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November 2006November 30, 2006 NewsPosted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 ¤ Learning to Live With the Ayatollahs ¤ Federal judge rules Bush executive order invalid ¤ Bush Seems Determined to Stay the Course ¤ Bush 'Offered to Sign End to Korean War With Kim Jong-il' ¤ Experts Concerned as Ballot Problems Persist ¤ 1 in 32 Americans in jails, on parole ¤ 94% Say Bush Misled Nation To War ¤ Threats To Internet Freedom All Too Real ¤ UN troops face child abuse claims ¤ Tony Blair is not Hitler: official ¤ Vietnam, Iraq, and the M Word ¤ Day 1,900 With No Osama ¤ All Eyes on Iraq Study Group ¤ They're Laughing All Over The World ¤ Tar Baby ¤ Three civil wars: With assist from Bush ¤ Great moments in unconscious irony ¤ Is Bush Planning Another Regime Change in Iraq? ¤ Typhoon Durian kills 198 in Philippines ¤ Motive and Precedent in the Gemayel Assassination ¤ Armed vigilantes roam Baghdad streets ¤ While U.S. Talks of "New Direction" in Iraq Massacre in Ramadi ¤ Ethnic Cleansing and Israel's Racist Discourse ¤ Business Becomes a Big Casualty ¤ 'He's the right guy' - Bush defends embattled Maliki ¤ Democracy, a death sentence for Afghanistan ¤ THIS EYE-RANIAN MESS ¤ U.S. plans to send more GIs to Iraq ¤ Palestinian killed, two wounded by IDF fire near Nablus ¤ Text of U.S. Security Adviser’s Iraq Memo ¤ Motorcycle suicide bomber kills civilians in Afghanistan ¤ Apology Note ¤ Focus on Their Color; Fail to See Their Humanity ¤ Venezuela and the Bolivarian Dream ¤ Civil words over a civil war in Iraq ¤ Liar. 'Liar?' ¤ Fiji: Coup in Everything BUT Name ¤ If It's a Police Beating, I'd Rather Trust My Eyes ¤ Venezuela and the Bolivarian Dream Israel knew Iraq had no nuclear weapons Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Jerusalem - A government critic said on Tuesday that Israel was aware before the war against Iraq that Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction, but Israel did not inform the United States. Israel put itself on war footing before the US invasion last year, passing out gas mask kits to its citizens and then ordering them to open the kits, a step that eventually will cost millions, since components would have to be replaced. But lawmaker Yossi Sarid, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said on Tuesday that Israeli intelligence knew beforehand that Iraq had no weapons stockpiles and misled US President George Bush. Full Article : int.iol.co.za Venezuela and the Bolivarian Dream Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 By Tariq Ali, counterpunch.org In the Muslim world religious groups that are militarily effective, but politically limited dominate resistance to the American Empire. Asia is infatuated with capital. Europe lies buried deep in neo-liberal torpor, and the Left and social movements in the EU (Italy is the most recent example) are in an advanced state of decomposition. But in South America an axis of hope has emerged that challenges imperial domination on every level. Democracy, hollowed-out and offering no alternatives in the North, is being used to revive hope in the South. The likely re-election of Hugo Chavez this weekend in Venezuela will mark a new stage in the process. His opponent, Manuel Rosales, described in the Financial Times (November 30) as a "centre-left" candidate was heavily implicated in the defeated coup attempt to topple Chavez in 2004. Rosales claims that "I will not sit on anyone's lap" but it is hardly a secret that he is firmly attached to the White House. The wave of revolts and social movements spreading unevenly across the South American continent today are the inevitable result of the Washington Consensus, the economic enslavement of the world. Latin America was the first laboratory for the Hayekian experiments that finally produced the Consensus. The Chicago boys led by the late Milton Friedman, who pioneered neo-liberal economics, used Chile after the Pinochet coup of 1973 as a laboratory. It was a good situation for them. The Chilean working class and its two principal parties had been crushed, their leading cadres killed or "disappeared". Six years later, the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua was crushed by a US-backed Contra counter-revolution. Earlier this month, the Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega won the Presidency in his country. Blessed by the church, flanked by a former Contra as his vice-president and still loathed by the US ambassador, Ortega may be a sickly shadow of his former self, but his victory undoubtedly reflects the desire of Nicaraguans for change. Will Managua follow the radically redistributive policies of anti-imperialist Caracas or confine itself to rhetoric and remain a client of the International Monetary Fund? There was even better recent news from Quito. The substantial electoral triumph of Rafael Correa, a dynamic, young, US-educated economist and former finance minister, who pledged in his election campaign to reverse Ecuador's participation in the US-backed free trade area for the Americas, to ask the US military to vacate its base at Manta, and to join Opec and the growing Bolivarian movement that seeks to unite South America against imperialism. Correa's victory comes at a time when Latin America is on the march again. There have been some spectacular demonstrations of the popular will in Porto Alegre, Caracas, Buenos Aires, Cochabamba and Cuzco, to name but a few cities. This has offered a new hope to a world either deep in neoliberal torpor (the EU, the US, the Far East) or suffering from the military and economic depredations of the new order (Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, south Asia).The struggle spearheaded by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela against the Washington consensus has attracted the fury of the White House. Three attempts (including a military coup backed by the US and the EU) were made to topple Hugo Chávez. Chávez was first elected president of Venezuela in February 1999, 10 years after a popular insurrection against the IMF readjustment programme had been brutally crushed by Carlos Andrés Peréz, whose party was once the largest affiliate of the Socialist International. In his election campaign Peréz had denounced the economists on the World Bank's payroll as "genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism" and the IMF as "a neutron bomb that killed people, but left buildings standing". Afterwards he caved in to the demands of both institutions, suspended the constitution, declared a state of emergency and ordered the army to mow down the protesters. More than 2,000 poor people were shot dead by troops. This was the founding moment of the Bolivarian upheaval in Venezuela. Chávez and other junior officers organized to protest against the misuse and corruption of the army. In 1992 the radical officers organised a rebellion against those who had authorized the butchery. It failed because it was soon after the traumas of 1989, but people did not forget. That is how the new Bolivarians came to power and began to slowly and cautiously implement social-democratic reforms, reminiscent of Roosevelt's New Deal and the policies of the 1945 Labour government. In a world dominated by the Washington consensus this was unacceptable. Hence the drive to topple him. Hence the demand by Pat Robertson, the leader of political Christianity in the US, that Washington should organise the immediate assassination of Chávez. Venezuela, till now an obscure country as far as the rest of the world was concerned, suddenly became a beacon. The majority of the people who elected Chávez were angry and determined. They had felt unrepresented for 10 years; they had been betrayed by the traditional parties; they disapproved of the neoliberal policies then in force, which consisted of an assault on the poor in order to shore up a parasitical oligarchy and a corrupt civilian and trade-union bureaucracy. They disapproved of the use that was made of the country's oil reserves. They disapproved of the arrogance of the Venezuelan elite, which utilised wealth and a lighter skin colour to sustain itself at the expense of the dark-skinned and poor majority. Electing Chávez was their revenge. When it became clear that Chávez was determined to make modest changes to the country's social structure, Washington sounded the tocsin. Nowhere has the embittered bigotry emanating from this quarter been more evident than in its actions and propaganda against Venezuela, with the Financial Times and the Economist in the forefront of a massive disinformation campaign. They are united by their prejudices against Chávez, whose advent to power was viewed as an insane aberration because the social reforms funded by oil revenues - free health, education and housing for the poor - were regarded as a regression to the bad old days, a first step on the road to totalitarianism. Chávez never concealed his politics. The two 18th-century Simóns - Bolívar and Rodríguez - had taught him a simple lesson: do not serve the interests of others; make your own political and economic revolution; and unite South America against all empires. This was the core of his program, which is unacceptable to the supporters of the Washington Consensus. The key to a serious Latin American challenge to the US lies in regional cohesion. This is crucial. When the cable channel Telesur was launched in Caracas nearly two years ago, one of their first programs revealed a shocking level of ignorance amongst South Americans. In virtually every capital city vox pop interviews revealed that people knew the name of their own capital and that of the United States. Very few could name even two or three capital cities in their own continent! So regional unity---the Bolivarian Federation of sovereign states of which Chavez speaks incessantly----is necessary to move forward. Washington will do everything to prevent this since its own interests dictate dealing with countries unilaterally rather than as regional entities (this is even true of the European Union). Regional unity in South America could have a surprising impact in el Norte as well where the Hispanic population of the United States is growing rapidly to the great consternation of state ideologues like Samuel Huntington. Tariq Ali's new book, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, is published by Verso Reprinted from: www.counterpunch.org/tariq11302006.html $250.000 Bail for Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 TrinidadAndTobagoNews.com Reporters November 30, 2006 Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma has been charged and is now on $250.000 bail. The Chief Justice surrendered to the police to face charges following losing his appeal at the Privy Council. He maintains he did no wrong. The media stood outside the home of the Chief Justice in Fairways, Maraval, awaiting the next move. At 12:45pm a car came up the driveway of the CJ's residence and a few moments later it sped away with both the Chief Justice and his wife inside. Chief Justice Sharma was then taken to the Fraud Squad headquarters where he was processed. He then left for the Port of Spain Magistrate's Court where the charge of attempting to pervert the course of public justice was read to him. The police claim that he committed four acts in a bid to secure a favourable ruling for former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday who was subsequently convicted on all three counts of failing to declare a London Bank account to the Integrity Commission. The charge against the Chief Justice was laid indictably and bail was then fixed at $250.000. The matter was adjourned to January 5th 2007. Also Read: The Chief Justice loses at the Privy Council Sharma's road to London Share your views in the Blog Chief Justice Sharma loses at the Privy Council Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 TrinidadAndTobagoNews.com Reporters November 30, 2006 This morning Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma lost his appeal in the highest appellate court, the Privy Council, in London. Mr. Sharma's appeal was tried before five Law Lords arguing that the attempt to remove him from office was politically motivated by the Prime Minister, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Chief Magistrate. The Privy Council ruled that there was no evidence to prove that there was collusion involving the Prime Minister, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General and the Chief Magistrate. They were not convinced that the Chief Justice's complaint could not be fairly resolved within the criminal courts. The Law Lords said that although the Deputy DPP's arguments are attractive it is up to the courts to assume that the issue raised by the Chief Justice is true. The Law Lords said that in their opinion, the Chief Justice presented an arguable case and the evidence raised some important questions of constitutional law which demand further consideration. The Law Lords said the Chief Justice was right in thinking that he had been threatened when the Prime Minister told him to demit office or face criminal charges. However, they said what is missing is evidence to suggest that there was any improper influence or conspiracy involving the Chief Magistrate, the Prime Minister or the Attorney General to prosecute him. The Law Lords also said that up to this point there is nothing to suggest that the Prime Minister improperly sought to influence the outcome. The Law Lords said that they do not believe that the Chief Justice's complaints cannot be resolved within the criminal process and that this is not a case for Judicial Review but one to be heard before a Criminal Judge. Chief Justice Sharma was ordered to pay cost. The state can now move to arrest the Chief Justice without further interference. Justice Sharma, who is accused of trying to pervert the course of public justice by attempting to sway the decision of Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls in the Basdeo Panday integrity trial, went to the Privy Council and challenged attempts by the police and the Deputy Director of public prosecutions to arrest him. Share your views in the Blog Sharma's road to London UPDATE: $250.000 Bail for Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma has been charged with misbehavior in public office and is now on $250.000 bail. The Chief Justice maintains he did no wrong. The Chief Justice surrendered to the police to face the charges following losing his appeal at the Privy Council. Bolivia passes radical land reform bill Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Morales pushes through radical land reform bill The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, has secured the passage of a sweeping land reform bill with the help of thousands of peasants who marched on La Paz. He signed the bill into law at a midnight ceremony on Tuesday, prompting jubilation from his supporters, after overcoming fierce resistance from senators representing large landowners. The law is intended to reverse centuries of discrimination against the indigenous majority by seizing 77,000 square miles of land deemed unproductive or illegally owned and redistributing it to the poor. "This is the struggle of our ancestors, the struggle for power and territory," he said. "Now the change is in our hands." Full Article : guardian.co.uk Iraqi PM postpones Bush summit Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Maliki postpones Bush summit after memo leak · Secret report shows deep US distrust of Iraqi PM · White House denies loss of confidence in leader Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, postponed a a meeting in Jordan with George Bush yesterday after a leaked White House memo revealed deep US misgivings about Mr Maliki's willingness or ability to curb sectarian violence. The 12-hour delay was officially to allow Mr Bush the chance to have a bilateral meeting with the host, Jordan's King Abdullah, but White House officials were forced to assure Mr Maliki that he still had the US president's confidence. Full Article : guardian.co.uk 33,000 BA passengers alerted over radiation Posted: Thursday, November 30, 2006 Thousands of British Airways passengers were caught in a radiation scare last night after traces of a substance, thought to be the same that killed the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, were found on two planes. Around 33,000 passengers are believed to have flown on 221 flights across Europe since the traces were found earlier in the month. The Government grounded one plane on Tuesday and another yesterday. A third is in Moscow awaiting tests. Full Article : telegraph.co.uk Planes Grounded In Probe The inquest into the death of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko opens today as tens of thousands of British Airways passengers are caught up in the investigation. The inquest will open this morning at St Pancras Coroner's Court but will be adjourned until the police investigation has been concluded. Mr Litvinenko, an ex-KGB man and a fierce critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, died last week of radiation poisoning. Traces of radiation were found on the two BA jets yesterday. BA warned an estimated 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff last night that "low levels of radioactive traces" had been found on two of its aircraft at Heathrow airport. Full Article : news.sky.com November 29, 2006 News Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 ¤ We Are All Tortures Now! Graphic Video ¤ Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people ¤ The Torture Society ¤ Fierce fighting shuts down Iraqi city ¤ American military concedes daily toll of civilians likely to rise far above 100 ¤ Damage control on leak of Iraq memo ¤ Bush visit to Amman angers Jordanians ¤ Bolivia passes sweeping land law ¤ President Saddam Trial. UNITED NATIONS Press Release ¤ Fierce Fighting Shuts Down Iraqi City ¤ Iraqis, rid yourselves of the occupier and his snakes in the Iraq government ¤ Hamas condemns the murder of 70-year-old Palestinian in Iraq ¤ What the New York Times has learned from Iraq ¤ The "Gaza-Solution" and the Ongoing War on Islam ¤ The Physics of 9/11 ¤ News Flash: Major Media Begins to Think for Itself ¤ Title May Provoke, but it's the Reality for Palestinians ¤ Turning on the Puppet ¤ Mission's accomplished, all right ¤ Chestnuts Roasting In An Iraqi Fire (A Fantasia) ¤ Wrongly accused man settles bomb suit ¤ Dog eats dog in fractured Iraq ¤ Fiji Coup `Unlikely' After Talks With Military, Qarase Says Five young girls killed in US attack in Iraq Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Five young girls were among six Iraqis killed by US forces yesterday after troops used tanks and machine guns to attack what they said was a house occupied by insurgents. Fighting broke out in the city of Ramadi, considered a stronghold of the anti-US insurgency, after a US patrol discovered a roadside bomb in the Hamaniyah section of the city. The military said that as the patrol worked to remove the bomb, two insurgents opened fire on them from the nearby house. The soldiers fired back with tanks and machine guns. When they later entered the house they found the bodies of the young girls. A sixth female was apparently also wounded but declined treatment. Full Article : independent.co.uk Brussels dashes Turkish EU hopes Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Turkey's 40-year dream of anchoring its future in the EU will suffer a devastating blow today, with Brussels set to call for eight out of its 35 negotiating "chapters" to be suspended. The announcement was delayed as Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, attended a meeting of the European Commission. It is understood that Mr Rehn faced sharp comments from both sides of the argument - those who felt he had gone too far with this move, and those who believed he had not gone far enough. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Iraq exit via Iran? Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 The Iraq war, civil or not, is costing $226 million a day -- or $8 billion a month, $76 billion a year. It's hard to figure out what to call it when Iraqis are killing Iraqis by the score every day and when the U.S. has been fighting and dying there longer than its involvement in World War II. Iraq also has a civil war within a civil war -- insurgency interspersed by sectarian warfare against a Shia-led government. There are 23 armed militias in Baghdad alone. Each government minister and scores of tribal leaders have their own self-defense force. Some 2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, the equivalent of 30 million Americans displaced by war. Jordan, a small country of 5 million, now has to cope with 1.5 million Iraqis who have strained essential services to the breaking point and driven real estate and rentals beyond the reach of even well-to-do Jordanians. Full Article : washtimes.com Khamenei says U.S. is destabilizing Iraq Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused the United States of destabilizing Iraq through hired "terrorists" and former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. "The main reason for the current situation in Iraq is America's policies," the television quoted Khamenei as telling Talabani, who is on the final day of a two-day visit. Full Article : newsone.ca Carter blames Israel for Mideast conflict Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 'Domination' over Palestinians 'atrocious,' ex-prez tells 'Good Morning America' In some of the harshest and one-sided language he has used to date, former Democratic President Jimmy Carter called Israeli "domination" over Palestinians "atrocious" in an interview today on ABC's "Good Morning America." Carter said there was "no doubt now that a minority of Israelis are perpetuating apartheid on the people in Palestine, the Palestinian people." Carter called Israel's occupation the "prime cause" of continuing violence in the Middle East. Full Article : wnd.com Jonathan Chait: Bring back Saddam Hussein Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 Restoring the dictator to power may give Iraqis the jolt of authority they need. Have a better solution? THE DEBATE about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was) to the more depressing question of whether it is possible to avert total disaster. Every self-respecting foreign policy analyst has his own plan for Iraq. The trouble is that these tracts are inevitably unconvincing, except when they argue why all the other plans would fail. It's all terribly grim. So allow me to propose the unthinkable: Maybe, just maybe, our best option is to restore Saddam Hussein to power. Full Article : latimes.com November 28, 2006 News Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 ¤ There is no solution ¤ The "Gaza-Solution" and the Ongoing War on Islam ¤ Death On The Streets of Iraq Graphic Video ¤ Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of Iraq ¤ I have never been more ashamed of the US government ¤ Effects of ill-advised CIA plot in Iran still haunts U.S. ¤ Anatomy of a Civil War ¤ Italy completes Iraq pull-out ¤ Slaughter in Iraq soon seems to be part of normal life ¤ US soldiers kill five girls in Iraq ¤ Only paranoia can justify the world's second biggest military budget ¤ Venezuelans believe Chavez to be reelected ¤ The uncensored Anger Manifesto ¤ Lawyers File War Crimes Charges Against Rumsfeld ¤ Thousands of Iraqi Palestinians have been forced out of Iraq ¤ NBC Says Sky is Blue ¤ Newt Gingrich: US may be forced to reexamine freedom of speech ¤ When Failure is Better than Success ¤ Be All That You Can Be: Leave the Army ¤ The Blame Industry ¤ The Afghan quagmire ¤ 'Our War Against Canada' ¤ Bringing Bush to Court ¤ Boogey Bull ¤ Your details could be logged at the till ¤ CIA: No Evidence for Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program ¤ The Iraq Study Group: Official damage control and cover-up ¤ Carter blames Israel for Mideast conflict ¤ 'We are just watching things get worse' ¤ America's Troubles in Iraq a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy ¤ Bush Loses Election in Ecuador ¤ The War Crimes Case Against Rumsfeld ¤ From Michael Richards to the NYPD; Racism Kills ¤ White House on defensive as US media breaks taboo ¤ 'We are just watching things get worse' ¤ Khamenei says U.S. is destabilizing Iraq ¤ Syria accuses Israel of building dam in Golan to secure water ¤ Myths that divide November 27, 2006 News Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 ¤ What now, Iraq? ¤ Beware the lure of 'phased withdrawal' ¤ Chavez vows to beat the "devil" ¤ Russia Energy Clout Worries West ¤ Does It Matter What You Call It? ¤ 'Neocons' Abandon Iraq War at White House Front Door ¤ We Must Do What? ¤ Documentary Films Rattle Business World ¤ Iraq: A Job Well Done ¤ Neighborhood by neighborhood, Baghdad descends into civil war ¤ President Bush's Bad Reputation ¤ Neo-Cons Or Just Plain "Cons" ¤ Hanging Hussein After An Unfair Trial Could Ignite Apocalyptic Firestorm ¤ Women and Children First: The Lessons of Iraq ¤ Deaths by Government: Another Missing Chapter ¤ Four big, fat myths ¤ Palestinians shot dead in West Bank ¤ Iraq Worse Than Media Shows ¤ Excuse me Sir, how would you like your Torture ? ¤ A strategy for Iraq? Try this ... ¤ Dear Mr President : Thanksgiving Mea Culpas ¤ Contracting “Clean Break” Chaos in Iraq ¤ Would Jesus Get Out of Iraq? ¤ Dems Rebut Carter on Israeli 'Apartheid' Dems Rebut Carter on Israeli 'Apartheid' Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 Neither Democrats nor Republicans are prepared to say a word in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to add far-right Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party to Israel's governing coalition. Instead, Democrats are shoring up their pro-Israel bona fides. They are strikingly anxious because of a courageous new book by President Jimmy Carter that hit American bookstores in mid-November, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It is an extraordinarily bold--and apt--title. Full Article : thenation.com The Saudis strike back at Iran Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 "Saudi Arabia has viewed with disquiet the rapid ascendancy of Iranian influence in Iraq since the US invasion. The reasons are several, but primarily the Shi'ite claim of political empowerment in the region haunts Riyadh, coupled with the prospect of Iran's seemingly unstoppable march as the premier regional power in the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East. The disquiet has turned into dismay as the incipient murmurs of a likely shift in the United States' strategy in Iraq have lately become audible, and given the likelihood of the shift involving a constructive engagement of the regimes in Tehran and Damascus by Washington." Full Article : atimes.com Blair 'sorrow' over slave trade Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he feels "deep sorrow" for Britain's role in the slave trade. In an article for the New Nation newspaper, the prime minister said it had been "profoundly shameful". But Mr Blair stopped short of issuing a full apology, which some commentators have demanded. The government is reportedly setting out its plans for next year's bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. Esther Stanford, of the Pan African Reparation Coalition, said all countries that had ever been involved in slavery should give a full apology. "An apology is just the start - words mean nothing," she told BBC News. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk Blair's article for the New Nation newspaper Police kill unarmed groom in hail of 50 bullets Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 New York on edge as police kill unarmed man in hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day · Authorities fear backlash over stag night death · Panicky officers peppered homes and train station The New York authorities were scrambling to contain an angry backlash yesterday after police shot a group of three unarmed black men, killing one of them on his wedding day. The shooting took place after a stag party at a strip club in Queens, a few hours before Sean Bell, 23, was due to marry the mother of his two small daughters. He was struck in the neck and arm and was dead on arrival at hospital. Article : guardian.co.uk Panel to Weigh Overture by U.S. to Iran and Syria Posted: Monday, November 27, 2006 WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 -- A draft report on strategies for Iraq, which will be debated here by a bipartisan commission beginning Monday, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria but sets no timetables for a military withdrawal, according to officials who have seen all or parts of the document. Full Article : nytimes.com November 26, 2006 News Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 ¤ New York on edge as police kill unarmed man ¤ Officer in Bush Motorcade Accident Dies ¤ Berlusconi collapses at political rally ¤ Blix vs Blair ¤ Blair admits to 'deep sorrow' over slavery - but no apology ¤ Crowd stones Iraq PM as govt calls for calm ¤ Rumsfeld okayed abuses says former US army general ¤ US carried out madrasah bombing ¤ There is no Democratic solution in Iraq ¤ Half of Venezuelans See U.S. as Military Threat ¤ They lied their way into Iraq. Now they are trying to lie their way out ¤ Ministers who live in fear of assassination ¤ Poisoned spy visited Israel with oil dossier ¤ Survey Says: "US Most Unfriendly Country To Visit" ¤ Euphemisms Die Hard within Iraq Discussion ¤ Beware the Lure of 'Phased Withdrawal' ¤ An Evening in Jounieh ¤ Bomb kills 15 at restaurant in Afghanistan ¤ Thousands in Turkey denounce papal visit ¤ Chavez ends campaigning with Caracas rally ¤ Leftist Chavez ally leads in Ecuador vote ¤ 'I think there are enough weapons for the next war' ¤ The Uses of History and the War on Terrorism ¤ 'In Saddam's time I never saw a friend killed in front of my eyes. ¤ Three Palestinians killed as Israel steps up operation in Gaza ¤ Cheney and Neo-Cons Plotting More Wars ¤ US dollar 'will keep falling' ¤ Motive for murders ¤ Running out of Lifeboats: A Titanic Disaster ¤ Bloodbath in the no "Law and Order" country Contracting 'Clean Break' Chaos in Iraq Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 COULD (SOME OF) THE PENTAGON'S HIRED MERCENARIES BE REMOTELY DETONATING CAR BOMBS AND ASSASSINATING SUNNIS AND SHIAS - TO PROVOKE A U.S./ISRAELI PLANNED CIVIL WAR THAT WILL DISMEMBER IRAQ? Full Article : kurtnimmo.com Leftist Chavez ally leads in Ecuador vote Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 Ecuador's leftist Rafael Correa, an ally of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, appeared to have clinched Sunday's presidential run-off election after exit polls and one quick count showed he surged past his banana magnate rival to victory. Full Article : swissinfo.org Leftist Correa claims victory in Ecuador's presidential election Leftist Rafael Correa claimed victory in Ecuador's presidential election as a projection and exit polls showed him holding a lead of about 14 points over his conservative rival. Poisoned spy visited Israel with oil dossier Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 A dossier drawn up by Alexander Litvinenko on the Kremlin's takeover of the world's richest energy giant will be given to Scotland Yard today as police investigate the former KGB spy's secret dealings with some of Russia's richest men. It emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko travelled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the Yukos oil company. Full Article : timesonline.co.uk Sushi bar informant fears he may have been contaminated Mario Scaramella, the Italian self-styled defence consultant who was with Alexander Litvinenko when he ate at a London sushi bar, fears that he too may have been poisoned by radiation and wants to visit London for medical tests. Hopes for peace as Hamas agrees to truce Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a halt to targetted killings, it emerged last night. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, telephoned Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and told him that all Palestinian factions had agreed to a ceasefire from 6am this morning. Olmert replied that if there was no rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli forces could stop their operations and begin to withdraw from Gaza. The ceasefire could bring an end to a spate of violence which has seen the death of more than 100 Palestinians in Israeli operations and two Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian rockets within the past month. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Litvinenko: police probe claims he may have killed himself Posted: Sunday, November 26, 2006 By Sophie Goodchild and Francis Elliott Detectives investigating the death of Alexander Litvinenko were last night examining the possibility that the former spy killed himself to discredit Vladimir Putin. Increasing concerns over the reliability of the Russian dissident's death-bed testimony have prompted police to check every detail of Mr Litvinenko's version of events on 1 November, the day he said he was poisoned. The Russian dissident's death on British soil has triggered an unprecedented investigation headed by Scotland Yard's anti-terror branch and involving forensic experts and nuclear scientists from the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. They are still trawling through hours of CCTV footage and conducting detailed searches of the places he visited on the day he fell ill. Full Article : independent.co.uk Coup D'etat in Venezuela: Made in the USA Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 In 1999, when the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Serbia didn't get rid of Slobodan Milosovic, Washington changed its strategy. U.S. intelligence organized a $77 million effort to oust Milosovic through the ballot box. They sent in CIA front organizations funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Instead of guns and bombs, these U.S. forces were armed with fax machines, computers, and perhaps most importantly, sophisticated surveys done by the Washington-based polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland.(1) Their mission: to take down Milosovic by strengthening opposition groups. Milosovic is now long gone, as the U.S. effort to mobilize the opposition and produce mass protests was successful in unseating him in the 2000 elections. This victory was a landmark for U.S. intelligence agencies. They had developed a new way to overthrow unfriendly regimes, and it was much easier than a violent overthrow, or a messy invasion. Penn, Schoen & Berland had played an important role; so important that the U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright commended them, saying "This may be one of the first instances where polling has played such an important role in setting and securing foreign policy objectives."(2) They did, indeed, secure their foreign policy objectives. Milosovic was out, and the U.S.-backed opposition took power. Full Article : zmag.org November 25, 2006 News Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 ¤ Another Myth Shattered ¤ Dead Russian Spy was israeli Double Agent ¤ Germans reconsider “special relationship” with israel ¤ The American Thanksgiving: Rejoicing in Genocide and White Supremacy ¤ Contingency and Counter-Contingency in Venezuela ¤ GOP Shows True Colors in Tennessee ¤ Another 1.9 Million Victims ¤ New Congress, Same Quagmire ¤ No One to Lose to ¤ Cheney eyes diplomatic swing as Iraq violence spirals ¤ Boogeymongering ¤ Iraq is broke beyond repair ¤ key questions surrounding spy's death ¤ Iraqi coalition on brink of collapse ¤ Saddam Hussein may be never sent to the gallows ¤ Africa-EU Ministerial Congress on Migration ¤ Did you know? ¤ Expensive Ignorance ¤ I remember the quiet day we lost the war in Iraq ¤ Bolton Busy Framing Syria for Gemayel Assassination Germans reconsider 'special relationship' with israel Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 After reels of Hollywood films castigating Germans, generations of unqualified remorse, and decades of steady reparations, israelis figured they had a pretty solid grip on the German psyche, not to mention their bank accounts. But, apparently, all good things come to an end - even for the Chosen Ones - as evidenced by the sincere questions raised by 25 German peace researchers in the wake of israel's recent conflict in Lebanon. Full Article : wakeupfromyourslumber.com Saddam Hussein may be never sent to the gallows Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 Having been convicted and sentenced to death, Saddam Hussein is not asking for a pardon. He is merely asking to replace the gallows by a firing squad. He believes the latter would be more appropriate to his case since he considers himself a military man. Meanwhile, many analysts doubt that the Saddam’s execution will be carried out soon. According to them, the convict may spend years in prison and end up dying a natural death. Full Article : pravda.ru US Hawk Judges 'War on Terror' a Mistake Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 by Guy Dinmore WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 — Fred Iklé, a Nixon-era arms control veteran and mentor to the current generation of nuclear “hawks”, has an apocalyptic vision of the future. However, as a contrarian who confounds his neo-conservative admirers, he is also highly critical of the Bush administration’s handling of threats to the US, and calls the “global war on terror” a serious mistake. Hopefully for mankind, Annihilation from Within: The Ultimate Threat to Nations, his latest book, will not become another classic to follow his 1971 Every War Must End, credited in 1991 by General Colin Powell, then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, with inspiring him to bring to closure the first Gulf war. What he calls the “sad message” of his latest work is that the accelerating advance of technology far outpaces the zig-zag development of social and political frameworks that act as controls and brakes. Full Article : commondreams.org Who killed Litvinenko? Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006 Alexander Litvinenko was a man who could be taught little about the seamy side of modern Russia. A KGB agent for 18 years, he occupied a world where intrigue, betrayal and ruthless trickery were the tools of working life. But even a man whose job was to fight organised crime and counter subversion in the name of the Kremlin would have been surprised at an event as mired in low chicanery, high drama and cold-blooded cunning as his own passing. The spy novel saga of the life and death of the 43-year-old secret agent turned vehement critic of Vladimir Putin entered its most extraordinary phase yesterday when it was revealed that he died from exposure to a radioactive poison. Full Article : independent.co.uk November 24, 2006 News Posted: Friday, November 24, 2006 ¤ The Democrats and the Slaughterhouse ¤ Humiliation as a weapon of war ¤ Myths of American exceptionalism ¤ The Current Crisis in the Middle East ¤ Baghdad toll exceeds 200 ¤ Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza - medics ¤ US involved for longer time in Iraq than in World War II ¤ In the Shadow of Ho Chi Minh ¤ Iraqi coalition on brink of collapse ¤ Israel Rejects Palestinian Peace Offer ¤ On human shields (and Human Rights Watch) ¤ Who killed Litvinenko? ¤ Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations ¤ Iraq's Medical System Becomes Sickening ¤ 233 Dead in Civil War Carnage, ¤ The Clashes in Cité Soleil ¤ Bloodbath in Baghdad (Updated) ¤ The New York Times and the Gemayel assassination ¤ Giving Thanks? Yes, Thanking God that I'm Not Like Them! ¤ How the Right Wing Tried to Suppress Our Anti-War Message ¤ What About Dick? Cheney Shuffles Into History ¤ Robert Gates & the Iran Arms Sales ¤ oklahoma city bombing: startling evidence proves cover-up ¤ Full Last Statement By Alexander Litvinenko ¤ Sky News: Radioactive Link To Dead Spy ¤ BUSH'S STRANGE VIETNAM VISIT ¤ Israel rejects Palestinian offer to halt rocket fire ¤ When Votes Disappear ¤ Thanksgiving Day Massacre Highlights Waning US Power ¤ Our Moral Superiority about Sex is Proving Deadly ¤ Thanks—No, Seriously ¤ Who Decides on War With Iran? Jury finds Net pharmacy kingpin guilty Posted: Friday, November 24, 2006 Dropout who had millions faces 20 years in prison You figured those annoying e-mails for "Vi@-gra" and other prescription drugs were part of something illicit. A federal jury in Minneapolis made it official Wednesday. Jurors convicted online pharmacy kingpin Christopher Smith on nine charges, including conspiracy to unlawfully sell drugs and launder money. One of the counts includes a minimum 20-year prison sentence. Full Article : twincities.com A 64-year-old Palestinian Suicide Bomber Posted: Friday, November 24, 2006 Woman, 64, blows herself up in attack on Israeli troops A 64-year-old Palestinian woman blew herself up as a suicide bomber in Gaza yesterday in an attack on Israeli troops. Two soldiers were slightly injured when the woman, apparently a supporter of the Hamas militant group, detonated explosives strapped to her body, becoming the conflict's oldest suicide bomber. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Moscow dossier embarrasses US and Britain Posted: Friday, November 24, 2006 Moscow dossier embarrasses US and Britain ahead of Riga summit In a move likely to inflame tensions ahead of next week's Nato summit in Latvia, Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, yesterday declassified documents claiming that Britain and the US had approved of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states a year before Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Received wisdom has it that the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, was deeply ambivalent about Moscow taking control of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. But the editor of the 400-page dossier, Major General Lev Sotskov, told the Guardian it demonstrated that the UK and US "perfectly understood" that the region was needed as a buffer zone for the inevitable moment when Nazi Germany would break its non-aggression pact with Moscow and attack the Soviet Union. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Attack on Baghdad Shiite Slum Kills 161 Posted: Friday, November 24, 2006 Sunni Muslim insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars into Baghdad's largest Shiite district Thursday, killing at least 161 people and wounding 257 in a dramatic attack that sent the U.S. ambassador racing to meet with Iraqi leaders in an effort to contain the growing sectarian war. Full Article : myway.com November 23, 2006 News Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2006 ¤ Iraqi Guerilla ¤ Australian Company AWB 'knew Iraq plans a year before' ¤ Baghdad blasts: More than 150 dead ¤ 141 killed in Baghdad sectarian clashes ¤ Baghdad Airport shut at end of bloody day in Iraq ¤ Who benefits? Rival theories over the murder of Gemayel ¤ Thanksgiving: The National Day of Mournin ¤ No survivors found in Polish mine. Death toll reaches 23 ¤ Big Brother, Big Business ¤ USA lifts sanctions from Russia’s Sukhoi ¤ The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls ¤ Violence in Iraq increasingly targeting women ¤ The Zarqawi affair, part 17 of 23 ¤ Thanks To The Car Bomb ¤ Iraq war was good for Israel: Olmert ¤ The Israelis are Heading for Large Scale Massacres on Gaza Strip ! ¤ Syria is a convenient fallguy for Gemayel's death ¤ Poisoned former KGB spy dies in London Rumsfeld and a Mountain of Misery Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2006 by Amy Goodman Frederick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist, began life as a slave on Maryland's Eastern Shore. When his owner had trouble with the young, unruly slave, Douglass was sent to Edward Covey, a notorious "slave breaker." Covey's plantation, where physical and psychological torture were standard, was called Mount Misery. Douglass eventually fought back, escaped to the North and went on to change the world. Today Mount Misery is owned by Donald Rumsfeld, the outgoing secretary of defense. It is ironic that this notorious plantation run by a practiced torturer would now be owned by Rumsfeld, himself accused as the man principally responsible for the U.S. military's program of torture and detention. Full Article : commondreams.org Talabani going to Tehran for 'bilateral' talks Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2006 A prominent member in Iraqi National Parliament focusing on news about a "trilateral" meeting in Tehran next week, said President Jalal Talabani's visit is aimed at holding "bilateral" talks in Tehran, IRNA reported. Abbas al-Bayati made the comment in an interview with IRNA in reference to the news broadcasted in recent days on upcoming meeting among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and their Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. Full Article : iranmania.com Robert Fisk: Civil war in Lebanon Posted: Thursday, November 23, 2006 Civil war - the words on all our lips yesterday. Pierre Gemayel's murder - in broad daylight, in a Christian suburb of Beirut, his car blocked mafia-style by another vehicle while his killer fired through the driver's window into the head of Lebanon's minister of industry - was a message for all of us who live in this tragic land. Full Article : independent.co.uk November 22, 2006 News Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 ¤ The Great Thanksgiving Hoax ¤ A Research Documentary on Jesus Surviving crucifixion ¤ Study Backs Theory of 'Grassy Knoll' ¤ The news not in the news: Baghdad is surrounded... ¤ UN: Iraqi Civilian Deaths at New High ¤ Palestinian Solidarity in a Time of Massacres ¤ How Can We Allow This to Go On? ¤ Rumsfeld and a Mountain of Misery ¤ U.S. Retreat from Iraq? The Secret Story ¤ October deadliest month ever in Iraq ¤ Genetic breakthrough that reveals the differences between humans ¤ Turkeys Again Refuse Ceremonial White House Pardon ¤ Torturing White America ¤ Iraqi Guerilla ¤ Facts no longer on the ground ¤ The Lives & Deaths of Iraqi Gays ¤ Going Long In Iraq ¤ Another Neocon Demands the Decimation of Iran ¤ How Multinational Corporations Avoid Paying Their Taxes War Supporters Must Face the Music Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 In the midst of this disaster, its architects are abandoning ship. The very neoconservative ideologues who lobbied for this war of choice even before Bush came to office, who wanted to invade Iraq even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, are bailing out. These are the zealots who eagerly promoted exiles like Ahmed Chalabi to propagate lies about Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons programs. These are the pundits who filled the op-ed pages and radio and TV shows with lies about Hussein's connections with al-Qaida. They were so intent on launching this war that they were prepared to prey on American fears and mislead the country into war. It would be, as Kenneth Adelman said, a "cakewalk." We would be greeted as liberators. Democracy would break out in what they painted as a secular Iraq, then sweep the region. Now they rush to disavow any responsibility. Adelman is shocked to see that "there are lots of lives that are lost." He now blames the leaders of the administration that he once adored: "This didn't have to be managed this bad. It's just awful." Richard Perle, a leader of the Chalabi lobby, now says that he didn't realize the invasion would lead to an occupation. The occupation, he says, "was a foolish thing to do." He apparently thought the troops could just overthrow a dictator and democracy would follow as dawn follows night. It's a problem of execution, according to Joshua Muravchik, the neocon publicist, who lays the blame on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Besides, he now writes, few neocons actually served in the Bush administration, and our "woes in Iraq" may be "traced to the conduct of the war rather than the decision to undertake it." Full Article : commondreams.org US Could Bomb Iran Nuclear Sites in 2007: Analysts Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 President George W. Bush could choose military action over diplomacy and bomb Iran's nuclear facilities next year, political analysts in Washington agree. "I think he is going to do it," John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a military issues think tank, told AFP. "They are going to bomb WMD facilities next summer," he added, referring to nuclear facilities Iran says are for peaceful uses and Washington insists are really intended to make nuclear bombs, or weapons of mass destruction (WMD). "It would be a limited military action to destroy their WMD capabilities" added the analyst, believing a US military invasion of Iran is not on the table. Full Article : commondreams.org NYPD Installs 'Sky Watch' In Harlem Neighborhood Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 The NYPD has installed a patrol tower in a Harlem neighborhood in an effort to cut crime in the high-risk neighborhood. The two-story booth tower, called Sky Watch, gives the officer sitting inside a better vantage point from which to monitor the area. Officers in the booth have access to a spotlight, sensors, and four cameras. The tower is portable and can be moved to the areas that need it most. Full Article : ny1.com Bush warns Syria, Iran after Lebanon killing Posted: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 US President George W. Bush accused Syria and Iran of fomenting violence and instability in Lebanon, as he condemned the assassination of Lebanese cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meanwhile made a hasty telephone call to Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, amid signs of US concern over the fate of the Beirut government which emerged from Lebanon's 'cedar revolution.' Full Article : breitbart.com November 21, 2006 News Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 ¤ Record number die in Iraq during November ¤ IRAQ: Children have been the main victims of war ¤ Trapped in Lies and Delusions ¤ The honourable minister for genocide ¤ Pierre Gemayel Assassinated. Cui Bono? ¤ Going Long In Iraq ¤ Torture in Iraq, Intimidation at Home ¤ The Zarqawi affair, part 15 of 23 ¤ 75 Bodies Found; Diplomatic Ties with Syria Bruited ¤ Gunmen assassinate Lebanese minister ¤ Syria condemns blame 'charade' ¤ Scores of bodies found in Iraq ¤ Bring Down That Wall ¤ Gates a Poor Choice ¤ Yes, He Lost Mexico's Vote, So He's Swearing Himself In ¤ Gaza's Reality ¤ Iraq: The Hidden War ¤ Seinfeld actor lets fly with racist tirade May I quote you, Mr.President? 1."We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe." George W. Bush 2. "It's time for the human race to enter the solar system." George W. Bush 3. "The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country." George W. Bush ¤ Bush Almighty! ¤ Iraqi Kid Runs For Water ¤ Bush Ignorant About Vietnam War's Lessons ¤ United States 'trapped' in Iraq, says Annan Iraq: Unwinnable and Unsolvable - And Exactly As Planned. Don't kid yourself. This is exactly the way they want it to be: chaotic, devastating, confusing, horrendous, and right on target. Clever bastards, these neocons - their goals were always so damn clear, and they finally got there: get into Iraq and find a way to stay there forever. Forever, folks, - that's always and into eternity. That was the plan from day one, and that's the way it's working out. ¤ Blair is wildly exaggerating the threat posed by terrorism Gunmen assassinate Lebanese minister Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 The Lebanese cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel was shot dead in a suburb of Beirut today, security sources said. Gunmen opened fire as his convoy drove through the Christian Sin el-Fil neighbourhood. Mr Gemayel was rushed to hospital where he later died of his wounds. Full Article : guardian.co.uk United States 'trapped' in Iraq: Annan Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 US forces are trapped in Iraq, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said, warning that Washington must find the right time to leave without plunging the country deeper into chaos. "On the question of the military presence, it is a difficult issue. The US is in a way trapped in Iraq, trapped in the sense that it cannot stay and it cannot leave," Annan told a press conference Tuesday. Full Article : news.yahoo.com November 20, 2006 News Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 ¤ 182 Iraqis Killed ¤ IRAQ-The hidden story ¤ Usurpation of Power ¤ How 'crank' laid waste to small-town America ¤ Crystal meth: Britain's deadliest drug problem ¤ Bomb kills 8, injures 60 on India train ¤ We Can No Longer Ignore "Blood and Oil" ¤ Note from Beyond: Bush, Rice, Iraq, Vietnam ¤ More than 80 dead in Africa floods ¤ 800-year-old Um An-Nasr Mosque Destroyed by the Israeli Forces ¤ We're Drinking What? ¤ Those Missing Media Voices ¤ Gaza suffering "massive" rights violations - U.N. ¤ Palestinians use human shield to halt Israeli air strike ¤ Palestinians blocked Israeli air raid? No way! ¤ Saddam trial 'fundamentally unfair' ¤ TV Comedian Among 22 Killed in Iraq ¤ Fury at American contempt for British war dead ¤ Bush Arrives to Angry Crowds in Indonesia ¤ Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy? ¤ Rice Urges Iraq to be more like Vietnam ¤ Eye on Iraq: Worse than Tet ¤ Gaddafi: Oil behind Darfur crisis ¤ The puppet's last dance ¤ Spy leaves egg on U.S. faces Regional Carnival 2007 Launch Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 The Regional Carnival Launch 2007 took place on Saturday 19th November, 2006, in the exquisite region of Valencia. This launch was said to be the biggest launch in the history of Regional Carnival launches and the residents of Valencia were certainly proud of that fact. Full Article : trinisoca.com Fury at American contempt for British war dead Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 A diplomatic row erupted between London and Washington ght over George Bush's bid to cover up the way bungling US soldiers killed British servicemen in Iraq. The President's envoy in the UK has been summoned to a humiliating dressing down in Whitehall tomorrow because of a White House refusal to make American troops answer in British courts for their mistakes on the battlefield. Full Article : dailymail.co.uk Bush Arrives to Angry Crowds in Indonesia Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 President Bush shrugged off protests that greeted him on Monday in the world's most populous Muslim nation, calling it a sign of a healthy democracy' Full Article : aol.com Did the CIA kill Bobby Kennedy? Posted: Monday, November 20, 2006 In 1968, Robert Kennedy seemed likely to follow his brother, John, into the White House. Then, on June 6, he was assassinated - apparently by a lone gunman. But Shane O'Sullivan says he has evidence implicating three CIA agents in the murder Full Article : guardian.co.uk November 19, 2006 News Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 ¤ Cocaine: An IoS Special Investigation ¤ Embittered insiders turn against Bush ¤ Hersh: CIA Analysis Finds Iran Not Developing Nuclear Weapons ¤ Israel orders killing of Hamas politicians ¤ The Truth is Out There ... Somewhere ¤ Pelosi's Problem ¤ Our Own Abu Ghraib ¤ Haditha 'massacre' - one year on ¤ Palestinians form human shields after Israeli airstrikes ¤ Why We Fight ¤ WHEN HISTORY BECOMES CHOPPED LIVER ¤ Powerful 9/11 Info Hits Prime-Time TV for First Time ¤ CIA analysis finds no Iranian nuclear weapons drive ¤ The Final Say ¤ The Perfect Storm of Profit ¤ No news is LOUD news. ¤ Unethical Weapon of Mass Deception ¤ Syria calls for U.S. timetable in Iraq ¤ Kissinger: No Military Victory in Iraq ¤ Blair 'disaster' admission a 'slip of the tongue' ¤ Significant First Victory ¤ A terrible legacy of hatred and death ¤ What The Americans Do Not Know ¤ Iraqi Residents Welcome Resistance 'With Flowers' ¤ Israel Condemns Resolution Condemning Israel ¤ A Revolutionary Act Blair 'disaster' admission a 'slip of the tongue' Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 Blair 'disaster' admission over Iraq a 'slip of the tongue': official Downing Street moved swiftly to play down an apparent admission by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the invasion of Iraq had been a "disaster," labelling his comments a "slip of the tongue." In an interview Friday on Al-Jazeera's new English-language channel, broadcaster Sir David Frost suggested that the 2003 US-led and British-backed invasion had "so far been pretty much of a disaster." "It has," Blair replied, before adding quickly: "But you see, what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It's not difficult because of some accident in planning. Full Article : breitbart.com Kissinger: No Military Victory in Iraq Posted: Sunday, November 19, 2006 LONDON -- Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday. In a wide ranging interview on British Broadcasting Corp. television, Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors _ including Iran _ if any progress is to be made in the region. "If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi Government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible," he said on the BBC's Sunday AM breakfast show. Full Article : washingtonpost.com November 18, 2006 News Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 ¤ Oil tumbles to lowest level since June 2005 ¤ UN chief: Nato cannot defeat Taliban by force ¤ 'Long march of history' comforts Bush in Vietnam ¤ Top Democrats to Voters: Enough Already, Now Shut Up! ¤ The Hole in Bush's Brain ¤ Halliburton Wrecks Mexico ¤ Ghosts of Dictatorships Past ¤ The Fall of Donald Rumsfeld ¤ Iraq invasion a disaster, Blair admits ¤ Hey, Corporate Media: Dictatorship is NOT Democracy ¤ Fixing Halliburton & Iraq? ¤ Falling In Line on Israel ¤ Don't Iraq Iran ¤ Rebooting the Dictator Software ¤ What Ever Happened to "Freedom of the Press"? ¤ Criminalizing Compassion in the "War on Terror" ¤ Israel continues raids in Gaza ¤ The Zarqawi affair, part 14 of 23 ¤ Palestinians are the Priority ¤ GI resistance grows, active & AWOL ¤ AP Gets Shocking New Report on Gitmo ¤ Iran turns up the Heat ¤ Israeli envoy walks out of U.N. session Israeli envoy walks out of U.N. session Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Israel's ambassador walked out on the United Nations session that resulted in a strong call to Israel to end its military operations in the Gaza Strip. The 192-member General Assembly voted Friday night 156-7, with six abstentions, in favor of the non-binding resolution in an emergency special session. The United States, Israel and Australia voted against the document, while all the European Union members supported it after last-minute changes were made to soften the tone. Full Article : upi.com UN chief: Nato cannot defeat Taliban by force Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 Nato "cannot win" the fight against the Taliban alone and will have to train Afghan forces to do the job, the UN's top official in the country warned yesterday. "At the moment Nato has a very optimistic assessment. They think they can win the war," warned Tom Koenigs, the diplomat heading the UN mission in Afghanistan. "But there is no quick fix." In forthright comments which highlight divisions between international partners as Nato battles to quell insurgency, Mr Koenigs said that training the fledgling Afghan national army to defeat the Taliban was crucial. "They [the ANA] can win. But against an insurgency like that, international troops cannot win." Full Article : guardian.co.uk Iraq is a 'disaster' admits Blair Posted: Saturday, November 18, 2006 Tony Blair admitted that British intervention in Iraq has been a disaster last night - sending shockwaves through Westminster. In his frankest admission about the war to date, Mr Blair admitted that Western forces have been powerless to stop the descent into violence. The Prime Minister stopped short of accepting the blame for plunging Iraq to the brink of civil war - blaming instead the insurgent uprising that has killed 125 British troops. Full Article : dailymail.co.uk Blair admits Iraq is 'pretty much a disaster' Tony Blair went close last night to admitting that the invasion of Iraq had been disastrous. Challenged in an interview on Al-Jazeera's new English-language channel that the Western intervention in Iraq had "so far been pretty much of a disaster", he gave a brief agreement before swiftly moving on. He said: "It has, but you see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It is not difficult because of some accident in planning, it is difficult because there is a deliberate strategy, al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other, to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war." Mr Blair's frank remarks came on the day that one of his most loyal ministers was reported to have described the war as "his big mistake in foreign affairs". Margaret Hodge was said to have accused Mr Blair of espousing "moral imperialism", remarks that she denied through an aide but which were recalled by people who attended the private meeting at which she was alleged to have made them. Full Article : timesonline.co.uk November 17, 2006 News Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 ¤ Blood-Pouring Anti-Nuke Clowns Sent to Prison ¤ Hollow visions of Palestine's future ¤ Gitmo detainees denied witnesses ¤ Interpreters used by British Army 'hunted down' by Iraqi death squads ¤ Radical steps needed to escape Iraq quagmire ¤ Iraq's state involved in kidnappings? ¤ I hate Iraqis, rape accused tells military court ¤ Rights group says Israel engaged in "wilful killings" ¤ What Ted Koppel Found In Iran ¤ Three killed in bomb explosion in Lahore ¤ US plans last big push in Iraq ¤ Locals Accuse U.S. of Massacre in Ramadi ¤ Brainswashing campaign? ¤ US army 'seized Iraqi homes' ¤ Iraq: Rape without a morning-after pill ¤ Killing Hope in Beit Hanoun ¤ The hidden agenda behind Beit Hanun ¤ NEW DAY~~~ NEW LIES ¤ U.S. Airstrikes Climb Sharply in Afghanistan ¤ Blair Avoids a Grilling ¤ What It Means to 'Salvage US Prestige' in Iraq ¤ Rosy picture of Afghanistan hides grim truth ¤ Olmert Hugs Bush, Praises Iraq War ¤ How Did Israel Manipulate the US Into Attacking Iraq ¤ Hospital Infections Kill More Than Cars, AIDS, Breast Cancer ¤ Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked ¤ German academics: Stop treating Israel as special German academics: Stop treating Israel as special Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 Germany has paid enough for implementing the Holocaust, and Israel has been given enough special treatment by that country in reparation, say 25 German academics. In a petition published Wednesday in the Frankfurter Rundschau, the academics - described as highly influential professors on the payroll of the German government - said it was time their country embraced the Palestinian Arabs as much as it has embraced the Jews. The ramifications of the Holocaust had resulted in much suffering among the "Palestinians" and Germany was therefore also bound to stand with them and not just with Israel. Failure to do so, the petitioners warned, could lead to unrest among the German people. Full Article : jnewswire.com No one is guilty in Israel Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 By Gideon Levy Nineteen inhabitants of Beit Hanun were killed with malice aforethought. There is no other way of describing the circumstances of their killing. Someone who throws burning matches into a forest can't claim he didn't mean to set it on fire, and anyone who bombards residential neighborhoods with artillery can't claim he didn't mean to kill innocent inhabitants. Therefore it takes considerable gall and cynicism to dare to claim that the Israel Defense Forces did not intend to kill inhabitants of Beit Hanun. Even if there was a glitch in the balancing of the aiming mechanism or in a component of the radar, a mistake in the input of the data or a human error, the overwhelming, crucial, shocking fact is that the IDF bombards helpless civilians. Even shells that are supposedly aimed 200 meters from houses, into "open areas," are intended to kill, and they do kill. In this respect, nothing new happened on Wednesday morning in Gaza: The IDF has been behaving like this for months now. Full Article : haaretz.com Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 Results Skewed Nationwide In Favor of Republicans by 4 percent, 3 million votes A major undercount of Democratic votes and an overcount of Republican votes in U.S. House and Senate races across the country is indicated by an analysis of national exit polling data, by the Election Defense Alliance (EDA), a national election integrity organization. These findings have led EDA to issue an urgent call for further investigation into the 2006 election results and a moratorium on deployment of all electronic election equipment. Full Article : opednews.com Bush goes to Vietnam, four decades after dodging draft Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 George W Bush is due to arrive for a major summit in Vietnam today, seeking to re-invigorate his presidency following his Republicans' crushing defeat in last week's Congressional elections. Mr Bush is scheduled to attend the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum, but the visit will raise uncomfortable reminders of America's problems in Iraq and of the president's personal war record. The standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme will probably top the official agenda in meetings the president will have during his eight-day, three-nation Asian trip. Full Article : telegraph.co.uk Vietnam exiles wary of Bush trip Comparisons color Bush's Vietnam visit President's men refuse to equate Iraq situation with an earlier U.S. war Bush to face the ghosts of America's last failed war Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006 On the morning of April 30 1975 a young corporal in the army of North Vietnam drove a tank through the streets of an unfamiliar city wreathed in smoke and resounding with gunfire, and stopped at a set of wrought-iron gates. Corpses lay on the pavement, and in the distance a lone helicopter rose above the US embassy and turned towards the river. The soldier, Nguyen Van Tap, paused: could the gate be electrified? Then he gunned the engine and crashed into Saigon's Independence Palace. Moments later, Mr Nguyen's lieutenant, Vu Dang Toan, took the surrender of the South Vietnamese regime barricaded inside. Full Article : guardian.co.uk November 16, 2006 News Posted: Thursday, November 16, 2006 ¤ |