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Information Clearing House Digest 29-30 September 2005 |
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Date: Fri, 30 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 145 Days Who Did You Torture During The War, Daddy? Or, We Are All Torturers Now By Ted Rall Never miss the Saturday paper. Because it’s the skimpiest and least-circulated edition of the week, it’s the venue of choice for lowballing the stories the government can’t completely cover up. September 24's New York Times, for example, contained the bombshell revelation that the U.S. government continues to torture innocent men, women and children in Iraq. === Captain Courageous By Chris Floyd A catalogue of depravity, all of it designed — with diabolical sophistry — by self-exalted men cloaking their violent perversions with sham piety and righteous sputum. This was terrorism on a grand scale, chewing up the innocent and guilty alike. === By Juan Cole As more and more Americans turn against Bush’s Iraq war, Democratic politicians remain silent. Their play-it-safe strategy isn’t just cowardly, it also won’t work. === By Charles E. Carlson There is one undeniable reason America is the war bully of the world, and that we are leaving bankruptcy as a legacy to our children. It is because the fact that the Christians in churches will not stand up to protect the war victims upon whom they know in advance the bombs are about to fall. The churches, especially the Christian-Zionist churches, have put us in the mess we are in by supporting war for three generations. === By Mike Whitney Evil cannot be stopped by reason, but only by putting oneself in harms way and obstructing the perpetrator. Every act of non-violence diffuses the power of evil. === The death toll from the three apparently coordinated car bomb attacks on Thursday near a busy market in the predominantly Shi’ite town of Balad, north of Baghdad, rose to 98 killed and 119 wounded, hospital director Kassim Aboud said. === Market bomb in Iraq kills 11: A car bomb exploded in the middle of a crowded market in the southern Iraqi town of Hilla today, killing at least 11 people and wounding 30 others. === Attempts to foist a constitution on Iraq look destined to fail === The Pentagon has denounced the report as a politically motivated smear. === The Army is closing the books on one of the leanest recruiting years since it became an all-volunteer service three decades ago, missing its enlistment target by the largest margin since 1979 and raising questions about its plans for growth. === Back then, my son was promised a twenty thousand dollar signing bonus. He only got four thousand dollars of that when he finished his advanced training. He was promised a laptop, so he could take classes from wherever he was deployed in the world. He never got that. === What happened to me when I was ejected from the Labour conference – simply for a one-word protest during Jack Straw’s speech this week – tells us there is something deeply wrong with the culture of our Government under Tony Blair. === US administration lectures about God delivered to Muslims are a dangerous folly === In this interview, Robert Fisk talks about Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the idea of democracy in the Middle East === Russia will provide Syria with small arms ammunition and allow more Syrian students to study at Russian defense ministry universities, a ministry spokesman said Thursday. === Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent of 29 years knew instinctively that al-Qaeda was responsible for September 11. He has now condensed his experiences into a book about the trouble-plagued region. === “I am slowly dying in this solitary prison cell,” says Omar Deghayes, a British refugee and Guantánamo Bay prisoner. “I have no rights, no hope. So why not take my destiny into my own hands, and die for a principle?” === Udai Tantawi, 13, died when an Israeli army patrol opened fire on a group of Palestinians in the Askar refugee camp, the sources said. === Best write this while I can, because the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 has passed in the House (thus eliminating once and for all the First Amendment), and I will not be allowed to criticize the criminal state of Israel (or for that matter America) much longer∑ === Ending the occupation of Gaza is but one of a list of legal and legitimate Palestinian demands that the international community must support === President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has fared well in Palestinian local elections but Hamas has also scored significant gains. === The Palestinian militant group Hamas captured up to one-third of the votes in Palestinian municipal elections yesterday, according to preliminary unofficial results, a solid showing that could presage its performance in parliamentary balloting early next year === Hamas history tied to Israel : Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years. === Domestic remedies exhausted, Palestinians are seeking redress in foreign courts, much to the chagrin of Israel === Former Pentagon employee Larry Franklin has struck a deal with prosecutors, and plans to plead guilty next week to a number of charges against him. === Israelis urge U.S. to stop Iran’s nuke goals: The United States and its allies must act to stop Iran’s nuclear programs — by force if necessary — because conventional diplomacy will not work, three senior Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum warned yesterday. === “The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly…” === The nation’s only uncensored compilation of daily television news reports from more than 15 countries in the Middle East. QuickTime Video. === Venezuela has moved its central bank foreign reserves out of U.S. banks, liquidated its investments in U.S. Treasury securities and placed the funds in Europe, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday. === The United States is not planning to invade Venezuela, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela said Thursday, disputing claims by President Hugo Chavez. === Washington is shielding him from prosecution for masterminding the 1976 terrorist bombing of a Cuban jetliner carrying passengers from Venezuela, in which 73 people were killed. === The US is protecting the “Osama bin Laden of Latin America”, the Venezuelan president said today. === Amnesty International today urged the EU to take a tough line with Russia on human rights as it claimed to have found new evidence of abuses in the North Caucasus region. === The Menezes killing is a reminder that human rights cannot be a stick to beat the developing world === Among those wanted in connection with the operation, which led to the man – Abu Omar – being tortured in Egypt, is a 38-year-old female CIA agent who was working as a diplomat at the US embassy in Rome and is said to have led the operation. === In case you missed it: Al-Qaeda cleric exposed as an MI5 double agent: ONE of al-Qaeda‚s most dangerous figures has been revealed as a double agent working for MI5, raising criticism from European governments, which repeatedly called for his arrest. === An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his credibility. === Miller agreed to break her silence and testify after receiving what she described as a voluntary and personal waiver of confidentiality from her source, identified as Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby. === When you already have a fall guy, use him—especially if he’s a dead man. === here was a protest at Holyoke Community College, MA against military recruiters. The police arrived and started knocking people to the ground and macing them. === Warning From a Student of Democracy’s Collapse: Dr. Stern, stops short of calling the Christian right fascist but his decision to draw parallels, especially in the uses of propaganda, was controversial. === I was a child under Mussolini’s dictatorship. Now at 75, I still remember my own fears. An SS officers club had requisitioned the third floor of the ancient building where my family lived in Rome. I remember the terror and trembling of a family of friends hiding in our eighth floor apartment, fearing a knock on the door and deportation to Nazi death camps in Germany. === Explains how societies and nations can be measured by the degree that power is concentrated and respect for the individual is restricted. Where does your community, state and nation stand on these scales? === Here is a list of the 22 Democrats who voted to confirm John Roberts Jr. to be the next Chief Justice on the United States Supreme Court: === Attorney and judicial groups urge its defeat === A global influenza pandemic is imminent and will kill up to 150 million people, the UN official in charge of coordinating the worldwide response to an outbreak has warned. === A 2-year-old Houston girl crushed beneath the wheels of a pickup; a Sugar Land man and his two young children fatally pitched from their overturning car near Madisonville; a 92-year-old La Marque woman dead after losing consciousness while stuck in highway gridlock ˜ Hurricane Rita’s tales of sorrow rolled in as the death toll climbed. === The government is paying contractors an average of $2,480 for less than two hours of work to cover each damaged roof ˜ even though it’s also giving them endless supplies of blue sheeting for free. === === Date: Thurs, 29 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 144 Days The U.S. Has Plans to Invade Iran Before Bush’s Term Ends By Walter C. Uhler We simply cannot permit the Bush “war party” to run roughshod over America’s democracy once again. === By Charles Sullivan No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds. === The slain Abu Azzam may not have been Zarqawi‚s top deputy after all. Will his death have any effect on the Iraq insurgency? By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball U.S. intelligence officials and counterterrorism analysts are questioning whether a slain terrorist˜described by President Bush today as the “second-most-wanted Al Qaeda leader in Iraq‰˜was as significant a figure as the Bush administration is claiming. === Two pick-up trucks blew up in a central shopping street, with a third pick-up exploding in another neighbourhood 10 minutes later, local police Lieutenant-Colonel Adel Abdallah said. === Iraqi Civilians Killed; : Five Iraqi civilians were killed and 30 were wounded in a suicide-bomber attack in Tal Afar, Iraq, Wedensday, military officials reported. === Five Iraqi civilians were killed and 30 were wounded in a suicide-bomber attack in Tal Afar, Iraq, Wedensday, military officials reported. === A roadside bomb killed five American soldiers during combat in the western town of Ramadi, a hotbed of insurgent activity, the U.S military said Thursday. === === The number of Iraqi battalions capable of combat without U.S. support has dropped from three to one, the top American commander in Iraq told Congress Thursday, prompting Republicans to question whether U.S. troops will be able to withdraw next year. === The top U.S. general in Iraq on Wednesday cast doubt on his previous forecasts of a substantial cut in American forces in 2006, saying Iraq was in a period of heightened uncertainty that made it “too soon to tell” if troops can be brought home. === “The constitution issue is dead until the referendum,” said Sunni negotiator Hussein al-Falluji on Thursday. “We will vote ‘No’ and we will not accept the American policy of aggression to get what they want. There is no way we will support it.” === === The court-martial conviction Monday of the reservist Lynndie England for her role in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib should fool no one that the Pentagon is taking seriously the mistreatment of Iraqis, especially after the release last Friday of a report on torture by members of the 82rd Airborne Division stationed near Falluja. === Saying the United States “does not surrender to blackmail,” a judge ruled Thursday that pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison must be released over government claims that they could damage America’s image. === Cindy Sheehan, whose 26-day anti-war vigil this summer outside President Bush’s Texas ranch grabbed international attention, met privately for 20 minutes on Tuesday with Sen. John McCain and afterward called him “a warmonger.” === I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so. === If the leaders of a less powerful nation had invaded a country under false pretenses ˆ touching off a war that left tens of thousands of civilians dead ˆ there surely would be demands for war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Court at the Hague. But not for Bush and his War Cabinet. === Karen Hughes takes her “Innocents Abroad” tour to the Middle East — and plays into the hands of Osama bin Laden. === Bush aide Karen Hughes endures another round of criticism for Middle East policies === Walter Wolfgang, a party member for 57 years, was bundled out of the conference hall by stewards after shouting “nonsense” as Mr Straw, the Foreign Secretary, defended Britain’s role in Iraq. He was later stopped under anti-terrorist powers as he tried to re-enter the hall. === On Iraq Blair is not simply discredited: his personal pride has become a fundamental obstacle to any rational discussion about what now needs to happen. It has been obvious for some time that the presence of British and American troops is causing more problems than it solves === Britain has already agreed to expel two Saudi dissidents during secret negotiations on proposed arms purchases by Riyadh worth up to £40bn, a Saudi government source has claimed. === The United Nations refugee agency said an Arab militia attack on a camp in Sudan’s Darfur region was feared to have killed at least 29 people and seriously injured 10. === Three Palestinian fighters have been killed during armed clashes with Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank city of Jenin === A Pentagon analyst charged with providing classified information to an Israeli official and members of a pro-Israeli lobbying group will plead guilty, according to the U.S. District Court clerk’s office. === Video: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? : Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the U.S., who may have known things they didn’t tell us before September 11. Quick Time video. === Top-ranking Americans have told equally top-ranking Indians in recent weeks that the US has plans to invade Iran before Bush‚s term ends. In 2002, a year before the US invaded Iraq, high-ranking Americans had similarly shared their definitive vision of a post-Saddam Iraq, making it clear that they would change the regime in Baghdad. === Is the U.S. willing to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear adversary that is an NPT signatory, thus risking universal condemnation? Several statements and documents from the Defense Department suggest that it is indeed fully prepared to do so. === Egypt Wednesday proposed the creation of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and blasted Israel for standing in the way, at a meeting in Vienna of the UN atomic watchdog. === A mass grave discovered in eastern Afghanistan is thought to contain the bodies of more than 500 soldiers of the communist government that was toppled in 1992, officials said. === At least two election candidates are implicated, officials said on Thursday. === Convoy of Death: The film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners during the Afghan War. === A federal judge upheld a lawsuit by two men who claim they were beaten and starved after a roundup of Muslim men in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. === Thousands of prisoners were abandoned for days when Katrina hit New Orleans; more than 500 are still missing. === The Army Corps in New Orleans is now led by the official who formerly oversaw contracts in Iraq. The Lower Ninth Ward may never exist again, but already the barroom and strip-joint owners in the French Quarter are relishing the fat days ahead, as the Halliburton workers, Blackwater mercenaries, and Bechtel engineers leave their federal paychecks behind on Bourbon Street. === It was like watching Suzanne Sommers play Lady Macbeth; poor Brownie was in way over his head. The ex-FEMA chief stuck close to his Karl Rove script and didn’t give an inch to the blustery congressmen. === The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts ˜ a 50-year-old U.S. appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. ˜ as Rehnquist’s successor. All 55 of the Senate’s majority Republicans, and half of the Democrats, voted for Roberts. === The Hammer Gets Hit: DeLay’s indictment comes on the heels of charges that top political aide Jim Ellis and veteran fundraiser John Colyandro illegally funneled $190,000 in corporate contributions to candidates for the Texas legislature in 2002 through the national Republican Party. === The D.A. And Tom DeLay : Ronnie Earle is the local district attorney in Austin, Texas. What he cares about most is rooting out public corruption. Over the years, he‚s indicted more than a dozen politicians, including a U.S. senator, the state‚s attorney general, and a sitting Texas Supreme Court justice. === Today, a RAW STORY investigation has turned up more intrigue surrounding Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s affiliation with his family’s booming for-profit hospital chain, HCA. === Hurricanes Rita and Katrina have damaged more offshore drilling rigs than any storm in recent times, and one report Wednesday said all oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has temporarily ceased. === ‘Best answer is warming,’ say researchers, who predict trend to continue === Retailers report sales falling at the fastest rate since records began === |
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