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Date: 1-5 OCTOBER 2006 |
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Date: 5 October 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2736 The War in Iraq Costs See the cost in your community === October 5 – Day of Mass Resistance On October 5, people everywhere will walk out of school, take off work, and come to the downtowns & townsquares and set out from there, going through the streets and calling on many more to join us – making a powerful statement: “NO! THIS REGIME DOES NOT REPRESENT US! AND WE WILL DRIVE IT OUT!” === By Dafna Linzer The Bush administration delivered a secret message to North Korea yesterday warning it to back down from a promised nuclear test, and it said publicly that the United States would not live with a nuclear-armed Pyongyang government. === By Frida Berrigan According to Time, the Navy has issued “Prepare to Deploy Orders” (PTDOs) to a strike group including minesweepers, a submarine, an Aegis class cruiser, and a mine hunter. Taken alongside disclosures that the chief of naval operations asked his planners for a rundown of how a blockade of Iranian oil ports would work, these military preparations led Time to conclude cautiously that the United States “may be preparing for war with Iran.” === By Dave Lindorff How are we to compare the Republican Party’s cover-up of a member’s efforts to corrupt young pages with the same party’s conspiracy to cover up the Bush administration’s ineptness and possible foreknowledge of the 9-11 attacks, and of the campaign of lies and misinformation it used to drum up hysteria for an illegal and totally unwarranted invasion of Iraq? === By Paul Craig Roberts The Democrats, of course, have done nothing to protect us from Bush’s illegal war or from his assaults on the Constitution and civil liberty. Democrats have been intimidated by the threat of being politically placed in the “against us” camp, and Democrats are as much in the pockets of AIPAC, the oil industry, and the military-industrial complex as Republicans. === A total of 30 bodies, most of them shot and tortured, were found in different districts of Baghdad during the past 24 hours, a source in the Interior Ministry said. === Thirteen U.S. occupation soldiers have been killed in Baghdad since Monday, the American military reported, registering the highest three-day death toll for U.S. forces in the capital since the start start of the war === Guy Barattieri was an Army Reservist, but was working as a contractor when he was killed. === Iraqi authorities pulled a brigade of about 700 policemen out of service Wednesday in its biggest move ever to uproot troops linked to death squads, aiming to signal the government’s seriousness in cleansing Baghdad of sectarian violence. === Two Marines pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya and then trying to cover up the crime. === A letter from Al Qaeda leaders found in Iraq shows that the group sees the war as a boon for its cause. === A group of Generals has called on US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign. === “The militias from all sides are in the universities. Classes are not happening because of the chaos, and colleagues are fleeing if they can,” said Professor Saad Jawad, a lecturer in political science at Baghdad University. === Congress has set a 2007 termination date for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction at the behest of the Bush administration, removing the source of a series of audit reports that have emboldened critics of the president’s war polices. === If we want to stop the relentless slide into anarchy, the answer is to establish a UN protectorate === Since late August, British commandos in the deserts of far southeastern Iraq have been testing one of the most serious charges leveled by the United States against Iran: that Iran is secretly supplying weapons, parts, funding, and training for attacks on US-led forces in Iraq. === The UN Security Council is expected to begin discussions next week on a resolution to impose sanctions on Iran for its failure to halt uranium enrichment, Britain’s UN envoy said === Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday slammed Washington for acting “unilaterally” in the crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme and urged the world powers to continue diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff with Teheran. === U.S. jets mistakenly strafed Canadian occupation soldiers in Afghanistan on Monday, killing one and bringing to five the number of Canadian troops killed during a major push against the Taliban this weekend. === larm bells are going off in the US political and strategic community over the Bush administration’s weighing the option of bringing Taliban back into the power equation in Afghanistan. === New Report Says “Contractors Making Big Money for Bad Work” === Pakistani bomb disposal experts defused two ready-to-fire rockets apparently aimed at President Musharraf hours after an explosion near his home === NORTH Korea called today for the withdrawal of US forces stationed in South Korea, a day after it announced it would carry out a nuclear test. === Mr Shen’s judgment that nothing can be done to stop Pyongyang becoming a fully fledged nuclear state deepened the grim mood in other capitals yesterday. === Any reduction would aim to stem a price slide that has brought prices to just under $60 a barrel – 25% lower than prices were in mid-July, Opec trackers say. === Palestinian health officials reported that a 35-year-old mother was killed by a tank round in the Rafah fighting and that a man was killed by gunfire. Later in the day, three Palestinians who witnesses said were tending goats near the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza were killed by Israeli fire === Ninety-one Palestinian children have already been killed this year in the West Bank and Gaza, almost double the number for the whole of 2005, with youngsters suffering increasing levels of stress from violence and fear in the Israeli-Palestinians conflict, according to the latest United Nations Children’s Fund === Abbas on Wednesday vowed to fire the Hamas-led government before the end of the month unless it changed its policies, accepted Israel’s right to exist, and recognized all the agreements that were signed with Israel. === A proposed plan to intensify security around Palestinian Authority President and Fatah faction chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) includes === The group of youths that signed a letter two weeks ago refusing to “be soldiers of the occupation” hung banners saying the same from Tel Aviv highway bridges Thursday. === According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, U.S. President George W. Bush is opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and a resumption of negotiations with Syria. === Peace with Syria would mean giving back the Golan Heights (Syrian territory by any definition). No peace, no need to give them back. === Figures, Facts, and Impact === Senator Joseph I. Lieberman questioned his opponent’s commitment to Israel at a fund-raiser in Manhattan yesterday, saying he had received important support from several Democrats who have been critical of Israel. === Oregon House speaker discloses trip to Israel paid for by private group : The seven-day trip in November 2005 was sponsored by the Portland Jewish Federation, and that State Treasurer Randall Edwards went on the trip as well. === Russia will not submit to blackmail from anyone, Russia’s president said Wednesday in a clear reference to a diplomatic row with Georgia over spying allegations. === Indonesian police or military officers may have played a role in the 2002 Bali bombing, the country’s former president, Abdurrahman Wahid says. === What we are against is the imperial elite and that is very different. : Aljazeera Interviews President Chavez of Venezuela === Since 1999, Hugo Chavez not only reduced poverty in Venezuela, he’s greatly improved the living standards of his people from the non-cash benefits these programs provide. === Sanchez de Lozada, Carlos Sanchez Berzain and Jorge Berindoague have all resided in the US since fleeing Bolivia in 2003 following a citizen’s uprising that removed them from power. === A wave of threats against court officials and the disappearance of a key witness in a human rights trial have led to fears among some Argentinians that the terror tactics of the military dictatorship of the 1970s may have returned. === The National Security News Service, has obtained the secret list used to screen airline passengers for terrorists and discovered it includes names of people not likely to cause terror, including the president of Bolivia, people who are dead and names so common, they are shared by thousands of innocent fliers. === Since Congress recently handed Bush the power to identify American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” and detain them indefinitely without charge, it’s worth examining the administration’s record of prisoner abuse as well as the building of stateside detention centers. === “Every time we fail to stand by our values we act as recruiting sergeants for terrorists,” he said. He called for the shutdown of the U.S. detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. === The European Commission has suggested making US diplomats apply for visas, in retaliation for the US’s refusal to waive visas for people of 10 EU states. === A consortium of major universities, with Homeland Security Department funds, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders. – The “sentiment analysis” is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said. === Date: 4 October 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2713 The War in Iraq Costs See the cost in your community === The Arrogant, the Misguided and the Cowards Out of Iraq, Out with Bush By Sean Penn We the people of the United States have a unique opportunity. We can show each other and the world that what the Bush administration claims is their mission is not ours. And, by leading our country as a citizenry and demanding of our government an immediate end to our own military and profit investments in Iraq, display for the entire world that democracy is a government of the people. === By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya The Pentagon has already drawn up plans for U.S. sponsored attacks on Iran and Syria.3 Despite the public posturing of diplomacy by the United States and Britain, just like the Iraq Invasion, Iran and Syria sense another Anglo-American war in the horizon. Both countries have been strengthening their defenses for the eventuality of war with the Anglo-American alliance. === Branch Warfare and the Evolution of Aggression By Manuel Valenzuela Wars of religious proclivity are the greatest example of the malignant human hell that legitimizes the murder and killing of our fellow man. === By Phil Rockstroh For most of us, the price we would have to pay for confronting authority would be far too prohibitive; hence, we learn it is acceptable (as well as politically useful to our power mad leaders) to displace our anger and fear upon outsiders. Ergo, the so-called Clash of Civilizations is unloosed and slouches, by way of the Washington Beltway, to Iraq, Iran and beyond to be born. === By Chris Floyd It was a dark hour indeed last Thursday when the United States Senate voted to end the constitutional republic and transform the country into a “Leader-State,” giving the president and his agents the power to capture, torture and imprison forever anyone – American citizens included – whom they arbitrarily decide is an “enemy combatant.” === By Mike Whitney Imagine the Abrams tanks and Humvees trundling down Pennsylvania Ave; knocking down the flimsy roadblocks and wrought-iron fencing, and plopping down on the White House lawn waiting for a white flag to emerge from a window in the Oval Office. === Latin America Declares Independence By Noam Chomsky Five centuries after the European conquests, Latin America is reasserting its independence. In the southern cone especially, from Venezuela to Argentina, the region is rising to overthrow the legacy of external domination of the past centuries and the cruel and destructive social forms that they have helped to establish. === At least 14 people were killed and 75 wounded in a car bomb attack in central Baghdad which interior ministry sources said targeted the convoy of Iraq’s industry minister. === U.S. Death Toll Since Saturday Hits 17 === In the second month of a security crackdown in the capital, U.S. military casualties appear to be rising, even as deaths among Iraqi security forces have fallen, according to U.S. military sources and analysts. === If you really want to gauge the toll of the Iraq War on the American public, you have to read the local newspapers. === The Iraq war has left the U.S. military in critical condition, stretched beyond its limits in manpower and equipment and in danger of “breaking,” retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Tuesday. === Iraqi authorities have taken a brigade of up to 700 policemen out of service and put members under investigation for “possible complicity” with death squads following a mass kidnapping earlier this week, the U.S. military said Wednesday. === The past week has seen the highest number of car bombs and roadside bombs in Iraq than at any time this year, said a US military spokesman === he International Organization for Migration says nearly 190,000 people in the 15 central and southern provinces of Iraq have been displaced by violence since the bombing in late February in Samarra. === An Iraqi security guard broke down in tears while telling a court martial how he was allegedly beaten by UK soldiers. === Gunbattles in Afghanistan left two U.S. soldiers and at least one NATO soldier dead, officials said Tuesday, as the Western alliance prepared to assume military command over the country from the U.S.-led coalition. === The soldiers were members of a so-called “Recce squad” who check locations and gather information ahead of battle movements. === Democratic Sen. John Kerry ridiculed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for trying to clarify his comment on bringing “people who call themselves Taliban” into the Afghanistan government. === Help stop the Iran attack – Be There on Oct. 5 === Woodward’s Book and the Establishment Insurgency === The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called “what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens.” === Abbas: ‘No indication’ of fresh unity government talks with Hamas : Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that there is “no indication” of fresh dialogue with Hamas, after talks on forming a more moderate unity government broke down several days ago. === Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to request a large shipment of weapons from the United States purportedly to arm his group against rival factions, a senior Palestinian official told WND today. === According to the World Bank, Palestinians are currently experiencing the worst economic depression in modern history. === In the wake of Israel’s 33-day war with Hizballah, the 24-year-old Islamic movement has become the most popular political party in the Middle East. Here’s why that shouldn’t worry us. === Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the Bijlmermeer air disaster, whose sordid aftermath opened up a whole can of worms relating to secret weapons trafficking and unaccountable government, which really gives the lie to all the worthy motivations we claim for our policies. === A quick glance at recent U.S. policy and posture toward Venezuela gives us some clues as to why people in Venezuela are getting set to reelect a president who calls the United States an empire. === Citing what he said were warnings from an alleged White House informant, Chavez told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally that President Bush has ordered him to be killed before he leaves office in 2008. === Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has had sway over Latin America’s smaller economies but could now eclipse the United States’ influence over the third-largest economy, Argentina, two top former U.S. diplomats said on Tuesday. === Paraguay’s decision to refuse diplomatic immunity for U.S. troops and not to renew a military cooperation pact sparked debate Tuesday, with analysts calling the developments a blow to U.S. attempts to improve regional ties. === Stewart said it appeared that the region’s flirtation with Venezuela’s Chavez had triggered the US decision === In Oaxaca, Mexico, tensions remain high over concerns that the government is planning to use force to crush a populist uprising there. Over the weekend, military aircraft began flying over Oaxaca City and additional troops were deployed to nearby army posts === Relations between Beijing and Washington have become increasingly strained. China is strengthening its ties with Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea – the Bush administration’s arch-enemies. As the US economy falls into recession in 2007 and economic growth slows in China, relations between Beijing and Washington could completely unravel – which poses much greater economic risk to the United States than to China. === For the first time in our nation’s history, the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans includes only billionaires. In fact, having only a billion dollars means you’re not on the list. As a group, the Forbes 400 has a collective net worth of $1.25 trillion. === They are such liars. And no, I am not speaking only of the dissembling GOP House leaders led by Speaker Dennis Hastert who, out of naked political calculation, covered up for one of their own in the sordid teen stalking case of Rep. Mark Foley. === A new opinion poll today confirmed the Republican party’s worst fears over the November midterm elections as it attempts to hang on to control of Congress === “Wake up America!” A Must Listen – INN Interview: === The August 10 terror scare at Heathrow airport was triggered by the decision of US intelligence “to seize the key suspect in the UK’s biggest ever anti-terrorism operation and fly him to a secret detention centre for interrogation by American agents.” === Video: Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons: Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq? === Bush Gives 15 Million Muslims More Reasons to Hate Us === Court says eavesdropping program can continue: The government can continue to use its warrantless domestic wiretap program pending the Justice Department’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling outlawing the program, an Appeals Court in Cincinnati ruled on Wednesday. === Americans who buy Canadian drugs no longer have to worry about their packages being seized at the border. === Maybe you are thinking that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s case against Scooter Libby is yesterday’s news, or, worse, in its last throes. Think again. === Date: 3 October 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2713 The War in Iraq Costs See the cost in your community === North Korea Vows First Nuclear Test By CHOE SANG-HUN and JOHN O’NEIL A statement released by the North Korean state-run news agency declared that “the U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure” compel the country “to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense.” === By Gary Hart For a divinely guided president who imagines himself to be a latter day Winston Churchill (albeit lacking the ability to formulate intelligent sentences), and who professedly does not care about public opinion at home or abroad, anything is possible, and dwindling days in power may be seen as making the most apocalyptic actions necessary. === Lincoln Weeps By Bill Moyers Once upon a time the House of Representatives was known as “the people’s house.” No more. It belongs to K Street now. That’s the address of the lobbyists who swarm all over Capitol Hill. There are 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. They spend $200 million per month wining, dining and seducing federal officials. Per month! === The Road to Authoritarianism By Manuel Valenzuela The red, white and blue, sadly enough, has become the symbol of what we most hate, of what we swore to never become. It has become a flag hijacked by tyrants, with the American People unconcerned and unwilling, to the point of embarrassment, to free it from its dungeon, with most too lazy or apathetic to care, most too ignorant to know. === A suicide bomber unleashed a blast in a Baghdad fish market Tuesday and two Shiite families were found slain north of the capital as violence across Iraq claimed at least 51 lives. === At least 16 of a total of 40 kidnap victims are still missing. Roadside bombs, mortars and simple shootings took many lives, while stray fire or mortars took the lives of several children. === Eleven U.S. occupation soldiers have been killed in recent fighting in Iraq. The U.S. command said the toll included nine Army soldiers and two Marines. === ABU MAHA admits freely that he kills and kidnaps Sunni “terrorists”. At checkpoints Iraqi soldiers greet him by name and let him pass. === Reports of the setting up of U.S.-backed Sunni militias have brought new uncertainty to deepening chaos within Iraq. === The Iraq War Isn’t a Quagmire. It’s Just Wrong. === A question for Bob: What State of Denial were you living in that you could claim that a car bombing that slaughters scores and maims hundreds is rule breaking? – You want a list of laws, international and domestic – plus supreme laws of the land, this land, the U.S. of A.– that were broken in this collusion between the President and CIA Director? === Two gunbattles in eastern Afghanistan killed four Afghan and two U.S. troops, officials said today, and NATO prepared to assume military command of all of the country from the U.S.-led coalition. === Retired Pakistani intelligence officers could be running the Taliban insurgency against coalition forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has said. === The pre-planned war in Afghanistan will be 5 years old on 7 October. The PNAC gang had their eyes on Afghanistan and its oil prior to 9/11, as seen in R. M. Gerecht’s (March ’01) NY Times article, reprinted on the PNAC website. === The United States is pressing some Latin American countries to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq for non-combat missions as the Pentagon struggles to transition those operations from war to reconstruction. === The U.S. collapse couldn’t come at a worse time, says former Canadian diplomat === Gunbattles between Fatah and Hamas fighters erupted on Monday night in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, killing two and wounding 14. === Fatah gunmen threatened on Tuesday to kill leaders of the governing Hamas group, escalating a power struggle marked by the worst internal Palestinian violence since the Palestinian Authority was created in 1994. === Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party says Hamas smuggled hundreds of tons of weapons from Egypt into Gaza Strip === This is the most dangerous stage in the history of the Palestinian nation’s struggle because the United States, Israel, and the European Union are making serious efforts to spark a civil war in Palestine. === According to Israel Radio, the Peace Now organization reports that building in illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank was accelerated during the war in Lebanon. === Support for Israel is one of the few issues that remains truly bipartisan. This gives Israel confidence that no matter which party occupies the White House or controls the House and Senate, the United States will always be committed to Israel’s security === Nuclear carrier strike group led by the USS Eisenhower said to be steaming out of Norfolk on Tuesday, October 3. === Renewed tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme emerged on Tuesday as Britain warned that world powers would return to the United Nations Security Council to consider targeted sanctions against Tehran. === === A top Iranian nuclear official proposed Tuesday that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Tehran’s nuclear program === France has distanced itself from an Iranian proposal for French investment in Iran’s atomic industry, enabling it to supervise Tehran’s nuclear programme === The elimination of American opposition on this issue would open the way to genuine normalization between our two nations. It might even convince the Iranians that their country can flourish without nuclear weapons === Rumsfeld: Venezuela build-up is concern: “I don’t know of anyone threatening Venezuela, anyone in this hemisphere,” said Rumsfeld, who is attending a meeting here of Western hemisphere military leaders – many of them concerned about the weapons, jets and helicopters Chavez is buying. === The commander of United States military activities in Latin America said Monday that Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez had become a destabilizing force, and that other countries in the Western hemisphere shared that concern. === Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, saying no third party should be involved in the row over Georgia’s arrest of four Russian officers last week, a president spokesman said on Monday. === India, China and Eastern Europe will be soon dependant on energy from ‘Russian Oil Block’. China is already dependant on it. The Eastern Europe that rebelled out of Soviet Union ultimately realizes that in order sustain and achieve prosperity they need cheap energy resources === Documents obtained by the Guardian show US authorities are demanding that the detainees be kept under 24-hour surveillance if set free – restrictions that are dismissed by the British as unnecessary and unworkable. === At least nine former British residents are being held at Guantánamo. They include two former public schoolboys and two political refugees, a one -time MI5 informer and a man with a history of mental illness. US authorities say they want to send most back to the UK, but the British say they have no right to be in this country. === A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday. === Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have committed perjury in her testimony before the 9/11 Commission in May of 2004. === Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. === Judicial Watch uncovered documents that shed new light on the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,” announced by President Bush, former Mexico President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 23, 2005. === China and India will be calling the shots when the US is no longer top dollar === For the 50 richest Members of Congress, 2005 was great for the bottom line, according to Roll Call’s annual survey of lawmakers’ personal wealth. === Government data suggests that for most Americans, there has been no economic recovery, and financial security is fast becoming a fantasy, according to recent analyses by public-interest groups. === As it is, the richest 1 percent of Americans have seen their incomes pull away dramatically from the merely rich, the middle class, and the poor. That 1 percent in 2004 got 17 percent of all income nationwide. The bottom 90 percent got less than 58 percent. === Not that long ago in this country, you could raise a family on a single paycheck. If you were working, you didn’t have to worry about an unexpected === Nearly $2 billion paid to consultants in 2003-2004 federal elections === A Colorado man accused a Secret Service agent Tuesday of arresting him on trumped-up allegations of assaulting Vice President Dick Cheney after he told Cheney the administration’s policies in Iraq were “reprehensible.” === Date: 2 October 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2718 The War in Iraq Costs See the cost in your community === State Of Denial Video Bob Woodward 60 Minute Interview. Click to view === By Mike Whitney Veteran journalist Bob Woodward can always be counted on to tell the truth… after all the other options have been exhausted. His new book doesn’t veer too far from the pattern he’s followed his entire career; one minute he’s the “kingmaker” dishing up hearty-helpings of literary tripe like “Bush at War” and “Plan of Attack” and the next minute he’s ramming a scimitar into the lower lumbar region of his prey. === By PHILIP SHENON Members of the Sept. 11 commission said today that they were alarmed that they were told nothing about a White House meeting in July 2001 at which George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, is reported to have warned Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, about an imminent Al Qaeda attack and failed to persuade her to take action. === By Irene Rheinwald Israel and the United States, as self-styled purveyors of democracy and freedom, have ironically fallen into their own propaganda trap. In seeking to rationalize aggressions towards Arabs and Muslims, collectively termed “terrorists”, both nations employ techniques reminiscent of totalitarian regimes, and decry the “enemy” as fascist, irrational “evildoers” naturally bent upon violence. === By Joel Fischer Terror bombing, illegal invasion of other countries using trumped up excuses, dehumanization of the enemy as inferior, widespread use of torture; these are exactly the same tactics the Nazis used. But these tactics will never produce either the peace or victory the Axis of Powers claim they want. Remember WWII. The Nazis lost! === BBC – Panorama Investigates A British documentary claimed that Pope Benedict XVI was implicated in the systematic cover-up of child sex abuse allegations against Catholic priests. Click to watch – Real Video === U.S. and U.K occupation forces among more than 114 killed in Iraq: Thirteen bodies were found with gunshot wounds in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, a source in the Interior Ministry said. Fifty had been found on Sunday. === Iraqi police have reported finding 50 bodies in the streets of Baghdad as parliament renewed the government’s emergency powers. === Partial statistics compiled by the health ministry and issued by the interior ministry put civilian deaths last month at 1 089, a 42% increase from 769 in August and more than the previous record in this series of data – 1 065 in July. === Gunmen stage mass abduction in capital; U.S. announces deaths of 3 troops === A blanket 36-hour curfew imposed on the Iraqi capital Baghdad from Friday evening was in response to an information leak concerning a possible coup attempt, according to an Iraqi Shiite parliamentary deputy. === The invasion of a sovereign country in March 2003 not only was founded on false pretences. It also created more problems than it has solved. === Nine people were killed in Sunday’s fighting and at least 100 were injured === The U.S. administration wants to shore up Abbas’ position and weaken Hamas by “creative” means, one of which would be the moving of funds to the PA through Abbas. === Egypt: Hamas rejected Shalit prisoner exchange : “Egypt succeeded in securing a swap deal with Israel to free [Palestinian] women, children, elders and those who have been serving long prison terms in exchange for the soldier,” Abu Gheit told Al Arabiya television. === Four Israeli companies appear in a list of the top 100 arms dealers in the world, according to a report published Monday by Amnesty International. The companies are Israel Aircraft Industries, Rafael Arms Development Authority and Israel Military Industries. === A politically inexperienced king takes control of a Middle Eastern monarchy from his powerful father, surrounds himself with U.S. military hardware and spies, loses touch with his people and is finally ejected in a popular uprising. === A roadside bomb in the eastern Paktia province killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded three others as they were patrolling a remote mountain pass on Monday, said Gen. Murad Ali, from the Afghan National Army. === Afghanistan has become Iraq on a slow burn. Five years after they were ousted, the Taliban are back in force, their ranks renewed by a new generation of diehards === U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government. === Brig Ed Butler said Taliban fire was so heavy and accurate at Musa Qala, a key forward base in northern Helmand, that Army helicopters faced a serious risk of being hit. === A clear majority of Canadians consider the mission in Afghanistan a lost cause, according to an extensive survey that hints at deep public skepticism about the war on terror. === Bennett was one of three Americans convicted of torturing Afghan suspects in a vigilante counter-terrorism operation. === A letter found when al-Qaeda’s chief in Iraq was killed said the group’s leadership was based in Waziristan, Pakistan, the Washington Post reports. === A British analyst has stirred a hornet’s nest by revealing that the United States is bankrolling Pakistan’s military ruler Pervez Musharraf to the extent of $70-80 million a month, adding fuel to the dictator’s incendiary visit to the West this month. === Musharraf says he “war gamed” a U.S. attack and concluded his nation would lose. But many Pakistanis believe Musharraf was far too eager to comply with Washington’s diktat and to turn against Pakistan’s old friends and allies in return for $4 billion of U.S. aid and secret CIA stipends distributed to Pakistan’s ruling elite. === Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has disclosed that Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl and is now facing death penalty, was actually the British secret Agency MI6’s agent and had executed certain missions on their behest before coming to Pakistan and visiting Afghanistan to meet Osama and Mullah Omar. === Colin Powell claims he was ‘fired’ by the Bush Administration, according part of Powell’s official biography published in the Washington Post. Powell and the Bush Administration used the cover story that Powell resigned of his own accord from his position as Secretary of State. === A strategic thinker who called all the correct diplomatic and military plays preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom now sees diplomatic failure and air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. === American attempts to persuade Europe to think again about financial involvement in Iran may be starting to bear fruit, according to European banking officials. Whether such “back-door sanctions” will work is far less apparent, experts say. === Iranian Widow a Top Officials for Iraq-Based Terrorist Organization, U.S. Gov’t Alleges === Turkey’s most senior general has rejected a unilateral ceasefire offer by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). === “What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible,” Rice said. === Supreme Court decisions that are “so clearly at variance with the national will” should be overridden by the other branches of government, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says. === Who voted Yea on torture and detention… === Bill Moyers Investigates Abramoff Lobbying Scandal. Video and Transcript === Doolittle’s challenger, Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, accuses Doolittle of knowing of the abuses while helping to fund a local government in the Northern Mariana Islands that allegedly exploited workers. === === It scooped the “Scariest Movie” award at Michael Moore’s liberal film festival. But this is no Hollywood slasher flick – “Jesus Camp” is a documentary about an evangelical retreat that teaches children they should prepare to die for God. === Date: 1 October 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2713 The War in Iraq Costs See the cost in your community === Attack On Iran Inevitable – Nuke Use In White House Plan Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner (ret.) says U.S. forces will assassinate Iran’s leadership. A Must Watch Interview Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner on the probability of air strikes on Iran and the likely consequences. Click here to view. Real video and windows media. === By Bob Woodward Instead of a “long retreat,” the report forecast a more violent 2007: “Insurgents and terrorists retain the resources and capabilities to sustain and even increase current level of violence through the next year.” === By Maxim Kniazkov in Washington STUNG by criticism, US President George W. Bush has called for fighting America’s enemies “across the world” as he stepped up his counter-offensive following charges that his policies were breeding a new generation of Islamic terrorists. === A special report by Robert Fisk Wissam talks slowly but without tears as he describes what happened next. “I lost sight of Myrna. I just couldn’t see her any more for the dust flying around. Then the helicopter came back and started firing its guns at the children, at any of them who moved. I ran away behind a tel [a small hill] and lay there and pretended to be dead because I knew the pilot would kill me if I moved. Some of the children were in bits.” === The Bush Administration and Darfur By David Morse Appeasement driven by oil is surely as reprehensible as any. When confronted with reality, this President is clearly reluctant to confront the genuine “Islamo-terrorists” of his nightmares. === By Mike Whitney Next week, President Bush will sign the “Military Commissions Act of 2006" into law. – The law will allow Bush to imprison anyone he chooses and abuse them as he sees fit. It places Bush above the law, our first American monarch. === By Tariq Ramadan My experience reveals how U.S. authorities seek to suppress dissenting voices and — by excluding people such as me from their country — manipulate political debate in America. Unfortunately, the U.S. government’s paranoia has evolved far beyond a fear of particular individuals and taken on a much more insidious form: the fear of ideas. === By Paul Craig Roberts The United States is the first country in history to destroy the prospects and living standards of its labor force. It is amazing to watch freedom-loving libertarians and free-market economists serve as apologists for the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that made the America of old an opportunity society. === Police retrieved five bodies, including that of a school girl, from the river Tigris in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. All bodies were shot in the head and chest. === Eight bodies were found in Baquba, north east of Baghdad, on Saturday including three belonged to a father and his two sons, police sources said. === Anti-government insurgents are spreading false rumors about an attempted coup in Baghdad, the government said Saturday, as the city was placed under curfew. === The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned on Friday that time is running out for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to contain the burgeoning sectarian bloodshed that threatens to plunge the country into civil war. === Colonel says only pullout will end insurgency === Governor of Basra Mohammad Musbeh Al-Waeli survived on Saturday an assassination attempt which resulted in the injury of three bodyguards. === When the Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani, banned the Iraqi flag from being flown on top of public buildings in Kurdistan this month, the Iraqi Kurds took a further symbolic step towards de facto independence. He justified the ban by saying “so many pogroms and mass-killings were committed in its name”. === A Senior commander in the PKK Kurdish guerrilla group declared a unilateral cease-fire Saturday beginning on Oct. 1, but the group fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey said it would not give up its weapons. === If I were an Iraqi, as I am an American, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms ! – Never! Never! Never! : Allen L Roland === Why is the Bush administration so attached to torturing people that it would pressure a supine Congress into raping the US constitution by explicitly permitting some torture techniques and abolishing habeas corpus for certain categories of prisoners? === Historian Paul Kennedy tells Ezzat Ibrahim that the great wheel of history is turning against the United States === A suicide bomber strapped with explosives detonated in front of the Afghan Interior Ministry on Saturday as staffers arrived for work, killing at least 12 people and wounding 42 === “Yes, I can confirm that some 300 “militants” have been killed jointly by Afghan and the U.S.-led occupation forces in the operation,” said Lt. Marcelo Calero. === BRITISH troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people. Betrayed: How we have failed our troops in Afghanistan : British soldiers six times more likely to die in Afghan conflict than in Iraq === NATO yesterday failed to find any volunteers to contribute 2,500 reinforcements that are needed for combat duty in Afghanistan. === Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States === A video shows two of the world’s most infamous terrorists joking and laughing while filming their ‘death wills’ at Osama Bin Laden’s lair in Afghanistan. The journalist and author Yosri Fouda explains the terrible significance of the new find === US intelligence knew Bin Laden, already a wanted terrorist, used Tarnak as his base, and in spring 1998 the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center began working on a plan to capture him at the compound, partly with the help of Afghan tribal fighters. === The New York Times disclosure of an official National Intelligence Estimate, which states that the Iraq invasion has worsened the global terrorist threat, carries an unspoken subtext – that the Bush administration is either woefully ignorant of how to combat terrorism or finds the terrorist threat a useful tool for managing the American public. === “If you know history – that is, orthodox history – you’d know how many times presidents have lied to the public,” he told the audience that packed the Student Union Ballroom. === Israel has gone on heightened alert over a possible war with Syria amid reports that President Bashar Assad may be considering military strikes to regain the Golan Heights. === With the roadmap dead in the water, Israel faces its most critical moment of decision ever: opt for lasting peace, or embark on perpetual war === A Palestinian government compound has been stormed by protesters in the West Bank after four people died and at least 30 people were injured in similar clashes in Gaza. === Witnesses said that the missile struck a group of pedestrians. === Report: In secret meeting between intelligence heads of moderate Arab states and Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin, Jordan, Egypt and unnamed Gulf state ask Abbas to oppose Hamas premiership === An inside look at the ethnic cleansing of Palestine with author and journalist Jonathan Cook === In this controversial new book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe uses recently declassified archival sources to investigate the fate suffered by the indigenous population of 1940s Palestine at the hands of the Zionist political and military leadership, whose actions led to the mass deportation of over a million Palestinians from their cities and villages === Israel refused to let UN investigators contact Israeli commanders responsible for the mistaken bombing that killed four unarmed peacekeepers in Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah fighting there in July, a UN official said Friday. === Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said on Saturday Israel should assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah when an opportunity arises, but to do so without causing many casualties among bystanders. === Mohammad Ghamlush, the engineer heading the Wazzani river pumping systems, told AFP the Israeli army sabotaged the water pumps on the river last week and installed a pipe to pump hundreds of cubic meters to Israel. === The US Congress approved an increase of $460 million in funding for joint Israeli-American defense programs over the weekend, including $20 million for the development of a short-range ballistic missile defense system which will provide protection from Katyusha rockets. === The Senate, with no debate Saturday, passed and sent to the president legislation that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran’s weapons programs. === The US Congress has approved a new set of sanctions against countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and those that sell it advanced weaponry. === US may accept Iranian nuclear bomb: AMERICA is going to have to learn to live with a nuclear Iran, US intelligence analysts have concluded at a secret meeting near Washington. === A Short History Of U.S. / Iranian Relationship === Indian police said on Saturday they had found evidence that Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the July 11 bombings in Mumbai and Pakistan’s military spy agency was behind the plot. === President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that an attempt was made to assassinate him recently and that those responsible fled to Colombia. === Standing against Venezuela is Guatemala that the US supports despite its decades-long history of oppression and brutality against its majority indigenous people (still ongoing) that killed over 200,000 of them over the past half century. === The prospect has stirred deep anxiety in the Bush administration, which envisions him as a new ally for President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in challenging United States policy. Mr. Chávez has lent his support to Mr. Ortega, while Washington has sent word in no uncertain terms that aid will be re-evaluated if Mr. Ortega is elected. === Near the end of October, we will mark the twenty-third anniversary of a momentous American victory…a military operation that not only warmed Ronald Raygun’s cold, cold heart but was also deemed film-worthy by the former mayor of Carmel, California. Yes, of course, I’m talking about the October 25, 1983 “liberation” of Grenada. === This film shows how the U.S. attacked Panama and killed 3 or 4 thousand people in an invasion that the rest of the world was against. (Sound familiar?) It won the Academy Award for best documentary. === In Darfur’s refugee camps, survivors tell of attacks by rebel groups that used to protect them === The 12 Democrats who checked their consciences at the Senate cloakroom and voted in favor of the Bush Administration’s torture bill, have almost nothing to say about their votes. In case you haven’t seen the roster of who voted with Republicans on this, here they are: === Almalki is one of four Arab-Canadian men who suspect Canadian security officials were complicit in their arrest and torture overseas. === Rather than reining in the formidable presidential powers Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have asserted since Sept. 11, 2001, the law gives some of those powers a solid statutory foundation. In effect it allows the president to identify enemies, imprison them indefinitely === By passing the Military Commissions Act, the US Congress has given its stamp of approval to human rights violations committed by the USA in the “war on terror”, and has turned bad executive policy into bad domestic law. === The US Treasury’s Terrorist Finance Tracking programme had violated the privacy of up to 7,800 international financial institutions in its secret trawl through financial records held by the Belgian firm SWIFT. === |
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