in Iraq attacks: Iraqi
troops and police in western Anbar province killed 63 insurgents
during a two-hour battle, a local official said
US forces seal off Iraqi town, draw criticism:
U.S. troops have sealed off an Iraqi town after militants forced
its mayor and entire police force to resign, and residents said
the Americans were preventing aid convoys from entering and
people from leaving.
Gates says U.S. not winning in Iraq: -
Robert Gates, nominated to replace Donald Rumsfeld as U.S.
defense secretary, on Tuesday said he did not believe the United
States was winning the war in Iraq.
U.S. plans to hand over control of Iraq military in 6-7
months, general says: This is part of an
accelerated timetable discussed by President Bush and Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki during their summit in Jordan last
week.
Prime minister says Iraq will call for regional
conference on stabilizing country: The prime
minister said Tuesday he will call for a regional conference on
ending Iraq's rampant violence, with the government appearing to
back down from previous opposition to handing neighboring
nations a say in Iraqi affairs.
Is John McCain now the most dangerous man in America?
These statements certainly make it clear that he lacks the
judgment and skill necessary to be President. Let's look at each
of his wacky comments in turn.
More troops won't help: The latest serpent
at which a drowning Washington Establishment is grasping is the
idea of sending more American troops to Iraq. Would more troops
turn the war there in America's favor? No.
Iran urges Arab countries to eject U.S. military:
Iran's top national security official urged his Arab neighbors
today to eject the U.S. military from American bases in the
region and instead join Tehran in a regional security alliance.
Russia balks at broad Iran sanctions:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that
imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program
would be "irresponsible."
Ahmadinejad: Any EU decision against Iran's nuclear
program will be considered hostile: - Iran's
president warned Washington's European allies on Tuesday that
Iran would reconsider its relations with them if they insist on
punishing Tehran for its nuclear program, saying that would
amount to an act of ‘‘hostility.''
Iran to replace dollar with euro in foreign trade:
Finance Minister: Iran has decided to replace dollar with euro
in its foreign trade given the continual impediments and hostile
policies directed by U.S. toward the country, Iranian finance
minister said on Monday.
Royal Marine killed in Afghanistan: A Royal
Marine has been killed and another injured in a ten-hour battle
with the Taliban in the lawless Helmand province of southern
Afghanistan.
Palestinian killed in attack : Palestinian
security officials said the Israeli occupation soldiers opened
fire at a restaurant on Monday, killing a civilian and wounding
two others - the resistance fighter and a teenager.
Haniya reaffirms Palestinian right to resist Israel:
- Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya of the Islamist
movement Hamas insisted on Tuesday on the right of the
Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation of their land.
Rabbis ban use of schoolbooks showing pre-1967 border:
An organization of right-wing rabbis on Tuesday issued a
Halakhic decree forbidding students from using schoolbooks
featuring maps of Israel which include the pre-1967 Green Line
border, Israel Radio reported.
An appeal for an abandoned people: The
Independent's Christmas Appeal will focus on the dispossessed of
the Palestinian territories, for whom 2006 has been the worst of
times
Yemen arrests gunman after shooting at US embassy:
Yemeni security forces wounded and arrested a gunman after he
opened fire at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa late on Monday, a
government official said on Tuesday.
Pakistan makes Kashmir offer : Pakistan
says it will give up its claim to Kashmir if India agrees to a
self-governance plan for the contested region.
General Musharraf has no right to reverse Kashmir
Policy: Qazi: Qazi Sahib expressed his concern as
to why did President Musharraf suggested this recommendation,
and castigated the President for bargaining the integrity and
interests of the Country, on behalf of his foreign master(s).
Violence ongoing in East Timor : The
crisis, which has left 37 people dead and driven 55,000 from
their homes, began when Mari Alkatiri, the prime minister, fired
a third of the armed forces.
In case you missed it:
'Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy': A Documentary
Film By John Pilger: Pilger uncovers the shocking
complicity of the US and Great Britain governments in the East
Timor genocide - the same governments who were willing to go to
war with Saddam Hussein for his invasion of Kuwait, but who
stood aside as Indonesia broke the exact same UN regulations to
rape and pillage East Timor using Western arms.
Fiji: Troops shut down media, streets and towns:
Fiji's military head and self-appointed President has closed the
country's key media outlets and warned of military checkpoints
across the country, but has told Fijians 'things will operate as
normal,' according to reports from the capita
Chavez named presidential victor: Mr Chavez
received nearly 63% of the final vote, 25 points ahead of his
main rival, Manuel Rosales.
US rejects offer of talks with Raul Castro:
The United States (U.S.) State Department yesterday rejected an
offer of talks with Raul Castro, Cuba's acting President, saying
it saw no point in a dialogue with what it called the Caribbean
island's 'dictator-in-waiting'.
Former Paraguay president jailed: The
former President of Paraguay, Luis Gonzalez Macchi, has been
sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and embezzlement.
U.S. predicts bumper year in arms sales:
The U.S. government is on its way to brokering about $20 billion
in arms sales in the fiscal year that began October 1, steady
with last year's near-record total, the Pentagon official
responsible for such sales said on Monday.
In case you missed it:
Exposed: The Carlyle Group: I defy you to
watch this 48 minute documentary and not be outraged about the
depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our
government.
Another Former Russian Agent Poisoned:
Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB agent and a friend of Alexander
Litvinenko, says he and his wife and children have been
contaminated by polonium-210, and says he is being framed for
the killing.
Russia won't extradite suspects: Russia
will not extradite suspects in the Alexander Litvinenko case to
Britain, its chief prosecutor has said.
Canadians to deport 'Russian spy: The
intelligence agency said the man had spied on Canada for 10
years and worked for a successor to the Soviet KGB, the Foreign
Intelligence Service (SVR), which deals with foreign operations
and intelligence-gathering.
Italy prosecutors want kidnap trial for CIA agents:
Italian prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to order CIA agents
and Italian spies to stand trial on charges of kidnapping a
terrorism suspect and flying him to Egypt, where he says he was
tortured.
David Hicks: Unconvicted, Tortured, Broken:
If the Australian government thinks it can breeze through yet
another anniversary of David Hicks imprisonment in an American
military hellhole, they are going to brutally surprised.
U.S. Administration tried to cut payouts to nuke
workers: The Bush administration repeatedly sought
ways to limit payouts to nuclear weapons workers sickened by
radiation and toxic material, according to a memo written by
congressional investigators and obtained by USA TODAY
Denver housing market in free-fall as foreclosures
eclipse record: Denver's 2006 real estate
foreclosure rate is now officially the worst on record
12/04/06
Another Bloodbath in Lebanon?
By Mike Whitney
“Class struggle” is a big part of the present confrontation. The
media has tried to emphasize the religious differences to
promote their theory of a “clash of civilizations”; the ongoing
struggle between modernity and Arab reactionaries. It’s all the
same gibberish Americans read every day in op-ed columns by Tom
Friedman, David Brooks or the other neocon scribes.
Continue
The Death Of A Nation
Audio interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky.
"The Palestinians committed a major crime in January
(2006) There was a free election, closely monitored, declared to
be free and fair and they voted the wrong way. That is
absolutely criminal."
Click to listen.
Bush Is No Conservative
By Paul Craig Roberts
Neoconservatism is actually a more extreme form of revolutionary
utopianism than that of the Bolsheviks and the Jacobins.
Continue
Video Is a Window Into Jose Padilla's Isolation
By DEBORAH SONTAG
Lawyers for Mr. Padilla, 36, suggest that he is unfit to
stand trial. They argue that he has been so damaged by his
interrogations and prolonged isolation that he suffers
post-traumatic stress disorder and is unable to assist in his
own defense. His interrogations, they say, included hooding,
stress positions, assaults, threats of imminent execution and
the administration of “truth serums.”
Continue
The U.S. Has a History of Using Torture
By Alfred W. McCoy
This (new) legislation has effectively legalized the CIA’s right
to use methods that the international community, embodied in the
Red Cross and the UN Human Rights Committee, considers
psychological torture.
Continue
Democrat's Defacto Pardon Bush et al
By Karl Sanchez
The greatest miscarriage of justice in modern times far beyond
Ford's pardoning Nixon--the Democrats will provide the members
of the Bush administration--who've committed known, documented,
most heinous crime.
Continue
Global Dimming
Video - BBC Investigates
This is a film that demands action. It reveals that we may have
grossly underestimated the speed at which our climate is
changing. At its heart is a deadly new phenomenon. One that
until very recently scientists refused to believe even existed.
Click here to watch.
Video and transcript.
From the Frying Pan into the Red Mud
By John Maxwell
We are under siege by a system gone mad, an economic system
gone berserk, unaccountable to anyone and responsible to nothing
because this system has no rules. It can do anything it wants to
anyone.
Continue
More than 140 killed in another bloody day of U.S.
occupation: Police found the bodies of 52 people
around Baghdad in the 24 hours to Monday evening, an Interior
Ministry source said.
U.S. forces, Iraqi residents disagree on deaths in raid:
Neighbors say 9 in one family are slain, not suspected
insurgents.
Anger at UN chief's Iraq comments: Iraq's
national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi
Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than
under Saddam Hussein.
Kofi Annan interview: Full Text: BBC: Was
the invasion of Iraq in 2003, without a Security Council
resolution, the most difficult point for you in your term?
S. Korea presents Iraq troop pullout plan to U.S.:
South Korea has notified the United States of its plan to draw
up a timetable for withdrawing all of its troops from Iraq next
year, military sources said Tuesday.
Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq:
There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in
Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching
the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the
military's first census of the growing population of civilians
operating in the battlefield.
Ray McGovern: A CIA insider's take on Gates:
The lame-duck Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee
seems determined to force through confirmation of Robert Gates
to replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. The hurry is
synthetic -- and totally unnecessary.
James K Galbraith: The dollar melts as Iraq burns:
The demise of the dollar has clear links to the Iraq war and the
world's loss of confidence in America's elites.
Up
to 80 "Taliban militants" killed in Helmand fighting:
An estimated 70 to 80 Taliban militants were killed by Nato
soldiers in fighting in southern Afghanistan after police told
military authorities where insurgents had gathered.
8 killed in Afghan attack : Nato copter is
downed:: Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military
convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards
U.S. report says Afghan police unfit for duty:
A U.S. government report have concluded that the U.S.-trained
police force in Afghanistan is largely unable to do routine
police work, The New York Times reported Monday.
Israel orders occupation army to avoid 'unnecessary
friction' as troops kill 1 PalestinianIsraeli
troops shot dead a Palestinian civilian on Monday during a raid
in the West Bank city of Tulkarem to arrest a militant, who was
wounded along with a teenage bystander in the incident,
Palestinian security sources said.
Gideon Levy: The cease-fire will go up in flames:
The IDF is not interested in the cease-fire. One can assume that
neither is the Shin Bet. Reports on how the cease-fire is
already being exploited for redeployment on the other side are
flooding the media
Israel is on freshman lawmakers' to-do list:
Foundation-funded trip is popular withU.S. legislators
Somalis rail against UN resolution :
Thousands of Somalis have protested against US-backed plans to
send foreign peacekeepers into the country in support of the
interim government.
Chavez re-elected in Venezuela : Initial
results indicated that Chavez won 61 per cent of votes while
Rosales gained 38 per cent, according to results based on 78 per
cent of the polling stations.
Correa Named Ecuador President-Elect:
Leftist economist Rafael Correa, who calls himself a friend of
Venezuela's anti-U.S. leader Hugo Chavez, officially was
declared president-elect on Monday by Ecuador's top electoral
court.
Fiji PM: Coup is under way : As
heavily-armed troops raided key government installations and set
up roadblocks throughout the capital, Suva, on Tuesday, Laisenia
Qarase said the military had surrounded his house and
confiscated his transportation.
UN ambassador Bolton resigns in
face of Senate hostility: The White House
yesterday bowed to Senate opposition and gave up its attempt to
keep its controversial ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, in his
job - the latest sign of President George Bush's diminishing
authority.
Graham: Putin a '1-man dictatorship':
Vladimir Putin is a "one-man dictatorship" and he should do more
to help the U.S. confront Iran's nuclear ambitions, Sen. Lindsey
Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., said Sunday.
U.S. Senators Speak Against Putin`s Policy:
Biden says Russia is “moving more and more toward an oligarchy.”
“Our relations with Russia have to get straightened out,” he was
quoted as saying.
'I was poisoned for shared secrets': An
Italian contact of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander
Litvinenko said he believed both were targeted with a
radioactive substance because of secrets they shared.
Was ex-spy trying to sell dirty bomb?: The
radiation spy scandal took a sensational twist last night with
the revelation that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko had
converted to Islam before he died.
U.S. Sailor Pleads Guilty to Espionage: If
convicted, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann, 22, of
Salem, Ore., could face a sentence of life in prison without
parole, a dishonorable discharge from the Navy and forfeiture of
all pay.
12/03/06
Is President Bush Sane?
Paul Craig Roberts
The president of the United States is so deep into denial that
he is no longer among the sane.
Continue
Has He Started Talking to the Walls?
By Frank Rich
We’ve witnessed the troubling behavior of a president who
isn’t merely in a state of denial but is completely untethered
from reality. It’s not that he can’t handle the truth about
Iraq. He doesn’t know what the truth is.
Continue
Saudis and Iran prepare to do battle over corpse of Iraq
By Philip Sherwell
The gulf's two military powers, Sunni-Muslim Saudi Arabia and
Shia Iran, are lining up behind their warring religious brethren
in Iraq in a potentially explosive showdown, as expectations
grow in both countries that America is preparing a pull-out of
its troops.
Continue
End is near in Babylon
BY Eric S. Margolis
Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Al Maliki, governs only over
Baghdad’s US-protected Green Zone. The US controls what passes
for Iraq’s police and armed forces. Maliki has no army of his
own; his Shia supporters are divided and feuding. How can Bush
expect a powerless prime minister to do what the mighty US
cannot?
Continue
The US and the Middle
East:
A
“Grand Settlement” Versus the Jewish Lobby
By James Petras
Because of the refusal of the peace movement to take a
stand and confront the Zionist Lobby, it is condemned to playing
a passive ‘spectator role’ in the ‘Baker versus-Lobby’ battle
for control over US Middle East policy.
Continue
Exposed: The House of Death
By David Rose
When 12 bodies were found buried in the garden of a Mexican
house, it seemed like a case of drug-linked killings. But the
trail led to Washington and a cover-up that went right to the
top.
Continue.
Plunging dollar will
set world markets reeling
By Heather Stewart, economics correspondent
Wall Street is now betting that Federal Reserve chairman Ben
Bernanke will slash interest rates to stave off a recession. The
dollar ended the week at $1.98 against the pound, and $1.32 to
the euro, but analysts say there is further weakness to come. 'I
think the dollar's going to hell in a handbag,' said David
Bloom, currency strategist at HSBC. '
Continue
An Inconvenient Truth
Video
Al Gore's Documentary on the dangers of climate change and
global warming.
Continue
Fighting in southern Sudan kills more than 150 people
and wounds hundreds: Days of fighting between
former rebels and government forces killed more than 150 people
and wounded at least 400 in a southern Sudanese town
French jets pound the Central African Republic:
Civilians are fleeing to Sudan following French airstrikes on
rebel positions in CAR; France refuses comment on collateral
damage.
More than 80 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
Police said they found 44 bodies in different parts of
Baghdad, all apparent victims of sectarian violence.
Another 51 killed in Baghdad blasts : A
resident spoke of three huge blasts going off in the space of
two or three minutes, sending black smoke billowing through the
narrow lanes and leaving a scene of carnage and devastation.
US Iraq raid kills child and women :
Residents in the village of al-Lihaib near the town of Garma,
said 24 people had been killed and some buildings levelled in
the assault.
Death squads roam Baghdad's hospitals: “I’m
an Iraqi doctor, working in one of the biggest hospitals in Iraq
and I want you to read this carefully because the suffering and
the lives of many poor people have become the cheapest things
that you can buy in my country,”
Annan: Iraq in civil war, worse than under Saddam:
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraq was in the grips of
a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam
Hussein, according to an interview to be broadcast on Monday.
Iraq government to police press: The
Ministry further threatened to sue journalists who do not modify
stories that the ministry deems inaccurate upon receiving a
demand to do so.
Rumsfeld pre-resignation memo urged Iraq shift:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the White House before he
resigned last month the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq
was not working and he proposed changes, including possible
troop reductions, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for
Iraq War: Following is the text of a classified
Nov. 6 memorandum that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent
to the White House suggesting new options in Iraq. The
memorandum was sent one day before the midterm Congressional
elections and two days before Mr. Rumsfeld resigned.
Iraq: Corruption: the 'second insurgency' costing $4bn a
year: The Iraqi government is in danger of being
brought down by the wholesale smuggling of the nation's oil and
other forms of corruption that together represent a "second
insurgency",
Ahmadinejad wants US out of Iraq :
Ahmadinejad said that Iraqis should govern themselves without
any interference and blamed the US for stirring up divisions
between Iraq's Shia, Sunnis and Kurds.
US tells banks to shut down Iran operations:
Several of the UK's largest banks fear they could face the full
legislative wrath of the US government unless they bow to
Washington's pressure to shut their operations in Iran.
Poll: Majority of Israeli's Favor Attack on Iran:
49 per cent of respondents would support an Israeli attack on
Iranian nuclear facilities if all international diplomatic
efforts fail, while 46 per cent disagree.
Hamas dismisses resignation call : "We
cannot accept such a step, which is against Palestinian
democracy and goes against the election results. The PLO doesn't
represent the Palestinian people."
New UN resolutions back Palestinian right to a state:
The General Assembly approved Friday night six pro-Palestinian
resolutions over U.S. and Israeli objections, culminating in the
world body's declaration of backing the Palestinians' right to
an independent state.
UN human rights inquiry: Israel should compensate
Lebanon: A United Nations human rights inquiry said
on Friday that Israel should be made to pay compensation for
damage caused by the month-long Lebanon, especially losses
incurred by civilians.
Hizbollah supporters tell PM to quit in huge Beirut
protest: "We are here because we
want a share in ruling this country," said 23-year old Rima. "It
can't just be one sect. The Sunnis are trying to rule this
country alone."
Lebanon: Siniora calls for dialogue: King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, an Arab diplomatic heavyweight, told
Fouad Siniora and ministers with him in the government
headquarters that his country supported them, Siniora's office
said.
Afghan attack kills at least eight: At
least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of
Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO
OCCUPATION troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and
witnesses said.
U.S. occupation troops kill Afghan police, circumstances
in dispute: A U.S. troop convoy fired on policemen
in waning daylight in eastern Afghanistan, killing one officer
and wounding another, officials said Saturday.
In case you missed it:
How US dollars disappear in Afghanistan:
Mr. Karzai has done nothing tangible in the past 4 years to
rebuild the country. Millions of $ has been given to Afghanistan
by donor countries but much of it is being grabbed by warlords,
NGOs and UN workers.
US urges end to Somalia arms ban : The US
is calling for an arms embargo against Somalia to be lifted and
a regional peacekeeping force to be deployed to protect the
largely powerless interim government.
U.S. funding Somali warlords - intelligence experts:
CIA-operated flights into Somalia have been bringing in $100,000
to $150,000 per month for the warlords. The flights remain in
Somalia for the day, he said, so that U.S. agents can confer
with their allies.
US pressured Blair into arms bribery inquiry:
A bribery investigation threatening the future of 50,000 British
jobs followed heavy pressure on Tony Blair from George Bush's
administration
Viva Chavez!: A third term as President of
Venezuela beckons for man who looks after the poor
Mexico's Calderon pledges more money to military:
Calderon on Saturday praised the army for defending the nation
and battling organized crime, a day after an inauguration marred
by brawls in Congress and street protests.
Spy poison drama: Litvinenko now cast in
role of blackmailer
The Putin bodyguard riddle: A FORMER
bodyguard to President Vladimir Putin was murdered with a poison
that produced symptoms remarkably similar to those of Alexander
Litvinenko it emerged yesterday, writes Jonathan Calvert.
Polonium tightly controlled in Russia -atomic chief:
Polonium 210, a highly toxic radioactive substance found in the
body of an ex-KGB spy who died in London last week, cannot be
obtained illegally in Russia, its nuclear energy chief was
quoted as saying on Friday.
No 'Dirty Bomb' Questions During Padilla Interrogation?:
An official record of the first FBI interrogation of Jose
Padilla following his 2002 arrest contains no reference to al
Qaeda or a "dirty bomb" plot Padilla was allegedly spearheading.
Boeing is alleged to be a travel agent for torture.:
The cargo of prisoners includes many who say they were
tortured and others who claim to have been mistakenly
abducted and abused
Look who owns U.S. debt now: Other nations
hold a record 52% of it, leaving U.S. economy vulnerable.
So the dollar's worth 50p. Stay cool: Just
when you think War, Death and Pestilence have the field all to
themselves, along on the rails comes the fourth horseman — the
nightmare of every beleaguered US president — a collapsing
dollar.
The long, unwinding road to a dollar adjustment:
Here are the facts: the US, the richest country in the world,
consumes more each year than it produces. Its already high
standard of living is being increased by net imports from abroad
worth some 6.5 per cent of GDP. These imports (eg from China)
are paid for in dollars, with which the Chinese monetary
authorities obligingly buy US securities
Europe awaits impact of plummeting dollar:
The latest slide was triggered by a sharper than expected 1%
fall in construction spending, with house building recording the
seventh monthly drop in succession.
12/01/06
Like Hitler and Brezhnev, Bush is in denial
By Robert Fisk
More than half a million deaths, an army trapped in the
largest military debacle since Vietnam, a Middle East policy
already buried in the sands of Mesopotamia - and still George W
Bush is in denial. How does he do it? How does he persuade
himself - as he apparently did in Amman yesterday - that the
United States will stay in Iraq "until the job is complete"?
Continue
Powderkeg
By Mike Whitney
NATO has been a useful tool for the United States. It’s
helped to conceal America’s imperial ambitions behind the mask
of US-European solidarity. Now Bush is putting the alliance at
risk by using it to enlist European support for a global
resource war.
Continue
Bob Gates & Locking You Up Forever
By Robert Parry
As the next Defense Secretary, Robert M. Gates will be in charge
of a new star-chamber legal system that can lock up indefinitely
“unlawful enemy combatants” and “any person” accused of aiding
them. Yet, despite these extraordinary new powers, his
confirmation is being treated more like a coronation than a time
for tough questions.
Continue
Terrorist case against
Denver family ended
By Bruce Finley
A federal judge on Wednesday declared the end of the
government's four-year case against a Denver Pakistani-American
family once targeted by the FBI as terrorists. Family members
whose lives were turned upside down simply wept. "We've lost
everything," longtime Colorado restaurateur Abdul Qayyum said.
Continue
Ghosts in the Machine
Encounters With The NSA
By Charles Sullivan
Quite some time ago, I am not sure exactly when, the
thought police (National Security Agency) clandestinely moved
into my computer. It did so without my permission and in
violation of the law, not to mention the Constitution. The
prying eyes of government are watching my every move, noting my
every keystroke and monitoring my every electronic transmission
and telephone conversation.
Continue
U.S. Rates Travelers for Terror Risk
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and
foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have
been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers
rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.
The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these
risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file
for 40 years.
Continue
New Rules Make Firms Track E-Mails, IMs
By Associated Press
U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails,
instant messages and other electronic documents generated by
their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect
Friday, legal experts say.
Continue
1 in every 32
U.S. adults behind bars, on probation or on parole in 2005
The Associated Press
Racial disparities among prisoners persist. In the
25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men — about one in 13 —
are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and
1.1 percent of white men. And it's not much different among
women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as
likely as Hispanics and over three times as likely as white
women to be in prison.
Continue
In case you missed it
Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons
Video
It’s terrible to watch some of the videos and realise
that you’re not only seeing torture in action but, in the most
extreme cases, you are witnessing young men dying.
Click to view
At least 32 killed in another day of U.S. occupation:
U.S. ground and air forces killed 14 "insurgents" and wounded
two after they attacked their convoy with machinegun fire in
southwest of Samarra
Expert says Saddam's troops shot babies in mothers'
arms: Of 301 corpses in the graves, 183 were
Kurdish children killed during Saddam's Anfal campaign in 1988,
said Trimble, who is the head of the mass graves investigation
unit at the Iraqi High Tribunal.
IraqI data shows 44% leap in civilian deaths in Nov:
The number of Iraqi civilians killed in violence appears to have
leapt by more than 40 percent in November from a record level
the previous month, data from Interior Ministry officials showed
on Friday.
Iraq $100 billion spending bill to test Democrats:
The Bush administration is hammering out its largest-ever appeal
for more Iraq war funds - a record $100 billion, at least, and
that figure reflects cuts from wish lists originally circulating
around the Pentagon.
US Air Force seeks $33.4 bln in extra 2007 funds:
The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday said it asked Pentagon officials
for $33.4 billion in extra funding for fiscal 2007 to pay for
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and costs related to the
"longer war on terror."
Report: U.S. military equipment worth billions wearing
out in Iraq, Afghanistan : About 2 billion U.S.
dollars' worth of U.S. Army and Marine Corps equipment, from
rifles to tanks, is wearing out or being destroyed every month
in Iraq and Afghanistan
16 "Taliban" killed in occupied Afghanistan:
Nato and Afghan troops killed 10 Taliban rebels and captured two
suspected militant leaders in a raid on an alleged suicide bomb
cell in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said yesterday.
Separately, six Taliban were killed and two other insurgents
arrested after a three-hour gunbattle with Afghan police.
Oceans apart: Tony Blair has been mocked
for his belief in the 'special relationship' - and now a US
State Department official has come out and dismissed it as a
myth. So what future is there for the transatlantic friendship?
U.S. gives strong backing to Abbas :
President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice expressed full support to Abbas Thursday, reaffirming
Washington's commitment to the two states solution, Israel and
Palestine, as a way for settling the Middle East conflict.
PLO Executive Committee calls on Haniyeh to resign as PM:
Hamas has dismissed Abbas' declaration as a pressure tactic in
the negotiations on forming a national unity government.
IDF soldier gets two weeks for shooting Palestinian:
An Israel Defense Forces soldier who shot and seriously injured
a Palestinian at a roadblock, was sentenced to 14 days in a
military prison. Military Police wll investigate further.?
Fall in love only with Jews : In recent
years the state has been trying to make the entry into Israel
and naturalization of non-Jews more difficult. Six months ago,
the justices of the Supreme Court criticized the amendment to
the citizenship law barring any family unification involving
Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
Israeli Spy Affair: Analysis: High bar set in AIPAC case
: The government has been set a high bar for conviction in the
AIPAC secrets case -- prosecutors must show the two lobbyists
charged under espionage laws knew that the disclosure of the
material they allegedly passed to reporters and Israeli
officials would hurt the United States.
US pushes for UN vote on Iran sanctions:
The United States said Thursday that it might try to force
through a United Nations resolution imposing sanctions on Iran
over its suspect nuclear programme despite objections from
Russia and China.
Reports: Russian official says six-nation talks on Iran
could take place next week: According to one
report, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, along with her
British and German counterparts, have all agreed to the meeting.
China is also expected to take part.
Iran accuses Canadian embassy of spy activity:
Canada has taken steps to ensure the safety of the Canadian
embassy in Teheran after Iranian legislators called it a den of
spies and demanded it be shut down.
Beirut protestors call on PM to resign:
Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Lebanon’s
western-backed government took over the centre of the capital on
Friday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad
Siniora and the formation of a government of national unity.
Chad rebels battle army in east : Chadian
rebels have attacked the eastern town of Guereda, neighbouring
Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
Kagame blames France for genocide : Senior
Hutu commanders backed by France shot down the plane carrying
Rwanda's president in 1994, killing him and touching off a
genocide, Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, has said.
Midnight in Mexico: Calderón's Inauguration Behind
Closed Doors: This is how the Washington Consensus
ends: With the president-elect of Mexico Felipe Calderón
sneaking off with outgoing Vicente Fox Thursday night to hold a
midnight, locked-door inauguration. Fait accompli, the next day
the videotaped ceremony was broadcast to the nation.
Rivals scuffle in Mexican congress :
Mexican politicians threw punches and chairs and fought for
control of the congressional chambers before Felipe Calderon was
to take the country’s presidential oath of office.
Chavez vows to thwart vote coup plot:
President Hugo Chavez vowed to thwart what he says is an
opposition plot to stage a coup and "ruin Venezuelans'
Christmas" after an election on Sunday that he expects to win
easily.
Doctors suspect ex-PM was poisoned: Doctors
treating former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who is
gravely ill, believe he was poisoned, an aide said today.
Spy's friend tests positive for polonium 210
: The Italian academic who met former Russian spy Alexander
Litvinenko on the day he was allegedly poisoned has tested
positive for radiation, it was disclosed today.
Polonium-210? it's yours for $69, no questions asked:
A company in the US claims to supply polonium-210 to anyone
for just $69 plus postage and packing. A three-pack set of
“alpha, beta, gamma” radioactive isotopes also includes
polonium-210.
U.S. warns of possible Qaeda financial cyber attack:
Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert with the RAND Corp., said that
such threats were not unusual.
Never Heard of
al-CIA-duh Group Threatens Banksters : Tthis is
simply more propaganda designed to convince the bovine masses
that the internet poses a threat, as the neocon Newt Gingrich
declared the other day, and serious measures will need be taken,
that is if we value our safety over our liberty.
Ban on CIA’s ‘Guantanamo Express’ from Irish airports:
THE plane sometimes referred to as the ‘Guantanamo Express’,
used by the CIA to transport kidnapped suspects to secret jails,
has been banned from landing at Irish airports in future,
Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern told a European Parliament
committee.
White House Fears ACLU Campaign: Khaled el-Masri,
formerly the victim of a CIA kidnapping operation in Macedonia
and now the claimant in an international trial against US
President George W. Bush's anti-terrorism policies, has finally
made it to the USA. He was supposed to visit the country last
year, but US authorities turned him back at the airport without
further explanation. This time the ACLU took the precaution of
applying for Masri's visa.
TSA's revealing X-ray screening raises privacy concerns
: The federal government plans this month to launch
the nation's first airport screening system that takes
potentially revealing X-ray photos of travelers in an effort to
find bombs and other weapons.
Border security system posts just 1 terror case:
A U.S. border security program that photographs and fingerprints
visitors from most foreign countries has apprehended just one
terrorism-related suspect since its 2004 inception, officials
said on Wednesday.
U.S. legislator warns of Bush plot to merge Canada, the
U.S. and Mexico : A U.S. legislator who backs tough
anti-immigrant measures and more security at the Canada-U.S.
border is warning Americans that President George W. Bush is
plotting to integrate the continent.
Troopers would arrest immigrants: Governor
Mitt Romney is seeking an agreement with federal authorities
that would allow Massachusetts state troopers to arrest
undocumented immigrants for being in the country illegally.
Lawmaker intends to take oath of office on Quran:
As he prepares to become the first Muslim in Congress,
Rep.-elect Keith Ellison says the Constitution gives him the
right to take the oath of office on the Quran, and that's what
he intends to do Jan. 4.
US manufacturing activity weakens : US
manufacturing has weakened sharply in a fresh sign that the
world's largest economy is slowing down, according to a key
survey.
11/30/06
Iraq Panel to Recommend Pullback of Combat Troops
By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID S. CLOUD
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on
Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual
pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop
short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal,
according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.
Continue
Text Of Secret U.S. Security Adviser’s Iraq Memo
classified secret
Following is the text of a Nov. 8 memorandum prepared for
cabinet-level officials by Stephen J. Hadley, the national
security adviser, and his aides on the National Security
Council. The five-page document, classified secret, was read and
transcribed by The New York Times.
Continue
Robert Gates is Rumsfeld Lite; Hadley—Just Lite
By Ray McGovern
Gates is shown to be more parrot than innovator in his
responses to a questionnaire given him by the Senate Armed
Services Committee, which takes up his nomination on Dec. 5.
Continue
The Highjacking of a Nation
The Auctioning
of Former Statesmen & Dime a Dozen Generals
By Sibel Edmonds
Operating invisibly under the radar of media and public
scrutiny, lobby groups and foreign agents have become the
‘epicenter’ of our government, where former statesmen and ‘dime
a dozen generals’ cash in on their connections and peddle their
enormous influence to the highest bidders turned clients.
Continue
Hezbollah
announces its campaign to bring down the Lebanese government
By Sophie McNeill in Beirut
King Abdullah of Jordan's comment this week -- that he is more
worried about Lebanese violence than Iraq -- is seen by
Hezbollah as another U.S. attempt to meddle in Lebanese affairs.
"King Abdullah is always worried when the Americans are
worried," scorns Noureiden. "And the Americans are worried
because they are weak in Lebanon and the opposition against them
is very strong."
Continue
Palestinians are being
denied the right to non-violent resistance
Human Rights Watch has lost its moral
bearings
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
If one thing offers a terrifying glimpse of where the
experiment in human despair that is Gaza under Israeli siege is
leading, it is the news that a Palestinian woman in her sixties
-- a grandmother -- chose last week to strap on a suicide belt
and explode herself next to a group of Israeli soldiers invading
her refugee camp.
Continue
We Are All Tortures Now!
1 Minute Video
This video provides some evidence of the type of torture engaged
in by by our allies. As citizens of the U.S. each of us is
responsible for the actions of our government. We are complicit
in the torture, distance from the tools used to inflict pain in
no way reduces our part in these disgusting acts of barbarity.
- Warning
-
This video contains graphic images and audio
of torture and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Click here to view
'Hundreds killed' in Sudan battle : At least 300
people were killed in clashes between Sudan's army and former
rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say.
Iraq: At least 99 killed in another day of horror and
U.S. occupation: A total of 52
bodies, with gunshot wounds and bearing signs of torture, were
found in different districts of Baghdad on Wednesday, an
Interior Ministry source said.
Five young girls killed in US attack on Iraqi insurgents
: Five young girls were among six
Iraqis killed by US forces yesterday after troops used tanks and
machine guns to attack what they said was a house occupied by
insurgents
Iraqis could assume security by June 2007:
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday that his
country's forces would be able to assume security command by
June 2007 -- which could allow the United States to start
withdrawing its troops.
Sadr seeks anti-USoccupation bloc in Iraqi parliament :
Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is building an anti-US occupation
parliamentary alliance to demand the withdrawal of American
troops from Iraq, some of his party's lawmakers have told AFP.
Bush vows to keep troops in Iraq until asked to leave:
"We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done so
long as the government wants us there."
Defense Eyeing More Deployments to Iraq:
The Pentagon is developing plans to send four more battalions to
Iraq early next year, partly to boost security in Baghdad,
defense officials said Wednesday.
Why the U.S. study group won't solve anything:
The forthcoming report by James Baker's Iraq Study Group has
enjoyed the biggest public buildup since the Segway. And it is
likely to be just as big of a bust.
Palestinian killed, two wounded by Israeli Occupation
Forces near Nablus
Hamas Sets New Terms For Soldier's Release:
The London newspaper quoted Hamas politburo chief
Khaled Mashaal as saying a new condition was Israel's release of
Marwan Barghouti, a militant leader of the Tanzim Palestinian
movement.
UN: Israel breaks border agreement : A UN
report has accused Israel of breaking all provisions in a
year-old US-brokered agreement on Gaza's border crossings, as
Condoleezza Rice visits the region.
ADL slams UN body for making Tutu head of Beit Hanun
mission : The mission is charged with investigating
a botched Israel Defense Forces shelling in Beit Hanun which
killed 19 Palestinian civilians.
Gideon Levy: Twilight Zone / Shock corridor:
With all the focus on the bloodshed in Gaza, daily life in the
West Bank has been forgotten. At the offices of the Medical
Relief organization in Nablus, the medical director, Dr. Ghassan
Hamdan, says that his city is on the brink of a humanitarian
disaster.
Ya'alon
leaves New Zealand in wake of arrest warrant for war crimes
: Former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff
Lieutenant General (res.) Moshe Ya'alon left New Zealand this
week, after a warrant was issued for his arrest for suspected
war crimes.
Apartheid:
Israelis adopt what South Africa dropped: As a
South African and former anti-apartheid advocate who visits the
Palestinian territories regularly to assess the human rights
situation for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the comparison to
South African apartheid is of special interest to me.
Amira Hass: The IDF is sending your sons on apartheid
missions: Yassin, who had returned from overseas a
few months earlier, had apparently not yet internalized the fact
that it is dangerous to remind a soldier that a Palestinian is a
human being.
Motorcycle suicide bomber kills civilians in occupied
Afghanistan;: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew
himself up next to a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan on
Wednesday, killing two civilians. It was the third straight day
troops there have been hit by suicide attacks.
Lebanon opposition calls mass protests for Friday:
The Lebanese opposition, led by the pro-Syrian militant group
Hezbollah, called for mass demonstrations on Friday to back
demands for a change of the Western-backed cabinet of Prime
Minister Fuad Siniora.
Lebanon PM says democracy is in danger :
"Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system
is in danger," Saniora said in a nationally televised address
from his office on the eve of an expected massive protest by
Hezbollah and its allies aimed at ousting his Cabinet.
Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy
: Perilous Power is a dialogue about U.S. policy in the Middle
East between two of the most astute analysts of this part of the
world: Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar.
China nearing deal to develop huge Iran field:
China’s Sinopec Group is near to clinching one of its biggest
overseas deals, to develop Iran’s giant Yadavaran oilfield, a
top Chinese industry official said yesterday.
Car bomb blast kills at least 6 in Somali town : A
car bomb has exploded in Baidoa, where Somalia's fragile interim
government is based, leaving at least six people dead.
Al-Qaeda operating in Somalia: US official:
Al-Qaeda militants are operating with "great comfort" in
Somalia, providing training and assistance to a radical military
element loyal to the Islamic group that controls most of
southern Somalia, a senior State Department official has said.
Ethiopia authorises military action :
Ethiopia's parliament has authorised military action in the
event of an attack on the country by Somalia's Union of Islamic
Courts.
Russia starts supplies of Su-30 fighters to Venezuela
: Russia has shipped the first two Su-30MK2 multi-role fighters
to Venezuela under a contract signed in July 2006, an aircraft
manufacturing industry official said Thursday.
Radiation found on spy probe planes :
Traces of radiation have been found on two British Airways
aircraft at Heathrow Airport after tests were being carried as
part of the probe into the death of former Russian spy Viktor
Litvinenko.
Chubais links ex-PM mystery ailment to journalist,
ex-spy death : - Russia's electricity giant head
and architect of the 1990s reforms said the mystery illness of
his reformer colleague was linked to the recent killings of an
investigative journalist and an ex-spy.
British security forces 'colluded in international
terrorism': British security forces colluded in
acts of international terrorism in the 1970s, an Irish Parliment
committee said in a hard-hitting report today
1,245 Secret CIA Flights Revealed by European Parliament:
The Parliament's draft report concludes "member states had
knowledge of the programme of extraordinary rendition and secret
prisons."
The case of Mohammed El Zari and Ahmed Agiza:
Violations of fundamental human rights by Sweden confirmed
Victim of CIA Kidnapping and Abuse, Seeks
Acknowledgement, Explanation and Apology: The ACLU
today argued before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that its
lawsuit on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, a victim of the CIA’s
policy of “extraordinary rendition,” should proceed. Earlier
this year a federal district court in Alexandria, VA dismissed
El-Masri’s lawsuit based on the government's argument that
allowing it to proceed would jeopardize state secrets.
Government offers $2 million and apology to U.S. Muslim:
The government also issued an unusual apology to Brandon
Mayfield for the "suffering" caused by his wrongful arrest and
imprisonment. It acknowledged that the ordeal was "deeply
upsetting" to Mayfield and his family.
Apology Note: The United States
acknowledges that the investigation and arrest were deeply
upsetting to Mr. Mayfield, to Mrs. Mayfield, and to their three
young children, and the United States regrets that it mistakenly
linked Mr. Mayfield to this terrorist attack.
Judge: Bush can’t designate groups as terrorists:
A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to
designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11
executive order was unconstitutional and vague, according to a
ruling released Tuesday
Suspected bomb found on Ohio highway: A
device that appeared to be a bomb was found under an overpass on
a busy Interstate highway near Cincinnati on Wednesday, and
local media said a bomb squad removed and destroyed it.
London stock trader urges move to 'amero':
Says many unaware of plan to replace dollar with N. American
currency
Ross Ice Shelf could 'collapse quickly':
SCIENTISTS working in Antarctica fear the Ross Ice Shelf, an ice
platform the size of France, could collapse quickly and trigger
a rapid rise in sea levels.
Focus on Their Color; Fail to See Their Humanity:
According to the New York Times, on November 25, 2006, hours
before he was to be married, Sean Bell was shot and killed in a
hail of police bullets.
Exploration In Social Inequality: : In 1974, when
income inequality was at its lowest point, the top 10 percent of
U.S. households had incomes 31 times that of the poorest 10
percent and four times greater than median-income households.
Twenty years later, these numbers had inflated to 55 times the
poorest and six times the median.
11/29/06
Saudi Arabia Will Protect Sunnis if the U.S. Leaves
By Nawaf Obaid
As the economic powerhouse of the Middle East, the birthplace of
Islam and the de facto leader of the world's Sunni community
(which comprises 85 percent of all Muslims), Saudi Arabia has
both the means and the religious responsibility to intervene.
Continue
Iranian President Ahmadinejad's
letter to the American
people
By Mahmoud Ahmadinejad President of the Islamic Republic
of Iran
If the US Government meets the current domestic and external
challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can
remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the
global resentment and hatred of America.
Continue
MEPs condemn
Britain's role in
'torture flights'
By Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Britain's role in CIA "torture flights" was roundly condemned
yesterday by the European parliament in a scathing report which
for the first time named the site of a suspected secret US
detention centre in the EU - at Stare Kiejkuty in Poland.
Continue
The Torture Society
By Ted Rall
The United States is trying to burnish its nasty image as one of
the world's leading torture states--not by eliminating torture,
but by silencing its victims. In a remarkable bit of legal
sang-froid, the Bush Administration has filed a brief in its
case against Majid Khan asking a federal court to seal its
torture of him as "top secret."
Continue
Six Muslim Leaders Removed in Handcuffs From US
Airways Plane After Praying in Airport
Democracy Now Interview
After their release, US Airways denied them
passage on any of its other flights and refused to help them
obtain tickets through another airline. Two of the imams joins
us in our firehouse studio.
Click
to listen. Audio and
transcript
At least 28 killed in another bloody day of U.S.
occupation: . Iraqi police said a U.S.-Iraqi force
killed eight civilians. Police said the dead were a man and his
three sons and a neighbouring couple, their son and daughter.
25 Killed as Fierce fighting shuts down Iraqi city
: By 3 p.m., 13 insurgents, six policemen, and six civilians had
been killed, including two Iraqi females who were caught up in a
coalition raid north of the capital, police and U.S. officials
said. That raised to seven the number of Iraqi females,
including an infant, who had died during American raids in Iraq
in the last two days.
American military concedes daily toll of civilians
likely to rise far above 100: Violence against
Iraqi civilians, which is already taking between 60 and 100
lives a day, is likely to rise still further, Major General
William Caldwell, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, conceded
yesterday.
Witnesses
detail Iraq burning deaths: The suspected Shiite
militiamen took automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade
launchers from the vehicles. They then blasted open the front of
the mosque, dragged six worshippers outside, doused them with
kerosene and set them on fire.
Sadr bloc quits government in Bush protest
: The political bloc of Muqtada al-Sadr has suspended its
participation in Iraq's national unity government in protest at
the Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's meeting with the US
president.
Damage
control on leak of Iraq memo: Following the leak of
a memorandum in which President Bush's national security adviser
pointedly questioned the competence of Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki's young government in confronting sectarian
violence within Iraq, the Bush administration insisted today it
has faith in al-Maliki.
Iraqi Prime Minister canceled a presummit dinner with
Bush: Prospects for the already-delayed meeting
were put into further doubt when al-Maliki canceled a presummit
dinner with Bush.
U.S.-Iraq Summit Put Off Until Thursday :
President Bush's high-stakes summit with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki was put off Wednesday after public disclosure of
U.S. doubts about his capacity to control sectarian warfare. The
White House said the two leaders would meet on Thursday.
Bush visit to Amman angers Jordanians:
"This is a very sad day. Bush has become a symbol of bigotry and
injustice towards Arabs and Muslims," the 32-year-old engineer
said just hours before Bush was due to arrive in Amman on
Wednesday.
Shi'ites, Sunnis amass arms: Rival Shi'ite
and Sunni groups are massing their militias in expectation of
major confrontations, Iraqis say.
Saudi will intervene in Iraq if US withdraws-aide:
Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will
intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from
massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins
pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government
said on Wednesday.
Pentagon Considers Moving Troops From al-Anbar Province to
Baghdad: There are now 30,000 U.S. troops in al-Anbar,
mainly Marines, braving some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq.
At least 1,055 Americans have been killed in this region, making
al-Anbar the deadliest province for American troops.
Powell: Iraq Is In A Civil War And Bush Should Stop
Denying It: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell
said Iraq’s violence meets the standard of a civil war and
thinks President Bush needs to acknowledge that.
Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk:
Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political
parties and backed by the U.S. military, have abducted hundreds
of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city
and spirited them to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq,
according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, government documents and
families of the victims.
Iranian president urges Americans to demand withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Iraq : Iran's president urged
the American people in
an
open letter Wednesday to demand the withdrawal of
U.S. troops from Iraq and reject the Bush administration's
policies in the war on terrorism.
Iraq's oil industry in grip of despair: The
present state of Iraq's collapsing oil sector, its economic
lifeline, is bleak and its future looks far worse, despairing
officials say.
Two Afghan Civilians Killed In Suicide Attack On NATO
Convoy : Two civilians were killed on Wednesday in
a suicide attack on a NATO convoy in Kandahar in southern
Afghanistan.
Two more NATO soldiers killed in occupied Afghanistan:
Two soldiers of the NATO- occupation Force have been killed in a
roadside bomb explosion in central Afghanistan, the foreign
military announced on Wednesday.
Limited boost for Nato Afghan force : A
Nato summit in the Latvian capital has failed to muster
significant reinforcements for operations in Taliban strongholds
in Afghanistan.
Accept defeat by Taliban, Pakistan tells Nato
: Senior Pakistani officials are urging Nato countries to accept
the Taliban and work towards a new coalition government in Kabul
that might exclude the Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
Citizenship for sale: Immigrant soldiers serve the U.S.:
They come from Mexico, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Colombia, Cambodia
and a hundred other countries across the globe to find the
promise of America. Increasingly they enlist to fight, and
sometimes die, in America's wars.
MP: US to pay high price for any anti-Iran action
: Majlis Second Vice Speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard in
a meeting with the Swedish MP and Chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, Urban Ahlin here Wednesday said that any
irrational measure and decision against Iran will make the US
pay a high price.
Israeli occupation forces kill woman as she attempts to
save man bleeding at her doorstep : A woman in
Jenin gave her life to save a young man. Israeli forces shot
Mahmoud Abdel Razek Bakar Nasser in front of Fatima Mahmoud
Ahmed Shriem's northern West Bank home.
Baker Panel Aide Expects Israel Will Be Pressed:
An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the
10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration
pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria
and Iran to a regional conference on Iraq.
Palestinian PM pushes 1967 borders proposal
: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday set
the tone for his first foreign tour since taking office by
promoting a Palestinian initiative based on an independent state
on land outside Israel's 1967 borders.
Bedouin citizens of Israel denied water as means of
transfer: The Water Tribunal Supported the
Government's Policy of Seeking to Move Arab Bedouin Citizens of
Israel from their Land in the Naqab by Upholding Decisions of
the Water Commissioner not to Supply them with Drinking Water
British baroness chastised for 'pro-Israel lobby'
comments: The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat
party is considering recommendations to discipline and perhaps
expel Baroness Jenny Tonge from the party's membership in the
House of Lords following comments she made last week on the
power of the "pro-Israel lobby."
How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA,
the Green Berets and the FBI - And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed
to Stop Him:
New details have emerged about how an al Qaeda
spy named Ali Mohamed penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and
the FBI before the 9/11 attacks. We speak with investigative
journalist Peter Lance about his new book, "Triple Cross."
Video and transcript
"Russian spy" Litvinenko 'smuggled nuclear material'
: Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoned former Russian agent, told
the Italian academic he met on the day he fell ill that he had
organised the smuggling of nuclear material out of Russia for
his security service employers.
Bolivia passes sweeping land law :
Bolivia's Senate met in a surprise session late on Tuesday and
quickly passed a controversial land redistribution bill after
opposition unity collapsed in the face of marches for weeks by
thousands of landless Indians in support of the measure.
Brawl, Standoff in Mexican Congress :
Lawmakers wrestled, slapped each other and tumbled across the
floor of Mexico's Congress after opposition legislators
threatened to block the inauguration of the incoming president,
whom they accuse of stealing the election.
Rape by Nigerian forces 'endemic' : Amnesty
International, the human rights group, has accused Nigerian
police and soldiers of raping women and committing acts of
sexual violence with near impunity.
Six Muslim Leaders Removed
in Handcuffs From US Airways Plane After Praying in Airport:
After their release, US Airways denied them passage on any of
its other flights and refused to help them obtain tickets
through another airline. Two of the imams joins us in our
firehouse studio
Radio Spoof Draws Support for Nazi-Like Treatment of
U.S. Muslims; CAIR Says Callers' Reaction is a
'Wake-Up Call' on Anti-Muslim Bigotry
Judge Strikes Down Parts
of Executive Order on Terrorism: A Los Angeles
federal judge has ruled that key portions of a presidential
order blocking financial assistance to terrorist groups are
unconstitutional, further complicating the Bush administration's
attempts to defend its aggressive anti-terrorism tactics in
federal courts.
Struggling U.S. dollar triggers currency concerns:
The sudden weakness of the U.S. dollar began late last week,
soon after Chinese officials suggested that holding a lot of
dollars might be a losing investment strategy. Investors read
that as a signal that the massive trade and financial imbalances
between Asia and the U.S. may be about to unwind.
US setbacks see dollar plunge to near 15-year low:
An 8.3pc crash in US industrial orders and an admission by the
Federal Reserve chairman that Washington does not know how bad
housing really is set off another day of wild gyrations on the
currency markets.
Dollar woes poised to carry over into next year:
Greenback is down about 50% vs. euro in past five years; down 6%
vs. yen
Stranger than fiction?
Man ordered imprisoned for threatening President Bush:
An Israel-born Palestinian was sentenced Tuesday to federal
prison but was credited with time already served on charges that
he threatened to castrate President Bush while involuntarily
committed at a mental hospital.
11/28/06
"There
is no solution."
Writer Nir Rosen on Iraq's
Descent Into Chaos
We’ve destroyed Iraq and we’ve destroyed the
region, and Americans need to know this. - There was no civil
war in Iraq until we got there. And there was no civil war in
Iraq, until we took certain steps to pit Sunnis against Shias.
And now it is just too late. But, we need to know we are
responsible for what’s happening in Iraq today.
Continue
This is a must watch. Video and transcript
Bury my heart
in the Green Zone
By Pepe Escobar
Everyone is guilty in the ongoing Iraq tragedy. The
US-trained new Iraqi army is infiltrated by militias, by death
squads and even by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The SCIRI, Da'wa and the
Kurds are only worried about their own interests, not the
interests of Iraq as a nation. And the US - always hiding under
the dubious mantra of "Iraqi democracy" - totally evades its
responsibility in provoking the appalling chaos in the first
place.
Continue
The "Gaza-Solution" and the Ongoing War on Islam
By Mike Whitney
The central tenet of American foreign policy hasn’t changed
since the early 1980s when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
summarized our involvement in the Iraq-Iran War saying, “I hope
they kill each other.” Kissinger’s dictum reveals the basic
racial and religious odium which animates the current policy and
has become the organizing principle for maintaining the global
empire.
Continue
Death On The Streets of Iraq
2 Minute Video
Warning - This video should
only be watch by a mature audience.
Click to view
In case you missed it:
Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of
Iraq
A documentary film by John Pilger
Sanctions enforced by the UN on Iraq since the Gulf War have
killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in
1945, including over half a million children - many of whom
weren't even born when the Gulf War began.
Click to view
Clueless in America
Feeding the Tape Worms of Desire
By Charles Sullivan
There are millions of Americans who still care about the health
of the planet and the rights of other people, and they struggle
to be heard above the din of excessive commercialism that
overwhelms the senses and causes us to behave like caged rats in
a laboratory.
Continue
I have never
been more ashamed of the US government
By Cindy Sheehan
The villagers who walk the narrow streets of Daechuri,
bowed by lifetimes of carrying heavy burdens and children on
their backs, are now carrying burdens placed there by American
imperial gluttony, and I, as an American, want to help them
carry this burden, as many kind people all over the world have
tried to help me carry mine.
Continue
Effects of ill-advised CIA plot in Iran still haunts
U.S.
By John M. Crisp
Now that Iran looms on our horizon, here's a story that
every American should know.
Continue
It Could Happen Here
By Gregory Meyerson and Michael Joseph Roberto
Daniel Ellsberg’s warning that another 9-11 event “or a
major war in the Middle East involving a U.S. attack on Iran
…will be an equivalent of a Reichstag fire decree,” involving
massive detention of both Middle Easterners and critics of the
policy, the latter deemed terrorist sympathizers.
Continue
9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out
David Ray Griffin, Peter Dale Scott,
Peter Phillips, Kevin Ryan, Ray McGovern
Video
Editors and contributors to the book, "9/11 and American Empire"
assess the Bush administration's responsibility for the attacks
on 9/11, arguing that key administration officials either
purposefully ignored the threats leading up to the attacks or
were complicit in the planning them.
Click to view
At least 45 killed in another day of U.S. occupation:
Two car bombs close to west Baghdad's main Yarmouk hospital
killed four people and wounded 40, a source at Baghdad police
headquarters said
US soldiers kill five girls and child in Iraq:
US Marines fought with suspected insurgents in Ramadi, killing
six Iraqis - one man and five females, including an infant – the
US military said.
Patrick Cockburn : Slaughter in Iraq soon seems to be
part of normal life : Iraq is rending itself apart.
The signs of collapse are everywhere. In Baghdad, the police
often pick up more than 100 tortured and mutilated bodies in a
single day. Government ministries make war on each other.
Italy completes Iraq pull-out: Italy is to
complete the pull-out of its troops from Iraq by the end of this
week, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Monday.
British troops may stay in Iraq until 2016:
Thousands of British troops could remain in Iraq for another
decade, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday.
Nir Rosen: Anatomy of a Civil War
Ripping away the veil that hides Iraq’s
descent into chaos .
This is a must read
Iraq parliament bars media as tension mounts:
Iraq's parliament will bar the media from future sessions and
began on Monday by refusing access to reporters and then cutting
off television coverage as a debate on mounting sectarian
violence became heated.
Senators pledge to end war supplementals:
"We've been funding this war dishonestly," wrote Sen. Chuck
Hagel, R-Neb., in a Sunday op-ed piece.
Bush says violence in Iraq not civil war:
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that the resurging
violence in Iraq is not civil war, claiming that Al-Qaida is to
blame for the escalating bloodshed in this war-torn country,
reports reaching here said.
Heather
Wokusch: Impeachment Hearings for Bush & Co.? How
about War Crimes Tribunals: The Bush Doctrine of taking "the
battle to the enemy," for example, is a direct repudiation of
the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the use of
international force unless in self-defense (after an armed
attack across an international border) or related to a UN
Security Council decision.
In case you missed it:
Bush Plot To Bomb His Arab Ally: PRESIDENT
Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly
Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals.
The quiet death of Malachi Ritscher: ,
Malachi Ritscher wrote in a suicide note that his fellow
Americans had become "more concerned with sports on television
and ring-tones on cellphones than the future of the world".
Iraq panel's real agenda: damage control:
The Iraq Study Group's makeup gives away its true purpos
The New Middle East: Less than 20 years
after the end of the Cold War -- the American era in the Middle
East, the fourth in the region's modern history, has ended.
War is a racket:
George Monbiot: Only
paranoia can justify the world's second biggest military budget:
Britain's level of defence spending isn't related to real
threats we face, but the needs of our military-industrial
complex
War is a racket:
We'll call Downer as witness: AWB execs:
AdvertisementAWB figures implicated in the Iraq wheat scandal
have threatened to call Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander
Downer as a witness if they face trial, with one vowing "my QC
will rip him to shreds".
'We are just watching things get worse':
When Britain and America went into Afghanistan in 2001, they
claimed that the liberation of the country's burka-shrouded
women was one of their top priorities. So did they deliver? Five
years on, Natasha Walter visits Kabul - and is shocked by what
she discovers
UN Report Says Afghan Government Protect Drug
Traffickers : Afghanistan's criminal underworld has
compromised key government officials who protect drug
traffickers, allowing a record opium trade that won't be stamped
out for a generation to flourish, an ominous new U.N. report
released Tuesday said.
Palestinian force 'to police truce'
: Israel has agreed in principle for a Jordan-based
security force loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, to deploy in the Gaza Strip and help police the
ceasefire, an Israeli diplomatic source has told Reuters news
agency.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Had Talks with King
Abdullah II : They both discussed the Israeli peace
initiative in the region as well as the development of the
events in the autonomy territories and Israel.
Hamas PM leaves for Egypt on first foreign tour:
After Egypt, he is set to visit Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Kuwait,
Qatar and Saudi Arabia, although the dates for each leg have not
been divulged.
One State or
Two? : Rashid Khalidi & Ali Abunimah on the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Refugees Are The Key: Israel should admit
its historical responsibility to the Palestinian people and
recognize the rights of the refugees.
Israel: Military probe ordered in 2003 shooting of
American in Nablus : The Military Advocate General,
Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, has instructed military
police investigators to open a probe into the question of
whether Israel Defense Force soldiers bear criminal
responsibility in the shooting of a 24-year-old American citizen
and leftist activist in the Jenin refugee camp in April 2003.
Pelosi's Price is Right for Jewish Community; The
front of the room is where the action is: Democratic lawmakers
are spouting their pro-Israel credentials and their initiatives
for health care reform; the Jewish donors, who came to
Washington for intimate meetings just like this one, are eating
it up word for word.
24 Jewish organizations biggest fundraisers in US:
At the head of the Jewish organizations on the list was the
United Jewish Communities (UJC) which ranked 34. The
organization raised nearly USD 334 million in 2005.
Ties to Israel nothing new for Senate's next majority
leader: As a young lawyer struggling to make a
living in Las Vegas, Harry Reid never failed to buy Israel bonds
to benefit the United Jewish Appeal.
Pope, Measuring Words, Praises Islam's `Benevolence'
: Pope Benedict XVI, picking his words carefully on
his first visit to a Muslim nation, spoke of the ``great
benevolence'' of Islam, a shift from a two-month-old citation
that said the rival religion was ``evil and inhuman.
War criminall to advise pope:
Kissinger to Serve As Papal Adviser?: Pope Benedict
XVI has invited Henry Kissinger, former adviser to Richard
Nixon, to be a political consultant and he accepted.
In case you missed it:
Video: The Trials of Henry Kissinger: The Making Of A
War Criminal: "A fascinating, bombshell documentary
that should shame Americans, regardless of whether or not
ultimate blame finally lies with Kissinger. Should be required
viewing for civics classes and would-be public servants alike."
Colombian rebels kill 16 police in attack:
The attack is part of a two-week offensive by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that has dampened hopes of
eventual peace talks with the government.
Stockpile in case of Venezuela vote chaos, US says:
The United States warned people to stockpile food, water and
medicine in Venezuela in case a vote on Sunday sparks public
disorder as anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez seeks reelection.
Correa confirmed Ecuador president : Rafael
Correa has been officially declared the winner of Ecuador's
presidential election after polls results showed he had an
insurmountable lead over rival Alvaro Noboa.
Mexican protestors in Oaxaca call for national strike
: Protestors had seized and paralyzed much of the Oaxaca city,
the poor state's capital, after the original teachers' strike
mushroomed into a broad protest demanding the resignation of
Ruiz.
Militarizing Immigration For Profit: “What
do Mexican immigrants trying to feed their families have to do
with terrorism and national security?”
Chad Government Says In State Of War With Sudan:
Chad is in a state of war with Sudan and its military is on the
highest alert, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Chad rebels 'down military plane' : A
Chadian rebel group has claimed to have shot down a military
plane which was bombing their positions
Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand
up for freedom of speech: Former Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to
reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.
What Will You Do When the Government Demands Your
Laptop? : Courtesy of a decision from the 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Customs officials can seize and
copy the contents of any laptop carried across a U.S. border.
There's no arrest, warrant or probable cause required—just "gimme."
Ford Mortgages Assets to Pay for Overhaul:
For the first time in its 103-year history, the Ford Motor
Company is mortgaging its assets, including factories,
equipment, office buildings, patents and trademarks, and stakes
in subsidiaries like Volvo, in order to raise $18 billion to
overhaul itself.
11/27/06
Justice demands
it
By Ted Honderich
Depriving the Palestinians of self-determination in their own
territories deserves condemnation by all, Jew and non-Jew alike.
Continue
Man burns himself to
Death In Anti War protest
By Associated Press
Ritscher, a frequent anti-war protester, stood by an
off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set
up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself
on fire.
Continue
Iraq: More than 70 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:
A Shi'ite politician, Nassar al-Rubaie from the anti-occupation
Sadr movement, said 15 civilians were killed and 20 wounded by
U.S. forces in the area.
Fresh violence reported after curfew lifted
: The U-S military hasn't confirmed reports from police and
witnesses that U-S soldiers shot and killed eleven civilians and
wounded five yesterday in a Baghdad suburb. The police and
witnesses tell Associated Press Television News the Americans
"showed up and started firing at homes."
Iraq Worse Than Media Shows : "The amount
of death that's on the streets of Baghdad for U.S. forces and
for the Iraqi people is at an astronomical level," he said. "So,
to some degree, what we're seeing is sanitized."
Security expert says Iraq 'worse than Vietnam':
A security expert says he believes coalition forces face the
prospect of defeat in Iraq with serious consequences. Former
soldier and military historian Robert O'Neill says it is likely
the coalition will pull its troops out early.
Britain to
withdraw troops from Iraq : Thousands of British
soldiers will leave Iraq over the next year, significantly
downgrading the country's commitment in the region, the defense
secretary said Monday. Poland and Italy also announced the
impending withdrawal of their remaining troops.
Arrogance of the occupier:
Lawmakers lose patience with Iraq gov't:
Congressional leaders displayed eroding patience in the Iraqi
government on Sunday, adding pressure on President Bush and
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to find a faster path to
peace when they meet this week
They lied
their way into Iraq. Now they are trying to lie their way out:
Bush and Blair will blame anyone but themselves for the
consequences of their disastrous war - even its victims
Sword of the Shia: Why Moqtada al-Sadr may
end up deciding America's fate in Iraq.
Former SAS
officer calls for Iraq withdrawal: Video: Former
senior member of the Special Forces Major Peter Tinley is
calling for the immediate withdrawal of coalition troops from
Iraq
Get Ready for
the ‘Biden Report’: Biden discussed his plans for
stabilizing Iraq by creating a federal system of three
autonomous regions—Kurd, Shiite and Sunni—and for addressing
Iran’s nuclear program
Iran says will do all it can to help Iraq:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would do whatever it
could to help provide security to Iraq amid warnings the country
was on the brink of civil war.
U.S. ambassador warns Georgia against long-term term gas
contracts with Iran: A U.S. diplomat warned Georgia
against signing a long-term contract for natural gas supplies
with Iran, but the Georgian premier reaffirmed Monday that his
nation remained determined to import the Iranian gas.
39 killed in Iran military plane crash: An
Iranian military plane crashed shortly after takeoff at Tehran's
Mehrabad airport early yesterday killing all 39 people on board,
including 30 members of the Revolutionary Guards, police said.
Canadian occupation force Troops Killed in Afghanistan:
A suicide car bomber attacked a Canadian armored vehicle Monday,
killing two soldiers a day before NATO leaders gather in Europe
for a summit that will focus on the strengthening Taliban
insurgency.
4 civilians working for U.S. occupation forces killed in
E. Afghanistan : Taliban militias have killed four
civilians on charges of having cooperation with the U.S.
military in east Afghanistan, a newspaper reported Monday.
Nato urged to plan Afghanistan exit strategy as violence
soars :While heads of government are to make a show
of unity over Afghanistan at tomorrow's alliance summit in Riga,
Belgium's Defence Minister has questioned the future of Nato's
most important mission.
I am a recovering U.S. Citizen: Must
watch video 8 minute video: "This war on terrorism, is not about
protecting us from terrorism. It's about allowing us to use
terrorism"- Warning - Video contains some adult language
Palestinians shot dead by Israeli Occupation forces in
West Bank : A Palestinian resistance fighter and a
woman have been killed in an Israeli military operation near
Jenin in the northern West Bank.
Israel launches new propaganda campaign:
Israeli PM Offers Concessions To Palestinians In
Exchange For 'Real Peace' : 'You must end the
violence and terrorism, and the desire to harm Israeli citizens
in the south, north and centre, recognize our right to live in
peace alongside you, and give up your demand for the right of
refugee return', he added.
Carter: Israeli 'domination' over Palestinians is
'atrocious': Carter dismissed criticism by some
Democrats that his book comes down too harshly on America's key
ally in the Middle East
Does It Matter What You Call It?: Genocide or Erasure of
Palestinians: Having at that point just completed
our fifth trip to Palestine since early 2003, we should have had
the courage and the insight to call what we have observed Israel
doing to the Palestinians by its rightful name: genocide.
72-year-old left-wing activist decries repeated
'harassment' by B-G security: Steinitz says that
each year, airport security guards harass her more and more. In
November 2005, the security check included a search that
required her to remove what she described as "almost all" of her
clothing.
Deir Yassin: The Agony : Video - On April 9 1948,
the small muslim village of Deir Yassin just outside Jerusalem
was attacked by Jewish Israelis, and 100 unarmed civilians
massacred.
Mass protest by anti-zionist Orthodox Jews against the
existence of the State of “Israel”: Over ten
thousand Orthodox Jews led by dozens of prominent Rabbis
gathered outside the “Israeli” Consulate in New York City on
Thursday, November 9, 2006, to protest against the existence of
the State of “Israel”
The complete text of "The Origin of the Palestine-Israel
Conflict" Published by Jews for Justice in the
Middle East: The conventional wisdom is that, even if both sides
are at fault, the Palestinians are irrational "terrorists" who
have no point of view worth listening to. Our position, however,
is that the Palestinians have a real grievance: their homeland
for over a thousand years was taken, without their consent and
mostly by force.
Poisoned spy visited Israel with oil dossier
: It emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko travelled to
Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a
Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin
dealt with his enemies running the oil company.
Boris Berezovsky: The first oligarch :
Boris Berezovsky, the fugitive oligarch exiled in Britain who
heads the list of Russia's "most wanted".
Correa ahead in Ecuador vote count : Exit
polls showed Correa, who has pledged to radically reform
Ecuadorean politics, has a wide lead over Noboa.
Ecuador's Correa says he won't renew lease for US
military base : Leftist Rafael Correa, unofficially
the winner of Ecuador's presidential election, reiterated he
would not renew the US lease for a military air base in the
South American country.
Chavez vows to beat the "devil": "On
December 3 we're going to defeat the most powerful empire on
earth by knockout," Chavez said.
12 South American countries to have 'open borders':
The governments of 12 countries in South America have signed an
agreement to allow their citizens to travel between them without
passports.
Pinochet indicted for deaths of Allende bodyguards:
Former dictator General Augusto Pinochet was indicted Monday and
ordered to remain under house arrest for the execution of two
bodyguards of Salvador Allende, the freely elected Marxist
president who was toppled in a 1973 coup.
British success built on 'misery and suffocation' of
slave boats : Some 562 men, women and children made
up the human cargo of the slave ship Feroz. Crammed beneath
grate-covered hatchways between the decks, left to stew amid the
stench of faeces and rotting bodies, each bore the mark of their
owner, branded on their skin with a red-hot iron.
Popemobile gives way to armoured car on visit to
'minefield': The Vatican is so anxious about the
Pope’s safety during his trip to Turkey this week that it has
vetoed use of the traditional “Popemobile”. Instead, Pope
Benedict XVI will travel in an armour-plated car, with several
similar vehicles used as decoys, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the
former papal spokesman, said.
Justice Department watchdog to review domestic spying
program: The Justice Department's internal
investigations division said Monday it has opened an inquiry
into the agency's use of information gathered in the
government's warrantless surveillance program.
Death Knell of the US Dollar...: The dollar
plunged with startling ferocity late last week, driven by heavy
selling. This was very bearish action that signals panic, and
the probable onset of a severe downtrend. A break below the
crucial support at 80 on the dollar index is expected to mark
the transition from a clandestine unloading of dollar assets to
an all-out stampede to “get what you can for them” before it’s
too late.
Subdivision Bans Wreath With Peace Sign: A
homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened
to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas
wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war
protest or a symbol of Satan.
11/26/06
“America’s
moment in the Middle East is about to end”
By Mike Whitney
There are no “accidents” in Middle East politics. This week’s
assassination of Lebanese Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel can
only be understood in the context of the ongoing struggle
between the competing political forces in the region. Presently,
the United States is the big loser in this regard due to its
failed campaign in Iraq.
Continue
'I think there
are enough weapons for the next war'
By Robert Fisk:
To Khiam, in the far south of Lebanon, to photograph Israeli
bomb craters in which a British scientific team say they have
found traces of enriched uranium. Spanish troops - along with
Indian soldiers - now patrol this dangerous corner of Lebanon,
and their UN vehicles hum past us as we drive under a
white-bright winter sky.
Continue
US carried out
madrasah bombing
By Christina Lamb
THE bombing of a Pakistani madrasah last month, in
which 82 students were killed, was carried out by the United
States, a Pakistani official has admitted.
Continue
The Uses of History and the War on Terrorism
By Howard Zinn
Whether you call yourself a totalitarian state or you call
yourself a democracy, it works the same way, and that is, the
leaders of the country are able to cajole or coerce and entice
the people into war by scaring them, telling them they’re in
danger, and threatening them and coercing them, that if they
don’t go along, they will be considered unpatriotic.
Continue
Ex-employee says FAA warned before 9/11
By Catherine Rampell
"Immediately (after 9/11), numerous government officials
from FAA as well as other government agencies made defensive
statements such as, 'How could we have known this was going to
happen?' " Dzakovic testified later before the 9/11 Commission.
"The truth is, they did know."
Continue
Suspect Nation
Channel 4 UK - Video
Since Tony Blair's New Labour government came to power in
1997, the UK civil liberties landscape has changed dramatically.
The right to remain silent is no longer universal. Our right to
privacy, free from interception of communications has been
severely curtailed. The ability to travel without surveillance
(or those details of our journeys being retained) has
disappeared.
Click to play
Sunday: More than 108 killed in another bloody day of
U.S. occupation: Police in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles)
north of Baghdad, found the bodies of 25 people, including seven
teenagers blindfolded and each with a single gunshot wound to
the head
Crowd stones Iraq PM as govt calls for calm: Angry
fellow Shi'ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
motorcade in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a
display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through
their area.
Iraqi Clerics Say U.S. Should Leave:
Leading Sunni and Shiite clerics in Iraq said Saturday the U.S.
military presence aggravates the sectarian violence that is
tearing at the country.
Saturday: More than 120 killed as Mosque's burn in
occupied iraq:
Police found the bodies of 21 Shi'ites from an extended family,
hours after they were abducted from homes in a mostly Sunni
village outside Balad Ruz
'In Saddam's time I never saw a friend killed in front
of my eyes. I never saw neighbours driven out of
their homes just for their sect. And I never saw entire families
being slaughtered and killed'
Al-Sadr loyalists take over Iraqi television station:
Followers of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took
over state-run television Saturday to denounce the Iraqi
government, label Sunnis "terrorists" and issue what appeared to
many viewers as a call to arms.
Iraq a moral blunder, says war hero: THE
former SAS officer who devised and executed the Iraq war plan
for Australia's special forces says that the nation's
involvement has been a strategic and moral blunder.
U.S. Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself :
The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially,
raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling,
kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes
that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been
largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government
report has concluded.
Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former US army general:
Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorised the
mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the
prison's former U.S. commander said in an interview on Saturday.
Maureen Dowd:: United States is lost in the desert of
Iraq: Dick Cheney and his wormy aides, of course,
are still babbling about total victory and completing the
mission by raising the stakes and knocking off the mullahs in
Tehran. His tombstone will probably say, "Here lies Dick Cheney,
still winning."
71 killed in occupied Afghanistan : A
suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in eastern
Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 15 Afghans, as Nato said 55
"rebels" had died in fierce clashes that also killed one of its
soldiers.
40 "Taliban" militants killed in occupied Afghanistan
: Afghan police killed 40 Taliban insurgents in Uruzgan province
of southern Afghanistan, an official at the Interior Ministry
told Xinhua on Saturday.
Britain told: do peace deal with Taliban:
THE British will never win in Afghanistan by military means and
should open negotiations with the Taliban, according to the
former leader of Pakistan’s forces in the border areas.
Three Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on occupied
Gaza : Three Palestinians have been killed on
Saturday in the Gaza Strip as Israel intensifies its military
operation, raising the death toll of the week-long offensive
here to at least 20 Palestinians.
Israeli troops leave Gaza as ceasefire takes hold:
Israel and Palestinian militants began a ceasefire in the Gaza
Strip on Sunday, raising hopes for a meeting soon between Ehud
Olmert, Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian
president.
Exiled Hamas leader warns third uprising in 6 months:
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Saturday warned of the
collapse of the Palestinian authorities and a third intifada
(uprising) in six months while blaming Israel for the delay on
an Egypt-brokered prisoners' swap.
Israel: Assassination, but only after a hearing
: The cabinet issued an order to prepare a large-scale operation
in Gaza, and also established a committee to discuss the
execution of individuals. Tanks will rumble through the alleys,
and airplanes will aim their missiles precisely at anyone whom
the committee decides has lived long enough.
'When it comes to firing the gun, it's a massive shock.
It's what you don't see in the movies.': We
followed young British Jews signing up for service in Gaza and
the West Bank
S. African Jewish paper causes storm: The
South African Jewish Report, published weekly in Johannesburg,
is engaged in a heated public spat with the country's Jewish
minister of intelligence, over the newspaper's refusal to
publish a letter by Kasrils that, the paper's editor says,
compares Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories to
those of the Nazis during WWII.
Israeli forces laid mines in Lebanon during summer war
: U.N. experts say up to one million cluster bombs
dropped by Israeli aircraft during the July-August war against
Hezbollah remain unexploded in south Lebanon, where they
continue to threaten civilians.
Olmert and the Baker Boys : James Baker, the
consiglieri of the Bush crime family, brings Syria and Iran to
the table and they hammer out an understanding on Iraq and,
horror stacked upon horror, “some kind of long-term Israeli-Arab
diplomatic agreement,” as the Jerusalem Post puts it.
Cheney and Neo-Cons Plotting More Wars:
They are now preparing to survive the fall of the House of Bush,
and are already making plans for the next confrontations:
against Iran and Russia, to name the top two targets du jour.
Ecuador Voters Cast Ballots as Correa,
Noboa Vie for Presidency
: Ecuador's voters cast ballots today in a presidential
runoff that polls show may bring to power former Finance
Minister Rafael Correa, an ally of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez
who advocates defaulting on the nation's debt.
Chad rebel convoy moves towards capital: A
Chadian rebel column rumbled westwards towards the capital
N'Djamena on Sunday just hours after the army retook the eastern
town of Abeche, a French diplomat said.
Chad military massing along road to the capital in
anticipation of a rebel attack : Chadian soldiers
in heavily armed pickup trucks were massing along a strategic
road Sunday as a rebel convoy was spotted heading toward the
capital of this volatile African nation.
Mexican police clash with protesters in Oaxaca:
- Protesters shot fireworks at riot police and burned down
government buildings in Mexico's colonial city of Oaxaca on
Saturday, days before President-elect Felipe Calderon was to
take office.
Robert Gates advocated air strikes against Nicaragua in
1984, documents say: Ironically, Gates' nomination
to succeed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was announced just
days after Ortega capped off a surprise political comeback by
winning election as Nicaraguan president after three previous
bids were rejected by the voters.
In case you missed it:
John Pilger: Nicaragua - A Nations Right To Survive:
hey based their reformist ideology on that of the English
Co-operative Movement, but was to prove too ‘radical’ for the
Reagan administration. In this film, Pilger describes the
achievements of the Sandinistas and their "threat of a good
example".
Nuclear fallout: Alexander Litvinenko died in agony. Who
killed him, and why?: Polonium-210 is so dangerous
that it may be impossible to carry out a conventional
post-mortem on Mr Litvinenko. It is even possible that his
remains will have to be disposed of in a manner that prevents
any risk.
Litvinenko: police probe claims he may have killed
himself : Detectives investigating the death of
Alexander Litvinenko were last night examining the possibility
that the former spy killed himself to discredit Vladimir Putin.
Honduras fines U.S. subsidiary over alleged mercenary
training: The Honduran government said Friday it
has fined the local subsidiary of a U.S. company $25,000 for
allegedly training more than 300 Hondurans and foreigners last
year to work as mercenaries in Iraq.
Secret Pentagon Documents Classify Central Coast Group
as a "Threat": Santa Barbara Chapter of Veterans
for Peace revealed to be a Pentagon surveillance target
State police eyed as hubs of terrorism data network:
A new plan from the U.S. intelligence czar will use intelligence
centers run by state police as the hubs for a national network
of officials from different agencies and levels of government
sharing information about terrorism.
Whistle-blowers tell of cost of conscience
: In 2002, decorated FBI Special Agent Mike German was
investigating meetings between terrorism suspects. When he
discovered other officers had jeopardized the investigation by
violating wiretapping regulations, he reported what he found to
his supervisors, in accordance with FBI policy.
The U.S. Dollar is the Week's Biggest Turkey
: While Americans were busy digesting their Thanksgiving feasts,
the rest of the world was barfing up dollars. As a result of our
massive trade deficits, foreigners certainly have their bellies
full of them.
US dollar 'will keep falling:
The US dollar has reached a 'tipping point' as foreign
exchange markets wake up to the threat that the Federal Reserve
will have to slash interest rates in the new year to stave off
recession, analysts say. After a sharp sell-off on Friday took
the greenback to 18-month lows against the euro, and pushed the
pound to $1.93, economists warned that there was worse to come
for the US currency.
11/24/06
The Democrats and the Slaughterhouse
Head for the Exits, Now!
By Alexander Cockburn
Imagine a steer in the stockyards hollering to his fellows, "We
need a phased withdrawal from the slaughterhouse, starting in
four to six months.
Continue
Humiliation As A Weapon Of War.
2 Minute Video
U.S. Occupation Forces Bring Clean Water to The Children Of
Iraq.
Click to view
Syria is a
convenient fallguy for Gemayel’s death
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
Commentators and columnists are agreed. Pierre Gemayel’s
assassination must have been the handiwork of Syria because his
Christian Phalangists have been long-time allies of Israel and
because, as industry minister, he was one of the leading figures
in the Lebanese government’s anti-Syria faction. President Bush
thinks so too. Case, apparently, settled.
Continue
Dragons of Lebanon's
past emerge for Gemayel
funeral
By Robert Fisk
Amin Gemayel wept and swooned in front of us. The tens
of thousands of Christians and Muslims burst into applause
before the improvised stage.
Continue
Interview With George Galloway
7 Minute Video
"George Bush and Tony Blair are not Christians"
Click to view
The Power and
the Glory
Myths of American exceptionalism
ByHoward Zinn
The notion of American exceptionalism—that the United States
alone has the right, whether by divine sanction or moral
obligation, to bring civilization, or democracy, or liberty to
the rest of the world, by violence if necessary—is not new. It
started as early as 1630 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Continue
The Current Crisis in the Middle East
Video
True to form, Noam Chomsky makes a sweeping and copiously
detailed indictment of U.S. Middle East policy, brooking no
contrary or alternate views. His history-filled lecture
(interrupted by occasional applause) focuses on four crises,
involving the Palestinians, the Lebanon invasion, the Iraq war
and the “impending catastrophe in Iran.”
Continue
Economic Empire building: The Centrality of Corruption
By James Petras
Globalization, so-called, is a euphemism for the
increasing importance of competing empires intent on redividing
the world. Corrupting overseas rulers is central to securing
privileged access to lucrative resources, markets and
enterprises.
Continue
The US Empire –Beginning of the End Game
By K Gajendra Singh
"We are the leading nation, the most moral, born with the
redemptive mission to create what the Puritan preacher Jonathan
Winthrop called the 'City on the Hill', the democracy 'of the
people and by the people' that originated the modern world with
our repudiation of monarchy and inherited privilege,
Continue
Gunmen rampage through Baghdad district, kill 30:
police: Gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns
rampaged through a Sunni enclave in a mainly Shi'ite district in
Baghdad on Friday, killing 30 people and setting mosques and
homes ablaze, Iraqi police said.
Another 26 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
A double suicide attack killed 22 people and wounded 45 at a
market in a Shi'ite district in the northern city of Tal Afar,
near the Syrian border, police said.
6 Sunnis burned alive, police say: Shia
militia grabbed six Sunnis, doused them with kerosene and burned
them alive Friday in what is believed to be revenge for deadly
car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad's largest Shia
district.
British soldier killed in Iraq : The
soldier, a member of the Parachute Regiment, was shot during the
operation in Basra and taken to a nearby military hospital where
he later died.
Baghdad toll exceeds 200 : The death toll
from a series of bombs in Sadr City, a poor Shia area of
Baghdad, has reached 202. An estimated 250 people were wounded
in Thursday afternoon's attacks.
Shiites Warn of Government Withdrawal : A powerful
legislative bloc loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moktada
al-Sadr threatened to withdraw from the government if Iraq’s
prime minister attends a scheduled meeting with President Bush
in Jordan next week.
Foreign Occupation Troops Kill 7 "Insurgents" in
Southern Afghanistan : : The U.S. military said one
soldier from the U.S.-led coalition force was wounded in the
battle on Friday in Kandahar province. Coalition warplanes,
mortar fire and small arms were used in the clash
One NATO occupation force soldier killed, one wounded in
Afghanistan: One NATO soldier was killed and
another wounded when suspected Taliban militants attacked their
security patrol in southern Afghanistan, the military said.
US hawk judges ‘war on terror’ a mistake:
Fred Iklé, a Nixon-era arms control veteran and mentor to the
current generation of nuclear “hawks”, has an apocalyptic vision
of the future.
U.S. is ranked 17th in level of democracy :
Sweden is the most democratic country, according to the
research, with 9.88 average score. Ireland, 9.71 points, the
Netherlands, 9.66, and Norway, 9.55 follow the Scandinavian
kingdom. The US is ranked 17th while Japan is 20th and the
United Kingdom 23rd.
Israel occupation forces kill 10 year old Palestinians
boy: Israeli forces shot dead a 10-year-old
Palestinian boy and a "militant" in Gaza on Friday
Palestinian man shot dead in occupied Gaza
: Israeli soldiers have shot dead a Hamas member who was filming
the group's operations in northern Gaza.
Israel rejects rocket truce offer : Israel
has dismissed an offer from Palestinian armed groups to stop
firing rockets in exchange for a halt to Israeli military
operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Gideon Levy : A prayer in paradise : The
kindergarten teacher is lying on a stretcher, covered with
blood. The minibus is parked alongside. From somewhere to the
left, the army cannon is firing shells.
France okays firing at Israeli jets over Lebanon:
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive
Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets,
a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.
Lebanon Starts Two-day Protest Strike : Leading
banks and businesses in Lebanon have launched a two-day general
strike to protest against the assassination of Industry Minister
Pierre Gemayel
Those who assassinated Gemayel are enemies of Syria
: Syria seeks just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East
and restoration of the occupied Arab territories including the
occupied Golan to the June 4th 1967 line and the establishment
of independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,
Syria's Information Minister Dr. Mohsen Bilal said.
Iran makes concession to UN nuclear investigation
: Iran has agreed to hand over records of its
uranium enrichment work in a boost to UN efforts to determine
whether Tehran seeks nuclear weapons
Russia starts rocket delivery to Iran :
Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor-M1 air defence rocket
system to Iran, Russian news agencies quoted military industry
sources as saying Friday, in the latest sign of a Russian-US
rift over Iran.
Putin's new secret weapon: President
Vladimir Putin came to the conclusion three years ago that
Russia was sitting on a secret weapon more powerful than all its
military might.
Italian right 'tried to rig poll' : Italian
prosecutors have launched an inquiry into claims that the
government of ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried to rig
April's general elections.
Marine deployed despite request for conscientious
objector discharge: A Marine from New Jersey was
deployed to Iraq this month despite being recommended for a
military discharge by a hearing officer who agreed that the man
should receive conscientious objector status.
Bosses to face bribe raps : : An inquiry
into alleged multi-million dollar bribes paid to export wheat to
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is set to recommend
criminal charges against several senior executives.
'State secrets privilege' blocks fired translator from
suing FBI: "Instead of protecting and standing up
for whistle-blowers, this is just giving the complete green
light to retaliate," says Edmonds, who lost her appeal.
Iraqi Guerilla
By Mike Whitney
While critics of the Iraq war are quick to point out that US
occupation is failing, they hesitate to draw the obvious
conclusion; that the Iraqi resistance is winning.
Continue
Australian Company AWB 'knew Iraq plans a year before'
By AAP
A YEAR before the invasion of Iraq, the then Australian
ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth, confidentially
told AWB's former chairman Trevor Flugge the Howard Government
would participate in military action with the US to overthrow
Saddam Hussein, new AWB documents reveal.
Continue
Palestinian Solidarity Discourse and Zionist Hegemony
By Gilad Atzmon
We are afraid to admit that Israel is indeed a Fascist State.
Continue
Gemayel's mourners know
that in Lebanon nothing is what it seems
By Robert Fisk
If only the Lebanese stopped putting their faith in
foreigners - the Americans, the Israelis, the British, the
Iranians, the French, the United Nations - and trusted each
other instead, they would banish the nightmares of civil war
sealed inside Pierre Gemayel's coffin.
Continue
Big Brother, Big Business
Technology is being used to monitor Americans more than ever
before.
CNBC Special Video Report:
Documentary provides an inside peek at an AOL division that
works solely to satisfy the requests of law enforcement for
information about AOL's members.
Click to view
Let America Be America Again
By Langston Hughes
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Continue
Baghdad blasts: At least 150 dead in another day of
bloody U.S. occupation: : A series of car
bombs have killed at least 133 people in the predominantly Shia
neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. About 30 masked and
heavily-armed men also attacked the health ministry in central
Baghdad and engaged security guards in a fierce gun battle,
trapping 2,000 employees inside the building on Thursday.
52 bodies found in occupied Baghdad : The
grim discovery came as the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said
7,054 Iraqi civilians met violent deaths in September and
October -- with nearly 5,000 of the slayings occurring in
Baghdad.
3 U.S. Occupation Force Soldier Among 7 Killed In Iraq:
Three U.S. marines died on Wednesday from wounds sustained due
to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province, the U.S.
military said on Thursday.
Four Iraqi civilians killed by US occupation forces:
U.S. troops opened fire on a minibus, killing four passengers,
during a raid on a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad on
Thursday, police and residents said.
Baghdad Airport shut at end of bloody day in Iraq
: At the end of a day in which attacks killed at least 160
Iraqis and wounded more than 250, comes word that Baghdad's
airport is shut.
Iraq oil profits reportedly used to back militants:
The Iraqi oil ministry has uncovered illegal operations whereby
oil products were sold and profits were pooled into financing
local militancy, Al Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Baghdad calls insurgents for peace talks:
THE Prime Minister of Iraq will sit down for the first
time next week with representatives of insurgent groups in his
most concerted effort yet to quell the country's sectarian war.
Civil war could ripple outward: Whether the
U.S. military departs Iraq sooner or later, the United States
will be hard-pressed to leave behind a country that does not
threaten U.S. interests and regional peace, according to
American and Arab analysts and political observers.
Iraq war was good for Israel:
Olmert : The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's
security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday,
voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by
the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies.
Israeli attacks kill seven in occupied Gaza
: Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians including five
resistance fighters in raids in the Gaza Strip.
Grandmother in first Hamas suicide attack in two year:
The mother of nine and grandmother of 41 became the oldest
Palestinian suicide bomber at the age of 57, selecting as her
target troops operating near her occupied Gaza home in Jabaliya,
Who benefits? Rival theories over the murder of Gemayel:
The other main theory accuses the US or its allies in Lebanon of
killing Mr Gemayel to stop the opposition, led by Hizbullah,
from bringing down the government and curtailing American
influence. It also suggests an attempt to isolate Syria once
again, just as the west wants to re-engage Damascus over
possible help in Iraq
Gunmen ambush Afghan woman councilor's car; husband
killed: Suspected Taleban gunmen on motorbikes
ambushed a female provincial councilor's car in southern
Afghanistan, killing her husband, police said yesterday.
Expert: Bush can't attack Iran: Security
expert tells forum: US president has no credibility, unable to
initiate Iran attack
Revolutionary Guards Head: 'US Forces in Middle East
'Extremely' Vulnerable : The commander of the
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has said: If America attacks
Iran, its 200,000 troops and 33 bases in the region will be
extremely vulnerable, and both American politicians and military
commanders are aware of it.
Iran
Offers Nuclear Access To IAEA : Iran On Thursday
agreed to give the United Nations nuclear agency, the IAEA,
access to equipment and records from two of its nuclear sites.
Missing keys, holes in fence and a single padlock:
welcome to Congo's nuclear plant: The IAEA is
worried that lax security could lead to enriched uranium falling
into the wrong hands
Child database 'will ruin family privacy':
Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the
mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and
Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's
Information Commissioner.
Report: Data Agency Broke Privacy Laws: The
Belgian-based company, the Society for Worldwide Interbank
Financial Telecommunication, "committed violations of data
protection laws" by secretly transferring data to the United
States.
Chertoff's 'Chilling Vision': Chertoff
outlined his nightmare scenario in a Nov. 17 speech to the
Federalist Society, an organization of right-wing lawyers who
spearheaded the legal arguments for granting President George W.
Bush authority unbound by any law, including the constitutional
rights of Americans.
Judge: Case Against Padilla Is Weak:
Federal prosecutors are asking an appeals court to reinstate a
terrorism conspiracy charge against alleged al Qaeda operative
Jose Padilla that could bring him a life sentence.
Thanksgiving: The National Day Of Mourning:
History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage,
illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an
organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized
and undisciplined entity.
11/22/06
U.S. Retreat from Iraq? The Secret Story
By Tom Hayden
According to credible Iraqi sources in London and
Amman, a secret story of America’s diplomatic exit strategy from
Iraq is rapidly unfolding. The key events include.
Continue
Civil War In Lebanon
By Robert Fisk in Beirut
Why did Gemayel die just hours after Syria announced the
restoration of diplomatic relations with Iraq after a quarter of
a century? Why has Nasrallah threatened street demonstrations in
Beirut to bring down the government when Siniora's cabinet had
just accepted the UN's tribunal to try Hariri's assassins?
Continue
No Peace, No Place For Palestine
By Sheila Samples
Everybody is angry, including Palestine, and everybody has a
right to be angry -- except Palestine. Everybody has a right to
exist on their own land -- except Palestine.
Continue
Bush’s Defeated Foe: US Civil Liberty
By Paul Craig Roberts :
If anyone had predicted that the election of George W.
Bush to the presidency would result in an American police state
and illegal wars of aggression, he would have been dismissed as
a lunatic.
Continue
Rumsfeld and a mountain of misery
By Amy Goodman
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those
who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are
men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain
without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the
awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a
demand. It never did and it never will."
Continue
The Cumulative Effect of Lesser Evils
By Charles Sullivan
Corrupt self-serving government is the result of over two
hundred years of choice between lesser evils: the effect of
which is cumulative and permanent. Year after year, election
after election, the American voter adds to these strata of evil,
like the making of a reef that lays fathoms deep on the ocean’s
floor. We are making things progressively worse while deluding
ourselves into thinking they are getting better.
Continue
Third Parties Fight for American Democracy
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
The time is long overdue for Americans to stop voting
for candidates that can win, and start voting for those that
should win. What lesser-evil voting has produced is entrenched
two-party evil. Continue
America Has Left the Building
An Open Missive of Anger and Hope
By Phil Rockstroh
We must begin to grasp the unsettling knowledge that the things
we, as a nation, inflict upon the world -- we will eventually
inflict upon ourselves. It is imperative that we start to ask
ourselves this question: When so many external and internal
forces work to thwart, degrade, and destroy our essential selves
-- hence the world -- what can help to restore us?
Continue
How Multinational Corporations Avoid Paying Their Taxes
By Peter Rost
Drug companies and other multinational companies based in the
U.S. systematically avoid paying tax in the U.S. on their
profits. The companies elect to realize profits in low-tax
countries and because of this the rest of us have to pay
billions of unnecessary taxes to make up for the shortfall.
writes Peter Rost, an ex-pharmaceutical executive. Continue
At least 36 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:
Police said they recovered 14 bodies, including three
women in different areas of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of
Baghdad.
Iraqi civilian deaths hit record in Oct.:
The United Nations said Wednesday that 3,709 Iraqi civilians
were killed in October, the highest monthly toll since the March
2003 U.S. invasion and another sign of the severity of Iraq's
sectarian bloodbath.
"The
time for more troops is past," : 2 minute video:
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), “The time for more troops is past,”
“We don’t want to put more troops in now. Even if we had them,
that’s the wrong approach.”
Another Marine pleads guilty in Iraqi's death: Sentenced
to 21 months: A 21-year-old lance
corporal who joined the Marine Corps to "have adventures I could
tell about" became the fourth defendant Tuesday to plead guilty
to dragging an unarmed Iraqi from his home and executing him as
he begged for his life.
11 suspected 'Taleban" killed in clash with NATO-led
occupation forces: Clashes between foreign troops
and Taleban fighters in eastern Afghanistan resulted in the
deaths of 11 militants, the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) said Wednesday.
Israeli attacks kills 4 Palestinians in occupied Gaza:
Israeli forces killed four -- two resistance fighters and two
civilians. A cabinet statement said the military had been told
to prepare and present a plan for a broader sweep.
2 Palestinians die from wounds: A man and
woman from the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya who were wounded from
Israeli occupation forces fire on Wednesday have died of their
wounds in the Gaza hospital
Amira Hass: No more hitching in the W. Bank:
The OC Central Command, Yair Naveh, dropped a cluster
bomb early this week. He signed an order barring Israeli
citizens from taking Palestinian passengers in their Israeli
vehicles within the West Bank.
Israel's nuclear arsenal 'not a secret,' says Straw:
Former Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has become the first
member of the British cabinet to go on public record and
formally admit that Israel has an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
US could bomb Iran nuclear
sites in 2007: analysts: President George W. Bush
could choose military action over diplomacy and bomb Iran's
nuclear facilities next year, political analysts in Washington
agree.
'No proof' of Iran nuclear arms : The US
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not found conclusive
evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a US magazine
has reported.
Iranian president describes Bush as evil, says Iran must
thwart US arrogance: The Iranian president
described U.S. President George W. Bush as "evil" Wednesday,
adding that justice requires that Iran face down U.S. arrogance,
the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
U.S.- Iran history, beyond
the fear : So warm, gracious and welcoming were the
people of Iran, in just two days I felt safer walking the
streets of Tehran, a city of 16 million, than I did in Albany.
Where was this "axis of evil"?
Pentagon delays chemical weapons disposal:
The Pentagon has extended its timeline to destroy its aging
chemical weapons arsenal until 2023. the military won’t
eliminate its stock of deadly nerve gases and skin-blistering
agents until 11 years after the 2012 deadline set by the
international Chemical Weapons Convention.
Mourners pay tribute to slain Lebanon minister:
Anger and apprehension gripped the country as it prepared to
bury Industry Minister Gemayel, a Christian gunned down as he
drove through a Beirut suburb on Tuesday. He was the sixth
anti-Syrian politician to be killed in nearly two years.
U.S. plans to boost military help for Lebanon:
The Bush administration plans to give the fragile Lebanese
government more military aid and other support, fearing more
bloodshed after this week's political assassination, said a
senior U.S. official.
Bolivian Leaders Cut Ties With Morales: Six
of Bolivia's nine regional governors have severed communications
with President Evo Morales's government in recent days,
intensifying protests against the ruling party's efforts to
rewrite the constitution, implement a controversial land reform
policy and limit the regional governments' powers.
Let Us Now Throw Rumsfeld Under The Bus:
Having lived a life in which his chestnuts have always been
pulled out of the fire of failure by daddy's friends and wannabe
friends (Robert Gates anyone?), Bush is not accustomed to taking
blame for his mistakes and eff - ups. He is, to put it bluntly,
a 60 year old spoiled brat.
92-Year-Old Killed As Police Burst Into Her Home:
Niece Says Woman 'Gunned Down Like Dog'
Federal judge rejects request for NSA wiretapping
records : The National Security Agency is not
required to release details about its secret wiretapping
program, a federal judge said this week.
UK: Motorists to give fingerprints :
Drivers who get stopped by the police could have their
fingerprints taken at the roadside, under a new plan to help
officers check people's identities.
A predatory capitalist who stifles competition and
delivers mediocrity: Our politicians pay court to
Rupert Murdoch like Roman vassals. He is a threat to democracy
and it is time we took him on
Dollar Declines Amid Concerns Economy Is Slowing, Fed
May Ease : The dollar declined against the euro and
yen as traders speculated the economy may be slowing enough for
the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates.
11/21/06
Killing Without Conscience : Iraq - The
Hidden War
How our news is sanitized to prevent the
destruction and suffering created by the U.S. occupation of Iraq
from entering our reality.
Channel 4 Investigates
- Warning -
This video contains images that should only be
viewed by a mature audience
Iraq: The Hidden Story shows the footage used
by TV news broadcasts, and compares it with the devastatingly
powerful uncensored footage of the aftermath of the carnage that
is becoming a part of the fabric of life in Iraq.
Video - Click to play
Gaza's Reality
Would you be able to live
like this?
5 Minute Video
"We live in constant fear"
Click to view
Was The CIA
Involved In The Murder Of Robert Kennedy?
BBC Newsnight Video Report
Film-maker Shane O'Sullivan has spent the last three years
investigating the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968. He has
uncovered new evidence that at least three CIA agents were in
the hotel the night he died. Tonight we show the findings and
ask could CIA agents have had something to do with the murder of
RFK?
Click to view
A Prescription for Peace
Teaching Tommy During an Era of Fascism
By Doug Soderstrom,
In looking back at that of my own education, I have come to the
conclusion that much of what I learned was a matter of
propaganda. And I am sorry to say that it wasn’t until “that
sorrowful day in September” that I decided to take a serious
look at the history of our country, and it was that which has
made all the difference, that which no doubt changed my life.
Continue
Street Battles in Baghdad; 75 Bodies Found;
On Monday running street battles erupted in several
districts of Baghdad between guerrillas and Iraqi police.
At least 53 killed in another bloody day of U.S.
occupation: Health Ministry
spokesman, Qassem Abdul Hadi, said the dead included a
six-month-old infant, while up to 50 had been wounded and were
being treated at the local Imam Ali Hospital.
Iraq: over 3,700 civilians killed in October in new
monthly high, UN reports: “Hundreds of bodies
continued to appear in different areas of Baghdad handcuffed,
blindfolded and bearing signs of torture and execution-style
killing,” the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) human
rights report for September and October says. “Many witnesses
reported that perpetrators wear militia attire and even police
or army uniforms.
Three killed in U.S. attack on Sadr City as Annan says
US ”trapped” : American occupation troops and Iraqi
forces raided Baghdad's Sadr City section on Tuesday, killing a
young boy and two other people, police said. A Shiite legislator
told reporters outside a hospital morgue that Iraq's government
should be condemned for allowing such attacks.
In case you missed it; ‘The
Salvador Option’: The Pentagon may put
Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq
New Survey: Iraqis Want a
Speedy U.S. Exit -- and Back Attacks on Our Forces :
A new poll in Iraq makes it more stark than ever: the Iraqi
people want the U.S. to exit their country. And most Iraqis now
approve of attacks on U.S. forces, even though 94% express
disapproval of al-Qaeda.
Pentagon considers "short-term" increase in Iraq troop
levels: Pentagon officials conducting a review of
Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary
increase in American troop levels and the addition of several
thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior
Defense Department official said.
The Story Behind The Iraq Study Group: "We
were up in Tikrit and went to a hospital, and it was guarded
with guns and security to the point they were pushing weapons
into women's faces," Wolf said. "I saw we can't be successful if
we're going into an operating room with pistols and weapons."
America is a failed state:
An interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky.
US Backs Kurdish Rebels in Iran : The
United States, which has promised Ankara to end the existence of
the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, is reportedly
backing the group’s Iranian wing PEJAK in a secret ploy to
destabilize the country.
White House dismisses CIA report on Iran's nuclear
weapons program: The White House dismissed a
classified CIA draft assessment that found no conclusive
evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, The New
Yorker magazine reported.
The Next Act: Will the Republicans’ Mid-Term Loss Hurt
Chances of a War on Iran?: In a new article for the
New Yorker, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports Vice
President Dick Cheney told a White House meeting one month
before the mid-term elections that a Democratic victory would
have little effect on the administration’s decision to go to war
War pimp alert;
Iran probably has germ weapons, possibly N.Korea-US:
Iran probably has germ warfare weapons, North Korea may have
developed them and Syria could have carried out research into
such banned weaponry, the United States told an arms control
conference on Monday.
Lebanese Christian leader shot dead :
Pierre Gemayel, a Lebanese cabinet minister and member of the
Maronite Christian Phalange party, has been shot dead in Beirut.
His car was attacked in a Christian area on Tuesday.
Syria condemns blame 'charade': An embassy
statement claimed the killing was directly motivated by groups
in Beirut with anti-Syrian agendas.
Two dead as Israeli Occupation forces attacked Gaza:
A Hamasresistance fighter and a 70-year-old Palestinian woman
were killed during the attack in the Zeitoun area of occupied
Gaza City.
Israel stole private land for settlements:
: Almost 40 percent of land held by illegal Jewish settlements
in the occupied West Bank is privately owned by Palestinians.
Al Qassam Brigades: We will stop firing projectiles if
the Sderot "settlers" all evacuate: The Al Qassam
Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has presented an
initiative to stop the projectile-launching at the Israeli town
of Sderot.
IDF admits targeting civilian areas in Lebanon with
cluster bombs: For the first time Monday, the IDF
admitted targeting populated areas with cluster munitions.
Budget-saving,
American-made cluster bombs left vicious legacy in Lebanon
: During the second Lebanon war, Israel made use of
American-made cluster bombs that left behind thousands of
unexploded bomblets, even though Israel Military Industries
produces cluster bombs that leave nearly no unexploded
munitions.
In case you missed it:
Dead in the Water : How Israel attacked and
nearly sank the USS Liberty belonging to its closest ally, the
USA. Thirty-four American servicemen were killed in the two-hour
assault by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats.
Dems Rebut Carter on Israeli 'Apartheid':
Democrats are shoring up their pro-Israel bona fides. They are
strikingly anxious because of a courageous new book by President
Jimmy Carter that hit American bookstores in mid-November,
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It is an extraordinarily
bold--and apt--title.
Skirmishes, suicide attack claim 3 lives in Afghanistan
: Skirmishes and a suicide attack left three people including a
suicide bomber dead in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
Taliban kill two Afghan policemen: Two police were
killed and a third one is still missing after the Taliban
ambushed a police patrol, he said.
Obrador 'inauguration' in Mexico : The
"defeated left-wing" candidate in Mexico's presidential
election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has held an unofficial
swearing-in ceremony. Mr Lopez Obrador said he was launching a
"parallel government".
Colombia arrests Telesur reporter for rebellion
: A correspondent for Telesur, the television channel promoted
by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has been arrested in Bogota
suspected of rebellion and terrorism, a Colombian police
spokesman said Monday.
Indonesian protesters tell Bush: You are the terrorist:
US President George Bush shrugged off massive protests against
his visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation yesterday
as a sign of a healthy democracy, as thousands braved heavy
rains to call him a war criminal and a terrorist.
America's media bubble: There used to be a
time when the US media wrote the global narrative. The world saw
itself through a largely American camera lens. No more.
Jordanian Student Acquitted in 9/11 Perjury Case:
Recounts FBI Intimidation and Mistreatmen
Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law: Former
Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice
Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the
Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a
suspected terrorist outside the court system.
6 Imams removed from flight at US airport, questioned:
They were removed Monday evening after three of them recited
their evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding
the plane, a leader of the group said.
Livingstone decries vilification of Islam:
Muslims are being singled out for demonisation on a par with the
victimisation of Jews during the last century, the mayor of
London claimed today.
Military Documents Hold Tips on
Antiwar Activities : An antiterrorist database
used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks
against military installations included intelligence tips about
antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college
campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.
Banks told to predict effects of a 40% crash in house
prices: BANKS in the UK have been ordered by
financial regulators to assess how they would cope in the event
of house prices crashing by 40 per cent.
Hard US lessons, harder landings : The US
is beginning to unwind the largest housing bubble in modern
history. There will be upswings and local exceptions and wide
regional and price variations. This changes nothing. Hundreds of
billions of dollars in household access to cash and debt from
refinancing, equity extraction, home equity lines of credit and
house flipping will dry up.
11/20/06
Summer Rains and Saad
By David Halpin
In early July, Saad was in the street when hell was loosed from
a drone. Two people were killed immediately and two others died
shortly after admission because their injuries were so severe.
So Saad is a living remnant of electronic and explosive
wizardry.
Continue
Spy leaves egg
on U.S. faces
By Thane Burnett
How the al-Qaida superspy manipulated FBI intelligence
watchdogs, as well as one of America's most respected U.S.
attorneys, is a chilling bedtime story. Those few people who
still believe the West has been told all there is to know about
intelligence bungling that led up to 9/11 -- a recent poll found
80% of Americans think their administration is not being fully
truthful -- should trace the blood-timeline of Ali Mohamed with
utter alarm.
Continue
The end of the
Colombian blood letting could begin in Washington
An Open Letter to the People and Government of the US - (And a
Reply to the FARC)
By James Petras
Contrary to the US government position characterizing the FARC-EP
as a ‘terrorist organization’, it is the longest standing,
largest peasant-based guerrilla movement in the world today.
Continue
Housing Bubble Smack-down
By Mike Whitney
Give me 5 minutes and I’ll convince you that you should
sell your house immediately and invest your life-savings in gold
or a Swiss bank-account.
Continue
47
Killed, 2 Top Officials Escape Assassination Attempts In
Occupied Iraq:: 21 Iraqis were killed in a series
of attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi, Baqouba and near the Syrian
border, and the bodies of 26 Iraqis who had been kidnapped and
tortured were found on the streets of the capital;
At least 700 Iraqis die in 8 days of unrelenting
violence: The numbers are staggering: In the past
eight days, 714 Iraqis have fallen victim to the country's
sectarian bloodbath. They've been beheaded, tortured and blown
up while looking for work. They've been shot, kidnapped and
felled by mortars.
Report: Iran Invites Syria, Iraq to Summit:
Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a
weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to
cooperate in curbing the runaway violence
Pentagon May
Suggest Short-Term Buildup Leading to Iraq Exit:
The Pentagon's closely guarded review of how to improve the
situation in Iraq has outlined three basic options: Send in more
troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out, according
to senior defense officials.
The puppet's last dance: The US has proved itself
to be clueless about regional politics all the way from Iraq to
Afghanistan, from Lebanon to Palestine. Oil and Israel were all
that the world's sole superpower could think of, and the
consequences were nothing short of disastrous.
President handed bitter pill of ex-insiders' dissent:
Bush finds himself with fewer and fewer friends. Some of the
strongest supporters of the war have grown disenchanted, former
insiders are registering public dissent and Republicans on
Capitol Hill blame him for losing Congress.
War dogs rebranded as `pussycats of peace':
Mercenaries | Boom times could be ending for second-largest
military contingent in Iraq
Cartoon of the month: To Impeach or Not To
Impeach?
War Pimp Alert:
Bush: I would understand if Israel chose to attack Iran The
United States lacks sufficient intelligence on Iran's nuclear
facilities at this time, which prevents it from initiating a
military strike against them, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has told European politicians and diplomats with whom she
has recently met.
War Pimp Alert:
Report: Israeli spies active in Iran: Iran
has developed and tested a trigger device for a nuclear bomb,
Israeli agents stationed there have told the White House
War Pimp Alert: Bomb Iran:
Even if Iran did not drop a bomb on Israel or hand one to
terrorists, its mere possession of such a device would have
devastating consequences. Coming on top of North Korea's nuclear
test, it would spell finis to the entire nonproliferation
system.
UN slams Israel rights violation : "The
violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories are
intolerable."
Gideon Levy : After the rain of death :
This is Islam al-Atamna. A girl of 14. She is sitting in her
black mourning clothes. Eight close relatives - including her
mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts - were all killed before
her eyes, one after the other.
Fateh's Unholy Alliance:
Pinochet in Palestine: Before the United States
government subcontracted the Chilean military to overthrow the
democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973,
it carried out a number of important missions in the country in
preparation for the coup of 11 September.
Israeli Apartheid:
Palestinians banned from travelling in yellow-plated
cars, driver will be prosecuted: Major General Yair
Naveh, has issued orders banning cars with Israeli (yellow)
number plates from transporting Palestinians from the West Bank
and the Jordan Valley unless the driver has a permit to do so
Israel ups the stakes in the propaganda war:
Following its invasion of Lebanon this summer, Israel was said
to have largely lost the PR battle to Hizbullah, but armed with
a major web offensive, it's fighting back
Gaddafi: Oil behind Darfur crisis : Muammar
Gaddafi has accused the West of trying to grab Sudan's oil
wealth with its plan to send UN troops to Darfur.
Italy 'sacks' spy over CIA kidnap : The
Italian government has replaced its military intelligence chief
amid an inquiry into his role in an alleged CIA abduction of an
Egyptian, reports say.
In case you missed it;
General Ivashov: “International terrorism does not exist”
: General Leonid Ivashov was the Chief of Staff of the Russian
armed forces when the September 11, 2001, attacks took place.
This military man, who lived the events from the inside, offers
an analysis which is very different to that of his American
colleagues.
Did the CIA kill Bobby
Kennedy?: In 1968, Robert Kennedy seemed likely to
follow his brother, John, into the White House. Then, on June 6,
he was assassinated - apparently by a lone gunman. But Shane
O'Sullivan says he has evidence implicating three CIA agents in
the murder
Top House Democrats to bar military draft
plan: A
reinstatement of the military draft, being pushed by a senior
Democrat, will not be slated for consideration in the House of
Representatives, the chamber's newly elected top leaders said on
Monday
Dems Take Aim at Oil Industry Tax Breaks :
House Democrats are targeting billions of dollars in oil company
tax breaks for quick repeal next year
Dollar Breakdown to Ignite Gold Market:
With China and other countries freely talking of plans to
diversify their foreign exchange reserves, which have been
predominantly comprised of U.S. dollars, the FX hordes now have
a fundamental excuse to push for a breakdown.
New Jersey repossessions rise 44%: In the
Northeast, according to the National Association of Realtors,
home prices in the second quarter of 2006 were down 16.3 percent
from last year. In New Jersey specifically, second-quarter
prices were down 11.6 percent.
Local foreclosure numbers continue roller-coaster ride:
For the state, the 11,413 properties in foreclosure ranked
Florida sixth in the nation
Foreclosures hit new high in October:
115,568 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure
during October, the most reported in any month so far this year
and an increase of 42 percent from October 2005.
A
terrible legacy of
hatred and death
By Robert Fisk
This is the hell we have bequeathed to the Arab peoples of
Iraq.
Continue
Israel Orders Murder of Elected Hamas Politicians
By Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
According to Israeli security sources, a decision to assassinate
leading Hamas politicians was taken by Olmert and his defence
minister, Amir Peretz. Early yesterday Israeli missiles struck
Hamas targets in Gaza, including a charity run by the group.
Continue
CIA analysis
finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive
By Agence France-Presse
A classified draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of
a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by
the White House, a top US investigative reporter said on
Saturday.
Continue
The Next Act
Is a damaged Administration less likely to
attack Iran, or more?
By Seymour M. Hersh
The United States does not want to go into Iran, but, if Israel
feels more and more cornered, there may be no other choice.”
Continue
Glenn Beck Interviews Benjamin Netanyahu
War Pimp Alert: 5 Minute Video
U.S. & Israeli Propaganda Manufacturing Consent For War With
Iran.
Continue
Rep. Rangel Will Seek to Reinstate Draft
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after
turning 18 if the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee has his way.
Continue
Plea deals pile
up in Iraq murder cases
Experts surprised that military
has agreed to lighter sentences
By The Associated Press
“They killed a 52-year-old crippled man in cold blood,”
Lt. Col. John Baker, a prosecutor, said during a recent hearing.
“They killed a retired police officer with 11 children and four
grandchildren.
Continue
United States Rides Weapons Bonanza Wave
By Frida Berrigan
War, instability, and high oil prices have created a
perfect storm of profit for the world's weapons manufacturers.
This year, military analysts predict the biggest arms bonanza
since 1993.
Continue
Why We Fight
A Must Watch Film By Eugene Jarecki
What are the forces that shape and propel American militarism?
This award-winning film provides an inside look at the anatomy
of the American war machine.
Click to view.
At least 59 killed (Sunday) as U.S. occupation grinds
on: A total of 11 bodies were brought to Baquba
hospital, the victims of assassinations and executions in Baquba,
65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad
At least 37 killed (Saturday) in another bloody day of U.S. occupation:
Police found 20 bodies in different areas of western Baghdad, an
Interior Ministry source said.
Bomb kills 20 people in an Iraqi city : A
suicide bomber in a minivan killed 20 people and wounded 46
after detonating the explosives near a crowd of day laborers in
a southern Iraqi city, police said.
Major battle in Iraq's Baqouba kills 18:
Iraqi resistance and American forces fought Sunni insurgents in
an hours-long street battle Saturday in the increasingly violent
city of Baqouba
Allawi shapes up as Iraq's iron man: A
FORMER Iraqi prime minister who is tipped to return as a
“strongman” leader if Baghdad’s faltering government falls has
challenged the American-led coalition’s objective of creating a
western-style democracy even though the country is in turmoil.
Kissinger: Iraq Military Win Impossible :
Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview
broadcast Sunday.
General: Cut Iraq strength by one-third:
The U.S. would have to slash combat forces in Iraq to 10
brigades by Christmas to keep the Army from breaking, said
retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey.
Intervention in Iraq 'pretty much of a disaster' admits Blair,:
Tony Blair conceded last night that western intervention in Iraq
had been a disaster. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arabic
TV station, the prime minister agreed with the veteran
broadcaster Sir David Frost when he suggested that intervention
had "so far been pretty much of a disaster".
In case you missed it:
Blair planned Iraq war from start: INSIDE
Downing Street Tony Blair had gathered some of his senior
ministers and advisers for a pivotal meeting in the build-up to
the Iraq war. It was 9am on July 23, 2002, eight months before
the invasion began and long before the public was told war was
inevitable.
Congress to probe UK's claims on Iraq uranium
: British intelligence reports on Saddam Hussein's alleged
efforts to buy uranium ore from Niger will be at the centre of
new American investigations into the Iraq war by the newly
elected Democrat-run Congress.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi : Bringing the War to an End is my
Highest Priority as Speaker: I told my colleagues
yesterday that the biggest ethical issue facing our country for
the past three and a half years is the war in Iraq.
In case you mised it:
"An American Killing Field":
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, speaks of the reality of life in Iraq under
U.S. occupation. 6 Minute Video:
War pimp alert:
Islamic
militancy could yield world war-US general: The
top U.S. general in the Middle East said on Friday that if the
world does not find a way to stem the rise of Islamic militancy,
it will face a third world war.
Israeli aircraft strikes Gaza : Hospital
officials said an elderly passerby aged over 70 died of his
wounds after being hit in the strike.
Israeli attack kill two in occupied Gaza:
Israeli occupation forces in the northern Gaza Strip shot dead
two Palestinians and wounded three others, medical sources saids.
Said Hahjuj, 20, a member of the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, was shot dead in Umm Nasser on Gaza’s
northernmost border. Thaer Al Masry, 16, was later shot dead in
the same village, medical sources said.
Amira Hass : 25-year-old Palestinian shot for protesting
IDF's treatment of women : A critically wounded
Palestinian youth is hospitalized at Beilinson, allegedly after
Israeli soldiers shot at him for protesting their treatment of
women.
Palestinians block Israeli air raid : The
Israeli military abandoned a planned air strike on the home of a
Palestinian fighter in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians
formed a human shield around the building.
Report: Olmert Orders Murder of Hamas Leaders Here &
Abroad : According to a report in the Sunday Times
published in Britain, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered the
security establishment to target Hamas leaders in PA
(Palestinian Authority) autonomous areas and abroad.
UN asks Israel to
vacate Gaza: US opposes, EU backs resolution: The
UN General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to condemn
Israel for "indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force" in
its military offensive in Gaza which, according to the
Palestinian ambassador, threatens to "destroy the entire
people."
Gillerman: UN hijacked by evil forces : The
United Nations General Assembly on Friday evening discussed a
proposal to establish a "committee to look into the facts" of
the Beit Hanoun incident , in which 19 Palestinians were killed.
Bolton in
extraordinary outburst against United Nations:
Bolton was furious over the adoption by the General Assembly of
a resolution which said the assembly regretted the deaths of 19
civilians in an attack by the Israeli military in the town of
Beit Hanoun last week.
Bolton is Israel's
secret weapon, says Gillerman: After a staunch
defence of Israel on Friday night in the UN General Assembly,
John Bolton, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, has been described
by his Israeli counterpart as, "Israel's secret weapon."
World must take decisive step to stop Israel:
Ahmed bin Abdullah described the Israeli massacre at Beit Hanoun
and the continued Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people,
as war crimes and crimes against humanity adding these crimes
would be a mark of disgrace on the face of the world community
if it did not take a decisive step.
Hamas spokesman: U.S. policy on group main obstacle to
peace : The Hamas-led Palestinian government said
on Saturday that the United States, rather than Hamas, must
change its policies if it hopes for peace.
Violence continues in Darfur : BBC Video Report:
Militia violence in Darfur, a region where more than 200,000
people have died in years of conflict, is still occuring.
Leading Russian critic of Putin's regime is poisoned in
London: Scotland Yard has launched an investigation
into an audacious attempt to murder – using a deadly poison – a
leading Russian defector at a restaurant in London.
Kremlin 'was complicit in Chechen murders':
The European Court of Human Rights has found the Kremlin
complicit in the murder and abduction of Chechen civilians
snatched by Russian troops between 2000 and 2002.
Blair hit by Saudi 'bribery' threat: SAUDI
ARABIA is threatening to suspend diplomatic ties with Britain
unless Downing Street intervenes to block an investigation into
a £60m “slush fund” allegedly set up for some members of its
royal family.
Cuba blasts Swiss banks for cutting off business:
"The actions of these two banks have nothing to do with
respect of the law or looking after their banking transactions.
It is simply an act of submission to the US, which they don't
dare confess," the Cuban bank said.
Chertoff says U.S. threatened by international law:
"International law is being used as a rhetorical weapon against
us," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, a former
federal appellate judge, said in a speech to the Federalist
Society, a conservative policy group.
Gonzales Blasts Surveillance Critics:
Gonzales was the second administration official in two days to
attack a federal judge's ruling last August that the program was
unconstitutional. Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday called
the ruling "an indefensible act of judicial overreaching."
Case against Padilla 'light on facts': That
was the assessment of a federal judge who dropped the most
serious conspiracy count. Prosecutors are appealing.
"Al-Qaida Member" Key Padilla Case Source:
Padilla's lawyers argue the evidence should be suppressed
because, among other things, Zubaydah and Muhammad may have been
tortured and Zubaydah was being treated with medication for
gunshot wounds that raises questions about his reliability.
Senate Dems plan overhaul of military tribunals bill
: Several key Senate Democrats are planning to
overhaul the newly minted legislation governing military
tribunals of detainees.
The Albatross: Why the Democrats Should Cut Loose
Lieberman: : If the Democratic Party were a real
opposition party--a party of principle filled with fighters--I'd
say maintaining control of the Senate, even with by a margin of
a single, fragile vote, would be important and valuable.
Republicans plot to bring down Pelosi ... and Clinton
with her: New Speaker's embarrassing week has made
it easier for her opponents to attack
Rubin, Volcker Say Investors May Avoid Buying Dollars
: Robert E. Rubin, Treasury secretary under President Bill
Clinton, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said
foreign investors probably won't keep increasing dollar
holdings, raising the risk of a slump in the currency.
Cracked it!: Three million Britons have
been issued with the new hi-tech passport, designed to frustrate
terrorists and fraudsters. So why did Steve Boggan and a
friendly computer expert find it so easy to break the security
codes?
Prescription for high costs: Let U.S.
negotiate drug prices : American seniors pay far more for
brand-name prescription drugs than their peers in Denmark,
Canada or France. Why?
11/17/06
Iraq Turns Up The Heat
By Mike Whitney
Iran is playing a clever game in Iraq using US occupation forces
to crush the Ba’athist-led resistance while expanding their
influence via the Shiite militias. This is a “lose-lose”
situation for the United States.
Continue
Exclusive: "Inside Al-Qaeda: A Spy's
Story"
It's rare to speak to someone who's been a member of al Qaeda,
and rare too to interview a spy.
BBC Video Report
His story is extraordinary, revealing the extent of al-Qaeda's
preparations - years before 9/11 - to target the west, but also
the British authorities' lack of awareness of the growing threat
of Islamic terrorism.
Watch It
Blood-Pouring Anti-Nuke Clowns Sent to Prison
Weapons of Mass Destruction Protected
By Bill Quigley.
What does it say about our society that personal sacrifices to
go to war to kill people in war are praised, while personal
sacrifices for peace are condemned? What does it say that
intentional destruction of cities and communities and families
and individuals are considered totally legal, while actions
trying to dismantle weapons of mass destruction send people to
prison?
Continue
Waging Peace
By Marianne Williamson
A bill before Congress would establish a US Department of Peace.
This measure would provide practical, nonviolent solutions for
the problems of domestic and international conflict. It would
apply the institutional heft of the US government to a serious
effort not merely at avoiding war or waging war more
effectively. It would take America to the next evolutionary
step: It would proactively wage peace.
Continue
Hollow visions
of Palestine’s future
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
Small groups of Israelis, smaller than Gush Shalom, are
abandoning Zionism and coalescing around new ideas about how
Israeli Jews and Palestinians might live peacefully together,
including inside a single state.
Continue
Report: Gitmo
detainees denied witnesses
By Ben Fox
The U.S. military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from
detainees and usually reached a decision within a day as it
determined that hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo Bay were
"enemy combatants," according to a new report.
Continue
UCLA Student Gets Tasered
Video
"Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power,"
Watch
Iraq: At least 39 killed as U.S. occupation continues:
Police found 14 bodies bearing signs of torture and bullet
wounds in different parts of Baghdad, police said.
Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre
in Ramadi: U.S. killed 35 civilians when they
shelled several homes in the Al-Dhubat area of the city.
Interpreters used by British Army 'hunted down' by Iraqi
death squads : At least 21 have been kidnapped and
shot in head over the past three weeks, their bodies dumped in
different parts of the city
Austrian Mercenary Killed, American Wounded In Iraq:
An Austrian was killed and an American was seriously wounded
after their convoy of security contractors was hijacked in
southern Iraq, an Iraqi police officer said Friday.
Military may ask $127B for wars : The Bush
administration is preparing its largest spending request yet for
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the
conflict the most expensive since World War II.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Cut Off Iraq War Funding:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) explains why cutting off funding
for the Iraq war is the only way to truly protect American
troops.
Gwynne Dyer: Radical steps
needed to escape Iraq quagmire: The full panoply of
American power was unleashed upon Iraq, and the results have
been profoundly unimpressive. This doesn’t just mean that the US
loses in Iraq. It means its leverage elsewhere is severely
diminished as well.
Iraq's state involved in kidnappings?: New
allegations from Iraq's education minister that the state may be
complicit in mass kidnappings.
Sunni Urged to Quit Iraqi Government: The
influential Association of Muslim Scholars on Friday called on
Sunni politicians to quit Iraq's government and parliament, a
day after the Shiite interior minister issued an arrest warrant
for the association's leader.
Iraq Sunni cleric rejects arrest : BBC
Baghdad correspondent David Loyn says Mr Dhari is an Iraqi
nationalist who is opposed to any co-operation with America and
is also against government proposals to give an amnesty to
anyone who gives up the insurgency.
Soldier avoids execution for rape / murder:
A soldier was sentenced Thursday to 90 years in prison with the
possibility of parole for conspiring to rape a 14-year-old Iraqi
girl and kill her and her family.
I hate Iraqis, rape accused
tells military court: One of four US soldiers
accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl showed little
remorse, and even smiled during a confession to charges he
conspired to kill her and her family.
Contractor’s Boss in Iraq Shot at Civilians:
: Two former employees of an American private military
contracting company have claimed in a Virginia court that they
witnessed their supervisor deliberately shoot at Iraqi vehicles
and civilians this summer, and that the company fired them for
reporting the incidents.
US army 'seized Iraqi homes' : A leading
Iraqi lawyer has accused the US army of throwing 211 families,
including his, out of their homes.
Dutch military in Iraq abuse row : Military
interrogators from the Netherlands abused dozens of Iraqi
prisoners following the 2003 invasion, according to a Dutch
press report.
"Spy"
claims: Al-Qaida 'planted information to encourage US invasion':
A senior al-Qaida operative deliberately planted information to
encourage the US to invade Iraq, a double agent who infiltrated
the network and spied for western intelligence agencies claimed
last night.
NATO Apologizes as Troops Kill 2 Afghan Civilians,
Injure Child : The deaths, which follow the killing
of at least 12 civilians in fighting on Oct. 24, are a potential
set back for NATO, which is trying to win the support of Afghan
locals as it seeks to quell the insurgency.
US Airstrikes Climb Sharply in Afghanistan:
To carry out the increased mission load, the air force's entire
complement of B-1 bombers was shifted over the summer from the
British air base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to a Middle
Eastern airfield closer to Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, European troops avoid combat:
Troops from most major European nations are kept far from the
fighting in Afghanistan, crippling NATO's effort to defeat the
Taliban and secure the embattled south, according to NATO
officers and independent analysts.
Rights group says Israel engaged in "wilful killings":
An Israeli human rights group has called for an immediate
military investigation into the deaths of two wounded and
unarmed Palestinians shot during an army raid in the occupied
West Bank this month.
Spanish FM: Nothing in peace plan 'Israel can reject'
: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday that Israel
rejected the new peace initiative out of hand. She told
Moratinos that it was unacceptable for an initiative concerning
Israel to be launched without coordination with Jerusalem.
Headlines Continued Here
