t r u t h o u t | 22/11/07

Bill Moyers reflects on how his father felt that FDR was his friend event though they never met; Reuters reports on a devout Muslim and a devout Jew’s hopes prior to upcoming peace talks; Saudi Arabia and Libya tied to foreign fighters in Iraq; presidential nominations may be decided in five days of voting; Putin warns NATO to not “flex muscles” on Russian border; Taliban on the rise in Pakistan; Mark Weisbrot on the US denial of genocide in Iraq; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Bill Moyers | My Father and FDR
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207A.shtml
Bill Moyers’ remarks at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute’s twentieth-anniversary Four Freedoms ceremony, where he received the Freedom of Speech award.

Devout Muslims and Jews Mull Dividing Holy Jerusalem
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207B.shtml
Reuters reports that “From opposite sides of the wall that once divided Jerusalem, Israeli Shlomo Yirmiyahu and Palestinian Yakoob Arrajabi watched in 1967 as the Jewish state seized the Arab area east of the city in a blaze of gunfire. Now, as their leaders prepare for talks about peace, the two devoutly religious men are trying to imagine the future of their home town, which stands at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is treasured as holy by both.”

Foreign Fighters in Iraq Are Tied to US Allies
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207C.shtml
Richard A. Oppel Jr. of The New York Times reports that “Saudi Arabia and Libya, both considered allies by the United States in its fight against terrorism, were the source of about 60 percent of the foreign fighters who came to Iraq in the past year to serve as suicide bombers or to facilitate other attacks, according to senior American military officials. The data come largely from a trove of documents and computers discovered in September, when American forces raided a tent camp in the desert near Sinjar, close to the Syrian border. The raid’s target was an insurgent cell believed to be responsible for smuggling the vast majority of foreign fighters into Iraq.”

Presidential Nominations May Be Decided in One Quick Blitz
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207D.shtml
Mark Z. Barabak of The Los Angeles Times writes: “After months of suspense, New Hampshire on Wednesday scheduled its presidential primary for January 8 – the state’s earliest date ever – in a move that promises one of the swiftest nominating fights in campaign history. With Iowa casting the first votes January 3 and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses February 5, the nominees for the White House could be decided in a one-month blitz of balloting – and possibly in just a handful of days, if a candidate manages to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.”

Putin Warns NATO Against Border Buildup
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207E.shtml
Agence France-Presse reports that “President Vladimir Putin warned NATO against ‘muscle-flexing’ on Russia’s border Tuesday and ordered top generals to raise the combat readiness of the country’s nuclear missiles. Meanwhile, the armed forces chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, also confirmed that Russia would suspend adherence to a key Cold War arms treaty on December 12, news agencies reported.”

Pakistan’s Taliban at the Gates
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207F.shtml
Time Magazine’s Aryn Baker reports that “The local police precinct in the village of Matta has a new sign: Taliban Station. The same thing in the village of Kabal – in fact, nine of the twelve districts in the picturesque Swat Valley, 100 miles from Pakistan’s capital, have been taken over by militants, who have torched music shops, barred girls from going to school, forced women to wear burqas and decreed that men must grow beards. As if to complete the flashback to Taliban-era Afghanistan, the new overlords have even attempted to blow up centuries-old Buddhist monuments. But this is not Afghanistan, of course, or even the tribal lands of the frontier provinces. The Swat valley is Pakistan’s premier tourist destination.”

Mark Weisbrot | Holocaust Denial, American Style
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207G.shtml
Mark Weisbrot writes for AlterNet that “Iranian President Ahmedinejad’s flirtation with those who deny the reality of the Nazi genocide has rightly been met with disgust. But another holocaust denial is taking place with little notice: the holocaust in Iraq. The average American believes that 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US invasion in March 2003. The most commonly cited figure in the media is 70,000. But the actual number of people who have been killed is most likely more than one million. This is five times more than the estimates of killings in Darfur and even more than the genocide in Rwanda 13 years ago.”

Bill Moyers Journal | Race in America
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207H.shtml
On Friday, November 23, at 9 p.m. on PBS, Bill Moyers interviews theologian James Cone about the cross and the lynching tree as symbols of tragedy and triumph.

FOCUS | Joseph L. Galloway: Good Riddance to Them All
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207Y.shtml
Joseph L. Galloway of McClatchy Newspapers writes that, “There was little for the unindicted co-conspirators of the Bush administration to give thanks for this week as the clock winds down on the 14 months they have left in power. With former White House press secretary Scott McClellan spilling the beans on who told him to lie to the American people and cover up the White House’s responsibility for the criminal act of revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer, it clearly was time for some folks to begin drafting their requests for presidential pardons.”

FOCUS | Ex-Iraq Commander Says Bring Troops Home
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112207Z.shtml
The Associated Press reports that “Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, said this week that he supports Democratic legislation that calls for most troops to come home within a year. His comments come as welcomed ammunition for the Democratic-controlled Congress in its standoff with the White House on war spending. This month, the House passed a $50 billion bill that would pay for combat operations, but sets the goal that combat end by December 15, 2008.”

t r u t h o u t | 21/11/07

Naomi Wolf sounds the alarm on fascist takeovers and history’s lessons for presidential elections; resignation of Musharraf as army chief imminent; reporters allege access to terror suspects denied; NOW asks, ‘How far will an oil company go to get the politics they want?”; environmental impact of border fence project overlooked; Ted Glick writes about fasting on behalf of the “climate emergency”; window slamming shut on chance to “avert calamitous climate change”; Margaret Kimberley writes about the growing racial economic disparity; Brazil dispensing “morning after pill” in effort to curb unlawful abortions; infant deaths increase by two-thirds at US “model” medical facility in Afghanistan; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml

Naomi Wolf: The End of America May Happen
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107R.shtml
Don Hazen of AlterNet says, “If you think we are living in scary times, your worst fears may be confirmed by reading Naomi Wolf’s newest book, ‘The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.’ In it, Wolf proves the old axiom that history does repeat itself. Or more accurately, history occurs in patterns, and in order to understand where our country is today and where it is headed, we need to read the history books.”

Musharraf May Quit Army by Saturday
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107S.shtml
Paul Haven, The Associated Press, reports: “President General Pervez Musharraf could quit as chief of the army and take oath as a civilian president by Saturday, a senior official said.”

Canadian Terror Trial Kept Secret, Groups Say
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107T.shtml
The Associated Press says, “Five news organizations complained Wednesday that they are being denied access to much of the military commission proceeding against a Canadian terror suspect.”

NOW | A Bribery Scandal in Alaska
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107U.shtml
This Friday, PBS NOW “shines a bright light on the scandalous connection between VECO Corporation – an Alaska-based oil services company – and Alaska’s old-boy Republican network. The FBI has video and audio evidence that reveal VECO executives shockingly handing out cash to those legislators in exchange for promises to roll back a tax on the oil industry. But that may only be the tip of the oily iceberg.”

Border Fence Project Raises Environmental Concerns
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107EA.shtml
Randal C. Archibold of The New York Times writes, “The Department of Homeland Security is ahead of schedule in building some 700 miles of fencing along the Mexican border, but some environmental groups, elected officials and local Indian tribes say too little attention is being paid to the environmental consequences of the barriers.”

Ted Glick | Fasting and Victories
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107EB.shtml
Writing for Truthout, Ted Glick says, “As I was picking up my mail at the local post office yesterday morning, I saw two friends of mine talking with one another. They looked at me like they were seeing a ghost and asked how I was doing. I knew they meant more than the usual ‘How ya’ doing,’ and I said something like, ‘I’m fine, doing OK, I’m getting nourishment from the liquids I’m taking, thanks much.’ They looked skeptical. I know they and other family and friends are worried about me as I continue my climate emergency fast, now on the 79th day without solid foods.”

Kyoto Protocol Parties to Meet Targets
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107EC.shtml
The Associated Press reports: “The industrial world is hurling more carbon into the atmosphere than ever before, and governments have a narrow window of just a few years to reverse the trend and avert calamitous climate change, the UN climate secretariat said Tuesday.”

Don Martin | Harper Earns Green Stripes by Protecting Vast Areas of Northern Land
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107ED.shtml
The Calgary Herald’s Don Martin says that “The average park enthusiast will never set foot on a vast northern land mass that will be granted permanent protection today in what environmentalists hail as one of the largest conservation moves in Canadian history.”

Margaret Kimberley | Black America Left Behind
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107LA.shtml
Margaret Kimberley of the Black Agenda Report writes, “The racial economic gap is growing, with whites moving ahead more quickly than blacks. Even more damning to African-American prospects, a new study shows that nearly half the children of the black “middle class” are worse off than their parents. Decades of accumulated, systemic assaults on black upward mobility are definitively taking their toll, making a lie of the vaunted “American Dream.” There is no mystery behind the disaster: “If big business destroys entire industries that provide well paid employment, poverty is not far behind. If black people are targeted for prison, low marriage rates and lower incomes will be the result.”

Brazil Doles Out “Morning After” Pills
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107WA.shtml
The Christian Science Monitor’s Andrew Downie reports: “As part of a new fight against Brazil’s sky-high number of unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions, the country’s most populous state is offering “morning after” contraceptive pills at metro stops and 90 percent off contraceptive pills at pharmacies.”

Big Success or Sad Story?
www.truthout.org/issues_06/112107HA.shtml
Alison Young, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says, “For four years, federal officials have touted a US medical training program in Afghanistan as a model of success that brought ‘top-notch’ care to a major Kabul maternity hospital. Yet privately, the Rabia Balkhi Hospital project has repeatedly alarmed scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

VIDEO | Sheila Jackson Lee on the Latest Iraq Spending Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107J.shtml
As Congress was debating the latest $50 billion Iraq spending bill, Truthout’s Geoff Millard was on the Hill talking to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, an outspoken critic of the administration and the Iraq war.

McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Cheney in misleading public in Valerie Plame leak; from 2004 to 2006, US contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan more than doubled to over $25 billion; Justice Department claims appellate court decision limits investigations of Congressional members; J. Sri Raman offers his perspective on the political situation in Pakistan; at White House request, NYT held publication of classified US-Pakistan program; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

McClellan Fingers Bush, Cheney, Rove in Plame Leak
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107A.shtml
Matt Apuzzo, writing for The Associated Press, reports, “Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative.”

US War Contracts Top $25 Billion
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107B.shtml
Agence France Presse reports, “US contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan more than doubled from 2004 to 2006 to over 25 billion dollars but government oversight of the firms involved has slackened, a watchdog group said Monday.”

Ruling Will Cripple Probes of Lawmakers, US Says
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107C.shtml
Susan Schmidt, reporting for The Washington Post, writes, “A little-noticed aspect of an appellate court decision could sharply limit investigations of members of Congress and hamper ongoing corruption probes, the Justice Department said this week in a motion seeking an emergency stay of the ruling.”

J. Sri Raman | The Battle Lines in Pakistan
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107D.shtml
J. Sri Raman, writing for Truthout, offers his perspective on Pakistan: “If you look at it as a battle between individual leaders and parties, the battle lines cannot be more blurred. The lines have been changing frequently, leaving everyone wondering who is fighting whom in Pakistan. If you look at it as a battle between the people and a system, of which Pervez Musharraf is a current symbol but not the sole synonym, the lines cannot be clearer.”

At White House Behest, NY Times Sat on Scoop
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107E.shtml
Michael Calderone, writing for The Politico, reports, “When the New York Times published a front page story Sunday about the United States’ and Pakistan’s joint clandestine efforts to protect nuclear weapons, the newspaper offered a glimpse into a ‘highly classified program’ the Bush administration long objected to seeing in print.”

Contractor Charged in Army Bribery Probe
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107F.shtml
Mike Stobbe, writing for The Associated Press, reports, “A civilian contractor is accused of bribing a U.S. Army official in Kuwait to win millions of dollars in business with the military, according to a federal indictment disclosed Tuesday.”

Myret Zaki | Miscalculations
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107G.shtml
In Le Temps’s editorials published this Monday and Tuesday, Myret Zaki and Pierre Veya write about very different, but not totally unrelated, miscalculations: those in the mathematical “formulae” that indirectly led to the subprime debacle and those in the economic and fiscal policies that shape the dollar’s fall.

Robert Lipsyte | Why Bowl Games Are the Real Final Exams
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107H.shtml
Robert Lipsyte, Jock Culture correspondent for Tomdispatch, writes: “Columbia football was a comforting joke when I was there in the 1950s. We thought losing teams meant we had our priorities straight. Why wouldn’t we rather be closer to the rigorously intellectual University of Chicago, which had dropped football altogether in 1939, than to, say, Auburn, an undefeated football team that needed a university of which it could be proud?”

VIDEO | Sheila Jackson Lee on the Latest Iraq Spending Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107J.shtml
As congress was debating the latest $50 billion Iraq spending bill, Truthout’s Geoff Millard was on the Hill talking to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, an outspoken critic of the administration and the Iraq war.

Truthout’s Geoff Millard interviews Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on the latest Iraq spending bill; federal judge threatens mistrial over government secrecy; Democrats say Pentagon is using scare tactics; Senate Democrats convene microsession to block Bush recess appointments; backlog of citizenship processing threatens voting rights in 2008 election; Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. on why Mukasey should release the Justice Department’s secret legal opinions; inquiry requested into group collecting signatures for California winner-take-all ballot initiative; and more … Browse our continually updating front page at www.truthout.org

Sheila Jackson Lee on the Latest Iraq Spending Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107J.shtml
As congress was debating the latest $50 billion Iraq spending bill, Truthout’s Geoff Millard was on the Hill talking to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, an outspoken critic of the administration and the Iraq war.

Wiretap Issue Leads Judge to Warn of Retrial in Terror Case
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107K.shtml
Eric Lichtblau reports for The New York Times, “A federal judge warned Tuesday that if the government did not allow lawyers to review classified material on possible wiretapping of an Islamic scholar convicted of inciting terrorism, she might order a new trial for him.”

Murtha, Obey: Pentagon Using Scare Tactics
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107L.shtml
Anne Flaherty reports for The Associated Press, “In their latest tussle with the White House on the Iraq war, two leading House Democrats said Tuesday the Pentagon was using scare tactics to try to goad Congress into passing another war spending bill.”

Democrats Move to Block Bush Appointments
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107M.shtml
Carl Hulse of The New York Times reports, “fearing that President Bush would again use a Congressional recess to install disputed executive branch appointees without Senate confirmation, Democrats convened the Senate for the first of four microsessions to be held during the holiday break, precisely to thwart such an end run.”

Citizenship Backlog to Affect Voting in ‘08
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107N.shtml
The Associated Press reports, “Millions of people who applied for naturalization and other immigration benefits to beat a midsummer fee increase are caught in a paperwork pileup that threatens the chance for some to become US citizens in time to vote in next year’s presidential election.”

Katzenbach and Schwarz Jr. | Release Justice’s Secrets
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107O.shtml
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. write for The New York Times: “Michael Mukasey has been confirmed as attorney general. But the profound moral, legal and constitutional issues raised at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are unresolved. Mr. Mukasey should open the door to their resolution by releasing the Justice Department’s long-secret legal opinions that have warped our fight against terrorism.”

Initiative to End Winner-Take-All Primary Faces Challenge
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107P.shtml
Jennifer Steinhauer writes for The New York Times, “The chairman of a committee formed to fight a ballot initiative to change how California’s electoral college votes are apportioned has asked the city attorney here to investigate a report that a group collecting signatures for the initiative has offered food to homeless people in exchange for signing the petitions.”

VIDEO | Sheila Jackson Lee on the Latest Iraq Spending Bill
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112107J.shtml
As congress was debating the latest $50 billion Iraq spending bill, Truthout’s Geoff Millard was on the Hill talking to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, an outspoken critic of the administration and the Iraq war.

Go directly to our issues page: www.truthout.org/issues.shtml