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Information Clearing House Digest 22-28 September 2005 |
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Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 = To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 143 Days The coup that wasn’t By Scott Ritter Scott Ritter, reveals how the CIA plotted to use a UN weapons inspection to overthrow the Iraqi regime – and how fiasco turned to tragedy when it failed === A Monumental Act Of Terrorism Sinister Events in a Cynical War By John Pilger John Pilger questions the British version of sinister events in Basra, Iraq, on 19 September, and fills in the gaps in news that has become ‘like watching a satire’ of the war – more evidence, he suggests, of ‘a monumental act of terrorism’. === It‚s the al-Zarqawi Show By Kurt Nimmo It makes absolutely no sense and is completely counterproductive for al-Zarqawi to “wage all-out war on Iraq‚s Shiite Muslims,‰ but then, recall, we are assured the guy is none too bright, even if he is billed as a logistical mastermind. === By John S. Hatch One of the most astonishing aspects of the Bush-Cheney putsch (and that‚s exactly what it was) is that it gave the lie to so much that Americans believed about themselves. Free. Proud. Strong. Live free or die. So much talk about freedom and democracy and goodness and the American Way. All nonsense. === By Mike Whitney The Padilla case is of particular interest now that we have a genuine case of domestic terrorism we can use for comparison. === 21 killed in continuing Violence: At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded when a female suicide bomber attacked a large crowd of people outside an army recruiting centre in the town of Tal Afar west of Mosul === === An attacker set off an explosion in the home of a bodyguard of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednedsay, killing two people and wounding five others, al-Sadr aides and a hospital official said. === Car bomb kills one Iraqi, wounds 15 in Baquba: An Iraqi civilian was killed, and 15 others were wounded on Wednesday when a driven car bomb blew up nearby a security checkpoint in Baquba === One 56th BCT Soldier died as a result of his wounds and one Soldier was wounded as a result of an improvised explosive device attack while conducting a combat logistics patrol at about 10:45 a.m. Sept. 28, near Safwan, Iraq. === Soldier Killed in Ramadi; Iraqi Forces Detain Attacker: A soldier assigned to 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed in action Sept. 27 by small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq, military officials reported today === The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public, Reuters said on Wednesday. === The best thing that Blair can do to unite Iraq is to withdraw British troops – and act before next month’s referendum === Iraqis have expressed fury over the three-year jail sentence handed down to Lynndie England, the US soldier notorious for holding a naked inmate by a leash in Abu Ghraib prison. === The Army is investigating complaints that soldiers posted photographs of Iraqi corpses on an Internet site in exchange for access to pornographic images on the site. === The numerous graphic pictures posted on the Web site showed men, with their faces visible and wearing what looked like U.S. military uniforms, standing over a charred corpse, mutilated dead bodies and severed body parts. === Missteps Hamper Iraqi Oil Recovery: Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost as fields deteriorate. The failure to rebuild key components of Iraq’s petroleum industry has impeded oil production and may have permanently damaged the largest of the country’s vast oil fields, American and Iraqi experts say. === State legislators across the US are pushing ahead with laws that will provide their National Guard troops access to the most sophisticated tests. === A suicide bomber has killed at least 12 people and injured a number of others outside an army base in Kabul, Afghan security officials say. === Two Afghan policemen and a civilian were killed and four others were wounded Wednesday by a blast during an operation to remove landmines planted along the frontier with Pakistan, officials said. === Here is the transcript. Read and pass it along ˆ it has the power to topple tyrants. === John Conyers, Jr.: Peace Protestors Held Handcuffed in Buses For Over 12 Hours: I wanted me to share with you a letter I wrote to the Chief of the United States Park Police regarding the treatment of the 384 protestors arrested outside the White House === “ If the diplomatic deadlock with the Palestinians continues, Israel may consider turning unilateral disengagement into government policy – including annexation of West Bank territory and withdrawal to what the Jewish state would set as its permanent border. === srael has fired several missiles into Gaza, knocking out electricity in most of Gaza City. === A new method of exploding sound bombs in our skies is now available to the Israeli army who would not use it before the disengagement because they were careful not to alarm or hurt the Israeli settlers who were in Gaza. === The wreckage of the assassinated Hamas leader’s car still flames in the background while bystanders try to gather the charred body parts. === Palestinians had visions of economic revival after Israel got out of Gaza. But they have been sobered by a rapid relapse into violence between militants and Israeli forces parked on Gaza’s frontiers. == “The attempt to force the media to obey Israel’s rules is now international”. The situation has only worsened since 9/11. === Israel on Wednesday dismissed as “cynically motivated” a push by Arab countries to have the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s 139 member states condemn the Jewish state for having nuclear weapons. === Pro-Israel activists in Washington are pressing Congress to tighten American sanctions on Iran. And last week, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Jewish communal leaders in New York urged world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to act against Tehran. === “The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly…” === “The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn’t happy,” one audience member said. “Well, we’re all pretty happy.” The room, full of students, faculty members and some professionals, resounded with applause. === US President George Bush, whose government believes Iran intends to produce atomic weapons, has however refused the rule out military strikes. === A Chinese report says a private Chinese company is planning to build China’s first pipeline to Russia to carry Siberian oil to China. === WHY IS THE PADILLA CASE SO IMPORTANT? Because the right to freedom from arbitrary detention and to a jury trial is one of the fundamental rights for which the American Revolution was fought ˜ it is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. === Bernard Weiner: “Suppose…”: Arguments for an Impeachment Resolution: Introducing a resolution calling for impeachment hearings is the first serious step along that road back to political sanity and moral accountability for our country. Let’s demand that our Representatives in Congress do it, and if they won’t, we will elect those who will. === Spain’s 9/11 trial called ‘a failure’: Spanish media say verdicts ‘blow to police investigations and the prosecution.’ === The 77-year-old Posada, detained May 17 in Miami, escaped Venezuela while awaiting a prosecution-requested retrial on charges he masterminded bombing a Cuban jet that killed 73 people in 1976. === Venezuela said the U.S. government is ``hypocritical’’ in its fight against terrorism after a U.S. judge in Texas blocked extradition of terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles. === Concern is mounting in South America over a series of 13 joint military exercises involving US special forces in Paraguay. === No.2 Republican in U.S. House indicted: The second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, said on Wednesday he would step aside temporarily from his leadership post following an indictment on a campaign-finance charge. === “The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people.” ˜ House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California. === Tom DeLay often operated close to the ethical edge in his ascension to the powerful job of House majority leader. Today, under indictment, he stands at the precipice. === A witness in the trial over the Beslan school siege in North Ossetia said a Russian armored vehicle was the first to open fire in a battle that claimed the lives of many hostages. === Many of the storm’s sweltering victims along the Texas Gulf Coast were still waiting for electricity, gasoline, water and other relief Tuesday, prompting one top emergency official to complain that people are “living like cavemen.” === What will black political leadership do to protect us and the nation from Bush‚s cynical “Gulf Coast Opportunity Zone‰? What good are institutions like the Congressional Black Caucus if they do not offer real alternative visions, hold public hearings, educate the public, and campaign for concrete remedies. === The Bush administration should have learned enough from Mike Brown’s downfall about the consequences of putting political hacks in critical positions. Yet, only days after Mr. Brown’s forced departure as FEMA director, the administration was asking Congress to approve another unqualified candidate for an important job. === Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 = To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 142 Days A Torturous Silence by Ray McGovern Where do American religious leaders stand on torture? Their deafening silence evokes memories of the unconscionable behavior of German church leaders in the 1930s and early 1940s. === By Bill Van Auken The nationalist leader was struck by a single bullet from a sharpshooter‚s high-powered rifle. While he suffered no wound to any vital organ, he was left to bleed to death on the floor of his home as FBI agents refused to allow Puerto Rican authorities and emergency medical teams anywhere near the house, maintaining a militarized perimeter for 24 hours. === By Mickey Z. When early American revolutionaries chanted, “Give me liberty or give me death‰ and complained of having but one life to give for their country, they became the heroes of our history textbooks. But, thanks to the power of the U.S. media and education industries, the Puerto Rican nationalists who dedicated their lives to independence are known as criminals, fanatics, and assassins. === By Luciana Bohne Americans like to think that terrorists attack them because they are rich, free, and number one. Not true. === By John Atcheson The grease that lubricates this new model of government is greed; the fuel that feeds it is money. Lots of it. And overwhelmingly, the hard-line, right-wing conservative branch of the Republican Party are both its architect, and its beneficiary. === The bodies of 22 men, shot dead and partially eaten by dogs, were found Tuesday in open countryside in eastern Iraq near the Iranian border, an interior ministry official said. === At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 28 injured when a suicide bomber attacked a large crowd of people outside a police recruiting centre in the town of Baquba === US troops on Tuesday opened fire randomly at civilians in central Ramadi, a western city of Iraq, killing four people and wounding five others, medics said. === === Nearly 500 families had so far fled the city. Many were presently in the outskirts, particularly around al-Dur, al-Salam, Baghdad and within empty schools and government buildings near the city of Tikrit. === The office of Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a statement denying local media reports that he has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, telling Shiite Muslims to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum on Iraq’s constitution on October 15. “ === Iraq Sunnis Urge Charter Block, Mull Civil Disobedience : Up to 200 Iraqi Sunni politicians and scholars have pressed for voting down the draft constitution in the October referendum and threatened to declare civil disobedience if the US-led onslaughts on Sunni towns continue. === An internet statement denied on Tuesday reports that the right-hand man of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted militant in Iraq, has been killed by US forces. === George W. Bush’s two masters – the neoconservatives and the right-wing Christians – were the guiding force behind his decision to invade Iraq, change its regime, and control it permanently. === In a recent visit to the region, I was told over and over that the United States will never leave Iraq and will surely create permanent military bases there. I hope and pray that they are wrong. === “This focus of attention on Gaza has allowed Israel to continue with the construction of the wall in Palestinian territory, the expansion of settlements and the de-Palestinization of Jerusalem with virtually no criticism,” === Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, walked Monday to the northwestern gate of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue and asked to meet with Bush. === Cindy Sheehan Arrested At White House === The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested. === “I‚ve never experienced political pressure like this, not even in Russia when I was being critical of Gorbachev, nor in Yugoslavia when I was being extremely critical of Milosevic,‰ he added. === A federal judge Monday rejected a government argument that he was interfering with the president’s constitutional authority to wage war by insisting that Guantanamo Bay detainees be asked if they want their names to be made public. === David Hicks, the only Australian held at Guantanamo Bay, will face a “hearing” before a special US military commission on November 18, the Pentagon says. === Under the laws, which Prime Minister John Howard describes as “unusual”, state and territory police will be given extra tracking powers and will be able to detain terrorism suspects for up to two weeks without charge. === COMMENTS posted on a website praising a “terrorist” attack anywhere in the world could land a person in jail under tough new laws to be debated by state and federal leaders today. === The marine was killed when suspected Taleban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at a U.S. base near the eastern city of Asadabad. The solider was killed when his unit came under similar attack near the southern city of Kandahar. === Bullets fired from a passing car hit Ashraf Ramazan’s vehicle in the Balkh province city of Mazar-e-Sharif, killing him and a friend and injuring his driver and a bodyguard === The minister has also complained that some government officials are involved in Afghanistan’s massive narcotics trade. === By voting against Iran in the IAEA, India has put its alliance with the United States above any concern of national interest, energy security or international law. === India’s vote in favour of a West-backed resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appears to be paying off with Canada agreeing to roll back bilateral sanctions on the export of dual use technology to India. === Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week’s board meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog. === Alexander Rumyantsev, said any such decision was voluntary on the part of Iran, suggesting the U.N. Security Council had no authority to demand such a move. === Azerbaijan is the latest victim of this sacrifice of freedom in the pursuit of stability === A cruel wind blows across America. Starting in Texas and Montana, and sweeping across America’s heartland, it’s settled here in Washington, DC. And despite our presence today, it continues to buffet and batter the American people. === The FBI has come under widespread criticism in the U.S. island territory for waiting almost 24 hours to enter the farmhouse where Ojeda Rios lay wounded, keeping a tight cordon around the area and refusing to allow local prosecutors inside. === An immigration hearing is under way for a Cuban exile and former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative wanted for murder by Venezuela. === If Posada stays, it could fuel accusations by Venezuela and other Latin American countries that the United States is being hypocritical in its war against terrorism by harboring a man accused of terrorism abroad. === George W Bush says many powerful and insightful things. See if you can find one of them in this political cartoon. === Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks === The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations === Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 140 Days Britain to pull troops from Iraq Peter Beaumont and Gaby Hinsliff Britain has already privately informed Japan – which also has troops in Iraq – of its plans to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq in May, a move that officials in Tokyo say would make it impossible for their own 550 soldiers to remain. === What we were actually doing in Basra was to turn a blind eye on abuse, murder and anarchy By Robert Fisk A familiar bleat is rising from the sheep pen. “Outside powers” are interfering in southern Iraq. Thirty-five years ago, it was the Irish Republic that was assisting Britain’s IRA enemies. Now it is Iran that is supposedly urging the Shia of Basra to revolt. In other words, it’s not our fault—yet again, it’s the bloody foreigners what’s to blame. === By Charles Sullivan Even during our nation‚s darkest hours, there have always been people of conscience and courage who acted as a counter friction to the machine of social injustice that ravaged the nation and plundered the earth. Since the founding of our nation, there has always been a struggle between the rich and powerful and the nation‚s working poor. === A suicide car bomber attacked an elite Iraqi police unit in Baghdad, killing 13 commandos in the worst of a series of violent incidents to hit the country on Sunday. === A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed four civilians, including a woman and a child, and injured 35 when he blew himself up in a crowded market in the southern Shi’ite city of Hilla === An Iraqi police major says at least eight Shiite gunmen were killed. But a top aide to al-Sadr says only three gunmen were killed. The rest were civilians, including a woman struck by stray bullets. === === Judge Mudhafar says he is not convinced the two men are British – possibly because one of them was said to have been carrying a Canadian-made weapon – and they may not be entitled to immunity. === The Œevolution‚ of state disinformation has probably never been better displayed than in the case of the two (more than likely) SAS soldiers who were Œliberated‚ after being arrested by the Iraqi police – after they allegedly failed to stop at an Iraqi police roadblock and subsequently opened fire on the Iraqi police, killing one and wounding another. === Soldiers in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division vented their frustration by systematically torturing Iraqi detainees from 2003 into 2004, hitting them with baseball bats and dousing them with chemicals, a U.S. rights group alleges in a new report. === Sunnis are a majority in Al-Anbar, Nineveh and Salahudin provinces and Iraq’s interim law stipulates that the text fails if two-thirds of any three provinces vote against it during the referendum, scheduled for October 15. === US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan – an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed – that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel. === In DC, protest organizers estimated a crowd of about 200,000 rallied at the Ellipse, then marched around the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue. === Now out of the military, McNamara donned his desert camouflage uniform again yesterday to march against the war in which he served. === Video: Cindy Sheehan: Speaking – Anti-War Rally Washington DC 09/24/05 === Cindy Sheehan: We Don’t Exist: Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the anti-war movement was “non-existent.” I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George’s failed policies know that they don’t exist. === They are sowing a vast whirlwind, a desert sandstorm of Martian proportions, which future generations of Americans and Iraqis will reap. === An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600 (£337), The Observer has learnt. Yet since the appeal was launched earlier this month, donations to rebuild New Orleans have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars. === Navy Secretly Contracted Jets Used by CIA: A branch of the U.S. Navy secretly contracted a 33-plane fleet that included two Gulfstream jets reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. === Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed the guerrillas shot down the helicopter using “modern weapons” === In 1987, Ali Shah and his brothers moved their families into exile in Iran and returned home to form a guerrilla unit that got arms from the CIA to battle the Soviets. To get the weapons, which were distributed by Pakistan, every such group was required to join one of seven Afghan parties supervised by Pakistan’s army. === North Korea warned Sunday it had a “powerful deterrent” against a U.S. nuclear attack, criticizing moves in Washington to authorize pre-emptive use of atomic weapons against states or terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction. === An Israeli aircraft attacked a school in a crowded Gaza City neighborhood, wounding at least 17 people, Palestinian medical officials said. === Fundamentalist bullies cannot be appeased. they must be confronted. === He has a psycho-spiritual dis-ease of the soul, a sickness that is endemic to our culture and symptomatic of the times we live in. It‚s an illness that has been with us since time immemorial. === Chavez nails US again: Chavez repeated his earlier description of the United States as “an empire” that has “a terrorist administration,” which is “a threat to humanity.” === When the Labour conference opens, the listening and learning will end === A woman has been arrested over the leak of findings about the fatal police shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes on the Tube, it has emerged. === A federal judge Friday issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of two Second Amendment rights groups ending the seizure of firearms from citizens in and around New Orleans. === Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 === To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 139 Days ‘You can’t wash your hands when they’re covered in blood’ By Hart Viges I don’t know how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds. I have my imagination to pick at for that one. But I clearly remember the call-out over the radio saying “Green light on all taxi-cabs. The enemy is using them for === Basra; another milestone in war on terror By Mike Whitney “What our police found in their car was very disturbing – weapons, explosives, and a remote control detonator. These are the weapons of terrorists. We believe these soldiers were planning an attack on a market or other civilian targets.” Sheik Hassan al-Zarqani, spokesman for the Mehdi Army. === Duncan Campbell and Jamie Wilson in Washington The anti-war movement on both sides of the Atlantic is hoping that tens of thousands of protesters will take to the streets today in London and Washington as conditions in Iraq deteriorate. === By Robert Fisk Bin Laden’s story was as instructive as it was epic. When the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Saudi royal family – encouraged by the CIA – sought to provide the Afghans with an Arab legion, preferably led by a Saudi prince, who would lead a guerrilla force against the Russians. === Heavy fighting surged yesterday in the Euphrates River city of Ramadi, police and hospital officials said, and the U.S. military reported the deaths of three more soldiers around the militant stronghold, scene of several American deaths this month. === A former American soldier who served in Iraq and filed for conscientious objector status has given an extraordinary insight into the war’s dehumanising effects – an insight that helps explain why the British and American public has turned sharply against the occupation. === An Iraqi judge has issued arrest warrants for two British soldiers freed after a British raid in Basra, an Iraqi lawyer said on Saturday, and thousands rallied in the southern city in support of a new constitution === Report by US think tank says only ‘4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners. === Most senior policymakers appear to retain their blind faith in the efficacy of military force as a tool for securing access to foreign sources of petroleum. This, as Iraq makes painfully clear, is delusional. Yet they persist in risking the lives of young Americans and others in their continued adherence to a failed and immoral strategy. === Two soldiers and an officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have told a human rights organization of systemic detainee abuse and human rights violations at U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, recounting beatings, forced physical exertion and psychological torture of prisoners, the group said. === Soldiers in the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division vented their frustration by systematically torturing Iraqi detainees from 2003 into 2004, hitting them with baseball bats and dousing them with chemicals, a U.S. rights group alleges in a new report. === The US military has more than $1.2 billion in projects either underway or planned in the Central Command region – an expansion plan that US commanders say is necessary both to sustain operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and to provide for a long-term presence in the area. === War pimp alert: Two years on, Iran is the only clear winner of war on Iraq: Iraq‚s old enemy has not been slow to capitalise on continuing confusion across the border === EU motion to bringing Iran to UN: THE European Union has tabled a motion at the United Nations atomic watchdog that finds Iran in violation of international nuclear safeguards, setting the stage for it to be reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. === IAEA Board Approves Resolution on Iran: The 35-nation board of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency approved a resolution Saturday that could lead to Iran’s referral to the U.N. Security Council for violating a nuclear arms control treaty something the United States has been urging for years. === Hamas officials claimed that the rockets displayed during the rally were dummies that did not contain explosives. They also slammed the Palestinian Authority for blaming Hamas for the blasts. === Israel launched an air strike on two cars driving in Gaza City on Saturday, killing at least four Hamas militants and wounding nine other people, Palestinian doctors and Hamas officials said. === Now that Israel has evacuated from the Gaza Strip, we can forget about any serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has done all he is going to do. === Taleban insurgents have stormed a prison and police HQ near the eastern Afghan city of Khost, leaving one inmate dead, Afghan officials say. === Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 138 Days The logic of colonial rule By Tariq Ali Divide and rule is the deadly logic of colonial rule – and signs that the US is planning an exit strategy coupled with a long-term presence is evident in the new Iraqi constitution, pushed through by US proconsul Zalmay Khalilzad. == By Andrew Gumbel A leading US human rights group accused prison officials in New Orleans yesterday of abandoning hundreds of men in the city jail in the run-up to Hurricane Katrina, leaving them locked up without food, water, electricity, fresh air or functioning toilets for four days as the floodwaters rose to their chests, necks and higher. === === “A group of US soldiers stormed the house of Brigadier Jabar Atiyah Saud, the deputy mayor of Dhuluiyah and dragged him out of his house before they shot him several bullets in his head,” Meanwhile, the US soldiers also killed two local police officers === Saudi Arabia warned yesterday that the situation in Iraq is moving “toward disintegration,” with a growing danger that the country will dissolve into a civil war that will draw its neighbors into a broader regional conflict. === The US and the Iraqi government have overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, “feeding the myth” that they are the backbone of the insurgency, an American thinktank says in a new report. === Despite the official government line that Britain’s 8,500 servicemen and women would stay in Iraq “as long as necessary”, Blair had been studying plans for a phased withdrawal, reports said. === Sheehan, the antiwar mom who is due to lead thousands of demonstrators converging on Washington on Saturday to protest the U.S.-led war, has become a minor celebrity in Iraq as well. === Nationally known Democratic war critics, including Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and John Kerry of Massachusetts, won’t attend what sponsors say will be a big anti-war rally Saturday in Washington. === A US soldier being re-tried for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal enjoyed abusing Iraqi inmates, a former colleague has told a court. === Gore-for-porn swap by US soldiers in Iraq makes Abu Ghraib look like kid stuff. === The plan to draw up a list of historical events that people can be prosecuted for celebrating is a sign of a leader losing his grip === U.S. and Afghan forces have surrounded a Taliban commander in a central province, an Afghan official said on Friday, after fighting in which the U.S. military said 10 insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed. === Suspected Taliban gunmen killed seven Afghan musicians travelling home from a wedding, among them a well-known singer, police said on Friday. === If Washington wants a war with Iran, then there’ll be a war with Iran. That’s the great lesson of the Iraq war; once the decision is made, there’s no turning back. === Bush Nominee as U.N. Ambassador Doesn‚t Do Carrots˜But Does Do Israel: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)˜as demonstrated at its recent annual conference in Washington˜continues to pressure the Bush administration to take action against what it calls the Iranian nuclear threat. === Iran yesterday showed off its military might and warned potential aggressors that the Islamic state would repel any attack vigorously. === The head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards warned that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme could push the price of oil to 100 usd a barrel. === Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Friday reiterated Moscow’s opposition to referring the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, saying there was no hard evidence that Iran was in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. === Hamas officials claimed that the rockets displayed during the rally were dummies that did not contain explosives. They also slammed the Palestinian Authority for blaming Hamas for the blasts. === The High Cost of Occupations : I FOUND myself treating Palestinians with an outward contempt that contradicted every instinct my upbringing had instilled in me…I broke into homes after midnight and held women and children under guard…I screamed at old men and bullied teenagers…A majority of my buddies saw nothing wrong with Israel having built a Jewish town in the middle of the West Bank. === ŒBreaking the Silence‚ has collected testimonies given by hundreds of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers who served in the territories during the last conflict. These testimonies reveal the impossible reality those soldiers have to face, and the terrible moral price this reality demands. === A Jewish Defense League member was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his role in a plot to bomb a mosque and a Lebanese-American congressman’s office. === Commandos in the Streets?: Operation Granite Shadow posits domestic military operations, including intelligence collection and surveillance, unique rules of engagement regarding the use of lethal force, the use of experimental non-lethal weapons, and federal and military control of incident locations that are highly controversial and might border on the illegal. === UN Human Rights Body to Scrutinise U.S. Abuses: The primary focus will be “on the implications of the USA Patriot Act on nationals and non-nationals, as well as problems relating to the legal status and treatment of persons detained in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq and other places of detention outside the USA.” === Fresh From Iraq, Private Security Forces Roam the Streets of an American City With Impunity === With Hurricane Rita breathing down Houston’s neck, those with cars were stuck in gridlock trying to get out. Those like Skinner ˜ poor, and with a broken-down car ˜ were simply stuck, and fuming at being abandoned === When the levees broke, the contract of American citizenship failed. === It is not without irony that it has taken a hurricane — and the excruciating images of stranded black faces, beamed across cable airwaves — for Americans to confront the reality that vast numbers of their fellow citizens live in segregated ghettos and suffer from abject poverty. === George W. Bush’s plan to reconstruct the Gulf Coast is the biggest crony cash-cow in American history (aside from the pork-orgy he’s throwing for his pals in Iraq). Bush is using his emergency powers to strip American citizens of their legal protections against exploitation, handing out no-bid contracts to his pals and paymasters === On Labor Day, as emergency workers and politicians rushed to Louisiana and Mississippi because Hurricane Katrina had killed hundreds and left thousands of people homeless, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist talked with his staff and sought counsel from trusted allies about delaying a vote on legislation to repeal the estate tax. Frist’s outside advisers: lobbyists. === Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the “smoking gun” of global warming, one of Britain’s leading scientists believes. === Of all the votes by Democratic senators in favor of the nomination of John Roberts to serve as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, none is likely to be more disappointing to progressives than that of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold. === Citgo officials scrambling to fine-tune Venezuelan leader’s promise of cheap oil === Brazil will ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to impose sanctions on the United States due to its failure in meeting a trade resolution, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. === September 22 2005 To read this newsletter online www.informationclearinghouse.info/ or snipurl.com/ayzc RSS FEED www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=001864 === Charge Him or Release Him Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial or Charges for 3 Years and 137 Days A bridge too far By Clarence Page Among many unanswered questions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we have this one: Why didn’t the stranded residents of flooded New Orleans simply walk to dry land? For many, the answer was simple and disturbing: The suburbs wouldn’t let them. === If Britain’s proposed laws on inciting terrorism were applied fairly, those who incite wars of aggression would also be in the dock By Salim Lone The kind of language proposed in the British legislation could easily characterise a call to resist allied occupation soldiers in Iraq as incitement. Is force now to be the preserve of the powerful? === Three members of a family were killed and a woman was wounded when gunmen in police uniforms raided their house in the eastern New Baghdad district of the capital. === “All regular meetings between the governorate and British troops have been cancelled and we will not allow British soldiers into the governorate building or any other public office in Basra,” Nadim al-Jaabari, spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP on Thursday === The Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, called the attack by British forces “a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty”. === Monday was one of those rare illuminating days. A juxtaposition of events starkly exposed Western double standards and made the Iraqi government’s claims of sovereignty even more nonsensical than it already was. === After his award-winning reporting on the assault on Fallujah, Ali Fadhil went to study in America. But just three months later he was back in Iraq, where he found a country that had changed almost beyond recognition === While most continue to advocate the “immediate withdrawal” of American troops, such calls are uttered with little sense of hope. There appears to be a growing feeling that any form of “immediate” withdrawal will prove a thoroughly unsatisfactory option, destined only to intensify the present chaos in Iraq and trigger a civil war === U.S. immigration officials refused Tuesday to allow Robert Fisk, longtime Middle East correspondent for the London newspaper, The Independent, to board a plane from Toronto to Denver. Fisk was on his way to Santa Fe for a sold-out appearance in the Lannan Foundation‚s readings-and-conversations series Wednesday night. === Air Force Col: Bush, Cheney, Neocons Treasonous “You know our freedoms are not under attack from the remnants of Saddam Hussein‚s Bathist Party. They‚re under attack by the likes of John Ashcroft. They‚re trampled by Donald Rumsfeld, they‚re disdained by Dick Cheney, and they‚re not even understood by George W. Bush.‰ === The nation’s only uncensored compilation of daily television news reports from more than 15 countries in the Middle East. QuickTime Video. === A lawyer for 11 Kuwaiti detainees at Guantanamo Bay asked a federal judge yesterday to hold a fact-finding hearing about a five-week hunger strike at the military prison, saying the health of detainees is increasingly dire. === Two more US soldiers have been charged after an Afghanistan prisoner abuse investigation centred on two detainees who died in custody, the Army announced in Fort Bliss, Texas. === A rift is opening between Washington and Kabul on how to tackle a resurgent Taliban which, mounting evidence suggests, now operates a modern-day “underground railroad” tapping into the terrorist expertise of the Iraqi insurgency. === “It is very easy for politicians in the west to make these random denunciations of terrorist attacks, but then I have known terrorists that I viewed as courageous and principled,” he said. === The government of Uzbekistan has been engaged in unprecedented efforts, including massive detentions, torture, and forced confessions, to persuade its people and the outside world that Islamist extremists were responsible for a bloody massacre in Andijan last May, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch === Our Presidents New Best Friend Boils People Alive : Let me introduce you to our presidents new best friend, President Karimov of Uzbekistan. === The European Union has backed off from its attempt to have Iran immediately called before the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme, due to fierce opposition from Russia and China, diplomats said === Russia and China warned the United States and European Union on Wednesday against escalating the nuclear standoff with Iran, potentially blocking a Western drive to haul Tehran before the UN Security Council. === The United States is pushing for the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to beef up their naval capacity on the oil-rich Caspian Sea, a senior diplomat in the region said === An unclassified draft of a US nuclear doctrine review that spells out conditions under which US commanders might seek approval to use nuclear weapons has been removed from a Pentagon website. === Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter delivered a shocker at an American University panel in Washington Monday: He told the crowd he was certain Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election. === Israeli troops killed a Palestinian youth Thursday in the northern West Bank as he tried to enter a military camp one day before its evacuation. === Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has apologised to his Israeli counterpart over the attempted arrest of a general accused of war crimes. === Although Prime Minister Sharon gives lip-service to a two-state settlement, the actions of the Israeli government, Crisis Group concludes, “are at war with any viable two-state solution and will not bolster Israel’s security; in fact, they will undermine it, weakening Palestinian pragmatists,∑ and sowing the seeds of growing radicalization.” === President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington’s closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers. === Dominican Republic accused of turning a blind eye to thriving trade in youngsters === === President Bush made sure to preempt any real investigation into price gouging by his financial backers in the oil/gas industry when last year he appointed a former ChevronTexaco lawyer, Deborah Majoras, to head the FTC. === The widening investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff is moving beyond the confines of tawdry influence-peddling to threaten leading figures in the Republican hierarchy that dominates Washington. === President Bush’s multi-billion dollar reconstruction plans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are being used as “a vast laboratory” for conservative social polices, administration critics claim. === More condemned men and women are on California’s death row for killing whites than for murdering people of any other race, despite there being more black and Hispanic murder victims, according to a new study. === |
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