|
Local Actions and Campaigns: Good Anti-War Calendars: Next BAUAW Meeting: |
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Saturday, October 16, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
END THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ! BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
NOV. 3RD-5PM-POWELL AND MARKET-MARCH TO 24TH & MISSION ST., S.F.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
VOTE YES ON N! MEETING THURS. OCT. 22 & OCT. 28, 7PM,
GLOBAL EXCHANGE, 2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
MEET AT BOCANA AND CORTLAND STS.-SUNDAY, OCT. 17TH, 11AM
Help give out Prop. N and Nov. 3 flyers and posters!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) * PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY * APOLOGIES FOR DUPLICATE POSTINGS*
You are invited to the East Bay premier of an important new film:
"EVERY MOTHER'S SON"
Followed by a panel discussion on police violence
to benefit the No on Measure Y Campaign
Friday, October 22, 8 Â 10 pm
at the Fellowship of Humanity
390 Â 27th Street/411 Â 28th Street,
Downtown Oakland, between Telegraph & Broadway
Suggested donation: $5 - $10; no one turned away for lack of funds
2) WEEKEND OF ACTION
FOR IMMIGRANT & LABOR RIGHTS
Saturday, October 16, Los Angeles
& Sunday, October 17, Washington D.C.
3) Hello Everyone,
Please forward and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to see you at the movie!
Please tell your friends.
With Creator's Blessings,
Jaynie
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
4) Israeli Army Denies Jewish and Left Activists Entry
to help WB Farmers in Olive Harvest
George Rishmawi-IMEMC & Agencies, October 16, 2004
5) Truth Stranger Than 'Strangelove'
By FRED KAPLAN
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/movies/10kapl.html?oref=login
6) Shooting From the Hip: Kerry Out-Guns Bush
By Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 15, 2004
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct04/Frank1015.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) * PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY * APOLOGIES FOR DUPLICATE POSTINGS*
You are invited to the East Bay premier of an important new film:
"EVERY MOTHER'S SON"
Followed by a panel discussion on police violence
to benefit the No on Measure Y Campaign
Friday, October 22, 8 Â 10 pm
at the Fellowship of Humanity
390 Â 27th Street/411 Â 28th Street,
Downtown Oakland, between Telegraph & Broadway
Suggested donation: $5 - $10; no one turned away for lack of funds
"Every Mother's Son" recounts three cases of unjustified or questionable
police killings in New York - and tells of the victims three mothers who
came together to demand justice and accountability. Are such killings
acceptable or necessary trade-offs for public safety? In reply, the mothers
have their own question: What if it were your child?
A panel presentation following the film will feature Mesha Monge-Irizarry
and Sandra-Juanita Cooper, who founded the Idress Stelly Foundation
after Mesha's only child, Idriss Stelly, was killed by San Francisco Police
on June 14, 2001, Marylon Boyd, the mother of Cammerin Boyd, a victim
of police violence in both Oakland and San Francisco, and Malaika Parker
of Bay Area PoliceWatch.
Wilson Riles will make a brief presentation on behalf of the
No on Measure Y campaign.
Measure Y, the misleadingly-named "Violence Prevention and Public
Safety Act of 2004,"puts funding police ahead of funding social
programs. Measure Y will spend a majority of funds raised through
a regressive new parcel tax and increased parking fees to hire 63 new
police officers and increase the fire department budget, while to a much
lesser extent funding true violence prevention programs.
No on Measure Y, 3746 39th Avenue, Oakland, CA 94619
http://noonmeasurey.org
510-530-2448; wriles@pacbell.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WEEKEND OF ACTION
FOR IMMIGRANT & LABOR RIGHTS
Saturday, October 16, Los Angeles
& Sunday, October 17, Washington D.C.
As working people plan to take to the streets this weekend at the
Million Worker March in Washington DC on Sunday October 17, and
at the Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 16,
it is worthwhile to consider two breaking news stories that indicate vividly
the organic connection between domestic and foreign policy.
1) A U.S. federal judge just ordered that U.S. Airways can cut the pay and
pension benefits of its union workers by 21%. This in fact is a lawless act
violating a union contract on behalf of corporate bosses. As the cold comes
and fuel costs are through the roof, U.S. Airways workers will see their
incomes drop drastically while they must perform the same labor for the
same hours, as will retirees on pension.
2) A platoon of U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq, functioning as workers in
uniform and transporting fuel in resupply lines, have refused to carry out
the orders of their officers and have been placed under arrest. A report in
the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, MS, states, "A 17-member Army Reserve
platoon with troops from Jackson, Miss., and around the Southeast
deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a 'suicide mission' to deliver
fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday." The soldiers were ordered to
transport fuel in unprotected vehicles through an area of Iraq north of
Baghdad where they knew they would be subject to the Iraqi resistance's
attacks. One of the soldiers had e-mailed his mother earlier in the week
asking what the penalty would be for physically assaulting his commander.
Working people in the United States are recognizing that the Bush
administration has launched a war in Iraq solely to satisfy the needs of
their corporate and banking backers to dominate and exploit the land,
labor and resources of the people of the Middle East. It is not possible
that the government which attacks workers rights at home can fight for
the "liberation" of working people abroad. This is a profit first, people
last
government and it pursues the same policy all over the globe starting
right here at home. The same government is willing to allow the super
exploitation of undocumented workers one day, and the next day have
them rounded up in INS/ICE sweeps if they dare to organize themselves
into a union. The same government that takes billions from working
people to spend on war and occupation tells those working people in
that there is no money for human needs at home.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges everyone who can to unite and join
the mass protests on October 16th and October 17th. Please see below
for details.
It is due to the generosity of supporters that A.N.S.W.E.R. has been able
to have such a powerful voice at this critical moment in history. Your
support is urgently needed. You can make a donation online through a
secure server by clicking here. Credit card donations made online are
not tax deductible. To make a tax deductible credit card donation,
call 202-544-3389. You can also make a tax deductible donation
by writing a check to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ and sending it to
A.N.S.W.E.R., 1247 E St. SE, Washington DC 20003.
* * * * *
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March
in Washington DC
Gather at 11 am
Lincoln Memorial
According to the Million Worker March Committee, "This mobilization
is being proposed in response to the attacks upon working families
in America and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration
and with the complicity of Congress." The march is also calling to
Bring the Troops Home Now.
Initiated by The International Longshore and Warehouse Union,
Local 10 and endorsed by many labor, community and activist
organizations.
Click here to get information on the LOGISTICS FOR
OCT. 17 IN DC - including directions, bus drop off /
parking / pick up, car and van parking maps, housing, etc.).
Demands of the Million Worker March:
- Universal single-care health care from cradle to grave that ends
the stranglehold of greedy insurance companies and secures health
care as a right of all people in America.
- A national living wage that lifts people permanently out of poverty.
- Protection and enhancement of Social Security immune to privatization.
- Guaranteed pensions that sustain a decent life for all working people.
- The cancellation of all corporate "free" trade agreements, including
NAFTA, MAI and FTAA.
- An end to privatization, contracting out, deregulation and the pitting
of workers against each other across national boundaries in a mad
race to the bottom.
- For workers' right to organize and for a repeal of Taft Hartley and all
anti-labor legislation.
- Funding public education in a crash program to restore our decaying
and abandoned schools with state of the art school facilities in every
community.
- Funding a vast army of teachers to end functional illiteracy in America
and unleash the talent and potential of our abandoned children and adults.
- Launching a national training program in skills and capacities that will
enlist our people in rebuilding our country and putting an end to both the
criminalization of poverty and the prison-industrial complex.
- Rebuilding our decaying inner cities with clean, modern and affordable
housing and eliminating homelessness in America with guaranteed housing
and jobs for all.
- Progressive taxation that increases taxation on corporations and the
rich while providing relief for the working class and poor.
- An end to the poisoning of the atmosphere, soil, water and food supply
with a national emergency program to restore the environment, end global
warming and preserve our endangered eco-system.
- Creating efficient, modern and free mass transit in every city and town.
- Repeal of the Patriot Act, Anti-Terrorism Act and all such repressive
legislation.
- Slash the military budget and recover the trillions of dollars stolen from
our labor to enrich the corporations that profit from war.
- Open the books on the secret budgets of the Pentagon and the
intelligence agencies in the service of corporations and banks and the
pursuit of imperial war on the poor everywhere.
- Extend democracy to our economic structure so that all decisions
affecting the lives of our citizens are made by working people who
produce all value through their labor.
- An aggressive enforcement of all civil rights and a national education
campaign and mobilization against all racist and discriminatory acts
in the work place and in our communities.
- Amnesty for all undocumented workers
- Increase in federal funding for the Arts in public schools
- For a democratic media that allow labor and all voices to be heard
and oppose monopolization and union busting of media workers.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Hello Everyone,
Please forward and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to see you at the movie!
Please tell your friends.
With Creator's Blessings,
Jaynie
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
A fundraiser for BAAITS
B A A I T S
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits
BAAITS is a community based volunteer organization
creating forums for spiritual, cultural, and
artistic expression of Two-Spirit people, a term
for LGBT American Indians.
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
WHEN: Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
WHERE: New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
A fundraiser for BAAITS
Co-sponsored by The Center for Education and
Social Action at
New College of California
RAFFLE!!!! FOOD!!! plus SOFT DRINKS!!!!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Israeli Army Denies Jewish and Left Activists Entry
to help WB Farmers in Olive Harvest
George Rishmawi-IMEMC & Agencies, October 16, 2004
The Israeli army denied entry to over 100 Israeli left activists to the
village of Azawiyah near Salfit who came to assist Palestinian olive growers
in olive harvest on Saturday morning.
The army claimed the West Bank village a closed military zone and will not
allow the activists to enter it, Israeli news paper Haaretz said.
Three left activists have been arrested so far.
"The army said it feared a violent confrontation would ensue between the
pro-Palestinian groups and settlers living in the nearby settlement of Eli,"
Haaretz said.
However, eyewitness reports in earlier attempts for activists to assist
Palestinians in olive harvest said, settlers initiated violence and
assaulted Palestinians and international peace activists as well.
Military sources say they have suggested that the activists help picking
olives in areas where there is no threat of clashes with settlers but the
activists refused.
Left activists explain that they are invited by the Palestinians to help
them pick olive especially in areas adjacent to settlements to avoid any
friction with the settlers.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has launched a campaign in which
it invited international peace activists from different parts of the world
to assist Palestinian farmers in olive harvest, a campaign
the movement organizes since 2002.
Hundreds of activists arrived into the country in the past three years for
the Olive Harvest campaign organized by the ISM. Several internationals have
been assaulted by settlers who attacked the Olive growers.
The settlers stepped up their attacks against international peace activists
in the past few weeks.
While Israeli police declared that attacks against peace activists and
innocent Palestinian civilians, especially school children, in the Hebron
area was the work of a well organized settlers' gang, army says
"As soon as the peace activists are gone, things will calm down".
Five international peace activists were attacked last Saturday when
escorting Palestinian children to school in the southern Hebron hills,
An Italian peace volunteer and an Amnesty International member required
medical treatment after being badly beaten with clubs.
This is the third attack against peace activists in Hebron area in the past
month.
According to police reports, the attacks were not spontaneous outbreaks of
violence, but rather the work of a well-organized group,
whose members wear black, don ski masks and arm themselves with wooden
clubs, chains and rocks.
Jewish settlers in the area have long been harassing Palestinian residents.
Palestinian children are afraid to go to school and many have dropped out.
"We were escorting five children to school, when five masked figures
dressed in black jumped out at us. The children began to run. I was knocked
down and beat with a chain. I lay immobile so they would think
I was dead" said Kim Lamberty, an American volunteer with Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT), describing the first attack against members of her
organization on September 29.
Lamberty's arm and leg were broken. Her colleague Chris Brown was also
hospitalized with a punctured lung. Also last week, rocks were thrown by a
similar group at a single volunteer, who managed to escape unharmed
"Until recently we were subjected to stone-throwing and spontaneous
actions, but not a planned ambush," says Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for
Human Rights, an Israeli peace organization active in the area.
Left activists also complain about police and army indifference to the
attacks.
"We lay waiting there for half an hour before the police came. We could
have easily been killed," says Lamberty.
"No suspects have been detained yet. if the assailants were Arabs they would
have arrested the whole village and found the guilty parties" said Ezra
Nawi, an activist with the Israeli peace group Ta'ayush.
The army commander in Hebron area demanded that the internationa volunteers
leave, promising that soldiers would take over the job of escorting the
children safely to school. But Palestinian children are afraid of the
soldiers. "We don't trust the army to keep up the routine either," Nawi
said.
Police spokesman Sagi Shlomi claimed that the police was taking the attacks
very seriously, describing the attackers as "a subversive group that has
carried out aggravated assault offenses and robbery."
Army spokesperson confirmed that peace activists who accompany children to
schools will not be allowed to pass, saying "As soon as the peace activists
are gone, things will calm down,"
"Punishing the victim is becoming the normal policy through which army and
police handle settlers' violence and criminal acts" aan actyivist said.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Truth Stranger Than 'Strangelove'
By FRED KAPLAN
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/movies/10kapl.html?oref=login
Dr. Strangelove," Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film about nuclear-war plans
run amok, is widely heralded as one of the greatest satires in American
political or movie history. For its 40th anniversary, Film Forum is
screening a new 35 millimeter print for one week, starting on Friday,
and Columbia TriStar is releasing a two-disc special-edition DVD next
month. One essential point should emerge from all the hoopla:
"Strangelove" is far more than a satire. In its own loopy way, the
movie is a remarkably fact-based and specific guide to some of the
oddest, most secretive chapters of the Cold War.
As countless histories relate, Mr. Kubrick set out to make a serious film
based on a grim novel, "Red Alert," by Peter George, a Royal Air Force
officer. But the more research he did (reading more than 50 books,
talking with a dozen experts), the more lunatic he found the whole
subject, so he made a dark comedy instead. The result was wildly
iconoclastic: released at the height of the cold war, not long after the
Cuban missile crisis, before the escalation in Vietnam, "Dr. Strangelove"
dared to suggest - with yucks! - that our top generals might be bonkers
and that our well-designed system for preserving the peace was in fact
a doomsday machine.
What few people knew, at the time and since, was just how accurate
this film was. Its premise, plotline, some of the dialogue, even its
wildest characters eerily resembled the policies, debates and military
leaders of the day. The audience had almost no way of detecting these
similiarities:Nearly everything about the bomb was shrouded in
secrecy back then. There was no Freedom of Information Act and
little investigative reporting on the subject. It was easy to laugh off
"Dr. Strangelove" as a comic book.
But film's weird accuracy is evident in its very first scene, in which
a deranged base commander, preposterously named Gen. Jack D. Ripper
(played by Sterling Hayden), orders his wing of B-52 bombers - which
are on routine airborne alert, circling a "fail-safe point" just outside the
Soviet border - to attack their targets inside the U.S.S.R. with
multimegaton
bombs. Once the pilots receive the order, they can't be diverted unless
they receive a coded recall message. And 0nly General Ripper has the code.
The remarkable thing is, the fail-safe system that General Ripper
exploits was the real, top-secret fail-safe system at the time. According to
declassified Strategic Air Command histories, 12 B-52's - fully loaded
with nuclear bombs - were kept on constant airborne alert. If they
received a Go code, they went to war. This alert system, known as
Chrome Dome, began in 1961. It ended in 1968, after a B-52 crashed
in Greenland, spreading small amounts of radioactive fallout.
But until then, could some loony general have sent bombers to attack
Russia without a presidential order? Yes.
In a scene in the "war room" (a room that didn't really exist, by the way),
Air Force Gen. Buck Turgidson (played by George C. Scott) explains to an
incredulous President Merkin Muffley (one of three roles played by Peter
Sellers) that policies - approved by the president - allowed war powers to
be
transferred, in case the president was killed in a surprise nuclear attack
on
Washington.
Historical documents indicate that such procedures did exist, and that,
though tightened later, they were startlingly loose at the time.
But were there generals who might really have taken such power in their
own hands? It was no secret - it would have been obvious to many
viewers in 1964 - that General Ripper looked a lot like Curtis LeMay,
the cigar-chomping, gruff-talking general who headed the Strategic
Air Command through the 1950's and who served as the Pentagon's
Air Force Chief of Staff in the early 60's.
In 1957 Robert Sprague, the director of a top-secret panel, warned
General LeMay that the entire fleet of B-52 bombers was vulnerable
to attack. General LeMay was unfazed. "If I see that the Russians are
amassing their planes for an attack,'' he said, "I'm going to knock the
[expletive] out of them before they take off the ground."
"But General LeMay," Mr. Sprague replied, "that's not national policy."
"I don't care," General LeMay said. "It's my policy. That's what I'm
going to do."
Mr. Kubrick probably was unaware of this exchange. (Mr. Sprague told
me about it in 1981, when I interviewed him for a book on nuclear
history.) But General LeMay's distrust of civilian authorities, including
presidents, was well known among insiders, several of whom Mr. Kubrick
interviewed.
The most popular guessing game about the movie is whether there
a real-life counterpart to the character of Dr. Strangelove (another
Sellers part), the wheelchaired ex-Nazi who directs the Pentagon's
weapons research and proposes sheltering political leaders in
mineshafts, where they can survive the coming nuclear war and
breed with beautiful women. Over the years, some have speculated
that Strangelove was inspired by Edward Teller, Henry Kissinger or
Werner Von Braun.
But the real model was almost certainly Herman Kahn, an eccentric,
voluble nuclear strategist at the RAND Corporation, a prominent
Air Force think tank. In 1960, Mr. Kahn published a 652-page tome
called "On Thermonuclear War," which sold 30,000 copies in hardcover.
According to a special-feature documentary on the new DVD, Mr.
Kubrick read "On Thermonuclear War" several times. But what the
documentary doesn't note is that the final scenes of "Dr. Strangelove"
come straight out of its pages.
Toward the end of the film, officials uncover General Ripper's code
and call back the B-52's, but they notice that one bomber keeps
flying toward its target. A B-52 is about to attack the Russians with
a few H-bombs; General Turgidson recommends that we should
"catch 'em with their pants down,'' and launch an all-out, disarming
first-strike.
Such a strike would destroy 90 percent of the U.S.S.R.'s nuclear
arsenal. "Mr. President," he exclaims, "I'm not saying we wouldn't
get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10-20 million killed,
tops!" If we don't go all-out, the general warns, the Soviets will fire
back with all their nuclear weapons. The choice, he screams, is
"between two admittedly regrettable but nevertheless distinguishable
postwar environments - one where you get 20 million people killed
and the other where you get 150 million people killed!" Mr. Kahn
made precisely this point in his book, even producing a chart labeled,
"Tragic but Distinguishable Postwar States."
When Dr. Strangelove talks of sheltering people in mineshafts,
President Muffley asks him, "Wouldn't this nucleus of survivors be
so grief-stricken and anguished that they'd, well, envy the dead?"
Strangelove exclaims that, to the contrary, many would feel "a spirit
of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead."
Mr. Kahn's book contains a long chapter on mineshafts. Its title: "Will
the Survivors Envy the Dead?" One sentence reads: "We can imagine a
renewed vigor among the population with a zealous, almost religious
dedication to reconstruction."
In 1981, two years before he died, I asked Mr. Kahn what he thought
of "Dr. Strangelove." Thinking I meant the character, he replied, with
a straight face, "Strangelove wouldn't have lasted three weeks in the
Pentagon. He was too creative."
Those in the know watched "Dr. Strangelove" amused, like everyone
else, but also stunned. Daniel Ellsberg, who later leaked the Pentagon
Papers, was a RAND analyst and a consultant at the Defense Department
when he and a mid-level official took off work one afternoon in 1964
to see the film. Mr. Ellsberg recently recalled that as they left the
theater,
he turned to his colleague and said, "That was a documentary!"
Fred Kaplan is a columnist for Slate and the author of "The Wizards of
Armageddon," a history of the nuclear strategists.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Shooting From the Hip: Kerry Out-Guns Bush
By Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 15, 2004
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct04/Frank1015.htm
{From: "Barbara Deutsch"
Subject: how do we defend ourselves from this?
At 4:10 AM -0700 10/15/04, Sunil/Dissident Voice wrote:
The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on
the wickedness and weakness of human nature...Emma Goldman}
It may seem inconceivable to some, but John Kerry is indeed out-
hawking George W. Bush this election season. No doubt we should
have seen it coming as the Democratic National Convention was
nothing more than a glorified war parade, where Kerry floated on
by and reprehensibly announced that he was "reporting for duty."
Since this obscure proclamation in Boston last summer, Kerry has
been trouncing around the country defending his call for the
continued U.S. occupation of Iraq. In the first presidential debate held
in Florida two weeks ago, Kerry boasted of his numerous military
backers, "I am proud that important military figures are supporting
me in this race: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John
Shalikashvili; just yesterday, General Eisenhower's son, General
John Eisenhower, endorsed me; General Admiral William Crowe;
General Tony McBeak, who ran the Air Force war so effectively for
his father -- all believe I would make a stronger commander in chief."
William Safire, the conservative columnist for the New York Times
on October 4 opined that Kerry is the "newest neo-conservative" and
went as far as to say that Kerry is even "more hawkish than
President Bush."
Kerry wants to show voters that he will be tough on terror,
I assume, and he is doing so by defending Bush's pre-emptive
doctrine. "The president always has the right, and always has
had the right, for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine
throughout the Cold War. And it was always one of the things we
argued about with respect to arms control."
So much for differentiating himself from the Bush agenda. If anything,
Kerry is simply saying he could run this whole "war on terror" thing
better, and in fact has said as much. "[I] will hunt and kill the terrorists
wherever they are ... I can do better." Kerry also says he will accomplish
his goal by not backing off "of Fallujah and other places," which he
says sends "the wrong message to terrorists."
So much for options. Now lefty voters are being told by the Nobody
but Kerry crowd that we have to vote for their pro-war candidate.
There is no other choice. Period. That makes me wonder: What ever
happened to the anti-war movement anyway? You'd think they would
be out raising some hell over Kerry's hawkish pose on Iraq. Maybe
these seasoned activists took a much needed vacation after the
Republican National Convention (why weren't they in Boston railing
the Democrats again?). Or, more likely they are skipping door to
door trumping the John-John ticket. Talk about hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, as the masses across the U.S. are obsessing over the
upcoming elections, violence is escalating in Iraq. "The situation on
the ground in Iraq is far worse than what is portrayed by the media,"
journalist Patrick Cockburn wrote on October 6 in CounterPunch.
"I have spent most of the past year-and-a-half traveling in Iraq, and
I have never known it so bad. The roads all around Baghdad are cut
by insurgents. At Mahmoudiyah, just south of the capital, rebels in
black masks felt confident enough last week to establish a checkpoint
on the main road to Najaf. In Baghdad, U.S. planes regularly bomb
Sadr City, home to 2 million out of the capital's 5 million people.
Haifa Street, a resistance bastion 400 yards from the Green Zone
where American generals give relentlessly upbeat briefings, can
only be entered by U.S. heavy armour supported by helicopters."
Nevertheless, here we have John Kerry "reporting for duty." You
shouldn't be surprised, though. He said the same thing decades ago
when he volunteered to go fight in that other awful war over in Vietnam.
Save his short burst of anti-war heroism upon his return -- the guy
has always been a hawk.
Joshua Frank is a contributor to CounterPunch's new election book,
A Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils , and is
author of the forthcoming book, Left Out! How Liberals Did Bush's
Work for Him , to be published by Common Courage Press.
He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com .
END THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ! BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
NOV. 3RD-5PM-POWELL AND MARKET-MARCH TO 24TH & MISSION ST., S.F.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
VOTE YES ON N! MEETING THURS. OCT. 22 & OCT. 28, 7PM,
GLOBAL EXCHANGE, 2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
MEET AT BOCANA AND CORTLAND STS.-SUNDAY, OCT. 17TH, 11AM
Help give out Prop. N and Nov. 3 flyers and posters!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) * PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY * APOLOGIES FOR DUPLICATE POSTINGS*
You are invited to the East Bay premier of an important new film:
"EVERY MOTHER'S SON"
Followed by a panel discussion on police violence
to benefit the No on Measure Y Campaign
Friday, October 22, 8 Â 10 pm
at the Fellowship of Humanity
390 Â 27th Street/411 Â 28th Street,
Downtown Oakland, between Telegraph & Broadway
Suggested donation: $5 - $10; no one turned away for lack of funds
2) WEEKEND OF ACTION
FOR IMMIGRANT & LABOR RIGHTS
Saturday, October 16, Los Angeles
& Sunday, October 17, Washington D.C.
3) Hello Everyone,
Please forward and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to see you at the movie!
Please tell your friends.
With Creator's Blessings,
Jaynie
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
4) Israeli Army Denies Jewish and Left Activists Entry
to help WB Farmers in Olive Harvest
George Rishmawi-IMEMC & Agencies, October 16, 2004
5) Truth Stranger Than 'Strangelove'
By FRED KAPLAN
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/movies/10kapl.html?oref=login
6) Shooting From the Hip: Kerry Out-Guns Bush
By Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 15, 2004
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct04/Frank1015.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) * PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY * APOLOGIES FOR DUPLICATE POSTINGS*
You are invited to the East Bay premier of an important new film:
"EVERY MOTHER'S SON"
Followed by a panel discussion on police violence
to benefit the No on Measure Y Campaign
Friday, October 22, 8 Â 10 pm
at the Fellowship of Humanity
390 Â 27th Street/411 Â 28th Street,
Downtown Oakland, between Telegraph & Broadway
Suggested donation: $5 - $10; no one turned away for lack of funds
"Every Mother's Son" recounts three cases of unjustified or questionable
police killings in New York - and tells of the victims three mothers who
came together to demand justice and accountability. Are such killings
acceptable or necessary trade-offs for public safety? In reply, the mothers
have their own question: What if it were your child?
A panel presentation following the film will feature Mesha Monge-Irizarry
and Sandra-Juanita Cooper, who founded the Idress Stelly Foundation
after Mesha's only child, Idriss Stelly, was killed by San Francisco Police
on June 14, 2001, Marylon Boyd, the mother of Cammerin Boyd, a victim
of police violence in both Oakland and San Francisco, and Malaika Parker
of Bay Area PoliceWatch.
Wilson Riles will make a brief presentation on behalf of the
No on Measure Y campaign.
Measure Y, the misleadingly-named "Violence Prevention and Public
Safety Act of 2004,"puts funding police ahead of funding social
programs. Measure Y will spend a majority of funds raised through
a regressive new parcel tax and increased parking fees to hire 63 new
police officers and increase the fire department budget, while to a much
lesser extent funding true violence prevention programs.
No on Measure Y, 3746 39th Avenue, Oakland, CA 94619
http://noonmeasurey.org
510-530-2448; wriles@pacbell.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WEEKEND OF ACTION
FOR IMMIGRANT & LABOR RIGHTS
Saturday, October 16, Los Angeles
& Sunday, October 17, Washington D.C.
As working people plan to take to the streets this weekend at the
Million Worker March in Washington DC on Sunday October 17, and
at the Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 16,
it is worthwhile to consider two breaking news stories that indicate vividly
the organic connection between domestic and foreign policy.
1) A U.S. federal judge just ordered that U.S. Airways can cut the pay and
pension benefits of its union workers by 21%. This in fact is a lawless act
violating a union contract on behalf of corporate bosses. As the cold comes
and fuel costs are through the roof, U.S. Airways workers will see their
incomes drop drastically while they must perform the same labor for the
same hours, as will retirees on pension.
2) A platoon of U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq, functioning as workers in
uniform and transporting fuel in resupply lines, have refused to carry out
the orders of their officers and have been placed under arrest. A report in
the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, MS, states, "A 17-member Army Reserve
platoon with troops from Jackson, Miss., and around the Southeast
deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a 'suicide mission' to deliver
fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday." The soldiers were ordered to
transport fuel in unprotected vehicles through an area of Iraq north of
Baghdad where they knew they would be subject to the Iraqi resistance's
attacks. One of the soldiers had e-mailed his mother earlier in the week
asking what the penalty would be for physically assaulting his commander.
Working people in the United States are recognizing that the Bush
administration has launched a war in Iraq solely to satisfy the needs of
their corporate and banking backers to dominate and exploit the land,
labor and resources of the people of the Middle East. It is not possible
that the government which attacks workers rights at home can fight for
the "liberation" of working people abroad. This is a profit first, people
last
government and it pursues the same policy all over the globe starting
right here at home. The same government is willing to allow the super
exploitation of undocumented workers one day, and the next day have
them rounded up in INS/ICE sweeps if they dare to organize themselves
into a union. The same government that takes billions from working
people to spend on war and occupation tells those working people in
that there is no money for human needs at home.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges everyone who can to unite and join
the mass protests on October 16th and October 17th. Please see below
for details.
It is due to the generosity of supporters that A.N.S.W.E.R. has been able
to have such a powerful voice at this critical moment in history. Your
support is urgently needed. You can make a donation online through a
secure server by clicking here. Credit card donations made online are
not tax deductible. To make a tax deductible credit card donation,
call 202-544-3389. You can also make a tax deductible donation
by writing a check to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ and sending it to
A.N.S.W.E.R., 1247 E St. SE, Washington DC 20003.
* * * * *
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March
in Washington DC
Gather at 11 am
Lincoln Memorial
According to the Million Worker March Committee, "This mobilization
is being proposed in response to the attacks upon working families
in America and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration
and with the complicity of Congress." The march is also calling to
Bring the Troops Home Now.
Initiated by The International Longshore and Warehouse Union,
Local 10 and endorsed by many labor, community and activist
organizations.
Click here to get information on the LOGISTICS FOR
OCT. 17 IN DC - including directions, bus drop off /
parking / pick up, car and van parking maps, housing, etc.).
Demands of the Million Worker March:
- Universal single-care health care from cradle to grave that ends
the stranglehold of greedy insurance companies and secures health
care as a right of all people in America.
- A national living wage that lifts people permanently out of poverty.
- Protection and enhancement of Social Security immune to privatization.
- Guaranteed pensions that sustain a decent life for all working people.
- The cancellation of all corporate "free" trade agreements, including
NAFTA, MAI and FTAA.
- An end to privatization, contracting out, deregulation and the pitting
of workers against each other across national boundaries in a mad
race to the bottom.
- For workers' right to organize and for a repeal of Taft Hartley and all
anti-labor legislation.
- Funding public education in a crash program to restore our decaying
and abandoned schools with state of the art school facilities in every
community.
- Funding a vast army of teachers to end functional illiteracy in America
and unleash the talent and potential of our abandoned children and adults.
- Launching a national training program in skills and capacities that will
enlist our people in rebuilding our country and putting an end to both the
criminalization of poverty and the prison-industrial complex.
- Rebuilding our decaying inner cities with clean, modern and affordable
housing and eliminating homelessness in America with guaranteed housing
and jobs for all.
- Progressive taxation that increases taxation on corporations and the
rich while providing relief for the working class and poor.
- An end to the poisoning of the atmosphere, soil, water and food supply
with a national emergency program to restore the environment, end global
warming and preserve our endangered eco-system.
- Creating efficient, modern and free mass transit in every city and town.
- Repeal of the Patriot Act, Anti-Terrorism Act and all such repressive
legislation.
- Slash the military budget and recover the trillions of dollars stolen from
our labor to enrich the corporations that profit from war.
- Open the books on the secret budgets of the Pentagon and the
intelligence agencies in the service of corporations and banks and the
pursuit of imperial war on the poor everywhere.
- Extend democracy to our economic structure so that all decisions
affecting the lives of our citizens are made by working people who
produce all value through their labor.
- An aggressive enforcement of all civil rights and a national education
campaign and mobilization against all racist and discriminatory acts
in the work place and in our communities.
- Amnesty for all undocumented workers
- Increase in federal funding for the Arts in public schools
- For a democratic media that allow labor and all voices to be heard
and oppose monopolization and union busting of media workers.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Hello Everyone,
Please forward and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to see you at the movie!
Please tell your friends.
With Creator's Blessings,
Jaynie
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
A fundraiser for BAAITS
B A A I T S
Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits
BAAITS is a community based volunteer organization
creating forums for spiritual, cultural, and
artistic expression of Two-Spirit people, a term
for LGBT American Indians.
Native American Two-Spirit Film Night
WHEN: Thursday, October 21, 7p.m.
WHERE: New College of California, Theatre Room
777 Valencia Street @19th Street, San Francisco
Public Parking: 21st at Valencia
A fundraiser for BAAITS
Co-sponsored by The Center for Education and
Social Action at
New College of California
RAFFLE!!!! FOOD!!! plus SOFT DRINKS!!!!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Israeli Army Denies Jewish and Left Activists Entry
to help WB Farmers in Olive Harvest
George Rishmawi-IMEMC & Agencies, October 16, 2004
The Israeli army denied entry to over 100 Israeli left activists to the
village of Azawiyah near Salfit who came to assist Palestinian olive growers
in olive harvest on Saturday morning.
The army claimed the West Bank village a closed military zone and will not
allow the activists to enter it, Israeli news paper Haaretz said.
Three left activists have been arrested so far.
"The army said it feared a violent confrontation would ensue between the
pro-Palestinian groups and settlers living in the nearby settlement of Eli,"
Haaretz said.
However, eyewitness reports in earlier attempts for activists to assist
Palestinians in olive harvest said, settlers initiated violence and
assaulted Palestinians and international peace activists as well.
Military sources say they have suggested that the activists help picking
olives in areas where there is no threat of clashes with settlers but the
activists refused.
Left activists explain that they are invited by the Palestinians to help
them pick olive especially in areas adjacent to settlements to avoid any
friction with the settlers.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has launched a campaign in which
it invited international peace activists from different parts of the world
to assist Palestinian farmers in olive harvest, a campaign
the movement organizes since 2002.
Hundreds of activists arrived into the country in the past three years for
the Olive Harvest campaign organized by the ISM. Several internationals have
been assaulted by settlers who attacked the Olive growers.
The settlers stepped up their attacks against international peace activists
in the past few weeks.
While Israeli police declared that attacks against peace activists and
innocent Palestinian civilians, especially school children, in the Hebron
area was the work of a well organized settlers' gang, army says
"As soon as the peace activists are gone, things will calm down".
Five international peace activists were attacked last Saturday when
escorting Palestinian children to school in the southern Hebron hills,
An Italian peace volunteer and an Amnesty International member required
medical treatment after being badly beaten with clubs.
This is the third attack against peace activists in Hebron area in the past
month.
According to police reports, the attacks were not spontaneous outbreaks of
violence, but rather the work of a well-organized group,
whose members wear black, don ski masks and arm themselves with wooden
clubs, chains and rocks.
Jewish settlers in the area have long been harassing Palestinian residents.
Palestinian children are afraid to go to school and many have dropped out.
"We were escorting five children to school, when five masked figures
dressed in black jumped out at us. The children began to run. I was knocked
down and beat with a chain. I lay immobile so they would think
I was dead" said Kim Lamberty, an American volunteer with Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT), describing the first attack against members of her
organization on September 29.
Lamberty's arm and leg were broken. Her colleague Chris Brown was also
hospitalized with a punctured lung. Also last week, rocks were thrown by a
similar group at a single volunteer, who managed to escape unharmed
"Until recently we were subjected to stone-throwing and spontaneous
actions, but not a planned ambush," says Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for
Human Rights, an Israeli peace organization active in the area.
Left activists also complain about police and army indifference to the
attacks.
"We lay waiting there for half an hour before the police came. We could
have easily been killed," says Lamberty.
"No suspects have been detained yet. if the assailants were Arabs they would
have arrested the whole village and found the guilty parties" said Ezra
Nawi, an activist with the Israeli peace group Ta'ayush.
The army commander in Hebron area demanded that the internationa volunteers
leave, promising that soldiers would take over the job of escorting the
children safely to school. But Palestinian children are afraid of the
soldiers. "We don't trust the army to keep up the routine either," Nawi
said.
Police spokesman Sagi Shlomi claimed that the police was taking the attacks
very seriously, describing the attackers as "a subversive group that has
carried out aggravated assault offenses and robbery."
Army spokesperson confirmed that peace activists who accompany children to
schools will not be allowed to pass, saying "As soon as the peace activists
are gone, things will calm down,"
"Punishing the victim is becoming the normal policy through which army and
police handle settlers' violence and criminal acts" aan actyivist said.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Truth Stranger Than 'Strangelove'
By FRED KAPLAN
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/movies/10kapl.html?oref=login
Dr. Strangelove," Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film about nuclear-war plans
run amok, is widely heralded as one of the greatest satires in American
political or movie history. For its 40th anniversary, Film Forum is
screening a new 35 millimeter print for one week, starting on Friday,
and Columbia TriStar is releasing a two-disc special-edition DVD next
month. One essential point should emerge from all the hoopla:
"Strangelove" is far more than a satire. In its own loopy way, the
movie is a remarkably fact-based and specific guide to some of the
oddest, most secretive chapters of the Cold War.
As countless histories relate, Mr. Kubrick set out to make a serious film
based on a grim novel, "Red Alert," by Peter George, a Royal Air Force
officer. But the more research he did (reading more than 50 books,
talking with a dozen experts), the more lunatic he found the whole
subject, so he made a dark comedy instead. The result was wildly
iconoclastic: released at the height of the cold war, not long after the
Cuban missile crisis, before the escalation in Vietnam, "Dr. Strangelove"
dared to suggest - with yucks! - that our top generals might be bonkers
and that our well-designed system for preserving the peace was in fact
a doomsday machine.
What few people knew, at the time and since, was just how accurate
this film was. Its premise, plotline, some of the dialogue, even its
wildest characters eerily resembled the policies, debates and military
leaders of the day. The audience had almost no way of detecting these
similiarities:Nearly everything about the bomb was shrouded in
secrecy back then. There was no Freedom of Information Act and
little investigative reporting on the subject. It was easy to laugh off
"Dr. Strangelove" as a comic book.
But film's weird accuracy is evident in its very first scene, in which
a deranged base commander, preposterously named Gen. Jack D. Ripper
(played by Sterling Hayden), orders his wing of B-52 bombers - which
are on routine airborne alert, circling a "fail-safe point" just outside the
Soviet border - to attack their targets inside the U.S.S.R. with
multimegaton
bombs. Once the pilots receive the order, they can't be diverted unless
they receive a coded recall message. And 0nly General Ripper has the code.
The remarkable thing is, the fail-safe system that General Ripper
exploits was the real, top-secret fail-safe system at the time. According to
declassified Strategic Air Command histories, 12 B-52's - fully loaded
with nuclear bombs - were kept on constant airborne alert. If they
received a Go code, they went to war. This alert system, known as
Chrome Dome, began in 1961. It ended in 1968, after a B-52 crashed
in Greenland, spreading small amounts of radioactive fallout.
But until then, could some loony general have sent bombers to attack
Russia without a presidential order? Yes.
In a scene in the "war room" (a room that didn't really exist, by the way),
Air Force Gen. Buck Turgidson (played by George C. Scott) explains to an
incredulous President Merkin Muffley (one of three roles played by Peter
Sellers) that policies - approved by the president - allowed war powers to
be
transferred, in case the president was killed in a surprise nuclear attack
on
Washington.
Historical documents indicate that such procedures did exist, and that,
though tightened later, they were startlingly loose at the time.
But were there generals who might really have taken such power in their
own hands? It was no secret - it would have been obvious to many
viewers in 1964 - that General Ripper looked a lot like Curtis LeMay,
the cigar-chomping, gruff-talking general who headed the Strategic
Air Command through the 1950's and who served as the Pentagon's
Air Force Chief of Staff in the early 60's.
In 1957 Robert Sprague, the director of a top-secret panel, warned
General LeMay that the entire fleet of B-52 bombers was vulnerable
to attack. General LeMay was unfazed. "If I see that the Russians are
amassing their planes for an attack,'' he said, "I'm going to knock the
[expletive] out of them before they take off the ground."
"But General LeMay," Mr. Sprague replied, "that's not national policy."
"I don't care," General LeMay said. "It's my policy. That's what I'm
going to do."
Mr. Kubrick probably was unaware of this exchange. (Mr. Sprague told
me about it in 1981, when I interviewed him for a book on nuclear
history.) But General LeMay's distrust of civilian authorities, including
presidents, was well known among insiders, several of whom Mr. Kubrick
interviewed.
The most popular guessing game about the movie is whether there
a real-life counterpart to the character of Dr. Strangelove (another
Sellers part), the wheelchaired ex-Nazi who directs the Pentagon's
weapons research and proposes sheltering political leaders in
mineshafts, where they can survive the coming nuclear war and
breed with beautiful women. Over the years, some have speculated
that Strangelove was inspired by Edward Teller, Henry Kissinger or
Werner Von Braun.
But the real model was almost certainly Herman Kahn, an eccentric,
voluble nuclear strategist at the RAND Corporation, a prominent
Air Force think tank. In 1960, Mr. Kahn published a 652-page tome
called "On Thermonuclear War," which sold 30,000 copies in hardcover.
According to a special-feature documentary on the new DVD, Mr.
Kubrick read "On Thermonuclear War" several times. But what the
documentary doesn't note is that the final scenes of "Dr. Strangelove"
come straight out of its pages.
Toward the end of the film, officials uncover General Ripper's code
and call back the B-52's, but they notice that one bomber keeps
flying toward its target. A B-52 is about to attack the Russians with
a few H-bombs; General Turgidson recommends that we should
"catch 'em with their pants down,'' and launch an all-out, disarming
first-strike.
Such a strike would destroy 90 percent of the U.S.S.R.'s nuclear
arsenal. "Mr. President," he exclaims, "I'm not saying we wouldn't
get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10-20 million killed,
tops!" If we don't go all-out, the general warns, the Soviets will fire
back with all their nuclear weapons. The choice, he screams, is
"between two admittedly regrettable but nevertheless distinguishable
postwar environments - one where you get 20 million people killed
and the other where you get 150 million people killed!" Mr. Kahn
made precisely this point in his book, even producing a chart labeled,
"Tragic but Distinguishable Postwar States."
When Dr. Strangelove talks of sheltering people in mineshafts,
President Muffley asks him, "Wouldn't this nucleus of survivors be
so grief-stricken and anguished that they'd, well, envy the dead?"
Strangelove exclaims that, to the contrary, many would feel "a spirit
of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead."
Mr. Kahn's book contains a long chapter on mineshafts. Its title: "Will
the Survivors Envy the Dead?" One sentence reads: "We can imagine a
renewed vigor among the population with a zealous, almost religious
dedication to reconstruction."
In 1981, two years before he died, I asked Mr. Kahn what he thought
of "Dr. Strangelove." Thinking I meant the character, he replied, with
a straight face, "Strangelove wouldn't have lasted three weeks in the
Pentagon. He was too creative."
Those in the know watched "Dr. Strangelove" amused, like everyone
else, but also stunned. Daniel Ellsberg, who later leaked the Pentagon
Papers, was a RAND analyst and a consultant at the Defense Department
when he and a mid-level official took off work one afternoon in 1964
to see the film. Mr. Ellsberg recently recalled that as they left the
theater,
he turned to his colleague and said, "That was a documentary!"
Fred Kaplan is a columnist for Slate and the author of "The Wizards of
Armageddon," a history of the nuclear strategists.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Shooting From the Hip: Kerry Out-Guns Bush
By Joshua Frank
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 15, 2004
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct04/Frank1015.htm
{From: "Barbara Deutsch"
Subject: how do we defend ourselves from this?
At 4:10 AM -0700 10/15/04, Sunil/Dissident Voice wrote:
The greater the mental charlatan, the more definite his insistence on
the wickedness and weakness of human nature...Emma Goldman}
It may seem inconceivable to some, but John Kerry is indeed out-
hawking George W. Bush this election season. No doubt we should
have seen it coming as the Democratic National Convention was
nothing more than a glorified war parade, where Kerry floated on
by and reprehensibly announced that he was "reporting for duty."
Since this obscure proclamation in Boston last summer, Kerry has
been trouncing around the country defending his call for the
continued U.S. occupation of Iraq. In the first presidential debate held
in Florida two weeks ago, Kerry boasted of his numerous military
backers, "I am proud that important military figures are supporting
me in this race: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John
Shalikashvili; just yesterday, General Eisenhower's son, General
John Eisenhower, endorsed me; General Admiral William Crowe;
General Tony McBeak, who ran the Air Force war so effectively for
his father -- all believe I would make a stronger commander in chief."
William Safire, the conservative columnist for the New York Times
on October 4 opined that Kerry is the "newest neo-conservative" and
went as far as to say that Kerry is even "more hawkish than
President Bush."
Kerry wants to show voters that he will be tough on terror,
I assume, and he is doing so by defending Bush's pre-emptive
doctrine. "The president always has the right, and always has
had the right, for preemptive strike. That was a great doctrine
throughout the Cold War. And it was always one of the things we
argued about with respect to arms control."
So much for differentiating himself from the Bush agenda. If anything,
Kerry is simply saying he could run this whole "war on terror" thing
better, and in fact has said as much. "[I] will hunt and kill the terrorists
wherever they are ... I can do better." Kerry also says he will accomplish
his goal by not backing off "of Fallujah and other places," which he
says sends "the wrong message to terrorists."
So much for options. Now lefty voters are being told by the Nobody
but Kerry crowd that we have to vote for their pro-war candidate.
There is no other choice. Period. That makes me wonder: What ever
happened to the anti-war movement anyway? You'd think they would
be out raising some hell over Kerry's hawkish pose on Iraq. Maybe
these seasoned activists took a much needed vacation after the
Republican National Convention (why weren't they in Boston railing
the Democrats again?). Or, more likely they are skipping door to
door trumping the John-John ticket. Talk about hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, as the masses across the U.S. are obsessing over the
upcoming elections, violence is escalating in Iraq. "The situation on
the ground in Iraq is far worse than what is portrayed by the media,"
journalist Patrick Cockburn wrote on October 6 in CounterPunch.
"I have spent most of the past year-and-a-half traveling in Iraq, and
I have never known it so bad. The roads all around Baghdad are cut
by insurgents. At Mahmoudiyah, just south of the capital, rebels in
black masks felt confident enough last week to establish a checkpoint
on the main road to Najaf. In Baghdad, U.S. planes regularly bomb
Sadr City, home to 2 million out of the capital's 5 million people.
Haifa Street, a resistance bastion 400 yards from the Green Zone
where American generals give relentlessly upbeat briefings, can
only be entered by U.S. heavy armour supported by helicopters."
Nevertheless, here we have John Kerry "reporting for duty." You
shouldn't be surprised, though. He said the same thing decades ago
when he volunteered to go fight in that other awful war over in Vietnam.
Save his short burst of anti-war heroism upon his return -- the guy
has always been a hawk.
Joshua Frank is a contributor to CounterPunch's new election book,
A Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils , and is
author of the forthcoming book, Left Out! How Liberals Did Bush's
Work for Him , to be published by Common Courage Press.
He welcomes comments at frank_joshua@hotmail.com .
Friday, October 15, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2004
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
C-Span will be covering the national Million Worker March
in Washington D.C.
The coverage will be from 12:00 Noon
October 17, 2004 EST until the end of the rally.
It will also be recorded by WPFW-Pacifica but will be replayed later.
If you can, please record it.
To get more info go to www.millionworkermarch.org
10/17: Immigrant Workers Tent at Million Workers March,
Washington DC
10 AM - 4 PM
Lincoln Monument
Contact: Lee Siu Hin
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Tel: (626)695-3405
e-mail: siuhin@aol.com
Daniel Vila
Tel: (212)663-6872
e-mail: Vila4000@hotmail.com
Please come to join with us at our Immigrant Workers Tent
on the historical Oct 17 Million Workers March in Washington D.C.,
we demands: Immigrant workers rights, legalization, social justice
and ethnic unity.
We will include tabling and presentation, Also the strategy meeting
for immigrant solidarity campaigns for 2005.
If you are immigrant workers, human rights and social justice
organizations and would like to request a space at our tent
please contact Lee Siu Hin, Tel: (626)695-3405,
e-mail: siuhin@aol.com
For more information about the Million Workers March, please visit:
http://www.millionworkermarch.org/
People! United! We'll Never be Defeated!
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 21 & 28, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
Fundraising Party for Prop N!
 Music  Refreshments  Speakers
Saturday, October 16, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Dr. @ Golden Gate Park)
San Francisco
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),Howard Wallace (Vice Pres.,
SF Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Anne Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink,
Matt Gonzalez, (President, S.F. Board of Supervisors)
and others
VOTE YES ON N!
Proposition N on the San Francisco ballot says: "Shall it be City
policy to urge the United States government to withdraw all
troops from Iraq and bring all military personnel in Iraq back
to the United States."
As the first city to vote to end the occupation and bring the
troops home, San Francisco can take a stand and help lead the
way for other cities to do the same.
SF BAY GUARDIAN ENDORSEMENT: YES ON N!
"San Francisco emerged as the epicenter of the antiwar protests
in the United States when Bush first began bombing Iraq based
on false pretenses. Now San Francisco has the opportunity to take
a similar lead on the electoral front. Proposition N would make it
official San Francisco policy to urge the federal government to
withdraw all troops and military personnel from Iraq. Backers
hope passing Prop. N might help build political momentum against
the Bush administration's ongoing war in Iraq, as other municipalities
follow suit. It's a tactic borrowed from the Vietnam years. And it
should be implemented now too."
SF Bay Guardian, Oct. 6 - Oct. 12 2004Â Vol. 39, No. 01
* THE COMPLETE LIST OF ENDORSERS IS THE LAST ITEM ON THIS EMAIL
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
Hijacking Catastrophe 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire
with Paul George, Director, Peace and Justice Center
(http://www.peaceandjustice.org)
Monday, Oct 18, 7:30 pm
Unitarian Univeralist Church,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto
$5-$10, suggested donation (no one turned away)
More Info: http://www.worldcentric.org
Examines how a radical fringe of the Republican Party has used
the trauma of the 9/11 terror attacks to advance a pre-existing
agenda to radically transform American foreign policy while rolling
back civil liberties and social programs at home. The documentary
places the Bush Administration's false justifications for war in Iraq
within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neoconservatives
to dramatically increase military spending in the wake of the Cold War,
and to expand American power globally by means of military force...
"By helping us understand how fear is being actively cultivated and
manipulated by the current administration, Hijacking Catastrophe
stands to become an explosive and empowering information weapon
in this decisive year in U.S. history." Naomi Klein
64 mins, 2004
Monday night film series is a joint production of:
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center http://www.peaceandjustice.org
Peace Umbrella of Unitarian Universalist Church http://www.uucpa.org
World Centric http://www.worldcentric.org
Please forward...
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
*** please forward *** please forward widely *** please forward
Books Not Bars presents:
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
************************************
"SYSTEM FAILURE:
VIOLENCE, ABUSE & NEGLECT IN CYA"
at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland
************************************
TUESDAY OCTOBER 19th -- 7PM
Grand Lake Theater
3200 Grand Avenue, Oakland
Free! (suggested donation $5-10)
Come see our new 30-minute, grassroots-driven documentary
that breaks down the current scandal in California's youth prison
system  and how the state can solve it.
Books Not Bars teamed up with the ground-breaking group
WITNESS ( http://www.witness.org ) to make this film, and now
you can see the WORLD PREMIERE!
CYA is notorious as the most abusive youth prison system in the
nation. Find out why in exclusive interviews with former CYA youth,
parents, advocates and activists. Learn about the human rights
crisis in CYA -- and about the movement to end this crisis and
revolutionize juvenile justice in California.
* A panel discussion with filmmakers, former CYA youth and
parents will follow the screening.
* Suggested donation: $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack
of funds)
* For more information or to request postcard flyers to be mailed
to you please contact:
bnb@ellabakercenter.org
415-951-4844 ext 230
***********************************
Find out about the Books Not Bars "Alternatives for Youth"
Campaign: http://ellabakercenter.org/bnb/campaign
*****
We can't survive without the support of individuals like you.
Please take a moment to support us today. Donate here:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/donate
*****
SIGN UP: Not on our list-serve yet? (Maybe this message was
forwarded to you.) Sign up to get e-mail updates directly by
going this web page: http://ellabakercenter.org/subscribe )
UPDATE: If you are on our list-serve, you can update your
information and preferences:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/lists/?p=preferences&uid=1cbafa757fe7202cf8cf
4d4af079434d
UNSUBSCRIBE here:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=1cbafa757fe7202cf8cf
4d4af079434d
---------*---------*IN THE NEWS*---------*---------*
1.a) U.S. Probes if GIs Refused Iraq Mission
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Yahoo! News Fri, Oct 15, 2004
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
1.b) Platoon defies orders in Iraq
The Jackson Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
October 15, 2004
Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns
By Jeremy Hudson
jehudson@clarionledger.com
2) U.S. Pounds Fallujah As Ramadan Begins
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
.c The Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
3) G.O.P. Convention Cost $154 Million
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14convention.html?oref=login
4) Sharon Offers a Date for Settler Withdrawal From Gaza
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/international/middleeast/14CND-MIDE.html?e
i=5094&en=5e9ab47a72c50e65&hp=&ex=1097812800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnn
lx=1097789277-uLfuQ0cLlF4YiC/wBFS0SA
5) Gaza families live in the shadow of death
By Laila El-Haddad in Gaza
Friday 08 October 2004 2:08 PM GMT
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB8868A4-078C-4BDC-B562-9F5ACBB2C54C.
htm
6) U.S. Forces Arrest Iraqi Negotiator, Strike Falluja
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513306&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
7) Israel Says Will Scale Back Gaza Offensive
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513537&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
8) ***MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT WAR...bw***
Study of College Readiness Finds No Progress in Decade
By KAREN W. ARENSON
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/education/14act.html
9) Pension System Recognizes Gay Spouses
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14marriage.html
10) Jordan 'ghost' jail 'is holding senior al-Qa'eda leaders'
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Robin Gedye Foreign Affairs Writer
(Filed: 14/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/14/wpris14.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/14/ixworld.html
11) The Cuban "Miami Five"
Jailed in the US for fighting terrorism
By Jorge Martin
http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/cuba_miami_five.htm
12) CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
13) The Making of the Terror Myth
Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the
'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack.
But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV
documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically
driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. Andy Beckett reports
Andy Beckett
Friday October 15, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
14) The polluted planet: Alarm as global study finds one-third
of amphibians face extinction
By Steve Connor Science Editor
15 October 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=572318
15) US Airways Authorized to Cut Workers'
Pay by 21%
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP
Filed at 2:45 p.m. ET
October 15, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-US-Airways-Bankruptcy.html?hp&ex
=1097899200&en=99572ee498f41c06&ei=5094&partner=homepage
16) *LAST ITEM: LIST OF PROP N ENDORSERS
---------*---------*IN THE NEWS*---------*---------*
1.a) U.S. Probes if GIs Refused Iraq Mission
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Yahoo! News Fri, Oct 15, 2004
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
WASHINGTON - The Army is investigating reports that several
members of a reservist supply unit in Iraq (news -web sites)
refused to go on a convoy mission, the military said Friday.
Relatives of the soldiers said the troops considered the mission
too dangerous.
The reservists are from the 343rd Quartermaster Company,
which is based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food and
water in combat zones.
According to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss.,
a platoon of 17 soldiers refused to go on a fuel supply mission
Wednesday because their vehicles were in poor shape and they
did not have a capable armed escort.
The paper cited interviews with family members of some of the
soldiers, who said the soldiers had been confined after their
refusals. The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the
343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.
Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside
bombings.
A whole unit refusing to go on a mission in a war zone would
be a significant breach of military discipline. A statement from
the military's press center in Baghdad called the incident "isolated."
"The investigating team is currently in Tallil taking statements
and interviewing those involved. This is an isolated incident and
it is far too early in the investigation to speculate as to what
happened, why it happened or any action that might be taken,"
the coalition press information center said in the statement,
sent to The Associated Press in Washington.
In the statement, U.S. military officials said the commanding
general of the 13th Corps Support Command had appointed
his deputy commander to investigate the incident.
The statement did not confirm several aspects of the relatives'
stories, including the number of soldiers involved and the reason
they refused the mission.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq -
north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered
extremely unsafe, Patricia McCook of Jackson, Miss., told The
Clarion-Ledger. Her husband, Sgt. Larry O. McCook, was among
those detained, she said, saying her husband had telephoned her
from Iraq.
The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill
of Dothan, Ala., who told the newspaper her daughter Amber
McClenny is among those being detained.
Patricia McCook said her husband told her he did not feel
comfortable taking his soldiers on another trip.
"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were
'deadlines' ... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," she said,
according to the newspaper.
Copyright (c) 2004 The Associated Press.
1.b) Platoon defies orders in Iraq
The Jackson Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
October 15, 2004
Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns
By Jeremy Hudson
jehudson@clarionledger.com
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson
and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for
refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives
said Thursday.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq  north
of Baghdad  because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or
extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O.
McCook.
Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16
other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C.,
were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents,
Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call
about 5 a.m. Thursday.
The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders,
punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five
years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate
professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.
No military officials were able to confirm or deny the detainment of the
platoon Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he plans to submit a congressional
inquiry today on behalf of the Mississippi soldiers to launch an
investigation into whether they are being treated improperly.
"I would not want any member of the military to be put in a dangerous
situation ill-equipped," said Thompson, who was contacted by families.
"I have had similar complaints from military families about vehicles
that weren't armor-plated, or bullet-proof vests that are outdated. It
concerns me because we made over $150 billion in funds available to
equip our forces in Iraq.
"President Bush takes the position that the troops are well-armed, but
if this situation is true, it calls into question how honest he has been
with the country," Thompson said.
The 343rd is a supply unit whose general mission is to deliver fuel and
water. The unit includes three women and 14 men and those with ranking
up to sergeant first class.
"I got a call from an officer in another unit early (Thursday) morning
who told me that my husband and his platoon had been arrested on a bogus
charge because they refused to go on a suicide mission," said Jackie
Butler of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Michael Butler, a 24-year reservist.
"When my husband refuses to follow an order, it has to be something major."
The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North
Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill of Dothan,
Ala., whose daughter Amber McClenny is among those being detained.
McClenny, 21, pleaded for help in a message left on her mother's
answering machine early Thursday morning.
"They are holding us against our will," McClenny said. "We are now
prisoners."
McClenny told her mother her unit tried to deliver fuel to another base
in Iraq Wednesday, but was sent back because the fuel had been
contaminated with water. The platoon returned to its base, where it was
told to take the fuel to another base, McClenny told her mother.
The platoon is normally escorted by armed Humvees and helicopters, but
did not have that support Wednesday, McClenny told her mother.
The convoy trucks the platoon was driving had experienced problems in
the past and were not being properly maintained, Hill said her daughter
told her.
The situation mirrors other tales of troops being sent on missions
without proper equipment.
Aviation regiments have complained of being forced to fly dangerous
missions over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old
missile-avoidance systems. Stories of troops' families purchasing body
armor because the military didn't provide them with adequate equipment
have been included in recent presidential debates.
Patricia McCook said her husband, a staff sergeant, understands well the
severity of disobeying orders. But he did not feel comfortable taking
his soldiers on another trip.
"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were deadlines
... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," Patricia McCook said.
Hill said the trucks her daughter's unit was driving could not top 40 mph.
"They knew there was a 99 percent chance they were going to get ambushed
or fired at," Hill said her daughter told her. "They would have had no
way to fight back."
Kathy Harris of Vicksburg is the mother of Aaron Gordon, 20, who is
among those being detained. Her primary concern is that she has been
told the soldiers have not been provided access to a judge advocate general.
Stevens said if the soldiers are being confined, law requires them to
have a hearing before a magistrate within seven days.
Harris said conditions for the platoon have been difficult of late. Her
son e-mailed her earlier this week to ask what the penalty would be if
he became physical with a commanding officer, she said.
But Nadine Stratford of Rock Hill, S.C., said her godson Colin Durham,
20, has been happy with his time in Iraq. She has not heard from him
since the platoon was detained.
"When I talked to him about a month ago, he was fine," Stratford said.
"He said it was like being at home."
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) U.S. Pounds Fallujah As Ramadan Begins
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
.c The Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent
stronghold of Fallujah, where residents were marking the first day
of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, a day after city leaders
suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands
to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
U.S. troops detained Fallujah's top negotiator in the peace talks,
witnesses said. Khaled al-Jumeili, an Islamic cleric, was arrested as
he left a mosque after prayers in a village about 10 miles south of
Fallujah, they said. There was no immediate U.S. comment.
In Baghdad, a car bomb blew up near a police station in a southwestern
district, destroying two police vehicles. The U.S. military said
10 people were killed in the blast and four others wounded, though
initial reports from the Iraqi Interior Ministry and hospitals said one
dead and 11 wounded.
In a statement read at sermons in mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere,
Fallujah's clerics called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the
Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion. And if that doesn't
halt an offensive, the clerics said they would proclaim a jihad, or holy
war, against multinational forces ``as well as those collaborating
with them.''
The clerics insisted al-Zarqawi was not in the city as U.S. and Iraqi
commanders claim, saying his presence ``is a lie just like the weapons
of mass destruction lie.''
``Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses
and killing innocent civilians,'' the statement said.
Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for
Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green
Zone - home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership - which killed
six people, including three American civilians, and wounded 27 others,
mostly Iraqis. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.
Two Iraqis were killed, at least one of them a suicide bomber. The
identity of the other wasn't known. The group's claim, which could
not be verified, was posted on a Web site known for its Islamic contents.
The bold, unprecedented attack, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi
official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the
militants' ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership
even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni
Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country.
Elsewhere, several mortar rounds believed fired from Syria exploded
Friday near the border town of Husaybah, said Marine Lt. Col. Chris
Woodbridge. There were no casualties. Marines say mortar attacks
from Syrian territory have increased in recent weeks though it's
unclear who is launching them.
Fallujah, west of Baghdad, is considered the toughest stronghold of
insurgents, who have controlled the city since the end of a bloody,
three-week Marine siege in April.
Jets and artillery hammered Fallujah through the night and early
Friday in an apparent effort to quash terrorists suspected of planning
attacks timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began
Friday.
Three people were killed and seven others injured during the night,
according to Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallujah General Hospital. On Thursday,
the hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded.
By sundown Friday, witnesses reported a series of new airstrikes in the
southern and eastern part of the city. One resident, Salah Abd, said
Fallujah has been sealed off by American troops, who prevented
residents from leaving the area.
U.S. officials, however, indicated the bombing was not a prelude to a
major offensive into Fallujah that officials have said they might launch
sometime this fall. In Washington, a senior military official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were against specific
targets, similar to airstrikes that have gone on for months against
suspected militant hideouts.
Iraqi leaders have been in negotiations to restore government control
to Fallujah, which fell under the domination of clerics and their armed
mujahedeen followers after the end of the three-week Marine siege
last April.
Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi
and other foreign fighters or face military action. Talks broke down
Thursday when city representatives rejected the ``impossible condition''
since even the Americans were unable to catch al-Zarqawi, said Abu
Asaad, spokesman for the mujahedeen council of Fallujah.
The U.S. believes al-Zarqawi and his terrorist group are headquartered
in Fallujah. Last year, the Ramadan period saw a surge in violence.
The U.S. command said a ``large terrorist element'' in the Fallujah area
``has been planning to use the holy month of Ramadan for attacks.''
During Ramadan, adherent Muslims abstain from food, drink, cigarettes
and sex from sunrise to sunset. Most Iraqis began the Ramadan
fast Friday morning, though some Shiites begin the following day.
Early Friday morning, U.S. planes hit two sites described as al-Zarqawi
planning centers. Other targets included a weapons transload and
storage facility, two safehouses, a meeting site and several illegal
checkpoints used by the Zarqawi network, the U.S. military said.
Following Thursday's Green Zone attack, the U.S. military announced
increased security measures in several areas, including the Green
Zone and Baghdad airport. The Americans killed in the Green Zone
bombing were employees of DynCorp security company.
The attack was the first time bombers had gotten inside the
4-square-mile compound - surrounded by concrete walls, razor
wire, sandbag bunkers and guard posts - and detonated an
explosive. A homemade bomb was found in the zone last week
but was defused.
The U.S.-guarded enclave - home to about 10,000 Iraqis, government
officials, foreign diplomats and military personnel - spreads along
the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of the capital.
The zone is centered on Saddam Hussein's mammoth Republican
Palace, and there are dozens of smaller palatial buildings, houses,
office buildings and a hospital once used by high-ranking members
of the old Baath Party regime.
Witnesses to the Thursday attack in Baghdad said two men were
seen entering the Green Zone Cafe clutching large bags. The two
men ordered tea and talked for about 20 minutes. Then one of the
two walked out and hailed a taxi, the witnesses said. Minutes later
a loud explosion rocked the compound.
The Green Zone is a regular target of insurgents. Mortar rounds
are frequently fired at the compound, and there have also been
a number of deadly car bombings at its gates.
On Thursday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad and
Ramadi, the U.S. command said.
10/15/04 12:50 EDT
Peace, No War
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
Not in our Name! And another world is possible!
Information for antiwar movements, news across the World,
please visit:
http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to:
peacenowar-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Please Support Peace No War Network!
Send check/money orders to:
ActionLA/SEE
1013 Mission St. #6, South Pasadena, CA 91030
*To Translate this page to Arabic, please visit ajeeb.com:
http://tarjim.ajeeb.com/ajeeb/default.asp?lang=1
*To Translate this page to French, Spanish, German,
Italian or Portuguese, please visit Systran:
http://www.systransoft.com/
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
discussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) G.O.P. Convention Cost $154 Million
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14convention.html?oref=login
The four-day Republican National Convention cost more than
$154 million to stage, with the New York City Host Committee
raising $84 million in cash and other contributions, making the
19 hours of speeches and two years of planning by far the most
expensive such event in the nation's history.
A detailed report filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission
shows that the New York City Host Committee spent millions of
dollars on a wide range of expenses, from $93,516 at the Ritz-
Carlton on Central Park South and $301,460 on limousine services
to $281,000 to build the circular stage that President Bush used
to make his acceptance speech on the last night.
The report details items large and small, including the $11 million
that went to Freeman Companies, the Dallas-based general
contractor that oversaw the renovation work at Madison Square
Garden; the $1.4 million that went to Cathy Blaney & Associates,
the host committee's chief fund-raiser; the $7,000 worth of donuts
and coffee distributed to host committee staff members and police
officers; the $2,269 spent on bowling at Chelsea Piers; and the
$6,192 spent at the Stage Door Deli and Restaurant.
The 2,294-page filing covers fund-raising and expenses over
a two-year period, and it documents an unprecedented success
at having corporations and wealthy political partisans help pay for
the event. Recent federal laws have put new restrictions of campaign
spending, but the conventions remain a significant vehicle for
corporations to give unlimited cash contributions.
Top donors to the convention included Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg,
who was the largest single giver, donating $5 million in cash and
also paying for $2 million in legal and accounting services; David
Rockefeller, who contributed $5 million; Goldman Sachs, which
gave $1.15 million; Merrill Lynch, which gave $1.1 million; and
I.B.M., which provided $2.45 million in computer equipment
and services.
In addition to the $81.6 million spent by the New York host
committee, the overall convention cost includes about $58
million that the city spent on police and other services, most
of which will be reimbursed by the federal government, and
$15 million in federal money that went to the Republican Party
to pay for the convention staff salaries, which covered expenses
like the $207,000 spent on the balloons that dropped from
the ceiling after the president's speech.
In monetary terms alone, New York's effort for the convention
- from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 - made others pale in comparison.
The Boston host committee raised $54 million for the Democratic
National Convention in July, and spent about $48 million of that.
Beyond that, the city of Boston spent about $35 million on police
and security, and, like the Republicans, the Democrats received
$15 million from the federal government.
The costs for both events are higher still when factoring in Secret
Service costs, as well as the spending of other law enforcement
agencies, like the F.B.I. But New York's financial liability may well
go even higher, since the city is expected to face civil lawsuits
from some of the approximately 1,800 people who were arrested
during the protests during the convention.
Nevertheless, the bulk of the cost thus far has been covered by
private donations - a fact the city says is commendable, because
it spared taxpayers the burden of paying for the event. But
government watchdog groups have criticized such donations
as a potentially corrupting influence on politics and government.
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that with the nearly $50 million
federal subsidy to offset security costs, the out-of-pocket cost
to city taxpayers was just under $8 million, which he said was
offset by a $4 million surplus that the host committee is expected
to donate to the city and about $4.5 million in goods given to
the committee, like computer and telephone systems, that will
be passed along to the city.
"The numbers will basically show that it's good news for the city,"
Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday. "We raised all the money privately."
But if the mayor was hoping that the bright financial picture he
painted would be a net plus for his political career, Democratic
mayoral hopefuls were hoping to emphasize that the event helped
the re-election effort of President Bush, who polls show is unpopular
among New York voters. Gifford Miller, a Democrat and mayoral
hopeful who is now speaker of the City Council, also questioned
the mayor's accounting of the benefit to the city. "As George Bush
might say, this looks a bit like fuzzy math," he said.
But, he said: "To me the issue was never really about the money.
It is a good thing for us to be in the center of the political discussion,
if and only if we used it as an opportunity to make New York's case."
At the same time, government watchdog groups argued that the
reliance on private donors undermined Congress's intention to have
the conventions publicly financed. The private donors included The
New York Times, which contributed $750,000 in advertising and
$750,000 to help buy tickets to Broadway shows for state delegations.
After the Watergate scandal, Congress enacted a requirement that
conventions be entirely publicly financed as a way to head off
possible corruption and corporate influence in politics, said Larry
Noble, a former general counsel to the Federal Election Commission
who is now executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics
in Washington. But convention host committees, which have tax-
exempt status in part because they are supposed to be in the business
of promoting the host cities, have increasingly emerged as a vehicle
for using soft money - or unlimited corporate contributions -
to finance such events.
The election commission has given host committees a wide variety
of specific restrictions on what they may pay for. So when the
Republicans came to Madison Square Garden, the host committee
could not pay for the balloons that dropped on the president but
it could pay the $1.1 million for the stage set, which included the
dramatic overnight construction that allowed Mr. Bush to address
the convention from a raised round stage emblazoned with the
presidential seal.
"If you look at the way they work it, the fiction is the host committee
is really working for the city and not directly supporting the parties,"
Mr. Noble said. "But what is going on is when the parties negotiate
the contract, they put more and more of the financial burden on
the host committees."
Robert Biersack, an election commission spokesman, acknowledged
that the line is somewhat fuzzy. "They are not supposed to spend
money on the specific conduct of the convention," Mr. Biersack said.
"Usually that means staffing the convention itself, messages from
the podium, but it is fairly narrow."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Sharon Offers a Date for Settler Withdrawal From Gaza
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/international/middleeast/14CND-MIDE.html?e
i=5094&en=5e9ab47a72c50e65&hp=&ex=1097812800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnn
lx=1097789277-uLfuQ0cLlF4YiC/wBFS0SA
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that
he wanted to begin withdrawing Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip
next May or June and complete the pullout within three months.
Mr. Sharon's comments to a closed session of Parliament's Defense
and Foreign Affairs Committee marked the most specific target date
he has given for the Gaza evacuation. The Israeli media reported the
remarks, which were also confirmed by participants at the session.
But Mr. Sharon must still win approval for the plan in Parliament,
and it is scheduled to come up for debate and a vote on Oct. 25.
The prime minister suffered a symbolic defeat on Monday when
legislators held a nonbinding vote and rejected Mr. Sharon's policy
speech opening the current session of Parliament. The speech was
largely devoted to the Gaza withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the Yesha Council, the main group representing settlers,
said it organized 100 rallies around the country tonight, including
one near Mr. Sharon's official residence in Jerusalem, to protest the
Gaza pullout.
About two-thirds of Israelis support Mr. Sharon's plan, according to
opinion surveys, but the settlers are well -organized and have been
holding large demonstrations to build opposition to the plan.
Mr. Sharon is calling for the evacuation of all 8,000 settlers in Gaza,
and several hundred in the West Bank, though he also seeks to
consolidate Israel's control of the larger West Bank settlements.
At the parliamentary hearing today, Mr. Sharon also said that
the current Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which began more
than two weeks ago, would continue as long as Palestinians fired
rockets at nearby Israeli communities.
The Israeli military killed five Palestinians in airstrikes today,
according to Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp, the main focus of the Israeli incursion,
the air force said it had killed two militants planting a bomb,
according to the military and Palestinians in the camp.
In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, an airstrike killed two
militants from Hamas and a 70-year-old civilian, identified as
Ismail al-Sawalhah, according to the military and Palestinian
residents.
According to residents, the Israeli forces also damaged or destroyed
about 20 houses in Rafah. The military said it was searching for
weapons-smuggling tunnels from Egypt; the military also said it
had knocked down abandoned homes that Palestinians had used
for cover when firing on soldiers.
The latest violence brought the Palestinian death toll in northern
Gaza to 100, including 59 militants and 41 civilians, according to
a count by the Reuters news agency. The five Israeli deaths include
two soldiers and three civilians.
Despite the large Israeli presence, Palestinian rocket fire has continued,
though at a reduced level. The Israeli media have cited some military
commanders saying they cannot expect to achieve much more in the
current operation and favor a withdrawal.
But Yuval Steinitz, head of the parliamentary committee that hosted
Mr. Sharon, said he believed that the military would have to begin an
even larger offensive in the future.
Mr. Steinitz, an influential member of Mr. Sharon's Likud Party, said
the current action was intended to prevent the rocket fire, but was
not directed at the workshops that make the rockets, or those who
store them in Gaza City, a sprawling city with about 500,000 residents.
"In order to reduce the capacity of the terrorists, I think we will have
to take over the whole area," including Gaza City, Mr. Steinitz said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei,
acknowledged that the Palestinian security forces had been
unable to prevent the growing lawlessness in Palestinian areas.
"Unfortunately, up to now the Palestinian security forces have
not been able to control this situation and we bear a very big
responsibility for this," Mr. Qurei was quoted as saying in Al
Ayyam, a Palestinian daily. "There's still chaos, still killing."
In another development, a leading rabbi said Israeli soldiers
should refuse to evacuate Jewish settlers from Gaza, saying
to do so would be the same as eating nonkosher meat like pork.
"It's not allowed and they must tell their commander that it
is forbidden," Rabbi Avraham Shapira was quoted as saying
in Besheva, a religious weekly. Rabbi Shapira is a former chief
rabbi in Israel and is still considered an influential figure.
His comments reflect the divisive nature of the planned Gaza
withdrawal. But it is not yet clear how the withdrawal would
be carried out.
Israeli officials have not said whether settlers resisting removal
would be evacuated by young soldiers who are performing
compulsory military service, or by other members of the security
forces like the border police who are career officers.
In another development, the Israeli military withdrew an accusation
that Palestinian militants in Gaza City had used a United Nations
ambulance to transport a rocket.
Israel made the accusation on Oct. 1 based on video footage from
a military drone, or unmanned spy plane. But the black-and-white
video is fuzzy, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
said the long, thin object in question was a folded stretcher being
carried by one of its workers, not a rocket.
In a statement, the military said the object "cannot be determined
with certainty."
It added, "Thus the determination that the object loaded was a
Qassam rocket was too unequivocal and made in haste."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Gaza families live in the shadow of death
By Laila El-Haddad in Gaza
Friday 08 October 2004 2:08 PM GMT
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB8868A4-078C-4BDC-B562-9F5ACBB2C54C.
htm
Palestinian families have been in a perpetual state of mourning
The last thing that young Suha Ayub Ubaid remembers before a barrage
of tank fire ripped through her home, is huddling together with her
parents and eight brothers and sisters.
They had taken cover in the middle of their living-room floor hoping
to find shelter from the mass of military machines that had rumbled
into their neighbourhood minutes earlier on 6 October.
Now she lies listlessly in her hospital bed trying to absorb, as well as
any nine-year-old could, the events of that morning.
She survived with relatively light wounds. The same cannot be said,
however, about her younger sister, fighting for her life in the hospital's
intensive care unit, or about many of her neighbours.
One of them, 15-year-old Abd Allah Qahtan, died instantly in the
pre-dawn Israeli attack on civilian homes in the northern Gaza Strip
of Bait Lahya, while Hamdan Ubaid and his son Hamuda were killed
on their way to the mosque for morning prayers.
They are the latest victims in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
bloody offensive through the northern Gaza Strip, which has
claimed more than 85 Palestinian lives, nearly 30 of them children.
Smoke and screams
The military operation was launched after two Israeli children were
killed on 29 September in a Hamas rocket attack on Sderot, near
the Gaza border.
"I saw two or three tanks and several bulldozers razing farmland
near our house," U baid's mother Sumaya said, recounting a tale
of shock and horror.
"We took cover in the living room. Then out of nowhere the tanks
shells hit us. All I remember after that is seeing smoke. All I
remember is smoke and screams and ambulances."
Israeli army tanks and bulldozers
have caused widespread havoc
Sumaya's injured family members are spread out in hospitals across
Jabalya.
Kamil Udwan Hospital in Bait Lahya, where she is staying, is working
five times its 60-bed capacity, with hospital staff forced to turn the
cafeteria into an outpatient clinic.
Sumaya's 18-month-old daughter is under observation in Gaza's
Shifa Hospital, with fragments of shrapnel lodged in her head and
guts. Doctors' predictions for her survival are dismal.
Sumaya has not spoken to her since the attack on Wednesday morning,
preoccupied instead with attending to five-year-old Sabrin, who was
lying by her side, wracked by violent spasms of pain.
She too was hit in the head, which was seeping blood and roughly
bandaged with the limited supplies available to the under-stocked
hospital.
Complete shock
Across the room was Sabrin's seven-year-old brother Ala, whose
face was badly burned and whose frail young body was dotted with
shrapnel wounds.
Israel's ongoing assault is taking
its toll on Palestinian children
He stared blankly at family members who tried futilely to elicit
a response from him. Ala had not spoken a word since early in
the morning, with a look of fear frozen on his tender face.
"He's suffering from complete shock," his aunt Badria said. "He
used to be the most talkative one of the group."
Israeli military sources said occupation troops only opened fire
at civilian homes after an anti-tank rocket was launched from
one of the houses in the town.
But according to Sumaya, the attack was completely unprovoked
- there were neither fighters nor rockets in the area.
Lucky to live
"It's a very quiet area. The resistance fighters don't come here,
and there was nothing fired from our house. Absolutely nothing,"
Sumaya said.
"They target every living thing. They have no mercy in their hearts"
Badria, aunt of seven-year-old Ala, a victim of the Israeli attack
Her family was lucky enough to live and tell their tale, which gives
further credence to Palestinian claims that Sharon's week-long
charge through northern Gaza is more about inflicting as much
damage and pain as possible than about protecting Israeli towns.
"They target every living thing. They have no mercy in their
hearts," Badria said.
According to the assistant director of the Kamal Udwan Hospital,
Dr Said Juda, the injuries he has seen have been the most extensive
and penetrating in the four years of the intifada.
Serious injuries
"I've been working here a long time, and I've seen some pretty
horrible things - but nothing like this, and not with this frequency,"
Dr Juda said.
Will the violence spawn another
generation of armed fighters?
"People have been arriving here with their bowels ripped inside out,
with their limbs torn off, their bodies burned beyond recognition,
and dozens of bullet fragments that exploded upon impact lodged
mainly in the upper half of their bodies.
"The injuries are highly serious, with evidence of direct hits intended
to cause as much damage as possible.They are penetrating,
crushing and destructive."
Badria's nine-year-old son told her after seeing what happened to
his cousins, he wanted to become a resistance fighter.
As for young Suha, she says she dreams one day of becoming a doctor
"so she can treat injured people" like herself.
Her aunt is not so hopeful. "She keeps saying she wants to become
a medic. But there is no room in our lives for dreams anymore."
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) U.S. Forces Arrest Iraqi Negotiator, Strike Falluja
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513306&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces arrested Falluja's chief
negotiator on Friday after air strikes on the rebel-held city
that were part of a U.S. drive to thwart attacks in Iraq during
the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
A hospital doctor, Thamim al-Nuaimi, said five civilians
had been killed and 11 wounded in the overnight raids.
Falluja police, who do not answer to the U.S.-backed
interim government, said U.S. marines detained Sunni Muslim
cleric Khaled al-Jumaili, the city's police chief and two other
police officers while they were moving their families to a
nearby resort town for safety from American air raids.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials on the
arrest of Jumaili, who had been leading a Falluja delegation in
peace talks with the government that broke down this week.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened on Wednesday
to attack Falluja unless its people handed over militants loyal
to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to be holed up there.
Zarqawi, America's deadliest enemy in Iraq, has a $25
million U.S. bounty on his head. His group claimed Thursday's
twin suicide bombings that killed five people, including three
Americans, in Baghdad's Green Zone on the eve of Ramadan.
Fierce air strikes hit Falluja after the blasts as U.S. and
Iraqi forces intensified pressure on suspected Zarqawi targets
in and around the bastion of Sunni insurgency west of Baghdad.
But the military denied the bombing campaign was a prelude
to a full-scale assault to wrest Falluja from rebel hands.
"This is part of ongoing operations in Falluja. It is not
the beginning of a major offensive," a U.S. spokeswoman said.
Washington and Baghdad have vowed to retake insurgent-held
towns and cities ahead of nationwide elections due in January.
Shi'ite militiamen have been turning weapons in to police
in Baghdad's Sadr City district under a five-day
cash-for-weapons campaign that was extended on Friday for
another five days.
Police at one collection point said weapons gathered so far
had been taken to a sports stadium. They gave no reason for the
extension of the deadline. The deal with followers of radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was intended to halt weeks of fighting
with U.S. forces in the sprawling slums in northeastern Baghdad.
START OF RAMADAN
Ramadan, observed by Iraq's minority Sunnis from Friday,
will start for majority Shi'ites on Saturday.
There was no repeat of the coordinated suicide bombings
that wreaked havoc in Baghdad at the start of Ramadan last
year, when at least 40 people were killed in attacks on the
International Committee of the Red Cross offices and three
police stations.
But a suicide car bomber wounded five policemen and five
civilians near a police station in southern Baghdad on Friday,
the Interior Ministry said. Two police cars were wrecked.
The military said the Falluja raids at 2.38 a.m. (2338 GMT
Thursday) hit "command and control sites" used by senior
Zarqawi leaders to store weapons and plan attacks, adding that
air strikes since Thursday had destroyed many other Zarqawi
targets.
Falluja residents have scoffed at such statements in the
past, saying they have no knowledge of Zarqawi or his group and
accusing the Americans of bombing civilian homes.
The Green Zone blasts at a souvenir bazaar and a cafe
popular with U.S. troops and civilians were the first suicide
bombings inside what is supposed to be the safest place in
Iraq. The country's interim government quickly vowed to strike
back.
(Additional reporting by Fadil al-Badrani in Falluja)
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Israel Says Will Scale Back Gaza Offensive
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513537&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israel said on
Friday it was easing a crushing offensive that has killed more
than 100 Palestinians since tanks rumbled into northern Gaza 16
days ago to stop cross-border rocket attacks.
Asked about media reports the army would remove troops from
part of the sprawling Jabalya refugee camp, where some of the
worst fighting has taken place, Deputy Defense Minister Zeev
Boim told Israel Radio: "That is correct."
But Jabalya residents said they had not seen any sign of a
pullback. Palestinian medics in the camp said two militants
from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and one from Hamas were
killed in a morning missile attack by an Israeli aircraft.
"Nothing has changed," Hassan Shabban, a taxi driver, said
as Israeli drones, or unmanned surveillance aircraft, flew
overhead.
Boim, citing the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of
Ramadan and what he called an Israeli desire to ease
Palestinian hardship, said troops taking part in the army's
biggest push into Gaza in four years of bloodshed would
redeploy.
The operation, he said, had largely achieved its goal and
only two rockets had struck the southern Israeli town of Sderot
in the past week. But he signaled some troops could remain in
northern Gaza, saying "the operation has not ended."
Qassam attacks have complicated Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's efforts to overcome rightist opposition to his plan to
remove all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West
Bank, an evacuation he said could start by May and last 12
weeks.
BACKTRACKING
Sharon vowed on Thursday to broaden the northern Gaza
assault but media reports said he backtracked after military
commanders advised him it was time to move soldiers in the
densely populated Palestinian area out of harm's way.
Challenging Boim's assessment of the operation, Mushir
al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said: "The Zionist enemy failed to
achieve the declared goal ... of stopping Qassam rockets.
Rockets continued to land in Sderot despite the presence of
planes and tanks in the northern Gaza Strip."
Israel Radio said soldiers would take up new positions on
hilltops overlooking Jabalya and move back into the camp if
more makeshift rockets were fired into Israel. It reported the
pullback would begin late on Friday or on Saturday.
Israel launched the Gaza assault after a rocket salvo
killed two children in Sderot on Sept. 29.
Palestinian medics said Israeli forces killed at least 62
militants and 41 other Palestinians believed to be civilians.
Palestinian militants killed three Israelis and a Thai farm
worker.
Israeli forces uprooted olive and citrus groves in the
area, a measure the military says denies rocket squads a place
to hide. Tanks moving through crowded neighborhoods damaged
homes and tore up water pipes and electricity poles.
Polls show most Israelis support Sharon's withdrawal
strategy, regarding Gaza as too costly in lives and money. He
intends to submit his plan to a parliamentary vote on Oct. 25.
But hawks inside and outside Sharon's fraying coalition
reject any pullback from territories Israel captured in the
1967 Middle East war as "appeasement of Palestinian terrorism."
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) ***MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT WAR...bw***
Study of College Readiness Finds No Progress in Decade
By KAREN W. ARENSON
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/education/14act.html
American high school students are no better prepared for college
than they were 10 years ago, according to a new study by ACT, one
of the two big organizations that offer college entrance tests.
ACT said that of the 1.2 million students throughout the country who
took its tests this year, only 22 percent were ready for college-level
work in English, mathematics and science. An additional 19 percent
were prepared in two of the three areas, and could succeed in the third
area "by doing just a little bit more," the study found.
"We've made virtually no progress in the last 10 years" helping
students to become ready for college or jobs, said the report, which
is being issued today. "And from everything we've seen, it's not going
to get better any time soon."
At a time when education experts and policy makers are trying to
gauge what progress has been made and what needs to be done
next, the report offers one of the most negative assessments so far.
Another report, "Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on
Higher Education," released last month by the National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Education in California, was more optimistic
about college preparation, saying that in many states, more students
were taking more college-preparatory courses than a decade earlier.
But ACT, which looked at the college-readiness issue in greater depth,
concluded that the increases had not been enough. It found that the
proportion of students taking what it deemed a minimum core of
college preparatory courses - four years of English and three years
each of mathematics, science and social studies - had risen only
slightly in 10 years: to 56 percent in 2004, from 54 percent in 1994.
Another problem, the study said, is that even those who took the full
core curriculum were not necessarily prepared for college, since some
of their courses were not rigorous enough.
Of the students who took no math beyond algebra I and II and geometry,
only 13 percent were ready to handle college algebra. Of those who
added trigonometry, only 37 percent were prepared. That figure jumped
to 74 percent for those who also took calculus. But only 40 percent of
students took trigonometry or another advanced mathematics course
beyond algebra and geometry.
The ACT researchers said that their study had led them "to rethink
whether the core curriculum" adequately prepared students "for
success after high school."
The report said that students who took a minimum core curriculum
of four years of English and three years each of mathematics, science
and social studies were more likely to be prepared for college-level
work than those who did not. Students who took advanced courses
beyond that minimum core fared even better.
ACT, which is based in Iowa, defined college readiness as the ability
to succeed in a credit-bearing course at a two-year or four-year college
without needing to take a remedial course first.
Not surprisingly, the report found that on average, preparation for
college differed among racial and ethnic groups. Fewer black, Hispanic
and American-Indian students took a minimum set of core courses
than non-Hispanic white students or Asian-Americans. And fewer
boys took the minimum core than girls.
ACT officials proposed that all students - not just those headed for
college - be required to take advanced courses like chemistry, physics,
geometry and trigonometry.
They said that while they recognized that not all students wanted to
go on to college, those entering the work force needed the same
skills and knowledge as those pursuing higher education.
The company is beginning to work with school districts to evaluate
the rigor of the courses they offer and to help them in other ways.
One of the states that ACT is working with is Illinois, which started to
give the ACT exams to all high school juniors three years ago. Some
students who did not plan to go to college were encouraged to think
about it after receiving promising scores. State officials said yesterday
that the proportion going on to college had increased, but they did
not provide specific figures.
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, an education-standards
advocacy group, said the ACT report was useful in focusing attention
on the need to improve high schools. She said that much of the money
for improving schools had been directed to the primary grades and,
to some extent, to middle schools.
"There has been a belief that if we got kids off to a better start, the
problems in high school would fix themselves," Ms. Haycock said.
"That has not happened. What we're learning is that education is
not like an inoculation, where if you do it once, you are set for life.
It is more like nutrition, where you have to do it right and then
keep doing it right."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Pension System Recognizes Gay Spouses
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14marriage.html
ALBANY, Oct. 13 - New York State is moving to officially recognize
same-sex marriages from Canada for the first time, at least in one
limited area: State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi has ruled that the
state's pension system will treat gay couples with Canadian wedding
licenses the same way it treats other married couples.
The decision came after Mark E. Daigneault, a state employee seeking
to wed his male partner in Canada, wrote the comptroller's office
asking what the financial implications of the marriage would be.
After studying the issue, Mr. Hevesi wrote back last week that the
state's $115 billion pension funds, which he oversees, would
"recognize a same-sex Canadian marriage in the same manner as
an opposite-sex New York marriage.''
While the practical impact of the decision is limited, gay rights
groups hailed the move as a giant step toward winning wider
recognition for gay marriages.
"This becomes the first statewide program to recognize those
same-sex Canadian marriage licenses as being real, and equal
to any other marriages in New York State,'' said Alan Van Capelle,
the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, noting
that Mr. Hevesi's move comes after several municipalities in the
state and major car insurance companies decided to recognize
same-sex marriages from Canada.
New York State already allows employees to make same-sex
partners their pension beneficiaries; the comptroller's decision
means that gay couples married in Canada would be entitled
to automatic cost-of-living increases and accidental death
benefits for survivors, benefits that currently go to spouses.
"I'm very happy with the comptroller's decision,'' said Mr. Daigneault,
who works for the insurance department and has adopted two
children with his partner of 13 years. "It certainly helps my family
get the protection that we need.''
The comptroller's ruling cited a March decision by the state attorney
general, Eliot Spitzer, which found that while same-sex marriages
could not be legally performed in New York, the state must
recognize those performed legally elsewhere.
"The decision is driven by the law,'' Mr. Hevesi said in an interview.
"I have a personal point of view, and I'm glad the law conforms to
my personal point of view. I think this is an important step. But
it's not fuzzy law, it's not unclear. It's very hard to argue differently.''
Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Attorney General Spitzer, said that
Mr. Hevesi's decision was consistent with the attorney general's
legal opinion.
The decision applies only to same-sex marriages performed legally
in Canada, Mr. Hevesi said. The question of whether to recognize
same-sex marriages performed this year in San Francisco and
Massachusetts is complicated by other legal issues, he said, and
his office has not been asked to decide on marriages from other
states.
The comptroller wrote his decision in a letter dated Oct. 8 that
was publicized Wednesday by the Empire State Pride Agenda.
Several pension experts said that the ruling appeared to make
New York, which has the second largest public pension system
in the United States, the first major public employee pension
system to explicitly recognize same-sex marriages from Canada.
The nation's largest public pension fund, the California Public
Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, is preparing to comply
with a law taking effect on Jan. 1 that will give domestic partners
all benefits that were previously available only to spouses. While
the California law allows the benefits to be available not only to
domestic partners who register in California, but to those who
form "legal unions" elsewhere, it is unclear whether same-sex
couples married in Canada would qualify for the benefits without
registering as domestic partners in California. Darin Hall, a
spokesman for Calpers, said the fund was still studying the new
law and how it would be put into place.
In New York, the comptroller's decision covers the 964,000 active
and retired members of the state's pension system, which covers
state employees and employees of local governments outside New
York City. The fiscal impact of the decision is expected to be small,
officials said.
Officials at the office of New York City Comptroller William C.
Thompson Jr., who is the custodian of the city's five pension funds,
said Wednesday that those funds do not currently recognize same-
sex marriages. Kevin Quinn, a spokesman for Gov. George E. Pataki,
said that the governor would review the decision.
Mr. Daigneault said he had not yet set a date for his wedding but
was looking forward to settling logistics as soon as his children's
soccer schedule allowed.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Jordan 'ghost' jail 'is holding senior al-Qa'eda leaders'
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Robin Gedye Foreign Affairs Writer
(Filed: 14/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/14/wpris14.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/14/ixworld.html
The most senior Muslim terrorists so far captured by the United States
are being held in an ultra-secret "ghost" prison in Jordan run by the CIA,
according to a report published yesterday by a respected security expert.
The article in the Israeli daily Haaretz appears to answer one of the
mysteries of the war on terrorism: what has happened to the senior
leaders of al-Qa'eda and associated organisations captured by US
forces during the past three years.
The base is beyond the reach of the American courts, which is likely
to be one of its principal attractions.
The article was written by Yossi Melman, who is considered a leading
authority on intelligence and has a wide network of contacts in the
Israeli and American security establishments.
He did not specify an exact location for the prison, but said at
least 11 senior al-Qa'eda and other militant leaders were being held
in Jordan.
Quoting "international intelligence sources", the report said the
CIA's prisoners at the facility included Three of the terrorist movement 's
most senior figures, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Riduan
Isamuddin.
"Their detention outside the US enables CIA interrogators to apply
interrogation methods banned by US law, and to do so in a country
where co-operation with the Americans is particularly close, thereby
reducing the danger of leaks," Mr Melman wrote.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Jordan, which is
seen as a key ally in the war on terrorism. The US embassy in Jordan
denied the report.
Washington's courting of the Jordanian monarchy, regarded by the
State Department as one of the Middle East's most moderate
governments, was pursued with remarkable success under the
47-year reign of King Hussein and has continued with hardly a
cross word under his son and successor, King Abdullah.
Mordechai Kedar, of Bar Ilan University, a Middle East expert who
spent 25 years with Israeli military intelligence, said the story was
highly credible. "Yossi Melman is well woven into intelligence circles
and has good access to intelligence information and he bases his
reports on hard-core information," he said.
"This sounds reasonable, logical, and there is an historical basis
too because of the long-standing hatred between the Hashemite
kingdom and Wahhabis [hardline Muslims], who are seen as
running al-Qa'eda.
"The Hashemite kingdom is in the pocket of the Bush administration
and Jordan offers a calm environment compared to Iraq, even Egypt,
and it is weak enough that reasonable pressure could have convinced
the Hashemite kingdom to host such a thing. I doubt the Egyptians
would have agreed, not to mention the Saudis. Where else in the
Arab world would it have been possible to have such a thing?"
Since the invasion of Afghanistan three years ago, the location of
America's most prized prisoners has been the subject of endless
speculation but little hard information. It has been suspected that
some of the world's most dangerous terrorists were kept on US
territories in the Pacific, or aboard naval vessels.
Egypt and Jordan have both been named as possible holding centres
or staging posts, and the al-Jafr prison in Jordan's southern desert
has been described as a suspected CIA detention centre.
International human rights groups have accused America of
circumventing US law and international guidelines on interrogation
by shipping al-Qa'eda suspects to allied states where legal
scrutiny is lax. The existence of suspected secret facilities has
also caused deep unease in the US Congress.
A report on these so-called ghost prisoners, issued on Tuesday
by Human Rights Watch claimed that they were being held
somewhere so secret that President George W Bush had asked
the CIA not to tell him where it was.
Most of the al-Qa'eda detainees arrested in Afghanistan were
transferred to the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but
according to the report some were held in Pakistan before
being moved to Jordan.
Human Rights Watch reported that America is holding prisoners
in more than 24 secret detention centres, of which "at least half
operate in total secrecy".
Senator John McCain, a Republican who was imprisoned and
tortured by the North Vietnamese, has described the "situation
with the CIA and ghost detainees [as] beginning to look like a
bad movie".
The CIA is prohibited from conducting operations in the United
States. America describes the system of transferring prisoners
in secret from one country to another as "extraordinary rendition."
In the year after the September attacks George Tenet, the then
director of the CIA, admitted to the "rendition" of 70 people he
described as terrorists.
4 October 2004: How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind
25 July 2004: Britain forms new special forces unit to fight al-Qa'eda
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any
medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see
Copyright
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) The Cuban "Miami Five"
Jailed in the US for fighting terrorism
By Jorge Martin
http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/cuba_miami_five.htm
On June 16 and 17, 1998, the Cuban authorities, in an exchange with
the FBI handed over a huge amount of material related to anti-Cuban
terrorist activities conducted from US territory, including 230 pages of
documents, five videos of material broadcast on US TV about terrorist
activities against Cuba and eight audio cassettes containing 2 hours
and 40 minutes of conversations between jailed central American
terrorists and their contacts outside.
Less than two months later, on September 12, the FBI, in early morning
raids arrested five Cubans in Miami. Were they related to terrorist
activities against Cuba? Quite the opposite, they were Cuban agents
working to infiltrate the anti-Cuban terrorist groups based in Miami
and they had also participated in the gathering of the information
passed on to the FBI.
This was the beginning of a protracted legal case against these five
people now known as the "Miami Five". The case is one of injustice,
political manipulation of the justice system and one that exposes the
hypocrisy of Bush's so-called "war on terrorism". And this is probably
the reason why you have not heard anything about it in the mainstream
media.
The Miami Five, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar,
René González Sehwerert, Fernando González Llort and Antonio Guerrero
RodrÃguez, have all been given the longest possible sentences for the
"crimes" they are accused of. Gerardo Hernández has been sentenced
to two life sentences and 15 years of jail. Another two, Antonio Guerrero
and Ramón Labañino have also been give life sentences. And René
González and Fernándo González have been condemned to 19 and
15 years imprisonment.
From the moment they were arrested, the Miami Five were subjected
to extremely harsh treatment. After 15 days in the Miami Federal
Detention Centre, they were transferred to the Special House Unit,
better known as "the hole", in isolation cells 15 feet by 7. These cells
are used for very dangerous criminals, generally those accused of
murder, and according to the rules, prisoners can only be kept there
for a maximum of 60 days. Two of the Miami Five, Gerardo Hernández
and Ramón Labañino were to remain there for 17 months.
What are the Miami Five accused of? There are a number of minor
charges, including acting as agents of a foreign government without
being registered with the US authorities (which the Five admit to),
but the two main charges which three of them have been condemned
to life sentences for are related to spying and murder.
From the very beginning, the local media started to talk of
a dangerous group of Cuban spies that had endangered US
national security. But in the seven long months of the trial (which
makes this one of the longest judicial cases in the history of the US),
the prosecution could not present one single piece of evidence to
back up this case. Defence lawyers called to the stand US Navy officers,
both active and retired, high ranking US intelligence officers and others
and they all testified that after looking at all the evidence found on the
Five, they had not seen any classified material.
Even the prosecutor of the case had to make clear in his opening remarks
to the jury that, "we arrested these five men and we seized 20,000 pages
of documents from their computers, but ladies and gentlemen from these
20,000 pages we cannot present one single page of classified information".
Since they could present no proof of the charge of spying, the prosecution
decided to charge them with "conspiracy to spy". Conspiracy is a very vague
term and very difficult to prove. It means that the Five got together and
decided they were going to spy. How can anyone prove that? And even
if there was evidence (which was not the case), it is not normal that three
of them should get the highest possible sentence you can get for spying
(life imprisonment) but only for "conspiring" to spy!
The second charge for which Gerardo Hernández got his second life
sentence is conspiracy to commit murder. He was accused of having
been involved in the downing of two Cessna planes just off the coast
of Havana by Cuban MIGs in February 1996. The story started in 1995
when an agreement was reached between Cuban and US authorities in
order to regulate migration policies between the two countries. It was
at that time when the anti-Cuban Miami organisation "Hermanos al
Rescate" (Brothers to the Rescue) started carrying out terrorist activities
against Cuba. In the 20 months leading to the downing of the two
planes, they carried out 25 unauthorised flights over Cuban airspace.
What did the Cuban government do? In each case they filed a formal
diplomatic complaint for this violation of its country's airspace. They
received no reply.
In January 1996, the Cuban authorities invited admiral Carroll from
the US Navy to Cuba and told him in no uncertain terms that their
patience had run out and they would tolerate no more violations of
their national sovereignty, particularly since they had information
(provided by the Miami Five) that Hermanos al Rescate was about to
arm these planes. Carroll went back to the US and reported to the
Pentagon and the State Department that the Cubans were serious
about their threats. Richard Nuccio, at that time an advisor to
president Clinton, testified in the trial and said that he was very
worried about the public boasting (in TV broadcasts) of Hermanos
al Rescate leader José Basulto, about their illegal flights over Cuba.
On February 24th, three Cessna planes, one piloted by José Basulto
himself, left a base in Florida and went to Cuba. They had been
warned by the personnel at the airbase that it would be very dangerous
to fly over Cuban airspace. The Cuban authorities were also forewarned.
Was it Gerardo Hernández who warned them? No, it was the US Federal
Aviation Agency who warned the Cubans that the planes were on
their way. The planes were warned by radio that they were about to
enter a restricted military area. They ignored the warnings. The Cuban
air force sent two MIG fighters and after further ignored warnings
downed two of the planes. José Basulto managed to escape. The
Cuban government claims that the planes were illegally inside their
\airspace when downed, while the US government charges that they
were 4 miles outside the limit.
So one might ask, what is the relationship between Gerardo Hernández
and this case? He has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
The "proof" presented is a telegram to Gerardo, who had infiltrated
Hermanos al Rescate, telling him not to fly on that date. This evidence
is very flimsy, particularly for such a serious charge as this. It does not
prove that Gerardo knew the planes were going to be attacked, and it
does not prove he had anything to do with the attack itself. All he did
was to report about the activities of a terrorist organisation operating
from the US. Furthermore the information about flights leaving and
arriving in South Florida is publicly available.
Finally, the bottom line is whether a sovereign nation like Cuba has
the right to defend its airspace or not. For a government like that of
the US which insists in immunity for its armed personnel operation
abroad ,it is a blatant case of double standards to bring an accusation
of murder against a government defending its own territory against
terrorists coming from the US. The case against Gerardo for conspiracy
to murder is so weak that in an unprecedented move, right at the end
of the trial, they tried to get the charge changed from murder to
homicide. But both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court rejected the
petition, since the whole trial had been based on the original charge.
A fair trial in Miami?
Clearly the evidence against the Five was at most flimsy, but the jury
after very short deliberation, found them guilty. That can only be
explained by the fact that the trial took place in Miami. From the
beginning the defence attorneys asked for the trial to be transferred
out of Miami. It is well known that the mafia type networks of the
rabidly reactionary Cuban exiles dominate the city. It was very difficult
to have a fair trial and a jury that would not be intimidated in such a
city.
Furthermore the trial took place on the same dates as the polemic
over Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy kept in Miami by some relatives
against the wishes of his father. The Cuban exiles organised violent
demonstrations and riots on those days, and the whole city was
immersed in an atmosphere of anti-Cuban hysteria. How can the
trial of five "dangerous Communist agents", one of them accused
of having participated in the murder of Cuban exiles, take place in
such a climate and be a fair trial?
Even the US government recognised in a different case a year later,
that a case connected to Cuba could not be tried fairly in Miami.
The US government was being accused of unfair discrimination by
a Mexican employee of the Immigration Service who claimed he
had been dismissed because of his support for the anti-Cuban mafia
in the Elian Gonzalez case. In this case, which has only an indirect
relation to Cuba, the government argued that it could not be tried
fairly in Miami and asked for the trial to be transferred. The request
was granted. But in the case of the Miami Five, which is directly
linked to Cuba and to the reactionary Cuban exiles who dominate
the city, the request was rejected.
The government of the US also used a number of other legal tricks
to get the Five condemned. For instance it used the Confidential
Information Protection Act, in order not to release the 20,000 pages
of documents seized from the Five. For months, neither the accused
nor their lawyers had access to these documents, none of which
contained US national defence sensitive information, or any classified
information as stated by the prosecution itself. The defence was also
not allowed to use the "state of need" argument against the accusation
of acting as unregistered agents. This means that you can break the
law in order to serve a greater good. In this case, the defence argued
that they did so in order to save lives and property by infiltrating these
terrorist groups.
Finally there is also the issue of the harsh treatment the Five received
and are receiving in jail, particularly in relation to the visits from their
family. Olga Salanueva, René's wife, and Adriana Pérez, Gerardo's wife,
have never been allowed to see their husbands since they have been
in jail! How is that possible? Simply by not giving them a visa to enter
the US. The US immigration service said that they cannot even argue
humanitarian reasons for the granting of the visas, since they are a
"threat to US national security". This vindictive ruling goes against the
US's own penitentiary rules and Constitution. Their young children
have been growing up for years without being allowed to see their
fathers. Visitation rights apply to even the more callous convicted
murderers, so why should they not be allowed to the Miami Five who
are clearly innocent victims of political imprisonment?
The long arm of the anti-Cuban Mafia in Miami
But the implications of this case go much further if one takes the
time to trace the background of some of the people involved. Take
for instance Hector Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge of the Miami
regional office of the FBI and responsible for the arrest of the Five.
What is his background? He became prominent when he was involved
in the investigation that led to the arrest of four Miami Cubans in
1997. The US Coast Guard arrested them in October of that year
when it seized a yacht in Puerto Rican waters. They found seven
boxes of ammunition, military uniforms, two assault rifles and
other military equipment. One of the arrested, Angel Alfonso
Alemán, quickly declared that he was in charge and that their
mission was to assassinate Castro during his visit to Margarita
Island in Venezuela.
Hector Pesquera, the FBI agent in charge of the case, promised
to carry out the investigation but added that "there might be
foreign policy implications" in which case he does not "rule
anything out".
The investigation soon led to the National Cuban American
Foundation (FNCA), the most important organisation of Cuban
reactionary exiles, with close links with the US Republican and
Democratic parties. The owner of one of the rifles was Francisco
Hernández, the FNCA president and Miami's most important
counter-revolutionary leader. A member of the FNCA Executive
Committee was the owner of the yacht. The member of the group
in charge of communications was also a known FNCA activist.
While on parole, one of the accused was arrested again by the
DEA accused of bringing more than 350 kg of cocaine into the
country.
All of the accused denied their guilt, with the exception of Alfonso
who tried to get out by pointing out that he is well connected and
showed pictures of himself with president Clinton, senator Torricelli
(Democrat and the second largest recipient of Cuban American money
in election campaigns in the US), the now deceased leader of the
Cuban exiles Jorge Mas Canosa, etc. His lawyer, who is also FBI
investigating agent Hector Pesquera's cousin, went as far as to argue
that if the CIA has tried so many times to assassinate Castro, how
come it is a crime for him to attempt to do the same!
The Cuban mafia threw all her weight into the case and finally the
accused were released. The judges, the accused and even special
agent Pesquera himself, all celebrated the outcome with a mass
(these types they are always very "pious") and a party.
As if it were a reward for having failed to produce enough evidence
against the accused, special agent Pesquera was sent to Miami and
appointed as Special Agent in Charge for South Florida!
Barely 12 days later, the Miami Five were arrested. It was the first
time that a "network of Cuban spies" had been broken up on US
territory since the Cuban Revolution. Pesquera was quick to claim
credit for the operation, despite the fact that he had only been in
charge there for less than two weeks! The case of the Miami Five was
clearly designed to appease the FNCA, with which Pesquera has such
good relations, despite the fact that some of its most prominent
members had been (sort of) "investigated" by himself in relation to
terrorist activities.
Remember what George W Bush said about "aiding and harbouring
terrorists" being on the same level as committing terrorist acts. But
then this rule only seems to apply to the "bad" terrorists, not to the
ones that are on Washington's side and that sometimes even do some
of the White House's dirty work. Not to mention the enormous political
clout the FNCA has in Florida, the state ruled by Bush's brother Jeb, and
in which Bush's presidency was "won".
The actions of the anti-Cuban terrorists (with a little help from the CIA)
Another story worth telling is that of Orlando Bosch, the person whose
actions Fernando González, one of the Miami Five, was in charge of
monitoring. Bosch left Cuba in 1960 and went to the US. His first
terrorist activity was in 1968 when he was involved in the sending
of a parcel bomb to Havana. In that year he was responsible for more
than 40 terrorist attacks. At the end of the year he was arrested in
Miami, tried and found guilty of an attack on a Polish ship and
sentenced to 10 years in jail. In 1974, while on parole, he fled the
US and carried on with his terrorist activities. He has confessed to
carrying out bomb attacks in Miami, New York, Venezuela, Panama,
Mexico and Argentina.
In October 1976 he was arrested in Venezuela in connection with
the terrorist attack on a Cuban civilian airplane that resulted in 73
dead, men, women and children. This was the first ever bomb attack
on a civilian airplane in the world. After spending 11 years in jail in
Venezuela, having been proved that he had been an associate of two
other men accused of homicide in the same case, he was finally
released. In 1987 he returned to Miami and was arrested by the
immigration service. The proceedings for his deportation began.
But then enormous political pressure was exerted by the Cuban
mafia and its associates to get him released. Prominent in the
campaign was senator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican and the
largest recipient of Cuban American money in election campaigns
in the US). Amongst those involved was Jeb Bush, George W's brother,
who was then Ileana's election campaign manager. Finally George
Bush senior granted the release of this known and convicted terrorist
and even gave him permanent residence in the US.
Another of those involved with Bosch in the bomb attack on the
Cuban airliner in 1976 was Luis Posada Carriles. He had fled Cuba
in 1959 after having been a police agent under dictator Fulgencio
Batista. Most of his later life was dedicated to one goal: the
assassination of Castro, working for the CIA and, according to his
own confession in an interview to the New York Times in 1998, for
Jorge Mas Canosa, the former head of the FNCA.
When Bosch and Posada were arrested by the Venezuela authorities,
the Cuban mafia in Miami raised the $50,000 dollars to bribe the jail
authorities and got him free. He then joined Lt Col Oliver North who
got him a nice job with the CIA organising Contras , the gang of
counter-revolutionary cut throats sabotaging the Nicaraguan Sandinista
revolution in the 1980s. After that "campaign" was over, he
concentrated his attention on a bombing campaign against tourist
installations in Cuba in the mid 1990s that resulted in the death of
an innocent Italian tourist.
On November 17, 2000, Posada and another 3 prominent members
of the Cuban mafia, with close links to the NFCA leaders, were
arrested in Panama and accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel
Castro during his visit to Panama to attend a regional summit. In
April 2004 they were tried for and found guilty of being a threat to
public security and falsifying documents. There was no mention in
the verdict of the accusation of plotting to kill Castro. But on August
26, 2004, the four received a pardon from Panama's outgoing
president Mireya Moscoso, just six days before she was to hand
over to President-elect Martin Torrijos.
The decision came shortly after a visit by Colin Powell to Panama.
Posada went to Honduras, and the other three, all of them convicted
terrorists, went back to Miami to a warm welcome by the anti-Cuban
mafia, and not surprisingly were allowed in by the US immigration
authorities. The three have carried out terrorist acts on US territory.
One of them, Guillermo Novo, was convicted of participating in the
car bombing that killed former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando
Letelier, in Washington in 1978. Incidentally, the other two people
convicted of the car bombing of Letelier were released by president
Bush against the advice of both the FBI and the INS.
It is quite clear why the Cuban government had to undertake measures
to prevent terrorist attacks from these groups, since the US authorities
not only do not do anything to prevent them, but even turn a blind eye
or collaborate with them. Such terrorist attacks on Cuba (mostly against
civilian targets, like the bombing campaign against hotels and tourist
resorts) have caused 3,478 deaths and 2,099 permanently disabled
since 1959.
Free the Miami Five!
The case of the Miami Five is clearly about the right of a sovereign
country to defend itself against the terrorist actions conducted from
a neighbouring country that harbours them and does not lift a finger
to stop their actions. The case exposes the hypocrisy of the US ruling
class when it claims it is conducting a war on terrorism. It also
uncovers the important role that the reactionary anti-Cuban mafia
in Miami play in US politics, both Republican and Democrat. It is
therefore an overtly political case that the US ruling class and its
media are not interested in publicising because the details are highly
damaging.
Socialists all over the world must demand first of all that the basic
human rights of the Miami Five are respected (starting with full rights
to visits), that the trial, which is now subject to a legal appeal, is
reviewed and takes places in fair conditions with full legal rights,
and finally that the Miami Five, whose only crime is to fight the
reactionary terrorist anti-Cuban mafia in Miami, be released. But this
cannot be seen merely from a legal point of view. A political case must
be fought by political means. US labour and progressive movement
organisations must be made aware of the case and should take a
clear position.
The scandalous case of the Miami Five has exposed completely the
cynical hypocrisy of the Bush government in the so-called war against
terrorism. Like the even more barbarous scandal of the Guantanamo Bay
concentration camp, it has revealed the hollowness of its appeals to
democracy and civilized behaviour and the rule of law. It stands
condemned before the tribunal of world public opinion.
A labour movement enquiry should be conducted on the links between
the Miami anti-Cuban terrorists and the US state apparatus, its security
services, the legal system, etc. This is a crucial issue that the US labour
and progressive movement should consider as one of high priority.
The same dirty methods that the US ruling class uses against progressive
governments and movements around the world are - and will be -
also used against US workers and their organisations at home.
The real "crime" of Cuba from the point of view of the US ruling
class is that it provides an example of how, by expropriating the
capitalist class, one can provide for free for such things as high
quality education and health care. And this is a very dangerous
example for the workers and peasants in the rest of Latin America,
but even for the workers in the US, millions of whom have no health
care at all and are excluded from higher education. Socialists and
labour activists all over the world must condemn the actions of US
imperialism, which constitute a serious threat to the democratic
rights of workers everywhere.
Free the Miami Five!
Fight to defend democratic rights!
Down with imperialism!
October 15, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
United for Peace of Pierce County (WA)
October 14, 2004
http://www.ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1559
In an important exposé
(http://www.ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1552) posted on
Tuesday, October 12, on the Nation magazine's web site and appearing in the
issue dated November 1, 2004, journalist Naomi Klein has revealed that
former
U.S. secretary of state and Bush family intimate James Baker, named by
George
W. Bush last December 5 as special envoy to negotiate the reduction of
Iraq's
foreign debt, took advantage of his position to attempt a scheme to enrich
the
Carlyle Group, a private equity firm he joined in 1993.
Although Baker's mission as presidential envoy was to negotiate the
*reduction* of Iraq's debt with the leaders of the world's nations, he
placed
himself in a position in which he was, at the same time, through his
partnership in the Carlyle Group, exerting pressure on Kuwait to sign an
agreement by which he would profit from working to *maximize* the amount of
Iraqi debt that would be maintained and paid to Kuwait.
In a world that valued a minimal standard of integrity, this would be a
political scandal of the very first order.
Jerome Levinson, an expert on political and corporate corruption at American
University, said the arrangement in which James Baker involved himself was
"one of the greatest cons of all time. The consortium [of which the Carlyle
Group is a part] is saying to the Kuwaiti government, 'Through us, you have
the only chance to realize a substantial part of the debt. Why? Because of
who we are and who we know.' It's influence peddling of the crassest kind."
This extraordinary and staggering attempt to profit from a conflict of
interest also involved complex machinations with the Albright Group, another
private equity firm headed by another former U.S. secretary of state,
Madeleine Albright, apparently in order to conceal what was going on.
The Carlyle Group itself is essentially an ingenious and extremely
successful
attempt to transform access to decision makers into corporate assets.
As Craig Unger explains in his book *House of Bush, House of Saud*
(Scribner,
2004), in 1993 the Carlyle Group made James Baker a full partner (though the
firm's web site now lists him as a "senior counselor"). By joining the firm
in 1993, he allowed it to "go global." The Carlyle Group had dealt mostly
with U.S. financial interests till then.
The Carlyle Group became, in the 1990s, according to Unger, a way for the
Saudi royal family "to show their deep gratitude to President Bush for
defending the Saudis in the Gulf War." (George H.W. Bush, the former
president, is not a partner, but joined the firm as a senior adviser in
1995;
he has often been paid $80,000 to $100,000 per speaking engagement by the
Carlyle Group.) Unger, who appears briefly in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit
9/11," has estimated the amount of money that the Saudis have invested in
the
Carlyle Group as $1,268,600,000, much of it involved in Saudi military
contractor deals with companies owned by the Carlyle Group, like Vinnell
(the
subsidiary of a company owned by Carlyle from 1990 to 1998).
Essentially, James Baker has been clever enough to turn war profiteering
into
an enterprise that is profitable on a colossal scale, and thanks to these
extraordinary leaked documents, Naomi Klein has caught him red-handed at it.
Politically, no one is more closely tied to the Bush dynasty than James
Baker,
who has served as adviser, attorney, White House chief of staff, cabinet
officer, campaign manager, presidential debate negotiator, and whatever you
want to call the role he played in Florida in December 2000.
Corruption on this scale takes one's breath away.
Like wounded sea anemones, the suspect parties are at present furiously
pulling in their tentacles while proclaiming the purest of motives. Now
that
the "confidential" proposal has been outed, "the plan is clearly dead," a
spokeswoman for the Albright Group told the *Washington Post* yesterday.
But
why should the Carlyle Group, the Albright Group, and the others involved
back
off, if their motives were really "to help secure justice for victims of
Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and ensure that compensation to Kuwaiti victims,
fully consistent with U.S. policy, be used to promote reconciliation,
environmental improvements and investment in Kuwait, Iraq and the region,"
as
Madeleine Albright's "consulting firm" said yesterday? And in any case, we
are told by a spokesman for the Carlyle Group, care would have been taken to
make sure that James Baker would not have benefited personally from the
Kuwaiti business.
If the U.S. mainstream press were an agent of democracy rather than the
moribund corporate captive that it is, this extraordinarily blatant (albeit
secret) effort to earn enormous profits from influence trading would be an
opportunity to expose the routine level of corruption and influence-peddling
endemic to the American national security market-state, as well as to
educate
the public about the values of the U.S. political class. As it is, the New
York Times, for example, has still not even mentioned this scandal, and the
Washington Post buried its article in the "Business" section.
United for Peace of Pierce County is not a partisan organization and
endorses
no candidates. But we may point out that one strong though not often heard
argument for John Kerry's candidacy is the fact that he led the Senate probe
into the BCCI international banking scandal, an earlier manifestation of
this
sort of global corporate corruption, and showed that he has a thorough
understanding of how BCCI used "shell corporations, bank confidentiality and
secrecy havens, layering of corporate structure, front men and nominees,
back-to-back financial documentation among BCCI-controlled entities,
kickbacks
and bribes, intimidation of witnesses, and retention of well-placed
insiders,"
to quote Kerry's and Senator Hank Brown's The BCCI Affair: A Report to the
Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate (December 1992).
(Quoted
in Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship
between
the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties [Scribner, 2004], pp. 121-22.)
United for Peace of Pierce County calls on Congress to investigate this
matter
further, to determine whether criminal statutes and administrative
regulations
banning government officials from participating in government business from
which they could derive a profit -- which includes actions that affect an
outside company that employs the official -- were violated in this affair.
In
the aftermath of the unjustified invasion of Iraq and the Abu Ghraib torture
scandal, it is in the highest national interest to get to the bottom of this
affair.
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
discussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-news/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ufpj-news-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) The Making of the Terror Myth
Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the
'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack.
But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV
documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically
driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. Andy Beckett reports
Andy Beckett
Friday October 15, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have
been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers,
working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase "dirty bomb".
There have been articles about how such a device can use ordinary
explosives to spread lethal radiation; about how London would be
evacuated in the event of such a detonation; about the Home Secretary
David Blunkett's statement on terrorism in November 2002 that
specifically raised the possibility of a dirty bomb being planted in
Britain; and about the arrests of several groups of people, the latest
only last month, for allegedly plotting exactly that.
Starting next Wednesday, BBC2 is to broadcast a three-part documentary
series that will add further to what could be called the dirty bomb genre.
But, as its title suggests, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the
Politics
of Fear takes a different view of the weapon's potential.
"I don't think it would kill anybody," says Dr Theodore Rockwell, an
authority on radiation, in an interview for the series. "You'll have trouble
finding a serious report that would claim otherwise." The American
department of energy, Rockwell continues, has simulated a dirty bomb
explosion, "and they calculated that the most exposed individual would
get a fairly high dose [of radiation], not life-threatening." And even this
minor threat is open to question. The test assumed that no one fled the
explosion for one year.
During the three years in which the "war on terror" has been waged,
high-profile challenges to its assumptions have been rare. The sheer
number of incidents and warnings connected or attributed to the war
has left little room, it seems, for heretical thoughts. In this context, the
central theme of The Power of Nightmares is riskily counter-intuitive and
provocative. Much of the currently perceived threat from international
terrorism, the series argues, "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and
distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned
through governments around the world, the security services, and the
international media." The series' explanation for this is even bolder:
"In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a
phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."
Adam Curtis, who wrote and produced the series, acknowledges the
difficulty of saying such things now. "If a bomb goes off, the fear I have
is that everyone will say, 'You're completely wrong,' even if the incident
doesn't touch my argument. This shows the way we have all become
trapped, the way even I have become trapped by a fear that is completely
irrational."
So controversial is the tone of his series, that trailers for it were not
broadcast last weekend because of the killing of Kenneth Bigley. At
the BBC, Curtis freely admits, there are "anxieties". But there is also
enthusiasm for the programmes, in part thanks to his reputation.
Over the past dozen years, via similarly ambitious documentary
series such as Pandora's Box, The Mayfair Set and The Century of the
Self, Curtis has established himself as perhaps the most acclaimed
maker of serious television programmes in Britain. His trademarks
are long research, the revelatory use of archive footage, telling
interviews, and smooth, insistent voiceovers concerned with the
unnoticed deeper currents of recent history, narrated by Curtis
himself in tones that combine traditional BBC authority with something
more modern and sceptical: "I want to try to make people look at things
they think they know about in a new way."
The Power of Nightmares seeks to overturn much of what is widely
believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues,
is not an organised international network. It does not have members
or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall
strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about
cleansing
a corrupt world through religious violence.
Curtis' evidence for these assertions is not easily dismissed. He tells
the story of Islamism, or the desire to establish Islam as an unbreakable
political framework, as half a century of mostly failed, short-lived
revolutions and spectacular but politically ineffective terrorism. Curtis
points out that al-Qaida did not even have a name until early 2001,
when the American government decided to prosecute Bin Laden in his
absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of
a named criminal organisation.
Curtis also cites the Home Office's own statistics for arrests and
convictions of suspected terrorists since September 11 2001. Of the
664 people detained up to the end of last month, only 17 have been
found guilty. Of these, the majority were Irish Republicans, Sikh militants
or members of other groups with no connection to Islamist terrorism.
Nobody has been convicted who is a proven member of al-Qaida.
In fact, Curtis is not alone in wondering about all this. Quietly but
increasingly, other observers of the war on terror have been having
similar doubts. "The grand concept of the war has not succeeded,"
says Jonathan Eyal, director of the British military thinktank the Royal
United Services Institute. "In purely military terms, it has been an
inconclusive war ... a rather haphazard operation. Al-Qaida managed
the most spectacular attack, but clearly it is also being sustained
by the way that we rather cavalierly stick the name al-Qaida on Iraq,
Indonesia, the Philippines. There is a long tradition that if you divert
all your resources to a threat, then you exaggerate it."
Bill Durodie, director of the international centre for security analysis
at King's College London, says: "The reality [of the al-Qaida threat
to the west] has been essentially a one-off. There has been one
incident in the developed world since 9/11 [the Madrid bombings].
There's no real evidence that all these groups are connected."
Crispin Black, a senior government intelligence analyst until 2002,
is more cautious but admits the terrorist threat presented by
politicians and the media is "out of date and too one-dimensional.
We think there is a bit of a gulf between the terrorists' ambition and
their ability to pull it off."
Terrorism, by definition, depends on an element of bluff. Yet ever
since terrorists in the modern sense of the term (the word terrorism
was actually coined to describe the strategy of a government, the
authoritarian French revolutionary regime of the 1790s) began to
assassinate politicians and then members of the public during the
19th century, states have habitually overreacted. Adam Roberts,
professor of international relations at Oxford, says that governments
often believe struggles with terrorists "to be of absolute cosmic
significance", and that therefore "anything goes" when it comes
to winning. The historian Linda Colley adds: "States and their
rulers expect to monopolise violence, and that is why they react
so virulently to terrorism."
Britain may also be particularly sensitive to foreign infiltrators,
fifth columnists and related menaces. In spite, or perhaps because
of, the absence of an actual invasion for many centuries, British
history is marked by frequent panics about the arrival of Spanish
raiding parties, French revolutionary agitators, anarchists, bolsheviks a
nd Irish terrorists. "These kind of panics rarely happen without some
sort of cause," says Colley. "But politicians make the most of them."
They are not the only ones who find opportunities. "Almost no one
questions this myth about al-Qaida because so many people have
got an interest in keeping it alive," says Curtis. He cites the
suspiciously circular relationship between the security services and
much of the media since September 2001: the way in which official
briefings about terrorism, often unverified or unverifiable by journalists,
have become dramatic press stories which - in a jittery media-driven
democracy - have prompted further briefings and further stories. Few
of these ominous announcements are retracted if they turn out to be
baseless: "There is no fact-checking about al-Qaida."
In one sense, of course, Curtis himself is part of the al-Qaida industry.
The Power of Nightmares began as an investigation of something else,
the rise of modern American conservatism. Curtis was interested in Leo
Strauss, a political philosopher at the university of Chicago in the 50s
who rejected the liberalism of postwar America as amoral and who
thought that the country could be rescued by a revived belief in
America's unique role to battle evil in the world. Strauss's certainty
and his emphasis on the use of grand myths as a higher form of
political propaganda created a group of influential disciples such
as Paul Wolfowitz, now the US deputy defence secretary. They came
to prominence by talking up the Russian threat during the cold war
and have applied a similar strategy in the war on terror.
As Curtis traced the rise of the "Straussians", he came to a conclusion
that would form the basis for The Power of Nightmares. Straussian
conservatism had a previously unsuspected amount in common with
Islamism: from origins in the 50s, to a formative belief that liberalism
was the enemy, to an actual period of Islamist-Straussian collaboration
against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan in the 80s (both
movements have proved adept at finding new foes to keep them going).
Although the Islamists and the Straussians have fallen out since then, as
the attacks on America in 2001 graphically demonstrated, they are in
another way, Curtis concludes, collaborating still: in sustaining the
"fantasy" of the war on terror.
Some may find all this difficult to swallow. But Curtis insists,"There is
no way that I'm trying to be controversial just for the sake of it."
Neither is he trying to be an anti-conservative polemicist like Michael
Moore: "[Moore's] purpose is avowedly political. My hope is that you
won't be able to tell what my politics are." For all the dizzying ideas
and visual jolts and black jokes in his programmes, Curtis describes
his intentions in sober, civic-minded terms. "If you go back into
history and plod through it, the myth falls away. You see that these
aren't terrifying new monsters. It's drawing the poison of the fear."
But whatever the reception of the series, this fear could be around for
a while. It took the British government decades to dismantle the
draconian laws it passed against French revolutionary infiltrators;
the cold war was sustained for almost half a century without Russia
invading the west, or even conclusive evidence that it ever intended to.
"The archives have been opened," says the cold war historian David
Caute, "but they don't bring evidence to bear on this." And the danger
from Islamist terrorists, whatever its scale, is concrete. A sceptical
observer of the war on terror in the British security services says:
"All they need is a big bomb every 18 months to keep this going."
The war on terror already has a hold on western political culture.
"After a 300-year debate between freedom of the individual and
protection of society, the protection of society seems to be the
only priority," says Eyal. Black agrees: "We are probably moving
to a point in the UK where national security becomes the electoral
question."
Some critics of this situation see our striking susceptibility during
the 90s to other anxieties - the millennium bug, MMR, genetically
modified food - as a sort of dress rehearsal for the war on terror.
The press became accustomed to publishing scare stories and not
retracting them; politicians became accustomed to responding to
supposed threats rather than questioning them; the public became
accustomed to the idea that some sort of apocalypse might be just
around the corner. "Insecurity is the key driving concept of our times,"
says Durodie. "Politicians have packaged themselves as risk managers.
There is also a demand from below for protection." The real reason
for this insecurity, he argues, is the decay of the 20th century's
political belief systems and social structures: people have been left
"disconnected" and "fearful".
Yet the notion that "security politics" is the perfect instrument for
every ambitious politician from Blunkett to Wolfowitz also has its
weaknesses. The fears of the public, in Britain at least, are actually
quite erratic: when the opinion pollsters Mori asked people what they
felt was the most important political issue, the figure for "defence and
foreign affairs" leapt from 2% to 60% after the attacks of September
2001, yet by January 2002 had fallen back almost to its earlier level.
And then there are the twin risks that the terrors politicians warn of
will either not materialise or will materialise all too brutally, and in
both cases the politicians will be blamed. "This is a very rickety
platform from which to build up a political career," says Eyal. He
sees the war on terror as a hurried improvisation rather than some
grand Straussian strategy: "In democracies, in order to galvanize
the public for war, you have to make the enemy bigger, uglier and
more menacing."
Afterwards, I look at a website for a well-connected American foreign
policy lobbying group called the Committee on the Present Danger.
The committee features in The Power of Nightmares as a vehicle for
alarmist Straussian propaganda during the cold war. After the Soviet
collapse, as the website puts it, "The mission of the committee was
considered complete." But then the website goes on: "Today radical
Islamists threaten the safety of the American people. Like the cold
war, securing our freedom is a long-term struggle. The road to
victory begins ... "
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) The polluted planet: Alarm as global study finds one-third
of amphibians face extinction
By Steve Connor Science Editor
15 October 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=572318
They were the first animals with backbones to walk on land. They
witnessed the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and were present at the
birth of a bipedal ape who went on to become the most destructive
species the planet has ever known.
Amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - are among the
longest surviving animals on earth, yet something dramatic now
threatens that longevity. And mankind is responsible.
A global study revealed yesterday that almost a third of amphibians
face extinction - and pollution is cited as the biggest cause. The
three-year survey, involving 500 scientists from more than 60
countries, has found that a third of the 5,743 known species are
threatened with being wiped out and at least 427 are so critically
endangered that they could disappear tomorrow.
The animals are so sensitive to the man-made environment that
scientists have likened them to the canary in a coal mine -
songbirds that fell silent, killed in the presence of odourless
gas. The latest and most comprehensive study of amphibians
around the world has shown that for many species of frogs and
their nearest relatives the singing has suddenly and inexplicably
stopped - and the same bipedal ape is almost certainly responsible.
"This is a problem way outside what we know," said Simon Stuart
of the World Conservation Union and leader of the study published
in the online version of the journal Science .
Dr Stuart said: "This level of decline is ... extraordinary and serious
because amphibians represent a very important part of the overall
diversity of life. Since most amphibians feel the effects of pollution
before many other forms of life, their rapid decline tells us that one
of earth's most critical life support systems is breaking down."
The figures in the survey are almost certainly underestimates
because more than 22 per cent of the known amphibian species
are too poorly understood for the researchers to reach a reliable
conclusion about what is happening to them.
Populations of almost half of the known amphibian species are in
decline. While 32 per cent of amphibians are threatened with extinction,
only 12 per cent of birds and 23 per cent of mammals are in the same
position. The latest study estimates that up to 122 species have gone
extinct since 1980.
Dr Stuart said that all animal groups undergo a natural "background"
rate of extinction but, in the case of amphibians, the actual loss of
species is equivalent to the total number of background extinctions
for many tens of thousands of years being squeezed into a single
century.
"The bottom line is that there's almost no evidence of recovery and
no known techniques for saving mysteriously declining species in the
wild. It leaves conservation biologists in a quandary," Dr Stuart said.
Amphibians are considered uniquely sensitive to man-made changes
in the environment. Their moist, porous skins are vulnerable to water-
borne toxins and infections, and their reliance on two habitats -
freshwater and land - means they cannot survive properly without both.
Scientists have suggested many possible reasons for the decline.
Pollution of both water and the atmosphere, human exploitation for
food and medicine and habitat destruction all pose serious threats.
But it is clear that amphibians are also disappearing from what appear
to be pristine habitats. At one protected site in Costa Rica, for instance,
some 40 per cent of amphibians disappeared over a short period in the
late 1980s. Other losses occurred almost simultaneously in Costa Rica,
Ecuador and Venezuela.
It is this so-called "enigmatic decline" that poses the biggest problem
for conservationists simply because they have little idea about what
needs to be done to address the problem.
The authors of the report say: "Enigmatic decline species present
the greatest challenge for conservation because there are no known
techniques for ensuring their survival in the wild. Most enigmatic
declines have been recorded from the Americas south to Ecuador
and Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, but they are spreading, for
instance to Peru, Chile, Dominica, Spain and Tanzania."
Many of these mysterious disappearances seem to take place in
tropical habitats involving amphibians living in mountain streams.
Some studies suggest they may be linked with the global spread of
a fungus called chytridiomycosis, which may be exacerbated by
global warming. What is most worrying is that the decline in
amphibians is occurring across the world.
Bruce Young, a zoologist who took part in the global amphibian
assessment, said: "We already knew amphibians were in trouble,
but this assessment removes any doubt about the scale of the
problem." Dr Achim Steiner, director general of the World Conservation
Union, said: "The fact that one third of amphibians are in a precipitous
decline tells us that we are rapidly moving towards a potentially
epidemic number of extinctions."
Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, said:
"Amphibians are one of nature's best indicators of overall
environmental health. Their catastrophic decline serves as
a warning that we are in a period of significant environmental
degradation."
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) US Airways Authorized to Cut Workers'
Pay by 21%
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP
Filed at 2:45 p.m. ET
October 15, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-US-Airways-Bankruptcy.html?hp&ex
=1097899200&en=99572ee498f41c06&ei=5094&partner=homepage
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A bankruptcy judge granted US Airways authority
Friday to immediately cut the pay of its union workers by 21 percent, saying
the airline's situation is so dire that urgent action must be taken.
The 21 percent pay cut is nearly all of the 23 percent reduction the air
carrier had sought.
``Basically what we have here is a ticking fiscal time bomb,'' U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell said in issuing the ruling.
The temporary pay cuts are in place until Feb. 15, 2005, one month
less than what the airline had sought. Mitchell also granted the airline
authority to reduce the size of its jet fleet.
Under the 21 percent cut, the average US Airways salary would drop from
$59,509 to $47,012. That would put US Airways below the other five major
traditional carriers as well as Southwest Airlines , but higher than JetBlue
and America West , two carriers US Airways now seeks to emulate.
US Airways, a unit of US Airways Group Inc., employs 34,000 workers,
of which 84 percent are represented by unions.
Brian Leitch, an attorney for the airline, said the pay cuts were necessary
to keep the cash-strapped company from liquidating.
``We're twisting in the wind, we're airing our financial distress to the
world,'' he said during closing statements before Mitchell on Friday.
``We need to get some stability for a few months.''
Still, Leitch acknowledged that the pay cuts alone won't prevent a
liquidation, but simply give the airline a fighting chance for survival.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
16) *LAST ITEM: LIST OF PROP N ENDORSERS
*PROP N ENDORSERS:
SF Supervisors:
Michela Alioto-Pier
Tom Ammiano
Chris Daly
Bevan Dufty
Matt Gonzalez
Sophie Maxwell
Jake McGoldrick
Aaron Peskin
Gerardo Sandoval
Jeff Adachi, Public Defender
John Burton, State Senate
Mark Leno, State Assembly
Leland Yee, State Assembly
Organizations:
AFT Local 2121
Alice B. Toklas LGBT Club
ANSWER/SF
Bay Area United Against War
Bernal Heights Democratic Club
California Nurses Assn.
Chinese American Democratic Club
Chinese Progressive Assn.
Democratic Women's Forum
District 3 Democratic Club
District 11 Democratic Club
Global Exchange
Graphic Communication International Union, Local 4-N
Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
ILWU West Bay Legislative Comm.
Irish-American Democratic Club
Latino Democratic Club
NAACP/SF
9/11 Families for a Better Tomorrow
Noe Valley Democratic Club
Office & Professional Employees, Local 3
Park Presidio United Methodist Church
Peace & Freedom Party, SF County Central Committee
Richmond District Democratic Club
Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club
San Francisco Bay Guardian
SF Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
San Francisco Democratic Party
San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO
SF Young Democrats
SF Green Party
SF Pride at Work, AFL-CIO
San Francisco Tomorrow
Senior Action Network
Sierra Club
Sunset Reform Democrats
Tenant Associations Coalition of San Francisco PAC
United Educators of San Francisco
United for Peace & Justice/SF
Vanguard Public Foundation
Veterans for Peace
Westside Chinese Democratic Club
Community Leaders:
Ed Asner
Medea Benjamin
Rev. Amos Brown
Hari Dillon
Daniel Ellsberg
Dolores Huerta
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
C-Span will be covering the national Million Worker March
in Washington D.C.
The coverage will be from 12:00 Noon
October 17, 2004 EST until the end of the rally.
It will also be recorded by WPFW-Pacifica but will be replayed later.
If you can, please record it.
To get more info go to www.millionworkermarch.org
10/17: Immigrant Workers Tent at Million Workers March,
Washington DC
10 AM - 4 PM
Lincoln Monument
Contact: Lee Siu Hin
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
Tel: (626)695-3405
e-mail: siuhin@aol.com
Daniel Vila
Tel: (212)663-6872
e-mail: Vila4000@hotmail.com
Please come to join with us at our Immigrant Workers Tent
on the historical Oct 17 Million Workers March in Washington D.C.,
we demands: Immigrant workers rights, legalization, social justice
and ethnic unity.
We will include tabling and presentation, Also the strategy meeting
for immigrant solidarity campaigns for 2005.
If you are immigrant workers, human rights and social justice
organizations and would like to request a space at our tent
please contact Lee Siu Hin, Tel: (626)695-3405,
e-mail: siuhin@aol.com
For more information about the Million Workers March, please visit:
http://www.millionworkermarch.org/
People! United! We'll Never be Defeated!
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 21 & 28, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
Fundraising Party for Prop N!
 Music  Refreshments  Speakers
Saturday, October 16, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Dr. @ Golden Gate Park)
San Francisco
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),Howard Wallace (Vice Pres.,
SF Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Anne Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink,
Matt Gonzalez, (President, S.F. Board of Supervisors)
and others
VOTE YES ON N!
Proposition N on the San Francisco ballot says: "Shall it be City
policy to urge the United States government to withdraw all
troops from Iraq and bring all military personnel in Iraq back
to the United States."
As the first city to vote to end the occupation and bring the
troops home, San Francisco can take a stand and help lead the
way for other cities to do the same.
SF BAY GUARDIAN ENDORSEMENT: YES ON N!
"San Francisco emerged as the epicenter of the antiwar protests
in the United States when Bush first began bombing Iraq based
on false pretenses. Now San Francisco has the opportunity to take
a similar lead on the electoral front. Proposition N would make it
official San Francisco policy to urge the federal government to
withdraw all troops and military personnel from Iraq. Backers
hope passing Prop. N might help build political momentum against
the Bush administration's ongoing war in Iraq, as other municipalities
follow suit. It's a tactic borrowed from the Vietnam years. And it
should be implemented now too."
SF Bay Guardian, Oct. 6 - Oct. 12 2004Â Vol. 39, No. 01
* THE COMPLETE LIST OF ENDORSERS IS THE LAST ITEM ON THIS EMAIL
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
Hijacking Catastrophe 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire
with Paul George, Director, Peace and Justice Center
(http://www.peaceandjustice.org)
Monday, Oct 18, 7:30 pm
Unitarian Univeralist Church,
505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto
$5-$10, suggested donation (no one turned away)
More Info: http://www.worldcentric.org
Examines how a radical fringe of the Republican Party has used
the trauma of the 9/11 terror attacks to advance a pre-existing
agenda to radically transform American foreign policy while rolling
back civil liberties and social programs at home. The documentary
places the Bush Administration's false justifications for war in Iraq
within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neoconservatives
to dramatically increase military spending in the wake of the Cold War,
and to expand American power globally by means of military force...
"By helping us understand how fear is being actively cultivated and
manipulated by the current administration, Hijacking Catastrophe
stands to become an explosive and empowering information weapon
in this decisive year in U.S. history." Naomi Klein
64 mins, 2004
Monday night film series is a joint production of:
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center http://www.peaceandjustice.org
Peace Umbrella of Unitarian Universalist Church http://www.uucpa.org
World Centric http://www.worldcentric.org
Please forward...
---------*---------*EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT*---------*---------*
*** please forward *** please forward widely *** please forward
Books Not Bars presents:
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
************************************
"SYSTEM FAILURE:
VIOLENCE, ABUSE & NEGLECT IN CYA"
at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland
************************************
TUESDAY OCTOBER 19th -- 7PM
Grand Lake Theater
3200 Grand Avenue, Oakland
Free! (suggested donation $5-10)
Come see our new 30-minute, grassroots-driven documentary
that breaks down the current scandal in California's youth prison
system  and how the state can solve it.
Books Not Bars teamed up with the ground-breaking group
WITNESS ( http://www.witness.org ) to make this film, and now
you can see the WORLD PREMIERE!
CYA is notorious as the most abusive youth prison system in the
nation. Find out why in exclusive interviews with former CYA youth,
parents, advocates and activists. Learn about the human rights
crisis in CYA -- and about the movement to end this crisis and
revolutionize juvenile justice in California.
* A panel discussion with filmmakers, former CYA youth and
parents will follow the screening.
* Suggested donation: $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack
of funds)
* For more information or to request postcard flyers to be mailed
to you please contact:
bnb@ellabakercenter.org
415-951-4844 ext 230
***********************************
Find out about the Books Not Bars "Alternatives for Youth"
Campaign: http://ellabakercenter.org/bnb/campaign
*****
We can't survive without the support of individuals like you.
Please take a moment to support us today. Donate here:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/donate
*****
SIGN UP: Not on our list-serve yet? (Maybe this message was
forwarded to you.) Sign up to get e-mail updates directly by
going this web page: http://ellabakercenter.org/subscribe )
UPDATE: If you are on our list-serve, you can update your
information and preferences:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/lists/?p=preferences&uid=1cbafa757fe7202cf8cf
4d4af079434d
UNSUBSCRIBE here:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=1cbafa757fe7202cf8cf
4d4af079434d
---------*---------*IN THE NEWS*---------*---------*
1.a) U.S. Probes if GIs Refused Iraq Mission
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Yahoo! News Fri, Oct 15, 2004
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
1.b) Platoon defies orders in Iraq
The Jackson Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
October 15, 2004
Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns
By Jeremy Hudson
jehudson@clarionledger.com
2) U.S. Pounds Fallujah As Ramadan Begins
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
.c The Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
3) G.O.P. Convention Cost $154 Million
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14convention.html?oref=login
4) Sharon Offers a Date for Settler Withdrawal From Gaza
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/international/middleeast/14CND-MIDE.html?e
i=5094&en=5e9ab47a72c50e65&hp=&ex=1097812800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnn
lx=1097789277-uLfuQ0cLlF4YiC/wBFS0SA
5) Gaza families live in the shadow of death
By Laila El-Haddad in Gaza
Friday 08 October 2004 2:08 PM GMT
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB8868A4-078C-4BDC-B562-9F5ACBB2C54C.
htm
6) U.S. Forces Arrest Iraqi Negotiator, Strike Falluja
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513306&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
7) Israel Says Will Scale Back Gaza Offensive
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513537&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
8) ***MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT WAR...bw***
Study of College Readiness Finds No Progress in Decade
By KAREN W. ARENSON
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/education/14act.html
9) Pension System Recognizes Gay Spouses
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14marriage.html
10) Jordan 'ghost' jail 'is holding senior al-Qa'eda leaders'
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Robin Gedye Foreign Affairs Writer
(Filed: 14/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/14/wpris14.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/14/ixworld.html
11) The Cuban "Miami Five"
Jailed in the US for fighting terrorism
By Jorge Martin
http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/cuba_miami_five.htm
12) CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
13) The Making of the Terror Myth
Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the
'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack.
But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV
documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically
driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. Andy Beckett reports
Andy Beckett
Friday October 15, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
14) The polluted planet: Alarm as global study finds one-third
of amphibians face extinction
By Steve Connor Science Editor
15 October 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=572318
15) US Airways Authorized to Cut Workers'
Pay by 21%
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP
Filed at 2:45 p.m. ET
October 15, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-US-Airways-Bankruptcy.html?hp&ex
=1097899200&en=99572ee498f41c06&ei=5094&partner=homepage
16) *LAST ITEM: LIST OF PROP N ENDORSERS
---------*---------*IN THE NEWS*---------*---------*
1.a) U.S. Probes if GIs Refused Iraq Mission
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Yahoo! News Fri, Oct 15, 2004
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
WASHINGTON - The Army is investigating reports that several
members of a reservist supply unit in Iraq (news -web sites)
refused to go on a convoy mission, the military said Friday.
Relatives of the soldiers said the troops considered the mission
too dangerous.
The reservists are from the 343rd Quartermaster Company,
which is based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food and
water in combat zones.
According to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss.,
a platoon of 17 soldiers refused to go on a fuel supply mission
Wednesday because their vehicles were in poor shape and they
did not have a capable armed escort.
The paper cited interviews with family members of some of the
soldiers, who said the soldiers had been confined after their
refusals. The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the
343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said.
Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside
bombings.
A whole unit refusing to go on a mission in a war zone would
be a significant breach of military discipline. A statement from
the military's press center in Baghdad called the incident "isolated."
"The investigating team is currently in Tallil taking statements
and interviewing those involved. This is an isolated incident and
it is far too early in the investigation to speculate as to what
happened, why it happened or any action that might be taken,"
the coalition press information center said in the statement,
sent to The Associated Press in Washington.
In the statement, U.S. military officials said the commanding
general of the 13th Corps Support Command had appointed
his deputy commander to investigate the incident.
The statement did not confirm several aspects of the relatives'
stories, including the number of soldiers involved and the reason
they refused the mission.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq -
north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered
extremely unsafe, Patricia McCook of Jackson, Miss., told The
Clarion-Ledger. Her husband, Sgt. Larry O. McCook, was among
those detained, she said, saying her husband had telephoned her
from Iraq.
The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill
of Dothan, Ala., who told the newspaper her daughter Amber
McClenny is among those being detained.
Patricia McCook said her husband told her he did not feel
comfortable taking his soldiers on another trip.
"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were
'deadlines' ... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," she said,
according to the newspaper.
Copyright (c) 2004 The Associated Press.
1.b) Platoon defies orders in Iraq
The Jackson Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
October 15, 2004
Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns
By Jeremy Hudson
jehudson@clarionledger.com
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson
and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for
refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives
said Thursday.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq  north
of Baghdad  because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or
extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O.
McCook.
Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16
other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C.,
were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents,
Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call
about 5 a.m. Thursday.
The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders,
punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five
years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate
professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.
No military officials were able to confirm or deny the detainment of the
platoon Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he plans to submit a congressional
inquiry today on behalf of the Mississippi soldiers to launch an
investigation into whether they are being treated improperly.
"I would not want any member of the military to be put in a dangerous
situation ill-equipped," said Thompson, who was contacted by families.
"I have had similar complaints from military families about vehicles
that weren't armor-plated, or bullet-proof vests that are outdated. It
concerns me because we made over $150 billion in funds available to
equip our forces in Iraq.
"President Bush takes the position that the troops are well-armed, but
if this situation is true, it calls into question how honest he has been
with the country," Thompson said.
The 343rd is a supply unit whose general mission is to deliver fuel and
water. The unit includes three women and 14 men and those with ranking
up to sergeant first class.
"I got a call from an officer in another unit early (Thursday) morning
who told me that my husband and his platoon had been arrested on a bogus
charge because they refused to go on a suicide mission," said Jackie
Butler of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Michael Butler, a 24-year reservist.
"When my husband refuses to follow an order, it has to be something major."
The platoon being held has troops from Alabama, Kentucky, North
Carolina, Mississippi and South Carolina, said Teresa Hill of Dothan,
Ala., whose daughter Amber McClenny is among those being detained.
McClenny, 21, pleaded for help in a message left on her mother's
answering machine early Thursday morning.
"They are holding us against our will," McClenny said. "We are now
prisoners."
McClenny told her mother her unit tried to deliver fuel to another base
in Iraq Wednesday, but was sent back because the fuel had been
contaminated with water. The platoon returned to its base, where it was
told to take the fuel to another base, McClenny told her mother.
The platoon is normally escorted by armed Humvees and helicopters, but
did not have that support Wednesday, McClenny told her mother.
The convoy trucks the platoon was driving had experienced problems in
the past and were not being properly maintained, Hill said her daughter
told her.
The situation mirrors other tales of troops being sent on missions
without proper equipment.
Aviation regiments have complained of being forced to fly dangerous
missions over Iraq with outdated night-vision goggles and old
missile-avoidance systems. Stories of troops' families purchasing body
armor because the military didn't provide them with adequate equipment
have been included in recent presidential debates.
Patricia McCook said her husband, a staff sergeant, understands well the
severity of disobeying orders. But he did not feel comfortable taking
his soldiers on another trip.
"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were deadlines
... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," Patricia McCook said.
Hill said the trucks her daughter's unit was driving could not top 40 mph.
"They knew there was a 99 percent chance they were going to get ambushed
or fired at," Hill said her daughter told her. "They would have had no
way to fight back."
Kathy Harris of Vicksburg is the mother of Aaron Gordon, 20, who is
among those being detained. Her primary concern is that she has been
told the soldiers have not been provided access to a judge advocate general.
Stevens said if the soldiers are being confined, law requires them to
have a hearing before a magistrate within seven days.
Harris said conditions for the platoon have been difficult of late. Her
son e-mailed her earlier this week to ask what the penalty would be if
he became physical with a commanding officer, she said.
But Nadine Stratford of Rock Hill, S.C., said her godson Colin Durham,
20, has been happy with his time in Iraq. She has not heard from him
since the platoon was detained.
"When I talked to him about a month ago, he was fine," Stratford said.
"He said it was like being at home."
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) U.S. Pounds Fallujah As Ramadan Begins
By TINI TRAN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
.c The Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ir
aq_unit_investigation&cid=540&ncid=1480
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. warplanes pounded the insurgent
stronghold of Fallujah, where residents were marking the first day
of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, a day after city leaders
suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands
to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
U.S. troops detained Fallujah's top negotiator in the peace talks,
witnesses said. Khaled al-Jumeili, an Islamic cleric, was arrested as
he left a mosque after prayers in a village about 10 miles south of
Fallujah, they said. There was no immediate U.S. comment.
In Baghdad, a car bomb blew up near a police station in a southwestern
district, destroying two police vehicles. The U.S. military said
10 people were killed in the blast and four others wounded, though
initial reports from the Iraqi Interior Ministry and hospitals said one
dead and 11 wounded.
In a statement read at sermons in mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere,
Fallujah's clerics called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the
Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion. And if that doesn't
halt an offensive, the clerics said they would proclaim a jihad, or holy
war, against multinational forces ``as well as those collaborating
with them.''
The clerics insisted al-Zarqawi was not in the city as U.S. and Iraqi
commanders claim, saying his presence ``is a lie just like the weapons
of mass destruction lie.''
``Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses
and killing innocent civilians,'' the statement said.
Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for
Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green
Zone - home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership - which killed
six people, including three American civilians, and wounded 27 others,
mostly Iraqis. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.
Two Iraqis were killed, at least one of them a suicide bomber. The
identity of the other wasn't known. The group's claim, which could
not be verified, was posted on a Web site known for its Islamic contents.
The bold, unprecedented attack, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi
official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the
militants' ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership
even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni
Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country.
Elsewhere, several mortar rounds believed fired from Syria exploded
Friday near the border town of Husaybah, said Marine Lt. Col. Chris
Woodbridge. There were no casualties. Marines say mortar attacks
from Syrian territory have increased in recent weeks though it's
unclear who is launching them.
Fallujah, west of Baghdad, is considered the toughest stronghold of
insurgents, who have controlled the city since the end of a bloody,
three-week Marine siege in April.
Jets and artillery hammered Fallujah through the night and early
Friday in an apparent effort to quash terrorists suspected of planning
attacks timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began
Friday.
Three people were killed and seven others injured during the night,
according to Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallujah General Hospital. On Thursday,
the hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded.
By sundown Friday, witnesses reported a series of new airstrikes in the
southern and eastern part of the city. One resident, Salah Abd, said
Fallujah has been sealed off by American troops, who prevented
residents from leaving the area.
U.S. officials, however, indicated the bombing was not a prelude to a
major offensive into Fallujah that officials have said they might launch
sometime this fall. In Washington, a senior military official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were against specific
targets, similar to airstrikes that have gone on for months against
suspected militant hideouts.
Iraqi leaders have been in negotiations to restore government control
to Fallujah, which fell under the domination of clerics and their armed
mujahedeen followers after the end of the three-week Marine siege
last April.
Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi
and other foreign fighters or face military action. Talks broke down
Thursday when city representatives rejected the ``impossible condition''
since even the Americans were unable to catch al-Zarqawi, said Abu
Asaad, spokesman for the mujahedeen council of Fallujah.
The U.S. believes al-Zarqawi and his terrorist group are headquartered
in Fallujah. Last year, the Ramadan period saw a surge in violence.
The U.S. command said a ``large terrorist element'' in the Fallujah area
``has been planning to use the holy month of Ramadan for attacks.''
During Ramadan, adherent Muslims abstain from food, drink, cigarettes
and sex from sunrise to sunset. Most Iraqis began the Ramadan
fast Friday morning, though some Shiites begin the following day.
Early Friday morning, U.S. planes hit two sites described as al-Zarqawi
planning centers. Other targets included a weapons transload and
storage facility, two safehouses, a meeting site and several illegal
checkpoints used by the Zarqawi network, the U.S. military said.
Following Thursday's Green Zone attack, the U.S. military announced
increased security measures in several areas, including the Green
Zone and Baghdad airport. The Americans killed in the Green Zone
bombing were employees of DynCorp security company.
The attack was the first time bombers had gotten inside the
4-square-mile compound - surrounded by concrete walls, razor
wire, sandbag bunkers and guard posts - and detonated an
explosive. A homemade bomb was found in the zone last week
but was defused.
The U.S.-guarded enclave - home to about 10,000 Iraqis, government
officials, foreign diplomats and military personnel - spreads along
the banks of the Tigris River in the heart of the capital.
The zone is centered on Saddam Hussein's mammoth Republican
Palace, and there are dozens of smaller palatial buildings, houses,
office buildings and a hospital once used by high-ranking members
of the old Baath Party regime.
Witnesses to the Thursday attack in Baghdad said two men were
seen entering the Green Zone Cafe clutching large bags. The two
men ordered tea and talked for about 20 minutes. Then one of the
two walked out and hailed a taxi, the witnesses said. Minutes later
a loud explosion rocked the compound.
The Green Zone is a regular target of insurgents. Mortar rounds
are frequently fired at the compound, and there have also been
a number of deadly car bombings at its gates.
On Thursday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad and
Ramadi, the U.S. command said.
10/15/04 12:50 EDT
Peace, No War
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
Not in our Name! And another world is possible!
Information for antiwar movements, news across the World,
please visit:
http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to:
peacenowar-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Please Support Peace No War Network!
Send check/money orders to:
ActionLA/SEE
1013 Mission St. #6, South Pasadena, CA 91030
*To Translate this page to Arabic, please visit ajeeb.com:
http://tarjim.ajeeb.com/ajeeb/default.asp?lang=1
*To Translate this page to French, Spanish, German,
Italian or Portuguese, please visit Systran:
http://www.systransoft.com/
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
discussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) G.O.P. Convention Cost $154 Million
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14convention.html?oref=login
The four-day Republican National Convention cost more than
$154 million to stage, with the New York City Host Committee
raising $84 million in cash and other contributions, making the
19 hours of speeches and two years of planning by far the most
expensive such event in the nation's history.
A detailed report filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission
shows that the New York City Host Committee spent millions of
dollars on a wide range of expenses, from $93,516 at the Ritz-
Carlton on Central Park South and $301,460 on limousine services
to $281,000 to build the circular stage that President Bush used
to make his acceptance speech on the last night.
The report details items large and small, including the $11 million
that went to Freeman Companies, the Dallas-based general
contractor that oversaw the renovation work at Madison Square
Garden; the $1.4 million that went to Cathy Blaney & Associates,
the host committee's chief fund-raiser; the $7,000 worth of donuts
and coffee distributed to host committee staff members and police
officers; the $2,269 spent on bowling at Chelsea Piers; and the
$6,192 spent at the Stage Door Deli and Restaurant.
The 2,294-page filing covers fund-raising and expenses over
a two-year period, and it documents an unprecedented success
at having corporations and wealthy political partisans help pay for
the event. Recent federal laws have put new restrictions of campaign
spending, but the conventions remain a significant vehicle for
corporations to give unlimited cash contributions.
Top donors to the convention included Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg,
who was the largest single giver, donating $5 million in cash and
also paying for $2 million in legal and accounting services; David
Rockefeller, who contributed $5 million; Goldman Sachs, which
gave $1.15 million; Merrill Lynch, which gave $1.1 million; and
I.B.M., which provided $2.45 million in computer equipment
and services.
In addition to the $81.6 million spent by the New York host
committee, the overall convention cost includes about $58
million that the city spent on police and other services, most
of which will be reimbursed by the federal government, and
$15 million in federal money that went to the Republican Party
to pay for the convention staff salaries, which covered expenses
like the $207,000 spent on the balloons that dropped from
the ceiling after the president's speech.
In monetary terms alone, New York's effort for the convention
- from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 - made others pale in comparison.
The Boston host committee raised $54 million for the Democratic
National Convention in July, and spent about $48 million of that.
Beyond that, the city of Boston spent about $35 million on police
and security, and, like the Republicans, the Democrats received
$15 million from the federal government.
The costs for both events are higher still when factoring in Secret
Service costs, as well as the spending of other law enforcement
agencies, like the F.B.I. But New York's financial liability may well
go even higher, since the city is expected to face civil lawsuits
from some of the approximately 1,800 people who were arrested
during the protests during the convention.
Nevertheless, the bulk of the cost thus far has been covered by
private donations - a fact the city says is commendable, because
it spared taxpayers the burden of paying for the event. But
government watchdog groups have criticized such donations
as a potentially corrupting influence on politics and government.
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that with the nearly $50 million
federal subsidy to offset security costs, the out-of-pocket cost
to city taxpayers was just under $8 million, which he said was
offset by a $4 million surplus that the host committee is expected
to donate to the city and about $4.5 million in goods given to
the committee, like computer and telephone systems, that will
be passed along to the city.
"The numbers will basically show that it's good news for the city,"
Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday. "We raised all the money privately."
But if the mayor was hoping that the bright financial picture he
painted would be a net plus for his political career, Democratic
mayoral hopefuls were hoping to emphasize that the event helped
the re-election effort of President Bush, who polls show is unpopular
among New York voters. Gifford Miller, a Democrat and mayoral
hopeful who is now speaker of the City Council, also questioned
the mayor's accounting of the benefit to the city. "As George Bush
might say, this looks a bit like fuzzy math," he said.
But, he said: "To me the issue was never really about the money.
It is a good thing for us to be in the center of the political discussion,
if and only if we used it as an opportunity to make New York's case."
At the same time, government watchdog groups argued that the
reliance on private donors undermined Congress's intention to have
the conventions publicly financed. The private donors included The
New York Times, which contributed $750,000 in advertising and
$750,000 to help buy tickets to Broadway shows for state delegations.
After the Watergate scandal, Congress enacted a requirement that
conventions be entirely publicly financed as a way to head off
possible corruption and corporate influence in politics, said Larry
Noble, a former general counsel to the Federal Election Commission
who is now executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics
in Washington. But convention host committees, which have tax-
exempt status in part because they are supposed to be in the business
of promoting the host cities, have increasingly emerged as a vehicle
for using soft money - or unlimited corporate contributions -
to finance such events.
The election commission has given host committees a wide variety
of specific restrictions on what they may pay for. So when the
Republicans came to Madison Square Garden, the host committee
could not pay for the balloons that dropped on the president but
it could pay the $1.1 million for the stage set, which included the
dramatic overnight construction that allowed Mr. Bush to address
the convention from a raised round stage emblazoned with the
presidential seal.
"If you look at the way they work it, the fiction is the host committee
is really working for the city and not directly supporting the parties,"
Mr. Noble said. "But what is going on is when the parties negotiate
the contract, they put more and more of the financial burden on
the host committees."
Robert Biersack, an election commission spokesman, acknowledged
that the line is somewhat fuzzy. "They are not supposed to spend
money on the specific conduct of the convention," Mr. Biersack said.
"Usually that means staffing the convention itself, messages from
the podium, but it is fairly narrow."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Sharon Offers a Date for Settler Withdrawal From Gaza
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/international/middleeast/14CND-MIDE.html?e
i=5094&en=5e9ab47a72c50e65&hp=&ex=1097812800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnn
lx=1097789277-uLfuQ0cLlF4YiC/wBFS0SA
JERUSALEM, Oct. 14 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that
he wanted to begin withdrawing Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip
next May or June and complete the pullout within three months.
Mr. Sharon's comments to a closed session of Parliament's Defense
and Foreign Affairs Committee marked the most specific target date
he has given for the Gaza evacuation. The Israeli media reported the
remarks, which were also confirmed by participants at the session.
But Mr. Sharon must still win approval for the plan in Parliament,
and it is scheduled to come up for debate and a vote on Oct. 25.
The prime minister suffered a symbolic defeat on Monday when
legislators held a nonbinding vote and rejected Mr. Sharon's policy
speech opening the current session of Parliament. The speech was
largely devoted to the Gaza withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the Yesha Council, the main group representing settlers,
said it organized 100 rallies around the country tonight, including
one near Mr. Sharon's official residence in Jerusalem, to protest the
Gaza pullout.
About two-thirds of Israelis support Mr. Sharon's plan, according to
opinion surveys, but the settlers are well -organized and have been
holding large demonstrations to build opposition to the plan.
Mr. Sharon is calling for the evacuation of all 8,000 settlers in Gaza,
and several hundred in the West Bank, though he also seeks to
consolidate Israel's control of the larger West Bank settlements.
At the parliamentary hearing today, Mr. Sharon also said that
the current Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which began more
than two weeks ago, would continue as long as Palestinians fired
rockets at nearby Israeli communities.
The Israeli military killed five Palestinians in airstrikes today,
according to Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp, the main focus of the Israeli incursion,
the air force said it had killed two militants planting a bomb,
according to the military and Palestinians in the camp.
In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, an airstrike killed two
militants from Hamas and a 70-year-old civilian, identified as
Ismail al-Sawalhah, according to the military and Palestinian
residents.
According to residents, the Israeli forces also damaged or destroyed
about 20 houses in Rafah. The military said it was searching for
weapons-smuggling tunnels from Egypt; the military also said it
had knocked down abandoned homes that Palestinians had used
for cover when firing on soldiers.
The latest violence brought the Palestinian death toll in northern
Gaza to 100, including 59 militants and 41 civilians, according to
a count by the Reuters news agency. The five Israeli deaths include
two soldiers and three civilians.
Despite the large Israeli presence, Palestinian rocket fire has continued,
though at a reduced level. The Israeli media have cited some military
commanders saying they cannot expect to achieve much more in the
current operation and favor a withdrawal.
But Yuval Steinitz, head of the parliamentary committee that hosted
Mr. Sharon, said he believed that the military would have to begin an
even larger offensive in the future.
Mr. Steinitz, an influential member of Mr. Sharon's Likud Party, said
the current action was intended to prevent the rocket fire, but was
not directed at the workshops that make the rockets, or those who
store them in Gaza City, a sprawling city with about 500,000 residents.
"In order to reduce the capacity of the terrorists, I think we will have
to take over the whole area," including Gaza City, Mr. Steinitz said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei,
acknowledged that the Palestinian security forces had been
unable to prevent the growing lawlessness in Palestinian areas.
"Unfortunately, up to now the Palestinian security forces have
not been able to control this situation and we bear a very big
responsibility for this," Mr. Qurei was quoted as saying in Al
Ayyam, a Palestinian daily. "There's still chaos, still killing."
In another development, a leading rabbi said Israeli soldiers
should refuse to evacuate Jewish settlers from Gaza, saying
to do so would be the same as eating nonkosher meat like pork.
"It's not allowed and they must tell their commander that it
is forbidden," Rabbi Avraham Shapira was quoted as saying
in Besheva, a religious weekly. Rabbi Shapira is a former chief
rabbi in Israel and is still considered an influential figure.
His comments reflect the divisive nature of the planned Gaza
withdrawal. But it is not yet clear how the withdrawal would
be carried out.
Israeli officials have not said whether settlers resisting removal
would be evacuated by young soldiers who are performing
compulsory military service, or by other members of the security
forces like the border police who are career officers.
In another development, the Israeli military withdrew an accusation
that Palestinian militants in Gaza City had used a United Nations
ambulance to transport a rocket.
Israel made the accusation on Oct. 1 based on video footage from
a military drone, or unmanned spy plane. But the black-and-white
video is fuzzy, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
said the long, thin object in question was a folded stretcher being
carried by one of its workers, not a rocket.
In a statement, the military said the object "cannot be determined
with certainty."
It added, "Thus the determination that the object loaded was a
Qassam rocket was too unequivocal and made in haste."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Gaza families live in the shadow of death
By Laila El-Haddad in Gaza
Friday 08 October 2004 2:08 PM GMT
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB8868A4-078C-4BDC-B562-9F5ACBB2C54C.
htm
Palestinian families have been in a perpetual state of mourning
The last thing that young Suha Ayub Ubaid remembers before a barrage
of tank fire ripped through her home, is huddling together with her
parents and eight brothers and sisters.
They had taken cover in the middle of their living-room floor hoping
to find shelter from the mass of military machines that had rumbled
into their neighbourhood minutes earlier on 6 October.
Now she lies listlessly in her hospital bed trying to absorb, as well as
any nine-year-old could, the events of that morning.
She survived with relatively light wounds. The same cannot be said,
however, about her younger sister, fighting for her life in the hospital's
intensive care unit, or about many of her neighbours.
One of them, 15-year-old Abd Allah Qahtan, died instantly in the
pre-dawn Israeli attack on civilian homes in the northern Gaza Strip
of Bait Lahya, while Hamdan Ubaid and his son Hamuda were killed
on their way to the mosque for morning prayers.
They are the latest victims in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
bloody offensive through the northern Gaza Strip, which has
claimed more than 85 Palestinian lives, nearly 30 of them children.
Smoke and screams
The military operation was launched after two Israeli children were
killed on 29 September in a Hamas rocket attack on Sderot, near
the Gaza border.
"I saw two or three tanks and several bulldozers razing farmland
near our house," U baid's mother Sumaya said, recounting a tale
of shock and horror.
"We took cover in the living room. Then out of nowhere the tanks
shells hit us. All I remember after that is seeing smoke. All I
remember is smoke and screams and ambulances."
Israeli army tanks and bulldozers
have caused widespread havoc
Sumaya's injured family members are spread out in hospitals across
Jabalya.
Kamil Udwan Hospital in Bait Lahya, where she is staying, is working
five times its 60-bed capacity, with hospital staff forced to turn the
cafeteria into an outpatient clinic.
Sumaya's 18-month-old daughter is under observation in Gaza's
Shifa Hospital, with fragments of shrapnel lodged in her head and
guts. Doctors' predictions for her survival are dismal.
Sumaya has not spoken to her since the attack on Wednesday morning,
preoccupied instead with attending to five-year-old Sabrin, who was
lying by her side, wracked by violent spasms of pain.
She too was hit in the head, which was seeping blood and roughly
bandaged with the limited supplies available to the under-stocked
hospital.
Complete shock
Across the room was Sabrin's seven-year-old brother Ala, whose
face was badly burned and whose frail young body was dotted with
shrapnel wounds.
Israel's ongoing assault is taking
its toll on Palestinian children
He stared blankly at family members who tried futilely to elicit
a response from him. Ala had not spoken a word since early in
the morning, with a look of fear frozen on his tender face.
"He's suffering from complete shock," his aunt Badria said. "He
used to be the most talkative one of the group."
Israeli military sources said occupation troops only opened fire
at civilian homes after an anti-tank rocket was launched from
one of the houses in the town.
But according to Sumaya, the attack was completely unprovoked
- there were neither fighters nor rockets in the area.
Lucky to live
"It's a very quiet area. The resistance fighters don't come here,
and there was nothing fired from our house. Absolutely nothing,"
Sumaya said.
"They target every living thing. They have no mercy in their hearts"
Badria, aunt of seven-year-old Ala, a victim of the Israeli attack
Her family was lucky enough to live and tell their tale, which gives
further credence to Palestinian claims that Sharon's week-long
charge through northern Gaza is more about inflicting as much
damage and pain as possible than about protecting Israeli towns.
"They target every living thing. They have no mercy in their
hearts," Badria said.
According to the assistant director of the Kamal Udwan Hospital,
Dr Said Juda, the injuries he has seen have been the most extensive
and penetrating in the four years of the intifada.
Serious injuries
"I've been working here a long time, and I've seen some pretty
horrible things - but nothing like this, and not with this frequency,"
Dr Juda said.
Will the violence spawn another
generation of armed fighters?
"People have been arriving here with their bowels ripped inside out,
with their limbs torn off, their bodies burned beyond recognition,
and dozens of bullet fragments that exploded upon impact lodged
mainly in the upper half of their bodies.
"The injuries are highly serious, with evidence of direct hits intended
to cause as much damage as possible.They are penetrating,
crushing and destructive."
Badria's nine-year-old son told her after seeing what happened to
his cousins, he wanted to become a resistance fighter.
As for young Suha, she says she dreams one day of becoming a doctor
"so she can treat injured people" like herself.
Her aunt is not so hopeful. "She keeps saying she wants to become
a medic. But there is no room in our lives for dreams anymore."
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) U.S. Forces Arrest Iraqi Negotiator, Strike Falluja
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513306&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces arrested Falluja's chief
negotiator on Friday after air strikes on the rebel-held city
that were part of a U.S. drive to thwart attacks in Iraq during
the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
A hospital doctor, Thamim al-Nuaimi, said five civilians
had been killed and 11 wounded in the overnight raids.
Falluja police, who do not answer to the U.S.-backed
interim government, said U.S. marines detained Sunni Muslim
cleric Khaled al-Jumaili, the city's police chief and two other
police officers while they were moving their families to a
nearby resort town for safety from American air raids.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials on the
arrest of Jumaili, who had been leading a Falluja delegation in
peace talks with the government that broke down this week.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened on Wednesday
to attack Falluja unless its people handed over militants loyal
to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to be holed up there.
Zarqawi, America's deadliest enemy in Iraq, has a $25
million U.S. bounty on his head. His group claimed Thursday's
twin suicide bombings that killed five people, including three
Americans, in Baghdad's Green Zone on the eve of Ramadan.
Fierce air strikes hit Falluja after the blasts as U.S. and
Iraqi forces intensified pressure on suspected Zarqawi targets
in and around the bastion of Sunni insurgency west of Baghdad.
But the military denied the bombing campaign was a prelude
to a full-scale assault to wrest Falluja from rebel hands.
"This is part of ongoing operations in Falluja. It is not
the beginning of a major offensive," a U.S. spokeswoman said.
Washington and Baghdad have vowed to retake insurgent-held
towns and cities ahead of nationwide elections due in January.
Shi'ite militiamen have been turning weapons in to police
in Baghdad's Sadr City district under a five-day
cash-for-weapons campaign that was extended on Friday for
another five days.
Police at one collection point said weapons gathered so far
had been taken to a sports stadium. They gave no reason for the
extension of the deadline. The deal with followers of radical
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was intended to halt weeks of fighting
with U.S. forces in the sprawling slums in northeastern Baghdad.
START OF RAMADAN
Ramadan, observed by Iraq's minority Sunnis from Friday,
will start for majority Shi'ites on Saturday.
There was no repeat of the coordinated suicide bombings
that wreaked havoc in Baghdad at the start of Ramadan last
year, when at least 40 people were killed in attacks on the
International Committee of the Red Cross offices and three
police stations.
But a suicide car bomber wounded five policemen and five
civilians near a police station in southern Baghdad on Friday,
the Interior Ministry said. Two police cars were wrecked.
The military said the Falluja raids at 2.38 a.m. (2338 GMT
Thursday) hit "command and control sites" used by senior
Zarqawi leaders to store weapons and plan attacks, adding that
air strikes since Thursday had destroyed many other Zarqawi
targets.
Falluja residents have scoffed at such statements in the
past, saying they have no knowledge of Zarqawi or his group and
accusing the Americans of bombing civilian homes.
The Green Zone blasts at a souvenir bazaar and a cafe
popular with U.S. troops and civilians were the first suicide
bombings inside what is supposed to be the safest place in
Iraq. The country's interim government quickly vowed to strike
back.
(Additional reporting by Fadil al-Badrani in Falluja)
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Israel Says Will Scale Back Gaza Offensive
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Fri Oct 15, 2004 08:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6513537&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israel said on
Friday it was easing a crushing offensive that has killed more
than 100 Palestinians since tanks rumbled into northern Gaza 16
days ago to stop cross-border rocket attacks.
Asked about media reports the army would remove troops from
part of the sprawling Jabalya refugee camp, where some of the
worst fighting has taken place, Deputy Defense Minister Zeev
Boim told Israel Radio: "That is correct."
But Jabalya residents said they had not seen any sign of a
pullback. Palestinian medics in the camp said two militants
from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and one from Hamas were
killed in a morning missile attack by an Israeli aircraft.
"Nothing has changed," Hassan Shabban, a taxi driver, said
as Israeli drones, or unmanned surveillance aircraft, flew
overhead.
Boim, citing the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of
Ramadan and what he called an Israeli desire to ease
Palestinian hardship, said troops taking part in the army's
biggest push into Gaza in four years of bloodshed would
redeploy.
The operation, he said, had largely achieved its goal and
only two rockets had struck the southern Israeli town of Sderot
in the past week. But he signaled some troops could remain in
northern Gaza, saying "the operation has not ended."
Qassam attacks have complicated Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's efforts to overcome rightist opposition to his plan to
remove all 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West
Bank, an evacuation he said could start by May and last 12
weeks.
BACKTRACKING
Sharon vowed on Thursday to broaden the northern Gaza
assault but media reports said he backtracked after military
commanders advised him it was time to move soldiers in the
densely populated Palestinian area out of harm's way.
Challenging Boim's assessment of the operation, Mushir
al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said: "The Zionist enemy failed to
achieve the declared goal ... of stopping Qassam rockets.
Rockets continued to land in Sderot despite the presence of
planes and tanks in the northern Gaza Strip."
Israel Radio said soldiers would take up new positions on
hilltops overlooking Jabalya and move back into the camp if
more makeshift rockets were fired into Israel. It reported the
pullback would begin late on Friday or on Saturday.
Israel launched the Gaza assault after a rocket salvo
killed two children in Sderot on Sept. 29.
Palestinian medics said Israeli forces killed at least 62
militants and 41 other Palestinians believed to be civilians.
Palestinian militants killed three Israelis and a Thai farm
worker.
Israeli forces uprooted olive and citrus groves in the
area, a measure the military says denies rocket squads a place
to hide. Tanks moving through crowded neighborhoods damaged
homes and tore up water pipes and electricity poles.
Polls show most Israelis support Sharon's withdrawal
strategy, regarding Gaza as too costly in lives and money. He
intends to submit his plan to a parliamentary vote on Oct. 25.
But hawks inside and outside Sharon's fraying coalition
reject any pullback from territories Israel captured in the
1967 Middle East war as "appeasement of Palestinian terrorism."
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) ***MONEY FOR EDUCATION NOT WAR...bw***
Study of College Readiness Finds No Progress in Decade
By KAREN W. ARENSON
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/education/14act.html
American high school students are no better prepared for college
than they were 10 years ago, according to a new study by ACT, one
of the two big organizations that offer college entrance tests.
ACT said that of the 1.2 million students throughout the country who
took its tests this year, only 22 percent were ready for college-level
work in English, mathematics and science. An additional 19 percent
were prepared in two of the three areas, and could succeed in the third
area "by doing just a little bit more," the study found.
"We've made virtually no progress in the last 10 years" helping
students to become ready for college or jobs, said the report, which
is being issued today. "And from everything we've seen, it's not going
to get better any time soon."
At a time when education experts and policy makers are trying to
gauge what progress has been made and what needs to be done
next, the report offers one of the most negative assessments so far.
Another report, "Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on
Higher Education," released last month by the National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Education in California, was more optimistic
about college preparation, saying that in many states, more students
were taking more college-preparatory courses than a decade earlier.
But ACT, which looked at the college-readiness issue in greater depth,
concluded that the increases had not been enough. It found that the
proportion of students taking what it deemed a minimum core of
college preparatory courses - four years of English and three years
each of mathematics, science and social studies - had risen only
slightly in 10 years: to 56 percent in 2004, from 54 percent in 1994.
Another problem, the study said, is that even those who took the full
core curriculum were not necessarily prepared for college, since some
of their courses were not rigorous enough.
Of the students who took no math beyond algebra I and II and geometry,
only 13 percent were ready to handle college algebra. Of those who
added trigonometry, only 37 percent were prepared. That figure jumped
to 74 percent for those who also took calculus. But only 40 percent of
students took trigonometry or another advanced mathematics course
beyond algebra and geometry.
The ACT researchers said that their study had led them "to rethink
whether the core curriculum" adequately prepared students "for
success after high school."
The report said that students who took a minimum core curriculum
of four years of English and three years each of mathematics, science
and social studies were more likely to be prepared for college-level
work than those who did not. Students who took advanced courses
beyond that minimum core fared even better.
ACT, which is based in Iowa, defined college readiness as the ability
to succeed in a credit-bearing course at a two-year or four-year college
without needing to take a remedial course first.
Not surprisingly, the report found that on average, preparation for
college differed among racial and ethnic groups. Fewer black, Hispanic
and American-Indian students took a minimum set of core courses
than non-Hispanic white students or Asian-Americans. And fewer
boys took the minimum core than girls.
ACT officials proposed that all students - not just those headed for
college - be required to take advanced courses like chemistry, physics,
geometry and trigonometry.
They said that while they recognized that not all students wanted to
go on to college, those entering the work force needed the same
skills and knowledge as those pursuing higher education.
The company is beginning to work with school districts to evaluate
the rigor of the courses they offer and to help them in other ways.
One of the states that ACT is working with is Illinois, which started to
give the ACT exams to all high school juniors three years ago. Some
students who did not plan to go to college were encouraged to think
about it after receiving promising scores. State officials said yesterday
that the proportion going on to college had increased, but they did
not provide specific figures.
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, an education-standards
advocacy group, said the ACT report was useful in focusing attention
on the need to improve high schools. She said that much of the money
for improving schools had been directed to the primary grades and,
to some extent, to middle schools.
"There has been a belief that if we got kids off to a better start, the
problems in high school would fix themselves," Ms. Haycock said.
"That has not happened. What we're learning is that education is
not like an inoculation, where if you do it once, you are set for life.
It is more like nutrition, where you have to do it right and then
keep doing it right."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Pension System Recognizes Gay Spouses
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY
October 14, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/nyregion/14marriage.html
ALBANY, Oct. 13 - New York State is moving to officially recognize
same-sex marriages from Canada for the first time, at least in one
limited area: State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi has ruled that the
state's pension system will treat gay couples with Canadian wedding
licenses the same way it treats other married couples.
The decision came after Mark E. Daigneault, a state employee seeking
to wed his male partner in Canada, wrote the comptroller's office
asking what the financial implications of the marriage would be.
After studying the issue, Mr. Hevesi wrote back last week that the
state's $115 billion pension funds, which he oversees, would
"recognize a same-sex Canadian marriage in the same manner as
an opposite-sex New York marriage.''
While the practical impact of the decision is limited, gay rights
groups hailed the move as a giant step toward winning wider
recognition for gay marriages.
"This becomes the first statewide program to recognize those
same-sex Canadian marriage licenses as being real, and equal
to any other marriages in New York State,'' said Alan Van Capelle,
the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, noting
that Mr. Hevesi's move comes after several municipalities in the
state and major car insurance companies decided to recognize
same-sex marriages from Canada.
New York State already allows employees to make same-sex
partners their pension beneficiaries; the comptroller's decision
means that gay couples married in Canada would be entitled
to automatic cost-of-living increases and accidental death
benefits for survivors, benefits that currently go to spouses.
"I'm very happy with the comptroller's decision,'' said Mr. Daigneault,
who works for the insurance department and has adopted two
children with his partner of 13 years. "It certainly helps my family
get the protection that we need.''
The comptroller's ruling cited a March decision by the state attorney
general, Eliot Spitzer, which found that while same-sex marriages
could not be legally performed in New York, the state must
recognize those performed legally elsewhere.
"The decision is driven by the law,'' Mr. Hevesi said in an interview.
"I have a personal point of view, and I'm glad the law conforms to
my personal point of view. I think this is an important step. But
it's not fuzzy law, it's not unclear. It's very hard to argue differently.''
Paul Larrabee, a spokesman for Attorney General Spitzer, said that
Mr. Hevesi's decision was consistent with the attorney general's
legal opinion.
The decision applies only to same-sex marriages performed legally
in Canada, Mr. Hevesi said. The question of whether to recognize
same-sex marriages performed this year in San Francisco and
Massachusetts is complicated by other legal issues, he said, and
his office has not been asked to decide on marriages from other
states.
The comptroller wrote his decision in a letter dated Oct. 8 that
was publicized Wednesday by the Empire State Pride Agenda.
Several pension experts said that the ruling appeared to make
New York, which has the second largest public pension system
in the United States, the first major public employee pension
system to explicitly recognize same-sex marriages from Canada.
The nation's largest public pension fund, the California Public
Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, is preparing to comply
with a law taking effect on Jan. 1 that will give domestic partners
all benefits that were previously available only to spouses. While
the California law allows the benefits to be available not only to
domestic partners who register in California, but to those who
form "legal unions" elsewhere, it is unclear whether same-sex
couples married in Canada would qualify for the benefits without
registering as domestic partners in California. Darin Hall, a
spokesman for Calpers, said the fund was still studying the new
law and how it would be put into place.
In New York, the comptroller's decision covers the 964,000 active
and retired members of the state's pension system, which covers
state employees and employees of local governments outside New
York City. The fiscal impact of the decision is expected to be small,
officials said.
Officials at the office of New York City Comptroller William C.
Thompson Jr., who is the custodian of the city's five pension funds,
said Wednesday that those funds do not currently recognize same-
sex marriages. Kevin Quinn, a spokesman for Gov. George E. Pataki,
said that the governor would review the decision.
Mr. Daigneault said he had not yet set a date for his wedding but
was looking forward to settling logistics as soon as his children's
soccer schedule allowed.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Jordan 'ghost' jail 'is holding senior al-Qa'eda leaders'
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem and Robin Gedye Foreign Affairs Writer
(Filed: 14/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/14/wpris14.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/14/ixworld.html
The most senior Muslim terrorists so far captured by the United States
are being held in an ultra-secret "ghost" prison in Jordan run by the CIA,
according to a report published yesterday by a respected security expert.
The article in the Israeli daily Haaretz appears to answer one of the
mysteries of the war on terrorism: what has happened to the senior
leaders of al-Qa'eda and associated organisations captured by US
forces during the past three years.
The base is beyond the reach of the American courts, which is likely
to be one of its principal attractions.
The article was written by Yossi Melman, who is considered a leading
authority on intelligence and has a wide network of contacts in the
Israeli and American security establishments.
He did not specify an exact location for the prison, but said at
least 11 senior al-Qa'eda and other militant leaders were being held
in Jordan.
Quoting "international intelligence sources", the report said the
CIA's prisoners at the facility included Three of the terrorist movement 's
most senior figures, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Riduan
Isamuddin.
"Their detention outside the US enables CIA interrogators to apply
interrogation methods banned by US law, and to do so in a country
where co-operation with the Americans is particularly close, thereby
reducing the danger of leaks," Mr Melman wrote.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Jordan, which is
seen as a key ally in the war on terrorism. The US embassy in Jordan
denied the report.
Washington's courting of the Jordanian monarchy, regarded by the
State Department as one of the Middle East's most moderate
governments, was pursued with remarkable success under the
47-year reign of King Hussein and has continued with hardly a
cross word under his son and successor, King Abdullah.
Mordechai Kedar, of Bar Ilan University, a Middle East expert who
spent 25 years with Israeli military intelligence, said the story was
highly credible. "Yossi Melman is well woven into intelligence circles
and has good access to intelligence information and he bases his
reports on hard-core information," he said.
"This sounds reasonable, logical, and there is an historical basis
too because of the long-standing hatred between the Hashemite
kingdom and Wahhabis [hardline Muslims], who are seen as
running al-Qa'eda.
"The Hashemite kingdom is in the pocket of the Bush administration
and Jordan offers a calm environment compared to Iraq, even Egypt,
and it is weak enough that reasonable pressure could have convinced
the Hashemite kingdom to host such a thing. I doubt the Egyptians
would have agreed, not to mention the Saudis. Where else in the
Arab world would it have been possible to have such a thing?"
Since the invasion of Afghanistan three years ago, the location of
America's most prized prisoners has been the subject of endless
speculation but little hard information. It has been suspected that
some of the world's most dangerous terrorists were kept on US
territories in the Pacific, or aboard naval vessels.
Egypt and Jordan have both been named as possible holding centres
or staging posts, and the al-Jafr prison in Jordan's southern desert
has been described as a suspected CIA detention centre.
International human rights groups have accused America of
circumventing US law and international guidelines on interrogation
by shipping al-Qa'eda suspects to allied states where legal
scrutiny is lax. The existence of suspected secret facilities has
also caused deep unease in the US Congress.
A report on these so-called ghost prisoners, issued on Tuesday
by Human Rights Watch claimed that they were being held
somewhere so secret that President George W Bush had asked
the CIA not to tell him where it was.
Most of the al-Qa'eda detainees arrested in Afghanistan were
transferred to the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but
according to the report some were held in Pakistan before
being moved to Jordan.
Human Rights Watch reported that America is holding prisoners
in more than 24 secret detention centres, of which "at least half
operate in total secrecy".
Senator John McCain, a Republican who was imprisoned and
tortured by the North Vietnamese, has described the "situation
with the CIA and ghost detainees [as] beginning to look like a
bad movie".
The CIA is prohibited from conducting operations in the United
States. America describes the system of transferring prisoners
in secret from one country to another as "extraordinary rendition."
In the year after the September attacks George Tenet, the then
director of the CIA, admitted to the "rendition" of 70 people he
described as terrorists.
4 October 2004: How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind
25 July 2004: Britain forms new special forces unit to fight al-Qa'eda
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any
medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see
Copyright
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) The Cuban "Miami Five"
Jailed in the US for fighting terrorism
By Jorge Martin
http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/cuba_miami_five.htm
On June 16 and 17, 1998, the Cuban authorities, in an exchange with
the FBI handed over a huge amount of material related to anti-Cuban
terrorist activities conducted from US territory, including 230 pages of
documents, five videos of material broadcast on US TV about terrorist
activities against Cuba and eight audio cassettes containing 2 hours
and 40 minutes of conversations between jailed central American
terrorists and their contacts outside.
Less than two months later, on September 12, the FBI, in early morning
raids arrested five Cubans in Miami. Were they related to terrorist
activities against Cuba? Quite the opposite, they were Cuban agents
working to infiltrate the anti-Cuban terrorist groups based in Miami
and they had also participated in the gathering of the information
passed on to the FBI.
This was the beginning of a protracted legal case against these five
people now known as the "Miami Five". The case is one of injustice,
political manipulation of the justice system and one that exposes the
hypocrisy of Bush's so-called "war on terrorism". And this is probably
the reason why you have not heard anything about it in the mainstream
media.
The Miami Five, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar,
René González Sehwerert, Fernando González Llort and Antonio Guerrero
RodrÃguez, have all been given the longest possible sentences for the
"crimes" they are accused of. Gerardo Hernández has been sentenced
to two life sentences and 15 years of jail. Another two, Antonio Guerrero
and Ramón Labañino have also been give life sentences. And René
González and Fernándo González have been condemned to 19 and
15 years imprisonment.
From the moment they were arrested, the Miami Five were subjected
to extremely harsh treatment. After 15 days in the Miami Federal
Detention Centre, they were transferred to the Special House Unit,
better known as "the hole", in isolation cells 15 feet by 7. These cells
are used for very dangerous criminals, generally those accused of
murder, and according to the rules, prisoners can only be kept there
for a maximum of 60 days. Two of the Miami Five, Gerardo Hernández
and Ramón Labañino were to remain there for 17 months.
What are the Miami Five accused of? There are a number of minor
charges, including acting as agents of a foreign government without
being registered with the US authorities (which the Five admit to),
but the two main charges which three of them have been condemned
to life sentences for are related to spying and murder.
From the very beginning, the local media started to talk of
a dangerous group of Cuban spies that had endangered US
national security. But in the seven long months of the trial (which
makes this one of the longest judicial cases in the history of the US),
the prosecution could not present one single piece of evidence to
back up this case. Defence lawyers called to the stand US Navy officers,
both active and retired, high ranking US intelligence officers and others
and they all testified that after looking at all the evidence found on the
Five, they had not seen any classified material.
Even the prosecutor of the case had to make clear in his opening remarks
to the jury that, "we arrested these five men and we seized 20,000 pages
of documents from their computers, but ladies and gentlemen from these
20,000 pages we cannot present one single page of classified information".
Since they could present no proof of the charge of spying, the prosecution
decided to charge them with "conspiracy to spy". Conspiracy is a very vague
term and very difficult to prove. It means that the Five got together and
decided they were going to spy. How can anyone prove that? And even
if there was evidence (which was not the case), it is not normal that three
of them should get the highest possible sentence you can get for spying
(life imprisonment) but only for "conspiring" to spy!
The second charge for which Gerardo Hernández got his second life
sentence is conspiracy to commit murder. He was accused of having
been involved in the downing of two Cessna planes just off the coast
of Havana by Cuban MIGs in February 1996. The story started in 1995
when an agreement was reached between Cuban and US authorities in
order to regulate migration policies between the two countries. It was
at that time when the anti-Cuban Miami organisation "Hermanos al
Rescate" (Brothers to the Rescue) started carrying out terrorist activities
against Cuba. In the 20 months leading to the downing of the two
planes, they carried out 25 unauthorised flights over Cuban airspace.
What did the Cuban government do? In each case they filed a formal
diplomatic complaint for this violation of its country's airspace. They
received no reply.
In January 1996, the Cuban authorities invited admiral Carroll from
the US Navy to Cuba and told him in no uncertain terms that their
patience had run out and they would tolerate no more violations of
their national sovereignty, particularly since they had information
(provided by the Miami Five) that Hermanos al Rescate was about to
arm these planes. Carroll went back to the US and reported to the
Pentagon and the State Department that the Cubans were serious
about their threats. Richard Nuccio, at that time an advisor to
president Clinton, testified in the trial and said that he was very
worried about the public boasting (in TV broadcasts) of Hermanos
al Rescate leader José Basulto, about their illegal flights over Cuba.
On February 24th, three Cessna planes, one piloted by José Basulto
himself, left a base in Florida and went to Cuba. They had been
warned by the personnel at the airbase that it would be very dangerous
to fly over Cuban airspace. The Cuban authorities were also forewarned.
Was it Gerardo Hernández who warned them? No, it was the US Federal
Aviation Agency who warned the Cubans that the planes were on
their way. The planes were warned by radio that they were about to
enter a restricted military area. They ignored the warnings. The Cuban
air force sent two MIG fighters and after further ignored warnings
downed two of the planes. José Basulto managed to escape. The
Cuban government claims that the planes were illegally inside their
\airspace when downed, while the US government charges that they
were 4 miles outside the limit.
So one might ask, what is the relationship between Gerardo Hernández
and this case? He has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
The "proof" presented is a telegram to Gerardo, who had infiltrated
Hermanos al Rescate, telling him not to fly on that date. This evidence
is very flimsy, particularly for such a serious charge as this. It does not
prove that Gerardo knew the planes were going to be attacked, and it
does not prove he had anything to do with the attack itself. All he did
was to report about the activities of a terrorist organisation operating
from the US. Furthermore the information about flights leaving and
arriving in South Florida is publicly available.
Finally, the bottom line is whether a sovereign nation like Cuba has
the right to defend its airspace or not. For a government like that of
the US which insists in immunity for its armed personnel operation
abroad ,it is a blatant case of double standards to bring an accusation
of murder against a government defending its own territory against
terrorists coming from the US. The case against Gerardo for conspiracy
to murder is so weak that in an unprecedented move, right at the end
of the trial, they tried to get the charge changed from murder to
homicide. But both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court rejected the
petition, since the whole trial had been based on the original charge.
A fair trial in Miami?
Clearly the evidence against the Five was at most flimsy, but the jury
after very short deliberation, found them guilty. That can only be
explained by the fact that the trial took place in Miami. From the
beginning the defence attorneys asked for the trial to be transferred
out of Miami. It is well known that the mafia type networks of the
rabidly reactionary Cuban exiles dominate the city. It was very difficult
to have a fair trial and a jury that would not be intimidated in such a
city.
Furthermore the trial took place on the same dates as the polemic
over Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy kept in Miami by some relatives
against the wishes of his father. The Cuban exiles organised violent
demonstrations and riots on those days, and the whole city was
immersed in an atmosphere of anti-Cuban hysteria. How can the
trial of five "dangerous Communist agents", one of them accused
of having participated in the murder of Cuban exiles, take place in
such a climate and be a fair trial?
Even the US government recognised in a different case a year later,
that a case connected to Cuba could not be tried fairly in Miami.
The US government was being accused of unfair discrimination by
a Mexican employee of the Immigration Service who claimed he
had been dismissed because of his support for the anti-Cuban mafia
in the Elian Gonzalez case. In this case, which has only an indirect
relation to Cuba, the government argued that it could not be tried
fairly in Miami and asked for the trial to be transferred. The request
was granted. But in the case of the Miami Five, which is directly
linked to Cuba and to the reactionary Cuban exiles who dominate
the city, the request was rejected.
The government of the US also used a number of other legal tricks
to get the Five condemned. For instance it used the Confidential
Information Protection Act, in order not to release the 20,000 pages
of documents seized from the Five. For months, neither the accused
nor their lawyers had access to these documents, none of which
contained US national defence sensitive information, or any classified
information as stated by the prosecution itself. The defence was also
not allowed to use the "state of need" argument against the accusation
of acting as unregistered agents. This means that you can break the
law in order to serve a greater good. In this case, the defence argued
that they did so in order to save lives and property by infiltrating these
terrorist groups.
Finally there is also the issue of the harsh treatment the Five received
and are receiving in jail, particularly in relation to the visits from their
family. Olga Salanueva, René's wife, and Adriana Pérez, Gerardo's wife,
have never been allowed to see their husbands since they have been
in jail! How is that possible? Simply by not giving them a visa to enter
the US. The US immigration service said that they cannot even argue
humanitarian reasons for the granting of the visas, since they are a
"threat to US national security". This vindictive ruling goes against the
US's own penitentiary rules and Constitution. Their young children
have been growing up for years without being allowed to see their
fathers. Visitation rights apply to even the more callous convicted
murderers, so why should they not be allowed to the Miami Five who
are clearly innocent victims of political imprisonment?
The long arm of the anti-Cuban Mafia in Miami
But the implications of this case go much further if one takes the
time to trace the background of some of the people involved. Take
for instance Hector Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge of the Miami
regional office of the FBI and responsible for the arrest of the Five.
What is his background? He became prominent when he was involved
in the investigation that led to the arrest of four Miami Cubans in
1997. The US Coast Guard arrested them in October of that year
when it seized a yacht in Puerto Rican waters. They found seven
boxes of ammunition, military uniforms, two assault rifles and
other military equipment. One of the arrested, Angel Alfonso
Alemán, quickly declared that he was in charge and that their
mission was to assassinate Castro during his visit to Margarita
Island in Venezuela.
Hector Pesquera, the FBI agent in charge of the case, promised
to carry out the investigation but added that "there might be
foreign policy implications" in which case he does not "rule
anything out".
The investigation soon led to the National Cuban American
Foundation (FNCA), the most important organisation of Cuban
reactionary exiles, with close links with the US Republican and
Democratic parties. The owner of one of the rifles was Francisco
Hernández, the FNCA president and Miami's most important
counter-revolutionary leader. A member of the FNCA Executive
Committee was the owner of the yacht. The member of the group
in charge of communications was also a known FNCA activist.
While on parole, one of the accused was arrested again by the
DEA accused of bringing more than 350 kg of cocaine into the
country.
All of the accused denied their guilt, with the exception of Alfonso
who tried to get out by pointing out that he is well connected and
showed pictures of himself with president Clinton, senator Torricelli
(Democrat and the second largest recipient of Cuban American money
in election campaigns in the US), the now deceased leader of the
Cuban exiles Jorge Mas Canosa, etc. His lawyer, who is also FBI
investigating agent Hector Pesquera's cousin, went as far as to argue
that if the CIA has tried so many times to assassinate Castro, how
come it is a crime for him to attempt to do the same!
The Cuban mafia threw all her weight into the case and finally the
accused were released. The judges, the accused and even special
agent Pesquera himself, all celebrated the outcome with a mass
(these types they are always very "pious") and a party.
As if it were a reward for having failed to produce enough evidence
against the accused, special agent Pesquera was sent to Miami and
appointed as Special Agent in Charge for South Florida!
Barely 12 days later, the Miami Five were arrested. It was the first
time that a "network of Cuban spies" had been broken up on US
territory since the Cuban Revolution. Pesquera was quick to claim
credit for the operation, despite the fact that he had only been in
charge there for less than two weeks! The case of the Miami Five was
clearly designed to appease the FNCA, with which Pesquera has such
good relations, despite the fact that some of its most prominent
members had been (sort of) "investigated" by himself in relation to
terrorist activities.
Remember what George W Bush said about "aiding and harbouring
terrorists" being on the same level as committing terrorist acts. But
then this rule only seems to apply to the "bad" terrorists, not to the
ones that are on Washington's side and that sometimes even do some
of the White House's dirty work. Not to mention the enormous political
clout the FNCA has in Florida, the state ruled by Bush's brother Jeb, and
in which Bush's presidency was "won".
The actions of the anti-Cuban terrorists (with a little help from the CIA)
Another story worth telling is that of Orlando Bosch, the person whose
actions Fernando González, one of the Miami Five, was in charge of
monitoring. Bosch left Cuba in 1960 and went to the US. His first
terrorist activity was in 1968 when he was involved in the sending
of a parcel bomb to Havana. In that year he was responsible for more
than 40 terrorist attacks. At the end of the year he was arrested in
Miami, tried and found guilty of an attack on a Polish ship and
sentenced to 10 years in jail. In 1974, while on parole, he fled the
US and carried on with his terrorist activities. He has confessed to
carrying out bomb attacks in Miami, New York, Venezuela, Panama,
Mexico and Argentina.
In October 1976 he was arrested in Venezuela in connection with
the terrorist attack on a Cuban civilian airplane that resulted in 73
dead, men, women and children. This was the first ever bomb attack
on a civilian airplane in the world. After spending 11 years in jail in
Venezuela, having been proved that he had been an associate of two
other men accused of homicide in the same case, he was finally
released. In 1987 he returned to Miami and was arrested by the
immigration service. The proceedings for his deportation began.
But then enormous political pressure was exerted by the Cuban
mafia and its associates to get him released. Prominent in the
campaign was senator Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican and the
largest recipient of Cuban American money in election campaigns
in the US). Amongst those involved was Jeb Bush, George W's brother,
who was then Ileana's election campaign manager. Finally George
Bush senior granted the release of this known and convicted terrorist
and even gave him permanent residence in the US.
Another of those involved with Bosch in the bomb attack on the
Cuban airliner in 1976 was Luis Posada Carriles. He had fled Cuba
in 1959 after having been a police agent under dictator Fulgencio
Batista. Most of his later life was dedicated to one goal: the
assassination of Castro, working for the CIA and, according to his
own confession in an interview to the New York Times in 1998, for
Jorge Mas Canosa, the former head of the FNCA.
When Bosch and Posada were arrested by the Venezuela authorities,
the Cuban mafia in Miami raised the $50,000 dollars to bribe the jail
authorities and got him free. He then joined Lt Col Oliver North who
got him a nice job with the CIA organising Contras , the gang of
counter-revolutionary cut throats sabotaging the Nicaraguan Sandinista
revolution in the 1980s. After that "campaign" was over, he
concentrated his attention on a bombing campaign against tourist
installations in Cuba in the mid 1990s that resulted in the death of
an innocent Italian tourist.
On November 17, 2000, Posada and another 3 prominent members
of the Cuban mafia, with close links to the NFCA leaders, were
arrested in Panama and accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel
Castro during his visit to Panama to attend a regional summit. In
April 2004 they were tried for and found guilty of being a threat to
public security and falsifying documents. There was no mention in
the verdict of the accusation of plotting to kill Castro. But on August
26, 2004, the four received a pardon from Panama's outgoing
president Mireya Moscoso, just six days before she was to hand
over to President-elect Martin Torrijos.
The decision came shortly after a visit by Colin Powell to Panama.
Posada went to Honduras, and the other three, all of them convicted
terrorists, went back to Miami to a warm welcome by the anti-Cuban
mafia, and not surprisingly were allowed in by the US immigration
authorities. The three have carried out terrorist acts on US territory.
One of them, Guillermo Novo, was convicted of participating in the
car bombing that killed former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando
Letelier, in Washington in 1978. Incidentally, the other two people
convicted of the car bombing of Letelier were released by president
Bush against the advice of both the FBI and the INS.
It is quite clear why the Cuban government had to undertake measures
to prevent terrorist attacks from these groups, since the US authorities
not only do not do anything to prevent them, but even turn a blind eye
or collaborate with them. Such terrorist attacks on Cuba (mostly against
civilian targets, like the bombing campaign against hotels and tourist
resorts) have caused 3,478 deaths and 2,099 permanently disabled
since 1959.
Free the Miami Five!
The case of the Miami Five is clearly about the right of a sovereign
country to defend itself against the terrorist actions conducted from
a neighbouring country that harbours them and does not lift a finger
to stop their actions. The case exposes the hypocrisy of the US ruling
class when it claims it is conducting a war on terrorism. It also
uncovers the important role that the reactionary anti-Cuban mafia
in Miami play in US politics, both Republican and Democrat. It is
therefore an overtly political case that the US ruling class and its
media are not interested in publicising because the details are highly
damaging.
Socialists all over the world must demand first of all that the basic
human rights of the Miami Five are respected (starting with full rights
to visits), that the trial, which is now subject to a legal appeal, is
reviewed and takes places in fair conditions with full legal rights,
and finally that the Miami Five, whose only crime is to fight the
reactionary terrorist anti-Cuban mafia in Miami, be released. But this
cannot be seen merely from a legal point of view. A political case must
be fought by political means. US labour and progressive movement
organisations must be made aware of the case and should take a
clear position.
The scandalous case of the Miami Five has exposed completely the
cynical hypocrisy of the Bush government in the so-called war against
terrorism. Like the even more barbarous scandal of the Guantanamo Bay
concentration camp, it has revealed the hollowness of its appeals to
democracy and civilized behaviour and the rule of law. It stands
condemned before the tribunal of world public opinion.
A labour movement enquiry should be conducted on the links between
the Miami anti-Cuban terrorists and the US state apparatus, its security
services, the legal system, etc. This is a crucial issue that the US labour
and progressive movement should consider as one of high priority.
The same dirty methods that the US ruling class uses against progressive
governments and movements around the world are - and will be -
also used against US workers and their organisations at home.
The real "crime" of Cuba from the point of view of the US ruling
class is that it provides an example of how, by expropriating the
capitalist class, one can provide for free for such things as high
quality education and health care. And this is a very dangerous
example for the workers and peasants in the rest of Latin America,
but even for the workers in the US, millions of whom have no health
care at all and are excluded from higher education. Socialists and
labour activists all over the world must condemn the actions of US
imperialism, which constitute a serious threat to the democratic
rights of workers everywhere.
Free the Miami Five!
Fight to defend democratic rights!
Down with imperialism!
October 15, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
CORRUPTION ON A SCALE THAT TAKES ONE'S BREATH AWAY
United for Peace of Pierce County (WA)
October 14, 2004
http://www.ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1559
In an important exposé
(http://www.ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1552) posted on
Tuesday, October 12, on the Nation magazine's web site and appearing in the
issue dated November 1, 2004, journalist Naomi Klein has revealed that
former
U.S. secretary of state and Bush family intimate James Baker, named by
George
W. Bush last December 5 as special envoy to negotiate the reduction of
Iraq's
foreign debt, took advantage of his position to attempt a scheme to enrich
the
Carlyle Group, a private equity firm he joined in 1993.
Although Baker's mission as presidential envoy was to negotiate the
*reduction* of Iraq's debt with the leaders of the world's nations, he
placed
himself in a position in which he was, at the same time, through his
partnership in the Carlyle Group, exerting pressure on Kuwait to sign an
agreement by which he would profit from working to *maximize* the amount of
Iraqi debt that would be maintained and paid to Kuwait.
In a world that valued a minimal standard of integrity, this would be a
political scandal of the very first order.
Jerome Levinson, an expert on political and corporate corruption at American
University, said the arrangement in which James Baker involved himself was
"one of the greatest cons of all time. The consortium [of which the Carlyle
Group is a part] is saying to the Kuwaiti government, 'Through us, you have
the only chance to realize a substantial part of the debt. Why? Because of
who we are and who we know.' It's influence peddling of the crassest kind."
This extraordinary and staggering attempt to profit from a conflict of
interest also involved complex machinations with the Albright Group, another
private equity firm headed by another former U.S. secretary of state,
Madeleine Albright, apparently in order to conceal what was going on.
The Carlyle Group itself is essentially an ingenious and extremely
successful
attempt to transform access to decision makers into corporate assets.
As Craig Unger explains in his book *House of Bush, House of Saud*
(Scribner,
2004), in 1993 the Carlyle Group made James Baker a full partner (though the
firm's web site now lists him as a "senior counselor"). By joining the firm
in 1993, he allowed it to "go global." The Carlyle Group had dealt mostly
with U.S. financial interests till then.
The Carlyle Group became, in the 1990s, according to Unger, a way for the
Saudi royal family "to show their deep gratitude to President Bush for
defending the Saudis in the Gulf War." (George H.W. Bush, the former
president, is not a partner, but joined the firm as a senior adviser in
1995;
he has often been paid $80,000 to $100,000 per speaking engagement by the
Carlyle Group.) Unger, who appears briefly in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit
9/11," has estimated the amount of money that the Saudis have invested in
the
Carlyle Group as $1,268,600,000, much of it involved in Saudi military
contractor deals with companies owned by the Carlyle Group, like Vinnell
(the
subsidiary of a company owned by Carlyle from 1990 to 1998).
Essentially, James Baker has been clever enough to turn war profiteering
into
an enterprise that is profitable on a colossal scale, and thanks to these
extraordinary leaked documents, Naomi Klein has caught him red-handed at it.
Politically, no one is more closely tied to the Bush dynasty than James
Baker,
who has served as adviser, attorney, White House chief of staff, cabinet
officer, campaign manager, presidential debate negotiator, and whatever you
want to call the role he played in Florida in December 2000.
Corruption on this scale takes one's breath away.
Like wounded sea anemones, the suspect parties are at present furiously
pulling in their tentacles while proclaiming the purest of motives. Now
that
the "confidential" proposal has been outed, "the plan is clearly dead," a
spokeswoman for the Albright Group told the *Washington Post* yesterday.
But
why should the Carlyle Group, the Albright Group, and the others involved
back
off, if their motives were really "to help secure justice for victims of
Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and ensure that compensation to Kuwaiti victims,
fully consistent with U.S. policy, be used to promote reconciliation,
environmental improvements and investment in Kuwait, Iraq and the region,"
as
Madeleine Albright's "consulting firm" said yesterday? And in any case, we
are told by a spokesman for the Carlyle Group, care would have been taken to
make sure that James Baker would not have benefited personally from the
Kuwaiti business.
If the U.S. mainstream press were an agent of democracy rather than the
moribund corporate captive that it is, this extraordinarily blatant (albeit
secret) effort to earn enormous profits from influence trading would be an
opportunity to expose the routine level of corruption and influence-peddling
endemic to the American national security market-state, as well as to
educate
the public about the values of the U.S. political class. As it is, the New
York Times, for example, has still not even mentioned this scandal, and the
Washington Post buried its article in the "Business" section.
United for Peace of Pierce County is not a partisan organization and
endorses
no candidates. But we may point out that one strong though not often heard
argument for John Kerry's candidacy is the fact that he led the Senate probe
into the BCCI international banking scandal, an earlier manifestation of
this
sort of global corporate corruption, and showed that he has a thorough
understanding of how BCCI used "shell corporations, bank confidentiality and
secrecy havens, layering of corporate structure, front men and nominees,
back-to-back financial documentation among BCCI-controlled entities,
kickbacks
and bribes, intimidation of witnesses, and retention of well-placed
insiders,"
to quote Kerry's and Senator Hank Brown's The BCCI Affair: A Report to the
Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate (December 1992).
(Quoted
in Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship
between
the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties [Scribner, 2004], pp. 121-22.)
United for Peace of Pierce County calls on Congress to investigate this
matter
further, to determine whether criminal statutes and administrative
regulations
banning government officials from participating in government business from
which they could derive a profit -- which includes actions that affect an
outside company that employs the official -- were violated in this affair.
In
the aftermath of the unjustified invasion of Iraq and the Abu Ghraib torture
scandal, it is in the highest national interest to get to the bottom of this
affair.
UNITED FOR PEACE
OF PIERCE COUNTY
http://www.ufppc.org
"We nonviolently oppose
the reliance on unilateral
military actions rather
than cooperative diplomacy."
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
discussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-news/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ufpj-news-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) The Making of the Terror Myth
Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the
'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack.
But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV
documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically
driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. Andy Beckett reports
Andy Beckett
Friday October 15, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have
been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers,
working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase "dirty bomb".
There have been articles about how such a device can use ordinary
explosives to spread lethal radiation; about how London would be
evacuated in the event of such a detonation; about the Home Secretary
David Blunkett's statement on terrorism in November 2002 that
specifically raised the possibility of a dirty bomb being planted in
Britain; and about the arrests of several groups of people, the latest
only last month, for allegedly plotting exactly that.
Starting next Wednesday, BBC2 is to broadcast a three-part documentary
series that will add further to what could be called the dirty bomb genre.
But, as its title suggests, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the
Politics
of Fear takes a different view of the weapon's potential.
"I don't think it would kill anybody," says Dr Theodore Rockwell, an
authority on radiation, in an interview for the series. "You'll have trouble
finding a serious report that would claim otherwise." The American
department of energy, Rockwell continues, has simulated a dirty bomb
explosion, "and they calculated that the most exposed individual would
get a fairly high dose [of radiation], not life-threatening." And even this
minor threat is open to question. The test assumed that no one fled the
explosion for one year.
During the three years in which the "war on terror" has been waged,
high-profile challenges to its assumptions have been rare. The sheer
number of incidents and warnings connected or attributed to the war
has left little room, it seems, for heretical thoughts. In this context, the
central theme of The Power of Nightmares is riskily counter-intuitive and
provocative. Much of the currently perceived threat from international
terrorism, the series argues, "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and
distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned
through governments around the world, the security services, and the
international media." The series' explanation for this is even bolder:
"In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a
phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."
Adam Curtis, who wrote and produced the series, acknowledges the
difficulty of saying such things now. "If a bomb goes off, the fear I have
is that everyone will say, 'You're completely wrong,' even if the incident
doesn't touch my argument. This shows the way we have all become
trapped, the way even I have become trapped by a fear that is completely
irrational."
So controversial is the tone of his series, that trailers for it were not
broadcast last weekend because of the killing of Kenneth Bigley. At
the BBC, Curtis freely admits, there are "anxieties". But there is also
enthusiasm for the programmes, in part thanks to his reputation.
Over the past dozen years, via similarly ambitious documentary
series such as Pandora's Box, The Mayfair Set and The Century of the
Self, Curtis has established himself as perhaps the most acclaimed
maker of serious television programmes in Britain. His trademarks
are long research, the revelatory use of archive footage, telling
interviews, and smooth, insistent voiceovers concerned with the
unnoticed deeper currents of recent history, narrated by Curtis
himself in tones that combine traditional BBC authority with something
more modern and sceptical: "I want to try to make people look at things
they think they know about in a new way."
The Power of Nightmares seeks to overturn much of what is widely
believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues,
is not an organised international network. It does not have members
or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall
strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about
cleansing
a corrupt world through religious violence.
Curtis' evidence for these assertions is not easily dismissed. He tells
the story of Islamism, or the desire to establish Islam as an unbreakable
political framework, as half a century of mostly failed, short-lived
revolutions and spectacular but politically ineffective terrorism. Curtis
points out that al-Qaida did not even have a name until early 2001,
when the American government decided to prosecute Bin Laden in his
absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of
a named criminal organisation.
Curtis also cites the Home Office's own statistics for arrests and
convictions of suspected terrorists since September 11 2001. Of the
664 people detained up to the end of last month, only 17 have been
found guilty. Of these, the majority were Irish Republicans, Sikh militants
or members of other groups with no connection to Islamist terrorism.
Nobody has been convicted who is a proven member of al-Qaida.
In fact, Curtis is not alone in wondering about all this. Quietly but
increasingly, other observers of the war on terror have been having
similar doubts. "The grand concept of the war has not succeeded,"
says Jonathan Eyal, director of the British military thinktank the Royal
United Services Institute. "In purely military terms, it has been an
inconclusive war ... a rather haphazard operation. Al-Qaida managed
the most spectacular attack, but clearly it is also being sustained
by the way that we rather cavalierly stick the name al-Qaida on Iraq,
Indonesia, the Philippines. There is a long tradition that if you divert
all your resources to a threat, then you exaggerate it."
Bill Durodie, director of the international centre for security analysis
at King's College London, says: "The reality [of the al-Qaida threat
to the west] has been essentially a one-off. There has been one
incident in the developed world since 9/11 [the Madrid bombings].
There's no real evidence that all these groups are connected."
Crispin Black, a senior government intelligence analyst until 2002,
is more cautious but admits the terrorist threat presented by
politicians and the media is "out of date and too one-dimensional.
We think there is a bit of a gulf between the terrorists' ambition and
their ability to pull it off."
Terrorism, by definition, depends on an element of bluff. Yet ever
since terrorists in the modern sense of the term (the word terrorism
was actually coined to describe the strategy of a government, the
authoritarian French revolutionary regime of the 1790s) began to
assassinate politicians and then members of the public during the
19th century, states have habitually overreacted. Adam Roberts,
professor of international relations at Oxford, says that governments
often believe struggles with terrorists "to be of absolute cosmic
significance", and that therefore "anything goes" when it comes
to winning. The historian Linda Colley adds: "States and their
rulers expect to monopolise violence, and that is why they react
so virulently to terrorism."
Britain may also be particularly sensitive to foreign infiltrators,
fifth columnists and related menaces. In spite, or perhaps because
of, the absence of an actual invasion for many centuries, British
history is marked by frequent panics about the arrival of Spanish
raiding parties, French revolutionary agitators, anarchists, bolsheviks a
nd Irish terrorists. "These kind of panics rarely happen without some
sort of cause," says Colley. "But politicians make the most of them."
They are not the only ones who find opportunities. "Almost no one
questions this myth about al-Qaida because so many people have
got an interest in keeping it alive," says Curtis. He cites the
suspiciously circular relationship between the security services and
much of the media since September 2001: the way in which official
briefings about terrorism, often unverified or unverifiable by journalists,
have become dramatic press stories which - in a jittery media-driven
democracy - have prompted further briefings and further stories. Few
of these ominous announcements are retracted if they turn out to be
baseless: "There is no fact-checking about al-Qaida."
In one sense, of course, Curtis himself is part of the al-Qaida industry.
The Power of Nightmares began as an investigation of something else,
the rise of modern American conservatism. Curtis was interested in Leo
Strauss, a political philosopher at the university of Chicago in the 50s
who rejected the liberalism of postwar America as amoral and who
thought that the country could be rescued by a revived belief in
America's unique role to battle evil in the world. Strauss's certainty
and his emphasis on the use of grand myths as a higher form of
political propaganda created a group of influential disciples such
as Paul Wolfowitz, now the US deputy defence secretary. They came
to prominence by talking up the Russian threat during the cold war
and have applied a similar strategy in the war on terror.
As Curtis traced the rise of the "Straussians", he came to a conclusion
that would form the basis for The Power of Nightmares. Straussian
conservatism had a previously unsuspected amount in common with
Islamism: from origins in the 50s, to a formative belief that liberalism
was the enemy, to an actual period of Islamist-Straussian collaboration
against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan in the 80s (both
movements have proved adept at finding new foes to keep them going).
Although the Islamists and the Straussians have fallen out since then, as
the attacks on America in 2001 graphically demonstrated, they are in
another way, Curtis concludes, collaborating still: in sustaining the
"fantasy" of the war on terror.
Some may find all this difficult to swallow. But Curtis insists,"There is
no way that I'm trying to be controversial just for the sake of it."
Neither is he trying to be an anti-conservative polemicist like Michael
Moore: "[Moore's] purpose is avowedly political. My hope is that you
won't be able to tell what my politics are." For all the dizzying ideas
and visual jolts and black jokes in his programmes, Curtis describes
his intentions in sober, civic-minded terms. "If you go back into
history and plod through it, the myth falls away. You see that these
aren't terrifying new monsters. It's drawing the poison of the fear."
But whatever the reception of the series, this fear could be around for
a while. It took the British government decades to dismantle the
draconian laws it passed against French revolutionary infiltrators;
the cold war was sustained for almost half a century without Russia
invading the west, or even conclusive evidence that it ever intended to.
"The archives have been opened," says the cold war historian David
Caute, "but they don't bring evidence to bear on this." And the danger
from Islamist terrorists, whatever its scale, is concrete. A sceptical
observer of the war on terror in the British security services says:
"All they need is a big bomb every 18 months to keep this going."
The war on terror already has a hold on western political culture.
"After a 300-year debate between freedom of the individual and
protection of society, the protection of society seems to be the
only priority," says Eyal. Black agrees: "We are probably moving
to a point in the UK where national security becomes the electoral
question."
Some critics of this situation see our striking susceptibility during
the 90s to other anxieties - the millennium bug, MMR, genetically
modified food - as a sort of dress rehearsal for the war on terror.
The press became accustomed to publishing scare stories and not
retracting them; politicians became accustomed to responding to
supposed threats rather than questioning them; the public became
accustomed to the idea that some sort of apocalypse might be just
around the corner. "Insecurity is the key driving concept of our times,"
says Durodie. "Politicians have packaged themselves as risk managers.
There is also a demand from below for protection." The real reason
for this insecurity, he argues, is the decay of the 20th century's
political belief systems and social structures: people have been left
"disconnected" and "fearful".
Yet the notion that "security politics" is the perfect instrument for
every ambitious politician from Blunkett to Wolfowitz also has its
weaknesses. The fears of the public, in Britain at least, are actually
quite erratic: when the opinion pollsters Mori asked people what they
felt was the most important political issue, the figure for "defence and
foreign affairs" leapt from 2% to 60% after the attacks of September
2001, yet by January 2002 had fallen back almost to its earlier level.
And then there are the twin risks that the terrors politicians warn of
will either not materialise or will materialise all too brutally, and in
both cases the politicians will be blamed. "This is a very rickety
platform from which to build up a political career," says Eyal. He
sees the war on terror as a hurried improvisation rather than some
grand Straussian strategy: "In democracies, in order to galvanize
the public for war, you have to make the enemy bigger, uglier and
more menacing."
Afterwards, I look at a website for a well-connected American foreign
policy lobbying group called the Committee on the Present Danger.
The committee features in The Power of Nightmares as a vehicle for
alarmist Straussian propaganda during the cold war. After the Soviet
collapse, as the website puts it, "The mission of the committee was
considered complete." But then the website goes on: "Today radical
Islamists threaten the safety of the American people. Like the cold
war, securing our freedom is a long-term struggle. The road to
victory begins ... "
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) The polluted planet: Alarm as global study finds one-third
of amphibians face extinction
By Steve Connor Science Editor
15 October 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=572318
They were the first animals with backbones to walk on land. They
witnessed the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and were present at the
birth of a bipedal ape who went on to become the most destructive
species the planet has ever known.
Amphibians - frogs, toads, newts and salamanders - are among the
longest surviving animals on earth, yet something dramatic now
threatens that longevity. And mankind is responsible.
A global study revealed yesterday that almost a third of amphibians
face extinction - and pollution is cited as the biggest cause. The
three-year survey, involving 500 scientists from more than 60
countries, has found that a third of the 5,743 known species are
threatened with being wiped out and at least 427 are so critically
endangered that they could disappear tomorrow.
The animals are so sensitive to the man-made environment that
scientists have likened them to the canary in a coal mine -
songbirds that fell silent, killed in the presence of odourless
gas. The latest and most comprehensive study of amphibians
around the world has shown that for many species of frogs and
their nearest relatives the singing has suddenly and inexplicably
stopped - and the same bipedal ape is almost certainly responsible.
"This is a problem way outside what we know," said Simon Stuart
of the World Conservation Union and leader of the study published
in the online version of the journal Science .
Dr Stuart said: "This level of decline is ... extraordinary and serious
because amphibians represent a very important part of the overall
diversity of life. Since most amphibians feel the effects of pollution
before many other forms of life, their rapid decline tells us that one
of earth's most critical life support systems is breaking down."
The figures in the survey are almost certainly underestimates
because more than 22 per cent of the known amphibian species
are too poorly understood for the researchers to reach a reliable
conclusion about what is happening to them.
Populations of almost half of the known amphibian species are in
decline. While 32 per cent of amphibians are threatened with extinction,
only 12 per cent of birds and 23 per cent of mammals are in the same
position. The latest study estimates that up to 122 species have gone
extinct since 1980.
Dr Stuart said that all animal groups undergo a natural "background"
rate of extinction but, in the case of amphibians, the actual loss of
species is equivalent to the total number of background extinctions
for many tens of thousands of years being squeezed into a single
century.
"The bottom line is that there's almost no evidence of recovery and
no known techniques for saving mysteriously declining species in the
wild. It leaves conservation biologists in a quandary," Dr Stuart said.
Amphibians are considered uniquely sensitive to man-made changes
in the environment. Their moist, porous skins are vulnerable to water-
borne toxins and infections, and their reliance on two habitats -
freshwater and land - means they cannot survive properly without both.
Scientists have suggested many possible reasons for the decline.
Pollution of both water and the atmosphere, human exploitation for
food and medicine and habitat destruction all pose serious threats.
But it is clear that amphibians are also disappearing from what appear
to be pristine habitats. At one protected site in Costa Rica, for instance,
some 40 per cent of amphibians disappeared over a short period in the
late 1980s. Other losses occurred almost simultaneously in Costa Rica,
Ecuador and Venezuela.
It is this so-called "enigmatic decline" that poses the biggest problem
for conservationists simply because they have little idea about what
needs to be done to address the problem.
The authors of the report say: "Enigmatic decline species present
the greatest challenge for conservation because there are no known
techniques for ensuring their survival in the wild. Most enigmatic
declines have been recorded from the Americas south to Ecuador
and Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, but they are spreading, for
instance to Peru, Chile, Dominica, Spain and Tanzania."
Many of these mysterious disappearances seem to take place in
tropical habitats involving amphibians living in mountain streams.
Some studies suggest they may be linked with the global spread of
a fungus called chytridiomycosis, which may be exacerbated by
global warming. What is most worrying is that the decline in
amphibians is occurring across the world.
Bruce Young, a zoologist who took part in the global amphibian
assessment, said: "We already knew amphibians were in trouble,
but this assessment removes any doubt about the scale of the
problem." Dr Achim Steiner, director general of the World Conservation
Union, said: "The fact that one third of amphibians are in a precipitous
decline tells us that we are rapidly moving towards a potentially
epidemic number of extinctions."
Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, said:
"Amphibians are one of nature's best indicators of overall
environmental health. Their catastrophic decline serves as
a warning that we are in a period of significant environmental
degradation."
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) US Airways Authorized to Cut Workers'
Pay by 21%
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP
Filed at 2:45 p.m. ET
October 15, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-US-Airways-Bankruptcy.html?hp&ex
=1097899200&en=99572ee498f41c06&ei=5094&partner=homepage
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A bankruptcy judge granted US Airways authority
Friday to immediately cut the pay of its union workers by 21 percent, saying
the airline's situation is so dire that urgent action must be taken.
The 21 percent pay cut is nearly all of the 23 percent reduction the air
carrier had sought.
``Basically what we have here is a ticking fiscal time bomb,'' U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell said in issuing the ruling.
The temporary pay cuts are in place until Feb. 15, 2005, one month
less than what the airline had sought. Mitchell also granted the airline
authority to reduce the size of its jet fleet.
Under the 21 percent cut, the average US Airways salary would drop from
$59,509 to $47,012. That would put US Airways below the other five major
traditional carriers as well as Southwest Airlines , but higher than JetBlue
and America West , two carriers US Airways now seeks to emulate.
US Airways, a unit of US Airways Group Inc., employs 34,000 workers,
of which 84 percent are represented by unions.
Brian Leitch, an attorney for the airline, said the pay cuts were necessary
to keep the cash-strapped company from liquidating.
``We're twisting in the wind, we're airing our financial distress to the
world,'' he said during closing statements before Mitchell on Friday.
``We need to get some stability for a few months.''
Still, Leitch acknowledged that the pay cuts alone won't prevent a
liquidation, but simply give the airline a fighting chance for survival.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
16) *LAST ITEM: LIST OF PROP N ENDORSERS
*PROP N ENDORSERS:
SF Supervisors:
Michela Alioto-Pier
Tom Ammiano
Chris Daly
Bevan Dufty
Matt Gonzalez
Sophie Maxwell
Jake McGoldrick
Aaron Peskin
Gerardo Sandoval
Jeff Adachi, Public Defender
John Burton, State Senate
Mark Leno, State Assembly
Leland Yee, State Assembly
Organizations:
AFT Local 2121
Alice B. Toklas LGBT Club
ANSWER/SF
Bay Area United Against War
Bernal Heights Democratic Club
California Nurses Assn.
Chinese American Democratic Club
Chinese Progressive Assn.
Democratic Women's Forum
District 3 Democratic Club
District 11 Democratic Club
Global Exchange
Graphic Communication International Union, Local 4-N
Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
ILWU West Bay Legislative Comm.
Irish-American Democratic Club
Latino Democratic Club
NAACP/SF
9/11 Families for a Better Tomorrow
Noe Valley Democratic Club
Office & Professional Employees, Local 3
Park Presidio United Methodist Church
Peace & Freedom Party, SF County Central Committee
Richmond District Democratic Club
Robert F. Kennedy Democratic Club
San Francisco Bay Guardian
SF Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO
San Francisco Democratic Party
San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO
SF Young Democrats
SF Green Party
SF Pride at Work, AFL-CIO
San Francisco Tomorrow
Senior Action Network
Sierra Club
Sunset Reform Democrats
Tenant Associations Coalition of San Francisco PAC
United Educators of San Francisco
United for Peace & Justice/SF
Vanguard Public Foundation
Veterans for Peace
Westside Chinese Democratic Club
Community Leaders:
Ed Asner
Medea Benjamin
Rev. Amos Brown
Hari Dillon
Daniel Ellsberg
Dolores Huerta
Thursday, October 14, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) The Million Worker March: The War against Workers
[col.written 10/2/04] (c) 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal]
2) Million Worker March Update
SPEAKERS & IMPORTANT BUS PARKING INFORMATION
3) A Labor Activism Alert from the Cultural Workers Consort...
4) FROM LYNNE STEWART'S TRIAL BLOG
Justice for Lynne Stewart!
Notes from the trial...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
From: "Larry Felson"
5) IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
6) CIA using Jordan as torture base
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees
with shipping them off to Jordan if they don't co-operate"
Wednesday 13 October
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5EE4504C-E30E-41C4-A83A-C7ED1CC4AE80.
htm
7) PALESTINE EYEWITNESS: Attack on Gaza
Kim Bullimore, West Bank
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/602/602p24.htm
8) Death Toll from Israel's Gaza Offensive Rises to 100
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters)
Thu Oct 14, 2004 05:44 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6498923&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
9) FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY great events!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) The Million Worker March: The War against Workers
[col.written 10/2/04] (c) 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal]
Almost all of us, from wherever we have come, have something vital in
common: we are engaged in the world of work.
Some of us are members of unions -- as am I, a proud, card-carrying member
of the National Writer's Union, which is affiliated with the United Auto
Workers.
Some of us, perhaps a majority, are not members of a union, and yet, as
so-called "contingency workers"; as temps, as part-timers, as on call
workers, as workfare, as day laborers, as prison laborers, we are people who
are workers, who add social good; and --all-- of us are catching hell!
That's because wherever there is a war against wages, that means a war
against workers.
If we speak the truth, it doesn't matter who wins the White House; workers
are catching hell. That's because the only choices before the American
people are corporate choices; a thin narrow slice between two, quite similar
"brokerage parties", who sell their souls to the highest bidder.
Think of it this way; the last president supported by vast labor votes was
William Jefferson Clinton. And how did Clinton reward labor support? By
passing NAFTA, and opening the door to the globalist monster that is sucking
the life-blood from most working families across the nation. The drastic
loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, and the resultant drop in wages, can be
traced to the NAFTA bill.
That's why a Million Worker March is now necessary; to break through the
corporate gibble-gobble that now dominates the coming elections. Corporate
candidates covered by corporate media for corporate interests. It's no
wonder it's so slimy. It's also no wonder that the word "workers" rarely, if
ever, crosses the lips of the corporate candidates. It's no wonder that the
word "union" sounds like profanity when they mention it.
It is only the workers that can or will defend the interests of workers:
-- Universal Healthcare for ALL people;
-- A national living wage and livable retirement benefits;
-- Bring about democracy to the shop floor, so that decision about work are
made by those who labor;
-- Taxation that is progressive, on corporations and the wealthy, and
relieves the burdens on the working class and poor;
-- An End to Wars waged for Corporate America, like Iraq!;
-- The immediate revocation of --all-- anti-labor pacts, like NAFTA, FTAA,
the WTO, and CAFTA!;
-- The repeal of Taft-Hartley!;
-- Repeal of the so-called "PATRIOT ACT"!;
These are but some of the demands motivating the Million Worker March, but
it can't be all of them. Workers actually build this society; it is they,
and only they, who can re-build it.
This means a resurgence of the labor movement that is truly revolutionary --
that does not "settle" for it's slice, but changes the social order --
completely. The union movement has a history of exclusion that worked
against its own class interests; what if --what IF-- --all-- of those people
we mentioned a few moments ago -- part-timers, on-calls, perma-temps, and
yes -- prison laborers -- were actually unionized? It would add
immeasurably, to the power of Labor, and add to the power of unions,
generally, as a social force in the social order! In a phrase, this is
win-win. Social transformation is possible, but only -- ONLY -- with social
organization!
When people organize, broadly, and as a social force, then you will hear
those political whores speak the word "union" like they are speaking of a
lover! Our esteemed ancestor, the great escaped captive, and abolitionist,
Frederick Douglass once said, "Power concedes nothing without demand." He
was right then; he is right now. Labor must unite to force this corrupt
political system to yield. We, all of us, will be able to construct new
realities, not merely demand them.
Or else, we will be choosing the same monkeys to sit over us, as they betray
us, forever. That time must end. Thank You!
-- Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mr. Jamal is author of "WE WANT FREEDOM: A life in the Black Panther Party"
(Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2004)
http://www.mumia.org
Visit http://www.millionworkermarch.org
for information on the demands and list of endorsers
http://www.chicagofreemumia.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Million Worker March Update
SPEAKERS & IMPORTANT BUS PARKING INFORMATION
The Million Worker March is only 4 days away. Momentum is
building for this historic event.
Activists and groups: Are you busy e-mailing &
phone-banking to "get people on those buses?"
For detailed information, see
http://www.antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
***The Rally
Arrangements have been made with the Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Police for buses to drop passengers off on
Virginia Ave. just North of Constitution Ave. This is in
close walking distance to the Lincoln Memorial, 22nd and
Constitution Ave. NW.
Bus greeters will be stationed at Virginia Ave. to give
information to participants as they arrive. Bus pick up
will be at the same location - Virginia Ave off of
Constitution.
Buses can park on Virginia Ave on a first come basis and
on Ohio Dr. off of Independence Ave., which is on the
South side of the Lincoln Memorial.
Volunteers are needed to help greet the buses, set up,
security and with a variety of other tasks. There will be
a "Volunteers Meeting" on Friday, October 15, 7 P.M. at
St. Stephen Church, 1525 Newton St. NW. There will be work
sessions throughout Saturday.
The Pre-Rally and entertainment will begin at 10:30 am.
The main Rally will begin at 12 noon at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, DC. (The Lincoln Memorial is
located between Constitution and Independence Aves. and
between 22nd and 23rd St. The closest metro stop is Foggy
Bottom on the blue/orange line. The Foggy Bottom exit is
at 23rd and I Sts. NW. From the exit walk south on 23rd
St.)
Maps, housing information, maps, and other helpful
information are available at:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/logistics.htm
***Speakers Include:
Actor Danny Glover; entertainer and activist Dick Gregory;
Rev. Jesse Jackson; Brenda Stokely, President, AFSCME
District Council 1707; Clarence Thomas, co-Chair MWM;
Chris Silvera, Teamsters National Black Caucus; Ralph
Schoenman, Chair: Communications, MWM; Roger Toussaint,
President, Transport Workers Union, Local 100; Donna
Dewitt, President South Carolina State Federation of
Labor; Mike Hoffman, Co-Founder, Iraqi Veterans Against
the War; and more.
***Discussion & Organizing Tents
The main event on Oct. 17 is of course the rally on the
steps of the Lincoln monument.
- But thereÂs more Oct. 17 will not only be a big rally,
but also a genuine opportunity for activists from many
different struggles, and many different parts of the
country (and the world), to share information and ideas
with each other, and talk about strategies to carry our
movement forwards.
- In Order to facilitate this process we will have
Discussion & Organizing Tents near the Lincoln Monument
on Oct. 17.
- The tents will be situated close enough to be accessible
to all who come to the rally, but far enough away so as to
not interfere or compete with it.
- Each tent will be issue-based. A partial list of issues
includes:
-Workers Rights (i.e., organizing, contracts,
health/safety issues)
-Anti-War
-Global WomenÂs issues/the Âinvisible workerÂ
-Youth
-Housing
-Reparations (i.e., domestic/international)
-National Health Care For All
-The Corporate Agenda (i.e., free trade agreements,
outsourcing, sweatshops)
-International Solidarity (i.e., Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela,
Iraq, Palestine, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Brazil,
Columbia, The Philippines, Korea etc.)
-Repression, racism, violations of civil liberties, the
ÂPatriot ActÂ, civil & human rights
-Immigrant Rights
-Quality/Free Education for all
-Criminal Injustice system/political prisoners
-Environmental issues & environmental racism
-Labor Media
-Veterans
***MWM Solidarity With Hotel Workers March
Hotel workers are currently on strike or locked out in San
Francisco, on strike in Atlantic City, and preparing to
strike in both Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
Participants in the Million Worker March are invited to
participate in a march from the rally to the Hotel
Washington, one of the hotels where workers may be on
strike soon. The march will take place in the late
afternoon, and it is optional for MWM participants as many
will want to remain at the main rally, or in the
discussion and organizing tents.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
**Get the Word out!
1) download leaflets from
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/pdfdownload.htm
and take them to your school, workplace, house of worship,
union, and community organization.
2) Link to the Anti-war for the Million Worker March
Website :
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
3) Forward this email to your email lists
**Donate!
We need help with the enormous expenses involved with
organizing buses for this massive mobilization of working
people. You can donate online at:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org/
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
Anyone can subscribe.
Send an email request to
AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch-subscribe@organizerweb.com
To unsubscribe AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch-unsubscribe@organizerweb.com
Subscribing and unsubscribing can also be done on the Web at
http://www.organizerweb.com/mailman/listinfo/antiwar4themillionworkermarch
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) A Labor Activism Alert from the Cultural Workers Consort...
Friends,
Here is some updated information on Sunday's historic event----
THE MILLION WORKER MARCH. I am proud to add that I WILL BE
AMONG THE MUSICAL PERFORMERS ONSTAGE for this amazing workers'
action. The organizers of this event have proclaimed their belief in the
of music and the rest of the arts as an important tool in organizing.
Here, Here! At present the full list of performers is incomplete, but I am
told that it will run the gamut from Hip-Hop to Folk, World Music to Pop,
and beyond---an assemblage that is representational of the body of
working people and activists in the throngs of marchers. Beisdes my
own set of Labor songs, some other confirmed performers will include
NYC singer-songwriter Judy Gorman and southern chorus, The Fruits
of Labor, among so many more. These cultural workers will be coming
from all points, as will be the marchers themselves. Let's really rock
DC, sisters and brothers. It is high time that the workers have a loud
voice they can call their own.
In Solidarity,
John Pietaro
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: NYCLAW
Sent: Oct 13, 2004 7:08 PM
To: LaborAgainstWar
Subject: [NYCLAW] Million Worker March Info
1. Get Your Bus Tickets Today & donate to help others march
2. Volunteer at the MWM
**Get Your Bus Tickets
There is still space on the buses to Washington, DC--don't
miss this historic opportunity!
The ongoing debates have made one thing clear--working
people must have their own voice in Washington, DC. We must
speak for ourselves and raise the issues that matter to
us--issues like health care, a living wage, affordable
housing, and bringing the troops home now.
Our voice in the debate will be heard on Sunday, October
17 in Washington, DC, at the Million Worker March.
There are only two days left to get your bus tickets for the
October 17 Million Worker March in Washington, DC. Buses are
leaving from throughout New York and from across the
country. Tens of thousands of working people, students,
veterans, and activists will gather at the Lincoln Memorial
to say, "We need jobs, healthcare, & a living wage, not
war!"
Get your bus tickets today!
Stop by 39 W. 14th St. in Manhattan (between 5th & 6th
Aves.) Tickets are $35 round-trip, are leaving from
locations throughout NYC, including:
39 W. 14th St. (Manhattan)
96th St. & Broadway (Manhattan)
125th St. & A.C. Powell (Manhattan)
178th St. & Broadway (Manhattan) Queensboro Plaza (Queens)
Grand Army Plaza (Brooklyn) Journal Sq. (Jersey City, NJ)
Call 212-633-6646 for more information.
We want to provide as many buses as possible so that youth,
students, and working people can make their voices heard on
October 17. Your donation will help make this possible.
You can donate to help cover the costs of buses online at:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org or by mail (make checks
payable to: Anti-War4MWM/IAC, and send to 39 W. 14th St.
#206, NY, NY 10011)
http://www.Antiwar4theMillionWorkerMarch.org Donate:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
Volunteer with the MWM!
We will need hundreds of volunteers to make the March a
success.
In the next few days, come by 39 W. 14th St. #206 to help
with making signs & banners, packing supplies, and many
other tasks. The office will be open from 10am to 6pm
through Saturday.
Volunteers are needed in Washington to help greet the buses,
set up, security and with a variety of other tasks.
If you can go to DC early, there will be a "Volunteers
Meeting" on Friday, October 15, 7 P.M. at St. Stephen
Church, 1525 Newton St. NW. There will be work sessions
throughout Saturday. Call 202-232-0057 or 212-633-6646 for
more information.
If you are arriving on Sunday, you can still volunteer to
greet buses, staff tables, hand out literature, clean up
after the demo, and many other tasks. Check in with a MWM
table at the rally to find out how you can help.
For logistics (transportation, bus drop-off, maps, housing,
speakers list, etc.)
http://www.antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/logistics.htm)
Anti-War 4 the Million Worker March
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
The International Action Center http://www.iacenter.org mail
to:iacenter@iacenter.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) FROM LYNNE STEWART'S TRIAL BLOG
Justice for Lynne Stewart!
Notes from the trial...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
From: "Larry Felson"
Thu, 14 Oct 2004 07:40:18 +0000
Dear Friends, Comrades, Supporters:
Sorry I haven't been faithful to the Blog but the onslaught of the
government has kept us busy at the barricades (2004 style).
In the four month smear, they have presented Bin Laden on
video and in translation by NY Times reporter Judith Miller
(herself now in the clutches of persecutor US attorney Pat
Fitzgerald in connection with the White House outing of the
CIA agent wife). We have also had endless newspaper articles
found in FILES in my office, found in my co-defendant's study
where he was preparing his dissertation and in the garage of
my other co-defendant.
On the final day of the trial and "faithfully" reported by all
the media they played a conversation between Sattar and
a Reuters reporter on September 24,2001. In this, she asks
him about a "link" between Bin Laden and my client, Sheik
Omar. A french reporter, interviewed Bin Laden(when? where?
How? who?) and was told that he was influenced by Sheik Omar's
words in 1996, THEREFORE... The Judge dutifully and dully
repeated the admonition to the JUry, "Bin Laden is not part of
this case. He is not a co-conspirator. This is not offered for the
truth". Supporters in the audience have been wondering so why
is the jury hearing this at all???? There is an answer to that
question and it's the same answer to why we are in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Following this scurrilous presentation--and these young
prosecutors were all but high fiving each other, Tigar (the great)
made argument to dismiss all the charges--read it on the web
site. It lifted all our bruised spirits and got us ready for this
week to come!
Now, on Wednesday, October 13, I will take the witness stand.
Tigar and I will have discourse on my life and lawyering and the
Sheik's. case. I will be there for probably a week at least. They will
be ugly on cross examination...but untutored. I have the WILL to
do this but I need endurance and stamina. Part of that will be
supplied (no pun) by the people in the audience ...fellow stugglers
for decades, new believers, friends dating from elementary and high
school, my beloved family meaning Ralph, children, sister,
grandchildren (12 going on 13). All who see my fight as their
fight--standing on the brink of disaster in this USA and no way
to go but forward to victory.
Thanks -- too weak a word--for all the heartfelt greetings.
I went to the YMHA in Manhattan to hear Adrienne Rich read
her poetry ... these are things that sustain me and my optimistic
view that there can be a world of difference and diversity where
the poets (and lawyers!) are not the warriors. Keep me in your t
houghts and hearts
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
SUMMARY
The economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United
States of America against Cuba is the longest in history. According
to figures updated in 2004 by the Cuban National Statistics Office,
69% of the population living in our country was born after 1959,
thus, approximately 7 out of 10 Cubans have been born and lived
under the unilateral sanction regime of the US embargo.
Last year, 179 Member States voted in favor, 3 against (including
the United States) and 2 abstained. This proved the international
community's nearly-total rejection towards the US Administration's
genocidal policy against Cuba
For thirteen consecutive years, Cuba will submit to the
consideration of the UN General Assembly the draft resolution
entitled: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and
financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against
Cuba". The Assembly will debate and take action on this draft on
Thursday, 28 October 2004.
CUBA CANNOT EXPORT TO THE US
Cuba cannot engage in any kind of sales to US entrepreneurs.
Cuba could export to the US, for example, from 10 to 15,000
tons of nickel per annum, no less than 1,000 tons of cobalt and more
than 2 million tons of cement.
CUBA FROM THE US CANNOT IMPORT (ONLY FOODSTUFFS AND ON AN
EXCEPTIONAL BASIS)
Our country must engage in cash-related purchases, without
the possibility of accessing financial credits, not even private
ones.
US companies must engage in cumbersome bureaucratic
formalities to procure the license authorizing them to sell their
products to Cuba.
Cuba cannot use its maritime fleet in such trading
operations. Transportation must take place on US or third-country
vessels after procuring a license to that end.
Cuba has to pay to US companies through banks based in third
countries because it is not allowed to establish direct banking
relations with the US.
Within five years of the lifting of the travel ban, our
country could be receiving 5 million American tourists and revenues
amounting to US$ 7 billion per annum.
The sanctions imposed for traveling to Cuba can be up to 10
years in prison and penalties of US$ 1 million for corporations and
US$ 250,000 for individuals.
Cuba is compelled to engage in third-country currency
operations, even though its major import and export items are quoted
on the world market in that currency. This causes huge economic
losses on account of the ups and downs of the US dollar against the
currencies of the country's main trading partners.
CUBA DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS EITHER TO INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL
AGENCIES.NO SINGLE CREDIT HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN THE LAST 45 YEARS
According to preliminary information, only in 2003, the
Inter-American Development Bank loaned nearly US$ 9 billion in
credits to Latin America, while the World Bank lent another US$ 5
billion.
THE TORRICELLI ACT ( adopted 1992 )
It prohibits trade with subsidiaries of US companies based
in third countries.
It sets forth that third-country vessels are forced to wait
no less than 6 months to call at US ports after having called at
Cuban ports, under the threat of being "blacklisted."
THE HELMS-BURTON ACT (adopted 1996)
Title III: It sets forth the celebration of trials in US
courts of law against third-country businesspeople who engage in
deals with Cuba.
Title IV: It prevents entry into the US for those company
officials, CEOs and their families who engage in business deals with
Cuba.
SECTION 211.
Another poorly worked out legislative plan
It allows Bacardi Co. to steal the "Havana Club" rum
brandname for the US market.
It prevents third-country companies from filing suits with
US courts of law over trademark and patent violations if these are
related to business deals in Cuba.
THE SO-CALLED "PEOPLE TO PEOPLE" ENGAGEMENT,
FORBIDDEN BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
The Government of the United States sets aside this year US$ 28.2
million to broadcast to Cuba a total of 2,233 weekly hours through
radio and TV.
Between 1984 and 2003, the US spent US$ 432 million on operations
connected with Radio and TV MartÃ.
Only through USAID, the current budget sets aside a total of US$ 7
million to finance the fabrication of an "opposition" within Cuba.
Last 6 May, the US Government announced, with a lot of media
publicity and the direct involvement of the Administration's highest-
ranking officials, new measures to further tighten its aggressive
and hostile policy towards Cuba.
WHAT DID BUSH SAY THEN?
"This strategy fosters the spending of money to help organizations
protect the dissidents and promote human rights. It is a strategy
that fosters a clear voice in speaking the truth to the Cuban people
through Radio and TV MartÃ. It is a strategy that will prevent the
regime from taking advantage of the tourists' hard currency and the
remittances to the Cubans that underpin the repressive regime. It is
a strategy that says that we are not waiting for the day of freedom
in Cuba; we are working for the day of freedom in Cuba."
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION FOR ASSISTANCE TO A FREE CUBA
OBJECTIVE: TO OVERTHROW THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT
AND FULLY ESTABLISH ITS TOTAL CONTROL ON CUBA
The report issued has 6 chapters. The first chapter is the one which
lists the strategy and the specific measures that the Commission
recommends for its immediate implementation to topple the Cuban
Government. Key elements of this "new strategy" would be:
1. Increase in support for the groups acting at the service of
the US.
2. Increase in the international campaigns against our country.
3. Tightening of the subversive and misinformation actions
against Cuba.
4. Adoption of new measures to affect the Cuban economy.
5. Undermining what they have called the "regime succession"
plans.
MAIN MEASURES 6 MAY 2004
1) To set aside US$ 59 million in the next 2 years to finance
actions aimed at destroying the Revolution. Such funding would be
used, inter alia, to:
a) Increase the funding for internal subversion activities and
search for new ways to engage governments, third-country NGOs and
international organizations in those efforts. The US$ 7 million of
the current budget now adds another US$ 29 million, for a grand
total of US$ 36 million aimed at financing the so-called "internal
opposition" in Cuba.
b) Expand the anti-Cuban propaganda campaign. To enhance
towards the interior of Cuba the direct broadcasts of the so-called
Radio and TV Martà by means of a C-130 airplane. Towards the
outside world, another US$ 5 million would be earmarked to
disseminate a negative image of our country. (as a country that
violates human rights, engages in espionage against third parties,
fosters subversion in Latin America and conducts other actions
labeled as threats to the national security of the US)
2 ) Prohibition for the Cubans living in the US to send remittances
and packages to their relatives in Cuba if these are "government
officials" or "members of the Communist Party."
3-To reduce the visits to Cuba by those Cubans living in the US.
Elimination of the general license for a trip per annum and
limitation of family-related visits to one every three years under
a specific license and only for close relatives.
4-To limit the recipients of remittances and packages to direct
relatives of Cubans living in the US. (DEFINED EXCLUSIVELY AS
GRANDPARENTS, GRANDCHILDREN, PARENTS, BROTHERS
AND SISTERS, WIVES AND CHILDREN)
While the Cuban Government is more flexible about the visits of
immigrants, the US Government increases the obstacles! What are
they afraid of?
5-To continue restricting the granting of licenses for educational
travels and academic exchanges to US citizens and institutions
through more stringent regulations than those existing today. These
new restrictions include:
Limitation of educational exchanges,
Elimination of the general license for travels by athletes,
Removal of the specific license for cultural clinics and
workshops,
Elimination of the fully hosted traveler category,
Revision of travel permits on private aircraft, etc.
6. To reduce the maximum limit of money to be spent by a Cuban-
American visiting their family in Cuba, from US$ 164 to just US$ 50
per day.
7. Implementation of "covert" activities against anyone
bringing money to relatives in Cuba from Cubans based in the US.
Rewards are even offered to those denouncing or reporting the
illegal sending of family remittances.
8. To make a more serious assessment about whether the
enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act is deleterious to
US interests or if such enforcement could expedite the fall of the
Cuban Revolution.
(TO AUTHORIZE THE CELEBRATION OF TRIALS IN US COURTS OF
LAW AGAINST THIRD-COUNTRY BUSINESSPEOPLE ENGAGED IN
DEALS WITH CUBA, WHICH HAD NOT BEEN ENFORCED UNTIL NOW)
9. To firmly apply sanctions contained in Title IV of the Helms-
Burton Act  prohibiting the granting of visas to foreign investors
based in Cuba.
10. To neutralize those companies engaged in economic activities
with the external sector. To run investigations on Cuban and foreign
companies trading with Cuba.
11. To deploy an offensive for third-country governments and
NGOs to join the US policy aimed at destroying the Cuban Revolution.
Mr. Noriega was particularly emphatic in his appeal for other
countries to support those efforts.
12. To support actions in third countries to discourage tourism
towards our country.
13. To continue denying visas for Cuban officials who must
travel to the US.
14. To continue denying visas for Cuban officials who must
travel to the US.
15. Appointment of a "Coordinator for the Transition in Cuba" at
the State Department level. In practice, he would be the future "US
pro-consul" in our country
The measures announced are also a violation of the human rights of
the Cuban-born citizens living in the US, who are seeing the
imposition of new and draconian restrictions to travel to their
country of origin and send economic assistance to their relatives in
Cuba.
THESE MEASURES DISREGARD:
The real interests of the American people and the
overwhelming majority of the Cubans living in the US.
The real interests of most members of the US Congress.
The real interests of the extensive sectors of that country
that are looking forward to a normal relation with Cuba.
The standards and principles of International Law.
In sum, what is being proclaimed is the plan of annexation of Cuba
to the US and the return to the Republic of the Platt Amendment!
An escalation that not only attempts to stifle the country
economically, but that also intends to create conditions enabling
the legitimacy of the "regime change" policy in Cuba.
The Cuban people relies on the fact that the international
community, in circumstances in which the US government irresponsibly
threatens its rights to life, development, peace and self-
determination, will stand firm and clearly to favor the ending of
the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed on them.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) CIA using Jordan as torture base
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees
with shipping them off to Jordan if they don't co-operate"
Wednesday 13 October
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5EE4504C-E30E-41C4-A83A-C7ED1CC4AE80.
htm
The US Central Intelligence Agency is holding al-Qaida suspects in
a secret Jordanian jail where they are subjected to interrogation
methods banned in the United States, an Israeli newspaper said
on Wednesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said at least 11 men held incommunicado
in Jordan include Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, the alleged mastermind
of the attacks on New York and Washington, and Hanbali, accused of
being al-Qaida's ally in southeast Asia.
"Their detention outside the US enables CIA interrogators to apply
interrogation methods banned by US law and to do so in a country
where cooperation with Americans is particularly close, thereby
reducing the danger of leaks," Haaretz said.
But a Jordanian security official dismissed as "totally baseless" the
story, which attributed its information to international intelligence
sources. A CIA official in Washington declined to comment.
The Jordanian official, who declined to be named, said: "The
allegations that surface every now and then that the US runs secret
detention centres in the kingdom are totally baseless and seek
to undermine the country's favourable human rights image abroad."
International human rights groups have accused the United States
of circumventing guidelines on interrogation by shipping al-Qaida
suspects to allied states where such legal scrutiny is lacking.
Washington insists its interrogators operate within the law.
Previous claims
US officials say incommunicado detentions in secret locations are
essential for security and that many suspects held have provided
valuable intelligence that has foiled planned attacks.
Jordan is seen as a key ally in the US-led war on terror.
In "Rumsfeld's War", a book drawing on declassified Pentagondocuments,
Washington Times correspondent Rowan Scarborough said Jordanian
interrogators had helped US counterparts in handling al-Qaida
suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees with
shipping them off to Jordan if they don't cooperate," Scarborough
said.
"Like other Middle Eastern countries, Jordan uses physical means
to coerce confessions and vital intelligence information," he added.
Reuters
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an archive only, s
o please do not try to add your address)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and any
typing or grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some of
the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time,
but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) PALESTINE EYEWITNESS: Attack on Gaza
Kim Bullimore, West Bank
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/602/602p24.htm
Seven days after the Israeli military campaign in the northern Gaza
region began on September 28, 100 Palestinians - one third of them
under the age of 15 - have been killed, while more than 300 civilians,
including more than 80 children, have been wounded, 168 houses
have been demolished, along with kindergartens, dozens of grocery
stores, schools and olive groves. Electricity has been cut off and tens
of thousands of people have been left without drinking water.
The Israeli offensive, which began on the night of the fourth anniversary
of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), has been carried out in one
of the most populated regions of Gaza. In the past six days, more than
2000 Israeli troops, accompanied by 200 Israeli tanks, dozens of apache
helicopters and armoured bulldozers have entered Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya
and Beit Hanoun refugee camps which are home to more than 250,000
Palestinians.
The offensive also began within days of Yom Kippur, the Jewish festival
of atonement. In a gross misappropriation of Jewish religiousity, the
Israeli government has dubbed the operation Days of Penitence.
Medical staff in Balsam Hospital in Beit Lahia have reported severe food,
medical and blood shortages, while the staff at Al Awda hospital in
Jabaliya have reported that their medical emergency supplies have
been exhausted as a result of the high number of causalities.
According to the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, which is based
in Jabiliya, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has denied the Ministry of
Health access to the government clinic in Beit Hanoun, and denied all
requests for access. Since the start of the offensive, the IDF has
refused to allow United Nation Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA)
medical staff access to their clinic to assist with causalities.
IDF spokespeople have publicly claimed that the offensive is in response
to the death of two children killed by a Hamas rocket attack upon the
Israeli township of Sderot. However, a number of commentators in
Israel have argued that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under
pressure from the extreme right because of his Gaza "disengagement"
plan, is exploiting the death of the children to pursue his own agenda.
Sharon's Gaza "disengagement plan", announced in February, was
designed to relieve international pressure on Israel, which had ratcheted
up because of its construction of the Apratheid Wall. The plan was
designed to give the impression that Israel was working towards peace
without giving into "terrorism", while allowing Sharon and his
government to annex and consolidate more territory in the West Bank.
Despite all the hue and cry by right-wing opponents of "disengagement",
the plan concedes little.
Under it, "disengagement" was not to be immediate or unilateral,
instead it was to take "one or two years" to complete and would merely
involve shifting the path of the Apartheid Wall east to a new security
line within the Occupied Territories. This would take in more illegal
settlements then the original path, and would not result in the immediate
dismantling of those illegal colonies outside the new path, instead they
would be relocated.
In addition, the plan would exclude Palestinians from the negotiating
table, in favour of Washington-Israel talks. In return for
"disengagement", the US would be asked to recognise the Apartheid
wall, as well as the illegal colonies of Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim and
Gush Etzio, annexing further sections of the West Bank. Within
days of the announcement of the plan, however, the number of
settlements to be moved dwindled from 17 to include only the
"most isolated" colonies, with the evacuation of the Katif block,
the biggest colony in the Gaza being postponed indefinitely.
In an interview in April with the Progressive magazine, Uri Avnery,
a former Knesset member and founding member of Israeli peace
organisation Gush Shalom, claimed that the plan would result in the
incorporation of 55% of the West Bank into Israel. At the same time,
Avnery argued, the Gaza "will become a giant prison camp, cut off
on all sides. It will have no seaport or airport and be cut off from its
only neighbour, Egypt. There will be no entering the Strip or leaving
it except through Israel. Much as now, Israel will be able to cut off
the supply of food, raw materials, water, fuel, gas and electricity,
as well as the exit of workers and goods. Israel will also be able to
invade the Strip at any time in order to 'prevent terrorist actions'."
Sharon's plan might have meant little, but that did not stop other
right-wing parties, the extreme right within his own party and
extremist settler groups and rabbinical leaders condemning it.
In early September, more than 20,000 settlers rallied in Jerusalem
to protest the plan. Many of those attending the rally warned that
civil war was inevitable and that there would be violent clashes
between settlers and Israeli security forces should the plan go ahead.
Other settlers at the demonstration carried signs calling Sharon
"a dictator" and "traitor".
Three days prior to the demonstration, 185 former members of
the Israeli government, senior reserve officers in the IDF and other
prominent Israeli professionals signed a petition declaring
disengagement "a national crime, a crime against humanity and
is a revelation of tyranny, evil and arbitrariness meant to deny
Jews their rights... [that] lays the groundwork for the ethnic
cleansing of Jews from their homeland". A number of the signatories
to the petition went on to publicly accuse Sharon of Nazism and
anti-semitism.
Given this pressure, Sharon is particularly wary of appearing to
give in to Palestinian militants. According to Israel's daily newspaper
Ha'aretz , an October 3 statement by Israeli "defence" minister Shaul
Mofaz argued that "the aim of the [Gaza] operation is `to send a
clear message that Israel will not tolerate terrorist operations during
the disengagement', hints at the pressure by the right of the
opponents of the disengagement plan, who are taking advantage
of the suffering of the Sderot residents".
The Gaza offensive allows Sharon to continue to pose as the
"strongman" of Israeli politics at home, while propagating the
fantasy that Israel is seeking peace - and is the victim in the conflict.
Washington is quite happy to continue to foster this. US Secretary
of State Colin Powell told the New York Times that "Israel's action
in Gaza in relation to the rocket attacks was a legitimate response".
The offensive also allows Israel to maintain its military and economic
stranglehold on the Gaza. On October 3, Sharon and Mofaz
separately described the Gaza offensive as "open-ended", saying
that the IDF would establish a "buffer zone" to "spare Israeli towns
from rocket attacks" and ensure that "there is no withdrawal under
fire next year".
The current offensive is merely a continuation of military operations
that have taken place since Sharon first announced plans for
"disengagement". For the past six months, the IDF has been
systematically demolishing houses and olive groves in Beit Hanoun
and Beit Lahiya. In addition, hundreds of houses have been
demolished along the Philidelphi corridor near Rafah, ensuring
that Israel will control the border between the Gaza and Egypt.
As the US prepares to veto a UN motion condemning the Israeli
offensive and the illegal collective punishment of civilians, the
humanitarian crisis in the Gaza continues to grow. Sharon's strategy,
if allowed to proceed, will ensure that there is no road to peace and
the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and the
further illegal annexation by Israel of a further 55% of the West Bank.
[Kim Bullimore is a member of the Socialist Alliance and is currently
working with the international human rights and solidarity group,
the International Women's Peace Service in Palestine. Visit
.]
From Green Left Weekly, October 13, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Death Toll from Israel's Gaza Offensive Rises to 100
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters)
Thu Oct 14, 2004 05:44 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6498923&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians in Gaza
Thursday as the Palestinian death toll rose to 100 in a 16-day-old
army offensive aimed at crushing militants behind rocket salvoes
into Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is seeking a decisive triumph
over militants to overcome rightist opposition to his plan to
"disengage" from conflict with Palestinians by evacuating all
Jewish settlers from Gaza and a few from the West Bank in 2005.
Missiles killed two Hamas gunmen in the sprawling urban
Jabalya refugee camp in north Gaza, stormed by more than 200
tanks and troop carriers after a Hamas rocket killed two toddlers
across the border in Israel on Sept. 29.
Helicopters backing up a separate army raid into Rafah refugee
camp in Gaza's far south fired three missiles, killing two militants
and a civilian man of 70, local medics and residents said. A woman
was seriously wounded.
Military sources said Israeli forces targeted gunmen who had just
launched an anti-tank rocket at troops operating to uncover tunnels
used to smuggle in weapons from Egypt.
Officials with the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees said
Israeli armored bulldozers demolished about 30 houses, leaving
about 40 people homeless, before the armed forces withdrew at
around daybreak from Rafah.
The cinderblock camp is, like Jabalya, a frequent tinderbox in the
four-year-old Palestinian revolt against Israel.
Israeli forces often raze Palestinian buildings they say harbor
militants who fire at them or, in Rafah's case, camouflage
smuggling tunnels. Palestinians and human rights groups denounce
the practice as collective punishment.
SWATHE OF DESTRUCTION
Israeli troops rooting around for elusive Hamas rocket squads
in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, next to Jabalya, also left
a trail of destruction Thursday.
About 20 houses were wrecked or seriously damaged while
tanks had broken up asphalt roads, squashed cars and taxis,
churned up dozens of hectares (acres) of olive and citrus
groves, and knocked out electricity and telephone lines.
Israel's north Gaza incursion, its biggest inside the desert
territory since the Palestinian uprising began, has killed at
least 59 militants with most of the other 41 dead believed
to be civilians, medics say.
Israel says the great bulk of Palestinian dead were gunmen.
Three Israelis and a Thai farmworker in one of Israel's
isolated Jewish settlements in Gaza have also been killed.
Gaza militants have cranked up gun, rocket and mortar
attacks of late, hoping to portray any Israeli retreat from
territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war as a victory.
Sharon is determined to batter them into quiescence first
and intends to hold onto swathes of the West Bank with most of
the 240,000 settlers as a tradeoff for dumping smaller Gaza.
Polls show most Israelis support Sharon's strategy,
regarding Gaza as too costly in lives and money.
But nationalists inside and outside Sharon's fraying
right-wing coalition see any pullback as appeasement of
"Palestinian terrorism," and hard-line settlers planned a
series of street rallies around Israel later Thursday.
Sharon, trying to erode rightist resistance before an Oct.
25 parliament vote on "disengagement," has promised to press on
with the campaign against Hamas rocket teams.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY great events!
[Short listings followed by full event details below:]
FRIDAY, Oct. 15th 5:30pm-10pm Global Exchange Open House
SATURDAY, Oct. 16th 4pm-7pm Prop N Fundraising Party
@ Canvass Gallery
SUNDAY, Oct. 17th Jailbirds' Afternoon Delight - A Benefit to raise
funds for legal expenses for June Brashares' case from her action
at the RNC and Terry Baum's Supreme Court case.
Come join us at the 16th Annual Global Exchange Open House!!
Friday, October 15th, 2004 5:30pm-10:00pm
Global Exchange's office, 2017 Mission St., #303, San Francisco
(near the corner of 16th & Mission Streets, across from the
BART station)
Meet our amazing staff, board, and wonderful members,
supporters, and neighbors. Join us for free food, drinks,
music, dancing and an exciting drawing.
Program:
5:30 Self-Guided Office Tours with refreshments, a video
presentation from the Human Rights Awards, meet staff and
learn about GX programs and ways to get involved.
6:30 Welcome by GX founders: Kevin Danaher, Medea Benjamin,
and Kirsten Moller (with updates on the Global Citizen Center
and Medea's new book!)
6:45 Greetings and Program Updates by GX staff
7:30 Music/Dancing
9:00 Prize Drawing of a trip for two in Mexico on one of
our Reality Tours, great theatre tickets, and gift certificates
from area restaurants and more!
Double your donation to GX! All donations made throughout
the evening will be matched (up to $10,000) by the Global
Exchange Board of Directors.
Also the Global Exchange Online Store presents their first
ever...WAREHOUSE SALE!!
One night only--get all your holiday shopping done at the
Open House with Fair Trade items up to 50% off.
Visit www.globalexchangestore.org for more store
and product information.
To purchase raffle tickets or volunteer please contact
Mary at 415-558-6930.
* * * * * *
Join us at a Fundraising Party for Prop N!
Saturday, October 16th 4:00pm to 7:00pm
At:
Canvas Gallery, corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Drive
(at the edge of Golden Gate Park), San Francisco
Great Music and Refreshments!
Along with special guests:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange), Howard Wallace
(Vice Pres., SF Labor Council), Susan Galleymore
(Motherspeak), Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
A Representative of CODEPINK, Matt
Gonzalez, President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
Come learn more about Prop N among friends and activists.
YES ON N!
Proposition N on the November 2nd ballot declares:
"It is the Policy of the people of the City and County of San
Francisco that: The Federal government should take
immediate steps to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and
bring our troops safely home now."
If you cannot attend, but would like to make a donation
or otherwise help out with the campaign, please contact:
Bring Our Troops Home Now Committee (David Looman, Treasurer)
325 Highland Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel. 415/861-0318 web: www.yesonn.net
JAILBIRDS' AFTERNOON DELIGHT! - A Benefit for June Brashares'
& Terry Baum's Legal Expenses
Sunday, October 17th 3:30pm-5:30 pm
At:
Terry's house, 547 Douglass Street, (betweenn 21st &
22nd Streets), San Francisco
Public Transit: 35 & 48 bus. Relatively easy parking
June Brashares infiltrated the Republican National Convention
with a banner stating "Bush Lies, People Die" during George
Bush's speech and the New York police are throwing the book at her.
Terry Baum is suing to get her name on the ballot as the
Green candidate for Congress, and has gone all the way to
the Supreme Court.
These two strong women need your support in their
challenge to those who would silence them - and silence all of us!
Join them for coffee, dessert, and wine.
If it's sunny, we'll be in the garden.
Hear their stories, and see their arrest videos.
Other jailbirds invited to speak.
DONATIONS REQUESTED.
RSVP: (415) 701-0133
# # #
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) The Million Worker March: The War against Workers
[col.written 10/2/04] (c) 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal]
2) Million Worker March Update
SPEAKERS & IMPORTANT BUS PARKING INFORMATION
3) A Labor Activism Alert from the Cultural Workers Consort...
4) FROM LYNNE STEWART'S TRIAL BLOG
Justice for Lynne Stewart!
Notes from the trial...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
From: "Larry Felson"
5) IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
6) CIA using Jordan as torture base
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees
with shipping them off to Jordan if they don't co-operate"
Wednesday 13 October
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5EE4504C-E30E-41C4-A83A-C7ED1CC4AE80.
htm
7) PALESTINE EYEWITNESS: Attack on Gaza
Kim Bullimore, West Bank
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/602/602p24.htm
8) Death Toll from Israel's Gaza Offensive Rises to 100
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters)
Thu Oct 14, 2004 05:44 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6498923&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
9) FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY great events!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) The Million Worker March: The War against Workers
[col.written 10/2/04] (c) 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal]
Almost all of us, from wherever we have come, have something vital in
common: we are engaged in the world of work.
Some of us are members of unions -- as am I, a proud, card-carrying member
of the National Writer's Union, which is affiliated with the United Auto
Workers.
Some of us, perhaps a majority, are not members of a union, and yet, as
so-called "contingency workers"; as temps, as part-timers, as on call
workers, as workfare, as day laborers, as prison laborers, we are people who
are workers, who add social good; and --all-- of us are catching hell!
That's because wherever there is a war against wages, that means a war
against workers.
If we speak the truth, it doesn't matter who wins the White House; workers
are catching hell. That's because the only choices before the American
people are corporate choices; a thin narrow slice between two, quite similar
"brokerage parties", who sell their souls to the highest bidder.
Think of it this way; the last president supported by vast labor votes was
William Jefferson Clinton. And how did Clinton reward labor support? By
passing NAFTA, and opening the door to the globalist monster that is sucking
the life-blood from most working families across the nation. The drastic
loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, and the resultant drop in wages, can be
traced to the NAFTA bill.
That's why a Million Worker March is now necessary; to break through the
corporate gibble-gobble that now dominates the coming elections. Corporate
candidates covered by corporate media for corporate interests. It's no
wonder it's so slimy. It's also no wonder that the word "workers" rarely, if
ever, crosses the lips of the corporate candidates. It's no wonder that the
word "union" sounds like profanity when they mention it.
It is only the workers that can or will defend the interests of workers:
-- Universal Healthcare for ALL people;
-- A national living wage and livable retirement benefits;
-- Bring about democracy to the shop floor, so that decision about work are
made by those who labor;
-- Taxation that is progressive, on corporations and the wealthy, and
relieves the burdens on the working class and poor;
-- An End to Wars waged for Corporate America, like Iraq!;
-- The immediate revocation of --all-- anti-labor pacts, like NAFTA, FTAA,
the WTO, and CAFTA!;
-- The repeal of Taft-Hartley!;
-- Repeal of the so-called "PATRIOT ACT"!;
These are but some of the demands motivating the Million Worker March, but
it can't be all of them. Workers actually build this society; it is they,
and only they, who can re-build it.
This means a resurgence of the labor movement that is truly revolutionary --
that does not "settle" for it's slice, but changes the social order --
completely. The union movement has a history of exclusion that worked
against its own class interests; what if --what IF-- --all-- of those people
we mentioned a few moments ago -- part-timers, on-calls, perma-temps, and
yes -- prison laborers -- were actually unionized? It would add
immeasurably, to the power of Labor, and add to the power of unions,
generally, as a social force in the social order! In a phrase, this is
win-win. Social transformation is possible, but only -- ONLY -- with social
organization!
When people organize, broadly, and as a social force, then you will hear
those political whores speak the word "union" like they are speaking of a
lover! Our esteemed ancestor, the great escaped captive, and abolitionist,
Frederick Douglass once said, "Power concedes nothing without demand." He
was right then; he is right now. Labor must unite to force this corrupt
political system to yield. We, all of us, will be able to construct new
realities, not merely demand them.
Or else, we will be choosing the same monkeys to sit over us, as they betray
us, forever. That time must end. Thank You!
-- Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mr. Jamal is author of "WE WANT FREEDOM: A life in the Black Panther Party"
(Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2004)
http://www.mumia.org
Visit http://www.millionworkermarch.org
for information on the demands and list of endorsers
http://www.chicagofreemumia.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Million Worker March Update
SPEAKERS & IMPORTANT BUS PARKING INFORMATION
The Million Worker March is only 4 days away. Momentum is
building for this historic event.
Activists and groups: Are you busy e-mailing &
phone-banking to "get people on those buses?"
For detailed information, see
http://www.antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
***The Rally
Arrangements have been made with the Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Police for buses to drop passengers off on
Virginia Ave. just North of Constitution Ave. This is in
close walking distance to the Lincoln Memorial, 22nd and
Constitution Ave. NW.
Bus greeters will be stationed at Virginia Ave. to give
information to participants as they arrive. Bus pick up
will be at the same location - Virginia Ave off of
Constitution.
Buses can park on Virginia Ave on a first come basis and
on Ohio Dr. off of Independence Ave., which is on the
South side of the Lincoln Memorial.
Volunteers are needed to help greet the buses, set up,
security and with a variety of other tasks. There will be
a "Volunteers Meeting" on Friday, October 15, 7 P.M. at
St. Stephen Church, 1525 Newton St. NW. There will be work
sessions throughout Saturday.
The Pre-Rally and entertainment will begin at 10:30 am.
The main Rally will begin at 12 noon at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, DC. (The Lincoln Memorial is
located between Constitution and Independence Aves. and
between 22nd and 23rd St. The closest metro stop is Foggy
Bottom on the blue/orange line. The Foggy Bottom exit is
at 23rd and I Sts. NW. From the exit walk south on 23rd
St.)
Maps, housing information, maps, and other helpful
information are available at:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/logistics.htm
***Speakers Include:
Actor Danny Glover; entertainer and activist Dick Gregory;
Rev. Jesse Jackson; Brenda Stokely, President, AFSCME
District Council 1707; Clarence Thomas, co-Chair MWM;
Chris Silvera, Teamsters National Black Caucus; Ralph
Schoenman, Chair: Communications, MWM; Roger Toussaint,
President, Transport Workers Union, Local 100; Donna
Dewitt, President South Carolina State Federation of
Labor; Mike Hoffman, Co-Founder, Iraqi Veterans Against
the War; and more.
***Discussion & Organizing Tents
The main event on Oct. 17 is of course the rally on the
steps of the Lincoln monument.
- But thereÂs more Oct. 17 will not only be a big rally,
but also a genuine opportunity for activists from many
different struggles, and many different parts of the
country (and the world), to share information and ideas
with each other, and talk about strategies to carry our
movement forwards.
- In Order to facilitate this process we will have
Discussion & Organizing Tents near the Lincoln Monument
on Oct. 17.
- The tents will be situated close enough to be accessible
to all who come to the rally, but far enough away so as to
not interfere or compete with it.
- Each tent will be issue-based. A partial list of issues
includes:
-Workers Rights (i.e., organizing, contracts,
health/safety issues)
-Anti-War
-Global WomenÂs issues/the Âinvisible workerÂ
-Youth
-Housing
-Reparations (i.e., domestic/international)
-National Health Care For All
-The Corporate Agenda (i.e., free trade agreements,
outsourcing, sweatshops)
-International Solidarity (i.e., Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela,
Iraq, Palestine, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Brazil,
Columbia, The Philippines, Korea etc.)
-Repression, racism, violations of civil liberties, the
ÂPatriot ActÂ, civil & human rights
-Immigrant Rights
-Quality/Free Education for all
-Criminal Injustice system/political prisoners
-Environmental issues & environmental racism
-Labor Media
-Veterans
***MWM Solidarity With Hotel Workers March
Hotel workers are currently on strike or locked out in San
Francisco, on strike in Atlantic City, and preparing to
strike in both Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.
Participants in the Million Worker March are invited to
participate in a march from the rally to the Hotel
Washington, one of the hotels where workers may be on
strike soon. The march will take place in the late
afternoon, and it is optional for MWM participants as many
will want to remain at the main rally, or in the
discussion and organizing tents.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
**Get the Word out!
1) download leaflets from
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/pdfdownload.htm
and take them to your school, workplace, house of worship,
union, and community organization.
2) Link to the Anti-war for the Million Worker March
Website :
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
3) Forward this email to your email lists
**Donate!
We need help with the enormous expenses involved with
organizing buses for this massive mobilization of working
people. You can donate online at:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org/
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
Anyone can subscribe.
Send an email request to
AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch-subscribe@organizerweb.com
To unsubscribe AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch-unsubscribe@organizerweb.com
Subscribing and unsubscribing can also be done on the Web at
http://www.organizerweb.com/mailman/listinfo/antiwar4themillionworkermarch
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) A Labor Activism Alert from the Cultural Workers Consort...
Friends,
Here is some updated information on Sunday's historic event----
THE MILLION WORKER MARCH. I am proud to add that I WILL BE
AMONG THE MUSICAL PERFORMERS ONSTAGE for this amazing workers'
action. The organizers of this event have proclaimed their belief in the
of music and the rest of the arts as an important tool in organizing.
Here, Here! At present the full list of performers is incomplete, but I am
told that it will run the gamut from Hip-Hop to Folk, World Music to Pop,
and beyond---an assemblage that is representational of the body of
working people and activists in the throngs of marchers. Beisdes my
own set of Labor songs, some other confirmed performers will include
NYC singer-songwriter Judy Gorman and southern chorus, The Fruits
of Labor, among so many more. These cultural workers will be coming
from all points, as will be the marchers themselves. Let's really rock
DC, sisters and brothers. It is high time that the workers have a loud
voice they can call their own.
In Solidarity,
John Pietaro
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: NYCLAW
Sent: Oct 13, 2004 7:08 PM
To: LaborAgainstWar
Subject: [NYCLAW] Million Worker March Info
1. Get Your Bus Tickets Today & donate to help others march
2. Volunteer at the MWM
**Get Your Bus Tickets
There is still space on the buses to Washington, DC--don't
miss this historic opportunity!
The ongoing debates have made one thing clear--working
people must have their own voice in Washington, DC. We must
speak for ourselves and raise the issues that matter to
us--issues like health care, a living wage, affordable
housing, and bringing the troops home now.
Our voice in the debate will be heard on Sunday, October
17 in Washington, DC, at the Million Worker March.
There are only two days left to get your bus tickets for the
October 17 Million Worker March in Washington, DC. Buses are
leaving from throughout New York and from across the
country. Tens of thousands of working people, students,
veterans, and activists will gather at the Lincoln Memorial
to say, "We need jobs, healthcare, & a living wage, not
war!"
Get your bus tickets today!
Stop by 39 W. 14th St. in Manhattan (between 5th & 6th
Aves.) Tickets are $35 round-trip, are leaving from
locations throughout NYC, including:
39 W. 14th St. (Manhattan)
96th St. & Broadway (Manhattan)
125th St. & A.C. Powell (Manhattan)
178th St. & Broadway (Manhattan) Queensboro Plaza (Queens)
Grand Army Plaza (Brooklyn) Journal Sq. (Jersey City, NJ)
Call 212-633-6646 for more information.
We want to provide as many buses as possible so that youth,
students, and working people can make their voices heard on
October 17. Your donation will help make this possible.
You can donate to help cover the costs of buses online at:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org or by mail (make checks
payable to: Anti-War4MWM/IAC, and send to 39 W. 14th St.
#206, NY, NY 10011)
http://www.Antiwar4theMillionWorkerMarch.org Donate:
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
Volunteer with the MWM!
We will need hundreds of volunteers to make the March a
success.
In the next few days, come by 39 W. 14th St. #206 to help
with making signs & banners, packing supplies, and many
other tasks. The office will be open from 10am to 6pm
through Saturday.
Volunteers are needed in Washington to help greet the buses,
set up, security and with a variety of other tasks.
If you can go to DC early, there will be a "Volunteers
Meeting" on Friday, October 15, 7 P.M. at St. Stephen
Church, 1525 Newton St. NW. There will be work sessions
throughout Saturday. Call 202-232-0057 or 212-633-6646 for
more information.
If you are arriving on Sunday, you can still volunteer to
greet buses, staff tables, hand out literature, clean up
after the demo, and many other tasks. Check in with a MWM
table at the rally to find out how you can help.
For logistics (transportation, bus drop-off, maps, housing,
speakers list, etc.)
http://www.antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/logistics.htm)
Anti-War 4 the Million Worker March
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
The International Action Center http://www.iacenter.org mail
to:iacenter@iacenter.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) FROM LYNNE STEWART'S TRIAL BLOG
Justice for Lynne Stewart!
Notes from the trial...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
From: "Larry Felson"
Thu, 14 Oct 2004 07:40:18 +0000
Dear Friends, Comrades, Supporters:
Sorry I haven't been faithful to the Blog but the onslaught of the
government has kept us busy at the barricades (2004 style).
In the four month smear, they have presented Bin Laden on
video and in translation by NY Times reporter Judith Miller
(herself now in the clutches of persecutor US attorney Pat
Fitzgerald in connection with the White House outing of the
CIA agent wife). We have also had endless newspaper articles
found in FILES in my office, found in my co-defendant's study
where he was preparing his dissertation and in the garage of
my other co-defendant.
On the final day of the trial and "faithfully" reported by all
the media they played a conversation between Sattar and
a Reuters reporter on September 24,2001. In this, she asks
him about a "link" between Bin Laden and my client, Sheik
Omar. A french reporter, interviewed Bin Laden(when? where?
How? who?) and was told that he was influenced by Sheik Omar's
words in 1996, THEREFORE... The Judge dutifully and dully
repeated the admonition to the JUry, "Bin Laden is not part of
this case. He is not a co-conspirator. This is not offered for the
truth". Supporters in the audience have been wondering so why
is the jury hearing this at all???? There is an answer to that
question and it's the same answer to why we are in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Following this scurrilous presentation--and these young
prosecutors were all but high fiving each other, Tigar (the great)
made argument to dismiss all the charges--read it on the web
site. It lifted all our bruised spirits and got us ready for this
week to come!
Now, on Wednesday, October 13, I will take the witness stand.
Tigar and I will have discourse on my life and lawyering and the
Sheik's. case. I will be there for probably a week at least. They will
be ugly on cross examination...but untutored. I have the WILL to
do this but I need endurance and stamina. Part of that will be
supplied (no pun) by the people in the audience ...fellow stugglers
for decades, new believers, friends dating from elementary and high
school, my beloved family meaning Ralph, children, sister,
grandchildren (12 going on 13). All who see my fight as their
fight--standing on the brink of disaster in this USA and no way
to go but forward to victory.
Thanks -- too weak a word--for all the heartfelt greetings.
I went to the YMHA in Manhattan to hear Adrienne Rich read
her poetry ... these are things that sustain me and my optimistic
view that there can be a world of difference and diversity where
the poets (and lawyers!) are not the warriors. Keep me in your t
houghts and hearts
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
SUMMARY
The economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United
States of America against Cuba is the longest in history. According
to figures updated in 2004 by the Cuban National Statistics Office,
69% of the population living in our country was born after 1959,
thus, approximately 7 out of 10 Cubans have been born and lived
under the unilateral sanction regime of the US embargo.
Last year, 179 Member States voted in favor, 3 against (including
the United States) and 2 abstained. This proved the international
community's nearly-total rejection towards the US Administration's
genocidal policy against Cuba
For thirteen consecutive years, Cuba will submit to the
consideration of the UN General Assembly the draft resolution
entitled: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and
financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against
Cuba". The Assembly will debate and take action on this draft on
Thursday, 28 October 2004.
CUBA CANNOT EXPORT TO THE US
Cuba cannot engage in any kind of sales to US entrepreneurs.
Cuba could export to the US, for example, from 10 to 15,000
tons of nickel per annum, no less than 1,000 tons of cobalt and more
than 2 million tons of cement.
CUBA FROM THE US CANNOT IMPORT (ONLY FOODSTUFFS AND ON AN
EXCEPTIONAL BASIS)
Our country must engage in cash-related purchases, without
the possibility of accessing financial credits, not even private
ones.
US companies must engage in cumbersome bureaucratic
formalities to procure the license authorizing them to sell their
products to Cuba.
Cuba cannot use its maritime fleet in such trading
operations. Transportation must take place on US or third-country
vessels after procuring a license to that end.
Cuba has to pay to US companies through banks based in third
countries because it is not allowed to establish direct banking
relations with the US.
Within five years of the lifting of the travel ban, our
country could be receiving 5 million American tourists and revenues
amounting to US$ 7 billion per annum.
The sanctions imposed for traveling to Cuba can be up to 10
years in prison and penalties of US$ 1 million for corporations and
US$ 250,000 for individuals.
Cuba is compelled to engage in third-country currency
operations, even though its major import and export items are quoted
on the world market in that currency. This causes huge economic
losses on account of the ups and downs of the US dollar against the
currencies of the country's main trading partners.
CUBA DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS EITHER TO INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL
AGENCIES.NO SINGLE CREDIT HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN THE LAST 45 YEARS
According to preliminary information, only in 2003, the
Inter-American Development Bank loaned nearly US$ 9 billion in
credits to Latin America, while the World Bank lent another US$ 5
billion.
THE TORRICELLI ACT ( adopted 1992 )
It prohibits trade with subsidiaries of US companies based
in third countries.
It sets forth that third-country vessels are forced to wait
no less than 6 months to call at US ports after having called at
Cuban ports, under the threat of being "blacklisted."
THE HELMS-BURTON ACT (adopted 1996)
Title III: It sets forth the celebration of trials in US
courts of law against third-country businesspeople who engage in
deals with Cuba.
Title IV: It prevents entry into the US for those company
officials, CEOs and their families who engage in business deals with
Cuba.
SECTION 211.
Another poorly worked out legislative plan
It allows Bacardi Co. to steal the "Havana Club" rum
brandname for the US market.
It prevents third-country companies from filing suits with
US courts of law over trademark and patent violations if these are
related to business deals in Cuba.
THE SO-CALLED "PEOPLE TO PEOPLE" ENGAGEMENT,
FORBIDDEN BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
The Government of the United States sets aside this year US$ 28.2
million to broadcast to Cuba a total of 2,233 weekly hours through
radio and TV.
Between 1984 and 2003, the US spent US$ 432 million on operations
connected with Radio and TV MartÃ.
Only through USAID, the current budget sets aside a total of US$ 7
million to finance the fabrication of an "opposition" within Cuba.
Last 6 May, the US Government announced, with a lot of media
publicity and the direct involvement of the Administration's highest-
ranking officials, new measures to further tighten its aggressive
and hostile policy towards Cuba.
WHAT DID BUSH SAY THEN?
"This strategy fosters the spending of money to help organizations
protect the dissidents and promote human rights. It is a strategy
that fosters a clear voice in speaking the truth to the Cuban people
through Radio and TV MartÃ. It is a strategy that will prevent the
regime from taking advantage of the tourists' hard currency and the
remittances to the Cubans that underpin the repressive regime. It is
a strategy that says that we are not waiting for the day of freedom
in Cuba; we are working for the day of freedom in Cuba."
REPORT OF THE COMMISSION FOR ASSISTANCE TO A FREE CUBA
OBJECTIVE: TO OVERTHROW THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT
AND FULLY ESTABLISH ITS TOTAL CONTROL ON CUBA
The report issued has 6 chapters. The first chapter is the one which
lists the strategy and the specific measures that the Commission
recommends for its immediate implementation to topple the Cuban
Government. Key elements of this "new strategy" would be:
1. Increase in support for the groups acting at the service of
the US.
2. Increase in the international campaigns against our country.
3. Tightening of the subversive and misinformation actions
against Cuba.
4. Adoption of new measures to affect the Cuban economy.
5. Undermining what they have called the "regime succession"
plans.
MAIN MEASURES 6 MAY 2004
1) To set aside US$ 59 million in the next 2 years to finance
actions aimed at destroying the Revolution. Such funding would be
used, inter alia, to:
a) Increase the funding for internal subversion activities and
search for new ways to engage governments, third-country NGOs and
international organizations in those efforts. The US$ 7 million of
the current budget now adds another US$ 29 million, for a grand
total of US$ 36 million aimed at financing the so-called "internal
opposition" in Cuba.
b) Expand the anti-Cuban propaganda campaign. To enhance
towards the interior of Cuba the direct broadcasts of the so-called
Radio and TV Martà by means of a C-130 airplane. Towards the
outside world, another US$ 5 million would be earmarked to
disseminate a negative image of our country. (as a country that
violates human rights, engages in espionage against third parties,
fosters subversion in Latin America and conducts other actions
labeled as threats to the national security of the US)
2 ) Prohibition for the Cubans living in the US to send remittances
and packages to their relatives in Cuba if these are "government
officials" or "members of the Communist Party."
3-To reduce the visits to Cuba by those Cubans living in the US.
Elimination of the general license for a trip per annum and
limitation of family-related visits to one every three years under
a specific license and only for close relatives.
4-To limit the recipients of remittances and packages to direct
relatives of Cubans living in the US. (DEFINED EXCLUSIVELY AS
GRANDPARENTS, GRANDCHILDREN, PARENTS, BROTHERS
AND SISTERS, WIVES AND CHILDREN)
While the Cuban Government is more flexible about the visits of
immigrants, the US Government increases the obstacles! What are
they afraid of?
5-To continue restricting the granting of licenses for educational
travels and academic exchanges to US citizens and institutions
through more stringent regulations than those existing today. These
new restrictions include:
Limitation of educational exchanges,
Elimination of the general license for travels by athletes,
Removal of the specific license for cultural clinics and
workshops,
Elimination of the fully hosted traveler category,
Revision of travel permits on private aircraft, etc.
6. To reduce the maximum limit of money to be spent by a Cuban-
American visiting their family in Cuba, from US$ 164 to just US$ 50
per day.
7. Implementation of "covert" activities against anyone
bringing money to relatives in Cuba from Cubans based in the US.
Rewards are even offered to those denouncing or reporting the
illegal sending of family remittances.
8. To make a more serious assessment about whether the
enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act is deleterious to
US interests or if such enforcement could expedite the fall of the
Cuban Revolution.
(TO AUTHORIZE THE CELEBRATION OF TRIALS IN US COURTS OF
LAW AGAINST THIRD-COUNTRY BUSINESSPEOPLE ENGAGED IN
DEALS WITH CUBA, WHICH HAD NOT BEEN ENFORCED UNTIL NOW)
9. To firmly apply sanctions contained in Title IV of the Helms-
Burton Act  prohibiting the granting of visas to foreign investors
based in Cuba.
10. To neutralize those companies engaged in economic activities
with the external sector. To run investigations on Cuban and foreign
companies trading with Cuba.
11. To deploy an offensive for third-country governments and
NGOs to join the US policy aimed at destroying the Cuban Revolution.
Mr. Noriega was particularly emphatic in his appeal for other
countries to support those efforts.
12. To support actions in third countries to discourage tourism
towards our country.
13. To continue denying visas for Cuban officials who must
travel to the US.
14. To continue denying visas for Cuban officials who must
travel to the US.
15. Appointment of a "Coordinator for the Transition in Cuba" at
the State Department level. In practice, he would be the future "US
pro-consul" in our country
The measures announced are also a violation of the human rights of
the Cuban-born citizens living in the US, who are seeing the
imposition of new and draconian restrictions to travel to their
country of origin and send economic assistance to their relatives in
Cuba.
THESE MEASURES DISREGARD:
The real interests of the American people and the
overwhelming majority of the Cubans living in the US.
The real interests of most members of the US Congress.
The real interests of the extensive sectors of that country
that are looking forward to a normal relation with Cuba.
The standards and principles of International Law.
In sum, what is being proclaimed is the plan of annexation of Cuba
to the US and the return to the Republic of the Platt Amendment!
An escalation that not only attempts to stifle the country
economically, but that also intends to create conditions enabling
the legitimacy of the "regime change" policy in Cuba.
The Cuban people relies on the fact that the international
community, in circumstances in which the US government irresponsibly
threatens its rights to life, development, peace and self-
determination, will stand firm and clearly to favor the ending of
the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed on them.
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) CIA using Jordan as torture base
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees
with shipping them off to Jordan if they don't co-operate"
Wednesday 13 October
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5EE4504C-E30E-41C4-A83A-C7ED1CC4AE80.
htm
The US Central Intelligence Agency is holding al-Qaida suspects in
a secret Jordanian jail where they are subjected to interrogation
methods banned in the United States, an Israeli newspaper said
on Wednesday.
The Haaretz newspaper said at least 11 men held incommunicado
in Jordan include Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, the alleged mastermind
of the attacks on New York and Washington, and Hanbali, accused of
being al-Qaida's ally in southeast Asia.
"Their detention outside the US enables CIA interrogators to apply
interrogation methods banned by US law and to do so in a country
where cooperation with Americans is particularly close, thereby
reducing the danger of leaks," Haaretz said.
But a Jordanian security official dismissed as "totally baseless" the
story, which attributed its information to international intelligence
sources. A CIA official in Washington declined to comment.
The Jordanian official, who declined to be named, said: "The
allegations that surface every now and then that the US runs secret
detention centres in the kingdom are totally baseless and seek
to undermine the country's favourable human rights image abroad."
International human rights groups have accused the United States
of circumventing guidelines on interrogation by shipping al-Qaida
suspects to allied states where such legal scrutiny is lacking.
Washington insists its interrogators operate within the law.
Previous claims
US officials say incommunicado detentions in secret locations are
essential for security and that many suspects held have provided
valuable intelligence that has foiled planned attacks.
Jordan is seen as a key ally in the US-led war on terror.
In "Rumsfeld's War", a book drawing on declassified Pentagondocuments,
Washington Times correspondent Rowan Scarborough said Jordanian
interrogators had helped US counterparts in handling al-Qaida
suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"US interrogators are known to threaten some detainees with
shipping them off to Jordan if they don't cooperate," Scarborough
said.
"Like other Middle Eastern countries, Jordan uses physical means
to coerce confessions and vital intelligence information," he added.
Reuters
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an archive only, s
o please do not try to add your address)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and any
typing or grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some of
the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time,
but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) PALESTINE EYEWITNESS: Attack on Gaza
Kim Bullimore, West Bank
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/602/602p24.htm
Seven days after the Israeli military campaign in the northern Gaza
region began on September 28, 100 Palestinians - one third of them
under the age of 15 - have been killed, while more than 300 civilians,
including more than 80 children, have been wounded, 168 houses
have been demolished, along with kindergartens, dozens of grocery
stores, schools and olive groves. Electricity has been cut off and tens
of thousands of people have been left without drinking water.
The Israeli offensive, which began on the night of the fourth anniversary
of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), has been carried out in one
of the most populated regions of Gaza. In the past six days, more than
2000 Israeli troops, accompanied by 200 Israeli tanks, dozens of apache
helicopters and armoured bulldozers have entered Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya
and Beit Hanoun refugee camps which are home to more than 250,000
Palestinians.
The offensive also began within days of Yom Kippur, the Jewish festival
of atonement. In a gross misappropriation of Jewish religiousity, the
Israeli government has dubbed the operation Days of Penitence.
Medical staff in Balsam Hospital in Beit Lahia have reported severe food,
medical and blood shortages, while the staff at Al Awda hospital in
Jabaliya have reported that their medical emergency supplies have
been exhausted as a result of the high number of causalities.
According to the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, which is based
in Jabiliya, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has denied the Ministry of
Health access to the government clinic in Beit Hanoun, and denied all
requests for access. Since the start of the offensive, the IDF has
refused to allow United Nation Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA)
medical staff access to their clinic to assist with causalities.
IDF spokespeople have publicly claimed that the offensive is in response
to the death of two children killed by a Hamas rocket attack upon the
Israeli township of Sderot. However, a number of commentators in
Israel have argued that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under
pressure from the extreme right because of his Gaza "disengagement"
plan, is exploiting the death of the children to pursue his own agenda.
Sharon's Gaza "disengagement plan", announced in February, was
designed to relieve international pressure on Israel, which had ratcheted
up because of its construction of the Apratheid Wall. The plan was
designed to give the impression that Israel was working towards peace
without giving into "terrorism", while allowing Sharon and his
government to annex and consolidate more territory in the West Bank.
Despite all the hue and cry by right-wing opponents of "disengagement",
the plan concedes little.
Under it, "disengagement" was not to be immediate or unilateral,
instead it was to take "one or two years" to complete and would merely
involve shifting the path of the Apartheid Wall east to a new security
line within the Occupied Territories. This would take in more illegal
settlements then the original path, and would not result in the immediate
dismantling of those illegal colonies outside the new path, instead they
would be relocated.
In addition, the plan would exclude Palestinians from the negotiating
table, in favour of Washington-Israel talks. In return for
"disengagement", the US would be asked to recognise the Apartheid
wall, as well as the illegal colonies of Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim and
Gush Etzio, annexing further sections of the West Bank. Within
days of the announcement of the plan, however, the number of
settlements to be moved dwindled from 17 to include only the
"most isolated" colonies, with the evacuation of the Katif block,
the biggest colony in the Gaza being postponed indefinitely.
In an interview in April with the Progressive magazine, Uri Avnery,
a former Knesset member and founding member of Israeli peace
organisation Gush Shalom, claimed that the plan would result in the
incorporation of 55% of the West Bank into Israel. At the same time,
Avnery argued, the Gaza "will become a giant prison camp, cut off
on all sides. It will have no seaport or airport and be cut off from its
only neighbour, Egypt. There will be no entering the Strip or leaving
it except through Israel. Much as now, Israel will be able to cut off
the supply of food, raw materials, water, fuel, gas and electricity,
as well as the exit of workers and goods. Israel will also be able to
invade the Strip at any time in order to 'prevent terrorist actions'."
Sharon's plan might have meant little, but that did not stop other
right-wing parties, the extreme right within his own party and
extremist settler groups and rabbinical leaders condemning it.
In early September, more than 20,000 settlers rallied in Jerusalem
to protest the plan. Many of those attending the rally warned that
civil war was inevitable and that there would be violent clashes
between settlers and Israeli security forces should the plan go ahead.
Other settlers at the demonstration carried signs calling Sharon
"a dictator" and "traitor".
Three days prior to the demonstration, 185 former members of
the Israeli government, senior reserve officers in the IDF and other
prominent Israeli professionals signed a petition declaring
disengagement "a national crime, a crime against humanity and
is a revelation of tyranny, evil and arbitrariness meant to deny
Jews their rights... [that] lays the groundwork for the ethnic
cleansing of Jews from their homeland". A number of the signatories
to the petition went on to publicly accuse Sharon of Nazism and
anti-semitism.
Given this pressure, Sharon is particularly wary of appearing to
give in to Palestinian militants. According to Israel's daily newspaper
Ha'aretz , an October 3 statement by Israeli "defence" minister Shaul
Mofaz argued that "the aim of the [Gaza] operation is `to send a
clear message that Israel will not tolerate terrorist operations during
the disengagement', hints at the pressure by the right of the
opponents of the disengagement plan, who are taking advantage
of the suffering of the Sderot residents".
The Gaza offensive allows Sharon to continue to pose as the
"strongman" of Israeli politics at home, while propagating the
fantasy that Israel is seeking peace - and is the victim in the conflict.
Washington is quite happy to continue to foster this. US Secretary
of State Colin Powell told the New York Times that "Israel's action
in Gaza in relation to the rocket attacks was a legitimate response".
The offensive also allows Israel to maintain its military and economic
stranglehold on the Gaza. On October 3, Sharon and Mofaz
separately described the Gaza offensive as "open-ended", saying
that the IDF would establish a "buffer zone" to "spare Israeli towns
from rocket attacks" and ensure that "there is no withdrawal under
fire next year".
The current offensive is merely a continuation of military operations
that have taken place since Sharon first announced plans for
"disengagement". For the past six months, the IDF has been
systematically demolishing houses and olive groves in Beit Hanoun
and Beit Lahiya. In addition, hundreds of houses have been
demolished along the Philidelphi corridor near Rafah, ensuring
that Israel will control the border between the Gaza and Egypt.
As the US prepares to veto a UN motion condemning the Israeli
offensive and the illegal collective punishment of civilians, the
humanitarian crisis in the Gaza continues to grow. Sharon's strategy,
if allowed to proceed, will ensure that there is no road to peace and
the continued construction of the illegal Apartheid Wall and the
further illegal annexation by Israel of a further 55% of the West Bank.
[Kim Bullimore is a member of the Socialist Alliance and is currently
working with the international human rights and solidarity group,
the International Women's Peace Service in Palestine. Visit
From Green Left Weekly, October 13, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Death Toll from Israel's Gaza Offensive Rises to 100
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters)
Thu Oct 14, 2004 05:44 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6498923&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians in Gaza
Thursday as the Palestinian death toll rose to 100 in a 16-day-old
army offensive aimed at crushing militants behind rocket salvoes
into Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is seeking a decisive triumph
over militants to overcome rightist opposition to his plan to
"disengage" from conflict with Palestinians by evacuating all
Jewish settlers from Gaza and a few from the West Bank in 2005.
Missiles killed two Hamas gunmen in the sprawling urban
Jabalya refugee camp in north Gaza, stormed by more than 200
tanks and troop carriers after a Hamas rocket killed two toddlers
across the border in Israel on Sept. 29.
Helicopters backing up a separate army raid into Rafah refugee
camp in Gaza's far south fired three missiles, killing two militants
and a civilian man of 70, local medics and residents said. A woman
was seriously wounded.
Military sources said Israeli forces targeted gunmen who had just
launched an anti-tank rocket at troops operating to uncover tunnels
used to smuggle in weapons from Egypt.
Officials with the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees said
Israeli armored bulldozers demolished about 30 houses, leaving
about 40 people homeless, before the armed forces withdrew at
around daybreak from Rafah.
The cinderblock camp is, like Jabalya, a frequent tinderbox in the
four-year-old Palestinian revolt against Israel.
Israeli forces often raze Palestinian buildings they say harbor
militants who fire at them or, in Rafah's case, camouflage
smuggling tunnels. Palestinians and human rights groups denounce
the practice as collective punishment.
SWATHE OF DESTRUCTION
Israeli troops rooting around for elusive Hamas rocket squads
in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, next to Jabalya, also left
a trail of destruction Thursday.
About 20 houses were wrecked or seriously damaged while
tanks had broken up asphalt roads, squashed cars and taxis,
churned up dozens of hectares (acres) of olive and citrus
groves, and knocked out electricity and telephone lines.
Israel's north Gaza incursion, its biggest inside the desert
territory since the Palestinian uprising began, has killed at
least 59 militants with most of the other 41 dead believed
to be civilians, medics say.
Israel says the great bulk of Palestinian dead were gunmen.
Three Israelis and a Thai farmworker in one of Israel's
isolated Jewish settlements in Gaza have also been killed.
Gaza militants have cranked up gun, rocket and mortar
attacks of late, hoping to portray any Israeli retreat from
territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war as a victory.
Sharon is determined to batter them into quiescence first
and intends to hold onto swathes of the West Bank with most of
the 240,000 settlers as a tradeoff for dumping smaller Gaza.
Polls show most Israelis support Sharon's strategy,
regarding Gaza as too costly in lives and money.
But nationalists inside and outside Sharon's fraying
right-wing coalition see any pullback as appeasement of
"Palestinian terrorism," and hard-line settlers planned a
series of street rallies around Israel later Thursday.
Sharon, trying to erode rightist resistance before an Oct.
25 parliament vote on "disengagement," has promised to press on
with the campaign against Hamas rocket teams.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY great events!
[Short listings followed by full event details below:]
FRIDAY, Oct. 15th 5:30pm-10pm Global Exchange Open House
SATURDAY, Oct. 16th 4pm-7pm Prop N Fundraising Party
@ Canvass Gallery
SUNDAY, Oct. 17th Jailbirds' Afternoon Delight - A Benefit to raise
funds for legal expenses for June Brashares' case from her action
at the RNC and Terry Baum's Supreme Court case.
Come join us at the 16th Annual Global Exchange Open House!!
Friday, October 15th, 2004 5:30pm-10:00pm
Global Exchange's office, 2017 Mission St., #303, San Francisco
(near the corner of 16th & Mission Streets, across from the
BART station)
Meet our amazing staff, board, and wonderful members,
supporters, and neighbors. Join us for free food, drinks,
music, dancing and an exciting drawing.
Program:
5:30 Self-Guided Office Tours with refreshments, a video
presentation from the Human Rights Awards, meet staff and
learn about GX programs and ways to get involved.
6:30 Welcome by GX founders: Kevin Danaher, Medea Benjamin,
and Kirsten Moller (with updates on the Global Citizen Center
and Medea's new book!)
6:45 Greetings and Program Updates by GX staff
7:30 Music/Dancing
9:00 Prize Drawing of a trip for two in Mexico on one of
our Reality Tours, great theatre tickets, and gift certificates
from area restaurants and more!
Double your donation to GX! All donations made throughout
the evening will be matched (up to $10,000) by the Global
Exchange Board of Directors.
Also the Global Exchange Online Store presents their first
ever...WAREHOUSE SALE!!
One night only--get all your holiday shopping done at the
Open House with Fair Trade items up to 50% off.
Visit www.globalexchangestore.org for more store
and product information.
To purchase raffle tickets or volunteer please contact
Mary at 415-558-6930.
* * * * * *
Join us at a Fundraising Party for Prop N!
Saturday, October 16th 4:00pm to 7:00pm
At:
Canvas Gallery, corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Drive
(at the edge of Golden Gate Park), San Francisco
Great Music and Refreshments!
Along with special guests:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange), Howard Wallace
(Vice Pres., SF Labor Council), Susan Galleymore
(Motherspeak), Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
A Representative of CODEPINK, Matt
Gonzalez, President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
Come learn more about Prop N among friends and activists.
YES ON N!
Proposition N on the November 2nd ballot declares:
"It is the Policy of the people of the City and County of San
Francisco that: The Federal government should take
immediate steps to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and
bring our troops safely home now."
If you cannot attend, but would like to make a donation
or otherwise help out with the campaign, please contact:
Bring Our Troops Home Now Committee (David Looman, Treasurer)
325 Highland Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel. 415/861-0318 web: www.yesonn.net
JAILBIRDS' AFTERNOON DELIGHT! - A Benefit for June Brashares'
& Terry Baum's Legal Expenses
Sunday, October 17th 3:30pm-5:30 pm
At:
Terry's house, 547 Douglass Street, (betweenn 21st &
22nd Streets), San Francisco
Public Transit: 35 & 48 bus. Relatively easy parking
June Brashares infiltrated the Republican National Convention
with a banner stating "Bush Lies, People Die" during George
Bush's speech and the New York police are throwing the book at her.
Terry Baum is suing to get her name on the ballot as the
Green candidate for Congress, and has gone all the way to
the Supreme Court.
These two strong women need your support in their
challenge to those who would silence them - and silence all of us!
Join them for coffee, dessert, and wine.
If it's sunny, we'll be in the garden.
Hear their stories, and see their arrest videos.
Other jailbirds invited to speak.
DONATIONS REQUESTED.
RSVP: (415) 701-0133
# # #
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
JOHN ASHCROFT IN SAN JOSE - WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13
JOHN ASHCROFT IN SAN JOSE - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13
URGENT ACTION ALERT from Peninsula Peace and
Justice Center
http://www.peaceandjustice.org
Join many Bay Area activist organizations to
UNWELCOME John Ashcroft to San
Jose. Protest Ashcroft's attacks on civil liberties.
Bring signs!
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13
11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Fairmont Hotel
170 S. Market St.
(downtown near Ceasr Chavez Plaza)
San Jose
================================
The Peace and Justice Calendar and
Urgent Action Alerts are brought to you by
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
http://www.peaceandjustice.org
The calendar and alerts are distributed
to PPJC members and list subscribers
only. To unsubscribe, send a blank
email to ppjc-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center
457 Kingsley Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 326-8837 || http://www.peaceandjustice.org
=================================
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEXT BAUAW MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 7 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET, SF
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) HOTEL AND GROCERY WORKERS NEED OUR HELP!
2) Join Us at a Fundraising Party
for Prop N on Saturday, October 16
from 4 to 7 p.m.!
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),
Howard Wallace (Vice Pres., SF
Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink, Matt Gonzalez,
President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
ALSO: Music and Refreshments
PLACE: Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Way. @ Golden Gate Park)
3) Not in Our Name Bay Area
Get involved today!
Organizing Meeting for Upcoming
Anti-war March and Rally
Wednesday, October 13 at 6:30 PM
Not in Our Name Office
3945 Opal Street, Oakland (map)
At 40th Street, near Broadway -
a short walk from Macarthur BART.
4) Coming Actions Against
War, Racism, and Exploitation
December 5, 2004
Indoor Solidarity Rally with Haiti in NYC
initiated by the Emergency Campaign to Support
the Haitian People,
the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Haiti
Support Network
January 20, 2005
Counter-Inaugural Demonstration in Washington DC
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
March 19/20, 2005
Global Day of Coordinated Actions
on the 2nd Anniversary of the "Shock and Awe"
Invasion of Iraq
initiated by antiwar organizations worldwide
including the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
in the United States
October 16, 2004
Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March in Washington DC
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
5) Israeli Army Chief 'Emptied His Magazine'
at Girl in Gaza
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2004
by the Independent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1012-06.htm
6) * News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and
Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our
Websites"
7) Qalqilya Strangled by Israel's Wall
October 2004, pages 48-49
Delegation Trip
8) Major Assaults on Hold Until After U.S. Vote
Attacks on Iraq's rebel-held cities will be delayed,
officials say. But that could make it harder to allow
wider, and more legitimate, Iraqi voting in January.
By Mark Mazzetti
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by the
Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-02.htm
9) Mosque on Fire After U.S. Air Strikes in West Iraq
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by Reuters
BAGHDAD
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-20.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) HOTEL AND GROCERY WORKERS NEED OUR HELP!
Dear friends,
Both the UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel workers
and the UFCW grocery workers are in
intense struggles with the bosses. A key
issue in both struggles is the right to health
benefits. As health care costs go through
the roof, major employers in every industry
across the country are attempting to pass
down health care costs to workers, raising
premiums, co-pays, or dropping coverage altogether.
For hotel and grocery workers and other
low-wage workers especially, health care
coverage is key to their survival. At the same
time, this is an issue of tremendous
significance for all working people. Every
time a union contract loses health coverage,
it emboldens all other employers to try to
force the same cutbacks on their
workforce.
The ANSWER Coalition calls on all activists and
concerned people in the Bay Area to
· Support the HOTEL WORKERS at a rally in
Union Square on Tuesday at 4:30, and
· Support the GROCERY WORKERS at a rally
at the Church Market Safeway at 4 pm on
Friday.
The details are below. Community support
is an important act of solidarity and a
morale-booster for the workers in struggle.
In addition to these actions, we encourage
everyone to take time to join the Local 2
pickets outside several SF hotels (which are
listed below). You can pick up a "Support
the Hotel Workers! Healthcare is a Right!"
picket sign at the ANSWER office at 2489
Mission St. Rm. 24 in San Francisco. The
picket lines are all day long everyday.
Tuesday, October 12, 4:30pm
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL 2 HOTEL WORKERS
Union Square (Powell and Geary St.) San Francisco
From Local 2 website:
"After six weeks on the job without a contract,
Local 2 initiated a limited, two-week
strike at four hotels on September 29th.
The strike was intended to present a
measured response to the employers'
refusal to bargain in good faith, maintain
employees health care benefits, and offer
fair wage increases."
"Even though the strike was a limited
in its scope and duration, the Multi-Employer
Group responded by locking out workers
at 10 other hotels for the duration of the
strike. Now, the MEG has announced that
they are locking their workers out past the
two-week deadline."
Join the picket lines at the following hotels:
Argent Hotel*
Crowne Plaza Union Square*
Four Seasons
Fairmont
Grand Hyatt Union Square
Hilton San Francisco*
Holiday Inn Civic Center
Holiday Inn Express
Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf
Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center
Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental*
Omni Hotel
Sheraton Palace
Westin St. Francis
* On strike until Wednesday, October 13th.
Friday, Oct. 15, 4-5:30pm
UFCW RALLY - JOIN THE FIGHT TO DEFEND HEALTHCARE
Safeway at Church and Market St., San Francisco
From the UFCW website:
"This year northern California grocery
workers will be negotiating contracts with their
employers, and the stakes are high for
everyone. If the big grocery employers get
their way, 128,000 California grocery workers
and their family members would no
longer be covered by the joint union/employer
health plan. Most of these workers will
have to turn to publicly funded programs like
Healthy Families, Medi-Cal, or simply
the hospital emergency."
"The big 3 grocery employersÂSafeway, Albertson's,
and KrogerÂare trying to shift the
cost of healthcare on to taxpayers.
A recent study by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor
Research and Education shows that up
to $102 million in healthcare costs could be
shifted to taxpayers each year if grocery workers i
n northern California were to accept
the contract settlement from southern California."
"Safeway, Albertson's, and Kroger are
Fortune 50 companies, with higher annual
revenues than Microsoft, PepsiCo, and McDonald's."
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ÂList-Unsubscribe header of any list
message. If you haven't changed addresses since subscribing,
you can also send a message to:
For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Join Us at a Fundraising Party
for Prop N on Saturday, October 16
from 4 to 7 p.m.!
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange),
Howard Wallace (Vice Pres., SF
Labor Council), Susan Galleymore (Motherspeak),
Ann Roesler (Military Families Speak Out),
Representative, Code Pink, Matt Gonzalez,
President, S.F. Board of Supervisors, and
others to be announced.
ALSO: Music and Refreshments
PLACE: Canvas Gallery in S.F.
(corner of 9th Ave & Lincoln Way. @ Golden Gate Park)
Come learn more about Prop N among friends and activists.
Proposition N on the November 2nd ballot declares:
"It is the Policy of the people of the City and County of San
Francisco that: The Federal government should take immediate steps to
end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and bring our troops safely home now."
If you cannot attend, but would like to make a donation or otherwise
help out with the campaign, please fill out this coupon and return to
the address below.
I WANT TO HELP BRING THEM HOME NOW!
 Enclosed is my donation of $ ____________________
(Make checks payable to: Bring the Troops Home Now Committee)
 I want to help build a winning campaign with: ___ house signs,
___ a house party, ___ phone banking, ___ fund-raising,
other:_______________.
Name
Phone
Email (print)
Address
City/State Zip
Org./Church/Union
Bring Our Troops Home Now Committee
David Looman, Treasurer
325 Highland Ave., San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel. 415/861-0318
web: www.yesonn.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Not in Our Name Bay Area
Get involved today!
Organizing Meeting for Upcoming
Anti-war March and Rally
Wednesday, October 13 at 6:30 PM
Not in Our Name Office
3945 Opal Street, Oakland (map)
At 40th Street, near Broadway -
a short walk from Macarthur BART.
Only three weeks to go! We need your help to make sure that
the upcoming November 3rd "End the Occupation - Out of Iraq
Now!" march and rally sends a loud and clear message that the
Bay Area is against war and repression no matter who wins the
election. Volunteers are needed for flyering, phone banking,
event logistics, and much more. Come to Wednesday's meeting,
or call 510-601-8000 to get involved today.
For more information about the November 3rd march and rally,
see the event listing below.
Resistance Cinema free film screening of
"Lest We Forget"
Sunday, October 25 at 3 PM
The Parkway Pizza/Pub Theater
1834 Park Blvd, Oakland (map)
Lest We Forget: The tragic events on September 11th has left
a weight in our spirits, yet for many, the gash runs deeper. The
precautions to prevent further attack on U.S. soil has perpetrated
racial profiling. Since 9/11, thousands of individuals have been
detained, often later to be directly deported, most of who art
South Asian, Arab, and Muslim people. In New York, there have
been a consistent number of " disappearances" and a countless
number of racial harassment cases. For the detainees of the
confinement centers, many have been denied proper legal
representation, have not been given contact to their families,
or given definite detainment time. As this all continues, there
is a need to break down the stereotypes that are built up by
the American media and stop these human rights violations
from continuing (more movie info).
Speakers and discussion following the film.
Presented by Not in Our Name. Leaflet (PDF 449k)
Anti-war March and Rally
End the Occupation -
Out of Iraq Now!
No matter who is elected, we say no to war and repression!
Wednesday, November 3
5 PM at Powell & Market, San Francisco (map)
March to 24th & Mission.
Bring flashlights, drums, and noisemakers.
Permitted event.
Initiated by Not in Our Name, and endorsed by:
Event endorsed by the Middle East Children's Alliance,
International ANSWER-SF, American Muslim Voice, American
Friends Service Committee-SF, Bay Area United Against War,
Queers for Peace and Justice, Jewish Voice for Peace, Lake
Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace, and the Peninsula
Peace and Justice Center.
Rock the boat - not just the vote!
The Not in Our Name Project
needs your support!
Donate online
donate.notinourname.net
Or send your tax-deductible contribution today to:
Not in Our Name
3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609
www.notinourname.net
phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Coming Actions Against
War, Racism, and Exploitation
December 5, 2004
Indoor Solidarity Rally with Haiti in NYC
initiated by the Emergency Campaign to Support
the Haitian People,
the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the Haiti
Support Network
January 20, 2005
Counter-Inaugural Demonstration in Washington DC
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
March 19/20, 2005
Global Day of Coordinated Actions
on the 2nd Anniversary of the "Shock and Awe"
Invasion of Iraq
initiated by antiwar organizations worldwide
including the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
in the United States
October 16, 2004
Immigrant Rights March in Los Angeles
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
October 17, 2004
Million Worker March in Washington DC
call supported by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition
We will demand:
1) US Out of Iraq Now, End the Occupation -
Bring the Troops Home Now!
2) End Colonial Domination from Palestine to
Haiti, and Everywhere!
3) Health Care, Education, Housing, and a Job
at a Living Wage Must be a Right!
The people of this country, in cooperation with the people of the
world, have built a mass worldwide movement since October 2002,
when the first massive antiwar demonstrations took place. In that
movement lies the hope that the imperialist war drive can be
challenged. Do not count on the politicians who contest with each
other, not about principle, but about who would be more effective
in winning the war of aggression against Iraq. The antiwar movement
must be in the streets in the coming weeks and months - building
a politically independent movement. It is this movement of global
solidarity that poses the only real obstacle to the forces of militarism
and corporate domination, and that prioritizes meeting human needs
and embraces self-determination.
Bush's monstrous invasion and occupation of Iraq is now entering
the appalling next stage. A reign of terror has been inflicted on Najaf,
Sammarah, Sadr City in Baghdad, Fallujah and other areas outside of
the political control of the occupying forces.
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and others are guilty of war crimes.
The world is disgusted as the carnage is unleashed from AC-130
gunships and by missile attacks on densely populated city streets.
Wedding parties destroyed by air attack, the grim pictures of the
bodies of children and other civilians being removed from the rubble
of buildings destroyed by what the Pentagon press office always calls
"precision bombings against known terrorist hideouts," torture and
brutality. This is the essence of Bush's plan to proceed with "democratic
elections."
And what is Kerry's response on Iraq? "We are talking about winning,
not leaving," Kerry told us in the first presidential debate. We, along
with a growing number of military families and soldiers, are insisting
that the troops be brought home now. More than 1,050 GI's are dead
and thousands wounded - many with horrendous life-altering injuries
- in this criminal war.
In Palestine, more than 100 Palestinians have been massacred in
a matter of days by Ariel Sharon's offensive in refugee camps in
Gaza. You'd hardly know about it from the U.S. mass media. Do Bush
and Kerry have a different view about this U.S.-financed slaughter?
They only try to compete with each other by their grandiloquent
declarations in support of Israel's actions - including the construction
of the hideous apartheid wall. We must stand with the people of
Palestine including support for their right of return.
In Haiti the death toll has risen to more than 3,000 from the aftermath
of Hurricane Jeanne. The Bush administration's stooge government
did nothing to help the people. They did not prepare for, order or
assist in an evacuation of people at risk. Instead they have focused
their energy on arresting hundreds of supporters of deposed President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The disaster caused by the Hurricane is "man-
made." It is the consequence of decades of neo-liberal policies
imposed on the country by the U.S. and the IMF that have resulted
in, among other problems, massive de-forestation, leaving the
country vulnerable to catastrophic flooding. What has Kerry done
to provide an alternative to Bush on Haiti? Absolutely nothing.
The massive outpouring of the renewed antiwar movement needs
your continued help to support these upcoming activities. Organizing
buses, printing hundreds of thousands of leaflets and posters,
phonebanking, mass mailings - these vital tasks take funds. The
generosity and self-sacrifice of those who believe in the importance
of building this movement has made all the difference in the past years.
We are creating the only real, viable force that can challenge the political
stranglehold exercised by the warmakers.
You can make a donation online through a secure server by clicking
here: http://www.pephost.org/ANSWERdonate Credit card donations
made online are not tax deductible. To make a tax deductible credit
card donation, call 202-544-3389. You can also make a tax deductible
donation by writing a check to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ and sending it to
A.N.S.W.E.R., 1247 E St. SE, Washington DC 20003.
Reminder
Saturday, October 16 Sunday, October 17 - is the weekend of action
for immigrant and labor rights. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is
supporting both of the demonstrations taking place this weekend.
Regional March and Rally for Immigrant Rights: On Saturday, October 16,
gather at 12 noon at Olympic and Broadway in Los Angeles - Nearly
ten years ago, on October 16, 1994, the Latino immigrant community
and its allies convened and held the largest ever mass march and rally
by Latinos in the history of the United States. The main issue then was
the movement to defeat Proposition 187, which aimed to deny basic
human services and constitutional and labor rights to immigrants.
That historic march united the Latino community and their allies like
never before and unleashed a rise in the political consciousness of
millions of people in California and throughout the rest of the country.
To commemorate that historic march is important. We must also
elevate the level of struggle to win full rights for undocumented
workers and their families at this critical time. This call for a
demonstration on October 16, 2004, was initiated two years ago
by a pro-immigrant coali! tion led by Latino Movement USA
Hermandad Mexicana Nacional on October 22, 2002, during
the rally held at the Immigrant Rights March in downtown Los
Angeles.
Million Worker March: On Sunday, October 17, gather at 12 noon
Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC - According to the Million
Worker March Committee, "This mobilization is being proposed
in response to the attacks upon working families in America and
the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with
the complicity of Congress." The march is also calling to Bring the
Troops Home Now. It was initiated by The International Longshore
and Warehouse Union, Local 10 and endorsed by many labor,
community and activist organizations. Click here for logistical
information: http://www.answercoalition.org/campaigns/mwm/logistics.html
(directions, maps, housing, etc.).
War Crimes in Iraq
From the Independent UK
Take them out, dude: pilots toast hit on Iraqi 'civilians'
By Andrew Buncombe
Washington DC
October 6, 2004
The Pentagon said yesterday it was investigating cockpit video
footage that shows American pilots attacking and killing a group
of apparently unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The 30-second clip shows the pilot targeting the group of people
in a street in the city of Fallujah and asking his mission controllers
whether he should "take them out". He is told to do so and, shortly
afterwards, the footage shows a huge explosion where the people
were. A second voice can be heard on the clip saying: "Oh, dude."
The existence of the video, taken last April inside the cockpit of
a US F-16 fighter, has been known for some time, though last
night's broadcast by Channel 4 News is believed to be the first
time a mainstream broadcaster has shown the footage.
At no point during the exchange between the pilot and controllers
does anyone ask whether the Iraqis are armed or posing a threat.
Critics say it proves war crimes are being committed.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War End Racism
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ``List-Unsubscribe'' header of any list
message. If you haven't changed addresses since subscribing,
you can also send a message to:
For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Israeli Army Chief 'Emptied His Magazine'
at Girl in Gaza
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2004
by the Independent/UK
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1012-06.htm
Two separate official investigations are under way into the fatal
shooting of a 13-year-old girl in Gaza by the Israeli army after
soldiers testified that their company commander "emptied his
magazine" at her after she had been shot and was presumed dead.
Relatives of 13 year-old Palestinian girl Iman Al Hams, mourn over
her body at the family house during her funeral in Rafah refugee
camp, southern of Gaza Strip, Tuseday, Oct 5. 2004. The girl was
shot and killed by Israeli soldiers, according to local and army
sources, when she wandered from her normal path to school.
(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra).
The army has already admitted that the killing of Iman al-Hams
in the town of Rafah a week ago was a mistake and that her bag,
which it says soldiers thought carried explosives, contained
school books.
Soldiers have come forward to explain that her body was riddled
with 20 bullets because their immediate commander "confirmed
the killing" by shooting two bullets at her already prone body
before withdrawing a short distance and then firing a burst of
automatic gunfire at the corpse.
The Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avi Mandelblit, has
instructed the military police to launch a criminal investigation
against the commander in the Givati Brigade's crack Shaked Battalion
as a result of the claim. Unusually, the investigation was ordered
even though the army inquiry is incomplete.
The move follows interviews with soldiers serving in the company
published in the Israeli newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot . It quoted them
as saying the commander should have been stood down immediately
after the incident. One soldier told the newspaper: "The company CO
who sprayed the girl with bullets turned us all into vicious animals
and besmirched us all ... If he is not dismissed, we will not agree to
serve under him." Another said the commander had "desecrated the
body".
According to figures produced by 11 UN agencies, 24 Palestinians
under the age of 17 have been killed since 28 September when the
army entered northern Gaza in response to the firing by Palestinian
militants of two Qassam rockets which killed two Israeli children in
Sderot. A nine-year-old girl was among 11 Palestinians killed in the
Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The investigations opened as security sources told the newspaper
Haaretz that the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had rejected a request
from army commanders to withdraw from the densely populated
Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the grounds that the
fortnight-old operation "Days of Penitence" was endangering troops
and that militants had now removed rockets to positions outside
the camp.
Mr Sharon told the Knesset at the opening of what promises to be
a difficult winter session for the government that it would be voting
on 25 October on his plan to withdraw some 7,500 settlers from Gaza.
The level of difficulty was underlined last night when the legislature
opposed by 45 to 33 a routine motion noting Mr Sharon's speech.
Although it does not threaten Mr Sharon's administration, the defeat
emphasised the strong opposition to the plan from the extreme right
of Israeli politics and from the far right of his own Likud party, seven
of whose members abstained last night.
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
###
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) * News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and
Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our
Websites"
Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four
countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last
week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more
than 20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio
streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or
information about what the order entailed or why it was issued.
An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that
the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia
servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country."
(1) Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland),
confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia
coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. (2) Zapelli will provide
details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi has also stated
that she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support
terrorism." (3) Plazzi says she will provide more information on
Thursday, October 14th.
Meanwhile, international journalist associations have come forward in
support of Indymedia. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive
international police operation against a network specialising in
independent journalism," said Aidan White, General Secretary for the
International Federation of Journalists. (4)
Indymedia is consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
on how to retrieve its servers and prevent further government attacks
on free speech. "EFF is deeply concerned about the grave implications
of this seizure for free speech and privacy, and we are exploring all
avenues to hold the government accountable for this improper and
unconstitutional silencing of independent media.," said EFF Staff
Attorney Kurt Opsahl. (5)
As of Monday, October 11, five of the downed websites have been
restored, including Brasil, Euskal Herria, Poland, UK and Nice.
Indymedia volunteers are working around the clock to restore the
remaining sites, however at least four of them - Uruguay, Italy,
Western Massachusetts and Nantes - have suffered data loss as a result
of the governments' action.
"This FBI operation gives us even more reason to continue with what we
have been doing for several years," says an activist from Italy
Indymedia.
"Uruguay has a long history of media repression. We don't have the
money to pay for web hosting, and so we rely on the solidarity of other
countries. Actions like the seizure of the servers make the whole world
insecure for free media," says Libertinus, an Indymedia volunteer from
Uruguay, one of many Indymedia web sites that was caught in the FBI
actions as a bystander. "Uruguay's national elections will take place
on October 31st. It's a bad time for this to happen."
For more information, visit www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi, email
press@indymedia.org, or call:
Tomasso at +39 3383903806 (Italy)
Hep Sano at +1-415-867-9472 (San Francisco)
David Meieran at +1-412-996-4986 (Pittsburgh)
* Notes to the editor *
(1) On October 7, 2004, Rackspace, a web hosting provider based in San
Antonio (USA), turned over two servers at its London officer after it
was issued a court order under the Mutual Legal Assistence Treaty.
Rackspace officials claim that the order prevents them from divulging
the reasons for the seizure and to whom the servers were actually
given. They stated, "Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen
and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities." See
more details on www.indymedia.org/fbi and on the press releases from 8
and 9 October: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/111999.shtml and
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/112047.shtml
(2) For more examples see: http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi.shtml
(3) AFP report:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1509&ncid=738&e=6&u=/
afp/20041008/tc_afp/us_internet_justice
(4) International Federation of Jounalists:
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2734&Language=EN
(5) Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): http://eff.org/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Qalqilya Strangled by Israel's Wall
October 2004, pages 48-49
Delegation Trip
Delegate J. Brady Kiesling (l) listens as Qalqilya farmer Atta Atta
reminds Israeli soldiers that they are standing on his land.
All photos by Michael J. Keating (photos not shown)
WE ASKED OUR hosts to show us Israel's new separation barrier.
They said it was impossible not to see from anywhere in the region.
We discovered that the wall does not separate Israelis from
Palestinians-Israeli settlers and soldiers often are on the Palestinian
side of the wall. Instead the wall separates Palestinians from other
Palestinians, and makes every Palestinian town a jail. Within 5 minutes
Israel can cage an entire city. The wall will directly affect more than
500,000 Palestinians.
On July 18 we visited the town of Qalqilya, north of Ramallah. Israel's
new wall has surrounded the town and cut it off from the rest of the
West Bank as well as from Israel. We wandered around fruit stands in
the central marketplace with few other customers. Everyone asked
where we were from, heard we were Americans and welcomed us.
Israelis are now forbidden by their government to shop for produce,
get haircuts or fix their cars in Qalqilya as they used to. Israel has
posted
signs saying it is forbidden even to enter Qalqilya. This town will not
survive without trade from Israel, and was dying before our eyes.
Qalqilya's market now has few Palestinian and no Israeli shoppers.
Ringing the city of Qalqilya is its agricultural wealth. The cultivation
techniques developed by Palestinian farmers over the centuries are
characterized by the intense development of small plots of land,
extensive use of greenhouses, and the jealous conservation of water.
Ringing even tighter round Qalqilya is Israel's wall. Nowhere-except
perhaps in Jerusalem-is the lie of security more clearly exposed. In
looking at a map of the wall at Qalqilya, it is clear that it wraps tightly
around the city, butts up close around other Palestinian villages, yet
swings wide and generously around every settlement, thereby allowing
for future expansion.
Israel is cordoning off Qalqilya's fields from its farmers. Farmers can
visit their fields outside the wall only when Israeli soldiers open the
gates. They open these gates erratically and subject to whim.
Our guide for the day, who asked us not to use her name for fear
Israelis will not renew her residence permit, introduced us to Atta Atta,
who, until two weeks earlier, had an ornamental plant business with
greenhouses on a couple of dozen acres on the edge of Qalqilya. In
one night, he told us, he lost a half-million dollar business he'd worked
14 years to build. His family first lost land in 1948. For 35 years he had
worked to buy this land, only to see it taken again. He now has no way
to support his six daughters and four sons, he said.
Israeli bulldozers destroyed a number of Atta's greenhouses, and cut
off access to the rest when they built the wall. The water wells are on
the Israeli side of the wall, he noted. We stared through a locked gate
at the crumpled ruins of Atta's greenhouses. The wall was concrete and
six meters high, with a watchtower and electronic sensors to protect the
land from its cultivators.
A farmer and his son wait with permit in hand to pass through a gate
to their fields outside Qalqilya. The gate is opened only two or three
times a day.
"You know who owns the land you're standing on?" Atta asked the
young sergeant who told us to step away from the wall, after one
ambassador had touched it, setting off an alarm. "I do. It's my land."
The soldier turned away.
"They don't want the people," Atta told us. "Only the land. Every child
knows this!"
Next we met Jalal Zaid, a poultry farmer whose chickens are on the
wrong side of the wall. When the wall was first built he was not allowed
to pass through, and more than 15,000 chickens died. Finally he
obtained a permit to work in his own chicken house. That permit was
about to expire. Zaid is afraid officials won't renew it as the area could
soon be off limits, because it is near a new military road.
Only landowners can get permits, Zaid explained, and then only
sometimes. Always they have to go through a paper chase. Moreover,
because his 40 laborers do not have land registry papers, they are not
entitled to receive permits to work in his chicken houses.
The gate opens three times a day, depending on the mood of the
soldiers, Zaid said. His farm's egg production has fallen from 1,500
cartons a day to 900. At this rate, he added, wringing his hands, he
won't be able to repay the loans he took out to pay for his new chickens.
Next we drove to Jayyous. The village was on land any negotiated
peace deal would place in Palestine. Its orchards and water wells,
however, had been placed on the Israeli side of the wall. Farmers
without a "security file" could get permits from the Israeli military
occupation authorities to pass through a gate-most of the time-to
till their fields in the shadow of the electric fence protecting the Israeli
settlement of Zufin. The clock is ticking, however.
Left: Sharif Omar won his court battle to keep his farm. Now Israel's
military may confiscate it anyway. Right: Mysterious signs in Hebrew
have appeared on Omar's property.
New Hebrew signs had gone up in the farmers' fields, labeling sectors
"Golda" and "Yisrael." Jeeps and unlabeled trucks had been spotted
going back and forth, our guide said. And now as we looked for
Sharif Omar, who owned the land we were driving on, a settler kid
with a radio who said he was Shin Bet-security police-accosted us,
telling us to turn around. We could not return until after 4 p.m., he
said, because military training was under way.
For good measure, when Kiesling asked where he was from, the settler
security guard with the walkie-talkie and gun answered, "Israel. And
I hate Americans."
Our guide called her IDF contact, with whom she had cleared our tour.
He advised her, most urgently, to get us "the f-- out of there." As we
drove away, we found Omar, owner of the 40-acre farm the settler now
guarded, astride his tractor, which he affectionately dubbed his F-16.
Omar, who spoke excellent English, has put seven children through
college by farming this cultivated land and harvesting his fruit trees.
He told us the Israelis tried to confiscate his land and water wells in
1996, but Omar took his case to court and won five years later.
Now the water and Omar's farmland will be expropriated on the
unchallengeable pretext of Israeli military requirements.
"This land is my paradise," Omar told us. "It's my Jerusalem. It's
my Al-Quds."
As we drove back to Ramallah, our guide told us that, during his
five-year court battle, there were days when this vibrant man couldn't
get out of bed, he was so depressed. She was afraid he wouldn't be
able to handle this latest turn of events.
"This is Israel's way to force Palestinians to leave. It's a quiet
deportation," she warned. "It's causing controlled despair, and
forcing some people past their limits."
Find this article at:
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Oct_2004/0410048.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Major Assaults on Hold Until After U.S. Vote
Attacks on Iraq's rebel-held cities will be delayed,
officials say. But that could make it harder to allow
wider, and more legitimate, Iraqi voting in January.
By Mark Mazzetti
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by the
Los Angeles Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-02.htm
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration plans to delay major assaults
on rebel-held cities in Iraq until after U.S. elections in November, say
administration officials, mindful that large-scale military offensives
could affect the U.S. presidential race.
Although American commanders in Iraq have been buoyed by recent
successes in insurgent-held towns such as Samarra and Tall Afar,
administration and Pentagon officials say they will not try to retake
cities such as Fallouja and Ramadi - where the insurgents' grip is
strongest and U.S. military casualties could be the highest - until
after Americans vote in what is likely to be an extremely close
election.
"When this election's over, you'll see us move very vigorously," said
one senior administration official involved in strategic planning,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Once you're past the election, it changes the political ramifications"
of a large-scale offensive, the official said. "We're not on hold right
now. We're just not as aggressive."
Any delay in pacifying Iraq's most troublesome cities, however,
could alter the dynamics of a different election - the one in January,
when Iraqis are to elect members of a national assembly.
With less than four months remaining, U.S. commanders are
scrambling to enable voting in as many Iraqi cities as possible
to shore up the poll's legitimacy.
U.S. officials point out that there have been no direct orders to
commanders to halt operations in the weeks before the November
2 U.S. election. Top administration officials in Washington are simply
reluctant to sign off on a major offensive in Iraq at the height of the
political season.
Asked for comment, White House spokesman Taylor Gross said,
"The commanders in the field will continue to make the decisions
regarding military operations, and will continue to assist the Iraqi
people in the pursuit of a more peaceful and safer Iraq."
Pentagon officials said they see a benefit to waiting before an
offensive in the so-called Sunni Triangle, the insurgent-dominated
region north and west of Baghdad. That would allow more time for
political negotiations and targeted airstrikes in Fallouja.
"We're having more impact with our airstrikes than we had expected,"
said a senior Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We see no need to rush headlong with hundreds of tanks into
Fallouja right now."
Because U.S. commanders no longer have carte blanche to run
military operations inside Iraq, they must seek approval from interim
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has his own political future to
consider - even though he owes his position to the U.S.
U.S. officials said Allawi had backed a broad plan to retake insurgent-
controlled cities in Iraq before the January election. Allawi approved
the recent successful U.S. offensive in Samarra, which U.S. commanders
considered necessary only after a local government installed by Allawi
buckled under constant attack by insurgents.
Yet there has been occasional friction between U.S. commanders
in Baghdad and the Iraqi government that took power after the
U.S.-led coalition handed over sovereignty June 28.
In August, top U.S. officers in Iraq and Pentagon officials were
angry when Allawi ordered a halt to a day-old, U.S.-led offensive
against Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's militia as it holed up
inside the sacred Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.
Allawi called the cease-fire to allow time for negotiations with Sadr,
which ultimately broke down. U.S. officials in Baghdad and Washington
argued that such frictions were just part of a gradual process of
reducing Iraq's dependence on the U.S. military.
"We made a deal, and that's what you get when you set up an
interim government," a senior military official at the Pentagon said.
"But the alternative is not recognizing them."
U.S. officials said the recent offensive operation in Samarra went
more smoothly than they had expected, and has boosted optimism
that more cities can be wrested from insurgent hands before
January's election.
"People looked at Samarra and said, 'Wow, this works.' It wasn't
nearly as difficult an operation as we had anticipated," the senior
Defense official said. "After Samarra, we now believe we can do more."
Just weeks ago, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Army
Gen. John P. Abizaid of U.S. Central Command began lowering
expectations about how comprehensive the January vote would
be, suggesting that some rebellious cities such as Fallouja might
have to be left out of the balloting.
U.S. officers in Baghdad said that the biggest difference between
the Samarra operation and the failed U.S. offensive in Fallouja in
April was that select units of the Iraqi national guard held their
ground under enemy fire. In April, the U.S.-trained Iraqi security
forces in Fallouja capitulated soon after the U.S. offensive began.
"You've got to have a credible Iraqi security force that the local
populace has confidence in," said Army Col. Bob Pricone, chief
of operations at the U.S.-led coalition forces' headquarters in
Baghdad. "Four or five months ago, the populace didn't have
a lot of confidence in the Iraqi national guard."
Still, Pentagon officials say that it may not be militarily feasible
to bring every Iraqi city in the Sunni Triangle under the control
of U.S. forces and the Iraqi government in time for the January
election. The military view was contradicted by senior State
Department officials who declared in recent congressional
testimony that there were no plans to exclude any Iraqi city
from voting.
"The State Department can talk about people voting everywhere.
But securing Iraq in time for the election can't happen without
the U.S. military," the Defense official said.
During a recent trip to Washington, Allawi expressed his interest
in reclaiming insurgent-controlled cities in the Sunni Triangle in
time for the January election, even in light of the potentially
negative political impact in Iraq that a bloody military operation
could have.
Yet officials say that the man who owes his job to President Bush
- and might not have such a warm relationship with a President
John F. Kerry - does not want to press his case too hard before
the U.S. election.
"A lot of his political future depends on our election," said the
senior administration official.
Conversely, much of the future of the U.S. in Iraq may depend
on Allawi and his ability to emerge from the shadow of the
occupation and ensure that Iraq reaches its own political
milestone in January.
For 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq trying to break the will of
a deadly insurgency, that means understanding - and sometimes
bending to - the needs of U.S. politics and the demands of their
Iraqi hosts.
Said Pricone, the operations chief: "We'll work through as many
cities as the Iraqi government wants us to."
(c) Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
###
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Mosque on Fire After U.S. Air Strikes in West Iraq
Published on Monday, October 11, 2004 by Reuters
BAGHDAD
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1011-20.htm
BAGHDAD - U.S. marines engaged in heavy clashes with scores
of insurgents near a mosque in western Iraq on Monday, leading
to U.S. air strikes which damaged the shrine and left it ablaze, the
U.S. military said.
A U.S. military spokesman said marines came under fire from around
100 insurgents near the town of Hit, about 107 miles west of Baghdad,
and engaged in an hour-long firefight.
"Some of the anti-Iraqi forces took up fighting positions in a mosque,"
the spokesman in Baghdad said.
"Air strikes were called in on the mosque position. The mosque is
partially damaged and is currently on fire," he said.
It was not immediately clear if it was a Sunni or Shi'ite Muslim mosque,
but the vast majority of people in Anbar province, which includes the
town of Hit, are Sunni Muslims.
The area has been a bastion of rebel activity over the past 18 months,
particularly around the towns of Falluja and Ramadi, which lie just east
of Hit.
Hit is on the main road that follows the Euphrates river toward Syria,
a route that U.S. forces suspect is used by foreign fighters to enter Iraq
and bring supplies to guerrillas.
U.S. forces have engaged in fighting near mosques previously in the
Iraq conflict, most notably around the Imam Ali shrine in the Shi'ite
holy city of Najaf earlier this year, but relatively little damage has yet
been done to shrines. Insurgents often accuse U.S. forces of damaging
mosques, while the U.S. military says guerrillas use the holy sites as
shields from which to attack them.
(c) 2004 Reuters
Monday, October 11, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEXT BAUAW MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 7 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET, SF
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) COLORADO AIM AND ALLIES BLOCKADE
COLUMBUS "CONVOY OF CONQUEST" -
Over 200 Arrested
October 9, 2004
Denver Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://transformcolumbusday.org
Contact: American Indian Movement of Colorado
(303) 871-0463
denveraim@coloradoaim.org
http://www.coloradoaim.org
2) Woman escorting Palestinian kids
beaten by mob of Israeli teens in Hebron
Local aid worker attacked
By BILL LAYE, CALGARY SUN
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/10/10/663376.html
3) Her Son Was Killed in Iraq; Now She Pleads
for Americans to Stop the War
By Barbara Porchia*
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896>
4) Shi'ite Fighters Begin Disarming in Baghdad
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6466839&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
5) U.S. to Seek Donors' Help on Iraq
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467066&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
6) Sharon Rejects Army Bid to Wind Down Gaza Offensive
By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 09:02 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467263&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
7) A Doctrine Under Pressure: Pre-emption Is Redefined
By DAVID E. SANGER
CRAWFORD, Tex
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/politics/
11preempt.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=a3b0ac844d21255d&ei=5094&partner=h
omepage
8) Senate Approves Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/business/11CND-
TAX.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=3de4947a2f1bfd03&ei=5094&partner=homepae
9) Congress Approves Doubling
U.S. Troops in Colombia to 800
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÃ, Colombia
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/americas/
11colombia.html?oref=login&oref=login
10) New Scrutiny of the Flow of Iraqi
Oil to American Consumers
By SIMON ROMERO and SCOTT SHANE
October 11, 2004
THE U.N. PROGRAM
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/middleeast/11crude.html
11) FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL STRUGGLE TO
ESCAPE THE LEGACY OF THE DISASTER IN IRAQ
By Robert Fisk
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=570692
12) Climate Fear as Carbon Levels Soar
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2
in atmosphere for second year running
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Monday October 11, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5036059-110970,00.html
13) Plants will not save us from greenhouse gases
Source: University Relations Office (URO) [newswire
September 30, 2004
McGill research shows increased carbon dioxide
levels decrease algae growth
http://www.mcgill.ca/newswire/?ItemID=12870
14) Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad, was sentenced to
2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts.
15) FACULTY FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE (FFIPP)
PRESENTS:
WOMEN, PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
St. Boniface Church,
175 Golden Gate Ave.
(2 blocks from Civic Center BART)
Thursday, October 14th, 7:00 pm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) COLORADO AIM AND ALLIES BLOCKADE
COLUMBUS "CONVOY OF CONQUEST" -
Over 200 Arrested
October 9, 2004
Denver Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://transformcolumbusday.org
Contact: American Indian Movement of Colorado
(303) 871-0463
denveraim@coloradoaim.org
http://www.coloradoaim.org
Today, in the streets of downtown Denver, scores of American Indian
Movement members, and our TCD allies were arrested in a principled act
of civil resistance to the "Convoy of Conquest" (aka: Columbus Day
Parade). Despite any denials by its organizers, the Convoy is a
celebration of genocide against the indigenous peoples of the
Americas, and it elevates the theft of our homelands, and the murder
of our people, to national holiday status. To Colorado AIM this
is intolerable and unjustifiable.
Our arrests are designed to expose a corrupt educational, legal and
political system that refuses to describe the destruction of millions
of indigenous people at the hands of Columbus for what it is:
genocide. In a legal and political system that rationalizes and
justifies the murder, theft, and ongoing betrayal of our peoples and
nations, we, as the victims of such a system are under an obligation
to expose such moral and legal bankruptcy, and we actively refuse to
cooperate with legalized murder and theft. Our arrests today lay bare
the facts (they are not allegations) that Columbus was personally
responsible for:
· Trading in African slaves prior to his voyage to the Americas in 1492.
· Columbus was personally responsible for overseeing a colonial
administration that directly led to the death of millions of
indigenous people. (Father Bartolome de Las Casas, an eyewitness
and a contemporary of Columbus, estimated that 15 million indigenous
people died in the Caribbean prior to 15.
· Columbus advanced and expanded the arrogant European "Doctrine of
Discovery," claiming that superior, civilized, Christian Europeans and
the right to seize and appropriate indigenous peoples territories and
resources. This doctrine has been embedded into racist Federal Indian
Law, and is applied today in the case of the Western Shoshone in
Nevada and the Lakota in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
· More importantly, the legacy of Columbus allows the U.S. government
to "lose" between $40 and 100 billion in money that the U.S. was to
administer for the benefit of individual American Indians. The
government has admitted that it deliberately destroyed evidence in the
case, and it appears that the U.s. has no intention of finding or
accounting for the money that it has stolen. See:
http://www.indiantrust.com/
· The Columbus legacy is reflected in the psychology of the War in
Iraq as the U.S. military continues to refer to any territory not
under immediate U.S. control as "Indian Country." Anyone who expresses
a view other than the accepted, official version is considered to be
"off the reservation." Anyone who actually tries to understand the
Iraqi people, as opposed to murdering them, is suspected of being a
"race traitor" for having "gone native." These small examples reveal
a much larger and dangerous psychology of the ongoing war by the U.S.
against indigenous peoples, and other "infidels and heathens."
As was asked of Dr. Martin Luther King, some may well ask us today:
"Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and arrests? Isn't
negotiation a better path?" King replied, "You are quite right in
calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct
action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and
foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused
to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue. The purpose of our
direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that
it will inevitably open the door to negotiation ."
Colorado AIM, like Martin Luther King, believes that tension in the
streets can move a community beyond its racist practices. With our
arrest and our prosecution by the City of Denver, we intend to go on
the offensive, to put Columbus on trial, to put his legacy on trial,
to put the City of Denver, the state of Colorado, and the
U.S. itself on trial. We will defend ourselves with an unapologetic
political defense in court, and, just as we did in 1992, and in 2001,
we will prevail.
Colorado AIM and our allies do not risk our liberty as a political
ploy, or merely as a tactic, we believe that the time is overdue to
challenge the most pervasive, and the most deeply seated source of
racism in the world: the oppression of indigenous peoples. Columbus
Day continues to operate as a justification of racial superiority, and
it, in fact, creates demonstrable and verifiable harm to our children,
and to their children.
For further comments on these actions, or on the philosophy behind
these statements, please contact Colorado AIM at 303-871-0463 or
denveraim@c...
(c)2004 Transform Columbus Day Alliance
10/09/2004
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
iscussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-news/
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ufpj-news-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Woman escorting Palestinian kids
beaten by mob of Israeli teens in Hebron
Local aid worker attacked
By BILL LAYE, CALGARY SUN
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/10/10/663376.html
Threats -- and now a beating -- from militant Israeli settlers has
a Calgary aid worker volunteering in Hebron vowing she'll be staying
put. Diane Janzen, 28, and an Italian worker, whose name isn't being
released, were returning to their quarters at about 3 p.m. local time
after walking five Palestinian children home from school in the area
when a mob of eight Israeli teenagers from the nearby Ma'on
settlement attacked them with sticks.
The Italian man suffered a broken arm and had his camcorder
stolen while he tried to film the attack.
Janzen, who works for Christian Peacemaker Teams, escaped
shaken, but suffering only bruises.
"We're all people of God and we all believe in the same God,
so why would they do it?" Janzen said from Hebron when
contacted by the Sun yesterday.
"But this is nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going
through every day."
The mob dispersed when an Amnesty International worker, who
speaks Hebrew, told them police were being called.
Also hurt in this recent attack was AI worker Donatello Rovera.
Janzen said even though she was "sore and bruised," she would
be escorting the children to and from school again today.
Over the past 12 years, the threats have been common, but this
physical violence is cause for concern, said Janzen's boss, Doug
Pritchard, a Toronto-based co-ordinator with the non-profit
Christian Peacemaker Teams.
The interdenominational CPT currently has eight aid workers
in the Hebron area and just 10 days earlier two others were beaten.
One remains in hospital with a punctured lung, Pritchard said,
adding Janzen was the one who found the two "in a pool of blood"
and called for help.
"She's pretty shaken ... it's been a pretty intense 10 days."
Pritchard adds he's disgusted that, so far, the Israeli authorities
have made no arrests in either attacks and they appear to have
very little concern given the situation.
He noted it took Israeli police more than 30 minutes to arrive
when the call about this attack came in.
"It's pretty appalling," Pritchard said, adding he's hoping the
publicity surrounding these assaults will force officials to act.
"It (the violence) has never reached this level before."
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an archive
only, so please do not try to add your
address) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and any typing or
grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some
of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the
time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
Disclaimer
We are committed to free knowledge, unless otherwise
indicated, the opinions, personal articles or news analysis
expressed on this e-mails are not necessarily those of the
sender. This e-mail has been compiled in good faith. It is
our condition that, in exchange for this free information,
you the receiver accept that we will not be liable for any
action you, the user take based on the information in this
e-mail. It is essential that you, the user verify any and/or
all information contained herein before making your final
decision. This e-mail does not necessarily endorse the
ideas or presentation of ideas of the sites it links to and
with. We make no representations about any linked web
site's accuracy, completeness, and authenticity. We firmly
believe in the Freedom of Speech. We believe in civilized
exchange of ideas and thoughts. We will hold any one
trying to damage our image legally responsible before
the courts and will keep ourselves the right to pursue
the perpetrators to the maximum law limit. If you do
not agree with this disclaimer or would like to stop
receiving our e-mails, please unsubscribe, if you find
that this e-mail is a good source of knowledge and
would like to invite any others, please feel free.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Her Son Was Killed in Iraq; Now She Pleads
for Americans to Stop the War
By Barbara Porchia*
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896>
More than 1,060 men and women have paid the ultimate price and
more than 7,000 have been wounded. These brave souls asked not
what their country could do for them, but what they could do for
their country.
When we were led into war, we heard a consistently strong and clear
message: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was an
imminent threat to America, and Saddam Hussein was connected
to 9/11. Yet after the release of the 9/11 Commission's report, the
justification for this war quickly flip-flipped to "America and the
world are safer because Saddam Hussein is in prison."
The major flip-flop, however, came from our Commander in Chief
who changed from saying this war is absolutely necessity to we are
safer with Saddam Hussein in jail and then to this war is a
"catastrophic success." Meaning, I guess, this war is an extremely
harmful success, or a success with physical and financial ruin,
whatever that is supposed to mean. This was a flip-flop from the
untrue to the incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, my mind and heart does its own flip-flop. In the morning
when I wake up, my mind flips on these words: weapons of mass
destruction, imminent threat, connection to 9/11. Then to thoughts
of my son, Jonathan, who died in Iraq; to all the soldiers who lost
their lives in this war; to those wounded physically and mentally;
and to those still fighting this senseless war. Then my heart flops
to tremendous pain and agony.
We clearly invaded a country for all the wrong reasons, and we are
clearly no longer looked upon as liberators but as occupiers.
Those beautiful flowers that were supposed to be thrown at our
soldiers' feet have turned out to be exploding bombs. If we had
invaded Iraq for all the right reasons, then bombs would not be
killing our brave soldiers.
We were given incorrect information about this war, and we have
lost way too many loved ones in a war based upon lies. We cannot
allow the death toll of our dear soldiers to reach 2000, our injured
to reach 10,000. We cannot allow any more families to be destroyed
as they receive news that their loved ones have joined
"heaven's military."
This is not about Republican versus Democrat; it is about right
verses wrong. As a great nation, we must remember: united we
stand, divided we fall. Let us unite to bring our soldiers home.
Every day I remember a discussion my son and I had; I hear his
voice so very clearly in my mind: "Mom, please explain to me
about Democrats and Republicans. I do not seem to understand
like I thought I did. Over here we are too busy to worry about that
difference. If someone goes down in my unit, we do not ask if he
or she is Democrat or Republican. If an RPG is incoming, we do
not discuss if it is a WMD. Mom, we need to work together."
I love our troops. I stand behind our troops. I will continue to
fight for our troops. I want to bring home our troops. I plead
that we work together to bring our soldiers home.
I'm going to ask you to do something. Take your child, or any
child that you love, or your spouse, and give that loved one a
big hug. When doing this, think of your feelings for that child,
your love for your spouse; hold these feelings and then ask
yourself if you are willing to lose that child or your spouse in
this senseless war?
Please, America, let's stop losing our loved ones in Iraq. Those
lost have families who cared for them tremendously, who today
are pained terribly. I loved my son, and my heart aches every day.
Please do not allow this tragedy to happen to you and your child.
* Barbara Porchia's son, Jonathan, died in Iraq outside Baghdad
in July 2003. She is from Arkansas.
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an
archive only, so please do not try to add your
address) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and
any typing or grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some
of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the
time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
Disclaimer
We are committed to free knowledge, unless otherwise indicated,
the opinions, personal articles or news analysis expressed on this
e-mails are not necessarily those of the sender. This e-mail has
been compiled in good faith. It is our condition that, in exchange
for this free information, you the receiver accept that we will not
be liable for any action you, the user take based on the information
in this e-mail. It is essential that you, the user verify any and/or
all information contained herein before making your final decision.
This e-mail does not necessarily endorse the ideas or presentation
of ideas of the sites it links to and with. We make no representations
about any linked web site's accuracy, completeness, and authenticity.
We firmly believe in the Freedom of Speech. We believe in civilized
exchange of ideas and thoughts. We will hold any one trying to
damage our image legally responsible before the courts and will
keep ourselves the right to pursue the perpetrators to the maximum
law limit. If you do not agree with this disclaimer or would like to
stop receiving our e-mails, please unsubscribe, if you find that
this e-mail is a good source of knowledge and would like to
invite any others, please feel free.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Shi'ite Fighters Begin Disarming in Baghdad
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6466839&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Shi'ite militia disarmament plan that
could end weeks of fighting in Baghdad got off to a slow start
on Monday as Iraq's interim government pursued peace talks with
the rebel-held Sunni Muslim city of Falluja.
"I've given up my weapons, I'm with the interim government
now," said Ahmed Hashem after handing over 22 rocket-propelled
grenades. "We want peace and I won't fight the Americans."
The U.S.-backed government aims to retake control of
rebel-held areas throughout Iraq by political or military means
ahead of national assembly elections due in January.
Mehdi Army fighters led by Moqtada al-Sadr began handing in
weapons at the start of a five-day period in which they have
agreed to disarm in the flashpoint Sadr City district.
Insecurity is rife even in Iraqi cities nominally under
control of the security forces. A suicide car bomber attacked a
U.S. convoy in the northern city of Mosul, killing two
civilians and wounding 18, hospital sources said.
"Initial reports indicate that there were civilian and
military casualties," the U.S. military said.
Police said the beheaded bodies of two Iraqi residents of
Mosul had been found in Mosul in the past 24 hours. There was
no word on the motive for their killings.
At Habibiya police station, the biggest of three designated
collection points in Sadr City, cameramen were allowed to film
only one batch of arms police said had been brought earlier in
a civilian vehicle. The weaponry included RPGs, rusty mortars
and artillery shells, anti-tank land mines and assault rifles.
"One man brought a Sam-7 anti-aircraft missile," National
Guard Captain Duraid Fadel told Reuters, adding that militiamen
were receiving $50 for each weapon they surrendered.
One Mehdi Army fighter, Kamel Hussein, walked off later
with $14,500 for delivering a big stash of RPGs and mortars.
But those three handovers were the only ones to take place
at Habibiya in the space of three hours.
Iraqi National Guards, their faces masked to avoid
identification, were deployed at the arms collection points.
Police were patrolling the vast slum district that is home to
some two million Shi'ites in northeastern Baghdad.
FALLUJA TALKS
After the five days allowed for disarmament, police and
National Guards are due to take control of Sadr City, where the
government has pledged to spend over $500 million on
rebuilding.
"If necessary we will extend the five-day period," a senior
security official, Abdul-Karim al-Saffar, told Reuters.
He estimated that Sadr fighters would receive up to half a
million dollars on Monday under the money-for-guns
arrangement.
Peace talks are also under way to try to resolve a standoff
in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Falluja, west of Baghdad,
held by insurgents since a failed U.S. assault in April.
Falluja representatives met Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan
in Baghdad to hear details of his plans to deploy National
Guards in the city under a proposed agreement.
Some insurgents in Falluja have said they do not object to
such a deal, or to participation in the elections, as long as
U.S. forces keep out of the Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad.
A deal to end bloody battles between U.S. marines and
guerrillas in April by handing control to a Falluja Brigade
that included ex-Baathist army officers collapsed a few months
later.
The U.S. military now regards Falluja as a haven for
foreign fighters led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, seen as
America's deadliest enemy in Iraq. It has conducted frequent
air strikes on suspected Zarqawi targets in the city of 300,000.
It is not clear whether any deals struck in Sadr City,
Falluja or elsewhere can staunch the bloody chaos into which
Iraq has sunk since last year's U.S.-led invasion.
"If the Americans show they are ready for truly free
elections, there would be no reason for Iraqis who oppose the
occupation to go on fighting," said Wamidh Nadhmi, a political
scientist who has his own small secular nationalist party.
But he accused Washington of seeking to perpetuate the rule
of the former exiled political parties who dominate the interim
government and a selected interim national assembly.
The elections, due to take place by the end of January, are
to elect a transitional assembly which will choose a new
government and write a permanent constitution for Iraq.
Iraqis are desperate for an end to daily bloodshed and many
resent the activities of foreign militants seen as responsible
for suicide bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages.
But the insurgency may worsen until their deeply
nationalist country gets a government that is widely perceived
as legitimate and independent of U.S. influence, analysts say.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) U.S. to Seek Donors' Help on Iraq
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467066&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - International donors that pledged
billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq meet in Tokyo this week as
the United States seeks outside help to stabilize the country.
Rising U.S. casualties and slow reconstruction have put
pressure on President Bush to look for international backing on
Iraq, a key issue in the U.S. election campaign.
Bush, accused by his rival John Kerry of spurning allies,
said last week Kerry's plans for a summit on Iraq
reconstruction were identical to those his administration was
pursuing.
More than 50 countries and organizations that pledged
around $14 billion a year ago will meet in Tokyo on Wednesday
to discuss how the money could finally be spent after delays
Iraqi officials blame mainly on insecurity.
The participants will include France, Germany and Russia --
countries that opposed last year's U.S.-led invasion and that
have criticized American postwar management of Iraq.
Donor nations met in Madrid last year, when Washington felt
more upbeat about the war and chaos in Iraq was less
widespread.
The International Crisis Group consultancy said
disagreements over the Iraq war extended to reconstruction.
"Political considerations have not been wholly absent
either, as lingering anger at the United States impedes
harmonization with its priorities and programs," the
Brussels-based organization said in a recent report.
POSTWAR PROBLEMS
Reconstruction has stuttered in Iraq. Electricity is very
erratic, sewage floods some streets and is mostly dumped in
rivers, roads have not been repaired and buildings bombed or
looted during the war still lie in ruins.
But Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh said all donors
understood the urgency of reconstruction. "The political
discord we have seen among donors is easing. Everyone has
accepted the legitimacy of the interim Iraqi government and
realizes that helping the country is essential," he said.
The government says Iraq could plunge into deeper chaos
unless the funds pledged by donors are spent soon.
"Rebuilding programs and economic reform are facing major
challenges," says a government paper prepared for the Tokyo
meeting. "Lack of progress in executing these programs, slower
than expected economic progress and increased insecurity have
contributed to a state of frustration among the population,
which could threaten the chances of success."
Only a few hundred million dollars of aid have been spent
out of the $14 billion pledged in Madrid. The funds bought
school supplies and helped to train government workers abroad.
The United States is also struggling to start projects. It
has spent only $1 billion of the $18 billion it allocated for
aid and has diverted some of the money from rebuilding to
security.
Anti-U.S. forces have exploited economic hardship to
undermine the American-backed government and recruit followers.
"Social inequities are widespread," said the Iraqi
government paper, which sets out 300 projects worth $34 billion
to present at the Tokyo talks.
"With over half of the population under 24 years, youth is
alienated due to violence and limited access to education,
training and career prospects."
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Sharon Rejects Army Bid to Wind Down Gaza Offensive
By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 09:02 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467263&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Ariel Sharon has rejected
his army's request to scale back its Gaza offensive, seeking to
avoid any show of weakness after deadly bombings hit Egyptian
resorts crowded with Israelis, security sources said.
The prime minister decided a pullout from the besieged
Jabalya refugee camp would encourage Palestinian militants to
resume rocket fire into Israel and "send the wrong message" so
soon after the Sinai bombings, a source said on Monday.
Sharon's order to keep up the massive 12-day-old campaign
also appeared aimed at mollifying hard-liners before a
parliamentary speech on Monday in which he will try to soften
opposition to his plan to evacuate Gaza settlements next year.
If Sharon brings his "disengagement" plan to its first vote
in parliament in coming weeks as he has promised, a key
far-right coalition partner could bolt, forcing him to reshape
his government or call early elections.
Sharon's Gaza plan has been complicated by Palestinian
rocket fire into border towns, which triggered Israel's biggest
offensive in the occupied strip in four years of conflict.
Israel has killed 92 Palestinians since sending tanks into
northern Gaza, including Jabalya, a militant stronghold, after
a Hamas rocket attack killed two toddlers in southern Israel.
Three Israelis have also died since the raid began.
Army chief Moshe Yaalon asked Sharon on Sunday for
permission to redeploy outside Jabalya, saying the army had
driven back rocket crews and the longer troops stayed in the
densely populated camp the greater the risk, sources said.
Despite low-key U.S. pressure to end the operation, Sharon
ordered the army to press on, saying leaving Jabalya at this
point could spur militants to resume the firing of makeshift
Qassam missiles into the Jewish state. "He told the army to
continue the operation at the same level," a source said.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom later told Israel Radio the
army had delivered a "serious blow to the infrastructure of the
terrorist organizations" and that the offensive was in its
final stages. But he gave no timetable for ending it.
AVOIDING SHOW OF WEAKNESS?
The source said Sharon was also concerned a pullback so
soon after Thursday's bombings, which killed 32 people at
Egyptian Red Sea resorts where throngs of Israelis were
vacationing, would be seen as a sign of weakness.
Israel has said it suspects the al Qaeda network in the
Egypt attacks, but an Egyptian presidential spokesman on
Saturday warned against rushing to conclusions.
Egyptian officials have tended to link the attacks to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though all major Palestinian
militant groups have denied involvement.
Israel's parliament was due to reconvene on Monday, setting
the stage for critical votes to decide the fate of Sharon's
plan. Sharon was to sketch out his "disengagement" strategy.
Amid heightened tensions, explosions wrecked the home of an
Islamic Jihad leader in the Rafah refugee camp in southern
Gaza, wounding two of his brothers, witnesses said.
The militant group said Israel tried to kill one of its
commanders in an air strike. Military sources denied
involvement by Israeli forces. Palestinian officials said they
were also investigating whether the blasts could have been
caused by premature detonation of explosives stored in the
house. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and
Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) A Doctrine Under Pressure: Pre-emption Is Redefined
By DAVID E. SANGER
CRAWFORD, Tex
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/politics/
11preempt.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=a3b0ac844d21255d&ei=5094&partner=h
omepage
CRAWFORD, Tex., Oct. 10 - Under pressure to explain anew his
decision to invade Iraq in light of a damaging report from the
C.I.A.'s top weapons inspector, President Bush appears to be
quietly redefining one of the signature philosophies of his
administration - his doctrine of pre-emptive military action.
Traditionally, pre-empting an enemy is all about urgency,
striking before the enemy strikes. In the prelude to the invasion
in March of last year, Mr. Bush and his aides stopping short of
saying Saddam Hussein posed an "imminent" threat. Still, they
used urgent-sounding language at every turn to explain why
they could not afford to wait for inspectors to complete their
work, or for the United Nations Security Council to come to a
consensus on authorizing military action. "Facing clear evidence
of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that
could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," he said in a
speech delivered Oct. 7, 2002.
But the C.I.A. report released last week, written by Charles A. Duelfer,
described the evidence as anything but clear and the peril as far
from urgent. Mr. Hussein's military power began waning after the
1991 Persian Gulf war, the report concluded. While Mr. Hussein
most probably wanted to rebuild his illicit weapons, there is no
evidence he had started by the time Mr. Bush was delivering that
speech.
So over the last five days, with some subtle changes of language
and a new previously undiscussed justification for the war, Mr. Bush
appears to have expanded the conditions for a pre-emptive military
strike. He no longer talks about urgency. Instead, for the first time,
he has begun to argue that a military invasion is justified if an
opponent is seeking to avoid United Nations sanctions - "gaming
the system" in his words.
"We did not find the stockpiles we thought were there," Mr. Bush
told supporters in Waterloo, Iowa, on Saturday. "But I want you to
remember what the Duelfer report said. It said that Saddam Hussein
was gaming the oil-for-food program to get rid of sanctions. And
why? Because he had the capability and knowledge to rebuild his
weapon programs. And the great danger we face in the world today
is that a terrorist organization could end up with weapons of mass
destruction."
Then, returning to the line he has used in his debates with Senator
John Kerry , and one that always elicits applause, he added:
"Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision.
The world is safer with Saddam in a prison cell."
Taken at face value, Mr. Bush appears to be saying that under his
new standard, a country merely has to be thinking about developing
illicit weapons at some time. "He's saying intent is enough," said
Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor who under the Clinton administration
headed the National Intelligence Council, the group that assesses
for the president when countries have trespassed that hard-to-
define line.
"The classical definition for pre-emption was 'imminent threat,'
" Mr. Nye said. Then, with the development of the president's
"National Security Policy of the United States," that moved to
something less than imminent, because, as Mr. Bush argued,
it is often hard to know when a country is about to attack. Now,
said Mr. Nye, "the Duelfer report pushed him into a box where
capability is not the standard, but merely intention."
Of course, discerning changes of policy in the heat of a political
campaign is always risky. Candidates will often push a policy or
a doctrine to the breaking point to differentiate themselves from
their opponents. So as the campaign has come down to its last
three weeks, Mr. Bush has torqued his stump speech to make it
clear that in a post-Sept. 11 world, he will strike quickly, while
Mr. Kerry hesitates, negotiates or creates a "global test" for action.
The "global test" phrase comes from a statement by Mr. Kerry in
the first presidential debate that Mr. Bush now regularly throws
back at him. "Now he says he wants a global test before we take
action to defend our security," Mr. Bush said on Saturday in
Chanhassen, Minn., waiting for the crowd to yell "Boo!"
When the audience obliged, he added that "The problem is that
the senator can never pass his own test," going on to list military
action that Mr. Kerry has opposed, including in the Persian Gulf war.
In fact, Mr. Kerry has not done much to define when he would
take pre-emptive action. He has said he would reserve the right,
and criticized Mr. Bush for making pre-emption a doctrine. In the
second debate on Friday, Mr. Kerry made it clear that Iraq did
not meet his test: "Gut-check time," he said. "Was this really
going to war as a last resort?"
But when the subject turned to Iran, Mr. Kerry tried to sound
more hard-line than Mr. Bush, who he said had ignored nuclear
developments in both Iran and North Korea. "If we have to get
tough with Iran, believe me, we will get tough," he said, without
describing how close he would let the country get to a nuclear
weapon before acting. Mr. Bush, in an interview with The New
York Times in August, declined to draw that line, either.
The result is that America's allies - and perhaps its voters -
are more confused than ever about what will drive Washington
to war. To listen to Mr. Bush in the last few days, a country that
merely desires to obtain the world's worst weapons is a potential
target - but he has clearly avoided threatening Iran and North
Korea, the two nations racing fastest toward such weapons.
To listen to Mr. Kerry, Iraq's intentions to rebuild its arsenal
some day clearly did not meet the Kerry test: Mr. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney, he said the other day, "may well be the
last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq."
It may be that the election must pass before Washington sends
a clear signal. "If I had a piece of advice for America's allies," a
senior foreign policy adviser to Mr. Bush said a few weeks ago,
"it's this: Turn your television sets off until this is all over."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Senate Approves Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/business/11CND-
TAX.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=3de4947a2f1bfd03&ei=5094&partner=homepag
e
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 - The Senate today approved a bill
handing out about $140 billion in corporate tax breaks.
The 633-page bill, which has already been passed by the House,
passed the Senate today on a vote of 69 to 17. It is loaded with
hundreds of provisions that provide benefits to a wide range of
interests, including the General Electric Company, oil drillers,
shipbuilders, cruise ship operators, importers of ceiling fans,
corn farmers, tobacco farmers and even foreign gamblers.
Despite widespread criticism of the bill as a Christmas tree
of special-interest provisions, the House passed it by a vote
of 280 to 141 on Friday, and the Senate voted, 66 to 14, on
Sunday to cut off a potential filibuster.
But Senate leaders were blocked from voting until today by
Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, who was
furious that the final bill did not include $2 billion in tax credits
for companies that keep paying employees who are called to
active duty from military reserves and the National Guard.
Ms. Landrieu finally won agreement for a vote - whose effect
would be purely symbolic - on a measure that would declare
the Senate's support for giving those employers some tax credits.
The largest provisions of the corporate tax bill repeal a $5 billion
annual tax break for exporters that has been declared illegal by
the World Trade Organization, and replace it with a tax reduction
for manufacturers in the United States.
The bill's tax breaks are worth about $140 billion over 10 years,
but it is supposed to raise the same amount of money by closing
tax shelters, raising customs fees and eliminating the old tax benefit.
On Friday night, Senate leaders overcame objections by opponents
of the bill, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts,
who were angry that it would provide a $10 billion buyout for tobacco f
armers without subjecting tobacco products to regulation by the
Food and Drug Administration.
Opponents could not muster enough votes to block the bill through
a filibuster, so Mr. Kennedy and his allies settled for separate voice
votes in favor of tobacco regulation and against new overtime rules.
But those bills are unlikely to become law because the House has
not passed similar measures.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Congress Approves Doubling
U.S. Troops in Colombia to 800
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÃ, Colombia
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/americas/
11colombia.html?oref=login&oref=login
BOGOTÃ, Colombia, Oct. 10 - The number of American military
personnel here will double, to 800, in the coming months, based
on a weekend vote in the United States Congress.
The action was welcomed by President Ãlvaro Uribe's government
for its fight against Marxist rebels but condemned by human rights
monitors, who warned of a sharp escalation in Colombia's conflict.
The 2005 United States Defense Department authorization act,
approved Saturday by Congress, also permits the Bush administration
to increase the number of American citizens working for private
contractors in Colombia to 600 from 400.
The soldiers and many of the contractors will, among other things,
develop and analyze intelligence on rebel movements, do surveillance
and train Colombian troops in counterguerrilla operations.
American officials who lobbied Capitol Hill to lift restrictions said
more American personnel were urgently needed to help Colombia in
its nine-month offensive in the south that pits 18,000 Colombian
soldiers against the country's most formidable rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. "That requires logistical
capabilities, maintaining supply lines, getting food and fuel to the
front, providing medical evacuation capabilities," said Adam Isacson,
a senior analyst at the Center for International Policy, a Washington
group that tracks Colombia. "They need a lot more American personnel
to fill those gaps."
Though the United States has contributed $3.3 billion to Colombia,
most of it in military aid, Mr. Uribe has lobbied hard for a larger
American role in the 40-year-old, drug-fueled conflict.
Lifting the Congressionally mandated limits on troops and contractors,
a little-noticed measure in the 5,000-page Pentagon authorization bill,
is seen by some political analysts and rights advocates as a major step
toward even larger American troop commitments. In the months before
the passage by the United States in 2000 of Plan Colombia, a $1.3
billion antidrug initiative, members of Congress hotly debated whether
involvement in Colombia could lead to a Vietnam-like quagmire.
"The main concern is two years from now: what is going to stop them
from coming back for more, until Colombia becomes one of our most
serious military commitments," Mr. Isacson said, referring to American
military planners.
The work Americans and others do in Colombia's conflict is perilous.
Eleven contractors, American and other foreign nationals, working for
American companies under Pentagon contracts have been killed since
1998. Three Americans whose plane crashed in a surveillance mission
over rebel territory remain in guerrilla hands 17 months after being
taken hostage.
Under Mr. Uribe's administration, violence has ebbed in Colombia,
the economy has improved and the security forces have made gains
eroding rebel forces and destroying vast fields of coca, the crop used
to make cocaine. But combat remains common, and political
assassinations and kidnappings occur with staggering frequency.
American involvement is being ratcheted up as the United States
steadily increases training for police and military forces in Latin
America.
In 2003, American soldiers trained 22,831 Latin American troops
and police officers, 52 percent more than in 2002, said a report
released last week by three Washington-based policy groups, the
Center for International Policy, the Washington Office on Latin America
and the Latin America Working Group Education Fund. In Colombia,
nearly 13,000 troops received American training, up from 6,477 in
2002.
Even before the new policy in Colombia was approved, American
officials and military officers had hinted that support for Mr. Uribe's
government would be expanded.
"We will stay the course," Gen. James Hill, the commander of
American military operations in Latin America, said last week in
Bogotá in a farewell address before he retired. He said that the
United States would "assist the Colombian people in ways that
are necessary to win the war."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) New Scrutiny of the Flow of Iraqi
Oil to American Consumers
By SIMON ROMERO and SCOTT SHANE
October 11, 2004
THE U.N. PROGRAM
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/middleeast/11crude.html
As Saddam Hussein pressed the United Nations oil-for-food relief
program for more money that he used to buy banned weapons, an
unwitting ally may have been the American driver. Almost until the
eve of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, American oil companies
were among the largest purchasers of Iraqi crude oil.
The role that the companies, including ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco,
played in the oil-for-food program is now coming under greater
scrutiny in the wake of a report by the chief arms inspector for the
Central Intelligence Agency that disclosed how extensively Mr. Hussein
was abusing profits from the oil sales.
Executives at the two companies insisted over the weekend that their
purchases of Iraqi oil were not illegal or unknown in international
oil markets in recent years. Industry analysts also said they did not
know of any improprieties by the companies.
"All of our purchases of Iraqi crude were conducted in full compliance
with the program," a spokesman for ChevronTexaco, Michael Barrett,
said.
In 2001, Iraq was the source of 7 percent of all United States
petroleum imports, ranking sixth behind the largest foreign suppliers:
Saudi Arabia, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico and Nigeria, according to
the Energy Department.
Yet while such imports were considered routine, disclosures about
irregularities in how the Iraqi government selected partners to market
the oil have led to several investigations of the program - by the
United Nations, Congressional committees and a federal grand jury.
The United States attorney's office in Manhattan has issued subpoenas
to several American companies whose names appear on the Iraqi list
as having received vouchers for Iraqi oil.
A spokesman for the House International Relations Committee said
yesterday that the committee was exploring which oil companies
had received Iraqi oil or had been trading in the vouchers. While
committee investigators had been concentrating on the connection
between vouchers and Iraqi arms purchases, the report issued last
week by Charles A. Duelfer, the arms inspector, that named United
States oil companies as recipients of vouchers was now prompting
the panel's investigators to expand their inquiry to include the
United States oil companies as well.
In the meantime, an investigator associated with the independent
United Nations-appointed panel looking into corruption in the oil-
for-food program, said that his group had not begun investigating
whether or how American and other oil companies had benefited.
The panel, led by Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal
Reserve system, is concentrating on accusations of wrongdoing by
United Nations employees and companies like Cotecna Inspection
of Switzerland and Saybolt International, a Dutch concern, which
the United Nations hired to monitor parts of the program.
The investigator said that the panel would only begin to focus on
oil companies that got Iraqi crude oil, with or without United Nations
authorization, after this initial phase of the inquiry was completed,
which is likely to be weeks or even months away. The investigator
noted that the panel did not have subpoena power and lacked the
authority to take punitive action against any company, American
or foreign. Under the oil-for-food program, he said, member
countries, not the United Nations, were responsible for ensuring
that their companies obeyed sanctions against Iraq.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has also joined the
inquiry, with the chairman, Representative Joe L. Barton, Republican
of Texas, sending a letter last Thursday to the United Nations
secretary general, Kofi Annan, asking Mr. Annan to release "any
information in U.N. possession which relates to the use of oil-for-
food money to produce chemical weapons in Iraq."
The oil-for-food program, over its life, resulted in $64.2 billion
in sales, making it the world's largest relief program, American
officials say. The amount of oil sold fluctuated as the program
went on. At the start, in December 1996, Iraq was allowed to sell
only $2 billion worth of oil every six months. That limit was raised
to $5.26 billion every six months by December 1999 and then was
lifted altogether, until the oil-for-food program came to an end
in March 2003.
The program allowed Iraq the power to determine, with certain
exceptions, whom it sold oil to and whom it bought goods from,
based on the profits of the sale, according to the United Nations,
but the United Nations had veto authority over all the contracts.
For a United States oil company to participate, it first needed
permission from Washington. The revenue ultimately financed
$31 billion of relief supplies and equipment, including $1.6 billion
of oil-industry spare parts and equipment, among other items,
according to the United Nations.
At the same time, Mr. Hussein was imposing illegal surcharges,
collecting kickbacks and smuggling oil outside the approved
program, generating almost $11 billion in illicit revenue, which
he used to buy weapons, other prohibited items and to build
lavish palaces, according to the Duelfer report.
Moreover, oil experts have said, the largest source of money
from unreported oil sales was from Iraq's illicit sale of oil to
neighboring Turkey and Jordan. Neither the United States nor
Britain objected to these sales to staunch Middle East allies until
Mr. Hussein's government began making similar oil shipments
to Syria. Only then did Washington protest the deals, the experts
said.
Regardless of the route through which this oil reached world
markets, the United States was the single largest importer under
the United Nations program, with as much as half the oil in certain
periods processed at American refineries for sale in this country.
During the first seven months of 2002, the United States imported
an average of 566,000 barrels a day from Iraq, with big importers
including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Valero Energy and Koch
Petroleum, according to the Energy Department.
These American companies acquired the oil after it passed through
a complicated route of trading concerns and intermediaries. The
Duelfer report said that Bayoil, a Houston-based trading company,
and Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., a prominent Texas energy investor with
a long history of dealings in Iraq, were among those who received
vouchers to buy Iraqi oil under the program. Their receipt of these
oil allocations does not mean that they did anything illegal.
Mr. Wyatt did not respond yesterday to requests for comment,
and messages left at Bayoil's offices were not answered.
Illustrating the convoluted way Iraqi oil reached the United States,
the Energy Information Administration estimated in late 2002 that
about 30 percent of it was first sold to Russian companies, with the
rest bought by companies from nations including Cyprus, Sudan
and Pakistan.
The Iraqi oil was resold to intermediaries who then marketed
it internationally, largely to American oil companies. For example,
in 2001, the energy administration estimated that significant
amounts of Iraqi crude oil wound up at American refineries, some
of which had been built decades ago in part to handle Iraqi blends.
Almost 80 percent of crude oil from the Basra region and more
than 30 percent of oil from Kirkuk went to the United States in
2001, according to the energy administration. Imports of Iraqi
oil under the program grew from an average of 89,000 barrels
a day in 1997, to a peak of 795,000 barrels in 2001, and then
declining to 459,000 barrels a day in 2002, the Energy
Department said.
Eric Lipton and Judith Miller contributed reporting for this
article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL STRUGGLE TO
ESCAPE THE LEGACY OF THE DISASTER IN IRAQ
By Robert Fisk
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=570692
Independent (UK)
October 11, 2004
I am writing a book about our need to escape from history -- or rather about
our inability to escape the effects of the decisions taken by our fathers
and
grandfathers. My father was a soldier in the First World War or, as it says
on the back of his campaign medal, "The Great War for Civilization" -- which
is the title I've chosen for my book. In the space of just 17 months after
my
father's war ended, the victors had drawn the borders of Northern Ireland,
Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent all my
professional
life watching the people inside those borders burn.
I once sat down with old Malcolm Macdonald, Britain's former colonial
secretary, to discuss his handover of the Irish treaty ports to De Valera
before the Second World War, thus depriving Britain of three great harbors
during the Battle of the Atlantic. It was a step which earned Macdonald the
undying contempt of Winston Churchill. Inevitably, though, we ended up
talking about his vain attempts to solve the "Palestine problem" in the
1930s.
In the Commons, Churchill angrily condemned Macdonald for restricting
Jewish
immigration to Palestine. I still have my notes of what Macdonald said to
me.
"We have a terrific argument in House of Commons, and when we met in the
division lobby afterwards, Churchill accused me of being pro-Arab. He said
that Arabs were savages and that they ate nothing but camel dung. I could
see
that it was no good trying to persuade him to change his views. So I
suddenly
told him that I wished I had a son. He asked me why, and I said I was
reading
a book called *My Early Life* by Winston Churchill, and that I would want
any
son of mine to live that life. At this point, tears appeared in Churchill's
eyes and he put his arms round me, saying, 'Malcolm, Malcolm.' The next day
a
package arrived for me from Churchill containing a signed copy of his latest
volume of the life of Marlborough."
My father worshipped Churchill, and pleaded with a friend to ask Churchill
to
sign a book for him; which is why I have in my library today *Marlborough:
His
Life and Times*, with the words "Inscribed by Winston S. Churchill 1948" in
the great man's own hand.
I still take the book out from time to time to look at that handwriting and
to
reflect that this was a man who sent our armies to Gallipoli, who shook
hands
with Michael Collins, who stood alone against Adolf Hitler, who campaigned
for
Zionism in Palestine and sent King Faisal to Iraq as a consolation prize for
losing Syria to the French.
"The situation that confronted HM Government in Iraq at the beginning of
1921
was a most unsatisfactory one," Churchill would write in his *The World
Crisis: The Aftermath*, of the insurgency against British rule. His friend
Gertrude Bell -- and here I am indebted to H.V.F. Winstone's splendid and
revised biography of Britain's "oriental secretary" in Baghdad -- was that
same year trying to set up an "Arab government with British advisors" in
Baghdad so that Britain's army of occupation could leave Iraq.
"I don't know what hanky panky the Allies are up to about the mandates," she
wrote, "but I am all on the side of the League of Nations in protesting that
they must be made public . . . everyone from the Euphrates provinces says
the
people there won't accept Sunni officials and the (provisional) Council goes
on blandly appointing them . . . a Shia of Karbala (sic) has at last
accepted
the Ministry of Education . . ."
Bell attended Churchill's famous -- or infamous -- Cairo conference where
the
British decided the future of most of the Middle East. T.E. Lawrence was
there, of course, along with just about every Brit who thought he or she
understood the region. "I'll tell you about our conference," Bell wrote to
a
friend in her jolly hockey-sticks way. "It has been wonderful. We covered
more work in a fortnight than has been got through in a year. Mr. Churchill
was admirable ..."
It quite takes the breath away; the British thought they could fix the
Middle
East in 14 days. And so we laid the borders of Iraq and laid out the future
for what Churchill would, much later, refer to as the "hell disaster" of
Palestine. I'll always remember the way that Macdonald, talking to me in
his
Sevenoaks home 26 years ago, turned to me during our conversation. "In
Palestine, I failed," he said. "And that is why you are in Beirut today."
And he was right, of course. Had we really "fixed" the Middle East, I
wouldn't have spent the last 29 years of my life travelling from one bloody
war to another amid the lies and deceit of our leaders and the surrogates
they
appointed to rule over the Arabs. Had we really "fixed" the Middle East,
Ken
Bigley would not have been murdered in Iraq last week.
Can we escape? Can we one day say -- both the West and the peoples of the
Middle East -- "Enough! Let us start again!" I fear we cannot. Our
betrayals and our broken promises -- to Jews as well as Arabs -- have
created
a kind of irreversible disease, something that will not go away and cannot
and
will not be forgiven for generations.
Look, for example, how we egged on Saddam to invade Iran in 1980, how we
patronized him for eight terrible years with export credits and guns and
aircraft and chemicals for gas. Looking back now, we were doing something
else. By supporting Saddam's war, we were helping an entire generation of
Iraqis to learn to fight -- and die.
I called up my old friend Tony Clifton in Australia this week. He and I
reported the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war from both sides. "Just think," he said.
"All these millions of Iraqis were taught about how to fight a big army.
They
used to use their tanks as static positions with just their gun barrels
pointing over the earth to stop the Iranians. But they weren't allowed to
use
their initiative. But now Saddam has gone and all those lieutenants and
captains are older and can use their initiative and their fighting abilities
against the Americans. I think that's why the resistance in Iraq is so
successful."
I suspect that Clifton is right, and that the eight-year war with Iran which
we were so keen on is intimately connected to the current insurgency and the
savagery with which it is being conducted by the Iraqi gunmen and suicide
killers.
And what of the Americans themselves? I've been re-reading Seymour Hersh's
stunning 1970 account of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. And there's
something about the casual attitude to death and cruelty in the way that
Medina and Calley did their killings there that I find chillingly familiar.
The Americans have a professional army in Iraq, but it is becoming
frighteningly casual about the way it kills women and children in Fallujah,
simply denying that its air strikes are killing the innocent, and insists
that
all 120 dead in their Samarra operation are all insurgents when this cannot
possibly be true. What about the latest wedding party carnage, another
American "success" against terrorism? Because journalists can scarcely
travel
in Iraq any more, there is no longer any independent witness to this awful
war. What is going on in Ramadi and Hilla and all the other cities where US
forces carry out their brutal raids?
Tony Blair still thinks his hideous invasion was not a mistake. He still
seems to believe in his own version of The Great War for Civilisation, just
as
my father once believed in it. And now I wonder what terrors this disaster
holds in store for our future generations, who will also ask themselves if
they can escape from history.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Climate Fear as Carbon Levels Soar
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2
in atmosphere for second year running
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Monday October 11, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5036059-110970,00.html
An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may
be on the brink of runaway global warming.
Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas
has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth's natural
systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past.
The findings will be discussed tomorrow by the government's chief
scientist, Dr David King, at the annual Greenpeace business lecture.
Measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere have been continuous for almost
50 years at Mauna Loa Observatory, 12,000ft up a mountain in Hawaii,
regarded as far enough away from any carbon dioxide source to be
a reliable measuring point.
In recent decades CO2 increased on average by 1.5 parts per
million (ppm) a year because of the amount of oil, coal and gas
burnt, but has now jumped to more than 2 ppm in 2002 and 2003.
Above or below average rises in CO2 levels in the atmosphere have
been explained in the past by natural events.
When the Pacific warms up during El Niño - a disruptive weather
pattern caused by weakening trade winds - the amount of carbon
dioxide rises dramatically because warm oceans emit CO2 rather
than absorb it.
But scientists are puzzled because over the past two years, when the
increases have been 2.08 ppm and 2.54 ppm respectively, there has
been no El Niño.
Charles Keeling, the man who began the observations in 1958 as
a young climate scientist, is now 74 and still working in the field.
He said yesterday: "The rise in the annual rate to above two parts
per million for two consecutive years is a real phenomenon.
"It is possible that this is merely a reflection of natural events like
previous peaks in the rate, but it is also possible that it is the
beginning of a natural process unprecedented in the record."
Analysts stress that it is too early to draw any long-term conclusions.
But the fear held by some scientists is that the greater than normal
rises in C02 emissions mean that instead of decades to bring global
warming under control we may have only a few years. At worst, the
figures could be the first sign of the breakdown in the Earth's natural
systems for absorbing the gas.
That would herald the so-called "runaway greenhouse effect", where
the planet's soaring temperature becomes impossible to contain. As
the icecaps melt, less sunlight is refected back into space from ice
and snow, and bare rocks begin to absorb more heat. This is already
happening.
One of the predictions made by climate scientists in the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is that as the Earth
warms, the absorption of carbon dioxide by vegetation - known
as "carbon sink" - is reduced.
Dr Keeling said since there was no sign of a dramatic increase in the
amount of fossil fuels being burnt in 2002 and 2003, the rise "could
be a weakening of the Earth's carbon sinks, associated with the world
warming, as part of a climate change feedback mechanism. It is a
cause for concern'.'
Tom Burke, visiting professor at Imperial College London, and
a former special adviser to the former Tory environment minister
John Gummer, warned: "We're watching the clock and the clock is
beginning to tick faster, like it seems to before a bomb goes off."
Peter Cox, head of the Carbon Cycle Group at the Met Office's
Hadley Centre for Climate Change, said the increase in carbon
dioxide was not uniform across the globe.
Measurements of CO2 levels in Australia and at the south pole
were slightly lower, he said, so it looked as though something
unusual had occurred in the northern hemisphere.
"My guess is that there were extra forest fires in the northern
hemisphere, and particularly a very hot summer in Europe,"
Dr Cox said. "This led to a die-back in vegetation and an increase
in release of carbon from the soil, rather than more growing
plants taking carbon out of the atmosphere, which is usually
the case in summer."
Scientists are have dubbed the two-year CO2 rise the Mauna
Loa anomaly. Dr Cox said one of its most interesting aspects
was that the CO2 rises did not take place in El Niño years.
Previously the only figures that climbed higher than 2 ppm were
El Niño years - 1973, 1988, 1994 and 1998.
The heatwave of last year that is now believed to have claimed
at least 30,000 lives across the world was so out of the ordinary
that many scientists believe it could only have been caused by
global warming.
But Dr Cox, like other scientists, is concerned that too much
might be read into two years' figures. "Five or six years on the
trot would be very difficult to explain," he said.
Dr Piers Forster, senior research fellow of the University of
Reading's Department of Meteorology, said: "If this is a rate
change, of course it will be very significant. It will be of enormous
concern, because it will imply that all our global warming
predictions for the next hundred years or so will have to be
redone."
David J Hofmann of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration centre, which also studies CO2, was more cautious.
"I don't think an increase of 2 ppm for two years in a row is
highly significant - there are climatic perturbations that can
make this occur," he said. "But the absence of a known climatic
event does make these years unusual.
"Based on those two years alone I would say it was too soon to
say that a new trend has been established, but it warrants close
scrutiny."
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Plants will not save us from greenhouse gases
Source: University Relations Office (URO) [newswire
]
September 30, 2004
McGill research shows increased carbon dioxide
levels decrease algae growth
http://www.mcgill.ca/newswire/?ItemID=12870
The doomsayers may be right: our children may not inherit a bountiful
and green world. According to researchers at McGill University, we
have been overestimating the ability of plants to counteract the
greenhouse effect. Their findings, published in the September 30
issue of Nature, suggest changing conditions in the earth's
atmosphere may have more harmful effects on plant life than
previously believed.
The research, led by McGill University biologist Graham Bell, looked
at the response of algae to high carbon dioxide concentrations.
Their findings showed that the plants could not adapt to high
carbon dioxide conditions. This disproves the previous assumption
that plants can take up extra carbon dioxide in the environment.
According to Bell, these findings may be applied to other plant species.
Over the next century we may see a dramatic change in all plants
(including agricultural species) as our use of fossil fuels increases a
nd generates increased carbon dioxide levels.
To view the Nature article please go to the Nature website
Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Council of Canada.
Article: Nature
Sinead Collins
McGill University
514-398-6459
Source:
Christine Zeindler
Communications officer
University Relations Office
514-398-6754
http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive04/atmo1032704.html
Carbon Dioxide Reaches Record Levels (March 26, 2004)
Graph shows steady climb in levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide since the mid-1950s. NASA.
Scientists say the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached
record levels in 2003. Just as alarming, levels of the greenhouse gas
increased at a faster rate than has ever been observed before. The
conclusions were reached after months of observation from the
top of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
Carbon dioxide is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect
responsible for global warming. A growing number of scientists say
the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in recent decades is
mostly due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
Along with other greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide forms a blanket
around the planet that prevents the Sun's heat from escaping back
into space. Global temperatures rose about one degree Fahrenheit
over the 20th century.
Climatologists say big changes are on the way if Earth keeps getting
hotter. Climate will be disrupted, sea level will rise, polar and glacial
ice will melt, and weather patterns will become more and more
extreme and unpredictable.
The level of carbon dioxide rose about 3 parts per million over the
past year, from 376 ppm to 379 ppm. This is a jump of 167% over
the average annual increase of 1.8 ppm over the past decade, and
300% more than the yearly increase of 1 ppm recorded fifty years ago.
The scientists aren't sure what is causing the increase. It may be the
result of the rise of industry in Asia, particularly in China and India,
but more research needs to be done. Whatever the cause, scientists
are concerned the warming itself will create even more warming in
what is known as "positive feedback." Warmer air triggers the release
of even more carbon dioxide from the ocean and soil, which in turn raises
temperatures.
Some computer models predict that carbon dioxide levels could
reach staggering levels of 650 to 970 ppm by the year 2100. Global
temperatures could rise between 2.7 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit
in that time.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad, was sentenced to
2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts.
Today, October the 10th, the secretary general of Abnaa ElBallad
("Sons of the Country" movement), Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad,
was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts. Abu
Assad has been imprisoned for 8 months already, and will remain in
jail for at least another 20 months. The state prosecution had requested
a sentence of 6 years for the charge of contact with a "foreign agent"
(namely, Ibrahim 'Ajweh Abu-Yaffa) in Jordan. It was a clear political
trial, taking place against the background of the imprisonment of the
leaders of the Islamic Movement and the ongoing trial of his own
brother Hussam Knaane, and aimed at paralyzing the leadership of
the Palestinian mass movement within the Green Line.
Recently political persecution reached also the Jewish activists
sympathizing with the Palestinian struggle, as shown by the
administrative detention of Tali Fahima. Abu Assad is being punished
by the Zionist apartheid regime for his political activism on behalf of
a single democratic state for all the inhabitants of Palestine and for
the full implementation of the right of return of the refugees. We
call on the workers and democratic organizations all over the world
to mobilize against political repression in Israel and for the liberation
of comrade Abu Assad.
* Free Muhammad Knaane and all the Palestinian political prisoners!
* For the right of return of all the refugees!
* For a democratic, secular and socialist republic in all the territory
of historic Palestine!
Socialist Workers League (Palestine)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) FACULTY FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE (FFIPP)
PRESENTS:
WOMEN, PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
St. Boniface Church,
175 Golden Gate Ave.
(2 blocks from Civic Center BART)
Thursday, October 14th, 7:00 pm
Safa Abu-Rabiah, is the daughter of a Palestinian mother and
a Bedouin father, who grew up in an unrecognized village in
Southern Israel. She is the coordinator of Bedouin Women's
Empowerment Program at the New Israeli Fund and an activist
with The Forum for Co-Existence Between Jews and Arabs.
Hannah Safran, is a co-founder of Coalition of Women for Just
Peace and an activist with Women in Black. As a scholar of women's
studies, her writings provide support to the Feminist and Peace
movement.
Susan Greene, is an artist, activist and clinical psychologist. She
is a founding member of Break the Silence Mural Project, a group
of Jewish American Women who conduct community art projects
in Palestine and a member of Jews for a Free Palestine.
JOIN US AND LEARN ABOUT WOMEN'S ROLE IN THE STRUGGLE
FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL.
$5-20 Sliding Scale, no one turned away
Co-sponsors: Jewish Voice for Peace and
International Solidarity Movement
NEXT BAUAW MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 7 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET, SF
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
GET ON THE BUS FOR THE MILLION WORKER MARCH
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
FOR MORE INFO:
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) COLORADO AIM AND ALLIES BLOCKADE
COLUMBUS "CONVOY OF CONQUEST" -
Over 200 Arrested
October 9, 2004
Denver Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://transformcolumbusday.org
Contact: American Indian Movement of Colorado
(303) 871-0463
denveraim@coloradoaim.org
http://www.coloradoaim.org
2) Woman escorting Palestinian kids
beaten by mob of Israeli teens in Hebron
Local aid worker attacked
By BILL LAYE, CALGARY SUN
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/10/10/663376.html
3) Her Son Was Killed in Iraq; Now She Pleads
for Americans to Stop the War
By Barbara Porchia*
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896>
4) Shi'ite Fighters Begin Disarming in Baghdad
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6466839&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
5) U.S. to Seek Donors' Help on Iraq
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467066&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
6) Sharon Rejects Army Bid to Wind Down Gaza Offensive
By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 09:02 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467263&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
7) A Doctrine Under Pressure: Pre-emption Is Redefined
By DAVID E. SANGER
CRAWFORD, Tex
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/politics/
11preempt.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=a3b0ac844d21255d&ei=5094&partner=h
omepage
8) Senate Approves Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/business/11CND-
TAX.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=3de4947a2f1bfd03&ei=5094&partner=homepae
9) Congress Approves Doubling
U.S. Troops in Colombia to 800
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÃ, Colombia
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/americas/
11colombia.html?oref=login&oref=login
10) New Scrutiny of the Flow of Iraqi
Oil to American Consumers
By SIMON ROMERO and SCOTT SHANE
October 11, 2004
THE U.N. PROGRAM
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/middleeast/11crude.html
11) FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL STRUGGLE TO
ESCAPE THE LEGACY OF THE DISASTER IN IRAQ
By Robert Fisk
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=570692
12) Climate Fear as Carbon Levels Soar
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2
in atmosphere for second year running
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Monday October 11, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5036059-110970,00.html
13) Plants will not save us from greenhouse gases
Source: University Relations Office (URO) [newswire
September 30, 2004
McGill research shows increased carbon dioxide
levels decrease algae growth
http://www.mcgill.ca/newswire/?ItemID=12870
14) Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad, was sentenced to
2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts.
15) FACULTY FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE (FFIPP)
PRESENTS:
WOMEN, PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
St. Boniface Church,
175 Golden Gate Ave.
(2 blocks from Civic Center BART)
Thursday, October 14th, 7:00 pm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) COLORADO AIM AND ALLIES BLOCKADE
COLUMBUS "CONVOY OF CONQUEST" -
Over 200 Arrested
October 9, 2004
Denver Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://transformcolumbusday.org
Contact: American Indian Movement of Colorado
(303) 871-0463
denveraim@coloradoaim.org
http://www.coloradoaim.org
Today, in the streets of downtown Denver, scores of American Indian
Movement members, and our TCD allies were arrested in a principled act
of civil resistance to the "Convoy of Conquest" (aka: Columbus Day
Parade). Despite any denials by its organizers, the Convoy is a
celebration of genocide against the indigenous peoples of the
Americas, and it elevates the theft of our homelands, and the murder
of our people, to national holiday status. To Colorado AIM this
is intolerable and unjustifiable.
Our arrests are designed to expose a corrupt educational, legal and
political system that refuses to describe the destruction of millions
of indigenous people at the hands of Columbus for what it is:
genocide. In a legal and political system that rationalizes and
justifies the murder, theft, and ongoing betrayal of our peoples and
nations, we, as the victims of such a system are under an obligation
to expose such moral and legal bankruptcy, and we actively refuse to
cooperate with legalized murder and theft. Our arrests today lay bare
the facts (they are not allegations) that Columbus was personally
responsible for:
· Trading in African slaves prior to his voyage to the Americas in 1492.
· Columbus was personally responsible for overseeing a colonial
administration that directly led to the death of millions of
indigenous people. (Father Bartolome de Las Casas, an eyewitness
and a contemporary of Columbus, estimated that 15 million indigenous
people died in the Caribbean prior to 15.
· Columbus advanced and expanded the arrogant European "Doctrine of
Discovery," claiming that superior, civilized, Christian Europeans and
the right to seize and appropriate indigenous peoples territories and
resources. This doctrine has been embedded into racist Federal Indian
Law, and is applied today in the case of the Western Shoshone in
Nevada and the Lakota in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
· More importantly, the legacy of Columbus allows the U.S. government
to "lose" between $40 and 100 billion in money that the U.S. was to
administer for the benefit of individual American Indians. The
government has admitted that it deliberately destroyed evidence in the
case, and it appears that the U.s. has no intention of finding or
accounting for the money that it has stolen. See:
http://www.indiantrust.com/
· The Columbus legacy is reflected in the psychology of the War in
Iraq as the U.S. military continues to refer to any territory not
under immediate U.S. control as "Indian Country." Anyone who expresses
a view other than the accepted, official version is considered to be
"off the reservation." Anyone who actually tries to understand the
Iraqi people, as opposed to murdering them, is suspected of being a
"race traitor" for having "gone native." These small examples reveal
a much larger and dangerous psychology of the ongoing war by the U.S.
against indigenous peoples, and other "infidels and heathens."
As was asked of Dr. Martin Luther King, some may well ask us today:
"Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and arrests? Isn't
negotiation a better path?" King replied, "You are quite right in
calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct
action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and
foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused
to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue. The purpose of our
direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that
it will inevitably open the door to negotiation ."
Colorado AIM, like Martin Luther King, believes that tension in the
streets can move a community beyond its racist practices. With our
arrest and our prosecution by the City of Denver, we intend to go on
the offensive, to put Columbus on trial, to put his legacy on trial,
to put the City of Denver, the state of Colorado, and the
U.S. itself on trial. We will defend ourselves with an unapologetic
political defense in court, and, just as we did in 1992, and in 2001,
we will prevail.
Colorado AIM and our allies do not risk our liberty as a political
ploy, or merely as a tactic, we believe that the time is overdue to
challenge the most pervasive, and the most deeply seated source of
racism in the world: the oppression of indigenous peoples. Columbus
Day continues to operate as a justification of racial superiority, and
it, in fact, creates demonstrable and verifiable harm to our children,
and to their children.
For further comments on these actions, or on the philosophy behind
these statements, please contact Colorado AIM at 303-871-0463 or
denveraim@c...
(c)2004 Transform Columbus Day Alliance
10/09/2004
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
This email list is designed for posting news articles or event
announcements of interest to UFPJ member groups. It is not
a discussion list.
To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, join our
iscussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-news/
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ufpj-news-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Woman escorting Palestinian kids
beaten by mob of Israeli teens in Hebron
Local aid worker attacked
By BILL LAYE, CALGARY SUN
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/10/10/663376.html
Threats -- and now a beating -- from militant Israeli settlers has
a Calgary aid worker volunteering in Hebron vowing she'll be staying
put. Diane Janzen, 28, and an Italian worker, whose name isn't being
released, were returning to their quarters at about 3 p.m. local time
after walking five Palestinian children home from school in the area
when a mob of eight Israeli teenagers from the nearby Ma'on
settlement attacked them with sticks.
The Italian man suffered a broken arm and had his camcorder
stolen while he tried to film the attack.
Janzen, who works for Christian Peacemaker Teams, escaped
shaken, but suffering only bruises.
"We're all people of God and we all believe in the same God,
so why would they do it?" Janzen said from Hebron when
contacted by the Sun yesterday.
"But this is nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going
through every day."
The mob dispersed when an Amnesty International worker, who
speaks Hebrew, told them police were being called.
Also hurt in this recent attack was AI worker Donatello Rovera.
Janzen said even though she was "sore and bruised," she would
be escorting the children to and from school again today.
Over the past 12 years, the threats have been common, but this
physical violence is cause for concern, said Janzen's boss, Doug
Pritchard, a Toronto-based co-ordinator with the non-profit
Christian Peacemaker Teams.
The interdenominational CPT currently has eight aid workers
in the Hebron area and just 10 days earlier two others were beaten.
One remains in hospital with a punctured lung, Pritchard said,
adding Janzen was the one who found the two "in a pool of blood"
and called for help.
"She's pretty shaken ... it's been a pretty intense 10 days."
Pritchard adds he's disgusted that, so far, the Israeli authorities
have made no arrests in either attacks and they appear to have
very little concern given the situation.
He noted it took Israeli police more than 30 minutes to arrive
when the call about this attack came in.
"It's pretty appalling," Pritchard said, adding he's hoping the
publicity surrounding these assaults will force officials to act.
"It (the violence) has never reached this level before."
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an archive
only, so please do not try to add your
address) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and any typing or
grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some
of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the
time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
Disclaimer
We are committed to free knowledge, unless otherwise
indicated, the opinions, personal articles or news analysis
expressed on this e-mails are not necessarily those of the
sender. This e-mail has been compiled in good faith. It is
our condition that, in exchange for this free information,
you the receiver accept that we will not be liable for any
action you, the user take based on the information in this
e-mail. It is essential that you, the user verify any and/or
all information contained herein before making your final
decision. This e-mail does not necessarily endorse the
ideas or presentation of ideas of the sites it links to and
with. We make no representations about any linked web
site's accuracy, completeness, and authenticity. We firmly
believe in the Freedom of Speech. We believe in civilized
exchange of ideas and thoughts. We will hold any one
trying to damage our image legally responsible before
the courts and will keep ourselves the right to pursue
the perpetrators to the maximum law limit. If you do
not agree with this disclaimer or would like to stop
receiving our e-mails, please unsubscribe, if you find
that this e-mail is a good source of knowledge and
would like to invite any others, please feel free.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Her Son Was Killed in Iraq; Now She Pleads
for Americans to Stop the War
By Barbara Porchia*
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896
modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896>
More than 1,060 men and women have paid the ultimate price and
more than 7,000 have been wounded. These brave souls asked not
what their country could do for them, but what they could do for
their country.
When we were led into war, we heard a consistently strong and clear
message: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Iraq was an
imminent threat to America, and Saddam Hussein was connected
to 9/11. Yet after the release of the 9/11 Commission's report, the
justification for this war quickly flip-flipped to "America and the
world are safer because Saddam Hussein is in prison."
The major flip-flop, however, came from our Commander in Chief
who changed from saying this war is absolutely necessity to we are
safer with Saddam Hussein in jail and then to this war is a
"catastrophic success." Meaning, I guess, this war is an extremely
harmful success, or a success with physical and financial ruin,
whatever that is supposed to mean. This was a flip-flop from the
untrue to the incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, my mind and heart does its own flip-flop. In the morning
when I wake up, my mind flips on these words: weapons of mass
destruction, imminent threat, connection to 9/11. Then to thoughts
of my son, Jonathan, who died in Iraq; to all the soldiers who lost
their lives in this war; to those wounded physically and mentally;
and to those still fighting this senseless war. Then my heart flops
to tremendous pain and agony.
We clearly invaded a country for all the wrong reasons, and we are
clearly no longer looked upon as liberators but as occupiers.
Those beautiful flowers that were supposed to be thrown at our
soldiers' feet have turned out to be exploding bombs. If we had
invaded Iraq for all the right reasons, then bombs would not be
killing our brave soldiers.
We were given incorrect information about this war, and we have
lost way too many loved ones in a war based upon lies. We cannot
allow the death toll of our dear soldiers to reach 2000, our injured
to reach 10,000. We cannot allow any more families to be destroyed
as they receive news that their loved ones have joined
"heaven's military."
This is not about Republican versus Democrat; it is about right
verses wrong. As a great nation, we must remember: united we
stand, divided we fall. Let us unite to bring our soldiers home.
Every day I remember a discussion my son and I had; I hear his
voice so very clearly in my mind: "Mom, please explain to me
about Democrats and Republicans. I do not seem to understand
like I thought I did. Over here we are too busy to worry about that
difference. If someone goes down in my unit, we do not ask if he
or she is Democrat or Republican. If an RPG is incoming, we do
not discuss if it is a WMD. Mom, we need to work together."
I love our troops. I stand behind our troops. I will continue to
fight for our troops. I want to bring home our troops. I plead
that we work together to bring our soldiers home.
I'm going to ask you to do something. Take your child, or any
child that you love, or your spouse, and give that loved one a
big hug. When doing this, think of your feelings for that child,
your love for your spouse; hold these feelings and then ask
yourself if you are willing to lose that child or your spouse in
this senseless war?
Please, America, let's stop losing our loved ones in Iraq. Those
lost have families who cared for them tremendously, who today
are pained terribly. I loved my son, and my heart aches every day.
Please do not allow this tragedy to happen to you and your child.
* Barbara Porchia's son, Jonathan, died in Iraq outside Baghdad
in July 2003. She is from Arkansas.
All International news articles and news are available at
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/internationalnews/2004-07
Messages before 2004 are available at (this site is an
archive only, so please do not try to add your
address) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism]
Please read and feel free to forward, print, and publish.
We would like to apologize for any repeated messages, and
any typing or grammatical errors.
We act because we believe in this quote: " You can fool some
of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the
time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time"
Disclaimer
We are committed to free knowledge, unless otherwise indicated,
the opinions, personal articles or news analysis expressed on this
e-mails are not necessarily those of the sender. This e-mail has
been compiled in good faith. It is our condition that, in exchange
for this free information, you the receiver accept that we will not
be liable for any action you, the user take based on the information
in this e-mail. It is essential that you, the user verify any and/or
all information contained herein before making your final decision.
This e-mail does not necessarily endorse the ideas or presentation
of ideas of the sites it links to and with. We make no representations
about any linked web site's accuracy, completeness, and authenticity.
We firmly believe in the Freedom of Speech. We believe in civilized
exchange of ideas and thoughts. We will hold any one trying to
damage our image legally responsible before the courts and will
keep ourselves the right to pursue the perpetrators to the maximum
law limit. If you do not agree with this disclaimer or would like to
stop receiving our e-mails, please unsubscribe, if you find that
this e-mail is a good source of knowledge and would like to
invite any others, please feel free.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Shi'ite Fighters Begin Disarming in Baghdad
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6466839&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A Shi'ite militia disarmament plan that
could end weeks of fighting in Baghdad got off to a slow start
on Monday as Iraq's interim government pursued peace talks with
the rebel-held Sunni Muslim city of Falluja.
"I've given up my weapons, I'm with the interim government
now," said Ahmed Hashem after handing over 22 rocket-propelled
grenades. "We want peace and I won't fight the Americans."
The U.S.-backed government aims to retake control of
rebel-held areas throughout Iraq by political or military means
ahead of national assembly elections due in January.
Mehdi Army fighters led by Moqtada al-Sadr began handing in
weapons at the start of a five-day period in which they have
agreed to disarm in the flashpoint Sadr City district.
Insecurity is rife even in Iraqi cities nominally under
control of the security forces. A suicide car bomber attacked a
U.S. convoy in the northern city of Mosul, killing two
civilians and wounding 18, hospital sources said.
"Initial reports indicate that there were civilian and
military casualties," the U.S. military said.
Police said the beheaded bodies of two Iraqi residents of
Mosul had been found in Mosul in the past 24 hours. There was
no word on the motive for their killings.
At Habibiya police station, the biggest of three designated
collection points in Sadr City, cameramen were allowed to film
only one batch of arms police said had been brought earlier in
a civilian vehicle. The weaponry included RPGs, rusty mortars
and artillery shells, anti-tank land mines and assault rifles.
"One man brought a Sam-7 anti-aircraft missile," National
Guard Captain Duraid Fadel told Reuters, adding that militiamen
were receiving $50 for each weapon they surrendered.
One Mehdi Army fighter, Kamel Hussein, walked off later
with $14,500 for delivering a big stash of RPGs and mortars.
But those three handovers were the only ones to take place
at Habibiya in the space of three hours.
Iraqi National Guards, their faces masked to avoid
identification, were deployed at the arms collection points.
Police were patrolling the vast slum district that is home to
some two million Shi'ites in northeastern Baghdad.
FALLUJA TALKS
After the five days allowed for disarmament, police and
National Guards are due to take control of Sadr City, where the
government has pledged to spend over $500 million on
rebuilding.
"If necessary we will extend the five-day period," a senior
security official, Abdul-Karim al-Saffar, told Reuters.
He estimated that Sadr fighters would receive up to half a
million dollars on Monday under the money-for-guns
arrangement.
Peace talks are also under way to try to resolve a standoff
in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Falluja, west of Baghdad,
held by insurgents since a failed U.S. assault in April.
Falluja representatives met Defense Minister Hazim Shaalan
in Baghdad to hear details of his plans to deploy National
Guards in the city under a proposed agreement.
Some insurgents in Falluja have said they do not object to
such a deal, or to participation in the elections, as long as
U.S. forces keep out of the Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad.
A deal to end bloody battles between U.S. marines and
guerrillas in April by handing control to a Falluja Brigade
that included ex-Baathist army officers collapsed a few months
later.
The U.S. military now regards Falluja as a haven for
foreign fighters led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, seen as
America's deadliest enemy in Iraq. It has conducted frequent
air strikes on suspected Zarqawi targets in the city of 300,000.
It is not clear whether any deals struck in Sadr City,
Falluja or elsewhere can staunch the bloody chaos into which
Iraq has sunk since last year's U.S.-led invasion.
"If the Americans show they are ready for truly free
elections, there would be no reason for Iraqis who oppose the
occupation to go on fighting," said Wamidh Nadhmi, a political
scientist who has his own small secular nationalist party.
But he accused Washington of seeking to perpetuate the rule
of the former exiled political parties who dominate the interim
government and a selected interim national assembly.
The elections, due to take place by the end of January, are
to elect a transitional assembly which will choose a new
government and write a permanent constitution for Iraq.
Iraqis are desperate for an end to daily bloodshed and many
resent the activities of foreign militants seen as responsible
for suicide bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages.
But the insurgency may worsen until their deeply
nationalist country gets a government that is widely perceived
as legitimate and independent of U.S. influence, analysts say.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) U.S. to Seek Donors' Help on Iraq
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 08:35 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467066&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - International donors that pledged
billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq meet in Tokyo this week as
the United States seeks outside help to stabilize the country.
Rising U.S. casualties and slow reconstruction have put
pressure on President Bush to look for international backing on
Iraq, a key issue in the U.S. election campaign.
Bush, accused by his rival John Kerry of spurning allies,
said last week Kerry's plans for a summit on Iraq
reconstruction were identical to those his administration was
pursuing.
More than 50 countries and organizations that pledged
around $14 billion a year ago will meet in Tokyo on Wednesday
to discuss how the money could finally be spent after delays
Iraqi officials blame mainly on insecurity.
The participants will include France, Germany and Russia --
countries that opposed last year's U.S.-led invasion and that
have criticized American postwar management of Iraq.
Donor nations met in Madrid last year, when Washington felt
more upbeat about the war and chaos in Iraq was less
widespread.
The International Crisis Group consultancy said
disagreements over the Iraq war extended to reconstruction.
"Political considerations have not been wholly absent
either, as lingering anger at the United States impedes
harmonization with its priorities and programs," the
Brussels-based organization said in a recent report.
POSTWAR PROBLEMS
Reconstruction has stuttered in Iraq. Electricity is very
erratic, sewage floods some streets and is mostly dumped in
rivers, roads have not been repaired and buildings bombed or
looted during the war still lie in ruins.
But Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh said all donors
understood the urgency of reconstruction. "The political
discord we have seen among donors is easing. Everyone has
accepted the legitimacy of the interim Iraqi government and
realizes that helping the country is essential," he said.
The government says Iraq could plunge into deeper chaos
unless the funds pledged by donors are spent soon.
"Rebuilding programs and economic reform are facing major
challenges," says a government paper prepared for the Tokyo
meeting. "Lack of progress in executing these programs, slower
than expected economic progress and increased insecurity have
contributed to a state of frustration among the population,
which could threaten the chances of success."
Only a few hundred million dollars of aid have been spent
out of the $14 billion pledged in Madrid. The funds bought
school supplies and helped to train government workers abroad.
The United States is also struggling to start projects. It
has spent only $1 billion of the $18 billion it allocated for
aid and has diverted some of the money from rebuilding to
security.
Anti-U.S. forces have exploited economic hardship to
undermine the American-backed government and recruit followers.
"Social inequities are widespread," said the Iraqi
government paper, which sets out 300 projects worth $34 billion
to present at the Tokyo talks.
"With over half of the population under 24 years, youth is
alienated due to violence and limited access to education,
training and career prospects."
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Sharon Rejects Army Bid to Wind Down Gaza Offensive
By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters)
Mon Oct 11, 2004 09:02 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6467263&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Ariel Sharon has rejected
his army's request to scale back its Gaza offensive, seeking to
avoid any show of weakness after deadly bombings hit Egyptian
resorts crowded with Israelis, security sources said.
The prime minister decided a pullout from the besieged
Jabalya refugee camp would encourage Palestinian militants to
resume rocket fire into Israel and "send the wrong message" so
soon after the Sinai bombings, a source said on Monday.
Sharon's order to keep up the massive 12-day-old campaign
also appeared aimed at mollifying hard-liners before a
parliamentary speech on Monday in which he will try to soften
opposition to his plan to evacuate Gaza settlements next year.
If Sharon brings his "disengagement" plan to its first vote
in parliament in coming weeks as he has promised, a key
far-right coalition partner could bolt, forcing him to reshape
his government or call early elections.
Sharon's Gaza plan has been complicated by Palestinian
rocket fire into border towns, which triggered Israel's biggest
offensive in the occupied strip in four years of conflict.
Israel has killed 92 Palestinians since sending tanks into
northern Gaza, including Jabalya, a militant stronghold, after
a Hamas rocket attack killed two toddlers in southern Israel.
Three Israelis have also died since the raid began.
Army chief Moshe Yaalon asked Sharon on Sunday for
permission to redeploy outside Jabalya, saying the army had
driven back rocket crews and the longer troops stayed in the
densely populated camp the greater the risk, sources said.
Despite low-key U.S. pressure to end the operation, Sharon
ordered the army to press on, saying leaving Jabalya at this
point could spur militants to resume the firing of makeshift
Qassam missiles into the Jewish state. "He told the army to
continue the operation at the same level," a source said.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom later told Israel Radio the
army had delivered a "serious blow to the infrastructure of the
terrorist organizations" and that the offensive was in its
final stages. But he gave no timetable for ending it.
AVOIDING SHOW OF WEAKNESS?
The source said Sharon was also concerned a pullback so
soon after Thursday's bombings, which killed 32 people at
Egyptian Red Sea resorts where throngs of Israelis were
vacationing, would be seen as a sign of weakness.
Israel has said it suspects the al Qaeda network in the
Egypt attacks, but an Egyptian presidential spokesman on
Saturday warned against rushing to conclusions.
Egyptian officials have tended to link the attacks to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though all major Palestinian
militant groups have denied involvement.
Israel's parliament was due to reconvene on Monday, setting
the stage for critical votes to decide the fate of Sharon's
plan. Sharon was to sketch out his "disengagement" strategy.
Amid heightened tensions, explosions wrecked the home of an
Islamic Jihad leader in the Rafah refugee camp in southern
Gaza, wounding two of his brothers, witnesses said.
The militant group said Israel tried to kill one of its
commanders in an air strike. Military sources denied
involvement by Israeli forces. Palestinian officials said they
were also investigating whether the blasts could have been
caused by premature detonation of explosives stored in the
house. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and
Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) A Doctrine Under Pressure: Pre-emption Is Redefined
By DAVID E. SANGER
CRAWFORD, Tex
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/politics/
11preempt.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=a3b0ac844d21255d&ei=5094&partner=h
omepage
CRAWFORD, Tex., Oct. 10 - Under pressure to explain anew his
decision to invade Iraq in light of a damaging report from the
C.I.A.'s top weapons inspector, President Bush appears to be
quietly redefining one of the signature philosophies of his
administration - his doctrine of pre-emptive military action.
Traditionally, pre-empting an enemy is all about urgency,
striking before the enemy strikes. In the prelude to the invasion
in March of last year, Mr. Bush and his aides stopping short of
saying Saddam Hussein posed an "imminent" threat. Still, they
used urgent-sounding language at every turn to explain why
they could not afford to wait for inspectors to complete their
work, or for the United Nations Security Council to come to a
consensus on authorizing military action. "Facing clear evidence
of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that
could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," he said in a
speech delivered Oct. 7, 2002.
But the C.I.A. report released last week, written by Charles A. Duelfer,
described the evidence as anything but clear and the peril as far
from urgent. Mr. Hussein's military power began waning after the
1991 Persian Gulf war, the report concluded. While Mr. Hussein
most probably wanted to rebuild his illicit weapons, there is no
evidence he had started by the time Mr. Bush was delivering that
speech.
So over the last five days, with some subtle changes of language
and a new previously undiscussed justification for the war, Mr. Bush
appears to have expanded the conditions for a pre-emptive military
strike. He no longer talks about urgency. Instead, for the first time,
he has begun to argue that a military invasion is justified if an
opponent is seeking to avoid United Nations sanctions - "gaming
the system" in his words.
"We did not find the stockpiles we thought were there," Mr. Bush
told supporters in Waterloo, Iowa, on Saturday. "But I want you to
remember what the Duelfer report said. It said that Saddam Hussein
was gaming the oil-for-food program to get rid of sanctions. And
why? Because he had the capability and knowledge to rebuild his
weapon programs. And the great danger we face in the world today
is that a terrorist organization could end up with weapons of mass
destruction."
Then, returning to the line he has used in his debates with Senator
John Kerry , and one that always elicits applause, he added:
"Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decision.
The world is safer with Saddam in a prison cell."
Taken at face value, Mr. Bush appears to be saying that under his
new standard, a country merely has to be thinking about developing
illicit weapons at some time. "He's saying intent is enough," said
Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor who under the Clinton administration
headed the National Intelligence Council, the group that assesses
for the president when countries have trespassed that hard-to-
define line.
"The classical definition for pre-emption was 'imminent threat,'
" Mr. Nye said. Then, with the development of the president's
"National Security Policy of the United States," that moved to
something less than imminent, because, as Mr. Bush argued,
it is often hard to know when a country is about to attack. Now,
said Mr. Nye, "the Duelfer report pushed him into a box where
capability is not the standard, but merely intention."
Of course, discerning changes of policy in the heat of a political
campaign is always risky. Candidates will often push a policy or
a doctrine to the breaking point to differentiate themselves from
their opponents. So as the campaign has come down to its last
three weeks, Mr. Bush has torqued his stump speech to make it
clear that in a post-Sept. 11 world, he will strike quickly, while
Mr. Kerry hesitates, negotiates or creates a "global test" for action.
The "global test" phrase comes from a statement by Mr. Kerry in
the first presidential debate that Mr. Bush now regularly throws
back at him. "Now he says he wants a global test before we take
action to defend our security," Mr. Bush said on Saturday in
Chanhassen, Minn., waiting for the crowd to yell "Boo!"
When the audience obliged, he added that "The problem is that
the senator can never pass his own test," going on to list military
action that Mr. Kerry has opposed, including in the Persian Gulf war.
In fact, Mr. Kerry has not done much to define when he would
take pre-emptive action. He has said he would reserve the right,
and criticized Mr. Bush for making pre-emption a doctrine. In the
second debate on Friday, Mr. Kerry made it clear that Iraq did
not meet his test: "Gut-check time," he said. "Was this really
going to war as a last resort?"
But when the subject turned to Iran, Mr. Kerry tried to sound
more hard-line than Mr. Bush, who he said had ignored nuclear
developments in both Iran and North Korea. "If we have to get
tough with Iran, believe me, we will get tough," he said, without
describing how close he would let the country get to a nuclear
weapon before acting. Mr. Bush, in an interview with The New
York Times in August, declined to draw that line, either.
The result is that America's allies - and perhaps its voters -
are more confused than ever about what will drive Washington
to war. To listen to Mr. Bush in the last few days, a country that
merely desires to obtain the world's worst weapons is a potential
target - but he has clearly avoided threatening Iran and North
Korea, the two nations racing fastest toward such weapons.
To listen to Mr. Kerry, Iraq's intentions to rebuild its arsenal
some day clearly did not meet the Kerry test: Mr. Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney, he said the other day, "may well be the
last two people on the planet who won't face the truth about Iraq."
It may be that the election must pass before Washington sends
a clear signal. "If I had a piece of advice for America's allies," a
senior foreign policy adviser to Mr. Bush said a few weeks ago,
"it's this: Turn your television sets off until this is all over."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Senate Approves Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/business/11CND-
TAX.html?hp&ex=1097553600&en=3de4947a2f1bfd03&ei=5094&partner=homepag
e
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 - The Senate today approved a bill
handing out about $140 billion in corporate tax breaks.
The 633-page bill, which has already been passed by the House,
passed the Senate today on a vote of 69 to 17. It is loaded with
hundreds of provisions that provide benefits to a wide range of
interests, including the General Electric Company, oil drillers,
shipbuilders, cruise ship operators, importers of ceiling fans,
corn farmers, tobacco farmers and even foreign gamblers.
Despite widespread criticism of the bill as a Christmas tree
of special-interest provisions, the House passed it by a vote
of 280 to 141 on Friday, and the Senate voted, 66 to 14, on
Sunday to cut off a potential filibuster.
But Senate leaders were blocked from voting until today by
Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, who was
furious that the final bill did not include $2 billion in tax credits
for companies that keep paying employees who are called to
active duty from military reserves and the National Guard.
Ms. Landrieu finally won agreement for a vote - whose effect
would be purely symbolic - on a measure that would declare
the Senate's support for giving those employers some tax credits.
The largest provisions of the corporate tax bill repeal a $5 billion
annual tax break for exporters that has been declared illegal by
the World Trade Organization, and replace it with a tax reduction
for manufacturers in the United States.
The bill's tax breaks are worth about $140 billion over 10 years,
but it is supposed to raise the same amount of money by closing
tax shelters, raising customs fees and eliminating the old tax benefit.
On Friday night, Senate leaders overcame objections by opponents
of the bill, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts,
who were angry that it would provide a $10 billion buyout for tobacco f
armers without subjecting tobacco products to regulation by the
Food and Drug Administration.
Opponents could not muster enough votes to block the bill through
a filibuster, so Mr. Kennedy and his allies settled for separate voice
votes in favor of tobacco regulation and against new overtime rules.
But those bills are unlikely to become law because the House has
not passed similar measures.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Congress Approves Doubling
U.S. Troops in Colombia to 800
By JUAN FORERO
BOGOTÃ, Colombia
October 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/americas/
11colombia.html?oref=login&oref=login
BOGOTÃ, Colombia, Oct. 10 - The number of American military
personnel here will double, to 800, in the coming months, based
on a weekend vote in the United States Congress.
The action was welcomed by President Ãlvaro Uribe's government
for its fight against Marxist rebels but condemned by human rights
monitors, who warned of a sharp escalation in Colombia's conflict.
The 2005 United States Defense Department authorization act,
approved Saturday by Congress, also permits the Bush administration
to increase the number of American citizens working for private
contractors in Colombia to 600 from 400.
The soldiers and many of the contractors will, among other things,
develop and analyze intelligence on rebel movements, do surveillance
and train Colombian troops in counterguerrilla operations.
American officials who lobbied Capitol Hill to lift restrictions said
more American personnel were urgently needed to help Colombia in
its nine-month offensive in the south that pits 18,000 Colombian
soldiers against the country's most formidable rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. "That requires logistical
capabilities, maintaining supply lines, getting food and fuel to the
front, providing medical evacuation capabilities," said Adam Isacson,
a senior analyst at the Center for International Policy, a Washington
group that tracks Colombia. "They need a lot more American personnel
to fill those gaps."
Though the United States has contributed $3.3 billion to Colombia,
most of it in military aid, Mr. Uribe has lobbied hard for a larger
American role in the 40-year-old, drug-fueled conflict.
Lifting the Congressionally mandated limits on troops and contractors,
a little-noticed measure in the 5,000-page Pentagon authorization bill,
is seen by some political analysts and rights advocates as a major step
toward even larger American troop commitments. In the months before
the passage by the United States in 2000 of Plan Colombia, a $1.3
billion antidrug initiative, members of Congress hotly debated whether
involvement in Colombia could lead to a Vietnam-like quagmire.
"The main concern is two years from now: what is going to stop them
from coming back for more, until Colombia becomes one of our most
serious military commitments," Mr. Isacson said, referring to American
military planners.
The work Americans and others do in Colombia's conflict is perilous.
Eleven contractors, American and other foreign nationals, working for
American companies under Pentagon contracts have been killed since
1998. Three Americans whose plane crashed in a surveillance mission
over rebel territory remain in guerrilla hands 17 months after being
taken hostage.
Under Mr. Uribe's administration, violence has ebbed in Colombia,
the economy has improved and the security forces have made gains
eroding rebel forces and destroying vast fields of coca, the crop used
to make cocaine. But combat remains common, and political
assassinations and kidnappings occur with staggering frequency.
American involvement is being ratcheted up as the United States
steadily increases training for police and military forces in Latin
America.
In 2003, American soldiers trained 22,831 Latin American troops
and police officers, 52 percent more than in 2002, said a report
released last week by three Washington-based policy groups, the
Center for International Policy, the Washington Office on Latin America
and the Latin America Working Group Education Fund. In Colombia,
nearly 13,000 troops received American training, up from 6,477 in
2002.
Even before the new policy in Colombia was approved, American
officials and military officers had hinted that support for Mr. Uribe's
government would be expanded.
"We will stay the course," Gen. James Hill, the commander of
American military operations in Latin America, said last week in
Bogotá in a farewell address before he retired. He said that the
United States would "assist the Colombian people in ways that
are necessary to win the war."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) New Scrutiny of the Flow of Iraqi
Oil to American Consumers
By SIMON ROMERO and SCOTT SHANE
October 11, 2004
THE U.N. PROGRAM
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/international/middleeast/11crude.html
As Saddam Hussein pressed the United Nations oil-for-food relief
program for more money that he used to buy banned weapons, an
unwitting ally may have been the American driver. Almost until the
eve of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, American oil companies
were among the largest purchasers of Iraqi crude oil.
The role that the companies, including ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco,
played in the oil-for-food program is now coming under greater
scrutiny in the wake of a report by the chief arms inspector for the
Central Intelligence Agency that disclosed how extensively Mr. Hussein
was abusing profits from the oil sales.
Executives at the two companies insisted over the weekend that their
purchases of Iraqi oil were not illegal or unknown in international
oil markets in recent years. Industry analysts also said they did not
know of any improprieties by the companies.
"All of our purchases of Iraqi crude were conducted in full compliance
with the program," a spokesman for ChevronTexaco, Michael Barrett,
said.
In 2001, Iraq was the source of 7 percent of all United States
petroleum imports, ranking sixth behind the largest foreign suppliers:
Saudi Arabia, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico and Nigeria, according to
the Energy Department.
Yet while such imports were considered routine, disclosures about
irregularities in how the Iraqi government selected partners to market
the oil have led to several investigations of the program - by the
United Nations, Congressional committees and a federal grand jury.
The United States attorney's office in Manhattan has issued subpoenas
to several American companies whose names appear on the Iraqi list
as having received vouchers for Iraqi oil.
A spokesman for the House International Relations Committee said
yesterday that the committee was exploring which oil companies
had received Iraqi oil or had been trading in the vouchers. While
committee investigators had been concentrating on the connection
between vouchers and Iraqi arms purchases, the report issued last
week by Charles A. Duelfer, the arms inspector, that named United
States oil companies as recipients of vouchers was now prompting
the panel's investigators to expand their inquiry to include the
United States oil companies as well.
In the meantime, an investigator associated with the independent
United Nations-appointed panel looking into corruption in the oil-
for-food program, said that his group had not begun investigating
whether or how American and other oil companies had benefited.
The panel, led by Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal
Reserve system, is concentrating on accusations of wrongdoing by
United Nations employees and companies like Cotecna Inspection
of Switzerland and Saybolt International, a Dutch concern, which
the United Nations hired to monitor parts of the program.
The investigator said that the panel would only begin to focus on
oil companies that got Iraqi crude oil, with or without United Nations
authorization, after this initial phase of the inquiry was completed,
which is likely to be weeks or even months away. The investigator
noted that the panel did not have subpoena power and lacked the
authority to take punitive action against any company, American
or foreign. Under the oil-for-food program, he said, member
countries, not the United Nations, were responsible for ensuring
that their companies obeyed sanctions against Iraq.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has also joined the
inquiry, with the chairman, Representative Joe L. Barton, Republican
of Texas, sending a letter last Thursday to the United Nations
secretary general, Kofi Annan, asking Mr. Annan to release "any
information in U.N. possession which relates to the use of oil-for-
food money to produce chemical weapons in Iraq."
The oil-for-food program, over its life, resulted in $64.2 billion
in sales, making it the world's largest relief program, American
officials say. The amount of oil sold fluctuated as the program
went on. At the start, in December 1996, Iraq was allowed to sell
only $2 billion worth of oil every six months. That limit was raised
to $5.26 billion every six months by December 1999 and then was
lifted altogether, until the oil-for-food program came to an end
in March 2003.
The program allowed Iraq the power to determine, with certain
exceptions, whom it sold oil to and whom it bought goods from,
based on the profits of the sale, according to the United Nations,
but the United Nations had veto authority over all the contracts.
For a United States oil company to participate, it first needed
permission from Washington. The revenue ultimately financed
$31 billion of relief supplies and equipment, including $1.6 billion
of oil-industry spare parts and equipment, among other items,
according to the United Nations.
At the same time, Mr. Hussein was imposing illegal surcharges,
collecting kickbacks and smuggling oil outside the approved
program, generating almost $11 billion in illicit revenue, which
he used to buy weapons, other prohibited items and to build
lavish palaces, according to the Duelfer report.
Moreover, oil experts have said, the largest source of money
from unreported oil sales was from Iraq's illicit sale of oil to
neighboring Turkey and Jordan. Neither the United States nor
Britain objected to these sales to staunch Middle East allies until
Mr. Hussein's government began making similar oil shipments
to Syria. Only then did Washington protest the deals, the experts
said.
Regardless of the route through which this oil reached world
markets, the United States was the single largest importer under
the United Nations program, with as much as half the oil in certain
periods processed at American refineries for sale in this country.
During the first seven months of 2002, the United States imported
an average of 566,000 barrels a day from Iraq, with big importers
including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Valero Energy and Koch
Petroleum, according to the Energy Department.
These American companies acquired the oil after it passed through
a complicated route of trading concerns and intermediaries. The
Duelfer report said that Bayoil, a Houston-based trading company,
and Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., a prominent Texas energy investor with
a long history of dealings in Iraq, were among those who received
vouchers to buy Iraqi oil under the program. Their receipt of these
oil allocations does not mean that they did anything illegal.
Mr. Wyatt did not respond yesterday to requests for comment,
and messages left at Bayoil's offices were not answered.
Illustrating the convoluted way Iraqi oil reached the United States,
the Energy Information Administration estimated in late 2002 that
about 30 percent of it was first sold to Russian companies, with the
rest bought by companies from nations including Cyprus, Sudan
and Pakistan.
The Iraqi oil was resold to intermediaries who then marketed
it internationally, largely to American oil companies. For example,
in 2001, the energy administration estimated that significant
amounts of Iraqi crude oil wound up at American refineries, some
of which had been built decades ago in part to handle Iraqi blends.
Almost 80 percent of crude oil from the Basra region and more
than 30 percent of oil from Kirkuk went to the United States in
2001, according to the energy administration. Imports of Iraqi
oil under the program grew from an average of 89,000 barrels
a day in 1997, to a peak of 795,000 barrels in 2001, and then
declining to 459,000 barrels a day in 2002, the Energy
Department said.
Eric Lipton and Judith Miller contributed reporting for this
article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL STRUGGLE TO
ESCAPE THE LEGACY OF THE DISASTER IN IRAQ
By Robert Fisk
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=570692
Independent (UK)
October 11, 2004
I am writing a book about our need to escape from history -- or rather about
our inability to escape the effects of the decisions taken by our fathers
and
grandfathers. My father was a soldier in the First World War or, as it says
on the back of his campaign medal, "The Great War for Civilization" -- which
is the title I've chosen for my book. In the space of just 17 months after
my
father's war ended, the victors had drawn the borders of Northern Ireland,
Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent all my
professional
life watching the people inside those borders burn.
I once sat down with old Malcolm Macdonald, Britain's former colonial
secretary, to discuss his handover of the Irish treaty ports to De Valera
before the Second World War, thus depriving Britain of three great harbors
during the Battle of the Atlantic. It was a step which earned Macdonald the
undying contempt of Winston Churchill. Inevitably, though, we ended up
talking about his vain attempts to solve the "Palestine problem" in the
1930s.
In the Commons, Churchill angrily condemned Macdonald for restricting
Jewish
immigration to Palestine. I still have my notes of what Macdonald said to
me.
"We have a terrific argument in House of Commons, and when we met in the
division lobby afterwards, Churchill accused me of being pro-Arab. He said
that Arabs were savages and that they ate nothing but camel dung. I could
see
that it was no good trying to persuade him to change his views. So I
suddenly
told him that I wished I had a son. He asked me why, and I said I was
reading
a book called *My Early Life* by Winston Churchill, and that I would want
any
son of mine to live that life. At this point, tears appeared in Churchill's
eyes and he put his arms round me, saying, 'Malcolm, Malcolm.' The next day
a
package arrived for me from Churchill containing a signed copy of his latest
volume of the life of Marlborough."
My father worshipped Churchill, and pleaded with a friend to ask Churchill
to
sign a book for him; which is why I have in my library today *Marlborough:
His
Life and Times*, with the words "Inscribed by Winston S. Churchill 1948" in
the great man's own hand.
I still take the book out from time to time to look at that handwriting and
to
reflect that this was a man who sent our armies to Gallipoli, who shook
hands
with Michael Collins, who stood alone against Adolf Hitler, who campaigned
for
Zionism in Palestine and sent King Faisal to Iraq as a consolation prize for
losing Syria to the French.
"The situation that confronted HM Government in Iraq at the beginning of
1921
was a most unsatisfactory one," Churchill would write in his *The World
Crisis: The Aftermath*, of the insurgency against British rule. His friend
Gertrude Bell -- and here I am indebted to H.V.F. Winstone's splendid and
revised biography of Britain's "oriental secretary" in Baghdad -- was that
same year trying to set up an "Arab government with British advisors" in
Baghdad so that Britain's army of occupation could leave Iraq.
"I don't know what hanky panky the Allies are up to about the mandates," she
wrote, "but I am all on the side of the League of Nations in protesting that
they must be made public . . . everyone from the Euphrates provinces says
the
people there won't accept Sunni officials and the (provisional) Council goes
on blandly appointing them . . . a Shia of Karbala (sic) has at last
accepted
the Ministry of Education . . ."
Bell attended Churchill's famous -- or infamous -- Cairo conference where
the
British decided the future of most of the Middle East. T.E. Lawrence was
there, of course, along with just about every Brit who thought he or she
understood the region. "I'll tell you about our conference," Bell wrote to
a
friend in her jolly hockey-sticks way. "It has been wonderful. We covered
more work in a fortnight than has been got through in a year. Mr. Churchill
was admirable ..."
It quite takes the breath away; the British thought they could fix the
Middle
East in 14 days. And so we laid the borders of Iraq and laid out the future
for what Churchill would, much later, refer to as the "hell disaster" of
Palestine. I'll always remember the way that Macdonald, talking to me in
his
Sevenoaks home 26 years ago, turned to me during our conversation. "In
Palestine, I failed," he said. "And that is why you are in Beirut today."
And he was right, of course. Had we really "fixed" the Middle East, I
wouldn't have spent the last 29 years of my life travelling from one bloody
war to another amid the lies and deceit of our leaders and the surrogates
they
appointed to rule over the Arabs. Had we really "fixed" the Middle East,
Ken
Bigley would not have been murdered in Iraq last week.
Can we escape? Can we one day say -- both the West and the peoples of the
Middle East -- "Enough! Let us start again!" I fear we cannot. Our
betrayals and our broken promises -- to Jews as well as Arabs -- have
created
a kind of irreversible disease, something that will not go away and cannot
and
will not be forgiven for generations.
Look, for example, how we egged on Saddam to invade Iran in 1980, how we
patronized him for eight terrible years with export credits and guns and
aircraft and chemicals for gas. Looking back now, we were doing something
else. By supporting Saddam's war, we were helping an entire generation of
Iraqis to learn to fight -- and die.
I called up my old friend Tony Clifton in Australia this week. He and I
reported the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war from both sides. "Just think," he said.
"All these millions of Iraqis were taught about how to fight a big army.
They
used to use their tanks as static positions with just their gun barrels
pointing over the earth to stop the Iranians. But they weren't allowed to
use
their initiative. But now Saddam has gone and all those lieutenants and
captains are older and can use their initiative and their fighting abilities
against the Americans. I think that's why the resistance in Iraq is so
successful."
I suspect that Clifton is right, and that the eight-year war with Iran which
we were so keen on is intimately connected to the current insurgency and the
savagery with which it is being conducted by the Iraqi gunmen and suicide
killers.
And what of the Americans themselves? I've been re-reading Seymour Hersh's
stunning 1970 account of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. And there's
something about the casual attitude to death and cruelty in the way that
Medina and Calley did their killings there that I find chillingly familiar.
The Americans have a professional army in Iraq, but it is becoming
frighteningly casual about the way it kills women and children in Fallujah,
simply denying that its air strikes are killing the innocent, and insists
that
all 120 dead in their Samarra operation are all insurgents when this cannot
possibly be true. What about the latest wedding party carnage, another
American "success" against terrorism? Because journalists can scarcely
travel
in Iraq any more, there is no longer any independent witness to this awful
war. What is going on in Ramadi and Hilla and all the other cities where US
forces carry out their brutal raids?
Tony Blair still thinks his hideous invasion was not a mistake. He still
seems to believe in his own version of The Great War for Civilisation, just
as
my father once believed in it. And now I wonder what terrors this disaster
holds in store for our future generations, who will also ask themselves if
they can escape from history.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Climate Fear as Carbon Levels Soar
Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2
in atmosphere for second year running
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Monday October 11, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5036059-110970,00.html
An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may
be on the brink of runaway global warming.
Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas
has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth's natural
systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past.
The findings will be discussed tomorrow by the government's chief
scientist, Dr David King, at the annual Greenpeace business lecture.
Measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere have been continuous for almost
50 years at Mauna Loa Observatory, 12,000ft up a mountain in Hawaii,
regarded as far enough away from any carbon dioxide source to be
a reliable measuring point.
In recent decades CO2 increased on average by 1.5 parts per
million (ppm) a year because of the amount of oil, coal and gas
burnt, but has now jumped to more than 2 ppm in 2002 and 2003.
Above or below average rises in CO2 levels in the atmosphere have
been explained in the past by natural events.
When the Pacific warms up during El Niño - a disruptive weather
pattern caused by weakening trade winds - the amount of carbon
dioxide rises dramatically because warm oceans emit CO2 rather
than absorb it.
But scientists are puzzled because over the past two years, when the
increases have been 2.08 ppm and 2.54 ppm respectively, there has
been no El Niño.
Charles Keeling, the man who began the observations in 1958 as
a young climate scientist, is now 74 and still working in the field.
He said yesterday: "The rise in the annual rate to above two parts
per million for two consecutive years is a real phenomenon.
"It is possible that this is merely a reflection of natural events like
previous peaks in the rate, but it is also possible that it is the
beginning of a natural process unprecedented in the record."
Analysts stress that it is too early to draw any long-term conclusions.
But the fear held by some scientists is that the greater than normal
rises in C02 emissions mean that instead of decades to bring global
warming under control we may have only a few years. At worst, the
figures could be the first sign of the breakdown in the Earth's natural
systems for absorbing the gas.
That would herald the so-called "runaway greenhouse effect", where
the planet's soaring temperature becomes impossible to contain. As
the icecaps melt, less sunlight is refected back into space from ice
and snow, and bare rocks begin to absorb more heat. This is already
happening.
One of the predictions made by climate scientists in the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is that as the Earth
warms, the absorption of carbon dioxide by vegetation - known
as "carbon sink" - is reduced.
Dr Keeling said since there was no sign of a dramatic increase in the
amount of fossil fuels being burnt in 2002 and 2003, the rise "could
be a weakening of the Earth's carbon sinks, associated with the world
warming, as part of a climate change feedback mechanism. It is a
cause for concern'.'
Tom Burke, visiting professor at Imperial College London, and
a former special adviser to the former Tory environment minister
John Gummer, warned: "We're watching the clock and the clock is
beginning to tick faster, like it seems to before a bomb goes off."
Peter Cox, head of the Carbon Cycle Group at the Met Office's
Hadley Centre for Climate Change, said the increase in carbon
dioxide was not uniform across the globe.
Measurements of CO2 levels in Australia and at the south pole
were slightly lower, he said, so it looked as though something
unusual had occurred in the northern hemisphere.
"My guess is that there were extra forest fires in the northern
hemisphere, and particularly a very hot summer in Europe,"
Dr Cox said. "This led to a die-back in vegetation and an increase
in release of carbon from the soil, rather than more growing
plants taking carbon out of the atmosphere, which is usually
the case in summer."
Scientists are have dubbed the two-year CO2 rise the Mauna
Loa anomaly. Dr Cox said one of its most interesting aspects
was that the CO2 rises did not take place in El Niño years.
Previously the only figures that climbed higher than 2 ppm were
El Niño years - 1973, 1988, 1994 and 1998.
The heatwave of last year that is now believed to have claimed
at least 30,000 lives across the world was so out of the ordinary
that many scientists believe it could only have been caused by
global warming.
But Dr Cox, like other scientists, is concerned that too much
might be read into two years' figures. "Five or six years on the
trot would be very difficult to explain," he said.
Dr Piers Forster, senior research fellow of the University of
Reading's Department of Meteorology, said: "If this is a rate
change, of course it will be very significant. It will be of enormous
concern, because it will imply that all our global warming
predictions for the next hundred years or so will have to be
redone."
David J Hofmann of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration centre, which also studies CO2, was more cautious.
"I don't think an increase of 2 ppm for two years in a row is
highly significant - there are climatic perturbations that can
make this occur," he said. "But the absence of a known climatic
event does make these years unusual.
"Based on those two years alone I would say it was too soon to
say that a new trend has been established, but it warrants close
scrutiny."
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Plants will not save us from greenhouse gases
Source: University Relations Office (URO) [newswire
September 30, 2004
McGill research shows increased carbon dioxide
levels decrease algae growth
http://www.mcgill.ca/newswire/?ItemID=12870
The doomsayers may be right: our children may not inherit a bountiful
and green world. According to researchers at McGill University, we
have been overestimating the ability of plants to counteract the
greenhouse effect. Their findings, published in the September 30
issue of Nature, suggest changing conditions in the earth's
atmosphere may have more harmful effects on plant life than
previously believed.
The research, led by McGill University biologist Graham Bell, looked
at the response of algae to high carbon dioxide concentrations.
Their findings showed that the plants could not adapt to high
carbon dioxide conditions. This disproves the previous assumption
that plants can take up extra carbon dioxide in the environment.
According to Bell, these findings may be applied to other plant species.
Over the next century we may see a dramatic change in all plants
(including agricultural species) as our use of fossil fuels increases a
nd generates increased carbon dioxide levels.
To view the Nature article please go to the Nature website
Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Council of Canada.
Article: Nature
Sinead Collins
McGill University
514-398-6459
Source:
Christine Zeindler
Communications officer
University Relations Office
514-398-6754
http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive04/atmo1032704.html
Carbon Dioxide Reaches Record Levels (March 26, 2004)
Graph shows steady climb in levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide since the mid-1950s. NASA.
Scientists say the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached
record levels in 2003. Just as alarming, levels of the greenhouse gas
increased at a faster rate than has ever been observed before. The
conclusions were reached after months of observation from the
top of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
Carbon dioxide is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect
responsible for global warming. A growing number of scientists say
the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in recent decades is
mostly due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
Along with other greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide forms a blanket
around the planet that prevents the Sun's heat from escaping back
into space. Global temperatures rose about one degree Fahrenheit
over the 20th century.
Climatologists say big changes are on the way if Earth keeps getting
hotter. Climate will be disrupted, sea level will rise, polar and glacial
ice will melt, and weather patterns will become more and more
extreme and unpredictable.
The level of carbon dioxide rose about 3 parts per million over the
past year, from 376 ppm to 379 ppm. This is a jump of 167% over
the average annual increase of 1.8 ppm over the past decade, and
300% more than the yearly increase of 1 ppm recorded fifty years ago.
The scientists aren't sure what is causing the increase. It may be the
result of the rise of industry in Asia, particularly in China and India,
but more research needs to be done. Whatever the cause, scientists
are concerned the warming itself will create even more warming in
what is known as "positive feedback." Warmer air triggers the release
of even more carbon dioxide from the ocean and soil, which in turn raises
temperatures.
Some computer models predict that carbon dioxide levels could
reach staggering levels of 650 to 970 ppm by the year 2100. Global
temperatures could rise between 2.7 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit
in that time.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad, was sentenced to
2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts.
Today, October the 10th, the secretary general of Abnaa ElBallad
("Sons of the Country" movement), Muhammad Knaane, Abu Assad,
was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Israeli courts. Abu
Assad has been imprisoned for 8 months already, and will remain in
jail for at least another 20 months. The state prosecution had requested
a sentence of 6 years for the charge of contact with a "foreign agent"
(namely, Ibrahim 'Ajweh Abu-Yaffa) in Jordan. It was a clear political
trial, taking place against the background of the imprisonment of the
leaders of the Islamic Movement and the ongoing trial of his own
brother Hussam Knaane, and aimed at paralyzing the leadership of
the Palestinian mass movement within the Green Line.
Recently political persecution reached also the Jewish activists
sympathizing with the Palestinian struggle, as shown by the
administrative detention of Tali Fahima. Abu Assad is being punished
by the Zionist apartheid regime for his political activism on behalf of
a single democratic state for all the inhabitants of Palestine and for
the full implementation of the right of return of the refugees. We
call on the workers and democratic organizations all over the world
to mobilize against political repression in Israel and for the liberation
of comrade Abu Assad.
* Free Muhammad Knaane and all the Palestinian political prisoners!
* For the right of return of all the refugees!
* For a democratic, secular and socialist republic in all the territory
of historic Palestine!
Socialist Workers League (Palestine)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/Marxists/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Marxists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) FACULTY FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE (FFIPP)
PRESENTS:
WOMEN, PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL
St. Boniface Church,
175 Golden Gate Ave.
(2 blocks from Civic Center BART)
Thursday, October 14th, 7:00 pm
Safa Abu-Rabiah, is the daughter of a Palestinian mother and
a Bedouin father, who grew up in an unrecognized village in
Southern Israel. She is the coordinator of Bedouin Women's
Empowerment Program at the New Israeli Fund and an activist
with The Forum for Co-Existence Between Jews and Arabs.
Hannah Safran, is a co-founder of Coalition of Women for Just
Peace and an activist with Women in Black. As a scholar of women's
studies, her writings provide support to the Feminist and Peace
movement.
Susan Greene, is an artist, activist and clinical psychologist. She
is a founding member of Break the Silence Mural Project, a group
of Jewish American Women who conduct community art projects
in Palestine and a member of Jews for a Free Palestine.
JOIN US AND LEARN ABOUT WOMEN'S ROLE IN THE STRUGGLE
FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL.
$5-20 Sliding Scale, no one turned away
Co-sponsors: Jewish Voice for Peace and
International Solidarity Movement
Sunday, October 10, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEXT BAUAW MEETING: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 7 P.M.
1380 VALENCIA STREET
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! VOTE YES ON N!
Prop. N committee meets Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OFFICE
2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
ALL OUT NOV. 3RD, 5 PM, POWELL AND MARKET STREETS, SF
END THE OCCUPATION! OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) MILLION WORKER MARCH ON WASHINGTON
NATIONAL PRESS ALERT - OCTOBER 9, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
2) For the Anti-War Movement: The Elections are Really on
October 17 in Washington, DC
3) In this message:
· Worksession for the Immigrant Rights March
· Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
4) The Promise of the First Amendment
By ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER JR., chairman and publisher, and
RUSSELL T. LEWIS, chief executive, The New York Times
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/opinion/10sulzberger.html?oref=login&hp
5) FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers
By Online Satff
Friday 08 October 2004
Also see below: Rackspace Statement Regarding Indymedia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/100904W.shtml
6) Rackspace Statement Regarding Indymedia
By Annalie Drusch
Director, Corporate Communications
Rackspace Managed Hosting
Friday 08 October 2004
7) AN OMINOUS DRONE IN THE GAZA SKY
By Molly Moore
** Israeli Incursion Employs High-Tech Power to Lethal Effect **
Washington Post
October 8, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16184-2004Oct7.html
8)Urgent: Emergency Gaza Relief Fund
For Immediate Release
7 October 2004
bayareapalestine (Please post to your websites)
9) U.S. Air Raid Kills 11 in Iraq's Falluja
By Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Fri Oct 8, 2004 07:05 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6451564&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
10) For the Anti-War Movement: The Elections are Really on
October 17 in Washington, DC
If You Want to Vote to "Bring the Troops Home Now!"
You Have to Get on the Bus to the Million Worker March!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) MILLION WORKER MARCH ON WASHINGTON
NATIONAL PRESS ALERT - OCTOBER 9, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III
have endorsed the Million Worker March on Washington
on October 17.
Publicity Committee
111 Clayton Court Vallejo, CA 94591
phone: 707.552.9992 fax: 707.552.9993
mobile: 707.694.5699 email: rbs1@pacbell.net
NATIONAL PRESS ALERT - OCTOBER 9, 2004
Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III have endorsed the
Million Worker March on Washington on October 17. Martin Luther
King III will stand in the footsteps of his father at the Lincoln Memorial
on October 17 and address the mass mobilization. The declaration
of support by Coretta Scott King will be presented.
The Million Worker March will also feature presentations by
Reverend E. Randall Osburn, Executive Vice President of the Southern
Christian Leadership Foundation, and a close collaborator of
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and by Dick Gregory, the
noted social activist and associate of Dr. King.
The call for the Million Worker March was initiated by International
Longshore Workers Union Local 10. The presence of the family of
Dr. King is a fitting moral and political expression of historical
continuity.
On September 21, 1967, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
made a moving presentation at the hall of International Longshore
and Warehouse Union Local 10. The ILWU Dispatcher reported on
September 29, 1967,
"Referring to labor history, King noted that the civil rights sit-in
movement was actually invented by the labor movement, ... and we
have to keep on sitting-in at factory gates, at the steps of Congress
and even in front of the White House."
Dr. King was made an honorary member of the ILWU Local 10.
At the presentation, Dr. King appeared with William "Bill" Chester,
who had become the first major African-American official of the
ILWU as International Vice President, a direct consequence of the
civil rights movement's infusion within the labor movement itself.
On October 15, 1967, Dr. King spoke at the Oakland 'Coliseum
to be followed by performances of Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez
in launching a seven-city concert tour in support of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference.
The linkage of the struggle for civil rights with that of the labor
movement and of opposition to the devastating war on Vietnam
led Dr. King to march and mobilize on behalf of the sanitation
workers on strike in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. King announced a Poor People's Campaign that would
culminate in Poor People's March on Washington with demands
for an Economic Bill of Rights guaranteeing employment and a
living wage, national economic support for those unable to work
and decent housing for all.
He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 as he prepared a march
in support of sanitation and other municipal employees.
The Mission Statement of the Million Worker March declares:
"Thirty-six years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. summoned
working people across America to a Poor People's March on
Washington to inaugurate "'a war on poverty at home.' 'The
United States government,' he proclaimed, 'is one of the greatest
purveyors of violence in the world. ...America is at a crossroads
in history and it is critically important for us as a nation and
society to choose a new path and to move on it with resolution
and courage.'
Working people are under siege while new wars of devastation
are launched at the expense of the poor everywhere.
The Million Worker March will revive and expand a great struggle
for fundamental change, as we forge together a social, economic
and political movement that will transform America,
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) For the Anti-War Movement: The Elections are Really on
October 17 in Washington, DC
If You Want to Vote to "Bring the Troops Home Now!"
You Have to Get on the Bus to the Million Worker March!
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Antiwar and Peace
movement:
We know that many of us can't wait to vote for ÂAnybody
but BushÂ. However, if there was ever a time when knowing
that marching is often far more important than voting, and
Âmovement is more important than ÂestablishmentÂ, now is
such a time. The 2004 presidential election campaign has
made our journey to the capital far more urgent and
essential than if our march were scheduled for the day
after the Nov. 2 elections.
One of the reasons why the march was scheduled before the
elections is because presidential campaigns, regardless of
oneÂs own views of the major party candidates, almost
always usurp, co-opt, derail and neutralize the grassroots
movement. March leaders decided to use the slogan ÂWorking
people speaking for themselves for the Million Worker
March to make it clear that we refuse to be voiceless
appendages to a media-driven and money-driven election
campaign.
The November election campaign has not been a genuine
referendum on the critical question of pulling U.S. troops
out of Iraq now. President Bush is being criticized for
lying and pulling the country into this war. But both of
the major party candidates have made in clear that they
are committed to Âstaying and Âwinning in Iraq. It was
decided early on to make the demand to ÂBring the troops
home now! central to the message. With that understanding
in mind, the anti-war movement was invited to become a
full partner in this march.
The fact that the anti-war movement responded so
positively is one of the things that have given this march
almost limitless potential and power. Because of this, the
march has become a popular referendum on bringing the
troops home. ItÂs the movementÂs opportunity to Âspeak for
itself. With almost 1,100 U.S soldiers and tens of
thousands of IraqiÂs dead--and nothing but more war and
death in sight--WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO BE SILENT & IMMOBILE
OUT OF DEFERENCE TO THE ELECTIONS.
The Million Worker March is a grassroots anti-war ÂvoteÂ
against the war, the occupation, the troops coming home
and on whether our money should be spend on killing in the
Middle East, are jobs healthcare, housing and education.
The buses are filling, unions are organizing and we know
that you are working hard for this important event.
We can confidently say to you that on Oct. 17 at the
Lincoln memorial in D.C., together we are going to produce
a powerful, massive, and we believe unprecedented alliance
between the workers movement and the movement against the
war. Let's keep the hard work up over the coming week
(most people don't decide to go until a few days before)
to realize the full potential. Tell everyone that the real
vote is in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17, and that in order
to cast their ballot they have "to get on the bus".
We'll see you in Washington,
Antiwar 4 The Million Worker March Organizers
Momentum is building for the Million Worker March---new
organizing centers are springing up all over the country
(see
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/organizingcenters.htm)
and new endorsers are being added to the list daily
(http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/endorsers.htm).
It is more important than ever that we turn out by the
thousands to say, "Jobs, Healthcare, and a Living Wage,
Not War!" on October 17. We need your help in this last
week to make this happen.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
**Donate!
We need help with the enormous expenses involved with this
massive mobilization of working people. You can donate
online at: http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org/
**Get the Word out!
1) Download leaflets from
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/pdfdownload.htm
and take them to your school, workplace, house of worship,
union, and community organization.
2) Link to the Anti-war for the Million Worker March
Website:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
3) Forward this email to your email lists.
**Organize transportation from your area!
We need hundreds of local organizers. Contact us about
becoming a local organizer:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/signupantiwarorganizer.htm
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) In this message:
· Worksession for the Immigrant Rights March
· Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
----------
Saturday, Oct. 9, 12noon-5pm
Worksession for the Oct.16th Immigrant Rights March
2489 Mission St. (Room 30) at 21st St., San Francisco
Help make placards and banners for this historic march to
defend immigrant rights!
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 7pm
ANSWER Activist Meeting
2489 Mission St. (Room 30) at 21st St., San Francisco
Join us for a political update on the Middle East, discussion of
the struggle in Haiti and the Emergency Campaign to Support
the Haitian People. We will also have a report on the Afghan
elections and an update on organizing for the Immigrants
Rights March.
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) The Promise of the First Amendment
By ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER JR., chairman and publisher, and
RUSSELL T. LEWIS, chief executive, The New York Times
October 10, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/opinion/10sulzberger.html?oref=login&hp
Last Thursday, a federal district judge ordered a New York Times
reporter, Judy Miller, sent to prison. Her crime was doing her job
as the founders of this nation intended. Here's what happened
and why it should concern you.
On July 6, 2003, Joseph C. Wilson IV - formerly a career foreign
service officer, a chargé d'affaires in Baghdad and an ambassador
- wrote an article published on this page under the headline,
"What I Didn't Find in Africa." The article served to undercut the
Bush administration's claims surrounding Saddam Hussein's
nuclear capacity.
Eight days later, Robert Novak, a syndicated columnist, wrote an
article in which he identified Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie
Plame, as an "operative on weapons of mass destruction" for the
C.I.A. "Two senior administration officials told me," Mr. Novak
wrote, that it was Ms. Plame who "suggested sending Wilson" to
investigate claims that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium ore
from Niger. After Mr. Novak's report, several other journalists
wrote stories in which they said they received similar information
about Ms. Plame from confidential government sources, in what
many have concluded was an effort to punish Mr. Wilson for
speaking out against the administration by exposing his wife
as a C.I.A. operative. The record is clear, however, that Judy
Miller is not one of those journalists who reported this
information.
Because the government officials who revealed Valerie Plame's
status as a C.I.A. operative to the press might have committed
a crime in doing so, the Justice Department opened a federal
criminal investigation to find whoever was responsible.
During the course of this investigation, the details of which
have been kept secret, several journalists have been subpoenaed
to provide information about the source of the leak and threatened
with jail if they failed to comply.
On Aug. 12, Ms. Miller received a subpoena in which she was
required to provide information about conversations she might
have had with a government official in which the identity and C.I.A.
connection of Mr. Wilson's wife might have been mentioned. She
received this subpoena even though she had never published
anything concerning Mr. Wilson or his wife. This is not the only
recent case in which the government has subpoenaed information
concerning Ms. Miller's sources. On July 12, the same prosecutor
sought to have Ms. Miller and another Times correspondent, Philip
Shenon, identify another source. Curiously, this separate investigation
concerns articles on Islamic charities and their possible financial
support for terrorism that were published nearly three years ago.
As part of this effort to uncover the reporters' confidential sources,
the prosecutor has gone to the phone company to obtain records
of their phone calls.
So, unless an appeals court reverses last week's contempt conviction,
Judy Miller will soon be sent to prison. And, if the government
succeeds in obtaining the phone records of Ms. Miller and Mr. Shenon,
many of their sources - even those having nothing to do with these
two government investigations - will become known.
Why does all of this matter? The possibility of being forced to leave
one's family and sent to jail simply for doing your job is an appalling
prospect for any journalist - indeed, any citizen. But as concerned as
we are with our colleague's loss of liberty, there are even bigger
issues at stake for us all.
The press simply cannot perform its intended role if its sources of
information - particularly information about the government - are
cut off. Yes, the press is far from perfect. We are human and make
mistakes. But, the authors of our Constitution and its First Amendment
understood all of that and for good reason prescribed that journalists
should function as a "fourth estate." As Justice Potter Stewart put it,
the primary purpose of the constitutional guarantee of a free press
was "to create a fourth institution outside the government as an
additional check on the three official branches."
The founders of our democracy understood that our government was
also a human institution that was capable of mistakes and misdeeds.
That is why they constructed a First Amendment that would give the
press the ability to investigate problems in the official branches of our
government and make them known to the public. In this way, the press
was sensibly put in a position to help hold government accountable to
its citizens.
An essential tool that the press must have if it is to perform its job is
the ability to gather and receive information in confidence from those
who would face reprisals for bringing important information about our
government into the light of day for all of us to examine. Without an
enforceable promise of confidentiality, sources would quickly dry up
and the press would be left largely with only official government
pronouncements to report.
A quarter of a century ago, a New York Times reporter, Myron Farber,
was ordered to jail, also for doing his job and refusing to give up
confidential information. He served 40 days in a New Jersey prison
cell. In response to this injustice, the New Jersey Legislature
strengthened its "shield law," which recognizes and serves to
protect a journalist's need to protect sources and information.
Although the federal government has no shield law, the vast
majority of states, as well as the District of Columbia, have by now
put in place legal protections for reporters. While many of these laws
are regarded as providing an "absolute privilege" for journalists,
others set out a strict test that the government must meet before
it can have a reporter thrown into jail. Perhaps it is a function of
the age we live in or perhaps it is something more insidious, but
the incidence of reporters being threatened with jail by the federal
government is on the rise.
To reverse this trend, to give meaning to the guarantees of the
First Amendment and to thereby strengthen our democracy, it is
now time for Congress to follow the lead of the states and enact
a federal shield law for journalists. Without one, reporters like
Judy Miller may be imprisoned. More important, the public will be
in the dark about the actions of its elected and appointed
government officials. That is not what our nation's founders
had in mind.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers
By Online Satff
Friday 08 October 2004
Also see below: Rackspace Statement Regarding Indymedia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/100904W.shtml
The FBI has issued an order to hosting provider Rackspace in the
US, ordering it to turn over two of the servers hosting the Independent
Media Centre's websites in the UK, a statement from the group says.
Rackspace has offices in the US and the UK. Independent Media
Center, which is better known as Indymedia, was set up in 1999 to
provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) protests in Seattle.
Rackspace complied with the FBI order, without first notifying
Indymedia, and turned over Indymedia's server in the UK. This
affects over 20 Indymedia sites worldwide, the group said.
Indymedia said it did not know why the order had been issued
as it was issued to Rackspace. Rackspace told some of the group's
volunteers "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information
regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar
situations which prevent them from updating the parties involved
on what is happening.
Indymedia said a second server was taken down at Rackspace.
This provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG
(a Linux distribution), and a handful of miscellanous things.
In August the US Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt
to disrupt the New York city Independent Media Center before
the Republican National Convention by trying to get IP logs from
an ISP in the US and the Netherlands.
Last month the US Federal Communications Commission shut
down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago
the FBI asked Indymedia to remove a post on the Nantes IMC
that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC
volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue.
Indymedia said the list of local media collectives affected
included Amazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western
Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal
Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen,
Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy,
Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia
Radio site.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Rackspace Statement Regarding Indymedia
By Annalie Drusch
Director, Corporate Communications
Rackspace Managed Hosting
Friday 08 October 2004
In the present matter regarding Indymedia, Rackspace Managed
Hosting, a U.S. based company with offices in London, is acting in
compliance with a court order pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty (MLAT), which establishes procedures for countries to assist
each other in investigations such as international terrorism,
kidnapping and money laundering. Rackspace responded to a
Commissioner's subpoena, duly issued under Title 28, United
States Code, Section 1782 in an investigation that did not arise
in the United States. Rackspace is acting as a good corporate
citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement
authorities. The court prohibits Rackspace from commenting
further on this matter.
For additional information on the MLAT, please visit findlaw.com
(c) Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) AN OMINOUS DRONE IN THE GAZA SKY
By Molly Moore
** Israeli Incursion Employs High-Tech Power to Lethal Effect **
Washington Post
October 8, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16184-2004Oct7.html
[PHOTO (http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I16688-2004Oct07L)
CAPTION: Palestinians comb through
the rubble of their house, which was
destroyed in an Israeli assault, now
in its second week, on the Jabalya
refugee camp in Gaza.
(Photo Credit: Kevin Frayer -- AP)]
JABALYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip --
By day, the streets of this densely
populated Palestinian labyrinth are
jammed with seething funeral processions
and solemn mourning tents. But gradually,
long before dusk, the camp is
transformed into a ghost town, with
civilians cowering in their apartments and
masked gunmen darting through the
shadows carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles
and homemade bombs.
"We just hug the children and cover
them with clothes and blankets to protect
them from the bullets," said Ama
Motawaq, 59, a resident of the camp whose
windows have been shattered and
walls pockmarked by bullets.
On Thursday evening, the boom of
Israeli Merkava tank cannons and the staccato
crackle of heavy-caliber machine-gun
fire ricocheted through the concrete
alleyways, heralding the 10th night of
Israel's most lethal incursion into the
Palestinian territories in nearly 2 1/2 years.
Ninety-four Palestinians and five
Israelis have been killed, according to
statistics provided by each side in
the conflict, since Israeli forces entered
the northern Gaza Strip in an operation
aimed at preventing Palestinian
guerrillas from firing rockets and
mortars at Jewish settlements and Israeli
towns over the border. The fighting
has pitted a sophisticated, high-tech
military force against guerrillas using
assault rifles, grenade launchers and
weapons crafted from common explosives,
construction site scraps and party
balloons.
On Thursday morning, Israeli intelligence
officers watching video beamed from
an unmanned surveillance aircraft saw
two militants trying to launch a rocket
into Israel, according to a military
spokeswoman. Palestinian doctors and
nurses peering out a window at the
same two figures said they saw something
very different: two boys playing with
pipes and sticks in a sandy lot next to
a school.
Seconds later, a missile tore Suleiman
Abu Foul, 12, and Raed Abu Zeid, 15, to
shreds.
Manar Farra, director of the Al Awda
Hospital on the northern edge of the
Jabalya camp and one of the witnesses
to the incident, said the younger boy
was brought to the hospital "without
a head. Even his family could not
recognize him. It made us hate our
profession. We could do nothing."
At almost the same moment, just
after 8:30 a.m., Palestinians fired two crude
Qassam rockets into the Israeli town
of Sderot, about two miles from the Gaza
border. No one was killed, but it was
the kind of attack that had spurred
Israel's leaders to send an estimated
200 tanks and armored personnel carriers
and 2,000 soldiers into the Gaza Strip.
To people in the line of fire, low-tech
and high-tech weapons are equally
terrifying.
On the streets of Sderot, residents
interviewed this week said they lived in
fear of the whistle that the Qassam
rockets make. The missiles have killed
four of the town's residents -- including
three children -- in the past 3 1/2
months.
In the dusty alleyways and potholed
streets of the Jabalya camp, which has
more than 100,000 residents, the sound
that sows fear is the omnipresent whine
of the unmanned surveillance aircraft.
On Thursday, no one walked the streets
without keeping a wary eye on the
cloudless sky in search of the brilliant
white drone. Even grimy-faced toddlers
playing in the dust of the grassless
camp gazed skyward when the buzz grew louder.
"You're afraid when you go out, you're
afraid when you're home," said Khalid
Kahlot, 40, a father of six whose clothing
shop on the northeastern edge of
the camp was bulldozed by Israeli
armored vehicles a few days ago. "Whenever
you're out, you look to the sky to see
if there are planes or the drone.
Everyone is scared."
When the remote-piloted aircraft fires
a missile, "there's no noise, no light,
just a 'sphew.' A second later, it hits,"
said Khaled Abu Habel, 38, who said
he heard one of the missiles strike just
yards from his home last Friday. He
said the missile killed two of his cousins,
both members of the Islamic
Resistance Movement, or Hamas.
As part of a mission to create a five-mile
buffer zone to prevent rockets from
reaching into Israel, the Israeli military
has positioned tanks and armored
personnel carriers along the northern
and eastern sides of the Jabalya camp
and the adjoining concrete-block town
of Beit Lahiya. Beit Lahiya is about a
10-minute drive from the Israeli border
over roads chewed into sand pits by
the treads of 60-ton tanks -- or a 20-
second flight for a Qassam rocket.
Though tanks and bulldozers thrust
into Beit Lahiya and the Jabalya camp in
the first two days of the incursion,
they have now taken up positions at the
entrances to the enclaves, creating
a surreal division inside them.
The eastern halves of the two communities
-- the streets within tank range --
are deserted day and night. Residents
say they are afraid to step outside
their homes. But farther west, just
out of range of the tank cannons and
machine guns, the residents nervously
scuttle through streets and alleys to
shop in the handful of stores that open
for a few hours each day. Schoolgirls
with white scarves and neon-hued
backpacks walk to classes, and neighbors
gather at each other's homes to keep
an eye on the feared drone overhead.
By midafternoon, the bustle subsides
and the transformation begins. Children
and young men start stretching huge
cloth sheets across the narrow alleyways
to provide cover from prying camera
lenses above. As the afternoon shadows
grow longer, even the streets on the
relatively protected side of town are
empty.
The entrances to some alleyways are
barricaded with sandbags. Across some of
the main streets, residents and militants
have piled sand as high as a
one-story building in an effort to
block Israeli armor.
On Wednesday night, masked fighters
from Hamas's armed wing held a news
conference in the Jabalya camp to
announce their determination to continue
battling the Israeli tanks and to keep
firing Qassam rockets. They also
displayed samples of their arsenal:
three shiny new Qassams, hand grenades
and homemade bombs.
The Qassams, which have a maximum
range of about five miles, are fashioned
from four-inch pipes commonly used in
construction projects, fitted with fins
and a needle nose. The shortest version
is about three feet long and is
packed with about nine pounds of explosives.
The longest measures more than
six feet and carries a payload of more than
20 pounds.
On Thursday, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
the armed wing of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement,
unveiled its latest weapon, the Aba Bel
-- a fat, squat rocket about 20 inches
long that contains about 20 pounds of
explosives. It is launched by being flung
out of a net and kept aloft with
about 40 balloons of the type commonly
sold for children's parties, an al-Aqsa
spokesman said.
The spokesman said the first of the rockets
had been lobbed at Sderot on
Wednesday. No damage was reported
by the Israelis.
--Special correspondent Islam Abdulkarim
contributed to this report.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8)Urgent: Emergency Gaza Relief Fund
For Immediate Release
7 October 2004
bayareapalestine (Please post to your websites)
A massive military operation by Zionist occupation forces against the people
of Northern Gaza has been underway for the past nine days. Since the night
of Tuesday 28 September 2004, Israeli military forces carried out a
wide-scale, open-ended attack on the Strip. So far, this attack has resulted
in the death of eighty-one Palestinians, including 20 children. More than
270 have been injured including 90 children. Numerous homes and private
property have also been destroyed due to the invaders' use of
disproportionate force, including air force and heavy tanks. Jabaliya
refugee camp, Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia are under attack and have sustained
heavy casualties and damage. An estimated 5000 families have been trapped in
their homes, where they continue to subsist on meager quantities of water,
food and medical supplies. Medical and humanitarian aid workers are being
denied entry, and more than twenty employees of UNRWA have been detained by
the invading troops.
ACTION REQUESTED
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition has set up the Emergency
Gaza Relief Fund. We call on all people of conscience to donate to
the fund. Any amount you donate is important, will be directed to the Union
of Palestinian Women's Committees (UPWC) for distribution to the victims who
need all the help to get through the coming months.
Please make your donation checks or money orders payable to "Al-Awda" or
"PRRC". Write "Emergency Gaza Relief Fund" in the memo section, and send
your donation to:
Al-Awda
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013-1352, USA
You may also use your credit card to donate online at:
http://al-awda.org/donatenow/
Al-Awda/PRRC is a non-profit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. Under IRS
guidelines, your donations to PRRC are fully tax-deductible.
__________________
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
E-mail: info@al-awda.org
WWW: http://www.al-awda.org
Fax: 1-802-609-9284
This alert has been posted at:
http://www.al-awda.org/urgentemergencygazarelieffund/ and
http://www.al-awdacal.org/alert-Gaza_Relief.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) U.S. Air Raid Kills 11 in Iraq's Falluja
By Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Fri Oct 8, 2004 07:05 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6451564&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike aimed at foreign militants led
by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed 11 people and wounded 17 after a
wedding party in Falluja Friday.
Rescuers dug bodies from rubble with their hands after the raid on
a house where residents said a wedding party had just been held.
They said the groom died and the bride was wounded.
At the local hospital, where blood pooled on the floor, doctor
Khaled Nasser said nine females aged between 5 and 50 were
among the wounded. Reuters television footage showed four
women lying bloodied and bandaged in the hospital.
"We were celebrating my cousin's wedding and my relatives
gathered in this house for the wedding," said Suad Mohammed,
26. "The wedding ended at 10 p.m., but some people gathered
outside the house and the bombing began.
"I lost consciousness and this morning I knew I was in hospital,"
said Mohammed, wounded in the legs and chest.
The U.S. military said a "precision strike" hit a safe-house being
used by associates of the Jordanian militant Zarqawi in northwest
Falluja at 1:15 a.m.
Repeated U.S. air strikes on Falluja have coincided with efforts
by Iraq's interim government to arrange the return of its security
forces to the rebel-held city and other trouble spots ahead of
a January deadline for nationwide elections.
The government welcomed an offer by a Shi'ite militia led by
Moqtada al-Sadr to disarm, and indicated willingness to meet
at least some of the fiery cleric's demands in any deal.
"The government welcomes the announcement by Sadr that his
militia will disband, hand over their weapons, respect the
authority and the unity of the state and abide by the rule of
law in Iraq," said a statement issued in the name of Kassim
Daoud, Iraq's national security adviser and chief negotiator.
The government promised to honor an amnesty offer for
"those who have not committed crimes against the Iraqi people."
The government could also pay to repair damage caused by
nightly clashes in recent weeks between Sadr's Mehdi Army
militia and U.S. forces in Baghdad's Sadr City slum district.
Daoud's statement followed a disarmament offer made by
Sadr's top aide in a televised address Thursday.
Ali Smeism said on the Al Arabiya channel the Mehdi Army
would disarm if the U.S. military freed Sadr aides, stopped
"persecuting" the militia and paid reparations. Sadr's aides
have also demanded financial assistance to rebuild Sadr City.
PACIFYING IRAQ
If a deal were struck with the Mehdi Army in Sadr City and
other Shi'ite flashpoints around Iraq, it could go some way to
restoring stability ahead of the elections, although a Sunni
insurgency still grips some central and northern regions.
The U.S. military said Friday soldiers had caught a
suspected bomb maker in Baghdad and seized a truck carrying
more than 1,500 155-mm artillery rounds. It said Thursday's
haul was one of the biggest to date. Insurgents often use
artillery rounds to make car bombs and roadside charges.
Before the latest Falluja raid, the city's chief negotiator
said talks with the government could bear fruit soon. "The
negotiations with the Iraqi government and the U.S army have
reached a positive stage," Sheikh Khalid al-Jumaili said.
Jumaili, a mosque preacher and member of the Mujahideen
Shura (council), which has some influence in the lawless city,
said he hoped an agreement would be completed Saturday.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi denied the government
was negotiating over Falluja, saying rebels should accept his
terms, lay down their guns and join the political process.
"There are really no negotiations about this," he told Al
Arabiya. "Those who conduct violence ... and who harm the Iraqi
people should abide by these conditions."
It is not clear whether battle-hardened Iraqi guerrillas or
foreign militants said to be holed up in Falluja would accept
any deal reached by representatives such as Jumaili.
Zarqawi, who Washington says has links to al Qaeda, ranks
as the top U.S. target in Iraq, with a $25 million price on his
head. His Tawheed and Jihad group has said it carried out some
of Iraq's bloodiest suicide bombings and hostage killings.
The U.S. military said recent air strikes had killed
several Zarqawi leaders, including Abu Anas al-Shami, described
as his deputy and spiritual adviser, and Mohammed al-Lubnani.
Residents and local doctors say many of the raids have
inflicted civilian casualties in a city held by Sunni fighters
since a U.S. assault in April failed to dislodge them.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) For the Anti-War Movement: The Elections are Really on
October 17 in Washington, DC
If You Want to Vote to "Bring the Troops Home Now!"
You Have to Get on the Bus to the Million Worker March!
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Antiwar and Peace
movement:
We know that many of us can't wait to vote for ÂAnybody
but BushÂ. However, if there was ever a time when knowing
that marching is often far more important than voting, and
Âmovement is more important than ÂestablishmentÂ, now is
such a time. The 2004 presidential election campaign has
made our journey to the capital far more urgent and
essential than if our march were scheduled for the day
after the Nov. 2 elections.
One of the reasons why the march was scheduled before the
elections is because presidential campaigns, regardless of
oneÂs own views of the major party candidates, almost
always usurp, co-opt, derail and neutralize the grassroots
movement. March leaders decided to use the slogan ÂWorking
people speaking for themselves for the Million Worker
March to make it clear that we refuse to be voiceless
appendages to a media-driven and money-driven election
campaign.
The November election campaign has not been a genuine
referendum on the critical question of pulling U.S. troops
out of Iraq now. President Bush is being criticized for
lying and pulling the country into this war. But both of
the major party candidates have made in clear that they
are committed to Âstaying and Âwinning in Iraq. It was
decided early on to make the demand to ÂBring the troops
home now! central to the message. With that understanding
in mind, the anti-war movement was invited to become a
full partner in this march.
The fact that the anti-war movement responded so
positively is one of the things that have given this march
almost limitless potential and power. Because of this, the
march has become a popular referendum on bringing the
troops home. ItÂs the movementÂs opportunity to Âspeak for
itself. With almost 1,100 U.S soldiers and tens of
thousands of IraqiÂs dead--and nothing but more war and
death in sight--WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO BE SILENT & IMMOBILE
OUT OF DEFERENCE TO THE ELECTIONS.
The Million Worker March is a grassroots anti-war ÂvoteÂ
against the war, the occupation, the troops coming home
and on whether our money should be spend on killing in the
Middle East, are jobs healthcare, housing and education.
The buses are filling, unions are organizing and we know
that you are working hard for this important event.
We can confidently say to you that on Oct. 17 at the
Lincoln memorial in D.C., together we are going to produce
a powerful, massive, and we believe unprecedented alliance
between the workers movement and the movement against the
war. Let's keep the hard work up over the coming week
(most people don't decide to go until a few days before)
to realize the full potential. Tell everyone that the real
vote is in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17, and that in order
to cast their ballot they have "to get on the bus".
We'll see you in Washington,
Antiwar 4 The Million Worker March Organizers
Momentum is building for the Million Worker March---new
organizing centers are springing up all over the country
(see
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/organizingcenters.htm)
and new endorsers are being added to the list daily
(http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/endorsers.htm).
It is more important than ever that we turn out by the
thousands to say, "Jobs, Healthcare, and a Living Wage,
Not War!" on October 17. We need your help in this last
week to make this happen.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
**Donate!
We need help with the enormous expenses involved with this
massive mobilization of working people. You can donate
online at: http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org/
**Get the Word out!
1) Download leaflets from
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/pdfdownload.htm
and take them to your school, workplace, house of worship,
union, and community organization.
2) Link to the Anti-war for the Million Worker March
Website:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/index.htm
3) Forward this email to your email lists.
**Organize transportation from your area!
We need hundreds of local organizers. Contact us about
becoming a local organizer:
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org/signupantiwarorganizer.htm
http://antiwar4themillionworkermarch.org
October 17 Washington DC
