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September 2004Latest NewsPosted: Thursday, September 30, 2004 ¤ Jimmy Carter: 'The War has Been Unnecessary' ¤ Lawmaker expresses "dismay" that White House allegedly wrote Allawi speech ¤ Israelis Kill 23 Palestinians in Gaza Offensive ¤ Israel threatens to attack Iran ¤ A funny thing happened on the way to 'The Truth' ¤ The end of the world as we knew it ¤ Tony Blair: I just can't say sorry for Iraq ¤ Baghdad bomb blasts kill at least 35 ¤ U.S. launches major offensive in Iraq’s north ¤ 3 Israelis killed in Gaza; 30 Palestinians dead in IDF raid ¤ The know nothings ¤ Bush's Toxic Campaign Mix ¤ The True Face of Iraqi Resistance ¤ Presidential Debates? I Call It Bunk ¤ Dreamed They Had a Debate ¤ The Jihad of Alan Dershowitz ¤ Europe to Kerry: Help is not on the way ¤ 28 Palestinians Dead, 131 Wounded in Gaza ¤ Car bombs rock Baghdad ¤ 'Bush team helped write Allawi speech' ¤ Five children killed in Gaza Strip battles ¤ Iraq War Divides Australian Candidates ¤ THE NEXT IRAQI WAR ¤ Oil-rich Iraqi provinces push for autonomy ¤ US bases in Iraq: sticky politics, hard math ¤ Diplomacy Is Cheaper Than War ¤ US-Backed Warlords Big Threat to Afghan Elections ¤ Saudi Arabia cuts oil sales to U.S., ups China ¤ What does the Turk have against us? ¤ Israeli Tanks Surge Into Gaza Refugee Camp -Witnesses ¤ 24 Feared Killed As Typhoon Meari Batters Japan ¤ US scorn for international law blasted ¤ US Falluja air raid claims more lives ¤ British Operations in Iraq Cost $2.7B ¤ Israeli army opens fire on stone-throwing schoolchildren ¤ Russia against SC taking up Iran’s N-issue ¤ Continued U.S. Airstrikes in Baghdad Draw Criticism Latest News Posted: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 ¤ The war's littlest victim ¤ Uncovering an Israeli jail that specializes in nightmares ¤ Computer scientists slam e-voting machines ¤ UN wants Israel to refrain from endangering civilians ¤ British forces involved in Abu Ghraib torture prison ¤ He Also Said Saddam Had WMD's ¤ Establishment Media Plagued by 'Coincidence Theorists ¤ CBS puts Niger expose on hold as boss endorses Republicans ¤ CBS: No News, Just Stenography ¤ Gunshy CBS to Sit on Iraq Story ¤ Israeli army widens operations in north ¤ Two young children killed in Qassam strike in Sderot ¤ Who flip flops best? Record shows Bush shifting reasons for Iraq war ¤ 'George W. Bush's Iraq' ¤ 'The twilight zone of wonderland' ¤ Bush ignored warnings on Iraq insurgency threat before invasion ¤ A gradual pullout, starting now ¤ Haiti flood death toll rises to 2,400 ¤ Blame me (...up to a point) ¤ Growing Pessimism on Iraq ¤ While America Slept ¤ 'TERRORISTS' BETTER UNDERSTOOD THROUGH CONTEXT OF HISTORY ¤ Truths Worth Telling ¤ Two IDF soldiers lightly wounded in mortar shell attack in Netzarim ¤ Mosul Car Bomb Wounds Six U.S. Soldiers ¤ Israel Pushes Into Gaza Strip, Killing 3 ¤ Pakistan gets its man ... sort of ¤ Turkish trucker killed in Iraq ¤ Fiji Soldiers to Protect U.N. in Iraq ¤ Nigeria's oil rebels fuel fears of global shortage ¤ Something rotten in the state of Florida ¤ Getting the lie of the land in a suitably circumlocutory manner of speaking Africa sets its sights on the United Nations Posted: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 African countries are lining up to take an equal seat next to the superpowers. They would represent the impoverished and underdeveloped of the world at a highly influential forum - the United Nations Security Council. Countries such as South Africa, Brazil and India will anxiously be awaiting the December 1 report from the Panel on Threats, Changes and Challenges commissioned by United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, which will chart a revolutionary new path for the world body. Full Article : iol.co.za Latest News Posted: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 ¤ Why Have We Suddenly Forgotten Abu Ghraib? ¤ Another Lapse of Journalistic Integrity at The New York Times ¤ Bush is History's Top Terrorist ¤ Beware the Tools of Tyranny ¤ Address by President Mugabe to the U.N ¤ Mugabe slams 'political God Bush' ¤ Africa sets its sights on the United Nations ¤ Mbeki addresses UN, Mugabe draws applause ¤ Bush Isolated as Speech to UN Falls Flat ¤ The Dangers of a 'What the Heck' Vote ¤ Israel Threatens Syria, Warns Of Pre-Emptive Strikes ¤ Pentagon link to Guinea coup plot ¤ Democracy: It's for the Dogs ¤ New doubts over Kelly ¤ America's new strategy in Iraq ¤ Poll: Americans tired of being the world's cop ¤ Kidnappers Release Seven Hostages in Iraq ¤ Poll: Americans tired of being the world's cop ¤ Jewish settler 'gets away' with murder ¤ Disabled Palestinian killed in raid ¤ Jimmy Carter fears repeat of election fiasco in Florida ¤ Florida will not play fair ¤ Bigley's brother says Blair has to go ¤ Two British soldiers killed in Basra ambush ¤ Warlords 'call shots in Afghan election' ¤ Publish and be damned ¤ Heady US Goals for Iraq Fall by Wayside ¤ U.S. Says More Iraqi Police Are Needed ¤ The Bush Administration takes heat for a CIA plan to influence Iraq's elections ¤ Looking for WMD? 8 million chemical weapons exist ¤ Fact-Checking Bush's UN Address ¤ The President's Comedy Routine ¤ Saddam, the bomb and me ¤ Will Editorials Take a Stand on the War? ¤ The IMF Con ¤ This is not a story about Dan Rather ¤ Crude Oil Prices Breaches $50 Per Barrel ¤ F.B.I. Said to Lag on Translations of Terror Tapes ¤ Israel sets its sights on enemies abroad ¤ Syrian FM says Sharon trying to 'mislead' the world ¤ Plans: Next, War on Syria? ¤ Syria, at UN, Says Israel Behind U.S. War on Iraq ¤ Falluja takes more US hits ¤ Six Palestinians dead after Israeli raids The Tragedy of Haiti: Victims of Two Storms Posted: Monday, September 27, 2004 A political storm slammed into northern Haiti long before Tropical Storm Jeanne came along. On March 20th, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue flew into Gonaives where a huge and boisterous crowd of thousands welcomed him. During the festivities Latortue embraced gang elements and the former military that helped overthrow the democratic government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as "freedom fighters." Since then, Latortue and his government have done little to take control of Haiti's third largest city and has allowed gang leaders like Buteur Metayer and Wilfort Ferdinand to run it like a private fiefdom. This has had serious consequences for the people of Gonaives since Tropical Storm Jeanne arrived to claim her share of Haiti's misery. Full Article : commondreams.org Africans are not guilty; the whites are ... Posted: Monday, September 27, 2004 They must pay reparation for their act By Christian Agubretu Accra, Sept. 23, GNA - Eminent professors of history have rejected the argument or claim that the African was equally guilty and blameable for engaging in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade as his white counterpart in the capturing and offering of his fellow Blackman for sale into slavery during the more than 200 years that the heinous trade lasted. They said that the claim that the Blackman did not resist the slave trade or was neither opposed to it and was thus an accomplice is a soothing moralist theory the white slave masters were developing in collaboration with their African spin "doctors" when the question of reparation was raised. There is the overwhelming historical evidence that the African did not yield to the trade to warrant people now to say that the African himself acquiesced to the trade. Full Article : ghanaweb.com Latest News Posted: Monday, September 27, 2004 ¤ Africans are not guilty; the whites are ... ¤ In Pakistan, dead men tell no tales ¤ Israel Threatens Syria Over Militants ¤ Dear Prime Minister - An Open Letter ¤ The Tragedy of Haiti: Victims of Two Storms ¤ Bush, Iraq, and Demonstration Elections ¤ RatherGate, how much scripted?: CBS and Dan Rather "apologized" ¤ '60 Minutes' Yanks Story on Iraq War ¤ Saddam expected to be executed ¤ 7 Palestinians Killed; CNN Producer Held ¤ Floridians, beware: monkey can actually hack Diebold voting machines ¤ Fresh violence across Iraq kills 12 people ¤ Blast kills four Iraqi guardsmen ¤ Truth and consequences ¤ Record loss for Schröder in biggest state ¤ A European superstate is inevitable ¤ Bush Switches His View of Putin's Russia ¤ An Ominous U.S. Model ¤ The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!—To Iraq? ¤ Bush: Would Give 'Mission Accomplished' Speech Again ¤ Iraq Uprising Growing, Powell Says ¤ Dozens killed in Iraq violence ¤ West Africa: Where the Empire Will Come to Ruin ¤ A Choice Without an Alternative ¤ Jimmy Carter Is Right ¤ Roadmap for the Prosecution ¤ was wrong to support the Iraq war ¤ Behind the hostage crisis ¤ Democracy cannot be good in parts ¤ Al-Jazeera in the Thick of a New Controversy ¤ Australian PM accused of ignoring expert advice on Iraq weapons ¤ 'It's getting worse' in Iraq, Powell says ¤ Pentagon contradicts Bush on Iraq ¤ Falluja official: Only civilians killed ¤ US forces attack Sadr City ¤ Carter predicts unfair vote in Florida ¤ Oil price hits record on supply worries ¤ 23 killed in Iraq violence ¤ TVs in Iraq Tuned to Real-Life Horror Latest News Posted: Sunday, September 26, 2004 ¤ Tony Blair's third age ¤ Army Sends Weaponless Reserve Unit To Iraq ¤ Four more years of Bush would scare the world ¤ Israel Says It Kills Hamas Leader in Syria ¤ We were wrong about WMD: Blair ¤ Putin attack suspect 'badly beaten' ¤ Hit bears 'hallmarks' of Israelis ¤ Are we all just puppets of the hostage takers? ¤ On the road to perdition ¤ Developments Related to Hurricane Jeanne ¤ 'Out of touch' Blair fights to keep Iraq off agenda ¤ Civilians die in US ground and air attack on bases in Fallujah ¤ Violence in Iraq Belies Claims of Calm, Data Show ¤ 7 Iraqi Guard Applicants, 4 U.S. Marines and a Soldier Are Killed ¤ Killings Surge in Iraq, and Doctors See a Procession of Misery ¤ The U.S. Has a Favorite in Afghanistan. That's a Problem. ¤ CBS Nixes '60 Minutes' Story on Iraq War ¤ The Story That CBS Didn’t Run ¤ The worse the situation in Iraq, the bigger the lies that Tony Blair tells us ¤ Hamas leader killed in Syria, official says ¤ Followed by a goon shadow ¤ Unacceptable norms ¤ Cat Stevens deportation linked to spelling error: report ¤ Massacre of Civilians in Fallujah -- "Aw dude!" ¤ Iran is just following Israel's lead ¤ When The Dead Disappear,They Are Officially 'Missing' ¤ CBS: Censoring Broadcast System ¤ Chavez Refuses to Be Drawn into Colombia's Civil War ¤ Attackers Detonate Car Bombs in Baghdad ¤ Hamas member assassinated in Syria ¤ Falluja doctors decry civilian toll ¤ Israeli report on al-Aqsa rejected ¤ Rebels fight government to control Nigerian oil ¤ U.S. going ahead with plans to supply IAF with 'smart bombs' ¤ Shoot first and ask questions later — if at all ¤ Another Knight Ridder Iraq Scoop: This Time, On Civilian Casualties Latest News Posted: Saturday, September 25, 2004 ¤ Terrible v. Worse ¤ More Evidence of Why They Hate Us: Our Heroic Baby Killers ¤ The Sound of No Hands Clapping: Bush at the UN ¤ You've Lost Your Alibi! ¤ Thousands Arrested, Few Convicted in U.S. Terror War ¤ 70% Of America Is Confused By George W. Bush Lies ¤ ''Americans are dumber than posts'' ¤ 'Bush has handcuffed United Nations' ¤ CBS BENDS OVER.... ¤ UN report accuses Israel of building fence to confiscate land ¤ 'Liar, liar' ¤ Trying to Be Happy About Iraq ¤ Bush benefits from low expectations ¤ So this is 'success' in war on terror ¤ Haiti Storm Toll Tops 1,500; Many Missing ¤ Price of Oil Rises Despite Loans From U.S. Reserve ¤ New US attacks on Falluja ¤ Palestinian killed in Israeli strike ¤ US fears more attacks in Afghanistan ¤ Thousands of Taiwan People Protest U.S. Arms Deal ¤ Iraq violence eclipses rosy declarations ¤ Vote threat to Afghan tribesmen ¤ Rigging the Iraqi Elections ¤ More Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. forces than by insurgents, data shows ¤ U.S. Forces Strike Anew in Fallujah ¤ US troops stop honouring Iraq 'no-go' deals ¤ Israeli woman killed in Palestinian mortar attack ¤ How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power ¤ Iraq Strikes Kill 8; U.S. Soldier Killed ¤ Hostages have always paid the price for our violent imperial adventures ¤ Top US officials clash over need to limit Iraq poll ¤ Karzai scrambles for 'friends' ¤ Iraq Strikes Kill 8; U.S. Soldier Killed ¤ A Comedy Routine ¤ ANCIENT AND MODERN ¤ Iran to U.N.: U.S. to blame for terrorism ¤ Liar, Liar... ¤ Demise of Iraqi Units Symbolic of U.S. Errors ¤ When even the French are targets ¤ CPS investigates 'friendly fire' death of soldier in Iraq Latest News Posted: Friday, September 24, 2004 ¤ Humiliated and Impotent, Every Iraqi is a Hostage Now ¤ Poor, Black, and Left Behind ¤ When He Eats Little, She Eats Less ¤ What Shall the Perplexed Voter Do? ¤ Kerry and Haiti ¤ Random Impressions from Palestine ¤ Keeping Up Appearances and Leaving Hostages to the Woves ¤ What's Wrong With John Kerry ¤ Iraq held hostage to terror ¤ The Deceivers ¤ GI In Iraq - 'This Whole War Was Based On Lies' ¤ What Kerry won't tell Americans ¤ Hostage drama casts shadow over Blair ¤ Humiliated and impotent, every Iraqi is a hostage now ¤ Cuba Seeking Support to End U.S. Embargo ¤ Anger, shame, and indifference ¤ Parallel Worlds ¤ Six die in Palestinian raid on Gaza army post ¤ Rumsfeld Raises Prospect of Limited Iraq Elections ¤ Torture and Rape Rampant in Iraq Prisons ¤ Hell ¤ Allawi, Bush & Cheney Are All Lying About Conditions in Iraq ¤ Bush at the U.N.: Sugarcoating Failure ¤ Israel says Iran No. 1 terrorism exporter ¤ Memo to Rick Santorum Re: Iran ¤ Confusion over Italian hostages: Two seperate groups claim beheading ¤ US aircraft, artillery fire pound Falluja ¤ Allawi's Congress speech draws flak ¤ Jeanne Threatens Fla., Ivan Pounds Texas ¤ Israeli woman killed in attack on settlement ¤ Turkey: One Step Forward, Two Back ¤ Afghanistan I: Back to warlords and opium ¤ Hizbollah condemns Allawi-Shalom handshake ¤ France pours cold water on Bush's sunny vision of Iraq ¤ U.S. Hand Seen in Afghan Election ¤ Who's hot - and who's not? Haiti Storm Death Toll Could Reach 2,000 Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2004 Death Toll From Haiti Floods Tops 1,070 and Could Double, As Health Concerns Worry Officials Workers dug new mass graves for corpses that still littered this flood-ravaged city Thursday as the death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne rose to more than 1,070 and residents grew increasingly agitated from a lack of food and drinkable water. Health workers feared an epidemic from the unburied bodies, raw sewage in drinking water and infections from injuries. About 250,000 were left homeless in Haiti's northwest province, which includes the port of Gonaives, from the weekend storm. Full Article : abcnews.go.com Latest News Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2004 ¤ Iraq has its sovereignty, but America is still running the show ¤ Pentagon to close 35 percent of overseas bases ¤ Carter: U.S. Presence Fuels Attacks ¤ Hamdi and the Phony War on Terrorism ¤ Children wounded in attack ¤ Frustrated US forces fail to win hearts and minds ¤ Bush’s UN Speech: Idealistic Rhetoric Hides Sinister Policies ¤ The Hollow World of George Bush ¤ Bush Must Answer for Iraq ¤ Gorbachev Says Iraq War 'Undermined' Law ¤ US Tactic In Fallujah: Bomb Cars - Then Bomb Rescuers ¤ Israeli journalist: Sharon has not dismantled a single outpost in West Bank ¤ Robert Mugabe accuses President Bush of acting like a 'political god' ¤ Globalization or Protectionism? ¤ Millions Blocked from Voting in U.S. Election ¤ Scepticism greets Allawi's Congress speech ¤ President Peter Pan ¤ Being fooled once by Bush was enough ¤ A flip and a flop and now just a flop. ¤ 21 die in Baghdad violence ¤ Palestinians Kill Three at Army Outpost ¤ Hostage's brother accuses US over freedom moves ¤ U.N. Official: 40 Nations Can Make Nukes ¤ And still the occupation ¤ New proof of Vietnam War atrocities ¤ President Bush’s United Nations ¤ Baghdad bomb targets police recruits ¤ Iraqi scientists detained despite lack of WMD ¤ At least 15 wounded during anti-fence protest ¤ US has no plans to attack Iran: Powell ¤ Bush poses Iraqi leader as a symbol of progress ¤ Europeans are not persuaded by Bush ¤ Haitian storm toll may pass 1,800 ¤ Death Toll From Haiti Floods Tops 1,070 ¤ Haiti flood toll tops 1000 ¤ US toll in Afghanistan rising ¤ Palestinian resistance hits Israeli army 700 Dead, 1,000 Missing from Haiti Flooding Posted: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Disaster relief operations are underway in Haiti, where about 700 people were killed and at least 1,000 are missing in flooding spawned by Tropical Storm Jeanne. Unidentified, bloated bodies are stacked inside morgues, and the slowly receding floodwaters are revealing additional corpses buried in the mud. Officials believe many others were swept out to sea. Official estimates are that at least 160,000 Haitians have been left homeless. Relief crews are finding it difficult to travel roads submerged by water or packed with mud. The U.N.'s World Food Program has sent a convoy of 12 trucks with supplies to the hard-hit city of Gonaives, and officials hope to start handing out food and medicine Wednesday. Full Article : voanews.com Twelve Venezuelans Killed Posted: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Twelve Venezuelans Killed by Irregular Forces Along Colombian Border Caracas, Sep.21, 2004 - Six more bodies have been found in Venezuela near the border with Colombia bringing to a total of 12 dead this weekend as a result of killings by unknown armed groups. The recent finding of three bodies on Sunday whose hands were tied behind their backs in what is surmised to have been executions have not been linked to an attack last Friday that killed 5 Venezuelan soldiers and 1 oil engineer and left 2 soldiers injured. However, three more bodies found yesterday strewn on a public road are believed to be those who participated in the attack on Friday according to police sources. The government of Venezuela, through the Minister of Defense, vowed to take "exceptional measures" in response to the attack. While investigations continue to identify the attackers, the Brigadier General, William Warrick Blanco, Commander of the military garrison of the border city of San Cristóbal did not speculate on who was behind the killings. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com Latest News Posted: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 ¤ The Story That Didn’t Run ¤ Defending Dan? Rather Not ¤ Elites Say the Darnedest Things... ¤ Faking a Difference ¤ If America were Iraq, What would it be Like? ¤ We're Being Scared to Death ¤ Truth to Power: Change Course in Iraq ¤ Blast as hostage's family begs Blair ¤ Third U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghan Clashes ¤ Pundits weigh in on Bush's UN speech ¤ U.S. Troops Who Visit Prostitutes May Face Harsh Penalties ¤ Two U.S. soldiers charged in the deaths of three Iraqis ¤ U.S. House Votes to Allow Family Visits to Cuba, Rebuffing Bush ¤ Suicide bombing, fierce fighting rock Baghdad ¤ CIA was 'just guessing' in report on Iraq ¤ War is peace ¤ And the Bushie Award goes to... ¤ Telling tales ¤ Crude dudes ¤ The US as benevolent hegemon ¤ The Real World vs. George Bush’s Reality ¤ Forgotten casualties ¤ Australia pulls rescue team from Iraq after hostage claim fades ¤ Car blasts rock western Baghdad ¤ Counting the civilian cost in Iraq ¤ 10 Killed, 92 Injured in Baghdad Clashes ¤ U.S. Refuses to Release Iraqi Prisoners ¤ Car bombs cause more carnage in Baghdad ¤ US counts cost of Afghanistan intervention ¤ Defiant Bush defends war in speech to UN ¤ Aid plea as Haiti death toll tops 700 ¤ Bush Dismisses Gloomy CIA Report on Iraq ¤ U.S. Now Taking Supporting Role in Iraq, Officials Say ¤ At U.N., Bush Cites Headway in Iraq ¤ Are we in Saidad or Baghgon? ¤ Invasion of Iraq 'has hit help for Darfur' ¤ Dyke contributed to his own downfall, counters BBC chief ¤ Iraq denies return to days of oil middlemen ¤ A 'Cut-and-Run' Decision Cooking? ¤ Iraqi prisons Torture Lies ¤ U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghan Attack ¤ Annan rebukes law-breaking nations ¤ Suicide Car Bomb in Baghdad Kills Six ¤ Look at the rifle in this hostage pic. ¤ Dozens killed in Baghdad car bomb ¤ Release plan may be too late to make a difference What's behind the horror in Sudan? Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 September 17, 2004 LAST WEEK, the Bush administration was forced to admit that a genocide is taking place in western Sudan--carried out by a regime that the U.S. had hoped to bring into its camp. Stories of the horror committed against the African farming villages in Sudan's Darfur region finally emerged in the U.S. media, but the U.S. government's interest is anything but compassionate. The finding of genocide is calculated to pressure the United Nations (UN) Security Council to threaten sanctions and force a UN inquiry that could lead to charges of war crimes. Council member China may block these actions, but plans, backed by the U.S., to enlarge an armed African Union force in Sudan will go forward. Full Article : socialistworker.org Latest News Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 ¤ Web Site: 2nd U.S. Hostage Killed in Iraq ¤ Iraq war was right, Bush tells UN ¤ Annan condemns US abuses in Iraq ¤ President Bush's speech to the UN ¤ The Magnitude of the Failure is Stunning ¤ Washington Stood By While Genocide Took Place ¤ How to Avoid Becoming an Anti-American ¤ From Bad to Worse ¤ Attacks continue to rock Iraq ¤ What is Bush Hiding? ¤ Iraqi militants claim Bush wants 'greater Israel' in Mideast ¤ What if Iraq Media Coverage was Scrutinized Like CBS Documents? ¤ Latin America Has Had Enough of Bush ¤ Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia Flashback ¤ US-UK Interventionism. The Hidden Agenda is Oil ¤ 'Volunteer for America: Get the truth out about George Bush' ¤ Symbionts And Parasites ¤ 'The last deception' ¤ The Greed Factor ¤ Turkish Company Freezes Iraq Operations ¤ 2 Marines Killed in Separate Iraq Attacks ¤ Kerry makes his stand on Iraq ¤ Allawi barking up the wrong tree ¤ The resort to force ¤ Bush haunted by the wrong Abu ¤ Al-Qaida would back Bush, says UK envoy ¤ Foreign Office retains lofty disdain of Bush ¤ Recruiting terrorists ¤ Leader rejects Blair 'second wave' claim ¤ Washington's embrace risks strangling UN ¤ The need to wrongfoot Saddam ¤ Violence will not halt Iraq elections, says Allawi ¤ Bush Aides Divided on Confronting Iran Over A-Bomb ¤ A strident minority: anti-Bush US troops in Iraq ¤ Cheney may have ‘stretched Iraq intelligence’ ¤ Donald Rumsfeld's logic is impeccable ¤ Hack's Target ¤ “If You Harbor Terrorists, You Are a Terrorist” ¤ Attention Deficit America ¤ Dumb Legislation ¤ US runs low on soldiers ¤ Is there a connection between Bush and makers of the voting machines? ¤ Kerry blasts Iraq invasion as historic failure ¤ Russia uses KGB playbook on press ¤ How Israeli security tries to win friends and influence people ¤ US 'in double attack' on Fallujah ¤ Goff likely to face Israel at UN debate ¤ Bush Scraps U.S. Trade Embargo on Libya ¤ Proliferation treaty ¤ Floods Kill More Than 600 People in Haiti ¤ Iraqi killed in Baquba explosion ¤ US to sell Israel 5000 smart bombs ¤ Syria redeploys its troops in Lebanon Death toll in Haiti rises to 600 Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 The death toll in Haiti has risen to about 600 after Tropical Storm Jeanne triggered floods as it swept across the island of Hispaniola over the weekend, officials said on Monday. Full Article : iafrica.com Floods Kill More Than 600 People in Haiti GONAIVES, Haiti - Bloated corpses and weeping relatives filled morgues in Haiti after Tropical Storm Jeanne left at least 622 people dead, another tragedy on this Caribbean island in a year marked by revolts, military interventions and deadly floods. The death toll was expected to rise. Full Article : yahoo.com Latest News Posted: Monday, September 20, 2004 ¤ Get Fallujah ¤ How They Forgave Us: Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Economy of Memory ¤ The Unfeeling President ¤ Commander-In-Chief's Bait-And-Switch ¤ Calling it an 'Illegal' War ¤ A Puzzling America ¤ Incident on Haifa Street ¤ Grieving Beslan residents suspect death toll cover-up ¤ Car bomb kills three in Iraq ¤ Great US weapons search turns up ... nothing ¤ Bush & Co.: War Crimes and Cover-Up ¤ It's the Iraqnophobia, stupid! ¤ Floods Kill at Least 241 in Haiti ¤ US confirms captive beheaded in Iraq ¤ Several killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza ¤ Daily US bombing raids seen as anticipating all-out Falluja attack ¤ Blair: we must win this new conflict ¤ Civilian casualties accentuate the bankruptcy of western promises ¤ Jiang quits in peaceful transition of power ¤ Republican senators sound the alarm over Iraq ¤ Classic guerrilla war forming in Iraq ¤ Does North Korea Have What Iraq Didn't? ¤ The Al Qaeda Candidate? ¤ Abu Ghraib: The Hidden Story ¤ A hierarchy of suffering ¤ Optimism in London, carnage in Iraq ¤ Bush and Blair: Secrets and Lies ¤ Attacks disillusion Marines ¤ Turkish drivers killed, others kidnapped north of Baghdad ¤ Israel to US: Now for Iran ¤ US Says 'Clock is Ticking' for Iran ¤ The U.S. weighs the price of a pre-emptive strike ¤ Embarrassing find ¤ Germany questions report Syria tested chemical weapons ¤ Why We Cannot Win ¤ Sharon Okays firing at residential areas if warning given in advance ¤ Former Bechtel consultant portrays Halliburton bidding process as a “sham” ¤ US 'loses' war games ¤ US dollar may devalue further ¤ 22 killed in Iraq violence ¤ Russia stuck in the Chechen quagmire ¤ Sudan will abide by ‘unfair’ UN resolution on Darfur ¤ US to Get a Taste of Its Own Medicine in November Elections ¤ Pentagon blocks site for voters outside U.S. ¤ Innocents die in 'precision' US attack ¤ Bush defiant in eye of Iraq storm ¤ Campaign Relief: The October Surprise ¤ Start of the Hu era as Jiang steps down ¤ Tropical Storm Kills at Least 90 in Haiti ¤ YUKOS export cut seen as PR action ¤ Israeli troops kill Palestinian near Gaza outpost ¤ Hamas chief wary of Israel's pullout Latest News Posted: Sunday, September 19, 2004 ¤ No respite for Falluja ¤ Iran rejects UN nuclear call ¤ Allawi: Iraq polls still set for January ¤ Bush Faces Global Critics at U.N. This Week ¤ 3 Dead, 7 Hurt in Iraq Suicide Car Blast ¤ Militants Behead 3 Militiamen in Iraq ¤ 'Georgie in Wonderland' ¤ Eclipsed in Iraq ¤ Israeli intelligence helped creating the fake Iraqi threat ¤ UK and US defy UN over Iraq election ¤ Where's the Anger? Where's the Rage? ¤ WAR IS A RACKET ¤ Israel asking USA to support definite annexation of occupied territories ¤ 2 Soldiers Among 21 Killed in Iraq Blasts ¤ Embassy confirms 10 kidnappings in Iraq ¤ Offer to Bush I’ll Pay for Your Vacation in Iraq or Afghanistan ¤ Britain to cut troop levels in Iraq ¤ Iraq hostages plead for their lives ¤ Iraq leak has Blair back in firing line ¤ Blame No 10's hubris and genial naivety ¤ When Tony met Kerry (in his dreams) ¤ Iraqis tell Britain: Release our prisoners or we kill hostage ¤ Thousands of UK troops may be sent to Afghanistan next year ¤ Kerry attacks Bush and Cheney's oil links ¤ We're back at war in Iraq, says general ¤ Bush warns of more violence in Iraq, Afghanistan ¤ Elections could be next major casualty as slaughter spills over ¤ Iran Says U.N. Nuclear Ban 'Illegal' ¤ Israelis Dupe Dumbya ''Let's Invade Iran Now George'' ¤ Israel to US: Now for Iran ¤ Powell says Iran aids Iraqi rebels Flashback ¤ When Sharon Says Jump Bush Says How High? ¤ U.S. Leaks Report of No Weapons in Iraq ¤ Causes of Dr Kelly's Death Thrown into Doubt ¤ Acknowledging war deaths now a political statement ¤ Ivan's storms still batter eastern states as death toll rises above 110 ¤ Whose Fault? ¤ 136 Gaza kids killed by Israel ¤ Chavez: Oil prices could hit $100 a barrel ¤ Car bomb kills 23 in Kirkuk ¤ Tarnished image of US within Islamic World ¤ Russia's new czar? ¤ Putin's reforms are undemocratic says governor ¤ Microwave gun to be used by US troops on Iraq rioters Latest News Posted: Saturday, September 18, 2004 ¤ Iraq had no WMD: the final verdict ¤ Bush Cites Hussein's Potential Weapons ¥ Still Lying ¤ Report: Iraq war was 'grudge match' ¤ Death toll for week tops 250 as suicide car bomber kills 13 ¤ Keep to the timetable ¤ U.S. Death Toll in Iraq at Least 52 This Month ¤ Bush concern at Afghan drug boom ¤ US says Iraq invasion was legal ¤ Find safety or leave Iraq, Britons warned ¤ Suicide bomber kills at least 21 in Kirkuk ¤ 'Fear & loathing with 45 days left' ¤ Geographical ignorance is off the charts ¤ US convoys attacked on Baghdad airport road ¤ Mounting concern in US, Europe over Iraq debacle ¤ America and the Global Ruling Class ¤ High Plains Grifter Part Six: Bush's Mask of Anarchy ¤ Putin strengthens his authoritarian regime ¤ Sharon threatens to kill Arafat ¤ How Scott Taylor Survived and Was Saved in Iraq ¤ Over 100 dead in violence ¤ Halliburton Is a Handy Target for Democrats ¤ Putin accuses 'complicit' West of harbouring Chechen terrorists ¤ Into the abyss ¤ Turkey snaps over US bombing of its bretheren ¤ Civilians caught in strikes ¤ Bush May See Cabinet Exodus if Re-Elected ¤ U.S. Vetoes of UN Resolutions Critical of Israel ¤ Iraqi Children work instead of going to school ¤ An Iraq Strategy to Reelect George Bush ¤ The lost cause ¤ Suicide Bomber Targets Iraqi Nat'l Guard ¤ Is the world a safer place? ¤ Group threatens to kill US, UK captives ¤ Saudi clerics reject US criticism Latest News Posted: Friday, September 17, 2004 ¤ Bush rejects bleak Iraq intelligence assessment ¤ Car bombing caps bloody week in Iraq ¤ Suicide car bomb kills 13 in Baghdad ¤ The Resort to Force ¤ Baghdad's Thriving Kidnapping Industry ¤ More deaths as US renews assault on Falluja ¤ Contradictor-In-Chief ¤ 'Yes, he are the president' ¤ 'Blurred vision' ¤ Dumb and Dumber ¤ Syria: Yet Another US “Enemy” To Muddy The Middle East Waters ¤ Meet the New Villain The Neo-cons Threaten Syria ¤ Israel's Demographics ¤ US to protect Israel at UN General Assembly ¤ Saudi clerics reject US criticism ¤ Over 100 dead in violence ¤ France backs Annan on 'illegal' Iraq war ¤ Bush concern at Afghan drug boom ¤ 44 killed as US pounds Falluja ¤ Car Bomb Hits Iraq Police Convoy; 5 Dead ¤ U.S. Weapons Inspector: Iraq Had No WMD ¤ US air raid toll mounts ¤ UN draft on Iran nuclear plan 'toned down' ¤ More deaths in Iraq as clashes continue ¤ Hugh Grant's got my vote ¤ Bush failed to plan for after war, report says ¤ US puts Lockerbie payouts in jeopardy ¤ Growing Consensus That Iraq Is Hopeless ¤ Faster, Neocons! Kill! Kill! ¤ Voters have no choice on Iraq ¤ Hegemony or Survival? ¤ The Most Important Terrorism Is ‘Ours’ ¤ Why West is losing ¤ I See Brain Dead People ¤ Israel, not Iran, is wild card in explosive Middle East pack ¤ US engages Africa in terror fight > The oil factor. > Indeed, the other major driver of US military interest in Africa is oil. > The US now gets about 15 percent of its oil from Africa. > In a decade that could rise to 25 percent. ¤ Israel's pipe dream: getting oil from Iraq ¤ Why is Israel so interested in building an oil pipeline ¤ U.S. gave cash to anti-Chavez groups ¤ Sir Isaac Newton and the Coming Invasion of Iran ¤ Bush's ideological blinders led to ill-advised war in Iraq ¤ America up against Iran ¤ US Occupation Shuffling Money Before Flushing It ¤ Who seized Simona Torretta? ¤ US soldiers shoot first, no questions asked ¤ The death and disorientation of the children of Gaza ¤ US warns RP fallout over Iraq must be the last ¤ 19 US Soldiers Killed in Iraq This Week ¤ President was told in July of civil war risk in Iraq ¤ The acid test of Bush's folly ¤ Iraqis want elections - and foreign troops to leave now ¤ The war was illegal ¤ At least 18 dead as Ivan hits US ¤ The death and disorientation of the children of Gaza ¤ Officer who rallied UK troops condemns 'cynical' Iraq war Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2004 The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal. Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN security council or in accordance with the UN's founding charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He replied: "Yes, if you wish." He then added unequivocally: "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal." Mr Annan has until now kept a tactful silence and his intervention at this point undermines the argument pushed by Tony Blair that the war was legitimised by security council resolutions. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Old Dog, Same Tricks? The CIA Then and Now Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2004 by Mark Engler and Jeremy Varon Fifty years ago, in June 1954, the Central Intelligence Agency committed one of the cardinal sins of US foreign policy. That month, the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, was deposed in a coup planned and coordinated by CIA operatives. Arbenz, a moderate, had proposed that uncultivated plots held by large landholders like the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) be distributed among poor farmers. Documents declassified in 1997 show that in response to this proposed reform the CIA, acting with the approval of President Eisenhower, led a propaganda campaign against Arbenz, sowed disloyalty in the Guatemalan military, and armed a rebel insurgency. For Guatemala, the coup would end a democratic "decade of spring," inaugurate 40 years of despotism and civil war, and pave the way for a genocidal assault on the country's indigenous Mayan populations in the1980s. It would have lasting consequences for the United States as well. Although the CIA was only 6 years old, the coup in Guatemala, coming on the heels of the agency's successful installation of the Shah in Iran in 1953, established a pattern of US support for anti-democratic governments during the Cold War. Not only did this support lead to countless violations of human rights, it also bred anti-Americanism and produced, in cases, disastrous long-term consequences for US policy-what the intelligence community calls "blowback." For decades, such misdeeds drew condemnation from human rights and solidarity activists, some of whom argued that the CIA should be abolished altogether. The fiftieth anniversary of the coup provides an important opportunity both to look back at the CIA's record and to ask, in a world of new and very real dangers, if anything has changed in the agency's behavior. Revelations about the CIA role both in the recent prisoner abuse scandal and in approving the case for war in Iraq raise important questions about the agency's activity in the post-9/11 era. In the wake of Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet's recent resignation and the release of the 9/11 Commission report, a new round of discussions about possible reforms of the agency has commenced, making ever more urgent a consideration of what it would take to truly change US intelligence operations for the better. Cheering US Spies Several developments regarding the CIA in the past two years have tempted us to applaud the agency. The CIA-famously called a "rogue elephant" by congressional investigators in the 1970s-has often seemed conspicuously absent from the gallery of roguish operatives responsible for the reckless "war on terror" and the deepening catastrophe in Iraq. Indeed, as the Bush administration's case about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction has unraveled, many progressives-ourselves included-have found themselves acting as unexpected champions of American spies. We cheered the mid-level intelligence officers who spoke out against the faulty and misrepresented information that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq, much of which came out of special offices in the Department of Defense. We denounced the criminal outing of CIA-officer Valerie Plame by two "senior administration officials," a cold act of political revenge for her husband's criticism of the President's lies and a stern message to other dissenters. ("Naming names" can severely cripple Agency functions. CIA dissident Philip Agee, doing just that in the early 1970s, forced the entire reorganization of Latin American operations.) And we reacted with appreciative surprise when the CIA's Richard Kay, in an admirable fit of candor, told Congress that the hunt for WMD was fruitless. (Who among reasoned skeptics-given the CIA's history of forging documents and planting weapons-hadn't feared that the US would fabricate the existence of banned weapons in Iraq?) Finally, even leftists might wish that the CIA was better at its tasks, including covert operations, when wondering if a successful, clandestine "hit" on Osama Bin Laden wouldn't have spared the sorrows of 9/11 and have been ultimately preferable to the troublesome US invasion of Afghanistan. Based on our reaction to the Plame outing alone, concerned friends and political opponents have been asking, "Since when have you been such big fans of the CIA?" It is a good question. However, qualified support for select agency staff and the recognition of post-9/11 dangers should not obscure other, damning ways in which old patterns of CIA behavior remain unbroken. Mission Creep It is important, before filling in the bigger picture with regard to Iraq, to clarify the distinction between proper and improper use of US intelligence agencies. The CIA was created in 1947 by the National Security Act. Its original charge was to gather and analyze information about America's foreign enemies and thus enable the president, the Pentagon, and Congress to respond to existing and potential threats. Among its founding premises is that it is advantageous for elected officials-whatever their party or ideology-to make decisions based on solid facts and informed speculations rather than on misconceptions or recklessly false alarms. To this extent, information gathering is theoretically an apolitical endeavor. It is why intelligence agencies are staffed with career civil servants, not rotating appointees loyal to a particular administration. It is naïve, however, to think that real-world intelligence has worked this way. Virtually since its inception, the CIA strayed beyond its mandate and began to clandestinely manipulate the domestic politics of foreign countries. The earliest such operations were to ensure the electoral defeat of communists in France and Italy in 1948. Decades of far dirtier political work followed. The CIA overthrew democratically elected leaders not just in Guatemala, but in the Congo (1960), Chile (1973), and elsewhere. It launched protracted and bloody counter-insurgency operations in places like Vietnam and El Salvador. And, in pursuit of short-term goals, it made monsters over which it ultimately lost control, such as the Muhajadeen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, which included the likes of Osama bin Laden. In each case, the agency acted with little public awareness or congressional oversight. Inappropriate CIA spying, in a story now clouded in the US media by amnesia and self-censorship, also contributed mightily to the current mess in Iraq. Throughout 1998, international arms inspectors met with stonewalling on the part of Saddam Hussein. Hussein refused to cooperate with UN teams, charging that these teams were filled with "American spies and agents." Whatever his ulterior motives for making such claims, it turns out that Hussein was right. On February 2, 1999, the Washington Post reported that the US had "infiltrated agents and espionage equipment for three years into United Nations arms control teams in Iraq to eavesdrop on the Iraqi military without the knowledge of the UN agency." Similar reports appeared in The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Remarkably, these papers backed away from their own stories during the recent build-up to war, characterizing as "allegations" what they once reported as fact. One can despise Hussein and still recognize that, like all rulers, he had an interest in sustaining his power. Thus, it was entirely predictable that he would not react kindly to covert efforts at his undoing. UNSCOM dissident Scott Ritter, for one, appreciated this simple logic. He noted that CIA spying violated the letter and spirit of the inspections. He walked away from UNSCOM and cried foul. The US and not Hussein, he insisted, had broken the deal. For saying this, he was savaged by the Bush administration and ridiculed by the media. The removal of the inspectors proved disastrous. With them gone, the world had only a murky picture of the status of Iraqi WMD, paving the way for the Bush administration's vaporous, bellicose, and ultimately fatuous claims of the "grave and gathering" Iraqi threat. Approving the Case for War The CIA, on closer inspection, also played a vital role in making the phony case for war. Whatever the probity of lower-level analysts, recently resigned Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet-the CIA official who ultimately calls the shots-backed the administration on claims about Iraqi WMD when it mattered most. Tenet admits to signing off on Bush's infamous statement in the January 2002 State of the Union address that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow cake uranium from the African nation of Niger. Weeks later, Tenet sat at Colin Powell's side as the Secretary made his case before the UN. Most damning, Bob Woodward now reports that Tenet told Bush he had a "slam dunk" case on WMD, despite the President's alleged skepticism when hearing that case in the Oval Office from senior CIA analysts. Bush finalized the decision to go to war just days later. Such callow subservience from the Director of Central Intelligence is, unfortunately, nothing new. The mostly costly-and painfully relevant-past case is Vietnam. As early as 1965, the mid-level analyst Sam Adams systematically showed that America's main foe, the Viet Cong, had far greater numbers and popular support in South Vietnam than President Johnson, his war planners, or even CIA Director Richard Helms had cared to appreciate. The dire implication was that proposed troop escalations would provide only more cannon fodder for an enemy too big and determined to defeat. Intelligence Officer Ralph McGehee similarly found communists everywhere in the border states of Laos and Thailand. These honorable and almost quaintly patriotic men, rather than being listened to and rewarded by their superiors, were ignored and demoted. McGehee, after being canned from his post in Thailand, attended a briefing by William Colby, the head of the CIA's euphemistically titled Civilian Operations and Rural Development Support Team in Vietnam (and Helms's successor as CIA Director), in Saigon in 1968. McGehee witnessed a nightmarish scene in which the CIA's top men, trading figures about "VC Kills" and meaningless intelligence reports, appeared unwilling or unable to stop fighting a fruitless and immoral war. At his most anguished, McGehee writes in his 1983 memoir Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA, he contemplated hanging a banner reading "Fuck the CIA" or "the CIA lies" from the roof of the agency's Saigon headquarters and throwing himself off. We can only guess if the deceptive case for war in Iraq has led to similar despair within the CIA's lower ranks. Whatever the case, the agency appears to be implicated in the most recent and most ugly scandal to emerge from the US occupation. Photos of abuses at Iraq's Abu Graib prison recall other nefarious aspects of the CIA's conduct in Vietnam. In a counter-insurgency effort named "Operation Phoenix" the CIA for years oversaw the systematic imprisonment, abuse, and killing of Viet Cong suspects. Rife with arbitrary detentions of innocents and score-settling by unscrupulous South Vietnamese operatives, the Operation degenerated into what one observer called a "counter-productive bloodbath" that claimed as many as 40,000 lives. On May 11, Maj. General Taguba confirmed in testimony before the Senate that CIA officers were involved in controversial interrogations at Abu Graib. Taguba did not elaborate, however, on their conduct. On the one hand it appears that the agency, in Iraq and elsewhere, may have been less reckless and abusive than teams operating under Donald Rumsfeld. Taguba's testimony came just days before Seymour Hersh's story that the Secretary of Defense had set up a Special Access Program (SAP) to handle, among other things, sensitive interrogations in Iraq. Compounding the raging internal conflict between the Department of Defense and the CIA (which may well have contributed to Tenet's resignation), the SAP was composed of teams which operated outside the CIA and which ultimately earned the agency's stern objections. On the other hand, it is clear that the CIA bears significant culpability in the international scandal. On May 12 The New York Times reported the claims of an Afghani man who said he was subject to physical abuse and sexual sadism at the hands of CIA officials while imprisoned last June. The Washington Post confirmed the same week the existence of a CIA-run global gulag in which hundreds of suspects in the "war on terror" are held in far-flung ultra-secret locations beyond the bounds of oversight and, one may fear, any credible standard of humane conduct. A full account of the CIA's role in the torture scandal awaits further journalistic and congressional investigations. Abolishing the CIA? While the CIA has yet to take heat for these abuses, intelligence failures about the 9/11 plot and WMDs in Iraq have produced some discussion about how US intelligence agencies might be reformed. The release of two reports about the CIA, as well as the report from the 9-11 Commission report, further ratcheted up such talk. The resignation of George Tenet also amplified mainstream calls for reform. But current prescriptions tend to call only for the reshuffling of certain administrative responsibilities and for bureaucratic shifts to allow for greater coordination between agencies like the CIA, the FBI and the military intelligence bureaus. Such changes will not deal with the core, historic problems: lack of oversight, the politicization of intelligence, and the use of covert operations by the executive for immoral purposes. These problems create the need for critical reexamination of the CIA's original mission. Observers have expressed the concern that the CIA, in effect, makes foreign policy immune to external checks, or at the very least serves as a tool of presidential discretion. For years, the CIA's sense of the holiness of its mission and attending obsession with secrecy muted these concerns. During the Cold War, when anti-communism had the status of a crusade, the CIA saw itself as a super-patriotic elect, vested with the solemn duty of protecting the republic. Their message was essentially, "If you knew what we know about the dangers of the world, you would act as we do. For reasons of national security, however, you can know neither what we know nor what we do. You'll have to trust us." By and large, the public did, and the CIA's doctrine of "plausible deniability" successfully parried periodic allegations of wrongdoing. It took a litany of grim revelations in the 1970s about the CIA's conduct-from assassination attempts, to illegal domestic spying, to the training of death squads-to shatter this trust and force serious reconsideration of the CIA's functioning. McGehee concluded from his years of service, "the CIA is not now nor has ever been a central intelligence agency. It is the covert action arm of the President's foreign policy advisers. In this capacity it supports or overthrows foreign governments while reporting 'intelligence' justifying those activities." Moderate critics worked to make the approval of covert operations and oversight process more rigorous-reforms largely undone under President Ronald Reagan, again plunging the agency into scandal. September 11, 2001, in a tragic flash, gave the CIA a new over-arching purpose-to defend the US against a global terrorist enemy-and restored its bruised reputation. Once again, the CIA posed as the vanguard force in protecting the American way of life. An attitude of blind trust in the agency and the President's use of it again became the norm. Bush and the CIA itself have begun to undermine that trust. In this context progressives, surveying the agency's grim past and fearing the worst for the future, may again simply advocate the abolition of the CIA. But since this demand is very unlikely to be met in the current political climate, it should not substitute for more immediate short-term calls to ensure, at a minimum, that US intelligence agencies offer credible information immune to political manipulation, respect human rights, and avoid alienating the international community. On the intelligence side, the US needs a process for the neutral assessment of national security risks-a screen or buffer between the CIA and the executive to prevent more deadly deceits. Even mainstream lawmakers acknowledge that the current stakes are simply too high to have intelligence manipulated for private agendas or partisan aims. (False claims of threats, for example, may lead the world to accuse the US of crying wolf when real ones emerge.) With regard to covert operations, Congress must withdraw the blank check it gave the President after 9/11 to make war how, where, and when he sees fit, with virtually no accountability. Explicit awareness of the CIA's shameful human rights record must be a central part of evaluating the agency's operations. In the post-9/11 era, we have painfully relearned that blind trust and the pernicious idea that the imperative of national security justifies anything done in its name is a recipe for political and moral disaster. -- Mark Engler, a writer based in New York City, can be reached via the web site www.DemocracyUprising.com. Jeremy Varon is the author of "Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies." Research assistance for this article provided by Jason Rowe. This articles was reproduced to this site from commondreams.org, by consent of the author. Pan-African Parliament Opens in South Africa Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2004 Mbeki: 'Africa's time has come!' Africans look to the Pan African Parliament (PAP) to help them escape from poverty and underdevelopment, South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday. "The masses do not need anybody to inform them about their conditions and the history they have had to endure," he told the opening of the PAP's second sitting at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. "They want you, their elected representatives, to give them the possibility to control their institutions. They want you ... to help them to change their material conditions so that they escape from the jaws of poverty and their countries and continent from the clutches of underdevelopment." The eyes of Africa will be focused on the PAP as it carries out its work during this second sitting -- from Friday to October 7, Mbeki said. Full Article : mg.co.za Latest News Posted: Thursday, September 16, 2004 ¤ Baghdad Bloodbath ¤ The photos from Abu Ghraib ¤ This Iraqi Kidnapping has the Mark of an Undercover Police Operation ¤ Far Graver Than Vietnam ¤ 9/11 Plus Three - The Trail Grows Cold While the War Heats Up ¤ Do we Really Need to Relearn Lessons of Japanese American Internment? ¤ Insurgents in Iraq appear more powerful than ever ¤ First Lady's Speech Interrupted By Dead Soldier's Mother ¤ US soldier's mother vents fury at Laura Bush ¤ US media covers up American war crimes in Iraq ¤ Making call on sham of political polling ¤ Iraq is full of WMD ¤ Ten Things I Hate About Bush ¤ Help me out. I just don't understand . . . ¤ 'The man with the Bushit touch' ¤ Refocus on the the big picture ¤ The burden of being a superpower ¤ US death toll continues to rise in Iraq ¤ Mbeki: 'Africa's time has come!' ¤ Meet the New Villain ¤ Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan ¥ This is a too little too late Annan ¤ Karzai Cancels Afghan Trip Due to Rocket ¤ Briton 'kidnapped in Baghdad' ¤ US bounty hunter who locked up and tortured Afghans jailed for 10 years ¤ Ivan Makes Landfall on Alabama Coast ¤ Bush rebukes move by Putin to limit Russian democracy ¥ Russia is simply doing what the U.S and Israel has always done ¤ Far graver than Vietnam ¤ Senators slam administration on Iraq ¤ 22 killed in Iraq violence ¤ Israeli troops kill 10 Palestinians in West Bank ¤ Beating the sanctions ¤ George W. Bush - Cheating At Every Turn ¤ Speeches ignore impending U.S. debt disaster ¤ Democracy, Antidote to Terrorism? ¤ When I was a child, I believed in America ¤ Watching China rise over Southeast Asia ¤ Kiwi troops coming home ¤ Leave Iraq or Be Expelled ¤ Lebanon the Wrong Model for Iraq ¤ The wrong path ¤ A Kosher-Stamp on Murder ¤ US gives conflicting accounts of rocket attack that killed 13 dead ¤ Highest single-day Palestinian death toll in the West Bank in 2 years ¤ Press Reports on U.S. Casualties: About 17,000 Short African jail is the right place for heir behind a failed coup Posted: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Simon Mann, heir to the Watney's beer fortune, graduate of Eton and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, former cofounder of Executive Outcomes, a leading mercenary outfit in Africa in the '90s, currently resident at Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, believes that "a large splodge of wonga" (a large amount of money) would spare him most of the seven-year term to which he was sentenced last Friday. A number of his co-conspirators apparently believe the same. They just don't get it. The conspiracy was classic African stuff: a planeload of mercenaries flying across Africa, picking up a consignment of weapons as they went, to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny dictatorship that is Africa's third-largest oil exporter. Full Article : startribune.com Reproduced on: Africa Speaks Forum Latest News Posted: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 ¤ Three Beheaded Bodies Found in Iraq ¤ U.S Bombing of Baghdad market Catoon ¤ The Start of History ¤ Old Dog, Same Tricks? The CIA Then and Now ¤ The Al Qaeda Candidate? ¤ Moroccan FM calls for urgent intervention to make Israel abide by int. law ¤ In Iraq's wasteland, total chaos looms ¤ Russia rejects Powell's criticism, joins forces with Israel ¤ US Snipers Said Killing Iraqi Women, Kids, Medical Teams ¤ Israel Wants $350 Million From US For New Bases ¤ Deficit. What Deficit? ¤ Cloud hangs over Anwar coverage ¤ China to veto US draft on Sudan sanctions ¤ Musharraf reneges on single post pledge ¤ Nablus, Jenin raids kill Palestinians ¤ Bush to divert Iraq rebuilding cash ¤ African jail is the right place for heir behind a failed coup ¤ Thatcher lawyers challenge Africa coup questioning ¤ Africa isn’t the same anymore ¤ Iraq: a descent into civil war? ¤ Aftershock and awe ¤ A week of bloodshed ¤ Crude prices rise as hurricane and Iraq hurt production ¤ Hell on Haifa Street: bomb kill |