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Information Clearing House News Links Archive
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Date: 27-31 December 2005 |
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Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2006 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 + Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2178 The War in Iraq Costs === A Call For Help And Justice Massacre of Tel Afar. We lay before the international public opinion and international human rights organisations the truth of what is happening in Tel Afar of the extreme use of force and the use of internationally forbidden weapons of poison gases, cluster, microwave and napalm bombs, we demand autopsies be carried out on the corpses of our sons who fell in the barbaric aggression by international medical bodies to verify the inhuman practices carried out by the American forces of occupation and to expose the stooge militias that participated in the massacre of Tel Afar. === U.S. Soldier Among 20 Killed: Police also said they found the bodies of six men who had been blindfolded, shot and dumped at a sewage plant in southeast Baghdad. A mortar round killed a policeman in Baghdad, and gunmen fatally shot the owner of a supermarket in the capital, officials said. === 844 American service members killed in Iraq in 2005: The number of Americans wounded in Iraq, 9,157, exceeded the number wounded in 2004, when the total was 7,956. === Bush and Blair Plot Their Exit Strategy, as the Nation Falls Apart at the Seams: This was the year in which the US admitted it was not going to defeat the insurgency. It was the ebb tide of American and British power in Iraq === Australia: Voters abandon PM over Iraq war: VOTER support for John Howard’s decision to go to war in Iraq is in freefall, with even Coalition supporters who backed the 2003 invasion now questioning the value of the protracted conflict. === Terrorists in High Places: Wars are not waged by those who have to fight them. Those who fight wars know too well their terrible costs. Wars are waged by those who profit from them with minimal or no risk to themselves. War is big business and it is immensely profitable for a select few who are insulated from the effects of war‚s environmental impacts and social costs. === Some soldiers trying to get out of Army: Increasing numbers of men and women in uniform are seeking honorable discharges as conscientious objectors. Others are suing the military, claiming their obligation has been wrongfully extended. Many have simply deserted, refusing to appear for duty. === Sign Tallying Military Deaths Upsets Army : Scott Cameron never imagined his modest memorial to American troops in Iraq would transform a quiet street here into the latest front of the nation’s tense debate about the war in Iraq. === Report: U.S. preparing NATO for possible strike on Iran : German media sources have recently reported that the Bush Administration is preparing its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for a potential attack on nuclear sites in Iran. === .Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?: Recent reports in the German media suggest that the United States may be preparing its allies for an imminent military strike against facilities that are part of Iran’s suspected clandestine nuclear weapons program. === Iran is NPT compliant: German official : A member of the German parliament‚s foreign policy committee, Ruprecht Polenz, has said that Iran presently complies with the NPT regulations, U.S. media reported Thursday. === With no Palestinian state in sight, aid becomes an adjunct to occupation : Israeli policy is the root cause of need in the occupied territories, but donors pay up without challenging it === Military fears big Afghan losses: BRITISH troops set to deploy to southern Afghanistan this spring could sustain losses on a scale not seen since the Falklands war, military intelligence officers have warned. === Ex-Envoy: British Used Intel After Torture: A former British ambassador has published government documents he says prove that Britain knowingly received intelligence extracted under torture from prisoners in Uzbekistan. === Padilla Lawyers Urge Supreme Court to Block Transfer : The lawyers acknowledged that Mr. Padilla would prefer to be in civilian custody eventually. But they said it appeared that the only reason for the government’s rush to move him was to bolster the administration’s efforts to discourage the Supreme Court from reviewing the crucial underlying issue of whether President Bush had the authority to detain Mr. Padilla === The Bush Family Coup: The 9-11 attacks provided the rationale for what amounts to a Bush family coup against the Constitution === Go To The Light: The irony of Bush, the NSA and Gonzales whipping up a criminal investigation into who dared tell the public that they were breaking the law will be lost on far too many Americans. === 5 Minute Video: The Battle For America: We have history on our side === Cuba, Bolivia Make Literacy, Health Plans : Fidel Castro and Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales, announced a 30-month plan to erase illiteracy in Bolivia, the latest move by left-leaning South American leaders calling for increased cooperation among nations in the region without U.S. influence. === Bitterness returns to D.C.-Havana relations: U.S. diplomat gives caustic speech; Castro responds in kind === Ex-army officer seeks presidency in Peru: Analysts say Humala seems to have some of the same appeal as President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and President-elect Evo Morales in neighboring Bolivia, both political outsiders who won wide support among the poor and working classes for pledging to protect the country from intrusive foreign interests. === Deliver Us from Kony: Why the children of Uganda are killing one another in the name of the Lord. === Abramoff ready to rat on members of Congress: The plea agreement would secure the Republican lobbyist’s testimony against several members of Congress who received favors from him or his clients. === In case you missed it: Bush removal ended Guam investigation: A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after. === In case you missed it: Controversial lobbyist had close contact with Bush team: In President Bush’s first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show. === Nonprofit group linked to DeLay was funded mostly by clients of lobbyist : The U.S. Family Network, a public-advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group. === 2 Taxes on Wealthy Expiring: : Move to Cost Treasury $27 Billion === Two-Tiers Plan Continues to Strangle American Manufacturing Workers : With the rash of corporate bankruptcies, labor disputes and the unprecedented increases in corporate management salaries, bonuses and fringes, profitable corporations are using the same unfair, disrespectful and discriminatory practices to increase their ever growing profits at the expense of the working class. === This web site represents the effort of one person. I need your help to offset the costs associated with site hosting and bandwidth usage. If you find this site informative please help by clicking here === Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 + Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2178 The War in Iraq Costs === Leaked torture documents published here The UK Government are trying to block these documents from publication under the Official Secrets Act These are some more documents that the UK Government are trying to suppress with the threat of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. They detail our use of intelligence extracted by torture, and legal advice the Foreign Office received on the subject, and we need to make people aware of their existence. === War without end Only justice, not bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place By Robert Fisk We have gone on smashing away at the human rights we trumpeted at the Russians – and the Arabs – during the Cold War. We have perhaps fatally weakened all those provisions that were written into our treaties and conventions in the aftermath of the Second World War to make the world a safer place. And we claim we are winning. === Let’s Stop a US/Israeli War on Iran By BILL and KATHLEEN CHRISTISON Former CIA analysts The peace movements of the entire world should be in crisis mode right now, working non-stop to prevent the U.S. and Israel from starting a war against Iran. The reckless and unnecessary dangers arising from such a war are so obvious that one wonders why normal political forces in the two aggressor countries — both of whom love to glorify themselves as democracies — would not prevent such a war from happening. === U.S. Force-Feeding Prisoners At Guantanamo U.S. reports surge in Guantanamo hunger strike The number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners taking part in a hunger strike that began nearly five months ago has surged to 84 since Christmas Day, the U.S. military said on Thursday. Medical personnel were force-feeding 32 of the hunger strikers with plastic tubes inserted into the stomach through through the nose, the military said. === Deadly attacks kill 5: A car bomber and a mortar have killed five people and injured 10 others in two separate attacks in Baghdad, Aljazeera reports. === U.S. Soldiers Kill 2 : U.S. soldiers killed two people in a car on Thursday night near the Himreen mountains, 75 miles south of Kirkuk. The U.S. military said the soldiers opened fire after being shot at from the car. === U.S. Soldier Killed: A U.S. Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle while on patrol in southern Baghdad Dec. 30. === U.S. Soldier Killed In Fallujah: A Soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, died of wounds received from small arms fire while conducting combat operations against the enemy in Fallujah, on Dec. 29. === W.Va. man killed while providing security in Iraq: Family members say 34-year-old John McMillan was killed Wednesday, but they haven’t heard any details on how he died. === Casualties of a War a World Away: Elaina Morton is not listed as one of the 2,000 Americans now confirmed killed in Iraq since the start of the war, but she might as well be. Three months after her husband, Staff Sergeant Benjamin Morton, was killed by insurgents in Mosul, Elaina picked up a gun and shot herself. === Word Spreads in Iraq of Refinery Shutdown : Long lines formed at gas stations in Baghdad on Friday as word spread that Iraq Œs largest oil refinery had shut down, spreading fears of a gas shortage. === Chalabi takes over Iraq Oil Ministry : Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq’s deputy prime minister, has assumed direct control of the powerful Oil Ministry amid growing panic over an anticipated fuel shortage === S Korea cuts Iraq troops by a third: South Korea’s parliament has approved a bill to cut by about one third the size of its troop deployment in Iraq, the third-largest foreign contingent there. === Propaganda?: U.S. to Launch Phased Iraq Pullout : The exact size of the additional troops cuts has not been announced, but senior Pentagon officials have said the number of American troops in Iraq could drop to about 100,000 by next fall. === Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war while home on leave: The program, coordinated through a Pentagon operation dubbed “Operation Homefront,‰ ordered military personnel to give interviews to their hometown newspapers, television stations and other media outlets and praise the American war effort in Iraq. === Torture: Iraqi policeman says it’s just how things are done: U.S. military officials announced Thursday the discovery of three more secret prisons, like two others where Sunnis claimed they were tortured. === Ex-envoy to Uzbekistan goes public on torture : Britain’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has defied the Foreign Office by publishing on the internet documents providing evidence that the British Government knowingly received information extracted by torture in the “war on terror”. === The recipe for freedom: Break heads, beat vigorously and boil === Rumsfeld Admits to “Ghosting” Detainee: Following a catalog of evidence of other crimes sanctioned by top Bush Administration officials, the report reads: === Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor: The effort President Bush authorized shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War, expanding in size and ambition despite a growing outcry at home and abroad over its clandestine tactics === US probes eavesdropping leak: The U.S. Justice Department is investigating who disclosed a secret domestic eavesdropping operation approved by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks, officials said on Friday. === I’m a Soldier, Not a Spy: As Americans take stock of the news that the government has been involved in domestic warrantless eavesdropping as well as surveillance of “potentially threatening people or organizations inside the United States,” many people are troubled, including me. === John W. Dean: George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachably; === Growing powers of secrecy : The White House’s sweeping enlargement of agency powers has nearly doubled the rate of newly classified documents to 15 million a year. At the same time, the administration has choked back the annual volume of documents declassified for public access, from 200 million in 1998 to 44 million lately. === US intelligence service bugged website visitors despite ban : US government agencies have been barred from using persistent cookies since 2000 because of privacy concerns. The regulations were imposed after disclosures that the White House drug policy office had been using cookies to monitor visitors to its anti-drug advertisements. === Robert Parry: What’s Best for the Country?: Either the United States will accept a future governed by an authoritarian Executive, with few safeguards of a citizen‚s constitutional rights and no real checks and balances from other branches of government, or the American people will challenge the White House in defense of a traditional Republic, where no man is above the law. === Now you can be arrested for any offence: Police are to be given sweeping powers to arrest people for every offence, including dropping litter, failure to wear a seat belt and other minor misdemeanours. === Stephen Soldz: Total surveillance state takes giant leap in Britain: Over a hundred years ago Lord Acton understood that the danger to liberty does not reside mainly in bad individuals, but in the power available to those in positions of authority: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.‰ This is why it is essential to put absolute limits on the tools available to those in authority. === Hackers Rebel Against Spy Cams: When the Austrian government passed a law this year allowing police to install closed-circuit surveillance cameras in public spaces without a court order, the Austrian civil liberties group Quintessenz vowed to watch the watchers. === UCSC chief alleges spying: ` `We are greatly concerned about the Pentagon’s investigation of a UCSC campus protest of military recruiting last spring,’’ UCSC Chancellor Denice Denton wrote in a campus e-mail. ``MSNBC reports that this protest was classified as a `credible threat’ by the Department of Defense.’’ === Leahy wants to know about Pentagon spying on protests: Sen. Patrick Leahy wants the Defense Department to give him the details about two Vermont anti-war protests that were monitored by government officials. === Anti-Imperialists Beware ˆ Bush Is Reading Again : According to the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush has taken two books with him to Texas for his holiday reading, which he will presumably indulge between his favorite ranch pursuits ˆ clearing brush and biking. === ‘Israel is trying to push us out of Jordan Valley’: The Palestinian Authority and Palestinian farmers are accusing Israel of trying to force Palestinians out of the Jordan Valley through economic pressure and physical barriers. Israel denies the charge, saying that new restrictions derive solely from security considerations === Israel: Democracy of lords and masters : In a colonial society, there are different types of human beings, and therefore, different rights and different values, as well. === Israel considers protesting BBC show on `secret weapons’ : The program reportedly examines the “double standard” of the international community with regard to Israel’s and Iraq’s unconventional weapons. === In case you missed it: Video: Israel’s Secret Weapon : This film is the story of the bomb, Vanunu and Israel’s wall of silence. === Targeting Iran and Syria: Goss Builds the Case for Turkey-Based Attacks === Egypt: Police Kill 10 Sudanese Refugees : Ten Sudanese refugees were killed and 20 injured when Egyptian riot police broke up their three- month protest outside United Nations offices in Cairo today, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said. === Immigration and the Iron Curtain of Mellila: The beatings and insults to the sub-Saharan nationals in Melilla are something slightly more radical and fearsome than racism; they are the manifestation of a belligerent and potentially homicidal anti-humanism. === 4 police killed in bomb explosion in S. Afghanistan : Four policemen were killed, seven others were injured Thursday in a remote-control bomb explosion in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand, a local official said Friday. === Aid agencies predicted winter disaster – now it is reality for people of Kashmir : People are beginning to die from the cold. Young children and babies are particularly vulnerable. Almost three months after the earthquake that killed 73,000 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, half of them children, a second tragedy is unfolding in the mountains. The winter disaster that the relief agencies had feared is now a reality. === Secret Invasion: US Troops Steal into Paraguay: The Bush administration has sent troops into Paraguay. They are there ostensibly for humanitarian and counterterrorism purposes. The action coincides with growing left unity in South America, military buildup in the region and burgeoning independent trade relationships. === Huge new oil discovery in Brazil : Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, says it has discovered a huge new offshore oil field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state === War Resister Jerry Texiero, the Marine Corps and Who Betrayed Whom? : Just when was it we in this nation lost our ability to choose if and when we would be willing to kill another human being, or be killed ourselves? When was it that following the “rules‰ became more important than following what is right === Bush least popular US president: survey: President George W Bush ranks as the least popular and most bellicose of the last 10 US presidents, according to a new survey. === Lobbyist plea could entangle Washington: Authorities are putting together the pieces of the lobbying web of Jack Abramoff, and the resulting investigation could brew into a wide Washington scandal. === This web site represents the effort of one person. I need your help to offset the costs associated with site hosting and bandwidth usage. If you find this site informative please help by clicking here === Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 + Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2175 The War in Iraq Costs === CIA renditions began under Clinton: agent By AFP The US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) controversial “rendition” program was launched under US president Bill Clinton, a former US counter-terrorism agent has told a German newspaper. === America’s Tomorrow By Manuel Valenzuela With each day that passes that we remain passive, silent and indifferent, becoming submissive to further corporatist control over our lives, we are helping to cement the unforgiving future of our progeny and of a once great nation. === 25 Shi’ites killed south of Baghdad: Fourteen Iraqis, men and women, were machine-gunned today while travelling in a minibus south of Baghdad. Also in Latifiyah, eleven members of a Shi’ite family were killed when six assailants slit their throats after breaking into their house. === Ten killed in U.S. air strike on Iraqi village: U.S. fighter jets dropped two 500-pound (225-kg) bombs on a village in northern Iraq, killing 10 Iraqis they suspected of planting explosive devices on a nearby road, the U.S. military said on Thursday. === Six Iraqi police killed, six injured in attack: A bomber blew himself up Thursday near an Iraqi Interior Ministry building in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqi police and wounding six others, a police source said. === Six Killed In Continuing Violence: Iraqi soldiers killed two insurgents and wounded another after the insurgents attacked an army patrol in Yusifiya, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad. === Bomber kills four: A man blew himself up next to a police patrol car, killing four policemen and wounding five, an interior ministry official said. === U.S. Soldier Killed: A U.S. soldier was killed when a bomb struck his vehicle while on patrol in eastern Baghdad Dec. 29. === Attack in Iraq kills soldier: A family planning for the wedding of their only son must now plan his funeral after the Army specialist from Michigan was killed in Iraq on Monday. === Uranium suspected in Iraq merc’s death: The death of a Peruvian security guard who had worked in Iraq may have been caused by exposure to depleted uranium. === Iraq Sunnis, Secular Groups Demand Review : Sunni Arab and secular groups refused Thursday to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading in Iraq’s parliamentary elections until a full review of the contested results is carried out. === Top UN envoy for Iraq welcomes additional assessment of electoral process: The Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for Iraq today welcomed the invitation of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) for additional international observers to assess the 15 December elections. === ‘US tortures Iraqi prisoners’: A former prisoner held by the United States military with senior officials of Saddam Hussein’s ousted Iraqi regime charged on Wednesday that fellow detainees had been tortured, some of them to death. === Many Americans Still Believe Hussein Had Links to al Qaeda Sizeable minorities of Americans still believe Saddam Hussein had “strong links to al Qaeda,” a Harris Interactive poll shows. === Norman Solomon: Sitting on Stories: Journalists Should Expose Secrets, Not Keep Them Journalists should be in the business of providing timely information to the public. But some — notably at the top rungs of the profession — have become players in the power games of the nation’s capital === Two suspected Taliban bombers die in blast: Two suspected Taliban suicide bombers died Thursday when explosives they were strapping to their bodies exploded prematurely in southern Afghanistan, officials said. === Bombs in Afghanistan kill U.S. soldier, Afghan civilian : Militants used remote-control bombs to attack U.S. forces in two assaults in Afghanistan, killing one U.S. service member and an Afghan employed by the military as well as wounding four American troops, officials said Thursday. === Iran: Europeans criticize U.S. sanctions : New U.S. sanctions against nine foreign companies accused of aiding Iran’s weapons programs could signal a harder line toward Tehran by the Bush administration and could hinder diplomatic efforts by Europe to end the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program === Iran: Russian Proposal Has ‘Ambiguities’ : Iran said Thursday it needs Moscow to clarify what it called “ambiguities” in a proposal that Iran enrich uranium in Russian territory. === Israel rules out strike on Iran – for now: General Dan Halutz, Israel’s chief of staff, has ruled out the prospect of a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear installations in the near future. === In case you missed it: Chris Floyd: Persian Fire : The order, from embattled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, puts Israel’s special forces at the “highest stage of readiness” for the strike. While Iran’s plan to begin enriching uranium — which will give it the capability of building a nuclear bomb — is the precipitating factor, the budding Iranian space program is a “point of no return” for Sharon === Israeli checkpoint bombing kills four: A bomber has blown himself up at a military checkpoint in the northern West Bank, killing an Israeli army officer and two Palestinian bystanders. === Democracy and Double Standards: The Palestinian “Exception”: At a time of year when Jews and Christians are celebrating the spirit of justice and peace inspired by events in the Holy Land many centuries ago, Congress has been working to insure that the Holy Land of today experiences neither. === Guide tracks US reps’ votes on Israel: In an unprecedented move, a major conservative Christian advocacy group in the United States will include the voting records of American legislators on Israel in its biennial Christian voting guide. === Holocaust survivors ‘in poverty’ : A Holocaust survivor’s support group has said 40% of survivors in Israel are living below the poverty line, Israel Radio has reported. === Foreign Office concern at Thatcher Jewish links : Foreign Office officials were so concerned about Margaret Thatcher’s pro-Israeli sympathies when she became Tory leader they wanted her to break off links with local Jewish groups, according to newly-released official papers. === Detectives draw up new brief in hunt for radicals: INVESTIGATIONS into the backgrounds of the 7/7 London bombers have forced counter-terrorist chiefs to tear up their intelligence assessments of potential terrorists. === Pigs at the trough: : Marine jeep contract under fire: The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped military jeep that some critics call a rip-off of taxpayers, according to a news report Thursday. === Lawyers: Did NSA Spy On Clients?: Lawyers for an Islamic scholar, a Fort Lauderdale computer programmer and an Ohio trucker want federal judges to determine whether evidence used against their clients was gathered by a secret domestic spying program. === Supreme Court Is Asked to Rule on Terror Trial : In an unusually strong criticism of a lower court that has historically been a staunch ally, the Justice Department said the earlier order blocking Mr. Padilla’s transfer to civilian custody represented an “unwarranted attack” on presidential discretion. === Padilla’s lawyers urge Supreme Court to decide scope of the president’s power: Lawyers Donna Newman and Andrew Patel told the high court in papers filed Tuesday that the justices must step in “to preserve the vital checks and balances” on the president. === Mike Whitney : Strange Twists in the Padilla Case: The case was just days away from going to the Supreme Court when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that it would abandon its nearly 4 year struggle to establish the president’s “inherent right” to declare an American citizen an enemy combatant, thereby stripping him of all his constitutional rights. Why? === Congressman Conyers Demands Censure for Bush-Cheney Misconduct: I am taking steps against the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq War and its collection of intelligence. I am going to need you to stand with me in fighting for accountability. === 17,000 children died in earthquake : Over 84 per cent primary schools, 74 per cent secondary schools, 12 out of 14 degree colleges and two universities were demolished and 85 per cent hospitals have been destroyed in the massive earthquake which rocked several parts of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. === U.S. seeks to limit militants’ aid to quake victims : : The Bush administration is pressing Pakistan to bar militant Islamic groups that the United States views as terrorists from doing relief work in the country’s earthquake-shattered Kashmir region. President Pervez Musharraf has said the groups play an essential humanitarian role and will be monitored, but not shut down. === Scares Relief Ops in Quake-hit Pakistan : Relief workers have warned that cold weather conditions could cause more deaths among millions of survivors of the Oct. 8 Quake, who are living in tents and temporary shelters in northwestern Pakistan and in Azad Kashmir. === Pakistani Army Chief of Staff visits Cuban hospital in Muzafarabad: Some 2,260 Cuban health brigadistas, more than 1,400 of them doctors, are in the area of Kashmir, where they have attended to more than 200,000 patients and saved hundreds of people in imminent danger of dying. === Explosive carrying ship’s record ‘not above board’: I ndian authorities Thursday continued their search in the Arabian Sea for 100 tonnes of explosives missing from a merchant vessel that officials said had a track record which was “not entirely above board”. === US No Longer Promoting Landmine Abolition : Washington not only stands in opposition to an international treaty that bans the use and production of antipersonnel landmines, but intends to make new ones too. === Pentagon Shakes Up Emergency Hierarchy: A little-noticed holiday week executive order from President Bush moved the Pentagon’s intelligence chief to the No. 3 spot in the succession hierarchy behind Rumsfeld. The second spot would be the deputy secretary of defense, but that position currently is vacant. The Army secretary, which long held the No. 3 spot, was dropped to sixth === Molly Ivins: Big Brother Bush: I don’t mean to scare you silly — but there’s a reason we have never given our government this kind of power. === Police-State Powers Are Our Biggest Threat : What has happened in this country? === “It’s An Excellent Relationship”: NYPD on Police – CIA Links: === NSA used banned data-tracking on Web site: The National Security Agency’s Internet site has been placing files on visitors’ computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them. === Are You Being Tracked?: Big business thinks Radio Frequency Identification tags are great. Privacy-rights advocates fear the tiny chips will invite corporations and the government into our personal lives. === 49 People Accused of Defrauding Red Cross of Hurricane Funds in U.S.: At least 14 suspects worked at a Red Cross call center in Bakersfield, California, and are accused of helping family and friends file false claims for aid money, said Mary Wenger, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott in Sacramento. === The New Medicare Maze : Your job will be to carry with you the list of covered medications every time you see a doctor or check into an emergency room so that your physician will not prescribe a non-covered drug === Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 + Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2172 The War in Iraq Costs === Kurds plan to invade South By Tom Lasseter Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan. === Shock, awe and Hobbes have backfired on America’s neocons By Richard Drayton The American imperial strategists invested deeply in the belief that through spreading terror they could take power. Neoconservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the recently indicted Lewis “Scooter” Libby, learned from Leo Strauss that a strong and wise minority of humans had to rule over the weak majority through deception and fear, rather than persuasion or compromise. === Bush was denied wiretaps, bypassed them By United Press International U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate. === Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN Defense lawyers in some of the country’s biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda. The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out. === 20 killed during failed jailbreak: Twenty Iraqi detainees have been killed attempting to break out of a prison in the Baghdad district of Kadhamiyah. === 16 Killed In Continuing Violence: Four inmates and five security personnel were killed in a shootout at a Baghdad high-security jail after at least one prisoner grabbed a weapon and opened fire === U.S. Bombs Kill Three Civilians Including 12 Year Old Girl: At midnight Tuesday, U.S. warplanes launched an air raid killing three Iraqis in Al-Dolouieya, 90 kilometres north of Baghdad, a police source said. Police captain Yassine Khalaf told dpa that an Iraqi and his two daughters, one aged 12, were killed when their house was destroyed by U.S. warplanes. === U.S. army patrol kills 2 Iraqi civilians : In al-Khalidiya, 80 kilometres west of Baghdad, a U.S. army patrol opened fire on an approaching vehicle Wednesday killing two Iraqi civilians and critically wounding two others, a police source said. === Many Iraqi soldiers see a civil war on the horizon: “I see Iraq gradually becoming three regions that will one day become independent,” said Jafar Mustafir, a close adviser to Iraq’s Kurdish interim president, Jalal Talabani, and the deputy head of Peshmerga for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two major Kurdish parties. “I see us moving toward the end of Iraq.” === Israel Ex-commandos Training Kurds in North Iraq: Report: Dozens of former Israeli commandos have been training Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq, supplying them with equipment worth millions of dollars, Yedioth Aharonot newspaper reported === In case you missed it: SEYMOUR M. HERSH: PLAN B: Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, who supported the Bush Administration‚s invasion of Iraq, took it upon himself at this point to privately warn Vice-President Dick Cheney that America had lost in Iraq; according to an American close to Barak, he said that Israel “had learned that there‚s no way to win an occupation.‰ The only issue, Barak told Cheney, “was choosing the size of your humiliation.‰ === Freed German hostage says Iraq captors not criminals : A former German hostage who spent 24 days in the hands of unknown captors in Iraq said her kidnappers were not criminals and had demanded humanitarian aid for Sunni Arab regions. === Propaganda: Pro-War Group Takes to the Airwaves: Newly found Iraqi documents show that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, including anthrax and mustard gas, and had “extensive ties” to al Qaeda. The discoveries are being covered up by those “willing to undermine support for the war on terrorism to selfishly advance their shameless political ambitions.” === Ireland: Ahern accused of ‘following orders from Washington’: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is “shining the shoes‰ of US president George Bush by allowing Shannon Airport to be used by American war planes, it was claimed today. === War pimp alert: Mossad: 1 nuclear bomb won‚t suffice Iran : Mossad Chief Meir Dagan says during Knesset‚s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, ŒIranian strategic decision to reach nuclear independence exists; they won’t stop when they reach the level which would supply one bomb, but will continue and create more fissionable material‚ === Nuking Iran With the UN’s Blessing : Only the American people can stop it === Iran to study Russian nuclear offer: Iran has said it will “seriously and enthusiastically” study a Russian proposal aimed at reducing international fears about its nuclear programme. === Israel fires to enforce Gaza Strip “no-go zone”: Israel shelled the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the army warned Palestinians that it would declare a “no-go zone” to try to stop cross-border rocket fire by militants. === James Petras – The Politics of Language, Escalation or “Retaliation”: The empirical evidence provides the basis for concluding that Israeli military attacks on Palestinians, by their systematic and continuous nature, are not retaliatory; they are clearly detonators of Palestinian military responses. Israelis are not victims rather victimizers, as it evident from a multiplicity of actions: === Buffer zone angers Palestinians?: The Ruling Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) says it will hold Israel responsible for any consequences of its decision to establish a buffer zone in northern Gaza. === Israeli warplanes strike base in Lebanon: Witnesses said that two air-to-surface missiles had been fired at the facility before Lebanese security forces sealed the area, preventing journalists from approaching. === Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghan Blast : “This afternoon at about 3 p.m., a U.S. vehicle hit a bomb in Spinjamaat area of Sawki district. Two U.S. soldiers were killed, another two soldiers and an interpreter were injured, while the vehicle was totally destroyed,” Assadullah Wafa, provincial governor of Kunar told Xinhua. === Booming and broke – a tale of two cities : Four years after the fall of the Taliban, major reconstruction in Kabul is polarising rich and poor === By surrendering our liberties, we hand victory to terrorists: The authorization of domestic spying without warrants amounts to nothing less than a surrender of our civil liberty, the precise thing that guarantees our freedom and makes us so different from those enemies of freedom from whom the Bush administration is so determined to protect us. === In the Name of Homeland Security, Telecom Firms Are Deluged With Subpoenas: Operating under new powers to combat terrorism, law enforcement agencies are making unprecedented demands on the telecommunications industry to provide information on subscribers, company attorneys say. === The I-Word is Gaining Ground : For those interested in some of the most compelling charges against the president, I offer a brief summary: === Chris Floyd: Clowntime is Over: The Last Stand of the American Republic : It has long been evident, that Bush and Cheney do believe their clique should by all rights rule the country — and that anyone who opposes their unrestrained dominion is automatically “anti-American,” an enemy of the state. === U.S. takes terror fight to Africa’s ‘Wild West’ : Critics say Saharan plan backs despots, is magnet for trouble === 24 Colombian soldiers killed in FARC attack: It was the most deadly attack by FARC rebels this year, and part of a campaign of attacks launched by the group since early December on roads in the country’s northeast. === New Bolivian President Vows to Take Action Against US: President Evo Morales, according to a news story in the Washington Times, leveled allegations at the United States that its advisors secretly removed Chinese-made anti-aircraft missiles from Bolivia. === Bolivian leader to cut own salary : Mr Morales said his cabinet would follow suit and that members of Bolivia’s parliament would be expected to cut their allowances. === Sri Lanka conflict goes ‘from bad to worse’ : On Tuesday, a land mine attack killed 11 soldiers on the northern Jaffna Peninsula, and a police officer was killed patrolling the eastern town of Kalmunai. Both attacks were attributed to the ethnic separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. === Alarm over Chinese incursion: The Chinese are in Bhutan ˜ its soldiers are building roads and bridges deep inside the country and setting off alarms in both Thimphu and Delhi. Over 200 Chinese soldiers crossed into Bhutan in mid-November and since then, the relations between the two countries have been on the edge. === Freedoms are gone, adviser to Putin says : The most outspoken of President Vladimir Putin’s senior advisers abruptly resigned on Tuesday, warning that Russia’s nascent political freedoms have been lost and that the Kremlin’s economic choices have been poor. He also said that he had no more ability to influence the government’s course. === Russia warns of ‘fatal’ consequences for Ukraine as gas price row escalates : A dispute between Russia and Ukraine about gas prices has escalated, with Kiev threatening to tap Russian gas shipments heading for Europe – and Moscow warning that attempts to raise the rent it pays to base its Black Sea fleet in a Ukrainian port would have “fatal” consequences. === Kremlin reasserts control of oil, gas: To date, the Kremlin has effectively renationalized almost a third of the formerly private oil-and-gas sector. Other developments also point to growing state ambitions: === Venezuela may repay World Bank, IADB debt in 2006: State news agency ABN quoted Rodrigo Cabezas, president of the National Assembly’s finance commission, as saying late on Monday an expected balance of payments surplus of $3 billion this year and $4 billion projected for next year should allow the country to pay all its debt to the lenders. === China economy even larger than thought : China said Tuesday that its economy was far bigger than previously estimated and that new figures suggested it had probably passed France, Italy and Britain to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. === Selling Out – $1.3 Trillion of American Companies Sold to Foreign Corps: The following staggering amount of our wealth producing companies has been sold to foreign owners in the 10 years from 1995 through 2005. Below is a partial list of the 8,600 U.S. companies sold. === The Fall of the House of Cards: In November the sales of new homes plunged by the largest amount in 12 years. The 11.5% decline from October was 4 points higher than expected by Wall Street analysts, fueling the belief that the red-hot housing market is headed for the dumpster. === Congress petitioned for return of Geronimo’s remains : American Indians are petitioning Congress to investigate the elite Skull and Bones society at Yale University and return the remains of Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo to Apaches for reburial. === Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 + Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2172 The War in Iraq Costs === Fear destroys what bin Laden could not One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn’t win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help. By Robert Steinback === Telling it like it isn’t By Robert Fisk I FIRST REALIZED the enormous pressures on American journalists in the Middle East when I went some years ago to say goodbye to a colleague from the Boston Globe. I expressed my sorrow that he was leaving a region where he had obviously enjoyed reporting. I could save my sorrows for someone else, he said. One of the joys of leaving was that he would no longer have to alter the truth to suit his paper’s more vociferous readers. === Israel and the Neocons, The Libby Affair and the Internal War By James Petras Who were the fabricators of war propaganda, who was Libby protecting? And not only the “fabricators of war”, but the strategic planners, speech-makers and architects of war who acted hand in hand with the propagandists and the journalists who disseminated the propaganda? What is the link between all these high- level functionaries, propagandists and journalists? === UK: Cross-party support for war probe By BBC More than 100 MPs from across the Commons have backed a call for an inquiry by senior MPs into the handling of the Iraq war and its aftermath. The MPs include 49 Lib Dems, 26 Conservatives and 20 from Labour. === What everyone should know about Jose Padilla By Mike Whitney The constitution is the last flimsy obstacle between Bush and absolute power. That is why the administration has persisted for nearly 4 years in its case against Jose Padilla. The Padilla case has nothing to do with Al Qaida, “dirty bombers‰ or terrorism. These are simply the empty diversions that conceal the administration‚s real intention; to remove the final impediment to the supreme authority of the executive. === 2 U.S. Soldiers Among 11 Killed In Continuing Violence: Three dead bodies, bearing marks of torture and bullet wounds, were found in the Shu’ula district of the capital, police said. The victims were from Kalidiya, west of Falluja === Iraq Protesters Call for Unity Government : More than 10,000 people marched through Baghdad on Tuesday in support of a national unity government of Sunnis and Shiites, but insurgent attacks killed six Iraqi policemen and two civilians in a fresh surge of violence === Sunni supporters rally in Iraq : More than 5,000 people, supporters of Sunni and secular parties, which contested Dec 15 polls marched through Baghdad on Tuesday (December 27), denouncing the vote as fraudulent. === In case you missed it: Sunnis on hit list: A Shi’ite militia has drawn up plans to kill prominent Sunni leaders and eliminate a nascent Sunni political party, according to a document obtained by Asia Times Online from a person close to the Iraqi resistance. === U.S. Exit Strategy in Iraq: Hand Quagmire to Iran: The U.S. exit strategy is similar to the one used by the French to drag the Americans into Vietnam before they left. In this way Shiite Iran will become a “partner in the occupation of Iraq” and inevitably find itself head-to-head with the Sunni-led national Iraqi resistance. === Coalition partners pull out from Iraq: The US coalition in Iraq saw its size dwindle today as Ukraine and Bulgaria said all of their troops had left the country while Poland said it would remain, but reduce its number of troops by 600 next year. === Disabled Veteran’s Tribute Upsets Army Recruiters In Minnesota: As those thinking of becoming soldiers arrive on the slushy doorstep of the Army recruiting station here, they cannot miss the message posted in bold black letters on the storefront next door. === Guard Turns to Pizza, iTunes for Recruiting: the next wave of part-time soldiers. This formula, which is being used to reach those who the Guard thinks are most likely to join, is helping reverse a precipitous decline in the ranks. === Saddam Half Brother Says No Deal With U.S. : Two lawyers for Saddam Hussein said Monday that the former Iraqi president’s half brother claims U.S. officials offered him a ranking government position in Iraq if he testified against Saddam but he rejected a deal. === Iraqis Find Grave Dating to Saddam’s Rule : The remains were discovered Monday and were sent for testing Tuesday in an effort to identify the bodies, said Rahman Mashawy, a Karbala police spokesman. He did not say how many bodies were found, and the police claim could not be independently verified. === Juan Cole: Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005: Here are what I think are the top ten myths about Iraq, that one sees in print or on television in the United States. === U.S. Operated Secret ŒDark Prison‚ in Kabul: Accounts from detainees at Guantánamo reveal that the United States as recently as last year operated a secret prison in Afghanistan where detainees were subjected to torture and other mistreatment, Human Rights Watch said === U.S Detainees Disappeared into Secret Prisons: Illegal under Domestic and International Law: The United States is holding an unknown number of terrorism suspects in secret overseas locations, and refusing either to acknowledge the detentions or to give information on the fate or the whereabouts of these detainees. These detainees have been held incommunicado, without trial, some for as many as four years. Some of the detainees are reported to have been tortured in custody. === Norman Solomon: NSA Spied on U.N. Diplomats in Push for Invasion of Iraq: Despite all the news accounts and punditry since the New York Times published its Dec. 16 bombshell about the National Security Agency‚s domestic spying, the media coverage has made virtually no mention of the fact that the Bush administration used the NSA to spy on U.N. diplomats in New York before the invasion of Iraq. === Rice authorized National Security Agency to spy on UN Security Council: President Bush and other top officials in his administration used the National Security Agency to secretly wiretap the home and office telephones and monitored private email accounts of members of the United Nations Security Council in early 2003 to determine how foreign delegates would vote on a U.N. resolution that paved the way for the U.S.-led war in Iraq, NSA documents show. === Guv fears calls monitored: Gov. Bill Richardson is concerned that some of his phone calls were monitored by a U.S. spy agency and transcripts of them were given to the president’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. === Secret court modified wiretap requests: Intervention may have led Bush to bypass panel === US embassy close to admitting Syria rendition flight : The US embassy in London was forced to issue a correction yesterday to an interview given by the ambassador, Robert Tuttle, in which he claimed America would not fly suspected terrorists to Syria, which has one of the worst torture records in the Middle East. === Maher Arar: Timeline: On a stopover in New York as he was returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002, U.S. officials detained Arar, claiming he has links to al-Qaeda, and deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport. === A maiming of the soul: Dr Rice, was trapped, cornered and hunted by the lies of the Bush administration about its treatment of ‘unlawful combatants’ or ‘battlefield detainees’ hidden and tortured in dozens of black holes round the world. === Executive Uber Alles: At stake in the so-called war on terror is longer just treatment of detainees, but the freedom of Americans. === Bush’s counsel on spying now under close scrutiny: Since Sept. 11, 2001, Bush’s legal advisers have cleared the way for him to hold enemy combatants without trials; eavesdrop on overseas telephone calls and e-mails; place ever-greater numbers of government documents under a veil of secrecy; imprison a US citizen indefinitely on the suspicion of terrorist links; and, according to The Washington Post, operate a secret CIA prison in an Eastern European country === War pimp alert: Mossad chief: Iran seeks multiple nuclear bombs : Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Iran seeks more than one nuclear bomb. Dagan warned that within a number of months, Iran will attain technological independence, and that the subsequent development of a nuclear bomb will only be a matter of time === In case you missed it: Iran Is Judged 10 Years From Nuclear Bomb: A major U.S. intelligence review has projected that Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with firsthand knowledge of the new analysis. === Israel expands West Bank settlements: The latest settlement construction was revealed in newspaper advertisements published on Monday seeking bids from building contractors, and would violate Israel’s commitments under the US-backed road map peace plan. === Israel: Gaza Power Cut Would Violate Laws of War: A reported proposal by Israeli government officials to cut the Gaza Strip‚s electricity supply in retaliation for Palestinian militant groups‚ rocket attacks on Israel would constitute unlawful collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population, Human Rights Watch said today. === Denying democratic right to Hamas: THERE is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of the western project of bringing democracy to Arab-Islamic societies. Stripped of rhetoric, democracy is meant to be a procedure to elect representatives and rulers approved in advance by the principal arbiters in centres of global hegemony. A verdict by a Muslim electorate in favour of a political party that anchors its agenda in Islamic values is virtually a casus belli. === Philippine rebels to target US troops : Marxist guerrillas in the Philippines have given warning of possible assaults on American troops and threatened to escalate attacks against the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. === UK: Men persecuted by the authorities demand justice: Four men — three Algerians and one stateless Palestinian — and their families have been effectively persecuted by the United Kingdom (UK) authorities for nearly four years. They are among the 10 foreign nationals who on 8 December 2005 won an appeal before the Law Lords who ruled unanimously that information obtained through torture cannot be admissible as “evidence” in UK courts. === Appeal over ‘David Hicks’ : The Home Office has lodged an appeal against a High Court ruling that an Australian man imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has a right to British citizenship. === The Turks haven’t learned the British way of denying past atrocities : It is not illegal to discuss the millions who were killed under our empire. So why do so few people know about them? === Big Brother is watching: George Orwell was right after all. When it comes to fighting terror, Bush is totalitarian ˜ remember, you’re either with us or against us. Trust me to get it right, he says. Debate on the law is not only not needed, it’s evil. === It’s my party and I’ll spy if I want to: For all of you who still claim this president doesn’t lie, this must come as a shock. For the rest of us it just comes as another “we told you so.” === It’s good to be King George: As I was saying to a fellow peasant just the other day, it is ironic that this country should rebel against one King George only to bow down before another monarch of the same name more than 200 years later. === Fog Fact of the Year – the Big Lie Goes On : President Bush gave a radio address on December 17 in which he explained why he had to use illegal wiretaps. As usual, he returned to the events of 9/11. He said: === Neo-Fascism and Paleo-Tyranny: Bush et al. may now try to use far more secret police powers to intimidate people or to openly seize far more power, presumably under the pretense that it is necessary and legitimized by the state of national emergency that never ends. === What I heard about Iraq in 2005: I heard that the US was planning an embassy in Baghdad that would cost $1.5 billion, as expensive as the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the proposed tallest building in the world. I saw a headline in the Los Angeles Times that read: ŒAfter Levelling City, US Tries to Build Trust.‚ === Unwarranted Executive Power: The pursuit of terrorism does not authorize the president to make up new laws === Consumption and The Affect on Our Societies : The 12 percent of the world‚s population that lives in North America and Western Europe accounts for 60 percent of private consumption spending, while the one-third living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for only around 3 percent. === US: Pentagon Stalls on Banning Contractors from Using Forced Labor: A proposal prohibiting defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor was drafted by the Pentagon last summer, but five defense lobbying groups oppose key provisions and a final policy still appears to be months away. === Gold’s other price : Company records obtained by The Times show that from 1998 through 2004, Freeport-McMoRan gave nearly $20 million to military and police generals, colonels, majors and captains, and to military units. Individual commanders received tens of thousands of dollars, in one case up to $150,000, according to the documents === |
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