Open letter to Bay Area Activists from Bay Area
United Against War (BAUAW):

Dear friends who organized, participated, and/or spoke in the demonstrations
sponsored by Not in Our Name and ANSWER on Nov. 3 and Nov. 9.

At the concluding rally of the emergency demonstration ANSWER called to
protest the U.S. assault on Fallujah, Jahahara, of AFSC and N'COBRA, issued
a kind of challenge to all the major antiwar organizations to make a unified
response to the U.S. government's war against Iraq. He called on the
national organizations, of which we are all affiliated to one or
more-ANSWER, UFPJ, NION-to unify in building a massive antiwar movement.

This call is so timely because the war and occupation continue unabated, the
consequences for the Iraqis are devastating (over 100,000 civilians killed
by U.S. actions) and over 1,110 U.S. troops are dead and tens of thousands
injured.

Those of us who are old enough to have participated in the movement against
the U.S. war on Vietnam know that the most effective mass actions against
that war that called for bringing all U.S. troops home now [Out Now!] were
unified actions where people of different ideologies were able to come
together for
Out Now despite their divergent opinions on other topics. The mass movement
that was built on the streets of the U.S. created a supportive environment
for
U.S. soldiers to resist the war in multiple ways eventually becoming an
unreliable fighting force for U.S. imperialism.

Now, it is very clear from all who spoke at the last two demonstrations,
including you, that we have wide areas of agreement. We all spoke about the
need for the movement to get back into the streets to protest the war in
massive demonstrations. We all spoke about the need for unity. We all spoke
about the way to bring peace and end the war was for the U.S. government to
get out of
Iraq.

The next step is for all our organizations to meet together and concretely
plan how this unity will be carried out.

Bay Area United Against War is willing to host such a meeting, or
participate in such a meeting called by others. Let's make it happen.

Bring the Troops Home Now!
Carole Seligman, Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)

COME TO THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING AND BRING YOUR IDEAS ON HOW TO
ACHIEVE UNITY IN THE MOVEMENT:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, SF)
BAUAW: 415-824-8730

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Special point of personal privilege from Bonnie Weinstein:

I received the following Email message today
addressed to me:

--- "xx.xx" wrote:

> Judenrat

The brave sole did not leave his or her name.

Of course, this is not the first time I have had an anti-Semitic slur
thrown at me.

In the neighborhood I grew up in during the McCarthey erea, our
family was routinely referred to as, "those dirty, commie,
Jew bastards."

Not only was I a "Jew," but my parents were "commies" also.
It was a time when the picture of Krushchev that appeared in the
"Catholic Monitor" was kept hidden from the eyes of the children.
Good Catholic parents were advised that it wasn't safe for their
children to look upon this "face of Satan." It was hidden
under the couch cushion at my childhood friend's house.
I dared to take a peek! My friend thought I would for sure
go to hell.

And when a Black couple and their two children, friends
of our family, tried to visit us, they were stopped outside of our
building by the local cop on the beat. The cop demanded to know
where they thought they were going. They said they were
visiting us, so the cop went up to our door and asked if, indeed, these
"n---ers" were invited.

My father had to go downstairs and escort them into our apartment.
Rumors abounded for weeks after in our little apartment building.
"A white family just didn't sit at the same table with Blacks!"
This horrified our neighbors.

Even though my immediate family was not religious at all, we were
atheists, our name was enough to categorize us and place that
star on our chests. Anti-Semitism is a dead-wrong racist philosophy
that can't be tolerated. Just as the theft of Palestinian land and the
systematic extermination of the people of Palestine cannot
be tolerated in a free and democratic society. This "Jew" supports
the unconditional right of return of the Palestinian people. And
this "Jew" demands that all U.S. aid to Israel be stopped
immediately--NOT ONE MORE DIME! And this "Jew" says
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW! U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST!

Racism is about "divide and concur." It's purpose is to deflect us from
our common interests to live in a free and democratic society with
equal opportunity for all. Where all human needs are rights that
belong to all people--the equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, free healthcare, food, clothing, housing, education, happy
and productive work--all the things necessary to make everyone "the best
they can be" from birth to the grave.

These are the inalienable rights of all of us on Earth.

And, what is most important of all to recognize, is that our needs stand
diametrically opposed to the needs of the wealthiest 1% of humanity.

Racism and bigotry ultimately benefits the tiny minority in control
of wealth of the world. It is their most powerful tool for the
imprisonment of the mind that makes ordinary, good people blame
their brother for their plight in life while the rich get richer and throw
an occasional bare bone to the ravenous masses--the old "trickle
down" theory.

The only thing that can plow asunder racism and bigotry is human
solidarity for freedom, justice and equality for all.

It is a world only the masses acting in unity and solidarity can create.


When do we start?

Bonnie Weinstein

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1) ALL OUT IN SUPPORT OF THE LOCAL 2 HOTEL WORKERS!
SOLIDARITY RALLY
Saturday, November 20 at 11 a.m.
Union Square, Downtown San Francisco

2) Iraqi Insurgents Shoot Down U.S. Army Helicopter
By ROBERT F. WORTH and JAMES GLANZ
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 12
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/12/international/middleeast/12cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1100322000&en=82063e5b6cd40c73&ei=5094&partner=homepage

3) Falluja a 'Big Disaster,' Aid Needed - Red Crescent
By Omar Anwar
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Nov 12, 2004 07:37 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6798438&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

4) Falluja Battle Erupts, Unrest Spreads Elsewhere
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA (Reuters)
Fri Nov 12, 2004 09:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6799628&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

5) Subject: Mordechai released again!
From: Jeanie Shaterian
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 17:42:10 -0800

6) Bush and Blair Meet to Discuss Mideast Peace
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:41 p.m. ET
November 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush-Blair.html?hp&ex=1100322000
&en=a8a52044c77f3a90&ei=5094&partner=homepage

7) Subject: In Memory of Yasser Arafat
From: "fpa-news"
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:45:58 -0500
To: fpa-newslist@freepalestinealliance.org
Resent-From: fpa-newslist@freepalestinealliance.org
Resent-Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 20:11:50 -0500

8) Ever Upward: At Nearly 1.5 Million,
US Prison Population at New High
11/12/04
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/362/upward.shtml

9) New College of California
Center for Education and Social Action (CESA)
Listing of Peace and Social Justice Events, November 12 - 15, 2004

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) ALL OUT IN SUPPORT OF THE LOCAL 2 HOTEL WORKERS!
SOLIDARITY RALLY
Saturday, November 20 at 11 a.m.
Union Square, Downtown San Francisco

Initiated by: Million Worker March Committee
Co-sponsored by:
San Francisco Labor Council
UNITE-HERE Local 2
ILWU Local 10 Executive Board

Four thousand San Francisco hotel workers have been locked out for
more than a month. The hotel owners -- representing Hilton, Hyatt,
Holiday Inn, Sheraton and the other major chains -- have flown in
hundreds of strikebreakers from around the country to smash the
San Francisco hotel workers and their union. It is a defining struggle
that will set the stage for broader attacks on wages, pensions,
full-time work and the very existence of health coverage for
working Americans.

The global multinationals that own the major hotels and other
industries, make profits in the billions, but 61% of U.S. corporations
and 71% of corporations that have offices overseas pay no taxes
at all while their profits soar. The bosses are demanding that hotel
workers pay the escalating cost of healthcare. They seek to prevent
workers from having a unified expiration date on contracts precisely
to prevent workers from carrying out a united defense of their
interests and, by fragmenting workers, to undermine the union.

We call on workers everywhere to unite and to support the locked-out
hotel workers on their picket lines. Their fight is our fight. As the
motto of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers
proclaims: "An Injury to One Is An Injury to All."

Join us at this "Stand By The Hotel Workers and Their Pickets" rally
in Union Square in San Francisco, followed by a March to join the
pickets at key hotels.

ALSO:

SOLIDARITY NEEDED WITH UFCW GROCERY WORKERS

UFCW Grocery Workers are mobilzing on Nov. 19 at Oakland,
San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose grocery stores and
supermarkets.

For information about the UFCW actions and the Locked-Out Local 2
Hotel Workers solidarity actions, contact these web sites:

* www.millionworkermarch.org

* www.unitehere.org

* www.bayareacoaliton.org

Million Worker March Committee,
c/o ILWU Local 10,
400 North Point St., San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel. 415-771-2028

Solidarity Statement from the Million Worker March Committee
with the Local 2 Locked-Out Hotel Workers

Four thousand San Francisco hotel workers have been locked out for
more than a month. Hotel workers in Los Angeles and Washington D.C.
are fighting as well for a contract with a common expiration date.
These are workers who do the most difficult jobs from room cleaners
to cooks to front desk staff. The low wages they receive are designed
to keep them in permanent poverty.

Most of these workers -- many of whom are African-American as
well as Latino and Asian immigrants -- work two jobs to survive
and provide for their families. They are fighting to protect their
health care, pensions, wages and the right to contracts that expire
at the same time as do other hotel contracts around the country so
the bosses cannot fragment the struggle for decent working conditions.

They need our support and the support of workers across America.
By targeting the most vulnerable of workers, the hotel owners are
setting the stage for a generalized assault upon for the healthcare
benefits of all workers in the United States, union and non-union.
Millions of other workers are threatened with contracts that deprive
them of their health care -- from airline to grocery workers.

This is a coordinated corporate offensive. Let there be no mistake
about it. The Hotel owners, representing Hilton, Hyatt, Holiday Inn
and Sheraton and the other major chains, have flown in hundreds
of strikebreakers from around the country to smash the San Francisco
hotel workers and their union. This is a class war on behalf of
corporate and banking America.

The global multinationals, that own the major hotels and other
industries, make profits in the billions, but 61% of U.S. corporations
and 71% of corporations that have offices overseas pay no taxes
at all while their profits soar. These are the stakes.

The Million Worker March Organizing Committee and the Million
Worker Movement (contact www.millionworkermarch.org) call upon
workers to forge their own agenda and to unite in exposing and
resisting the national epidemic of union busting and the all out
attacks on our healthcare, wages, pensions, social services and the
vital infrastructure of our society.

We call on workers everywhere to unite and to support the locked-out
hotel workers on their picket lines. Their fight is our fight. As the
motto of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union
proclaims: "An Injury to One Is An Injury to All."

The defense of the locked-out hotel workers today is a fight to alert
and mobilize workers in America who face give-back contracts that
jeopardize decent healthcare. We call upon rank and file workers
to urge your union to stand with our brothers and sisters:

* Adopt a hotel and join in informational picketing.

* Join us November 20, 2004 at 11:00 a.m. for a "Stand By The
Hotel Workers and Their Pickets" rally in Union Square in San
Francisco followed by a March to join the pickets at key hotels.

* Organize a telephone campaign flooding hotel chain owners with
calls demanding that the bosses pay for healthcare benefits and
open the books on their billion dollar profits.

Keep the struggle alive: defend the right of hotel workers to healthcare,
decent wages and full benefits. In San Francisco the hotels that have
locked out workers include:

Crown Plaza, San Francisco Hilton, Grand Hyatt, Holiday Inn/Civic
Center Holiday Inn/Express @ Wharf, Holiday Inn/Fisherman's
Wharf, Hyatt Regency, OMNI, Palace Hotel, St. Francis Hotel,
Mark Hopkins.

* Toll-free phone numbers for these hotels are:

(866) 655-4669 Holiday Inns

(888) 625-4988 Starwood-St. Francis

(800) 228-3360 Hyatt Hotels

(800) 445-8667 HILTON Hotels

(800) 819-5053 Four Seasons

(800) 465-4329 Intercontinental Hotels-Mark Hopkins

(800) 843-6664 Omni Hotels

* * *


ERS

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) Iraqi Insurgents Shoot Down U.S. Army Helicopter
By ROBERT F. WORTH and JAMES GLANZ
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 12
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/12/international/middleeast/12cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1100322000&en=82063e5b6cd40c73&ei=5094&partner=homepage

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 12 - Insurgents shot down an Army helicopter
north of Baghdad today, wounding its three crew members, military
officials in Baghdad said.

Earlier today, insurgents attacked an American patrol in southern
Baghdad, killing one American and wounding three others, the
miiltary said.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was hit by anti-aircraft fire in
Taji, 12 miles north of the capital, the military said. The crew
members injured in the attack were rescued and are expected
to recover. The helicopter was recovered.

This was the third time an American helicopter was shot down
this week. On Thursday, in separate incidents to the north and
southeast of Falluja, two Super Cobra helicopters were brought
down after being fired on from the ground, military officials said.
Both Marine pilots and their two-man crews escaped after being
picked up by American troops in the area, and one of the pilots
was injured, officials said.

In Falluja, on the fifth day of an American campaign against
insurgents, a battle erupted near a mosque in northwest part
of the city today just hours after the Marines said insurgents were
now trapped in the south of the city, Reuters reported.

"They can't go north because that's where we are,'' Master Sgt. Roy
Meek told Reuters. "They can't go west because of the Euphrates
River and they can't go east because we have a huge presence there.
So they are cornered in the south." The news agency reported that
relief agencies were calling on the interim Iraqi government and
American forces to grant relief workers and medics access to the
city, saying more than a hundred families were in desperate need
of help and describing the situation as a "big disaster."

A military spokeswoman, Capt. Angela Bowman, told Reuters that
Mosul was calm overnight, after insurgents appeared to have opened
up a second front in the fighting by overruning police stations and
laying siege on the provincial headquarters there.

The insurgents in Mosul stormed a half-dozen police stations and
looted the buildings of weapons, ammunition and body armor,
police officials and witnesses said. By the afternoon, they had
seized five bridges running across the Tigris River, which splits
the city in half.

The American military said it had mounted a major counteroffensive
in Mosul hoping to control the violence before guerrillas could seize
the government center. But at nightfall, carloads of guerrillas
continued to roam the streets freely, melting away at the approach
of American troops.

"It's very fluid," Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, an Army spokesman, said in
a telephone interview near midnight. "It's been going on for much
of the day, and it's still going on."

Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of American forces in
northern Iraq, said in an e-mail message early today from his
headquarters in Mosul that there had been "some tough fighting"
on Thursday, but that the city was "quite calm" at the moment.
"I do expect more attacks on Friday," General Ham said, adding that
it was "hard to say if the enemy includes some who may have left
Falluja, but clearly they are responding to operations there."

Violence surged throughout the Sunni triangle west of Baghdad, with
ambushes, bombings and mortar attacks jolting Tikrit, Kirkuk,
Hawija, Samarra and the provincial capital of Ramadi, just 30 miles
west of Falluja. Iraqi officials have imposed curfews on Baghdad,
Mosul, Baiji, Ramadi and Falluja. A curfew has been in place in
Samarra since last month.

American military officials have said in recent days that insurgent
leaders probably fled Falluja before the assault on the city began
and could be organizing the counter offensive now unfolding
across the country.

The invasion of Falluja, now in its fifth day, is seen by military
planners as a way to smash the largest safe haven for the insurgency
in Iraq. Since the assault began on Monday, about 600 rebels have
been killed, along with at least 19 American and 5 Iraqi soldiers,
military officials said.

American marines and soldiers seem to be carrying out a pincer
movement in Falluja, pressing insurgents ever farther south in intense
fighting. But the military has been forced to detach an armored
battalion from its cordon operation around Falluja to help quell
violence in Mosul, about 200 miles to the north, siphoning off about
a third of the forces that had been put in place to catch insurgents
attempting to flee the fighting here.

In downtown Baghdad, a powerful suicide car bomb exploded on
a busy commercial street Thursday morning, killing at least 17 people
and wounding at least 30 others. In the evening, explosions rattled
across the capital with a frequency not seen here since August, when
American soldiers fought a Shiite uprising in the south.

In Falluja, the Second Battalion of the Seventh Cavalry pressed south
and east from Highway 10, which runs across the middle of the city,
sparking heavy fighting in the neighborhoods of Resala, Nazal and
Jebail. Another unit, the Second Battalion of the Second Infantry,
swung south and west through an industrial area, seemingly
trapping the insurgents in a pincer.

But in the center of the movement, heading due south, a Marine
battalion ran into ambushes, stiff counterattacks and at least one
booby-trapped house, all of which slowed their advance. This
advance moved through Sinai, a neighborhood known both for
car garages and hidden weapons caches, and Shuhada, a relatively
modern residential area at Falluja's southernmost edge.

"They're all over the place," a Marine officer, Lt. Christopher Wilkens,
said. "They're very well trained."

Still, some insurgents have tried to escape across the Euphrates
River to the south and west of the city by boat or swimming. On
Thursday, Apache gunship helicopters destroyed five rowboats and
a motorboat as insurgents prepared to board them.

Insurgents in the towns and rural areas to the north of Falluja have
become more sophisticated in their bomb and mortar attacks,
military officials said. In one apparently coordinated attack on
Thursday near Karma, one group fired mortars at an American
position. As an armored vehicle began moving on the only road
leading to the mortar's point of origin, another group detonated
a roadside bomb and began firing mortars at the vehicle. No one
was injured in the attack.

Military commanders had hoped to take time in the next few days
to clear out insurgents thought to be congregating in Karma, north
of Falluja, and Amariya, to the south. But with the armored battalion,
called a Stryker group, headed up to Mosul, that operation could
become much more difficult.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, arriving Thursday in El Salvador
at the start of official visits across Central and South America, said
the American and Iraqi offensive in Falluja was going well and that
hundreds of adversary fighters had already been killed.

"They are well along in that task and they'll finish it successfully,"
Mr. Rumsfeld said. "It will end, and it will end successfully, and it
will no longer be a safe haven for terrorists or extremists."

Mr. Rumsfeld acknowledged that an unknown number of insurgent
leaders and fighters had fled Falluja before the offensive began.
"I have no doubt but that some people did leave before it started,"
he said. "We also know that there are a number of hundreds that
didn't and have been killed. Others have been captured."

As American forces continued their advance through Falluja, support
troops were filtering into more secure parts of the city to begin what
officials called an ambitious relief and reconstruction effort. "The
marines and Iraqis are working to bring humanitarian assistance
right behind tactical units once areas are clear and secure," one
senior American officer in Iraq said in an e-mail message.
"There is, for example, already food and water going in to
certain areas, and Iraqi medical assistance/supplies going
into the hospital."

One of the Super Cobra helicopters came down just west of Falluja
after being struck by a shoulder-fired missile. The pilot and crew
were rescued by the Third Light Armored Regiment, which is posted
nearby. The other helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade
10 miles north of the city. The pilot was rescued but the burning
helicopter was destroyed.

On Thursday afternoon, the Muslim Scholars Association, a powerful
group of Sunni clerics that says it represents 3,000 mosques, held
a news conference in Baghdad at which it condemned the offensive
in Falluja and renewed its call for a boycott of elections scheduled
for January. The clerics have been uncompromising in their stand
against the Americans and the interim Iraqi government, and it is
unclear how much impact their protest will have on the elections.
A spokesman for the group said American-led forces conducted
dawn raids on the homes of Harith al-Dhari, the group's director,
and Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, a senior official, in the capital.

If a widespread Sunni boycott of the elections were to ensue, it could
jeopardize the legitimacy of the vote. Sunnis make up a fifth of Iraq
and are still embittered after having been ousted from power during
the initial American invasion.

American and Iraqi officials have also said they need to dampen the
insurgency in Ramadi. The Marines still control the government center
and police headquarters, and maintain bases on the edge of downtown,
but are fending off daily assaults.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, a car bomb aimed at a convoy
carrying the Kurdish provincial governor, Abdul-Rahman Mustafa,
exploded in the city center, wounding 16 people, news agencies
reported. In Baquba, about 30 men attacked an Iraqi National Guard
post at dawn, killing one guardsman and injuring three others.
A mortar attack on a national guard compound in Hawija wounded
eight people, and a car bomb at a petrol station in Hilla injured four.

No word emerged of the fate of three relatives of the Iraqi prime
minister, Ayad Allawi , who were kidnapped on Tuesday night.
A group called Ansar al-Jihad posted an Internet message on
Wednesday saying it would behead the hostages within 48 hours
unless Dr. Allawi halted the invasion of Falluja and released all
prisoners in Iraq. Those kidnapped were Ghazi Majeed Allawi,
a 75-year-old first cousin, his wife and their daughter-in-law.

A Lebanese satellite channel broadcast a tape showing weeping
relatives of one of the women begging for her release, Reuters
reported. The relatives said the captive, Wasnaa Muhammad Jaafar
Husseini, was nine months pregnant. "She's pregnant, and she can't
hold up to this," said a sobbing woman who identified herself as
Ms. Husseini's sister.

Robert Worth reported from Falluja and James Glanz from Baghdad.

Ed Wong and Khalid al-Ansary contributed reporting from Baghdad,
Dexter Filkins from Falluja, an Iraqi employee of The New York
Times from Mosul, Eric Schmitt from Washington, Thom Shanker
from El Salvador and Maria Newman from New York.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) Falluja a 'Big Disaster,' Aid Needed - Red Crescent
By Omar Anwar
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Nov 12, 2004 07:37 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6798438&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Aid agencies called on U.S. forces and the Iraqi
government to allow them to deliver food, medicine and water
to Falluja on Friday and said four days of intense fighting had turned
the city into a "big disaster."

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which receives support from foreign
agencies including the Red Cross and UNICEF, said it had asked
U.S. forces and Iraq's interim government to let them deliver relief
goods to Falluja and establish medics there.

But it said it had received no reply.

"We call on the Iraqi government and U.S. forces to allow us to do
our humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said Firdoos al-Ubadi,
Red Crescent spokeswoman.

"This is their responsibility," she said, adding that judging by reports
received from refugees and pictures broadcast on television, Falluja
was a "big disaster."

A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission
to help refugees in towns around Falluja, but could not say if it had
been granted access to the city itself.

The Red Crescent has seven teams of doctors and relief workers,
backed by trucks of food and other aid ready to go into each
of Falluja's districts when the word is given.

About 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, backed by heavy artillery
and war planes, surged into Falluja from several directions on
Monday night, launching an offensive on rebels.

The U.S. military estimates that 600 militants have been killed in
four days of street fighting.

Scores of buildings in Falluja have been completely destroyed, with
TV footage showing some districts all but leveled. There has been
no water and electricity for days and food shops have been closed,
residents say. The stench of dead bodies is hanging over some areas
of the city, the say.

HIT BY SHRAPNEL

U.S. commanders say civilian casualties have been low, but residents
dispute that, describing incidents in which non-combatants, including
women and children, have been killed by shrapnel or hit by bombs.

In one case earlier this week, a 9-year-old boy died after being hit
in the stomach by shrapnel. Unable to reach a hospital, he died hours
later of blood loss.

"Anyone who gets injured is likely to die because there's no medicine
and they can't get to doctors," said Abdul-Hameed Salim, a volunteer
with the Iraqi Red Crescent. "There are snipers everywhere. Go outside
and you're going to get shot."

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on Thursday morning and
arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the
west, on Thursday night.

He said families left in the city were in desperate need.

"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying.
People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid
workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000
families sheltering there.

Ubadi said many families taking refuge in Habbaniya and other villages
nearby were suffering from diarrhea and malnutrition and needed medicine as
well as basic necessities such as lentils, sugar, bread, tea and candles.

An aid convoy reached Habbinya on Thursday to help hundreds of families
living in schools, shops and tents on the streets, but the biggest concern
is now Falluja, where the Red Crescent has identified at least 150 families
in desperate need.

She said a convoy of aid, including drinking water, food and medicine, was
ready to leave for Falluja from Amiriya, a town to the south, but needed
permission from U.S. forces.

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Falluja Battle Erupts, Unrest Spreads Elsewhere
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA (Reuters)
Fri Nov 12, 2004 09:34 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6799628&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

FALLUJA (Reuters) - A battle erupted near a mosque in northwest Falluja
Friday just hours after U.S. Marines said insurgents were now trapped in
the south of the city.

Insurgents determined to show they are undeterred by the four-day-old
offensive in Iraq's most rebellious city have hit back hard with attacks
and bombings elsewhere, causing two days of bloody chaos in the northern
city of Mosul.

Iraqi authorities struggling to contain the unrest roiling Sunni Muslim
cities have imposed curfews on Baghdad, Mosul, Baiji, Ramadi and Falluja
this week. A curfew has been in force in Samarra since U.S.-led forces
stormed it last month.

U.S. Captain Angela Bowman described Mosul as calm overnight, with its
three million residents under a dusk-to-dawn curfew, after Thursday's
attacks on nine police stations.

An American soldier was killed in the Mosul fighting, the military said,
and Bowman said U.S. planes staged air strikes on Thursday as U.S. and
Iraqi forces sought to restore order.

"Iraqi National Guard and multinational forces are restoring security to
those areas of the city where terrorists are attacking from, primarily in
the southwestern area," she said.

Machinegun fire and grenade blasts echoed across northern Baghdad's Sunni
Adhamiya district Friday as rebels fought national guards, witnesses said.
The clashes subsided later.

Heavy fighting resumed in Falluja's northwestern Jolan district, where
resistance had dwindled in the previous 24 hours, a Reuters correspondent
with Marines in the area said.

Gunmen emerged on a rooftop beside a mosque as Marine tanks headed for the
area. Troops evacuated two U.S. casualties.

Smoke rose from an ice factory on the edge of Jolan after rebels fired
three rockets at U.S. forces there, residents said. A huge explosion shook
Jolan later, but its cause was not clear.

The U.S. military acknowledges that insurgent leaders and foreign militants
may have fled Falluja before the attack began Monday night, but says those
who remain are bottled up.

"They can't go north because that's where we are. They can't go west
because of the Euphrates river and they can't go east because we have a
huge presence there. So they are cornered in the south," Marine Master
Sergeant Roy Meek told Reuters.

"BIG DISASTER"

Tank crews said they had driven rebels through a "ghost town" to a southern
area the Americans say is a stronghold for foreign militants led by al
Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The U.S. military says 18 U.S. and at least 5 Iraqi troops have been killed
and 178 American soldiers wounded in Falluja.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society urged U.S. forces and the Iraqi government
to let it deliver food, medicine and water to Falluja, describing
conditions there as a "big disaster."

"We call on the Iraqi government and U.S. forces to allow us to do our
humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said Red Crescent spokeswoman
Firdoos al-Ubadi.

A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission to help the
many civilians who have fled Falluja, but could not say if it had been
granted access to the city itself.

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on foot on Thursday morning
and arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the
west, at night.

He said families left in the city were in desperate need.

"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying.
People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid
workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000
families sheltering there.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, writing in Britain's Sun newspaper,
said the Falluja offensive would improve security across Iraq and pave the
way for elections due in January.

Violence in Falluja and elsewhere in Iraq has taken a toll on U.S. forces.
Two planes ferried 102 seriously wounded soldiers from Iraq to the main
U.S. military hospital in Germany Thursday, joining 125 who arrived earlier
in the week.

Marie Shaw, spokeswoman at Landstuhl hospital, said 11 more soldiers
wounded in combat were due to arrive Friday.

U.S. spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Boylan said in Baghdad an estimated
600 rebels had died in Falluja so far.

Insurgents have kidnapped Dean Sadek, an American of Lebanese origin who
works at Baghdad airport, Al Jazeera television said. It showed Sadek and
his identity papers in a video issued by a group called the 1920 Revolution
Brigades. (Additional reporting by Omar Anwar, Luke Baker and Lin
Noueihed in Baghdad, Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra and Dubai bureau)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) Subject: Mordechai released again!
From: Jeanie Shaterian
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 17:42:10 -0800


Mordechai is released and back at St. George's, his things returned.
Ha'aretz said the release was to discourage him from speaking to the press.
He said this afternoon on Israeli TV in English, "One, two, three times, how
many times do they need to arrest me for the same thing?" He is under house
arrest, the conditions to be announced. He is exhausted but otherwise okay.

The Presiding Bishop made a strong statement to Israeli and US authorities.

Hope you are well!

Jeanie
"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." - Albert
Einstein
Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director
Western States Legal Foundation
1504 Franklin Street, Suite #202
Oakland, California USA 94612
Tel: (510) 839-5877 Fax: (510) 839-5397
E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net
Web site: www.wslfweb.org
part of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to
Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) Bush and Blair Meet to Discuss Mideast Peace
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:41 p.m. ET
November 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush-Blair.html?hp&ex=1100322000
&en=a8a52044c77f3a90&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Friday the death of Yasser Arafat
provides ``a great chance to establish a Palestinian state'' and a broader
Middle East peace.

At a joint White House news conference, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair pledged their support for a fresh stab at peace. The president said it
was up to Palestinians to elect a democratic government and Arafat's
successors to allow freedoms to take root.

``We'll hold their feet to the fire to make sure that democracy prevails,''
he said.

Bush, whose policy in Iraq frayed relations with France, Germany and other
traditional allies, also said he intends to travel to Europe as soon as
possible after his second inaugural, on Jan. 20.

He said he looked forward to using the ``combined strength of Europe and
America'' to advance freedom.

The leaders spoke from the stately East Room shortly after the Palestinian
leader was laid to rest in a chaotic scene in Ramallah. The Bush and Blair
governments hope a change in Palestinian leadership might open new avenues
toward peace.

There was fresh news, too, in Iraq, a chilling reminder of the perilous life
of the Middle East: Insurgents downed a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter
north of Baghdad, wounding three crew members. In their two days of
meetings, Blair had hoped to shift Bush's attention from Iraq to the stalled
Mideast peace process.

While the president coupled his call for a Palestinian state with his
unwavering support of Israeli security, Blair stressed the need to bolster
Palestinians.

``If we want a viable Palestinian state, we want to make sure the political,
the economic and the security infrastructure of that state is shaped and
comes into being,'' the British prime minister said.

``We've got the chance over the next few months, with the election of a new
Palestinian president, to put the first marker down,'' Blair said.

Bush didn't commit to a Mideast conference or sending a U.S. envoy to the
region -- two items sought by Europeans. But he did talk more optimistically
than usual about the prospects for a Palestinian state.

``I intend to use the next four years to spend the capital of the United
States on such a state,'' Bush said. ``I believe it is in the interests of
the world that such a truly free state develop. I know it is in the interest
of the Palestinian people.''

He said there was a ``new opportunity'' for resolving the decades-old
stalemate and put the onus on the new Palestinian leadership.

The United States is ``looking forward to working with Palestinian leaders
who are committed to fighting terrorism and committed to democratic
reform,'' Bush said.

Arafat was viewed as a hero by Palestinians, a terrorist by Israel. Bush
refused to deal with the Palestinian leader in his final years.

The president sounded cool about the prospects of attending an international
conference on Middle East peace. ``I'm all for conferences,'' he said,
``just as long as a conference produces something.''

Blair lost political ground at home for being Bush's steadfast comrade in
the U.S.-led war in Iraq that was unpopular in Europe.

Bush dismissed critics of Blair who call the British prime minister a lackey
of the United States. ``He's plenty capable of making up his own mind'' on
Iraq and other issues, Bush said. ``When times get tough, he doesn't wilt.''

Bush and Blair said the prime minister's motives are pure -- protecting the
British people.

``We are not fighting the war against terrorism because we are an ally of
the United States,'' Blair said. ``We are an ally of the United States
because we believe in fighting this war on terrorism. ... We share the same
objectives, we share the same values.''

Bush opened the news conference by calling Blair ``a statesman and a
friend'' and said U.S.-British relations have never been stronger. He listed
accomplishments by the nations' forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He warned that with upcoming Iraqi elections, ``the desperation of the
killers will grow and the violence could escalate.'' But he said victory in
Iraq would be a blow to terrorists everywhere.

Bush and Blair both said they oppose any attempt by Iran to develop nuclear
weapons. ``There's an agreement in the international community'' on that,
said the British leader.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) Subject: In Memory of Yasser Arafat
From: "fpa-news"
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:45:58 -0500
To: fpa-newslist@freepalestinealliance.org
Resent-From: fpa-newslist@freepalestinealliance.org
Resent-Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 20:11:50 -0500

In Memory of a Fallen Leader

In honor and remembrance of the passing of the Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the
Palestine National Authority, Yasser Arafat, the Free Palestine Alliance -
USA, joins our people in Palestine and throughout exile in calling on the
Palestinian and Arab community and all peace and justice loving people in
the United States to observe 3 full days of national mourning, remembrance,
and a steadfast of reciprocal solidarity and unity.

We call on all to display on their homes, institutions and property
Palestinian flags, scarfs, or other symbols of the Palestinian national
movement for liberation and justice.

The life and passing of Abu Ammar embodies the very struggle of our people
in their totality, in all of its opposing complexities, critical junctures,
endless pain, and stubborn victories. Like him, many have passed before,
either as a result of curfews, confinement, and imprisonment, or by rockets,
bullets, tanks and fighter planes. In all, the target has always been
Palestine, yet the victor will always be Palestine. With every fallen
leader, we inch forward in our journey home - be it in a coffin through
France and Egypt, or on the shoulders of our embattled youth, we are
destined to go home free and liberated of Israeli Apartheid and colonial
bigotry.

The legacy of Yasser Arafat is inextricable from that of the entirety of not
only the Palestinian people, but all those struggling for freedom. Through
the confinement of Yasser Arafat during the assault on Janin Camp, the
attempt was to imprison Palestine. Today, and during the assault on Falluja
and the people of Iraq, the Arab people bid farewell to a sea of victims
from the hills of Palestine to the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, as
the attempt to imprison Iraq intensifies.

As we hold our tears back for those who have fallen in the camps of exile
and Palestine and the streets of Iraq, and as we salute in struggle convoys
of passing leadership, we know too well that ours is inevitably the future.

Let every flag and kuffiyya fly high in honor of all those who have passed -
from Falluja to Rafah and from Baghdad to Jerusalem.

The Free Palestine Alliance - USA
November 11, 2004

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) Ever Upward: At Nearly 1.5 Million,
US Prison Population at New High
11/12/04
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/362/upward.shtml

The number of people in prison in the United States increased again last
year, according to a report released Sunday by the Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). According to the annual report,
American prisons held 1,470,045 inmates as of December 31, 2003, an increase
of 2.1% over the previous year. (For those wondering about the oft-cited
figure of 2.2 million prisoners in the US, the discrepancy lies in the fact
that Sunday's report does not count people imprisoned in jails.)

Southern Correctional Institution, Troy, NC
The drug war continues to play a significant role in the expansion of the
prison population. According to BJS, 20% of all prison inmates are serving
time for drug charges. "Drug-related" crimes, such as property theft by
addicts or violent conflict-resolution in unregulated drug markets, and to a
much lesser degree, drug-induced violence, create an unknown number of
additional drug war-related inmates.

Despite sentencing reforms that began taking hold in various states
beginning in the late 1990s, the number of state prisoners continues to
increase, rising by 1.6% last year. In California, for instance, where
voters passed the "treatment not prison" Proposition 36 in 2002, the state
prison population increased by more than 3,000 people last year. Similarly,
in Texas, where authorities have moved to ease parole revocations in a move
to keep inmate numbers down, the inmate population actually increased by
nearly 5,000.

But once again, the federal prison system and the federal war on drugs are
the prime factor pushing the numbers higher. The federal prison population
grew by 5.8%, nearly four times the rate of growth in the states. While
only slightly more than one-tenth the size of the combined state prison
systems, federal prisons accounted for fully one-third of the growth in
prisoners, accounting for 9,500 of the nearly 30,000-prisoner increase in
the overall prison population last year. With drug offenders making up 55%
of all federal prisoners (only 13% are doing time for violent crimes), the
federal drug war is the driving force not only in the increase in federal
prisoners but in the overall increase in prisoners nationwide.

Given the long-term decrease in overall crime rates since 1991, BJS noted
that the government's version of "sentencing reform," as the report called
it, had actually increased both prison admissions and average sentence
length in the period since 1995, with annual admissions jumping from 522,000
that year to 615,000 in 2003. Similar, sentence lengths increased from an
average of 23 months to 30 months during the same period.

"This increase is largely due to policy changes that have increased the
amount of time offenders are serving in prison," said the sentencing reform
group The Sentencing Project in a statement greeting the BJS report. "These
include such measures as 'three-strikes,' mandatory sentencing, and 'truth
in sentencing,'" the group noted.

In one landmark, again largely a function of the drug war, the number of
women prison inmates has passed the 100,000 mark for the first time. As The
Sentencing Project noted, "The rapid growth in the rate of women's
incarceration -- at nearly double the rate for men over the past two decades
-- is disproportionately due to the war on drugs. Women in prison are more
likely than men (30% vs. 20%) to be serving a sentence for a drug charge."

The US also retains its status as the world's greatest jailer nation. With
an imprisonment rate of 714 per 100,000 population, the US easily outpaced
second-place Russia with its rate of 584 per 100,000. The US imprisonment
rate is nearly four times that of neighboring Mexico (169) and more than
five times that of Great Britain (141).

As a result of the imprisonment binge, American prisons are stuffed past
capacity, with all that implies for the quality of life behind bars.
According to BJS, state prisons were operating at as much as 116% of
capacity, while the federal prison system is operating at 39% above
capacity.

Last but not least, blacks continued to be the largest group of prisoners,
making up 44% of all inmates, compared to 35% white and 19% Hispanic, with
2% "other." These proportions have gone almost unchanged in the past
decade, BJS noted.

Read the BJS report, "Prisoners in 2003," at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p03.htm online.

-- END --

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Issue #362, 11/12/04 Editorial: The Spirit of Lawfulness |Ever Upward: At
Nearly 1.5 Million, US Prison Population at New High |In an Hour of
Conservative Ascendancy: Prospects for Drug Reform at the Federal Level
During the Next Four Years |Syracuse Reconsiders Drug Policy |Newsbrief:
Congressional Drug Warrior Threatens Canada Over Marijuana Legislation
|Newsbrief: In New Twist in Thai Drug War, Police Detain and Drug Test Club
Goers |Newsbrief: Ann Arbor Officials to Ignore Voters' Will on Medical
Marijuana |Newsbrief: Georgia Supreme Court Says Wife Can't Consent to
Search of Home Against Husband's Will |Newsbrief: Austin, Texas, Cop Killed
Enforcing Marijuana Possession Law |Newsbrief: Supreme Court to Look at Drug
Dogs in Traffic Stops |This Week in History |The DARE Generation Returns to
DC: Students for Sensible Drug Policy 2004 National Conference Next Month
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) New College of California
Center for Education and Social Action (CESA)
Listing of Peace and Social Justice Events, November 12 - 15, 2004


Nov 12 at New College - Yael Berda: Defending Political Dissent in Israel
and Palestine

Nov 13 at Castro Theater; Nov 14 at Roxie Cinema - 3rdI's Second Annual
International South Asian Film Festival

Nov 15 at New College - Media Technology and Democracy Post-Election 2004:
Where Do We Go from Here?

Yael Berda:
Defending Political Dissent in Israel and Palestine

Friday, November 12th; 5:30 pm: reception; 7:00 pm: Yael Berda will speak
New College Cultural Center, 766 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Visiting Israeli human rights attorney and community organizer, Yael Berda
will speak on the current struggle to defend political dissent in both
Israel and occupied Palestine. Drawing on her experience as both a community
organizer and a defense attorney for various political prisoners, Yael Berda
will give an overview of the state of dissent within Israel and the rising
voices to bring an end to social, economic and cultural oppression, as well
as the occupation. She will address how people both inside Israel and in the
United States can act as solidarity allies to Israelis and Palestinians in
building solutions through a non-violent struggle.

Please join us in an evening of discussion and organizing to protect
democratic dissent and the fight for social justice!

Donations of $5-20 accepted at the door. Proceeds to go towards the
International Solidarity Movement, the NLG and legal aid projects in
Palestine and Israel. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Sponsored by Northern California Support Group of the International
Solidarity Movement, Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and New
College Center for Education and Social Action. For more information about
this event, please contact jon@newcollege.edu or call 415-437-3425.

New College's Women's Spirituality Program and the Activism and Social
Change Emphases are co-sponsoring some of the films at
3rd I's Second Annual South Asian film Festival

Saturday, November 13 at the The Castro Theater, S.F.
Sunday, November 14 at the Roxie Cinema, S.F.

3rdI's Second Annual International South Asian Film Festival will be held
Saturday, November 13 at the Castro Theater and Sunday, November 14 at the
Roxie Cinema. This is a great opportunity to see films showcasing diverse
images of Indians and other South Asians through art house classics to
documentary films, from innovative and experimental visions to classic
Bollywood.

We will be screening Ritwak Ghatak's film, "Jukti Takko Aar Gappo" (Reason,
Argument & Story) -- this is a choice opportunity to see this rarely
screened gem. "Second Generation" about second generation South Asian youth
living their lives in sync with the pulse of their London, on Saturday
11/13 at the Castro with actress Parminder Nagra from Bend it Llike Beckham
and ER (Nagra will be here for a Q&A post screening) . Naturally we have a
tribute to Bollywood with Shah Rukh Khan's latest "Main Hoon Na" (8:00pm
11/13) at the Castro which isn't all campy fun and frivolity -- it does
attempt to address the conflict with India & Pakistan -- and works for the
whole family as well.

Sunday's schedule includes a film in Marathi "Eternity" (Anahaat) adapted
from the original play in Hindi by Surendra Verma "Surya Ki Antim Kiran Se
Pehli Kiran Tak.'; the documentary "Starkiss: Circus Girls in India" about
the Great Rayman Circus and the harrowing life the Nepalese girls who are
recruited for the circus go through
(http://www.thirdi.org/festival/film/starkiss.htm); and"Laatoo", a
documentary about the Pakistani dance world. We have two great shorts
programs: a selection of South Asian women's short films (from the Bay Area
to Bangladesh) with the award winning A Certain Liberation
http://www.thirdi.org/festival/film/womenshorts.htm; and lastly a collection
of South Asian British shorts.

Last year most shows soled out so we suggest you purchase your tickets
online in advance. For film program and to purchase tickets in advance,
please visit: http://www.thirdi.org/festival/index.htm or call 415
835.4781.

Media Technology and Democracy Post-Election 2004:
Where Do We Go from Here?

Monday, November 15th, 7- 9 pm
New College Cultural Center, 766 Valencia Street, San Francisco

What are the lessons of the 2004 elections regarding media, new technology
and politics? What is on the horizon for the media democracy and media
justice movements? Media technology has the capacity for both liberation and
oppression; it can enlighten and obfuscate; serve the interests of progress
or reaction. From the perspective of the recent elections, an outstanding
panel talks about the future of media technology and democracy.

Panelists:

Dan Coughlin, Executive Director of Pacifica Radio. He was appointed the
Executive Director of Pacifica Radio in January 2002. Under his stewardship,
the network pulled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy following a
debilitating 2-year internal struggle. Pacifica has since undergone the
largest financial and audience expansion in the network's 55-year history
while transforming itself into a membership organization with national
elections for its board of directors. Coughlin previously served as the
network's news director and as a producer of Democracy Now! He came to
Pacifica from Inter Press Service (IPS) Third World News Agency, a wire
service specializing in the Global South, where he worked as a senior editor

Jan Frel, Political Editor of AlterNet - the highly acclaimed Internet
information source that provides readers with crucial facts and passionate
opinions. He recently worked on the Dean for America campaign in Vermont,
and before that he worked for the public interest journal TomPaine.com. Jan
graduated from St. Andrews University Scotland with a degree in Geography.
He says he could have been a better student.

Art McGee, communications, media, and technology consultant with Online
Policy Group. Art McGee has over 15 years of experience in the corporate and
non-profit arenas. He has worked with organizations such as Project Change
(AntiRacismNet), Media Alliance (San Francisco), TAO Communications (now
known as the Organization for Autonomous Communications), the Center for
Third World Organizing (CTWO), the Black Radical Congress (BRC), and the
Institute for Global Communications (The World's First Non-Profit Internet
Service Provider), among many others.

Thenmozhi Soundararjan, Co-founder and Executive Director, Third World
Majority. She is a filmmaker, singer, and grassroots media activist. As a
second generation Tamil Untouchable woman, she strives to connect grassroots
organizers in developing countries with media resources that can widen their
base of resistance. She was the director and founder of the Center for
Digital Storytelling's national community programs in which she developed
the framework for community based digital storytelling. In that capacity she
has worked with over 200 communities around the country developing grounded
new media practices for their work. Further she is in residence at the MIT
Center for Reflective Community Practice writing about her experiences with
community based digital storytelling. She is also a 2001-2002 Eureka
foundation fellow.

Donation: $5 - 10 (sliding scale; no one turned away for lack of funds)

This event is sponsored by New College Center for Education and Social
Action. For more information about this event, please contact
jon@newcollege.edu or call 415-437-3425.

New College Center for Education & Social Action (CESA)
Listing of peace and social justice events emailed weekly.
To subscribe or unsubscribe: jon@newcollege.edu
For information: Jon Garfield: (415) 437-3425.
New College CESA: http://www.newcollege.edu/cesa
New College of California: http://www.newcollege.edu

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

PEACE!

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distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
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posted 1:01 PM  0 comments

Dear friends who organized, participated, and/or spoke in the
demonstrations sponsored by Not in Our Name and ANSWER
on Nov. 3 and Nov. 9.

At the concluding rally of the emergency demonstration ANSWER
called to protest the U.S. assault on Fallujah, Jahahara, of AFSC
and N'COBRA, issued a kind of challenge to all the major antiwar
organizations to make a unified response to the U.S. government's
war against Iraq. He called on the national organizations, of which
we are all affiliated to one or more-ANSWER, UFPJ, NION-to unify
in building a massive antiwar movement.

This call is so timely because the war and occupation continue
unabated, the consequences for the Iraqis are devastating (over
100,000 civilians killed by U.S. actions) and over 1,110 U.S. troops
are dead and tens of thousands injured.

Those of us who are old enough to have participated in the
movement against the U.S. war on Vietnam know that the most
effective mass actions against that war that called for bringing all
U.S. troops home now [Out Now!] were unified actions where
people of different ideologies were able to come together for
Out Now despite their divergent opinions on other topics. The
mass movement that was built on the streets of the U.S. created
a supportive environment for U.S. soldiers to resist the war in
multiple ways eventually becoming an unreliable fighting force
for U.S. imperialism.

Now, it is very clear from all who spoke at the last two
demonstrations, that we have wide areas of agreement. We all
agree about the need for the movement to get back into the streets
to protest the war in massive demonstrations. We all spoke
about the need for unity. We all spoke about the way to bring
peace and end the war, was for the U.S. government to get out of
Iraq.

The next step is for all our organizations to meet together and
concretely plan how this unity will be carried out.

Bay Area United Against War is willing to host such a meeting,
or participate in such a meeting called by others.

Let's make it happen.

Bring the Troops Home Now!
Carole Seligman, Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)

COME TO THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING AND BRING YOUR IDEAS ON HOW TO
ACHIEVE UNITY IN THE MOVEMENT:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, SF)
BAUAW: 415-824-8730

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) U.S. Troops Comb Falluja;
Baghdad Bomb Kills 17
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Thu Nov 11, 2004 08:10 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6786158&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

2) US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous
gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion
of Fallujah
http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2004-11/10/article05.shtml

3) US Assault Leaves Fallujah in Ruins
and Unknown Numbers Dead
By James Cogan
11 November 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/fall-n11.shtml

4) Arafat: Israel seals West Bank and Gaza
11 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=581644&host=3&dir=75

5) Alberto Gonzales: A Record of Injustice

6) TANKS APPEAR AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN WESTWOOD, CA

7) Iraqi democrats against ocupation IDAO site
published this news: 9 November, Iraqi Railway workers
boycott supplies to US troops
www.idao.org

8) Companies Sue Union Retirees
To Cut Promised Health Benefits
Firms Claim Right to Change
Coverage, Attempt to Pick
Sympathetic Jurisdictions
The Process Server Pays a Call
By ELLEN E. SCHULTZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 10, 2004; Page A1

9) Mordechai Vannunu arrested
Call the Israeli Consulate 415-844-7500 in SF lets flood them with
phone calls demanding the release of Mordechai. also anyone intersted
in doing an action in the Israeli Consulate in regards to this let
Me Know off line i would be up for doing that.
peace
keith
Mordechai Vanunu:
An Interview
By Johannes Wahlstrom, Jerusalem

10) Hard Lesson in Battle: 150
Marines Meet 1 Sniper
THE INSURGENTS
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/11snipers.html?hp
&ex=1100235600&en=0879c52c261dfe9b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

11) As U.S. Advances in Falluja,
New Fighting Erupts in Northern Iraq
By JAMES GLANZ and MARIA NEWMAN
BAGHDAD
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/11cnd-iraq.html?
hp&ex=1100235600&en=b76e3d2520471f73&ei=5094&partner=homepage

12) Europe Must Adapt to U.S. View on
Terror, NATO Chief Says
By WARREN HOGE
UNITED NATIONS
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/europe/11cnd-nato.html?hp&ex
=1100235600&en=95c8c80a284ba55a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

13) The Things They Wrote
VETERANS DAY
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/opinion/11intro.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) U.S. Troops Comb Falluja;
Baghdad Bomb Kills 17
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Thu Nov 11, 2004 08:10 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6786158&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops hunted rebels in the battered Iraqi
city of Falluja on Thursday, but rebels hit back with an armed rampage
in Mosul and a powerful car bomb that killed 17 people in a crowded
Baghdad street.

The late morning car bomb in the heart of the Iraqi capital also wounded
at least 20, a police source said.

A Reuters reporter saw four bodies in burned-out cars after the blast
near a police patrol in a busy street just off Nasr Square. The bomb
devastated a nearby building and littered the street with twisted metal
and glass from shattered shop windows.

The Falluja assault has provoked an upsurge in violence elsewhere
in Iraq, as happened in April during an earlier failed U.S. attempt
to subdue the country's most rebellious city.

Marines fired mortar barrages against elusive guerrillas in Falluja's Jolan
district as tanks squeezed down alleys to eliminate resistance on the
third full day of the offensive.

Impacts from relentless mortar blasts and sporadic artillery fire blanketed
parts of the city with black smoke as rebels responded with occasional
mortar rounds and sniper fire.

U.S. officers said Marine Corps and army units had gained a large
presence throughout Falluja but were still taking some fire from
Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign militants.

Tanks punched through Jolan to the Euphrates river and were
chasing down remaining rebels to consolidate control over the
city 32 miles west of Baghdad.

"Things are going, I think, as planned. We've got about 70
percent of the city under control," U.S. General Richard Myers,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS television.

"There have been hundreds and hundreds of insurgents who
have been either killed or captured," he said.

But while U.S.-led troops fought for the upper hand in
Falluja, insurgents in the northern city of Mosul set police
stations ablaze, stole weapons and roamed the streets.

Residents said Iraq's third largest city seemed to slide
out of control as grenade blasts and gunfire rang through empty
streets and smoke billowed from two burning police stations.

Rebels attacked Iraqi national guards controlling a bridge
in the city center, killing five of them, witnesses said.

"REALLY CRAZY"

A cameraman for Reuters filmed gunmen raiding weapons and
flak jackets from a police station before setting it on fire.

"It's crazy, really, really crazy," said Abdallah Fathi,
a resident who witnessed the police station attack.

A photographer working for Reuters was shot in the leg and
taken to hospital. Doctors said one civilian had been killed
and at least 25 wounded in the past two days of fighting.

Violence has worsened in Mosul, a strongly nationalist city
of three million people, over the past year, but residents said
the chaos of the past two days had broken new ground.

"Yesterday, the city felt like hell, today it could be the
same or worse," Fathi said.

Apparently responding to the Falluja offensive, insurgents
have staged attacks this week in the Sunni towns and cities of
Samarra, Baiji, Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad.

Six national guards were killed near Tikrit, Saddam's home
town, by a roadside bomb on Wednesday night, witnesses said.

Kirkuk's provincial governor escaped unhurt when a car bomb
blew up near his convoy in the northern city, wounding 16
people, police and hospital officials said.

In Falluja, residents said the stench of decomposing bodies
hung over the battered city, power and water supplies had been
cut for five days and food was running out for thousands of
civilians trapped in their homes by the fighting.

About 10,000 U.S. troops, backed by 2,000 Iraqi government
troops, are engaged in the battle for Falluja.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who ordered the
assault, has come under personal pressure from Islamist
militants who kidnapped three of his relatives on Tuesday.

The militants have threatened to behead Allawi's
75-year-old cousin Ghazi and two women relatives unless he
calls off the assault. The government has said its policy will
not change.

The Iraqi military governor in Falluja said his men had
found "slaughterhouses" where militants had held and killed
hostages, along with records of victims.

But Major-General Abdul-Qader Jassim told reporters he
could not say if the evidence offered any clues to the fate of
at least nine foreign hostages still missing.

Allawi and his U.S. backers have vowed to pacify Falluja
and the rest of the country before elections due in January.
(Additional reporting by Maher al-Thanoon in Mosul, Aref
Mohammed in Kirkuk and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous
gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion
of Fallujah
http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2004-11/10/article05.shtml

FALLUJAH, November 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - US troops are
reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale
offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder
of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988.

"The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting
them with internationally-banned chemical weapons," resistance sources
told Al-Quds Press Wednesday, November 10.

The fatal weapons led to the deaths of tens of innocent civilians, whose
bodies litter sidewalks and streets, they added.

"They use chemical weapons out of despair and helplessness in the face of
the steadfast and fierce resistance put up by Fallujah people, who
drove US troops out of several districts, hoisting proudly Iraqi flags
on them. Resistance has also managed to destroy and set fire to
a large number of US tanks and vehicles.

"The US troops have sprayed chemical and nerve gases on resistance
fighters, turning them hysteric in a heartbreaking scene," an Iraqi
doctor, who requested anonymity, told Al-Quds Press.

"Some Fallujah residents have been further burnt beyond treatment by
poisonous gases," added resistance fighters, who took part in Golan
battles, northwest of Fallujah.

In August last year, the United States admitted dropping the
internationally-banned incendiary weapon of napalm on Iraq,
despite earlier denials by the Pentagon that the "horrible" weapon
had not been used in the three-week invasion of Iraq.

After the offensive on Iraq ended on April 9 last year, Iraqis began
to complain about unexploded cluster bombs that still litter
cities.

Media Blackout

A US tank pushing its way in Fallujah streets

The sources said that the media blackout, the banning of Al-Jazeera
satellite channel and subjective embedded journalists played well into
the hands of the US military.

"Therefore, US troops opted for using internationally banned weapons
to soften the praiseworthy resistance of Fallujah people.

"More and more, the US military edits and censors reports sent by
journalists to their respective newspapers and news agencies," the
sources added.

Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Al-Shaalan had said Tuesday,
November 9, would be decisive.

"Al-Shaalan declaration meant nothing but the use of chemical
weapons and poisonous gases to down Fallujah fighters,"
observers told Al-Quds Press.

The reported gassing stands as a grim reminder of Saddam
Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurdish community in the
northern city of Halbja in 1988.

While the West insisted that Saddam was the one behind
the heinous attack, the ousted president pointed fingers at
the then Iranian regime.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) US Assault Leaves Fallujah in Ruins
and Unknown Numbers Dead
By James Cogan
11 November 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/fall-n11.shtml


The US assault on Fallujah is a criminal and barbaric operation.
The descriptions of the thrust through Fallujah's northern suburbs
make clear the city is being destroyed, and its poorly-armed defenders
slaughtered, by 10,000 American soldiers over whom all moral
constraints have been lifted.

AChristian Science Monitor journalist embedded with a marine unit
wrote Wednesday: "Every vehicle is treated as a potential car bomb
and every person as a possible enemy. Approval even came over the
radio to shoot dogs with shotguns, to prevent them carrying explosives."

As the American forces advanced into the city, a Chicago Tribune
journalist reported that a psychological operations unit trailed behind,
blaring out Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"-the music used by film
director Francis Ford Coppola to accompany the scene in Apocalypse
Now in which US troops massacre civilians in a Vietnamese village.

Iraqi fighters in Fallujah's north were overwhelmed by the firepower
and the murderous tactics of the US military. While American infantry
waited a safe distance away, jets, helicopters, tanks and other armoured
vehicles pounded the buildings ahead of them with rockets, shells and
heavy-calibre machine-guns to clear them of any defenders. Explosive
coil designed to clear mine-fields was fired down city streets and
detonated. Artillery bombarded residential areas with phosphorous
rounds, which explode into a fireball that cannot be put out with
water. No attempt has been made by the US military to avoid civilian
casualties.

Iraqi journalist Fadil al-Badrani, reporting for Reuters from Fallujah,
recounted on Tuesday: "Every minute, hundreds of bombs and shells
are exploding... The north of the city is in flames. I can see fire and
smoke. Fallujah has become like hell...

"Electricity is cut off because of damage to the main power station
from the bombardment. The water supply has been cut off too. People,
particularly children and women, tend to stay at home, fearing being
mistaken for a military target."

On Wednesday, Badrani reported to Al Jazeerah that "almost half" of
the city's 120 mosques "have been destroyed after being targeted by
US air and tank strikes".

According to the New York Times' correspondents, more than half
the houses in the northern suburbs of Jolan and Askeri have been
destroyed. They reported Wednesday: "Dead bodies were scattered
on the streets and narrow alleys of Jolan, one of Fallujah's oldest
neighborhoods. Blood and flesh were splattered on the walls of
some of the houses, witnesses said, and the streets were full of
holes."

Other reports by journalists embedded with US units include references
to five-storey apartment complexes and hospitals being raked with
tank fire and heavy machine-guns, after Iraqi fighters engaged
US troops from them. Women and boys as young as 12 are among
those who have taken up arms to defend their city against the
invasion force.

The contrast between the firepower being unleashed by the US
military and the capacity of the Iraqis to fight back was graphically
contained in a report by the Los Angeles Times on the capture of
the Al Hadra al-Muhammadiya mosque, the focus of the popular
resistance in Fallujah to the US occupation of Iraq.

A marine captain told the newspaper: "This is the nerve centre of
the resistance-and we're here." The weapons found in the "nerve
centre" consisted of only rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), AK-47s,
obsolete rifles, materials for homemade bombs and improvised
blasting caps.

How many people in Fallujah have been killed in the inferno of
bombs, bullets, collapsing buildings and fire is not known, and
may not be known for weeks or months. By the US military's own
estimate though, between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians were still
in the city before it began its rampage.

A Marine Corp spokesman declared on Wednesday that the US military
has "no information of anyone [civilians] being hurt". The only
conclusion that can be drawn is that they are not looking for such
information. A Fallujah resident told the British Guardian by phone:
"People cannot reach the clinics or the hospital and there are many
wounded people. Most people are staying in their houses... There
are a lot of people dead who I saw with my own eyes."

As the assault progresses and it is clear that the US military is treating
the entire population as a target, the Bush administration has
abandoned its cynical propaganda that the city was being attacked
to "liberate" it from foreign terrorists headed by Abu Musaab
al-Zarqawi before elections are held in January.

An unnamed military official in Washington told the New York Times :
"The important idea to consider is that this is not an operation against
Zarqawi and his network. It is just one of the many steps that need
to be taken in order to defeat a complex and diverse insurgency, in
which the Zarqawi network is but one element." US generals and
officials are now stating it is likely Zarqawi and the "foreign terrorists"
have left Fallujah-without providing any evidence to refute the claims
of the Fallujah resistance leaders that they were never in the city
in the first place.

The US media, which dutifully reported every airstrike on Fallujah
over the past five months as a "precision strike" on Zarqawi safehouses,
has barely commented on the shifting rationale for the attack on the
city. It can be predicted with virtual certainty, however, that it will
prominently report US military claims that Zarqawi has "surfaced"
in Ramadi, Samarra, Baquaba or whichever is the next Iraqi city
slated for destruction.

The savagery in Fallujah is the real face of the US occupation of Iraq.
The claim by the Bush administration that the slaughter taking place
in the city will facilitate "democratic elections" in January is obscene.
Fallujah is being razed to the ground as part of a perspective of killing
or driving underground every voice of opposition to the US presence
in the country. The only participants in any elections will be the venal
pro-occupation organisations that joined the puppet Iraqi interim
government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

The occupation of Iraq will not give rise to "democracy", but a pro-US
police-state that sanctions the indefinite presence of American troops
and the looting of the country's oil resources by American corporations.
Allawi, the intended head of such a regime, is earning the nickname
that Iraqis have given him-"Saddam without the moustache". Already
accused of personally murdering prisoners, he has invoked martial
law across most of the entire country and requested that the US
military conduct bloody offensives against the resistance in as many
as 21 other Iraqi cities and towns. On Tuesday night, Allawi rejected
outright an appeal for a four- or five-hour truce in Fallujah so that
the injured and noncombatants could be evacuated from the city.

The fighting in Fallujah is continuing in the southern suburbs and
is likely to rage for days to come. The conquest of the city, however,
will have the opposite effect to that intended by the Bush administration
and the US military. Far from weakening or intimidating the opposition
to the occupation, resistance groups have already stepped up their
attacks throughout the predominantly Sunni Muslim regions of
central and northern Iraq. Clashes between US troops and guerillas
have taken place over the past 48 hours in Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi,
and other smaller towns.

The reports of occupation casualties are climbing as a result, even
without accurate figures on the number of American dead and
wounded in Fallujah. So far in November, 30 US troops have been
confirmed killed in action, as well as four members of the British
Black Watch regiment that the Blair government made available
to the US military for the Fallujah operation.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Arafat: Israel seals West Bank and Gaza
11 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=581644&host=3&dir=75

Israel sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip and sent troop
reinforcements to the areas today, in response to Yasser
Arafat's death, the military said.

Israel also increased security at Jewish settlements, fearing
widespread Palestinian riots in the coming days.

"The Israeli Defence Forces are deploying to allow a dignified
funeral ceremony for chairman Arafat," an army statement said.

The military said it would restrict access to the funeral, set for
Saturday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and only allow
Palestinians with the necessary permits to attend.

The military will allow symbolic funeral processions to be
held in towns and refugee camps across the West Bank and
Gaza, officials said.

In the past four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israel has
imposed strict travel restrictions on the Palestinians and severely
limited their access to Israel.

Today's blanket closure means no Palestinians will be able
to enter Israel.

The military also sent troop reinforcements to the West Bank
and Gaza.

In the UK, the Foreign Office today revised its travel advice
for Israel and the Occupied Territories in response to
Mr Arafat's death.

British travellers were already advised against travelling
to certain parts of Israel and large parts of the territories,
which are made up of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The advice now includes: "Following the death of Yasser
Arafat, the security situation remains unclear throughout
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"You should be aware that staff from the British Embassy
and Consulate-General are not entering either the West
Bank or the Gaza Strip until further notice.

"Because of current travel and other restrictions, there are
limits to the level of consular assistance we can provide in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

The Foreign Office said that the amendment reflected "the
potential for deterioration in the security situation in the
Occupied Territories following Mr Arafat's death".

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) Alberto Gonzales: A Record of Injustice

As White House Counsel

GONZALES APPROVED MEMO AUTHORIZING TORTURE: An August 2002 Justice
Department memo "was vetted by a larger number of officials,
including...the White House counsel's office and Vice President
Cheney's office." According to Newsweek, the memo "was drafted after
White House meetings convened by George W. Bush's chief counsel,
Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense Department general counsel
William Haynes and [Cheney counsel] David Addington." The memo
included the opinion that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to
the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants."
Further, the memo puts forth the opinion that the pain caused by an
interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or
serious impairment of body functions—in order to constitute torture."
The methods outlined in the memo "provoked concerns within the CIA
about possible violation of the federal torture law [and] also raised
concerns at the FBI, where some agents knew of the techniques being
used" overseas on high-level al Qaeda officials. [Gonzales 8/1/02
memo; WP, 6/27/04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8534-2004Jun26.html;
Newsweek, 6/21/04 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5197853/site/newsweek;
NYT, 6/27/04
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60E14FB3C5C0C748EDDAF0894DC4
04482]

GONZALES BELIEVES MANY GENEVA CONVENTIONS PROVISIONS ARE OBSOLETE: A
1/25/02 memo written by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales said "the
war against terrorism is a new kind of war" and "this new paradigm
renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy
prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions." The memo pushes
to make al Qaeda and Taliban detainees exempt from the Geneva
Conventions' provisions on the proper, legal treatment of prisoners.
The administration has been adamant that prisoners at Guantanamo are
not protected by the Geneva Conventions. [Gonzales 1/25/02 memo;
Newsweek, 5/24/04 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4989481/]

GONZALES ADMITTED HIS VIEWS 'COULD UNDERMINE U.S. MILITARY CULTURE':
The 1/25/02 memo shows Alberto Gonzales was aware of the risk that
ignoring the Geneva Conventions could create for the military. One
concern expressed is that failing to apply the Geneva Conventions
"could undermine U.S. military culture which emphasizes maintaining
the highest standards of conduct in combat, and could introduce an
element of uncertainty in the status of adversaries," which is what
happened at Abu Ghraib. Secretary of State Colin Powell strongly
warned against taking this decision, as did lawyers from the Judge
Advocate General's Corps, or JAG. This week, a federal judge ruled
that "President Bush had both overstepped his constitutional bounds
and improperly brushed aside the Geneva Conventions" when he
established military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to try
detainees as war criminals. [Gonzales 1/25/02 memo; Bloomberg, 6/14/04
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_woolner&si
d=aJEp1ExaMybo;
New York Times, 11/9/04]

GONZALES BLOCKS INFORMATION FROM CONGRESS: Historically, senators have
been allowed to review some memoranda by judicial nominees. But, in a
letter [about nominee Miguel Estrada], Gonzales told the Democrats
that the administration would not produce the memos, because to do so
would chill free expression among administration lawyers and violate
the principle of executive privilege, which protects the internal
deliberations of the president's aides. [New Yorker, 5/19/03
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030526fa_fact]

As Texas Chief Legal Counsel

DEATH PENALTY MEMOS: GONZALES'S NEGLIGENT COUNSEL: As chief legal
counsel for then-Gov. Bush in Texas, Gonzales was responsible for
writing a memo on the facts of each death penalty case – Bush decided
whether a defendant should live or die based on the memos. An
examination of the Gonzales memoranda by the Atlantic Monthly
concluded, "Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of
crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of
interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." His
memos caused Bush frequently to approve executions based on "only the
most cursory briefings on the issues in dispute." Rather than
informing the governor of the conflicting circumstances in a case,
"The memoranda seem attuned to a radically different posture, assumed
by Bush from the earliest days of his administration—one in which he
sought to minimize his sense of legal and moral responsibility for
executions." [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003
http://www.fdp.dk/act/030928_texas_clemency.php]

MEMORANDUM ON TERRY WASHINGTON: A CASE STUDY IN INCOMPETENCE: In his
briefing on death-row defendant Terry Washington – a mentally retarded
33-year-old man with the communication skills of a seven-year-old –
Gonzales devoted nearly a third of his three-page report to the
gruesome details of the crime, but referred "only fleetingly to the
central issue in Washington's clemency appeal—his limited mental
capacity, which was never disputed by the State of Texas—and
present[ed] it as part of a discussion of 'conflicting information'
about the condemned man's childhood." In addition, Gonzales "failed to
mention that Washington's mental limitations, and the fact that he and
his ten siblings were regularly beaten with whips, water hoses,
extension cords, wire hangers, and fan belts, were never made known to
the jury, although both the district attorney and Washington's trial
lawyer knew of this potentially mitigating evidence." Nor did he
mention that Washington's lawyer had "failed to enlist a mental-health
expert" to testify on Washington's behalf, even though "ineffective
counsel and mental retardation were in fact the central issues raised
in the thirty-page clemency petition" it was Gonzales's job to review.
This all came at a time when "demand was growing nationwide to ban
executions of the retarded." [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003
http://www.fdp.dk/act/030928_texas_clemency.php]

GONZALES TOLD GOV. BUSH HE COULD IGNORE INTERNATIONAL LAW: In 1997,
Alberto Gonzales wrote a memo for then Gov. Bush to justify
non-compliance with the Vienna Convention. The Vienna Convention,
ratified by the Senate in 1969, was "designed to ensure that foreign
nationals accused of a crime are given access to legal counsel by a
representative from their home country." Gonzales sent a letter to the
U.S. State Department in which he argued that the treaty didn't apply
to the State of Texas, as Texas was not a signatory to the Vienna
Convention. Two days later, Texas executed Mexican citizen Irineo
Tristan Montoya, despite Mexico's protestations that Texas had
violated Tristan's rights under the Vienna Convention by failing to
inform the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. (Slate,
6/15/04 http://slate.msn.com/id/2102416)

GONZALES GETS BUSH OUT OF JURY DUTY TO KEEP DUI SECRET: In 1996, as
counsel to Gov. Bush, Gonzales helped to get him excused from jury
duty, "a situation that could have required the governor to disclose
his then-secret 1976 conviction for drunken driving in Maine."
Gonzales argued "that if Bush served, he would not, as governor, be
able to pardon the defendant in the future." [USA Today, 3/18/02
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020318/3948380s.htm]

As Texas Supreme Court Justice

GONZALES DOES ENRON'S BIDDING: As an elected member of the Texas
Supreme Court, "Enron and Enron's law firm were Gonzales's biggest
contributors," giving him $35,450 in 2000. Overall, Gonzales raked in
$100,000 from the energy industry. In May 2000, "Gonzales was author
of a state Supreme Court opinion that handed the energy industry one
of its biggest Texas legal victories in recent history." Since Bush
brought him into the White House, Gonzales has worked doggedly to keep
secret the details of energy task force meetings held by Vice
President Cheney. [New York Daily News, 2/2/02 ]

ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM LITIGANTS: In the weeks between hearing oral
arguments and making a decision in Henson v. Texas Farm Bureau Mutual
Insurance, Justice Alberto Gonzales collected a $2,000 contribution
premium from the Texas Farm Bureau (which runs the defendant insurance
company in this case). In another case, Gonzales pocketed a $2,500
contribution from a law firm defending the Royal Insurance company
just before hearing oral arguments in Embrey v. Royal Insurance.
[Texas for Public Justice
http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=117&pubid=60]


http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=246536

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) TANKS APPEAR AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN WESTWOOD, CA

LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM armored tanks showed
up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.

The tanks circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves
in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the
protesters were gathered.

Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police
quickly cleared the street.

The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but after
about ten minutes the tanks drove off. It is unclear as to why the
tanks were deployed to this location.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/11/10/0844742

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) Iraqi democrats against ocupation IDAO site
published this news: 9 November, Iraqi Railway workers
boycott supplies to US troops
www.idao.org

9 November, Iraqi Railway workers boycott supplies to US troops or
forces belonging to US-appointed Allawi government. Employees of
the National Iraqi Railways Company also declared that they will only
agree to carry food supplies to the Iraqi people as part of the UN for
food programme, and threatened national strike if forced to do
otherwise. The Allawi government reacted by accusing the railway
works of carrying civil disobedience. Meanwhile more than 40 Muslim
clerics of the Shia and Sunni faiths have urged Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani
to publically declare his opposition for Iraqi troops taking part in the
attack on the people of Falluja.

8 November, Al-Sadr movement, in a statement today, declared that
the attack on Falluja is an attack on the whole of Iraq and called on
members of the US-trained National Guard not to participate in the
US occupiers assault on Falluja.

U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW)
www.uslaboragainstwar.org
info@uslaboragainstwar.org
PMB 153
1718 "M" Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Gene Bruskin and Bob Muehlenkamp, Co-convenors Amy Newell,
National Organizer Michael Eisenscher, Organizer & Web Coordinator
Adrienne Nicosia, Administrative Staff

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) Companies Sue Union Retirees
To Cut Promised Health Benefits
Firms Claim Right to Change
Coverage, Attempt to Pick
Sympathetic Jurisdictions
The Process Server Pays a Call
By ELLEN E. SCHULTZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 10, 2004; Page A1

When a deputy sheriff came to his door with a court summons, George Kneifel,
a retiree in Union Mills, Ind., was mystified. His former employer was suing
him.

The employer, beverage-can maker Rexam Inc., had agreed in labor contracts
to provide retirees with health-care coverage. But now the company was
asking a federal judge to rule that it could reduce or eliminate the
benefit.

Many companies have already cut back company-paid health-care coverage for
retirees from their salaried staffs. But until recently, employers generally
were barred from touching unionized retirees' benefits because they are
spelled out in labor contracts. Now, some are taking aggressive steps to
pare those benefits as well, including going to court.

In the past two years, employers have sued union retirees across the
country. In the suits, they ask judges to rule that no matter what labor
contracts say, they have a right to change the benefits. Some companies also
argue that contract references to "lifetime" coverage don't mean the
lifetime of the retirees, but the life of the labor contract. Since the
contracts expired many years ago, the promises, they say, have expired too.

The companies taking such steps remain a minority. Most big employers
continue to provide the retiree health coverage spelled out in labor
contracts. But the number of employers using the courts to attempt to reduce
benefits for union retirees is rising, and some have been successful.
"There's absolutely no doubt that there's been an increasing number of cases
over the past three years," says Richard Brean, associate general counsel of
the United Steelworkers of America.

They have little to lose by trying. Typically, as such legal cases drag on,
the employers save money as some of the retirees, who have to pay growing
portions of their health-care costs, forgo costly care, drop out of the
plans or die. If companies lose in court, the worst that happens is they
have to resume paying benefits. They don't face punitive damages or
penalties. And they may not have to resume benefits for those retirees who
dropped out of the health plans.

What's more, their earnings get a pop. That's because at the same time as
they sue, employers typically announce reductions in the retirees' benefits.
Doing so entitles them to lessen the liabilities carried on their books.
Lower liabilities translate to higher earnings.

The retirees, by contrast, often find themselves in a bind -- unsure of
their recourse and facing, as they age, the court system's typical long
waits for legal resolution. The U.S. Labor Department is of little help.
Retired workers "aren't our constituents anymore," says a spokeswoman for
the department.

Unions often do go to bat for retirees. The United Auto Workers and the
Steelworkers have been the most active in filing suits to protect retirees
whose benefits a company has unilaterally changed. But unions aren't allowed
to strike or file unfair-labor-practice complaints on behalf of retirees.

Employers that want to cut union retirees' health coverage or make retirees
pay a larger portion could just impose changes and wait to be sued. But by
suing first, they stand a chance of choosing the jurisdiction. This is
important, because federal circuits' appellate courts tend to take differing
positions in these disputes. Indeed, the unsettled nature of the law on
these issues -- with employers' arguments sometimes succeeding and sometimes
not -- may be a factor prompting some companies to have a go at gaining the
legal right to change benefits.

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--Rosa Luxemburg

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) Mordechai Vannunu arrested
Call the Israeli Consulate 415-844-7500 in SF lets flood them with
phone calls demanding the release of Mordechai. also anyone intersted
in doing an action in the Israeli Consulate in regards to this let
Me Know off line i would be up for doing that.
peace
keith
Mordechai Vanunu:
An Interview
By Johannes Wahlstrom, Jerusalem


Ten minutes stroll northward from the lively alleyways of the Old City
and its renowned Golden Dome lays one of the Holy Land's smallest
parishes; the Anglican Church, with its neo-gothic St George Cathedral.
The massive towers and defence-walls give the impression of an
impregnable bastion, while inside one finds a green oasis of tranquillity.
In the inner yard, surrounded by grapes, almonds, olives, pomegranates,
sage, narcissus, cypress, oleander, roses and all other imaginable and
unimaginable biblical plants, lays a Guesthouse. Here, weary Jerusalem
pilgrims rest their sore feet after a long day in the Holy City. And here
for the past four months, a fellow-Anglican, the nuclear whistleblower
Mordechai Vanunu has taken his refuge.


Despite of Israel's nuclear capacity, Vanunu believes the bombs are
useless.

"It's not an issue of UN resolutions; the world would intervene if Israel
used its holocaust weapons." When it comes to having them as
a deterrent," Vanunu explains. "The problem isn't Iran, Iraq or
North Korea; it's Israeli aggression.
A technician at the Dimona nuclear weapons production plant, he blew
the whistle, and revealed the Israeli nuclear arms program to the nation
and the world; a revelation that would cost him dearly. After being
kidnapped Israeli Mossad agents in Rome, Vanunu was sentenced at
a secret trial to 18 years of jail, 12 years out of them he served in
solitary confinement. In the solitude of the jail, he wrote:

I am your Spy. I am the clerk, the technician, the mechanic, the driver.
They said: Do this, do that, don't look left or right, don't read the text.
Don't look at the whole machine. You are only responsible for this
one bolt. For this one rubber-stamp. This is your only concern.
Don't bother with what is above you. Don't try to think for us.
Go on, drive. Keep going. On, on.

"I refused to be a bolt in the deadly machinery", Vanunu says after his r
elease in an exclusive interview. After receiving death threats from
Jewish extremists and being placed under surveillance and travel
restrictions by the Israeli government, Vanunu has taken refuge at
St George Cathedral in East Jerusalem. Here Vanunu attends services,
rings the bells, and dreams to leave the unyielding clutches of the
Jewish state - for England or elsewhere.

He is suntanned, his handshake is firm, and his stare is fixed. The
only mark bearing witness to the 18 years of torment and isolation
is his stern face. What makes a man follow his heart and beliefs and
to pay so dearly for his convictions?

Vanunu pours a bottle of local Palestinian beer into his glass. The
golden label reads Taibeh, or 'tasty' in Arabic. "Ever since I was a child
I have learned to be open to other views", he says, "to criticize, to be
independent, and most importantly to be faithful to the truth. This is
why I have always tried to serve mankind, by contributing to peace
and foremost to justice for the much-suffering Palestinians."

Vanunu has however paid the price of refusing conformity, of being
independent. In the 70's he supported the Palestinian cause, and lost
his job. In the 80's he entered the Anglican Church and was ostracized
by his Jewish family. When he revealed the Israeli nuclear program in
order to avert a nuclear holocaust, he was imprisoned. Now again he
refuses to be subdued as he rejects the restrictions placed upon him
by the Israeli government.

"I'm being punished for no crime," Vanunu says while cautiously
squeezing the beer cap in his hand. "I'm not allowed to leave the
country for a year; I have to report to the police of my whereabouts,
and even if I want to overnight elsewhere I have to get their permission."
Vanunu is not allowed to talk to foreign press, to pass in the vicinities
of embassies, borders or airports, write e-mails or chat by internet.
He is well aware that by defying the restrictions in giving this
interview, he can once again be incarcerated.

The Israeli court regards Vanunu as a 'security threat'. And although
he has served his sentence, emergency regulations from the time of
the British Mandate have been enforced upon him. These laws have
become part of Israeli legal practise and can revoke the fundamental
democratic rights of a citizen if an army general regards him as a
"security threat".

What kind of security threat is Vanunu? Is he biding his time to
reveal more nuclear secrets? "I have no secrets that I haven't already
revealed." Besides, he points out, "I live among Palestinians, the
'enemy'. So why can't I speak to foreigners?"

Vanunu speaks his mind without weighing his words; maybe this
is what they are afraid of? "I repeat all the things that Israel wants
to be kept silent; I remind of Israel's nuclear weapons program,
I speak of the barbaric treatment in Israeli prison, and I express
my political views of the conflict," he sums up.

One of the most astounding revelations that Vanunu gave
concerned the size of Israel's nuclear arsenal. The photos he
took and the calculations he conducted at Dimona nuclear centre
showed that apart from manufacturing hydrogen bombs, Israel
was producing 40 kg of plutonium yearly, and at the time had
a capacity of 200-300 atomic weapons, sufficient for turning
Europe into a parking lot many times over.

Vanunu whispering nuclear secrets to Shamir :)

"I have no secrets that I haven't already revealed." Besides,
he points out, "I live among Palestinians, the 'enemy'. So why
can't I speak to foreigners?"

While pondering why they needed so many bombs, Vanunu
came to the conclusion that "it was like a factory production;
while the first ones are expensive to make, the rest are cheap."

Despite of Israel's nuclear capacity, Vanunu believes the bombs
are useless. "It's not an issue of UN resolutions; the world would
intervene if Israel used its holocaust weapons." When it comes
to having them as a deterrent, Vanunu explains: "the problem
isn't Iran, Iraq or North Korea, its Israeli aggression. Iraq didn't
have any nuclear weapons, I'm sure that neither does Iran. If
Israel wasn't so aggressive with its nuclear arms, none of the
other countries would even need to get them." He concludes
that the international community should intervene and stop
the Israeli aggression before it gets out of hand.

Vanunu's voice takes on a tense and serious tone when Israel
is described as 'the only democracy in the Middle East'. "First
they invade a sovereign nation while kidnapping me in Rome.
Then they sentence me at a secret trial, where neither I nor my
attorney is allowed take part of the evidence. They imprison and
torture me for the crime of talking to a journalist. And still they
deny me my freedom of speech and the freedom of movement."
He explains that the phrase may have been valid in the 50's.
"But what kind of democracy is it now, with all these emergency
laws? I am a living proof that Israel is not a democracy." The anger
on his face seems to subside; he reaches for the perspiring glass
on the table.

At Vanunu's release from prison in April, he was not only welcomed
by world media and a crowd of supporters, but equally by an angry
mob chanting for his death. The Israeli newspaper Maariv published
a census showing that a majority of Israelis disagreed with letting
him free; 33 percent thought he should be executed. Now he doesn't
venture into the Jewish-held parts of the city, the chance of being
lynched is much too real; in a few instances he has even been
assaulted by Jewish extremists outside of the church.

If the Israelis were fooled about their country's nuclear arms why
do they consider Vanunu a traitor? "This is one of the reasons
I refuse to speak to Israeli press," he explains. "They played a cruel
game on me and spread vicious lies while I was in total isolation,
saying I celebrated suicide bombings and so on".

Vanunu has now filed a multimillion shekel lawsuit against the
Israeli tabloid, Yediot Aharonot for falsely accusing him in providing
nuclear production skills to Hamas. According to Vanunu, the
media incited the Israeli public for they perceived him as a
Christian that betrayed the Jews.

He is convinced that his baptism is a greater issue than the nuclear
revelations, where both the media as well as the court would have
treated him differently had he not converted. "They could have lived
with the revelations; I could even have been treated as a hero
among the Jews," Vanunu explains. "They are not really thinking
about nuclear weapons, they think I'm a traitor for going to the
gentiles. But I had to turn to the British press, since the Israeli
media is completely infiltrated; they all work for the Mossad." Even
Vanunu's parents are more concerned with his conversion, and he
explains that "if there is one thing they can't accept it's the rejection
of Judaism".

On Sundays, at the back row of St George church, Vanunu participates
in the local Palestinian mass. One by one the members of the parish
line up to receive the Holy Communion. From Edward VII church tower,
the Jerusalem courthouse reminds of its presence just down the road;
here Vanunu was sentenced 18 years ago. Opposite the courthouse is
the ministry of Justice; two armed men in black patrol the entrance
and guard it from intruders and curious journalists. Further down the
road, hundreds of Palestinian women and men have gathered at the
fortified gates of the Ministry of Interior. Today, as they do every
other day, they stand in line to receive their mandatory ID-cards
asserting which zones they are allowed to visit.

Vanunu passes here every day as he ventures outside the protective
keep of the cathedral. The constant presence of soldiers and guards
checking on ID-cards at every corner reminds him that he is still
not free. "Just like the Palestinians I want to have my rights and the
freedom to go wherever I want, to do whatever I please. Israel has
to become a secular democratic state; a state without apartheid
and Jewish laws, a state that respects freedom of speech and
other religions."

But Vanunu doesn't want to talk on behalf of the Palestinians.
"They have their own representatives. I am just a man with my
views, and I have to be able to express them, it can't be
reasonable to be imprisoned for talking to journalists."

Out on the street, Palestinians passing by wave at Vanunu;
sometimes they approach, press his hand respectfully and invite
him for coffee or dinner. For many of them he is a symbol of hope
and coexistence with the Israelis. For Vanunu it is in the
Palestinian society that he feels free and appreciated.

During his years of isolation, Vanunu developed an intricate
friendship with his Palestinian inmates at the Ashkelon Prison.
Although they had never met they would always leave him a glass
of tea with mint at the courtyard, and during Ramadan they would
give him the traditional Arabic sweets, baklawa. Once the prison
guards forgot to bring him in and he got the chance to meet his
benefactors. "Those twenty minutes at the courtyard was the only
time we met. We talked and laughed, we became friends, and then
the guards came and we parted forever."

In prison, Vanunu was incarcerated at the 'Agaf seven', a secret
section run by the security service. Here he was tortured and abused.
And even as the prison guards did all they could to make him
aggressive, he refused to play by their rules. Once he couldn't
keep his temper and called them Nazis. "Then they got a reason
to hit me. After that I learned not to give them any more such
chances." Instead Vanunu relied upon his faith and international
support.

In 1987 Vanunu was granted the "Right Livelihood Award", better
known as the Alternative Peace Prize. The real Nobel Peace Prize,
Vanunu reminds bitterly, was given to Shimon Peres, the man
responsible for his kidnapping and the driving force behind Israeli
nuclear ambitions. Since his initial incarceration Vanunu has received
numerous awards, the latest of which was Yoko Ono's Lennon Peace
grant. The award, given with the motivation that he had "spoken out
for the benefit of the human race", will, due to the restrictions placed
upon him, be sent to the care of St George Cathedral rather than being
delivered in person at the UN building in New York.

Vanunu now pleads to the international community: "I'm waiting for
the world to intervene, to deal with Israel." And he adds that "the only
way to be free is to be free from Israel." In order to leave the country
Vanunu is trying to cancel his Israeli citizenship, but for the authorities
to approve of it, he needs a foreign one. While he has applied for Swedish,
Norwegian, Danish, Irish and even Palestinian citizenship, his application
for British citizenship has yet to receive any clear response. Yet it was
a British newspaper that published his revelations, and he was trapped
by the Mossad on British soil.

Vanunu moved to Israel as a 10 year old Jewish child from Morocco,
now he indeed feels as though he has long since overstayed his
welcome in the country. "If I where you", he says, "I wouldn't be here,
I would rather sit somewhere in peace and quiet, study history and
write a book." In the holy city of Jerusalem, Vanunu wants nothing
more than to get away from the constant patrolling of police and
military, away from oppression, away from occupation and walls.
As a convalescent after years of laying-in, he cautiously walks the
streets, discovers the simple pleasures of a swim, of a friendly
company, of a dinner with fork and knife.

Outside the protective keep of the cathedral the streets are full
of life. In the green tranquillity of the inner yard Mordechai
Vanunu wonders whether after 18 years he will finally be free.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) Hard Lesson in Battle: 150
Marines Meet 1 Sniper
THE INSURGENTS
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/11snipers.html?hp
&ex=1100235600&en=0879c52c261dfe9b&ei=5094&partner=homepage


FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 10 - American marines called in two
airstrikes on the pair of dingy three-story buildings squatting
along Highway 10 on Wednesday, dropping 500-pound bombs
each time. They fired 35 or so 155-millimeter artillery shells,
10 shots from the muzzles of Abrams tanks and perhaps 30,000
rounds from their automatic rifles. The building was a smoking ruin.

But the sniper kept shooting.

He - or they, because no one can count the flitting shadows in
this place - kept 150 marines pinned down for the better part of
a day. It was a lesson on the nature of the enemy in this hellish
warren of rubble-strewn streets. Not all of the insurgents are holy
warriors looking for martyrdom. At least a few are highly trained
killers who do their job with cold precision and know how to survive.

"The idea is, he just sits up there and eats a sandwich," said Lt. Andy
Eckert, "and we go crazy trying to find him."

The contest is a deadly one, and two marines in Company B, First
Battalion, Eighth Regiment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force
have been killed by snipers in the past two days as the unit advanced
just half a mile southward to Highway 10 from a mosque they had
taken on Tuesday.

Despite the world-shaking blasts of weaponry as the Americans
try to root out the snipers, this is also a contest of wills in which
the tension rises to a level that seems unbearable, and then rises
again. Marine snipers sit, as motionless as blue herons, for 30
minutes and stare with crazed intensity into the oversized scopes
on their guns. If so much as a penumbra brushes across a windowsill,
they open up.

With the troops' senses tuned to a high pitch, mundane events
become extraordinary. During one bombing, a blue-and-yellow
parakeet flew up to a roof of a captured building and fluttered about
in tight circles before perching on a slumping power line, to the
amazement of the marines assembled there.

On another occasion, the snipers tensed when they heard
movement in the direction of a smoldering building. A cat
sauntered out, unconcerned with anything but making its
rounds in the neighborhood.

"Can I shoot it, sir?" a sniper asked an officer.

"Absolutely not," came the reply.

This day started at about 8 a.m., when the marines left the
building where they had been sleeping and headed south toward
Highway 10, which runs from east to west and roughly bisects the
town. At the corner of Highway 10 and Thurthar, the street they
were moving along, was a headquarters building for the Iraqi
National Guard that had been taken over by insurgents.

Almost immediately, they came under fire from a sniper in the
minaret of a mosque just south of them. Someone in a three-
story residential building farther down the street also opened
up. The marines made 50-yard dashes and dived for cover, but
one of them was cut down, killed on the spot. It was unclear
what direction the fatal bullet had come from.

"I don't know who it was," Lt. Steven Berch, leader of the fallen
marine's platoon, said of the attacker, "but he was very well
trained."

After two hours of bombardment, the sniper at that mosque
ceased firing. But just around the corner at the famous blue-
domed Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, another sniper was pinning
down marines, and airstrikes were called in on it, too. The issue
of striking at mosques is so sensitive in the Arab world that the
American military later issued a statement saying that the strike
on the Khulafah mosque was unavoidable and that precision
munitions merely knocked down a minaret.

By noon, the marines had worked their way down to the national
guard building, still taking fire from the sniper, or snipers, on the
other side of Main Street. Inside was a sign in Arabic that said:
"Long live the mujahedeen." Soon the marines had spray-painted
another sign over it: "Long live the muj killers."

But for the next five hours, they could not kill whoever was running
from window to window and firing at them from the other side of
Main Street, despite the expenditure of enormous amounts of
ammunition.

"We're not able to see the muzzle flashes," said Capt. Read
Omohundro, the company commander. "As a result," he said,
"we end up expending a lot of ammunition trying to get the snipers."

At one point, they thought that they had a bead on someone
running back and forth between the two buildings. Then Capt.
Christopher Spears exclaimed: "He's on a bike!"

And somehow, through a volley of gunfire, whoever it was got
away.

At 5 p.m., the marines finally crossed Highway 10 and searched
the smoking remains of the two buildings. At 5:30 p.m., a sniper
opened up on them.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

11) As U.S. Advances in Falluja,
New Fighting Erupts in Northern Iraq
By JAMES GLANZ and MARIA NEWMAN
BAGHDAD
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/middleeast/11cnd-iraq.html?
hp&ex=1100235600&en=b76e3d2520471f73&ei=5094&partner=homepage


BAGHDAD, Nov. 11 - Insurgents opened a new front against
American-led forces today, attacking several police stations in
the northern city of Mosul and pushing that city to the brink of
chaos, while an enormous car bomb in the heart of Baghdad just
before noon killed at least 13 people.

The violence in the north came as American marines and soldiers
renewed their three-day-old push through Falluja. The invasion
began at the northern boundary of the city early Monday but had
through town. This morning, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said coalition forces now controlled well more
than half of Falluja.

"Things are going, I think, as planned," he said on the CBS "Early
Show." "We've got about 70 percent of the city under control."

Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division,
said today that 18 American troops and 5 Iraqi government soldiers
had been killed in action since the start of the Falluja offensive, The
Associated Press reported, and that 69 American and 34 Iraqi troops
had been wounded. "Today our forces are conducting deliberate
clearing operations within the city, going house to house, building
to building looking for arms caches," he said.

Various military officials have estimated the number of dead guerrillas
in the hundreds, out of as many as 3,000 who were thought to have
gathered in Falluja before the American-led attack. American forces
have also taken an undetermined number of suspects prisoner.

In Mosul, insurgents attacked the police academy and the Zuhoor
police station with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades beginning
about 10 a.m., then looted the buildings, which had apparently been
abandoned by the police. Similar scenes played out at half a dozen
police stations all together, news reports from the region said.

Two Iraqi military vehicles were burned near Mosul University after
being chased down by insurgents. The fate of their occupants was
unknown. American military forces appeared to witnesses to be doing
little to stop the mayhem, taking up positions in the suburbs and on
the airport road, at least during the early fighting.

Smoke rose from several areas as American warplanes streaked
overhead, The Associated Press reported. The authorities in Mosul
warned residents to stay away from the five major bridges across the
Tigris River because of fighting, the news agency said, and militants
brandishing rocket-propelled grenades were seen in front of the
Ibn Al-Atheer hospital in the city's Jammia district.

A spokeswoman for the American military, Capt. Angela Bowman,
said that some of the attacks on the police stations had overwhelmed
"the capabilities of the existing police force" and that five police
stations had been "ransacked.''

"The insurgents continue to fire at the Iraqi National Guard and the
multinational forces," she told an A.P. reporter. "The operations are
still ongoing and probably will for some time until we fully secure
the city."

The news agency said Captain Bowman rejected claims by some
residents that parts of Mosul had fallen under insurgent control,
saying that guerrillas "have not taken any parts of the city."

Insurgents also attacked the headquarters of pro-American Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan Party, forcing those inside to leave after guards
were overpowered, The A.P. said. Residents saw masked gunmen
roaming the streets, setting police cars on fire. The local television
station in Mosul went off the air.

In Baghdad, the car bomb exploded around 11:30 a.m. in Nasir
Square, near a bridge leading toward the fortified, American-
controlled Green Zone. Charred bodies littered the street after
the explosion, including the headless body of a civilian. A witness,
Ali Safi, 25, said that he thought the bomber had been chasing
a convoy of GMC sport utility vehicles, a choice target of suicide
bombers here because they are commonly used by American
contractors.

As the newly intensified battles raged in Iraq, General Myers
said in several televised interviews that he was optimistic about
the outcome, but acknowledged that the campaign against
terrorism would be a long one.

"The fighting, I think, has looked easy, but it's only easy because
we've got very professional armed forces members conducting
that operation, both marines and United States Army and others,''
he said on the "Early Show."

"There have been hundreds and hundreds of insurgents who have
been either killed or captured,'' he said. "We hope that in, you
know, the next few days we'll be able to return Falluja to the
citizens there without the intimidation that the insurgents brought
and that as we go to elections in Iraq here in January that the
citizens of Falluja can participate in that event as well.''

The general said that he did not consider Mosul a "no man's land,''
but acknowledged that much work needed to be done to stabilize
that northern city. He also said that it would take more than just
military action to bring order to Iraq if elections were to be held in
January. He said that United States military and the Iraqi forces were
working to bolster three prongs of Iraq's society: security system,
a democratic government and the economy.

"But there are some tough challenges ahead,'' he said. "As you
mentioned, all the car bombs going off. These are the extremists
killing their fellow Muslims, killing Iraqis. There are a lot more
Iraqis that have been killed by these extremists than coalition
forces over this fight.''

On the NBC "Today" program, General Myers said: "I think this
war on terrorism is going to be a long war. I don't know that it's
always going to have the military on the front lines every year. We
certainly hope not.''

James Glanz reported from Baghdad for this article and Maria
Newman reported from New York.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

12) Europe Must Adapt to U.S. View on
Terror, NATO Chief Says
By WARREN HOGE
UNITED NATIONS
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/international/europe/11cnd-nato.html?hp&ex
=1100235600&en=95c8c80a284ba55a&ei=5094&partner=homepage


UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 11 - The head of NATO said today that there
was a critical "perception gap" between Europe and the United States
on the subject of global terror and that Europeans must move closer
to the American view of the seriousness of the threat.

"Your country focused very much on the fight against terror while in
Europe we focused to a lesser extent on the consequences for the
world," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's secretary general, said in an
interview. "We looked at it from different angles, and that for me is
one of the reasons you saw such frictions in the trans-Atlantic
relationship."

As a result, he said, Europe was lagging behind the United States in
merging external and internal security to combat terrorism, and Europe
had to catch up.

"If the gap is to be bridged, it has to be done from the European side
and not from the United States," he said, adding that the conflict in Iraq,
the issue that helped divide the alliance, now provided an opportunity
for uniting it.

"Where allies very much agree and must agree is the fact that whatever
ways they have looked at the war in Iraq and the run-up to it and the
split we saw, we cannot afford to see Iraq go up in flames," he said. "It
is everyone's obligation that we get Iraq right."

Mr. de Hoop Scheffer is a former Dutch foreign minister who backed
the Bush administration on the war in Iraq without alienating other
European leaders and became NATO's head on Jan. 1. He said that
a meeting he had with President Bush in Washington Wednesday should
be taken as a sign that trans-Atlantic frictions had eased.

"It's not as if I came here with doubt and my meeting with the President
washed it all away,'' he said. "I have never doubted that commitment, but
whatever way you look at it, the fact that the secretary general of NATO
is the first foreign visitor that President Bush has met since the election
is a clear sign sign of the full commitment of this administration and of
this president to the trans-Atlantic alliance."

NATO has been asked by the Iraqi government to train its security forces,
and Mr. de Hoop Scheffer said that 10 of the 19 member states were
contributing to that training, both within Iraq and in places outside Iraq,
the preference of France, Germany and Spain - like Jordan and European
military schools. He said he hoped to have the program fully operational
by the end of the year.

The experience of Iraq had taught him two lessons as a European and
an Atlanticist, he said.

"The first is that if Europe sees its integration process as one directed
against the United States, it will not work because the result will be
a split in Europe, and that is an ambition that no European should
have,'' he said.

"The second is that if you want to have a trans-Atlantic dialogue between
grownups, I know that any president and any American administration
is willing to listen to the European voice as long as it is one European
voice. If it is five different voices, they will not take the trouble to
listen
and they will wonder what is Europe."

NATO has 9,000 troops and a broadening reconstruction campaign
under way in Afghanistan, but Mr. de Hoop Scheffer said his greatest
concern there now - one he planned to raise in a meeting with
Secretary General Kofi Annan today - was the explosion in the heroin
trade and its threat to the country's political future and to NATO's
work there.

"Poppy fields are growing in large parts of the country, certain
warlords are financed from the revenues of the crop and the
economy of Afghanistan is dominated by the illegal profits of
this growth," he said.

While the mission was one for the international community and
not for NATO, he said, it could end up undermining his organization's
effort to secure and stabilize the country.

"My point,'' he said, "is that if the international community
doesn't take this problem head on, then what are we doing there?"

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

13) The Things They Wrote
VETERANS DAY
November 11, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/opinion/11intro.html

A year ago the Op-Ed page marked Veterans Day by publishing
excerpts from letters written home by soldiers who lost their lives
in Iraq. At the time, fewer than 400 Americans had died in
Operation Iraqi Freedom. This year Veterans Day takes place
during the battle for the Iraqi city of Falluja, where at least
11 Americans have been killed this week. Since the beginning
of the war, the number of American dead in Iraq, according to
the Pentagon, stands at 1,149. Thousands more have been
wounded.

Below are passages from letters sent this year by men and women,
now dead, to their families in the United States.

Excerpts from letters to his parents from Pfc. Moisés A. Langhorst
of the Marines. Private Langhorst, 19, of Moose Lake, Minn., was
killed in Al Anbar Province on April 6 by small-arms fire.

March 13

As far as my psychological health, we look out for each other pretty
well on that. ... I've been praying a lot and I hope you're praying for
the Dirty 3rd Platoon, because there is no doubt that we are in the
Valley of the Shadow of Death.

March 15

After standing in the guard tower for seven-and-a-half hours this
morning, we went on our first platoon-size patrol from about
1200 to 1700. It was exhausting, but it went very well. I had to
carry the patrol pack with emergency chow, a poncho and night
vision goggles. That's what really wore me out.

We toured the mosques and visited the troublesome abandoned
train station. The people were friendly, and flocks of children
followed us everywhere.

When I called you asked me if Iraq is what I expected, and it really
is. It looks just like it does on the news. It hardly feels like a war,
though. Compared to the wars of the past, this is nothing. We're
not standing on line in the open - facing German machine guns
like the Marines at Belleau Wood or trying to wade ashore in chest-
deep water at Tarawa. We're not facing hordes of screaming men at
the frozen Chosun Reservoir in Korea or the clever ambushes of
Vietcong. We deal with potshots and I.E.D.'s. With modern medicine
my chances of dying are slim to none and my chances of going home
unscathed are better than half. Fewer than 10 men in my company
have fired their weapons in the 10 days we've been here.

March 24

While not always pleasant, I know this experience is good for me.
It makes me appreciate every little blessing God gives me, especially
the family, friends and home I left behind in Moose Lake.

Excerpt from an e-mail message to her cousin on his wedding day
from Sgt. First Class Linda Ann Tarango-Griess of the Army.
Sergeant Tarango-Griess, 33, of Sutton, Neb., was killed on July
11 in Samarra by an improvised explosive device.

May 14

So today is your big day? Wow! It seems like just yesterday that
I was making you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Malt-O-
Meal. We experienced a lot together as we grew up and for the
life of me, I can't think of a time that you and I never got along.
IS THAT NORMAL?

I never thought I would see the day that you settle down and get
married, but here you are. You couldn't have picked a more
wonderful person than Rachel. She is very sweet, very giving
and most important, she loves you. Be good to her. I am sorry
I can't be there to share in your day, but here I am in hopes that
one day, these people will have the chance to be as happy as you.
Just know that I AM with you ... just close your eyes, place your
hands on your heart, and you will feel me there.

Excerpts from letters to his 2-year-old son and his wife from
Sgt. Christopher Potts of the Army. Sergeant Potts, 38, of
Tiverton, R.I., was killed on Oct. 3 in Taji by small-arms fire.

January

Hi my big guy. How are you? I miss you bad. I miss things like
you calling for me in the morning when you hear me in the kitchen,
or when you come home at the end of the day. I also miss cooking
for you and Mom. But most of all I miss your big hugs. I enjoy
hearing your voice on the phone and seeing the pictures you draw
for me. I'm sorry for not writing you till now. But the days are very
long here, and we only get about four-and-a-half hours sleep
a night. I got up a little early to write this because I know you
need your own letter too.

March 18

Hi my love. Well, where should I start? First we left Kuwait after
being issued a combat load of ammo - M-16 ammo, grenades,
smoke grenades, grenade-launcher ammo and C-4. I knew that
night that this is for real. Some people paced, some people slept,
some of us had to write the just-in-case letters, some just sat.
The letter-writing was a real hard thing to do, it definitely makes
you aware of the situation and your life. But you'll never have to
read it - unless you want to when I get home. It's weird because
I'm not afraid of what might happen, or the pain of it. I'm just
afraid of not being able to see you again.

The first leg of the trip through the desert was really bad. There
were children of all ages from God knows where begging for food
and water. The dust was blowing all over them, and some had torn
outgrown clothes, and some were barefoot. I looked over at my
driver and we were both crying after a few miles. I said to him,
You know, this is why I'm here, so that my kids won't ever have
to live like that. Then we just drove in silence for a while.

As we got closer to Baghdad you could see blown-up military
equipment, ours and theirs. People were on the side of the road
selling gasoline out of plastic jugs. There was diesel and fuel
spilled everywhere ... then you'd see some slaughtered lambs
on the side of the road. The meat is hanging out in the sun and
dirt and germ-infested air. Farther down the road there were
people bathing and washing up. Other people were picking
through garbage.

I hope today I can call. I miss you so much that as I write this
part my eyes are running. The TV in the mess hall said you
got snow yesterday. I wish I was there to shovel. I hope you
are being taken care of.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

posted 1:21 PM  0 comments

Congratulations to A.N.S.W.E.R. for initiating a very
successful emergency demonstration last evening, Nov. 9th,
at Powell and Market. What was most inspiring about this
action was, not only had the same unity we had last week, but
we stopped and cheered in solidarity with
Hotel workers who have been locked out of their jobs.

Demonstrators chanted, "Money for Healthcare Not for War!
Support the Hotel Workers," and "What do we want? CONTRACT!
When do we want it? NOW!"

This show of solidarity was inspiring and invigorating!

It is what makes us strong. It is our only hope for peace.

Now we need to come together and coordinate a program
for winning peace. We need to organize all those opposed
to this war; who are for freedom, equality and justice for
all; who want to see a world of opportunity for all instead
of poverty, injustice, tyranny and war to stand together in
solidarity!

We have only just begun to fight!

Peace and solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)

NEXT BAUAW MEETING:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, SF)

P.S.

Please send contributions to help offset the
cost of this action to:
A.N.S.W.E.R.
2489 Mission Street, Room 24
San Francisco, CA 94110

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) In this message:
· Weekly Local 2 Picket
· Targets of Empire Protest
For more information on the following events,
call the ANSWER Coalition

2) U.S. Takes 'Half Falluja,'
Allawi Cousin Kidnapped
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Nov 10, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6772224&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

3) 'Scores of civilians' killed in Falluja
Residents say scores of civilians have been killed
Muhammad Abbud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed
to death at their Falluja home, unable to take him to hospital
as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the
Iraqi city.
Tuesday 09 November 2004 7:51 PM GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/813419D5-CC95-4505-9367-05140111C618.
htm

4) Massacre in Fallujah: US airplanes bomb hospital, civilians,
fierce fighting reported. US troops forced to retreat from Ramadi
Hospital hit as fighting rages in Falluja
Overnight bombings lasted for more than 10 hours
An Iraqi journalist, Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi, told Aljazeera
that the overnight bombings which continued for more than
10 hours targeted everything in the city including the hospital,
houses as well as cars.
Al-Dulaimi said the hospital's staff, doctors and patients,
have all fallen victim to the assault. He said such fierce
bombings have not been witnessed since the Iran-Iraq war.
http://www.sf-frontlines.com/modules

5) US 'pacifies' city but rebels take violence to rest of country
By Kim Sengupta in Camp Dogwood
10 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story

6) The Optimism of Uncertainty
[From an excerpt of Paul Rogat Loeb's book
"The Impossible Will Take a Little While":]
By Howard Zinn
Published on Monday, November 8, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1108-21.htm

7) U.S. TRADE UNIONIST ASSASSINATED IN El SALVADOR
-A Friend of the National Labor Committee
Mr. Gilberto Soto was assassinated Friday evening, November
5, at 6:00 p.m., while visiting

8) CITIZEN'S ASSEMBLY,
Run/Walk and Peace Vigil
Sacred Sites Protection & Rights of Indigenous
Tribes (SSP&RRT)

9) Gonzales to Succeed Ashcroft, Sources Say
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Nov 10, 11:55 AM (ET)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041110/D8694G201.html
(AP) Attorney General John Ashcroft speaks at a symposium
marking the 10th anniversary of the Violence...

10) 'Watching tragedy engulf my city'
Another one of modern history's real horror shows, but all
indications are that the people who remain are putting up
a very major fight.
Washington Post.com headlined that those resisting were
"Zarqawi supporters" but dropped this particularly gross war
propaganda later.
Fred Feldman

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) In this message:
· Weekly Local 2 Picket
· Targets of Empire Protest
For more information on the following events,
call the ANSWER Coalition at
415-821-6545.

----------

EVERY THURSDAY, 4:30-6:30pm
SUPPORT THE LOCAL 2 WORKERS! JOIN ANSWER ON THE PICKET LINE!
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 480 Sutter St. btwn Stockton Powell

Join the ANSWER Coalition on the picket line to support the locked out
Local 2 Hotel Workers in their struggle for health care benefits. For more
information on the other Local 2 picket locations or to donate to the
Solidarity Fund, go to www.unitehere2.org .

----------

Sat. Nov. 13, 12noon
TARGETS OF EMPIRE PROTEST
24th Mission St. at 24th St BART

Stand in solidarity with all the targets of the empire
from disenfranchised youth in U.S. inner cities to Palestinians
resisting Israeli occupation.

Now that we know Bush is staying in the White House for the next four
years, the time is now to continue the fight against wars abroad and
oppression here at home. People will find themselves struggling to get
by because of the actions and inactions of the U.S. government. As
people in Palestine and Iraq are killed by U.S. made and funded bombs
and bullets, the people of Haiti will be kept from having a democratically
elected government, and prevented from trying otherwise. As the U.S.
continues to reap havoc in Afghanistan and threaten countries around
the globe, people here at home will struggle for housing, health care,
education and jobs.

The Justice in Palestine coalition has called this demonstration to call
attention to these "Targets of Empire" and reassert the importance of
the unity between different groups through grassroots struggle. Please
save the date and get out the flyer. (download at
www. justiceinpalestine.net)
We are looking for others to endorse and help build the protest with us.
Please send your endorsements to info@justiceinpalestine.

Sponsored by Justice in Palestine Coalition -
www.justiceinpalestine.net
or email info@justiceinpalestine.net

----------
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To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ``List-Unsubscribe'' header of any list
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you can also send a message to:


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message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) U.S. Takes 'Half Falluja,'
Allawi Cousin Kidnapped
By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Nov 10, 2004 08:12 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6772224&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S.-led troops battled through
"half of Falluja" on Wednesday, but Muslim militant kidnappers
threatened to behead three relatives of Iraq's interim prime
minister if he did not call off the offensive.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's 75-year-old cousin Ghazi
Allawi, his wife and their son's wife were seized near their
home in Baghdad on Tuesday, an Allawi spokesman said.

The previously unknown Ansar al-Jihad group said the
hostages would die unless Allawi, "head of the Iraqi agents,"
halted the Falluja offensive and freed prisoners.

"If the agent government does not meet our demands within
48 hours we will behead them," it said in a statement dated
Wednesday and posted on an Islamist Web site.

"This is yet another criminal act by terrorists and will
not thwart the determination of the government to combat
terrorism," a brief statement from Allawi's office said.

The three were seized a day after Allawi ordered a
full-blooded assault by U.S. and Iraqi forces aimed at ridding
Falluja of rebels and suspected foreign Islamist fighters to
pave the way for nationwide elections planned for January.

Air strikes, artillery shelling and mortar fire shook the
Sunni Muslim city during intense clashes interspersed with
periods of relative calm, a Reuters reporter in Falluja said.

The military said U.S. and Iraqi forces had "fought their
way through half of the city, including the Jolan District,
suspected of being the epicenter of insurgent activity."

It said those forces had met light resistance from "small
pockets of fighters" on their way through the city.

"We've reached the heart of Jolan," Major Clark Watson told
Reuters. "It's too early to say we are controlling it ...
because there will always be pockets of resistance."

Helicopters later fired missiles at targets in Jolan before
Marine infantry and Iraqi troops moved back in.

"There are still many snipers in buildings in Jolan," Alaa
Abboud, an Iraqi soldier just back from the area, told Reuters.

AMERICANS SUFFER 11 DEAD

The U.S. military said 11 American troops and two Iraqis
had been killed since 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and
2,000 Iraqi troops launched the offensive on Monday night.

It said the mayor's office had been captured at about
4 a.m. (0100 GMT). Key bridges, civic buildings, mosques and
weapons caches had also been seized in the offensive.

The firepower raining down on Falluja is sure to have
caused civilian casualties, but no clear figures have emerged
since the all-out assault began late on Monday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was
"very worried" about the plight of the wounded in Falluja.

An ICRC spokesman said thousands of civilian fugitives from
Falluja needed water, food, medical care and shelter. Local
people say children have been among those killed.

As the battle for Falluja raged, gunfire and explosions
echoed across the northern city of Mosul, but it was not clear
who was fighting. The U.S. military, which has said rebel
leaders have probably fled Falluja, had no immediate comment.

Gunmen also took to the streets in Baghdad's western
district of Ghazaliya, stopping traffic and blocking a bridge.
Residents said fierce clashes broke out later.

A U.S. Humvee crashed in Baghdad after a sniper shot at the
driver, a Reuters cameraman said. The vehicle rolled on its
side. A U.S. military spokesman said he would check the report.

North of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier and
wounded another, the military said. A policeman was killed and
two wounded in a similar attack near Samarra, police said.

Rebels with grenade launchers stormed a U.S.-built town
hall in Muatasim south of Samarra and then dynamited it, police said.

Allawi and his U.S. backers say disgruntled supporters of
Saddam's once all-powerful Baath party and militants led by
Jordanian al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have turned
Falluja into the center of Iraq's bloody insurgency.

But the assault has fueled insecurity among Sunni Arabs,
who make up some 20 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, but
who wielded disproportionate power under Saddam.

The influential Muslim Clerics' Association urged Iraqis to
boycott any elections held "on the remains of the dead and the
blood of the wounded from Iraqi cities like Falluja and others."
(With reporting by Luke Baker, Lin Noueihed, Aladdin
Sa'ad and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad, Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra
and Maher al-Thanoon in Mosul)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) 'Scores of civilians' killed in Falluja
Residents say scores of civilians have been killed
Muhammad Abbud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed
to death at their Falluja home, unable to take him to hospital
as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the
Iraqi city.
Tuesday 09 November 2004 7:51 PM GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/813419D5-CC95-4505-9367-05140111C618.
htm

In the midst of a US onslaught and hemmed in by a round-the-clock
curfew, he said he had little choice but to bury his eldest son, Ghaith,
in the garden.

"My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn,
but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Abbud, a teacher. "We
buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out. We
did not know how long the fighting would last."

Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in
24 hours of fighting since US-led forces pushed deep into the city
on Monday evening.

Doctors said people brought in at least 15 dead civilians at the main
clinic in Falluja on Monday. By Tuesday, there were no clinics open,
residents said, and no way to count casualties.

Medical supplies low

US and Iraqi forces seized control of the city's main hospital, across
the Euphrates river from Falluja proper, hours before the onslaught
began.

US forces have been steadily
moving deeper into the city
Overnight US bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city,
killing doctors, nurses and patients, residents said. US military
authorities denied the reports.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said troops detained 38 fighters
entrenched at Falluja hospital and accused doctors there of exaggerating
civilian casualties.

Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at Falluja hospital, said the city was
running out of medical supplies.

"There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance
hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured
civilians in their homes who we can't move," he said by telephone
from a house where he had gone to help the wounded.

"A 13-year-old child just died in my hands."

ICRC voices concern

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday
that it was extremely worried about the fate of people wounded
in the battle for control of the Iraqi city of Falluja .



"The ICRC urges the belligerents to ensure that all those in need
of such care - whether friend or foe - be given access to medical
facilities and that medical personnel and vehicles can function
without hindrance at all times," a statement said.



The organisation said it was "deeply concerned about reports that
the injured cannot receive adequate medical care".

Families flee

Weekend air raids destroyed a clinic funded by an Islamic relief
organisation in the centre of Falluja and a nearby warehouse
used to store medical supplies, witnesses said.


Residents say there is no power
and food supplies are running low

Many families fled the city of 300,000 long before the offensive
began. An official from a Sunni Muslim group with links to some
fighters in Falluja said on Monday only about 60,000 people remained.

lamps at night. They say they keep to ground floors for safety.
Food shops have been closed for six days.

"My kids are hysterical with fear," said Farhan Salih. "They are
traumatised by the sound but there is nowhere to take them."

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday he did not
foresee large numbers of civilian casualties in the assault, saying
US forces were disciplined and precise.

Those words were of little comfort to the Abbud family, sitting in
a house damaged by the bomb that killed their child.

"We just bandaged his stomach and gave him water, but he
was losing a lot of blood. He died this afternoon," said Abbud.

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/813419D5-CC95-4505-9367-05140111C618.
htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Massacre in Fallujah: US airplanes bomb hospital, civilians,
fierce fighting reported. US troops forced to retreat from Ramadi
Hospital hit as fighting rages in Falluja
Overnight bombings lasted for more than 10 hours
An Iraqi journalist, Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi, told Aljazeera
that the overnight bombings which continued for more than
10 hours targeted everything in the city including the hospital,
houses as well as cars.
Al-Dulaimi said the hospital's staff, doctors and patients,
have all fallen victim to the assault. He said such fierce
bombings have not been witnessed since the Iran-Iraq war.
http://www.sf-frontlines.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&s
id=862&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Warplanes have bombed a government clinic in
the centre of Falluja as US ground forces engaged in pitched battles
with fighters defending the city.

Residents said the one-story Popular Clinic which had been receiving
wounded anti-US fighters and civilians was hit overnight as US-led
forces pressed into the city.

The residents said on Tuesday it was impossible to reach the clinic
because of heavy bombing and US tanks in the area.

The clinic's telephones were no longer working.

An Iraqi journalist, Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi, told Aljazeera that the
overnight bombings which continued for more than 10 hours
targeted everything in the city including the hospital, houses as
well as cars.

Al-Dulaimi said the hospital's staff, doctors and patients, have
all fallen victim to the assault. He said such fierce bombings have
not been witnessed since the Iran-Iraq war.

The US military said it had no immediate information on any attack
on the clinic.

Fierce fighting

Fierce clashes erupted between American troops and anti-US
fighters in the neighbourhoods of al-Askari, al-Jughaivi and
al-Dhubat near the northern gate of the city, Aljazeera learned.

Residents said smoke was rising from the whole city as it shook
to constant explosions. Civilians were huddled in their homes
and there was no word on casualties.

A US tank company commander in Iraq said on Tuesday that
guerrillas were putting up a strong fight in the Jolan district of
north-west Falluja, which is a rebel stronghold.

"These people are hardcore. They are putting up a strong fight
and I saw many of them on the street I was on," Captain Robert
Bodisch told Reuters.

"A man pulled out from behind a wall and fired an RPG at my
tank. I have to get another tank to go back in there," he said
without giving details.

The agency also reported that a US helicopter had been shot
down.

"I saw the helicopter collide with a rocket. It turned into a ball
of fire and fell to the ground," said Reuters reporter Fadl
al-Badrani. "There was smoke everywhere."

He said the helicopter crashed in the city's Jolan district.
A US military spokesman, however, had denied the report.

An AFP reporter in Jolan said one building in every 10 had
been flattened. As US-led troops closed in on the neighbourhood
overnight, at least four 2,000-pound (900-kilogramme) bombs
were dropped in the city's northwest.
Muhammad Abbud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed
to death at their Falluja home, unable to take him to hospital as
fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the
Iraqi city.

At least 50 guerrilla fighters and 20 US soldiers were killed in
the first hours of street fighting with scores more wounded.

Many civilians killed

Muhammad Abbud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed
to death at their Falluja home, unable to take him to hospital as
fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the Iraqi city.

In the midst of the US onslaught and hemmed in by a round-
the-clock curfew, he said he had little choice but to bury his
eldest son, Ghaith, in the garden.

"My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at
dawn, but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Abbud,
a teacher. "We buried him in the garden because it was too
dangerous to go out. We did not know how long the fighting
would last."

Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in
24 hours of fighting since US-led forces pushed deep into the city
on Monday evening.

Doctors said people brought in at least 15 dead civilians at the main
clinic in Falluja on Monday. By Tuesday, there were no clinics open,
residents said, and no way to count casualties.

Scores injured

US and Iraqi forces seized Falluja's main hospital, across the
Euphrates river from the city centre, on Monday night hours
before the main offensive got under way.

Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the hospital, who escaped arrest when
it was taken, said the city was running out of medical supplies and
only a few clinics remained open.

"There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit
by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians
in their homes whom we can't move."

"A 13-year-old child just died in my hands," he told reporters by
telephone from a house where he had gone to help the wounded.

Doctors said at least 15 civilians had been killed in Monday's fighting.
There was no word on US casualties.

Cleansing operation

Iraq's US-backed interim government sees Falluja and its sister city
of Ramadi as havens for anti-US fighters that must be retaken to
allow nationwide elections to go ahead in January.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from the terrorists," interim
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Monday in Baghdad.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed the theme.

"We have begun an operation in Falluja today to ... defeat this
hornet's nest of insurgent activity and terrorist activity," he told
reporters on his way to Mexico City.

Allawi declared a 60-day emergency rule from Sunday to help
crush the "insurgency" and pave the way for elections. On Monday
he used those powers to impose a curfew on Falluja and Ramadi,
and effectively seal the borders with Jordan and Syria.

Islamic Party quits

The political cost of the operation is already beginning to mount.

A major Sunni political party has quit the interim US-backed Iraqi
government and revoked its single minister from the cabinet in
protest over the US in Falluja, the party's leader said on Tuesday.

"We are protesting the attack on Falluja and the injustice that is
inflicted on the innocent people of the city. We cannot be part of
this attack"

"We are protesting the attack on Falluja and the injustice that is
inflicted on the innocent people of the city," said Muhsin Abd
al-Hamid, head of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

Abd al-Hamid said the party leaders convened on Monday and
decided that their one minister in the cabinet - Minister of Industry,
Hashim al-Hasani - should quit.

"We cannot be part of this attack," the leader said.

In a statement to Aljazeera, the Islamic Party in Iraq accused the
US-backed interim Iraqi government of allowing the killing of Iraqis.

The party called for the immediate halt to all bloodshed.

Condemnation

Another Sunni grouping, the Association of Muslim Scholars
(AMS) urged the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Arab
League secretary-general and "all those who live with a conscience
around the world" to be aware of the "massacres and elimination
war" in Falluja.

Dr Harith al-Dhari, secretary-general of the AMS, said the "Iraqi
resistance" was a legitimate right.

"The resistance has been legitimate since its first days. We only
need to reconfirm this in order to expel the confusion caused by
some external fatwas [Islamic decrees] prohibiting jihad."

Al-Dhari added: "Iraqis are in jihad as they have the right to
defend themselves. This right is approved by all laws and heavenly
religions.

"We have said we support the resistance since the occupation of
this country began. This is our right as Iraqis. Therefore, we don't
need a fatwa on this issue as this matter is clear," he added.

"This is a jihad of defence that needs no consultation or fatwas
to be issued."

Ramadi fighting: US forces retreat

In a separate development, anti-US fighters took control of the
centre of the Iraqi city of Ramadi after 24 hours of clashes with
US forces, an AFP correspondent has said.

The US military could not immediately be contacted for comment.

US forces withdrew Tuesday around 2:00pm (1100 GMT) from
Ramadi's main streets to their bases east and west of the city,
the correspondent said.

Earlier, five US troops were wounded in Ramadi when marines
shot at and destroyed two suspected cars killing seven fighters,
the US military said Tuesday.

The attack occured in the city on Monday, located 113km west
of Baghdad, where US troops have clashed with fighters for weeks,
the military said. No other details were available.

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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) US 'pacifies' city but rebels take violence to rest of country
By Kim Sengupta in Camp Dogwood
10 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=581298

US 'pacifies' city but rebels take violence to rest of country

Old errors meant assault became inevitable

Fijian soldier serving as sniper with Black Watch is fifth victim

No more UK forces to be sent to 'Triangle of Death' when troops
go home next month

Johann Hari: How do you defend the destruction of Fallujah to the
people who live there?

Leading article: Mr Bush can afford to spend a little of his political
capital helping out Mr Blair

US forces reached the centre of Fallujah yesterday after hours of
street fighting and barrages from artillery, tank and helicopter
gunships. As night fell, the Americans announced that they had
captured key strategic targets and were carrying out house-to-
house searches.

The Pentagon said that at least 10 US and two Iraqi soldiers had
died since the offensive began on Monday night. Reports of insurgents'
deaths vary between 12 and 42. Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime
Minister, claimed that troops had detained 38 insurgents entrenched
at the hospital.

Even as US commanders were declaring that the rebel stronghold
would be "pacified" very soon, the price being paid for the victory
was becoming evident in the carnage being visited around the country.
It appears that many of the insurgents who had been based in Fallujah
slipped out of the city and moved to other parts of Iraq before the
offensive.

The estimates given by the US military about the numbers of
insurgents in Fallujah have varied. Two weeks ago it was claimed
there were 6,000 heavily armed militants, including the Jordanian
terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in the city. However, small groups
of fighters, sometimes no more than 20 strong, have attempted to
engage the Americans, who vastly outnumber and outgun them,
before fading away.

The explanation of what had happened to those missing fighters
could be found, perhaps, in what happened elsewhere in Iraq
yesterday.

Hundreds of armed men entered Ramadi, taking over government
buildings, while in Baquba, north of Baghdad, 45 people, including
25 policemen were killed in a series of attacks. Eleven people died
in bombings in Baghdad, and an attack on a National Guard
headquarters in Kirkuk killed three people.

There was also political unravelling, with one of the main Sunni
groups, the Iraqi Islamic Party, resigning from the Iraqi government
in protest at the assault. "The American attack on our people in
Fallujah has led and will lead to more killings and genocide without
mercy from the Americans," said its leader, Mohsen Abdel Hamid.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential group of Sunni
clerics, called for a boycott of next January's planned elections which
were, it said, being held "over the corpses of those killed in Fallujah
and the blood of the wounded".

There were reports from Fallujah that almost 500 Iraqi government
troops _ almost a battalion _ had refused to fight alongside the
Americans, a repetition of similar incidents when US forces attacked
the city last April. In Washington, Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence
Secretary, said: "I would characterise it as an isolated problem."

The government imposed an indefinite night-time curfew in
Baghdad. Officials said there was "credible evidence" that militants
escaping from Fallujah had regrouped in the capital and were
planning more attacks.

Colonel Michael Formica, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade,
said in Fallujah that escaping fighters were a real problem. "My
concern now is only one _ not to allow any enemy to escape. As
we tighten the noose around him, he will move to escape to fight
another day. I do not want these guys to get out of here. I want
them killed or captured as they flee".

Intermittent fighting was under way in the northern sectors of
Fallujah, with at least two American tanks reported to be engulfed
in flames. Despite meeting fierce and, at times, sustained resistance,
senior officers of the army's Task Force, of the 1st Infantry Division,
said they had not encountered any of the more than 120 "suicide cars"
supposedly waiting for them packed with explosives. However, other
units reported that they had found booby-trapped buildings.

By midday, US armored units, attacking from the north, had made their
way to the highway running from east to west through the city centre
and crossed over into the southern part of the city. One of the objectives
surrounded by US forces was the al-Hidra mosque half a mile inside the city.
According to the American commanders, the mosque was being used
as a weapons dump and planning centre for militants, and will be
captured in due course with Iraqi government troops leading the way.

US troops are using Fallujah's main railway station as a forward base
and detention centre. Iraqi government troops brought in nine
handcuffed prisoners from the Jolan area, where many of the
militants are said to have gathered. They said two were Egyptians
and one was Syrian.

Captain Robert Bodisch, a Marines tank company commander,
said: "They are putting up a strong fight ... these people are
hardcore ... A man pulled out from behind a wall and fired an
RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] at my tank. I have to get another
tank to go back in there."

Local people claimed US warplanes bombed a clinic, causing
many casualties. The main hospital was captured by US and
Iraqi government forces on Monday, when, according to
government figures, more than 40 "terrorists" were killed.

Also in Middle East
US 'pacifies' city but rebels take violence to rest of country
Old errors meant assault became inevitable
Fijian soldier serving as sniper with Black Watch is fifth victim
Arafat's fate depends on 'will of God', say Palestinian leaders
as his coma deepens
Leader's wife hit by PLO slur campaign
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) The Optimism of Uncertainty
[From an excerpt of Paul Rogat Loeb's book
"The Impossible Will Take a Little While":]
By Howard Zinn
Published on Monday, November 8, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1108-21.htm


In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in
comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage
to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that
the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game
before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate;
life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning.

To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the
world. There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present
moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by
the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in
people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against
tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed
invincible. What leaps out from the history of the past hundred years
is its utter unpredictability. This confounds us, because we are
talking about exactly the period when human beings became so
ingenious technologically that they could plan and predict the exact
time of someone landing on the moon, or walk down the street talking
to someone halfway around the earth.

Let's go back a hundred years. A revolution to overthrow the tsar of
Russia, in that most sluggish of semi-feudal empires, not only
startled the most advanced imperial powers, but took Lenin himself by
surprise and sent him rushing by train to Petrograd. Given the
Russian Revolution, who could have predicted Stalin's deformation of
it, or Khrushchev's astounding exposure of Stalin, or Gorbachev's
succession of surprises? Who would have predicted the bizarre shifts
of World War II-the Nazi-Soviet pact (those embarrassing photos of
von Ribbentrop and Molotov shaking hands), and the German army
rolling through Russia, apparently invincible, causing colossal
casualties, being turned back at the gates of Leningrad, on the
western edge of Moscow, in the streets of Stalingrad, followed by the
defeat of the German army, with Hitler huddled in his Berlin bunker,
waiting to die?

And then the post-war world, taking a shape no one could have drawn
in advance: The Chinese Communist revolution, which Stalin himself
had given little chance. And then the break with the Soviet Union,
the tumultuous and violent Cultural Revolution, and then another
turnabout, with post-Mao China renouncing its most fervently held
ideas and institutions, making overtures to the West, cuddling up to
capitalist enterprise, perplexing everyone. No one foresaw the
disintegration of the old Western empires happening so quickly after
the war, or the odd array of societies that would be created in the
newly independent nations, from the benign village socialism of
Nyerere's Tanzania to the madness of Idi Amin's adjacent Uganda.

Spain became an astonishment. A million died in the civil war, which
ended in victory for the Fascist Franco, backed by Hitler and
Mussolini. I recall a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade telling
me that he could not imagine Spanish Fascism being overthrown without
another bloody war. But after Franco was gone, a parliamentary
democracy came into being, open to Socialists, Communists,
anarchists, everyone. In other places too, deeply entrenched
dictatorships seemed suddenly to disintegrate-in Portugal, Argentina,
the Philippines, Iran.

The end of World War II left two superpowers with their respective
spheres of influence and control, vying for military and political
power. The United States and the Soviet Union soon each had enough
thermonuclear bombs to devastate the Earth several times over. The
international scene was dominated by their rivalry, and it was
supposed that all affairs, in every nation, were affected by their
looming presence. Yet the most striking fact about these superpowers
was that, despite their size, their wealth, their overwhelming
accumulation of nuclear weapons, they were unable to control events,
even in those parts of the world considered to be their respective
spheres of influence. The failure of the Soviet Union to have its way
in Afghanistan, its decision to withdraw after almost a decade of
ugly intervention, was the most striking evidence that even the
possession of thermonuclear weapons does not guarantee domination
over a determined population.

The United States has faced the same reality. It waged a full-scale
war in lndochina, conducted the most brutal bombardment of a tiny
peninsula in world history, and yet was forced to withdraw. In Latin
America, after a long history of U.S. military intervention having
its way again and again, this superpower, with all its wealth and
weapons, found itself frustrated. It was unable to prevent a
revolution in Cuba, and the Latin American dictatorships that the
United States supported from Chile to Argentina to El Salvador have
fallen. In the headlines every day we see other instances of the
failure of the presumably powerful over the presumably powerless, as
in Brazil, where a grassroots movement of workers and the poor
elected a new president pledged to fight destructive corporate power.

Looking at this catalog of huge surprises, it's clear that the
struggle for justice should never be abandoned because of the
apparent overwhelming power of those who have the guns and the money
and who seem invincible in their determination to hold on to it. That
apparent power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to human
qualities less measurable than bombs and dollars: moral fervor,
determination, unity, organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity,
courage, patience-whether by blacks in Alabama and South Africa,
peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Vietnam, or workers and
intellectuals in Poland, Hungary, and the Soviet Union itself.

No cold calculation of the balance of power need deter people who are
persuaded that their cause is just. I have tried hard to match my
friends in their pessimism about the world (is it just my friends?),
but I keep encountering people who, in spite of all the evidence of
terrible things happening everywhere, give me hope. Especially young
people, in whom the future rests. Wherever I go, I find such people.
And beyond the handful of activists there seem to be hundreds,
thousands more who are open to unorthodox ideas. But they tend not to
know of each other's existence, and so, while they persist, they do
so with the desperate patience of Sisyphus endlessly pushing that
boulder up the mountain.

I try to tell each group that it is not alone, and that the very
people who are disheartened by the absence of a national movement are
themselves proof of the potential for such a movement. It is this
change in consciousness that encourages me. Granted, racial hatred
and sex discrimination are still with us, war and violence still
poison our culture, we have a large underclass of poor, desperate
people, and there is a hard core of the population content with the
way things are, afraid of change. But if we see only that, we have
lost historical perspective, and then it is as if we were born
yesterday and we know only the depressing stories in this morning's
newspapers, this evening's television reports.

Consider the remarkable transformation, in just a few decades, in
people's consciousness of racism, in the bold presence of women
demanding their rightful place, in a growing public awareness that
gays are not curiosities but sensate human beings, in the long-term
growing skepticism about military intervention despite brief surges
of military madness. It is that long-term change that I think we must
see if we are not to lose hope. Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act.
Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware
of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving
zigzag toward a more decent society.

We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in
the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of
people, can transform the world. Even when we don't "win," there is
fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with
other good people, in something worthwhile. We need hope. An optimist
isn't necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of
our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.
It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of
cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What
we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our
lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do
something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so
many-where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning
top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however
small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The
future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we
think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around
us, is itself a marvelous victory.

--

Adapted from "The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's
Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear", edited by Paul Rogat Loeb. Parts of
this essay appeared in You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train and
Howard Zinn on History.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) U.S. TRADE UNIONIST ASSASSINATED IN El SALVADOR
-A Friend of the National Labor Committee
Mr. Gilberto Soto was assassinated Friday evening, November
5, at 6:00 p.m., while visiting his mother in the city of
Usulutan, El Salvador.

Mr. Soto received a call on his cell phone and had just
stepped outside the doorway of his mother's home, searching
for better reception, when he was approached by two men who
shot and killed him at close range. He was shot in the upper
back and on the lower side, near the kidney. It was this
shot which severed his aorta, the major artery to the heart.
He died immediately.
The killers fled, running to a car waiting about 100 yards
away. There may also have been a third assailant on a bike.
There was absolutely no attempt to rob Mr. Soto. It was
clear that the sole intent was to kill him. There were
several eye witnesses.
Mr. Gilberto Soto was a long time organizer with the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Based in New
Jersey, he was in charge of organizing port container
drivers in the northeast of the U.S. He was currently
involved in organizing drivers in Elizabeth, N.J.
Less than a year ago, Mr. Soto met in New York City with
Denmark's SID Union (The Specialized Workers Union in
Denmark) Central American Representative, Bjarne Larsen. The
IBT and SID were interested in collaborating on a joint
project documenting the systematic violations of worker
rights by Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in
the world.
Mr. Soto was just about to begin his organizing work in
Central America when he was assassinated. He was going to
meet with port workers in El Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua. However, his real interest was to meet with and
assist the drivers who hauled Maersk containers. In El
Salvador, the working conditions are horrible, with
excessive shifts and low wages. The drivers have absolutely
no right to organize, and any hint of workers trying to
exercise their legal right to Freedom of Association would
be met with mass firings. The drivers are paid for only the
hours they are on the road. A trip from a free trade zone in
El Salvador to Puerto Cortez in Honduras could take seven-
to-nine hours. Then there would be all the down time for
which they are not paid, followed by another long haul back
to El Salvador.
In Honduras, about 700 of the container drivers are
organized, and a much smaller group was just newly organized
in Nicaragua.
Weeks had gone into preparing for Mr. Soto's trip. Many
emails had gone back and forth, and many drivers had been
approached and spoken with. It is possible that word leaked
out.
Mr. Gilberto Soto's family in El Salvador will not be
frightened. They are calling for a full investigation.
Mr. Soto's sister told us: "We need an investigation. This
murder did not just happen. There is something behind this.
We demand justice in this country (El Salvador), where there
is so little justice."
Mr Gilberto Soto would have been 50 years old on Saturday,
November 6, the day after he was assassinated. He leaves
behind a 25 year old son. His mother and sister are
accompanying his body from El Salvador to the U.S. this
Thursday.
Mr. Soto was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the U.S.
in 1975. His family says that Gilberto had no enemies in
Usulatan. It was quite the opposite, he was loved and
respected.
Starting in the mid 1980's, Mr. Gilberto Soto was a long
term collaborator with the National Labor Committee,
participating in several of our campaigns. While we were on
the road for the last five weeks with a tour of young
Bangladesh workers, Gilberto called us. He asked us to help
the exploited containers drivers in El Salvador, and we said
we would. We were to speak later this week.
More than ever, the NLC intends to go ahead with that
solidarity, and we ask your help.
If they can assassinate a U.S. citizen and trade union
leader in El Salvador, we can only imagine the repression
the Salvadoran workers are facing on a daily basis. This is
another tragic example of how CAFTA (Central American Free
Trade Agreement) will continue to fail the workers in
Central America and the U.S. While CAFTA goes out of its way
to provide all sorts legal protection to the product, there
are no similar enforceable laws backed up by sanctions to
defend the rights of the human being and workers who made
the product.
We need to continue the struggle for worker rights
protections in Central America and in the U.S. But first we
need an immediate and thorough investigation to get to the
truth of why and who killed Mr. Soto. As a first step,
please write to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
demanding a full investigation. (A model letter is
attached).
Please visit the NLC website (www.nlcnet.org) for updates.
MODEL LETTER:
DATE
General Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520
Fax: 202-647-2283
Dear Secretary Powell:
A United States Citizen and trade union leader, Mr. Gilberto
Soto, was assassinated in Usulutan, El Salvador on Friday
evening, November 5. Two men who shot Mr. Soto in the back,
at close range, before fleeing to a waiting car. There was
absolutely no attempt to rob Mr. Soto, and according to eye
witness accounts, it was clear that the sole intent was to
kill him.
Mr. Soto, who was born in El Salvador, was a longtime union
organizer with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
in charge of working with port drivers on the northeast
coast of the United States. Mr. Soto was in Central America
to meet with port workers and the drivers who haul
containers for the Maersk shipping line and other companies
in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. I strongly believe
that Mr. Soto was assassinated to prevent his meeting with
and providing solidarity to these exploited port drivers.
The container drivers in El Salvador work under very abusive
conditions, forced to work excessively long shifts for
little pay. The Salvadoran drivers are also systematically
denied their legal right to freedom of association.
Everyone knows that any attempt to organize would be met
with mass firings.
I urge you to intervene with the President of El Salvador to
demand an immediate and thorough investigation of why Mr.
Gilberto Soto was killed, and by whom. I also request that
sufficient U.S. resources and personnel be made available to
monitor this investigation. Certainly out of respect for
Mr. Soto, there should also be an investigation into the
systematic violation of labor rights faced by El Salvador's
port workers--especially in light of the pending Central
America Free Trade Agreement. If a U.S. citizen and union
leader can be assassinated in El Salvador, one can only
imagine the repression and threats the Salvadoran workers
must face on a daily basis.
Thank you for your efforts to see that genuine justice is
done for Mr. Soto and his family, and for all decent
Americans who value respect for fundamental human and
workers' rights.
Sincerely,
CC: Elías Antonio Saca González, President of the Republic
of El Salvador

********************************************************
This is a message from the National Labor Committee.
If you have received this update from a friend,
please visit http://www.nlcnet.org/listserv.asp
to be added to the list.
--
National Labor Committee
540 West 48th Street, 3rd Fl.
New York, NY 10036
phone: (212) 242-3002
fax: (212) 242-3821
www.nlcnet.org
--
Dan Calamuci
U.S. Campaigns Coordinator
National Labor Committee
540 W 48th St. 3rd FL.
New York, NY 10036
ph: (212) 242-3002
fax: (212) 242-3821
email: dcalamuci@nlcnet.org
www.nlcnet.org

ActionLA
Action for World Liberation Everyday!
Tel: (213)403-0131
URL: http://www.ActionLA.org
e-mail: Info@ActionLA.org
Please join our ActionLA Listserv
go to: http://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/actionla
or send e-mail to: actionla-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) CITIZEN'S ASSEMBLY,
Run/Walk and Peace Vigil
Sacred Sites Protection & Rights of Indigenous
Tribes (SSP&RRT)
Invites all: Nations, Tribes, Bands, Family Clans,
Faith Based Organizations and Peace & Justice Organizations
and concerned citizens to join us in a run/walk and peace vigil
for the preservation of sacred sites.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
12:00 Noon -- meet at Waterfront Park
495 Mare Island Parkway, Vallejo (next to Ferry Terminal)
and board shuttle buses to start line.
12:30 PM -- Special Ceremony at Glen Cove Site
1:00 -- Begin SSP&RRT run/walk to Waterfront Park

A Citizen's Assembly will be held at the finish (Waterfront Park)

A potluck lunch will follow Citizen's Assembly at
Native American Studies
301 Wallace Avenue, Vallejo

contact info: (707) 557-2140 (volunteers)
all other info: (707) 557-2140 or (707) 552- 2562




Published on Sunday, November 7,
2004 by Agence France Presse Holy War:
Evangelical Marines Prepare to Battle Barbarians


NEAR FALLUJAH - With US forces
massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines
swayed to Christian rock music and
asked Jesus Christ to protect them in
what could be the biggest battle since
American troops invaded Iraq last
year.

US Marines of the 1st Division
dressed as gladiators stage a chariot
race reminiscent of the Charlton
Heston movie-complete with confiscated
Iraqi horses at their base outside
Fallujah, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 6 ,
2004. For U.S. Marines tapped to
lead an expected attack on
insurgent-held Fallujah, the bags
have been packed, trucks have been
loaded and final letters have been
sent, leaving one final task - the
'Ben-Hur.' (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

The marines drew parallels from
the verse with their present situation,
where they perceive themselves
as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed
to all that is good in the world.

Men with buzzcuts and clad in their
camouflage waved their hands in the
air, M-16 assault rifles beside them,
and chanted heavy metal-flavoured
lyrics in praise of Christ late on
Friday in a yellow-brick chapel.

They counted among thousands
of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah,
seeking solace as they awaited
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's
decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah.

"You are the sovereign. You're
name is holy. You are the pure spotless
lamb," a female voice cried out
on the loudspeakers as the marines
clapped their hands and closed
their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead
for them.

The US military, with many
soldiers coming from the conservative
American south and midwest,
has deep Christian roots.

Comforting

In times that fighting looms,
many soldiers draw on their evangelical or
born-again heritage to help them face the battle.

"It's always comforting. Church
attendance is always up before the big
push," said first sergeant Miles Thatford.

"Sometimes, all you've got is God."

Between the service's electric guitar
religious tunes, marines stepped
up on the chapel's small stage and
recited a verse of scripture, meant
to fortify them for war.

One spoke of their Old Testament
hero, a shepherd who would become
Israel's king, battling the Philistines ,
3 000 years ago.

"Thus David prevailed over the
Philistines," the marine said, reading
from scripture, and the marines
shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using
their signature grunt of approval.

The marines drew parallels from the
verse with their present situation,
where they perceive themselves as
warriors fighting barbaric men opposed
to all that is good in the world.

"Victory belongs to the Lord," another
young marine read.

Their chaplain, named Horne, told
the worshippers they were stationed
outside Fallujah to bring the Iraqis
"freedom from oppression, rape,
torture and murder ... We ask you
God to bless us in that effort."

Holy oil

The marines then lined up and their
chaplain blessed them with holy oil
to protect them.

"God's people would be anointed
with oil," the chaplain said, as he
lightly dabbed oil on the marines'
foreheads.

The crowd then followed him outside
their small auditorium for a baptism
of about a half-dozen marines who
had just found Christ.

The young men lined up and at least
three of them stripped down to their
shorts.

The three laid down in a rubber
dinghy filled with water and the
chaplain's assistant, navy corpsman
Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads
beneath the surface.

Smiling, Vaughn baptised them
"in the name of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit."

Dripping wet, corporal Keith
Arguelles beamed after his baptism.

"I just wanted to make sure
I did this before I headed into the fight,"
he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah.

(c) Copyright 2004 AFP

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) Gonzales to Succeed Ashcroft, Sources Say
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Nov 10, 11:55 AM (ET)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041110/D8694G201.html
(AP) Attorney General John Ashcroft speaks at a symposium
marking the 10th anniversary of the Violence...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has chosen White House counsel
Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent
Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John
Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.

Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with
Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president's.

After a National Security Council meeting, Bush was sitting down
Wednesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, another figure
being closely watched for signs of whether he will stay or go.
Powell has been largely noncommital when asked about his plans.

Gonzales, 49, has long been rumored as a leading candidate
for a Supreme Court vacancy if one develops. Speculation
increased after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announced
he has thyroid cancer.

Gonzales' career has been linked with Bush for at least a decade,
serving as general counsel when Bush was governor of Texas,
and then as secretary of state and as a justice on the Texas
Supreme Court.

Gonzales has been at the center of developing Bush's
positions on balancing civil liberties with waging the war
on terrorism - opening the White House counsel to the same
line of criticism that has dogged Ashcroft.

For instance, Gonzales publicly defended the administration's
policy - essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now
being fought out in the lower courts - of detaining certain
terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to
lawyers or courts.

He also wrote a controversial February 2002 memo in which
Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international
treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position
drew fire from human rights groups, which said it helped led to
the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Some conservatives also have quietly questioned Gonzales'
credentials on core social issues. And he once was a partner
in a Houston law firm which represented the scandal-ridden
energy giant Enron.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) 'Watching tragedy engulf my city'
Another one of modern history's real horror shows, but all
indications are that the people who remain are putting up
a very major fight.
Washington Post.com headlined that those resisting were
"Zarqawi supporters" but dropped this particularly gross war
propaganda later.
Fred Feldman


'Watching tragedy engulf my city'

US and Iraqi forces are locked in desperate street battles against
insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja. The BBC News website spoke by
phone to Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in Falluja who reports for the BBC
World Service in Arabic.

Translation from Arabic by Jumbe Omari Jumbe of bbcarabic.com

11/09/04 "BBC" -- I am surrounded by thick black smoke and the smell of
burning oil. There was a big explosion a few minutes ago and now I can
hear gunfire.

A US armoured vehicle has been parked on the street outside my house in
the centre of the city.

From my window, I can see US soldiers moving around on foot near it.

They tried to go from house to house but they kept coming under fire.

Now they are firing back at the houses, at anything that moves. It is
war on the streets.

The American troops look like they have given up trying to go into
buildings for now and are just trying to control the main roads.

I am sitting here on my own, watching tragedy engulf my city.

Looks like Kabul

I was with some of the Falluja fighters earlier. They looked tired - but
their spirits were high and they were singing.


Recently, many Iraqis from other parts of the country have been joining
the local men against the Americans.
No one has had much sleep in the past two days of heavy fighting and of
course, it is still Ramadan, so no one eats during the day.

I cannot say how many people have been killed but after two days of
bombing, this city looks like Kabul.

Large portions of it have been destroyed but it is so dangerous to leave
the house that I have not been able to find out more about casualties.

Mosques silent

A medical dispensary in the city centre was bombed earlier.

I don't know what has happened to the doctors and patients who were
there.

It was last place you could get medical attention because the big
hospital on the outskirts of Falluja was captured by the Americans on
Monday.


A lot of the mosques have also been bombed.
For the first time in Falluja, a city of 150 mosques, I did not hear a
single call to prayer this morning.

I broke my Ramadan fast yesterday with the last of our food - two
potatoes and two tomatoes.

The tomatoes were rotten because we have no electricity to run the
fridge.

My neighbours - a woman and her children - came to see me yesterday.
They asked me to tell the world what is happening here.

I look at the devastation around me and ask - why?

Translation from Arabic by Jumbe Omari Jumbe of bbcarabic.com

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3996111.stm

Published: 2004/11/09 14:12:13 GMT

C BBC MMIV

posted 3:45 PM  0 comments

LATEST FIGURE:
16 U.S. TROOPS KILLED SINCE INVASION OF FALLUJA!

HANDS OFF FALLUJA!
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT TONIGHT! TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH,
5:00 p.m. POWELL AND MARKET, SF

We can't be silent about the massacre
taking place now in Iraq. U.S. ground
troops have begun a massive assault
through the streets of the poorest
sections of Iraq. One of their first
targets was a hospital!

While the U.S. claims that civilians
have left Falluja facts prove
that at least half of the 300,000 inhabitants
of Falluja have been unable to leave
because there is no food, water or supplies
available to them outside of the city.

This is Vietnam all over again and we say NO!

This demonstration was initiated
by ANSWER. There have been calls for
actions against this new offensive
from both UFPJ and USLAW. Bay Area
United Against War is in full support
of a united demonstration tomorrow.

The demonstration initiated by
Not In Our Name, on Nov. 3rd showed that
we are all on the same page when it comes to the war.

We call on all groups and individuals
to endorse and join this action. What
is needed most now is a truly united
movement-worldwide-calling
for the immediate withdrawal of all
US and US allied troops from Iraq
and Afghanistan and everywhere!


Peace and solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Night after elections, thousands fill SF streets for
Not in Our Name march: Out of Iraq now!
Today! Tuesday, Nov. 9
Emergency protest against the U.S. attackon Fallujah.
5:00 PM at Powell and Market, SF (Int'l ANSWER).

2) PROTEST THE ATTACK ON FALLUJA!
TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 5 PM
Powell and Market Streets, San Francisco

3) PROTEST THE ATTACK ON FALLUJA!
TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 5 PM
Powell and Market Streets, San Francisco
Sponsored by: International ANSWER
Supported by Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW),
Global Exchange, Not in Our Name Bay Area,
United for Peace and Justice Bay Area, and others.
Bring signs and enlarged images of Iraqi civilian casualties.

4) New York Times calls for more troops in Iraq
By Joseph Kay
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
9 November 2004
https://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/nyti-n09.shtml

5) US strikes raze Falluja hospital
A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the
heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3988433.stm

6) U.S. forces push through the center of Fallujah, tighten cordon
around city to block fleeing insurgents
By Jim Krane,
Associated Press, 11/9/2004 10:19
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/314/world/U_S_forces_push_through_the_ce:.sh
tml

7) U.S. Judge Halts Trial of Guantanamo Prisoner
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Nov 8, 2004 05:39 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6749845&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

8) A Cancer Drug's Long Journey From Cuba
What It Took to Bring a Promising Lung Cancer Drug to U.S.
ABC News
[From: Jane Franklin, JBFranklins, 11/8/04 11:28 AM]
When the president of a small California biotech firm heard
of a promising new treatment for lung cancer, he was intrigued.

9) Taking Aim 2-hour special today begins at 4:00 p.m. - sorry for
the late notice -
From: "Taking Aim"
Tue, 09 Nov 2004 08:43:58 -0800

10) A Day That Shook the World Now Rattles Russia's Nerves
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
November 8, 2004
MOSCOW JOURNAL
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/international/europe/08moscow.html?oref=lo
gin

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Night after elections, thousands fill SF streets for
Not in Our Name march: Out of Iraq now!
Today! Tuesday, Nov. 9
Emergency protest against the U.S. attackon Fallujah.
5:00 PM at Powell and Market, SF (Int'l ANSWER).

Wednesday, Nov. 10
Special introductory meeting and strategizing session.
6:30 PM at the Not in Our Name office, 3945 Opal St, Oakland. (map)

Saturday, Nov. 13
We the planet music festival. Details below.

San Francisco (November 3, 2004) -- Over 3,000 braved dark rain
clouds to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq-"now!" Organized
by Not in Our Name with the support of dozens of regional peace and
justice groups, the protest garnered "Bay Area kicks the hangover" and
"Beginning of a new era in the anti-war movement" headlines.

Beginning in late September, Not in Our Name put out the call to
demonstrate that "No matter who is elected, we say no to war and
repression!" the night after the elections. Despite rain and hail,
despite forgoing our stage for a soapbox, despite microphones
shorting out and the overall inadequacy of our sound system, the
plaza packed shoulder to shoulder to cheer a broad range of speakers
who had a single theme: The entire "Bush Agenda" is unjust, their
claimed "mandate" for it is illegitimate-and we're going to fight it
at every turn!

Speakers included: Araceli Lara, St. Peter's Housing Committee;
Rayan ElAmine, Global Intifada; Mel Pilbin, Heads Up Collective;
Maura Kubrin, angry 15-year-old from Lowell High School;
Sunaina, Global Intifada; Larry Everest, author and Revolutionary
Worker newspaper writer; Samina Faheem, American Muslim Voice;
Riva Enteen, KPFA Radio Board Chair; Richard Becker, ANSWER SF;
Uda Walker, Middle East Children's Alliance; Bonnie Weinstein, Bay
Area United Against War; Toni Mendicino, Radical Women and
Freedom Socialist Party; and Andrea Prichett and Shelly Doty
sang the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance.

Meanwhile a thousand more people spilled out into Market Street.
Spontaneous group discussions erupted over the Bush reelection,
"What does it really mean?" and "Was every vote really counted?"
people asked each other. One thing everyone agreed on was that
it felt great to be casting a vote against the war in the streets.

Behind the fresh beats of a dozen Loco Bloco drummers on
a huge flat bed truck, Siafu, Heads Up Collective, and Global
Intifada headed up an amazing "Anti-Imperialist Contingent"
of over 300 strong to lead the raucous march down Market Street
to Valencia and down through the Mission District.

Spirited and bold, people chanted, "This is what resistance looks
like, Bush is what hypocrisy looks like," "US troops refuse to fight.
Fighting for empire just ain't right," and "Not our president, not
our war!" Chants in Spanish and Vietnamese bounced off
of neighborhood buildings-all demanding justice, peace, and
the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Asian groups, Korean, Vietnamese,
Chinese and other groups clustered carrying drums and banners.
Anarchist youth carried black, and black and red flags. Dozens of
others carried earth flags to make the point that we stand with the
people of the world, not our government's war on the world.

Along the march hundreds dropped to the pavement for mass
die-ins to symbolically represent the aftermath of U.S. air strikes-
now occurring daily in occupied Iraq. Bodies laid still and silent
while sirens cried. Each die-in ended with people jumping to their
feet shouting "Rise up with the people of the world!"

The march slowed at one point to allow members of the Women's
Community Center to join in, and later the march come to a halt
in front of the Mission police station for a short program to express
solidarity with displaced communities in the neighborhood.

"Our theme for tonight's march is the "Ghosts of the dead and the
disappeared". In the tradition of Dia de los Muertos, we mourn the
victims and honor the lives of those killed at the hands of
U.S. Imperialism. Imperialism is the global system that causes the
war abroad and the war at home in the U.S. We come together
tonight to help make visible the struggles of Third World peoples
around the globe as well as the policies that make those struggles
necessary," said Mel Pilbin of the Heads Up Collective and the
Anti-Imperialist Contingent.

As the march arrived at 24th and Mission, Maryjane for Not In Our
Name delivered a closing speech from the truck flat bed. After the
closing of the brief rally, youth set fire to an effigy of Bush in the
middle of the intersection while chanting "Bush, you liar, we'll set
your ass on fire!" That was not part of our program, but it did
represent the feelings of many who were still out in the streets.
Afterwards, about 200 hundred youth continued to march back up
Mission Street towards downtown. Police eventually detained and
cited 45 of them for "unlawful assembly" a couple of miles away.

"As an organizer of Wednesday's march and rally, I was heartened
by the diverse, lively, and defiant outpouring into the streets. There
was a lot of talk in the media about demoralization and depression
among progressives in the wake of the Bush victory at the polls.
However, we're not going to succumb to despair. We're going to
continue organizing, continue to be in the streets, and continue
to stand with the people of the world against the immoral, unjust
war in Iraq and the entire deadly trajectory of our government. We
have a mandate from the people of the world to do no less," said
Max Diorio of Not in Our Name.

Other organizers offered that this evening of resistance had much
of the same spirit as the October 6, 2002 convergence of 10,000
in Union Square, San Francisco. Also organized by Not in Our Name,
that was part of the first national protest against the coming Iraq
War. Today, with the re-selection of Bush junior, we again face
a new beginning for our struggle against this ongoing, brutal, and
unjust war and the gathering repression right here in land of the
decreasingly free.

Not in Our Name needs your support!

Please donate online today
donate.notinourname.net

Or send your tax-deductible contribution today to:
Not in Our Name, 3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609

Additionally, by ordering Not in Our Name t-shirts, flags, posters,
stickers, buttons and more, you will also directly support our
local (and national) work:
notinourname.net/store

We the Planet 2004: A Festival of Music Consciousness and
Activism

Not in Our Name will be participating in this great event Saturday,
November 13. Join us for a day of powerful music, inspiration and
activism at the second annual We the Planet festival at Oakland's
Henry J. Kaiser Center.

Put away your picnic basket and get out your baggy pants, because
the indoor-winter version of this groundbreaking festival of music,
consciousness and activism will hip hop your heart away. Bands
include The Roots, The Coup, Third Eye Blind, Michelle Shocked,
plus a special appearance from Mickey Hart & Friends. The event
will be emceed by environmental activist & bestselling author Julia
Butterfly Hill and award-winning spoken-word artist & poet,
Aya De León.

Tickets are $21 in advance and $30 at the door--but the best deal
is only available to Not in Our Name volunteers. To be part of the
rotating crew to staff the Not in Our Name table, give us a call. For
more info about the show, check at www.wetheplanet.org

Not in Our Name
3945 Opal Street
Oakland CA 94609

phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net
nat'l: www.notinourname.net

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) PROTEST THE ATTACK ON FALLUJA!
TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 5 PM
Powell and Market Streets, San Francisco

Sponsored by: International ANSWER
Supported by Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW), Global
Exchange, Not in Our Name Bay Area, United for Peace and
Justice Bay Area, and others.

Bring signs and enlarged images of Iraqi civilian casualties.

The assault on Falluja has started. U.S. warplanes are dropping
huge bombs on civilian neighborhoods, and ground troops are
beginning to enter the city. One hospital, Nazzal Emergency Hospital,
was destroyed in an air strike; another, Falluja General Hospital, has
been seized by U.S. forces, making it unlikely that injured civilians
will be able to go there for treatment. The estimated 50,000 civilians
who remain in Falluja lack running water, electricity, and food.

There will undoubtedly be many civilian injuries and deaths: during
the last siege of Falluja in April, at least 600 Iraqis were killed, most
of them civilians. In the current assault -- contrary to the perception
that the U.S. military only employs high-tech, surgical weapons, to
minimize civilian casualties -- AC-130 gunships are being used,
which fire only "dumb" munitions.

The death toll is expected to be high on the U.S. side as well: Marine
commanders have warned that deaths among U.S. forces could reach
levels not seen since the Vietnam War.

The U.S. assault on Falluja is a catastrophic action that will result in
horrific and unnecessary bloodshed, fuel anger and resentment against
the U.S., and swell the ranks of terrorist groups rather than eradicating
terrorism. We need to raise our voices in opposition to this attack,
insist that the U.S. return to peace negotiations, and call for our troops
to be brought home now.

Contact: International ANSWER, 415-821-6545.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) PROTEST THE ATTACK ON FALLUJA!
TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 5 PM
Powell and Market Streets, San Francisco
Sponsored by: International ANSWER
Supported by Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW),
Global Exchange, Not in Our Name Bay Area,
United for Peace and Justice Bay Area, and others.
Bring signs and enlarged images of Iraqi civilian casualties.

The assault on Falluja has started. U.S. warplanes are dropping huge
bombs on civilian neighborhoods, and ground troops are beginning
to enter the city. One hospital, Nazzal Emergency Hospital, was
destroyed in an air strike; another, Falluja General Hospital, has been
seized by U.S. forces, making it unlikely that injured civilians will be
able to go there for treatment. The estimated 50,000 civilians who
remain in Falluja lack running water, electricity, and food.

There will undoubtedly be many civilian injuries and deaths: during
the last siege of Falluja in April, at least 600 Iraqis were killed, most
of them civilians. In the current assault -- contrary to the perception
that the U.S. military only employs high-tech, surgical weapons,
to minimize civilian casualties -- AC-130 gunships are being used,
which fire only "dumb" munitions.

The death toll is expected to be high on the U.S. side as well: Marine
commanders have warned that deaths among U.S. forces could reach
levels not seen since the Vietnam War.

The U.S. assault on Falluja is a catastrophic action that will result
in horrific and unnecessary bloodshed, fuel anger and resentment
against the U.S., and swell the ranks of terrorist groups rather than
eradicating terrorism. We need to raise our voices in opposition to
this attack, insist that the U.S. return to peace negotiations, and call
for our troops to be brought home now.

Contact: International ANSWER, 415-821-6545.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) New York Times calls for more troops in Iraq
By Joseph Kay
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
9 November 2004
https://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/nyti-n09.shtml

The lead editorial in Monday's New York Times calls for an increase
in US troop levels in Iraq by 40,000 soldiers.

The editorial begins with mild criticisms of the "ambitious political
and military goals President Bush announced last week for Iraq,"
which the Times worries may be unrealizable.

The newspaper proceeds to declare: "[I]f Mr. Bush intends to keep
American troops in Iraq until his stated aims are achieved, he must
face up to the compelling need to increase their strength, and to
commit the resources needed to give present policies at least some
chance of success. That would require a minimum of two additional
combat divisions, or nearly 40,000 more American troops, beyond
the just over 140,000 currently planned for the Iraqi election period."

The editorial goes on to say, "If Mr. Bush feels he now has a mandate
from the voters to stay the course until he creates a stable, unified
Iraq, he owes it to the Iraqi people and Americans stationed there to
commit enough additional troops to make that look like a plausible
possibility."

The Times 'editorial coincides with the American military's launching
of a massive invasion of Fallujah, a crime of immense proportions
that will result in the deaths of thousands of Iraqis. It was written
a day after the declaration of martial law by the Iraqi stooge leader
Ayad Allawi, a measure intended to give the American military an
even freer hand to carry out arbitrary arrests and the violent
suppression of resistance.

The newspaper of American liberalism does not offer an ounce
of criticism of these actions. On the contrary, it cites the "battle
for Fallujah" as one of the challenges confronting the US military,
whose "success" necessitates the introduction of more soldiers.

This position is entirely consistent the Times 'past support for
the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It is also entirely consistent
with the newspaper's endorsement of Democrat John Kerry for
president. During his campaign, Kerry repeatedly criticized Bush
for not carrying out a full-scale invasion of Fallujah and called
for an increase in the size of the American military and a doubling
of Special Forces soldiers.

It is highly significant that one of the first post-election editorials
on the war from the New York Times -the most influential
newspaper of the liberal establishment-calls for an escalation
of American involvement. It underscores the fact that in the
elections the Democratic Party offered no alternative to Bush.
The Times is articulating the positions that Kerry would be
promoting had he won last week's election.

The editors suggest that the sending of more troops to Iraq
will serve a civilizing purpose. With more troops, "there might
be fewer scenes of stressed and frightened patrols kicking in
doors and conducting humiliating household searches. There
might be fewer air strikes on populated neighborhoods and
fewer prison abuses."

This is a bare-faced lie. More troops in Iraq will serve one and
only one purpose: to increase the efficiency and capacity of the
American military to suppress though mass killing and terror
what is a growing popular resistance to foreign occupation.

With more troops, there will be more household searches, more
air strikes and more abuse. The devastation presently being
inflicted on the people of Fallujah will be repeated elsewhere in
an effort to crush all resistance. There is no doubt that these
actions will likewise receive the support of the New York Times .

According to the newspaper, employing two more divisions in
Iraq will require the addition of six active-duty divisions to the
Army to allow for proper rotation. The Times declares, "There
are more than enough potential fighting-age volunteers to do
that without resorting to a draft."

Another lie. The logic of the Times 'position-and the policy of
the Bush administration-leads precisely to the reintroduction of
the draft. The launching of an illegal war against Iraq and the
brutal methods employed by the occupation have generated
enormous resistance. The only response that the American
government has is an escalation of repression. But the escalation
of repression requires more and more troops, and the military
is already straining against the limitations of a volunteer army.
When the time for a draft comes, the Times will lend its support.

The lies of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al
Qaeda-lies that the Times did much to promote-have been
thoroughly discredited. The newspaper and the American media
as a whole have resorted to simply repeating the propaganda that
the American government puts out about defeating terrorism
and ensuring "stability."

The Times has published nothing that seriously analyzes the
purpose of the American occupation or the nature of the opposition
that it confronts. It has done nothing to justify its call for sending
tens of thousands more American youth to kill and be killed.

The shameful position being staked out by the New York Times
demonstrates once again the complete complicity of the media
and the liberal establishment in the crimes that are being carried
out in Iraq.

Copyright 1998-2004
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) US strikes raze Falluja hospital
A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the
heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3988433.stm

Witnesses said only the facade remained of the small Nazzal Emergency
Hospital in the centre of the city. There are no reports on casualties.

A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were
damaged as US forces continued preparing the ground for an expected
major assault.

UN chief Kofi Annan has warned against an attack on the restive Sunni
city.

It is the third time since the end of the US-led war that US and Iraqi
forces have tried to gain control of Falluja.

They say militants loyal to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi are hiding there.

Zarqawi's supporters have been behind some of the worst attacks
on coalition and Iraqi forces as well as dozens of kidnappings. Some
of the hostages - foreigners and Iraqis - have been beheaded.

'Ruined'

US troops using 155mm howitzers pounded a number of pre-planned
targets in Falluja on Saturday.

Along with air strikes - one of the heaviest in recent days - this is
all part of what appears to be a steadily increasing pressure on the
insurgents, says the BBC's Paul Wood, who is with US marines outside
Falluja.

Overnight, a column of armoured vehicles and humvee jeeps carried
out attacks in the outskirts of Falluja designed to draw out the rebels
and provide fresh targets for the air power and artillery.

These are the kind of preliminary operations which would be carried
out before a full-scale assault on Falluja, our correspondent says.

The air strikes reduced the Nazzal hospital, run by a Saudi Arabian
Islamic charity, to rubble.

Hospital officials quoted by Reuters news agency say all the
contents were ruined.

FALLUJA FLASHPOINT
Apr 2003: US paratroopers shoot dead 13 demonstrators
Nov 2003-Jan 2004: attacks on three US helicopters kill 25
Feb 2004: 25 killed in attacks on Iraqi police
31 Mar 2004: four US contractors killed
Apr 2004: US seals off city
May 2004: Siege lifted
June 2004: Zarqawi loyalists targeted in US raids -
continuing to date
Oct 2004: Iraqi PM threatens military action if Zarqawi is
not handed over

More people were preparing to flee the city - more than half of
the city's estimated 300,000 people have already left.

US marine officers say the full-scale attack will go ahead only
once Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has given the order.

"The window really is closing for a peaceful settlement,"
Mr Allawi said on Friday after meeting EU leaders in Brussels.

In a letter to the leaders of the US, UK and Iraq, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan warned that the use of force risked alienating
Iraqis when their support for elections was vital.

But Mr Allawi called the letter "confused".

He said if Mr Annan thought he could prevent insurgents in
Falluja from "inflicting damage and killing", he was welcome
to try.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/3988433.stm

Published: 2004/11/06 13:14:28 GMT

(c) BBC MMIV

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) U.S. forces push through the center of Falluja, tighten cordon
around city to block fleeing insurgents
By Jim Krane,
Associated Press, 11/9/2004 10:19
NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/314/world/U_S_forces_push_through_the_ce:.sh
tml

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) U.S. Army and Marine units thrust through
the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Tuesday, fighting
bands of guerrillas in the streets and conducting house-to-house
searches on the second day of a major offensive to retake the city
from Islamic militants.

A total of 14 Americans have been killed in the past two days across
Iraq including three killed in Fallujah on Tuesday and 11 others who
died Monday, most of them as guerrillas launched a wave of attacks
in Baghdad and southwest of Fallujah, a senior Pentagon official said.

The 11 deaths were the highest one-day U.S. toll in more than six
months.

As fighting raged in Fallujah, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared
a nighttime curfew in Baghdad and its surroundings the first curfew
in the capital for a year a day after a string of insurgent attacks in
the city killed nine Iraqis and wounded more than 80.

Anger grew among Iraq's Sunni Muslim majority over the assault on
the mainly Sunni city of Fallujah. A powerful group of clerics called
for a boycott of January elections.

U.S. and Iraqi forces launched the invasion of Fallujah to restore
government control in the insurgents' strongest bastion ahead of
the elections. But the assault risks alienating Sunnis and if they
boycott, the vote's legitimacy could be deeply undermined.

In Fallujah, heavy street clashes were raging in northern
neighborhoods. By midday, U.S. armored units had made their
way to the highway running east-west through the city's center
and crossed over into the southern part of Fallujah, a major
milestone.

Still, the military reported lighter-than-expected resistance
in Jolan, a warren of alleyways in northwestern Fallujah where
guerillas were believed to be at their strongest.

That could be a sign that insurgents left the city before the
operation started or that the troops have not yet reached the
center location to which the resistance has fallen back, Pentagon
officials said in Washington.

An estimated 6,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 allied Iraqi soldiers
invaded the city from the north Monday night in a quick, powerful
start to an offensive aimed at re-establishing government control
ahead of the January elections. The guerrillas fought off a bloody
Marine offensive against the city in April.

Allawi called on Fallujah's fighters to lay down their weapons to
spare the city and allow government forces to take control, ''The
political solution is possible even if military operations are ongoing,''
his spokesman said.

In Fallujah's urban battles Tuesday, small bands of guerrillas
fewer than 20 were engaging U.S. troops, then falling back
in the face of overwhelming fire from American tanks, 20mm
cannons and heavy machine guns, said Time magazine reporter
Michael Ware, embedded with troops. Ware reported that there
appeared to be no civilians in the area he was in.

On one thoroughfare in the city, U.S. troops traded fire with gunmen
holed up in a row of houses about 100 yards away. An American
gunner on an armored vehicle let loose with his machine gun,
grinding the upper part of a small building to rubble.

Elsewhere, witnesses reported seeing at least two American tanks
engulfed in flames. A Kiowa helicopter flying over southeast Fallujah
took groundfire, injuring the pilot, but he managed to return to
the U.S. base.

The once constant thunder of artillery barrages was halted, since so
many troops are moving inside the city's narrow streets. U.S. and
Iraqi forces surrounded a mosque inside the city that was used as
arms depot and insurgent meeting point, the BBC reported.

Col. Michael Formica, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd
Brigade, said Tuesday that a security cordon around the city will be
tightened to ensure insurgents dressed in civilian clothing don't slip
out.

''My concern now is only one not to allow any enemy to escape. As
we tighten the noose around him, he will move to escape to fight
another day. I do not want these guys to get out of here. I want
them killed or captured as they flee,'' he said.

Guerrillas continued their campaign elsewhere. Hundreds of militants
swarmed the streets of Ramadi, another insurgent stronghold
70 miles west of Baghdad. Gunfire rang out in the city center,
and a destroyed car smeared with blood was seen.

The military said Tuesday afternoon that three troops were killed
and another 14 wounded in and around Fallujah during the past
12 hours.

Two Marines died Monday before the major assault when their
bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates River. Also Monday,
three Marines and six soldiers were killed, most by homemade
bombs, the Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.

Some 10,000-15,000 U.S. troops have surrounded Fallujah, along
with allies Iraqi forces, according to the top U.S. commander in
Iraq, Gen. George Casey. Commanders estimate around 3,000
Sunni fighters are in Fallujah, perhaps around 20 percent of
them foreign Islamic militants.

The number of civilians in the city is unknown. A large portion
of the city's 200,000 to 300,000 residents are believed to have
fled before the offensive, but the Pentagon has acknowledged it
doesn't know how many

Overnight, air and artillery barrages lit up the skies over Fallujah
lit up with flashes.

''Every minute, hundreds of bombs and shells are exploding,''
Fadril al-Badrani, a resident who lives in the center of Fallujah,
said after nightfall Monday. ''The north of the city is in flames.
I can also see fire and smoke ... Fallujah has become like hell.''

Al-Badrani said hundreds of houses had been destroyed.

U.S. troops cut off electricity to the city. Residents said they
were without running water and were worried about food
shortages because most shops in the city have been closed
for the past two days.

A U.S. military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were
killed across the city in bombardment and skirmishes before the
main assault began Monday evening. Two Marines were killed
when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates near Fallujah.

On Monday, a doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer,
reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including
a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.

The question of casualties is a major factor in the offensive.
Reports of hundreds of people killed during the Marine offensive
in April outraged Iraqis and forced the Marines to pull back
allowing guerrillas to only strengthen their hold on the city.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld insisted Monday,
''There aren't going to be large numbers of civilians killed and
certainly not by U.S. forces.''

Allawi's government has also taken a prominent role in defending
the assault for which the prime minister gave the green light.

Still, the powerful Sunni cleric's group the Association of Muslim
Scholars called for a boycott of the January elections.

The election is being held ''over the corpses of those killed in
Fallujah and the blood of the wounded,'' said Harith al-Dhari,
the group's director.

Industry Minister Hajim Al-Hassani of the mainly Sunni Iraqi
Islamic Party quit the government to protest the assault.

''The American attack on our people in Fallujah has led and will
lead to more killings and genocide without mercy from the
Americans,'' said party chief Mohsen Abdel-Hamid.

The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that it was ''extremely
concerned'' about tens of thousands of people fleeing the
Fallujah fighting many of them now living in tents.

''The majority of civilians appear to have left the city, although
it is difficult to establish numbers with any certainty,'' said
Jennifer Clark, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press
correspondents Robert Burns in Washington; Edward Harris
in Fallujah; and Tini Tran, Mariam Fam, Katarina Kratovac
and Maggie Michael in Baghdad.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) U.S. Judge Halts Trial of Guantanamo Prisoner
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Nov 8, 2004 05:39 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6749845&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday dealt a
major setback to the Bush administration by halting as unlawful
the military tribunal trial of a Guantanamo prisoner accused of
being Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver.

The judge ruled the trial could not proceed until a
decision has been made on whether he is a prisoner of war under
the Geneva Conventions and until the rules are changed so he
can see the evidence against him and be present at all proceedings.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson rejected the
administration's request to dismiss the lawsuit by Salim Ahmed
Hamdan of Yemen. The ruling led to an immediate halt in the
proceedings by the tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.

The tribunals, formally called a military commission, at
the U.S. Navy base in Cuba were authorized by President Bush
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but have been criticized by
human rights groups and some military lawyers as being
fundamentally unfair to defendants.

The human rights group Amnesty International USA said,
"This ruling rightly demolishes the Bush administration's
argument that the Geneva Conventions did not universally apply
to prisoners detained in Afghanistan."

COMMISSIONS CALLED AN EMBARRASSMENT

Michael Ratner of the New York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights, which represents a number of Guantanamo
prisoners, said, "We are thrilled by this ruling. Military
commissions were a bad idea and an embarrassment."

The Justice Department criticized the ruling and vowed to
appeal immediately.

More than 500 people are being held at the Guantanamo
prison, detained during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and in
other operations in the U.S. war against terrorism.

Robertson ruled that until a competent tribunal determines
that Hamdan is not entitled to prisoner-of-war status, he may
be tried for the offenses only by court-martial under the U.S.
military justice system.

The U.S. government has taken the position the Guantanamo
detainees are "enemy combatants" and are not entitled to the
protections normally given to prisoners of war.

"No proper determination has been made that Hamdan is an
offender triable by military tribunal under the law of war,"
Robertson wrote.

Hamdan's trial would be unlawful until the tribunal's rule
permitting his exclusion from proceedings and the withholding
of evidence from him is amended to be consistent with the
military justice system, Robertson ruled.

"Hamdan's right to be present at every phase of his trial
and to see all the evidence admitted against him is of
immediate ... concern," Robertson said.

"For example, testimony may be received from a confidential
informant, and Hamdan will not be permitted to hear the
testimony, see the witness's face or learn his name," he said.

The presiding officer of the military commissions at
Guantanamo Bay, Col. Peter Brownback, suspended the hearings
indefinitely after the ruling, a spokesman for the commissions
said.

"Col. Brownback called an indefinite recess," said Army
Maj. Lee Reynolds in a telephone interview from the U.S. Naval
Base at Guantanamo. "We are going through the ruling now to
determine what it means."

Reynolds said lawyers were taking up motions for Hamdan
when Brownback got word of the ruling and called a halt to
proceedings. Hamdan was in the courtroom at the time.

"Right now the ruling just applies to him (Hamdan) but it
will probably have greater implications," Reynolds said.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said, "We
vigorously disagree with the court's decision."

He said the president properly determined that the Geneva
Conventions do not apply to al Qaeda members. "The judge has
put terrorism on the same legal footing as legitimate methods
of waging war," Corallo said in a statement. (Additional
reporting by Jim Loney in Miami)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) A Cancer Drug's Long Journey From Cuba
What It Took to Bring a Promising Lung Cancer Drug to U.S.
ABC News
[From: Jane Franklin, JBFranklins, 11/8/04 11:28 AM]
When the president of a small California biotech firm heard
of a promising new treatment for lung cancer, he was intrigued.

"It stimulates a very strong immune response in patients," said David Hale,
CEO of CancerVax Corp.

There was just one hitch -- the drug, referred to as SAI-EGF -- is made in
Cuba as part of Fidel Castro's $1 billion biotech program. Still, Hale was
determined to bring the drug to the United States.

"I had no idea what an overwhelming task this was going to be," he said.

In early testing, SAI-EGF prolonged the lives of those with advanced lung
cancer by as much as eight months. The drug triggers the body's own immune
system to fight the tumor and slow its growth. Scientists hope it may also
be effective in treating breast and other cancers.

Cuban scientists were willing to help Americans gain access to the drug.

"There is no reason why scientists here and there cannot cooperate," said
Dr. Augustin Lage, director of the Center of Molecular Immunology in
Havana, which developed the drug.

Exception to Trade Embargo

But in order for the drug to come to the United States, the State
Department had to recommend that an exception be made to the 44-year-old
U.S.-Cuban trade embargo. The Treasury Department later approved that
request. The deal came together just as the Bush administration was getting
tougher on Cuban trade.

"The Bush administration doesn't want to do anything to validate the
[Cuban] revolution, whether it be public relations terms or financial
terms, and that was the quandary with CancerVax," said John Kavulich,
president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

CancerVax hired lobbyists to build political support. Their pitch hit home
with many. Among the top-level decision-makers at the State Department, two
had recently lost relatives to lung cancer.

"A lot of the people that might normally be opposed to such a transaction
actually were supportive of our efforts to bring the product into the
U.S.," said Hale.

The U.S. government did not want the Cuban government to benefit from the
sale of the drug. So instead of paying $6 million in cash for the drug,
CancerVax was told to pay in food and medical supplies.

For Castro, the deal was the prefect opportunity to show the world that
Cuba had something the United States wanted.

After years of effort, CancerVax hopes to begin clinical trials next year.
If all goes well, and the drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, it may be on the market by 2009.

ABC News' Lisa Stark filed this report for World News Tonight.

Copyright (c) 2004 ABC News Internet Ventures

Courtesy of:

The Law Office of Jose Pertierra
1010 Vermont Avenue, NW #620
Washington, DC 20005
202 783 6666
JosePertierra@aol.com

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) Taking Aim 2-hour special today begins at 4:00 p.m. - sorry for
the late notice -
From: "Taking Aim"
Tue, 09 Nov 2004 08:43:58 -0800

Tune in today, Tuesday, November 9, for a 2-hour special Taking
Aim broadcast - beginning at 4:00 p.m. (ET) and going until
6:00 p.m. during the WBAI fall fund drive.
(1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on the West Coast at www.wbai.org)

Hear segments of our WBAI fund drive premium, "The Hidden
History of Zionism and the Road Map as a Dead End for the
Palestinian People ."and excerpts read from the classic work,
"The Hidden History of Zionism" by Ralph Schoenman This is
a riveting and provocative presentation that should move you
to tears as well as to action. Contribute $100 to WBAI and
receive a this extraordinary 3-hour 2-CD set and/or $125 for
a signed edition of the cloth-bound (hardcover) edition of the book.

(note we shall discuss the onslaught and devastation of
Fallujah, too)

We also have prepared a special pamphlet for your
$60 contribution to WBAI. It includes:

1. Who Bombed the U.S. World Trade Center? Ð 1993; Growing
Evidence Points to Role of FBI Operative
2. Permanent War: The Stakes for Working People
3. the complete transcript of 9/11: False Flag Operation

Available still for your $100 contribution the 2-CD set

9/11 and the Capitalist State
The Smoking Guns of 9/11

Demonstrate your support for Taking Aim during the WBAI fall
fund drive. Phone the pledge lines (212) 209-2950. If you are
out of the tri-state New York broadcast range for WBAI, remember
that you can listen to Taking Aim with a simultaneous radio
stream via the Internet at www.wbai.org and can pick up the
phone to dial (212) 209-2950. You must phone the pledge
line to receive "The Hidden History of Zionism" and the 9/11
pamphlet premiums .

Spread the word - send this message to various listserves,
tell your friends, family and colleagues to tune in. This will
be your only opportunity during the fall fund drive.

Thanks,
Mya and Ralph

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) A Day That Shook the World Now Rattles Russia's Nerves
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
November 8, 2004
MOSCOW JOURNAL
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/international/europe/08moscow.html?oref=lo
gin

MOSCOW, Nov. 7 - Russia celebrated a holiday on Sunday
that under the Julian calendar was in October, that commemorates
the beginnings of a state that no longer exists. It used to be called
the Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution, but is now the
Day of Accord and Reconciliation or, sometimes, the reverse.
Anyway, neither was much in evidence.

Tens of thousands of Communists and their supporters marched
in Moscow and other cities to honor the 87th anniversary of the
revolution that swept the Bolsheviks to power. They were energized
this year not only by revolutionary nostalgia and ideological zeal,
but also by concern over a proposal to legislate away the holiday
itself.

Placards reading "Hands Off Our Glory - Nov. 7!" joined the more
familiar ones like "Down with the Bourgeois Counterrevolutionaries!"
as marchers formed a river of red that coursed slowly from Lenin's
statue on October Square to Marx's on Theater Square.

"A new epoch began after the Great October Socialist Revolution,"
said Lilya P. Timoshkova, one of the marchers. "The memory of this
holiday is not something you can sweep away."

But a bill in Parliament, drafted by pro-Kremlin lawmakers, would
dispatch Nov. 7 the way of the Soviet Union itself, calling the day
"a source of tension in society." In its place would emerge the Day
of National Unity on Nov. 4, the anniversary of an event that hardly
races to mind, even for Russians: the day in 1612 that Kozma Minin
and Prince Dmitri Pojarsky led the uprising against the Polish
occupation of Moscow.

National holidays, of course, reflect any country's history and identity,
but few countries have a more conflicted sense of both than Russia
and, as a result, a more convoluted calendar.

Christmas, banned in Soviet times, is now officially celebrated Jan. 7,
because the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Soviet Union, did
not adopt the Gregorian calendar. (That has added benefits, since
"old" New Year's Eve is celebrated Jan. 13, in addition to the "new"
one on Dec. 31.)

Russia, as the Soviet Union before, still celebrates May Day, or the
Day of International Workers' Solidarity, but calls it the Day of Spring
and Labor.

There is still, for now, Constitution Day, though not as before on
Dec. 5, honoring Stalin's Constitution, but on Dec. 12, the
anniversary of the one adopted after President Boris N. Yeltsin
ordered the shelling of the Parliament in 1993.

Some Russian holidays manage to avoid politics. New Year's, which,
much like Christmas elsewhere, involves decorating trees and
exchanging gifts, is safely nonideological and very popular.

March 8 is International Women's Day, which has socialist roots but
is celebrated now not unlike Valentine's Day (which is also catching
on here), with flowers and chocolate.

Of course, Women's Day raised the question of what to do for the
men. In 2002, President Vladimir V. Putin elevated Feb. 23 (formerly
Day of the Soviet Army and Navy, but not a day off) to a holiday known
as Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland, or informally as Men's Day.
That is also the anniversary of the day in 1944 when Stalin ordered
the Chechens deported to Siberia - an event whose violent reverberations
are felt today.

May 9 is Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945
and is, mostly, unambiguous. Chechnya's separatists chose it this year
to assassinate the republic's Russian-backed president, Akhmad Kadyrov.

June 12, since 1994, has been Independence Day. In the calendar's
most patent paradox, Russians on that day celebrate the 1990
declaration of independence from the country whose revolutionary
beginnings they celebrate Nov. 7.

The Communists, in keeping with recent tradition, turned their
annual marches on Sunday into anti-government protests, which
almost certainly is why the government would like to stop making
it an official occasion. Across the country, from Yakutia in Siberia
to Voronezh on the Volga, as many as 300,000 people marched,
according to the Interior Ministry.

In Moscow, Anna B. Smirnova, a teacher, marched wearing a red
headscarf. She called the proposal to abolish the holiday an ill-
conceived effort by a divisive government that has failed to
address Russia's nagging social and economic inequities.

Nov. 7 might represent an anachronistic ideology, she said, but
the ideals of social equality do not. "Until the main social demands
of the people are taken care of, there will be no accord and
reconciliation," she said.

That Nov. 7 remains a holiday at all reflects the delicate balance
between past and present that has persisted since the Soviet
Union collapsed.

Mr. Yeltsin may have been a democrat, but he was a weak
leader who could not risk inflaming his main opponents.
It was easier to keep the old holidays, while adding new ones
like Christmas or changing the names. From his hospital bed
after heart surgery in 1996, he issued a decree renaming Nov. 7.

Gennady A. Zyuganov - then, as now, the Communist leader -
called the new proposal insulting. He also ridiculed Nov. 4 as
historically inaccurate.

"All intellectuals know that on that day only Kitai Gorod was
seized, while the country was liberated later," he told the radio
station Ekho Moskvy on Friday, referring to the old part of Moscow
near the Kremlin. "A garrison was still resisting in the Kremlin. They
only opened the gate after they had eaten all the crows and dogs."

Mr. Putin has not addressed the proposal, but the official view
became clear on state news media. The state-owned Rossiya
network, like the official Russian Information Agency, led not with
the Communist marches, but rather with a smaller, government-
sponsored parade marking the 63rd anniversary of the mythologized
march of the Soviet Army through Red Square to meet Hitler's
advancing armies on Nov. 7, 1941. That date had never before
been given such prominence.

Vladimir A. Ryzhkov, a liberal in Parliament, said in an interview
that it was time to rethink a calendar rife with absurdities. He
favors abandoning Nov. 7, but opposes Nov. 4, since that date,
too, would commemorate a violent struggle, not unity. Dropping
Dec. 12 - Constitution Day - would be "one more signal that
we do not support constitutional law," he said.

He plans to propose instead Oct. 17, which next year will be
the 100th anniversary of Nicholas II's October Manifesto, granting
basic rights and empowering Parliament after a wave of unrest.
Another choice, he said, could be April 23, when Nicholas
published the Fundamental Laws in 1906, outlining those
rights. Those, he said, would "symbolize Russian democracy."

"Unfortunately," he added, "Russian history is very complicated.
Many dates divide society."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

posted 12:54 PM  0 comments

HANDS OFF FALLUJA!
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW!
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH,
5:00 p.m. POWELL AND MARKET, SF

(NOTE: THE BAUAW MEETING IS CANCELLED!)

We can't be silent about the massacre
taking place now in Iraq. U.S. ground
troops have begun a massive assault
through the streets of the poorest
sections of Iraq. One of their first
targets was a hospital!

While the U.S. claims that civilians
have left Falluja facts prove
that most have been unable to leave
because there is no food, water or supplies
available to them outside of the city.


This is Vietnam all over again and we say NO!

This demonstration was initiated
by ANSWER. There have been calls for
actions against this new offensive
from both UFPJ and USLAW. Bay Area
United Against War is in full support
of a united demonstration tomorrow.

The demonstration initiated by
Not In Our Name, on Nov. 3rd showed that
we are all on the same page when it comes to the war.

We call on all groups and individuals
to endorse and join this action. What
is needed most now is a truly united
movement-worldwide-calling
for the immediate withdrawal of all
US and US allied troops from Iraq
and Afghanistan and everywhere!


Peace and solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Mon 11/8 & Tues. 11/9
HELP MOBILIZE FOR THE EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION:
STOP THE FALLUJAH ATTACK! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ!
2489 Mission St. (Room 24) at 21st St.
Call 415-821-6545 for more info.
Help prepare for the Emergency Demo on Tues. make signs,
paint banners, flyering and postering

2) Top U.S. Marine in Iraq Calls for Massacre in Fallujah

3) Iraqi commandos seize Falluja hospital
Allawi declares state of emergency before expected assault
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/07/iraq.main/index.html

4) Allawi Approves U.S.-Led Offensive on Falluja
By Michael Georgy
NEAR FALLUJA (Reuters)
Mon Nov 8, 2004 07:58 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6744118&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

5) G.I.'s Open Attack to Take Falluja From Iraq Rebels
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and ROBERT F. WORTH
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/international/08CND_IRAQ.html?hp&ex=109997
6400&en=8b32979d8c8d9235&ei=5094&partner=homepage

6) Dear Friends of the Cuban Five:
The following is an important update for the campaign to
win visiting rights for the Families of our Cuban brothers,
unjustly held in U.S. prison.
[La versión en Español sigue a la versión en Inglés.]
November 6, 2004

7) Big Tax Plans, Big Tax Risks
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
WASHINGTON
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/politics/08fiscal.html?hp&ex=1099976400&en
=b5711c91696001b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage

8) Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court
By NEIL A. LEWIS
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/national/08gitmo.html?hp&ex=1099976400&en=
0cda89130ffeca11&ei=5094&partner=homepage

9) Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates
By FOX BUTTERFIELD
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/national/08prisons.html?oref=login&oref=lo
gin

10) State of the Birds USA 2004
From Audubon Magazine September-October 2004:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds/
How are our nation's birds really faring? Audubon's science
team has pooled the best data available since Silent Spring
to report on their overall health. Depending on the habitat
in which they live, they could be flying high or sinking fast.

11) Confirmation Of Concentration Camps
For Americans In America
Free Press International
10.23.2004
http://www.freepressinternational.com/army.10232004.camps.7817625340989.html


---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Mon 11/8 & Tues. 11/9
HELP MOBILIZE FOR THE EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION:
STOP THE FALLUJAH ATTACK! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ!
2489 Mission St. (Room 24) at 21st St.
Call 415-821-6545 for more info.
Help prepare for the Emergency Demo on Tues. make signs,
paint banners, flyering and postering

Schedule of Worksessions:

Mon. 11/8
2pm Bannermaking
5pm Mass Leafletting at Powell and Market and other locations
6pm Alert Phone Calls and Postering

Tues. 11/9
11am-3pm Signmaking
Loading for demo 3:30pm

Call 415-821-6545 if you can VOLUNTEER at the Tues.
Emergency Demonstration.

We are NOT having an ANSWER Activist Meeting this
Tues. 11/9 because of the Demonstration. Please join
us Tues. 11/16 at 2489 Mission St. for our next weekly
ANSWER activist meeting.

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.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) Top U.S. Marine in Iraq Calls for Massacre in Fallujah

U.S. troops entered the western outskirts of the city on Monday
seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River. The
U.S. has surrounded the sealed off Fallujah and is preparing to
launch the complete destruction of the city. They have told the
people that any traffic on the street is now subject to attack and
any males between the ages of 15 and 55 who go outside will
automatically be killed by the U.S. soldiers. The U.S. is terrorizing
and bombing the citizens of Fallujah every night, recently targeting
and fully destroying its emergency hospital, collapsing homes around
families, dismembering children. Many of the 300,000 population have
fled for their lives, everything they have ever had left behind or
destroyed.

Now the top enlisted Marine in Iraq has called on his troops to commit
war crimes against the tens of thousands of remaining residents and
what stands of that proud and historic city. Referring to the assault
on the ancient citadel city of Hue, destroyed by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam,
Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent told an assembled group of 2,500 Marines in
a "pep-talk": "You're all in the process of making history. This is another
Hue city in the making. I have no doubt, if we do get the word, that
each and every one of you is going to do what you have always done -
kick some butt." (AP, November 7 2004)

The U.S. moved to reoccupy Hue after Vietnamese forces has liberated
it in the Tet Offensive of 1968. The Under Secretary of the Air Force,
Townsend Hoopes, described the results of the U.S. assault on Hue
in a March 1968 memo as leaving "a devastated and prostrate city.
Eighty per cent of the buildings had been reduced to rubble, and in
the smashed ruins lay 2,000 dead civilians... Three quarters of the
city’s people were rendered homeless and looting was widespread,
members of the ARVN [U.S. backed South Vietnamese troops] being
the worst offenders." (Noam Chomsky's forward to the papers of the
1967 International War Crimes in Vietnam Tribunal)

The resistance in Iraq is carrying out coordinated efforts across the
country to dislodge U.S. occupation forces with attacks on police
stations and other targeted representatives of U.S. puppet installations.
In recent days many U.S. soldiers have been badly wounded and there
is more to come as the U.S. military leadership predicts the most
bloody urban fighting since Vietnam. The U.S. is using all of its
firepower, night vision, high-tech weaponry, and bombing capacity
against defenseless civilians as well as resistance fighters primarily
armed with Kalishnakov rifles and improvised explosive devises.
With all this military might, the U.S. is unable to stop the Iraqi people
from fighting for their national sovereignty. The U.S. installed
"prime minister" of Iraq has today declared martial law in Iraq
for the next two months aggregating even greater unilateral
authority.

This is no time for anti-war and progressive people in the U.S.
to "mourn," dwell and lament on the failure of the Democratic
Party candidate to defeat the Republican Party candidate, at
least not those who are really committed to ending this criminal
war and securing justice at home. If nothing else, we all know
that if Kerry was President-elect, nothing would be different for
the people of Iraq right now. Kerry has not condemned the
bombings of Falluljah at any point, nor the attacks on the Iraqi
people, nor the use of U.S. soldiers as cannon fodder in this
war of aggression and conquest.

Now the people of Fallujah wait for the next attack, and
the U.S. soldiers wait for their orders to carry out actions
that they will have to reconcile for the rest of their lives,
if they survive.

A.N.S.W.E.R. activists across the U.S. are planning emergency
demonstrations Tuesday, Nov. 9, the DAY AFTER a reinvasion
of Fallujah. We call on other committed organizations and
activists to also initiate such actions, at local federal buildings,
recruiting stations, or traditional public assembly locations.

Please make a commitment today to fight for change. If you can
help take the next steps by making a contribution please do so
by clicking here. http://www.pephost.org/ANSWERdonate

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.

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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) Iraqi commandos seize Falluja hospital
Allawi declares state of emergency before expected assault
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/07/iraq.main/index.html


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The seizure of the main hospital in Falluja by
Iraqi special forces marks the start of the planned offensive to retake
the city, Pentagon officials said Sunday, but it remained unclear when
the main assault into the city would begin.

The hospital -- on the western edge of the city -- was taken by the
36th Iraqi Commando Battalion without firing a shot, except for an
accidental discharge of a weapon, according to a U.S. pool reporter.

Pentagon officials -- speaking on condition of anonymity -- said
taking the hospital was one of the initial objectives of the planned
offensive, but they would not say whether U.S. and Iraqi forces would
push into the city in the coming hours.

U.S. military officials said the hospital needed to be secured so that
workers there could attend to casualties without facing intimidation
by insurgents, and to end its use as a source of anti-U.S. propaganda.

In the past, hospital officials had said U.S. airstrikes killed only
innocent
civilians, a claim that the U.S. military disputed.

Iraqi and U.S. forces are trying to stabilize the nation in advance of
national elections, set for January.

Earlier Sunday, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared
a 60-day state of emergency.

"The council of ministers has approved this, the presidency has
approved it," Allawi said of the state of emergency. "We declared
it today, and we are going to implement it whenever is necessary
and wherever is necessary."

The interim prime minister cautioned that Iraqi and U.S. forces
"are not going to be easy" with suspected terrorists and insurgents.

"We are going to bring them to justice, and we are going to ensure
the safety of the people of Iraq," he said.

Kurdish-ruled areas in northern Iraq are exempt from the state
of emergency, Allawi spokesman Thaer Naqib said.

Allawi said time is up for the insurgents in Falluja.

"We can't wait indefinitely," he said. "We have made our case
very clear. We are ready to intervene as far as we can to salvage
the people who have been taken hostage by the bunch of terrorists
and bandits and insurgents who have been part of the old regime ...
and were involved in atrocities when [former Iraqi leader] Saddam
[Hussein] was around."

Falluja has been the target of daily artillery and air attacks as
Marines and Iraqi forces prepare for their expected assault on the city.

Fleeing residents have pared Falluja's normal population of about
250,000 down to about 50,000 people.

And Marines said they believe there are about 3,000 hard-core
insurgents remaining in the Sunni Muslim city.

U.S. warplanes, including powerful AC-130 gunships, have
bombarded insurgent targets in recent days ahead of the offensive.
Several explosions jolted the region early Saturday, with fireballs
lighting up the nighttime sky and the sound of AC-130 cannon fire
rattling the area. (Full story)

U.S. tanks were also engaged in the northeastern part of Falluja,
and artillery was fired at insurgent positions. Machine gun and
small-arms fire could be heard as well.

"We're going to start at one end of the city, and we're not going
to stop until we get to the other," said Lt. Col. Pete Newell,
a battalion commander from the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division.
"If there's anybody left when that happens, we're going to turn
around and we're going to go back and finish it."

Marines attacked Falluja in April after four U.S. private security
contractors were killed and mutilated. The ensuing battles led
to many deaths. The U.S.-led forces established an indigenous
Falluja brigade to restore peace to the city, but in the summer,
the brigade fell apart and insurgents solidified control there.

The city, which is known as the City of Mosques because of the
scores of places of worship, will provide dangerous terrain for the
thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops, who expect a textbook urban
warfare scenario.

Marines hope to surprise insurgents with speed -- using infantry,
tanks and attack helicopters.

Meanwhile, a captain in the Iraqi army deserted his unit Friday after
hearing about plans for the Falluja assault, a U.S. military spokesman
said Sunday.

Because the captain only received a "very low-level briefing," the U.S.
military was not worried that his desertion posed a security threat,
said the spokesman, U.S. Army Capt. Steve Alvarez.

It is believed the captain, a Kurdish company commander from the
5th Battalion of the Iraqi forces, returned home to northern Iraq,
Alvarez said.
Sunday violence

At least 32 people were killed Sunday in attacks in Ramadi, Baghdad,
Balad, Baquba and Latifiya, officials said.

At least 21 of Sunday's victims were killed in Ramadi in near-
simultaneous attacks on three Iraqi police stations, police and
hospital officials said. Most of those killed were police officers.

In Baghdad's Karada district Sunday, a car bomb exploded near the
home of interim Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, killing
a bodyguard. An official with the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq -- of which Mahdi is a member -- said Mahdi
was not home at the time of the attack. The council is a 70-member
general assembly representing various Islamic movements and scholars.

A second car bomb Sunday killed a bystander and wounded another
near Baghdad's Virgin Mary Catholic Church.

In Balad, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, attackers hit a U.S. military
convoy Sunday, killing an American soldier with the U.S. Army's 81st
Brigade Combat Team, the U.S. military said. The report puts the
number of U.S. military killed in the Iraq war at 1,129, including 868
in hostile action, according to the U.S. military.

In Baquba, unknown gunmen killed Iraqi police Col. Abdul Adim Abed
and his driver Sunday in the Mualmeen neighborhood, police officials
said.

South of Baghdad in Latifiya, insurgents battled Iraqi and coalition
forces Sunday -- fighting that killed six civilians and wounded four
others.
Other developments

* Insurgents struck a military convoy near Ramadi on Saturday,
wounding 16 soldiers, a U.S. military official said.

* The bodies of 12 kidnapped Iraqi civilians were found shot to
death in Latifiya on Friday, Iraqi police sources said.

* The Base of Jihad, an Islamist militant group believed to be led
by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for an attack
that killed three British Black Watch troops south of Baghdad on
Thursday. The claim, issued on several Web sites, cannot be
independently confirmed.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Karl Penhaul, Kianne Sadeq, Cal Perry, Kevin
Flower, Nermeen Al-Mufti and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed
to this report.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Allawi Approves U.S.-Led Offensive on Falluja
By Michael Georgy
NEAR FALLUJA (Reuters)
Mon Nov 8, 2004 07:58 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6744118&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news


NEAR FALLUJA (Reuters) - U.S. planes and artillery pounded Falluja
on Monday and Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he had
authorized a U.S.-led offensive to rid the Sunni Muslim city of insurgents.

"I gave my authority to the multinational forces, Iraqi forces. We are
determined to clean Falluja from the terrorists," Allawi told a news
conference in Baghdad.

This reporter witnessed about eight air strikes on the city within
20 minutes. Plumes of smoke rose as explosions from the artillery
fire boomed out every minute or so.

U.S.-led troops backed by tanks and aircraft also battled guerrillas
around the city west of Baghdad, moving to forward positions ahead
of the expected full-scale assault.

Marines advanced to the edge of Falluja but failed to draw out
guerrillas. "We didn't see any insurgents," said tank unit commander
Captain Robert Bodisch. "The only thing I saw was mortar impacts
when they landed all around me."

But as soon as Marines returned to their staging area after moving
to within a few hundred meters of the city, insurgents fired light
arms at them.

A hospital official said more than 12 people had been killed and
double that number wounded in Falluja fighting.

Allawi said he was using emergency powers to impose a curfew
on Falluja and its sister city of Ramadi further west and to close
Baghdad international airport for 48 hours.

"I have no other choice but to resort to extreme measures to protect
the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate the residents
of Falluja so they can return to their homes."

He said Iraqi forces had taken Falluja's main hospital, killing
38 insurgents in the process. Earlier pool reports said U.S. and
Iraqi special forces had seized the hospital in western Falluja in
the early hours without firing a shot.

Allawi also tightened controls on the borders with Jordan and
Syria, saying only essential goods would be allowed in.

He said the curfew in Falluja and Ramadi would start at 6 p.m.
(1500 GMT). He did not say how long it would last.

Allawi declared 60 days of emergency rule on Sunday to crush
an insurgency ahead of planned elections in January.

ZARQAWI CALL TO HOLY WAR

With the U.S. offensive shaping up, al Qaeda ally Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi called on Muslims to take up arms against America.
"Oh people, the war has begun and the call for jihad (holy war)
has been made," he said in an Internet statement.

Zarqawi's appeal did not mention Falluja by name. The U.S.
military says fighters loyal to him are holed up in the city along
with Iraqi insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein.

Guerrillas hit back in Baghdad, where a suicide bomber blew
up his red Opel car near a U.S. convoy on the main airport road,
killing at least three people, witnesses said.

A Reuters photographer saw U.S. soldiers taking three bodies
from a white vehicle wrecked in the blast and loading them
into a military ambulance. The U.S. military had no word on
casualties in the explosion.

Inside Falluja, masked guerrillas roamed empty streets with
assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Reuters
Television footage showed one man in the western Jolan district
firing a grenade launcher at an unidentified target.

Men wept as they buried seven white-shrouded bodies, some
of them fighters, in a narrow trench in Falluja's makeshift
graveyard in a former soccer stadium, the footage showed.

Guerrillas in other Iraqi cities and towns have stepped up
attacks to show their muscle, killing at least 60 people in
weekend violence that mostly targeted the security forces.

Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for most of the
assaults, including those that killed 34 people and wounded
49 in the restive city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, on Saturday.

U.S. planes bombed targets in the Jubairiya area just north
of Samarra on Monday, killing one person and wounding four,
police and hospital officials said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed Samarra in early October to
clear out insurgents in what was seen at the time as a pilot
operation for larger assaults in Falluja and Ramadi, but
Saturday's violence showed the city is far from pacified.

Allawi said emergency law measures could be imposed
anywhere in Iraq, except for Kurdistan in the north, to ensure
security before the Jan. 27 polls that President Bush says will
be a vital step toward a democratic Iraq.

(Additional reporting by Fadel al-Badrani in Falluja, Sabah
al-Bazee in Samarra, Omar Anwar in Baghdad and Dubai bureau)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) G.I.'s Open Attack to Take Falluja From Iraq Rebels
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and ROBERT F. WORTH
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/international/08CND_IRAQ.html?hp&ex=109997
6400&en=8b32979d8c8d9235&ei=5094&partner=homepage

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 8 - American jets bombed targets in
Falluja this morning and explosions and heavy gunfire thundered
across the city as American troops seized control of two strategic
bridges, a hospital and other objectives in the first stage of
a long-expected invasion aimed at the center of the Iraqi insurgency.

Hours before the battle started on Sunday night, Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi, faced with an expanding outbreak of insurgent
violence across the country, formally proclaimed a state of
emergency for 60 days across most of Iraq. The proclamation
gave him broad powers that allow him to impose curfews, order
house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and
insurgents.

Today, Mr. Allawi said that the American-led operation in Falluja
had his full backing.

"I gave my authority to the multinational forces, Iraqi forces,"
he said at a news conference.

" "Yesterday evening the Iraqi forces were able to take control
of Falluja hospital to defeat the terrorists and armed groups
so the citizens of Falluja will get help," he said.

Mr. Allawi said that four foreign terrorists were detained in
a raid on the hospital and 38 people were killed, but it was not
clear whether they were Iraqis. "They were barricaded in the
hospital to carry out their terrorist acts," Mr. Allawi said.He added
that emergency measures would be applied in Ramadi and Falluja,
with a curfew and highway closures.

Other measures include the closure of some institutions, a ban
on all weapons, and sealing the borders with Syria and Jordan
"to prevent terrorists from crossing" he said.

The first of several thousand marines in tanks, Humvees and
armored personnel carriers began taking up positions this morning
along the northern edge of Falluja to prepare for an attack, and
American jets began bombing targets.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 American soldiers and marines backed
by newly trained Iraqi forces were besieging the city for what American
commanders said was likely to be a brutal, block-by-block battle
to retake control and capture, kill or disperse an estimated 3,000 to
4,000 hard-core insurgent fighters. The battle could prove the most
important since the American invasion of Iraq 19 months ago.

Troops were on the move by 9 p.m. Sunday to the west and south
of Falluja, just across the Euphrates River. After two hours of steady
pounding by American guns, tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and
AC-130 gunships, at least one objective - a hospital about half
a mile west of downtown Falluja - was secured by American Special
Forces and the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion.

Tracer fire lighted up the sky as the operation began, helicopters
crisscrossed the battlefield, and at least one American vehicle was
fired upon with a rocket-propelled grenade as American and Iraqi
forces converged on Falluja General Hospital. Shortly before midnight,
American forces were exchanging gunfire across a bridge near the
hospital with several insurgent positions on the other side.

"There has been extensive gunfire going across the river," said the
American commander of the Special Forces operation at the hospital.
"Bradleys have been shooting over to the east of us, and there has
been extensive machine gun fire to the southwest of us."

As that firefight raged, extensive airstrikes and artillery fire pummeled
the northern and western sections of Falluja, with great blossoms
of flame brightening and then fading with each boom of the heavy
cannons on the AC-130 gunships, circling over the city like birds
of prey.

A huge fire burned in the midst of the city. The streets themselves,
as seen through the powerful night-vision equipment aboard one
Bradley fighting vehicle southeast of Falluja, appeared eerily deserted.

By midnight, the bridge near the hospital and a second strategic
bridge, just to the south, were secured.

Before American jets began their bombing this morning, American
troops in front of the hospital took intense fire from small arms and
rocket-propelled grenades from insurgents across the river. American
Bradleys and tanks began returning fire.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said Secretary of Defense Donald H.
Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, were monitoring the preparations and updated combat reports.

Most civilians in Falluja, a city of about 250,000 people 35 miles west
of Baghdad, were believed to have left by the time the invasion began.

It was the second time in six months that a battle had raged in Falluja.
In April, American troops were closing in on the city center when popular
uprisings broke out in cities across Iraq. The outrage, fed by mostly
unconfirmed reports of large civilian casualties, forced the Americans
to withdraw.

American commanders regarded the reports as inflated, but it was
impossible to determine independently how many civilians had been
killed. The hospital was selected as an early target because the American
military believed that it was the source of rumors about heavy casualties.

"It's a center of propaganda," a senior American officer said Sunday.
This time around, the American military intends to fight its own information
war, countering or squelching what has been one of the insurgents' most
potent weapons. The military hopes that if it can hold its own in that war,
then the armed invasion - involving as many as 25,000 American and Iraqi
troops, all told - will smash what has become the largest remaining
insurgent stronghold in Iraq.

And with only three months to go until the country's first democratic
elections, American and Iraqi officials are grasping for any tool at their
command to bring the insurgency under control.

On Sunday, guerrillas staged brazen attacks that left at least 37 people
dead across the country. A day earlier, insurgents carried out coordinated
bomb and mortar attacks in Samarra and the surrounding area, killing
at least 30 people, many of them Iraqi policemen.

The strikes on Saturday demonstrated that a major American-led offensive
last month in Samarra, like Falluja a "no go" zone for the Americans during
much of the summer, had failed to rid the city of insurgents or secure
crucial parts of town. Samarra's slip back into chaos raised serious doubts
about whether the Iraqi government can maintain order in Falluja should
an American-led offensive kill or drive out most of the insurgents here.

American-led forces will be deployed to help enforce the law, a senior
American military official said in Baghdad on Sunday. That could include
operating more checkpoints and increasing patrols across the country,
all with an eye toward the elections in January.

"We want elections to take place," Dr. Allawi said on Sunday. "We want
to secure the country so elections can be done in a peaceful way and
the Iraqi people can participate in the elections freely, without the
intimidation by terrorists and by forces who are trying to wreck the
political process in Iraq."

Though Dr. Allawi has tried hard to cast himself as a strongman since
taking office, Iraqi confidence in the interim government has plummeted
as the insurgency has become stronger and deadlier. Dr. Allawi's move
is as much a show of force in a time of uncertainty as it is a way to give
military forces a freer hand in combating the guerrillas.

He said he had imposed the state of emergency only after getting the
approval of his cabinet and the office of the president, Sheik Ghazi
al-Yawar.

A guerrilla fighter in the city who gave his name as Abu Muhammad
said in a telephone interview on Sunday that the streets were empty,
with only a few people scurrying to shops in the western part to buy
groceries. During the overnight bombardment, he said, mosques in
the city blared "God is great!" through their loudspeakers.

"We will see in the end who will win - those who worship God or those
who deride him," Abu Muhammad said. "We are ready to face them,
we will not let the city down, and with God's help we will teach them
a lesson and inflict heavy casualties on them."

Before the battle started, more than 2,000 marines gathered to hear
a last-minute pep talk from their commanders, including Lt. Gen.
John F. Sattler, the top Marine commander in Iraq.

"This town is held by mugs, thugs, murderers and intimidators,"
General Sattler said. The marines' job, he said, was to help Iraqis
do what they could not do alone.

The mayhem around the country on Sunday gave a taste of what
the forces may be up against.

At dawn, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, an Interior Ministry
spokesman, insurgents armed with explosives and Kalashnikov
rifles raided three police stations and killed at least 21 people in
the western reaches of Anbar Province, which contains Falluja. And
in an attack south of Baghdad, he said, guerrillas gunned down three
officials from Diyala Province as the officials were driving to the funeral.

Insurgents dressed as policemen also ambushed a dozen Iraqi national
guardsmen on their way home to the southern holy city of Najaf and
murdered them all, officials in Najaf said. The attackers, who called
themselves the Furkan Brigades, beat up a civilian driver and told
him to pass a message on to the people of Najaf: If they wanted
to get back the headless bodies of the victims, they would have
to pay millions of dollars.

Dexter Filkins contributed reporting from near Falluja for this
article, Edward Wong and James Glanz from Baghdad, and Eric
Schmitt from Washington.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

6) Dear Friends of the Cuban Five:
The following is an important update for the campaign to
win visiting rights for the Families of our Cuban brothers,
unjustly held in U.S. prison.
[La versión en Español sigue a la versión en Inglés.]
November 6, 2004

As you know, Olga Salanueva, wife of René González, and Adriana Pérez,
wife of Gerardo Hernández, have been denied entry into the United States by
the U.S. government several times. As a result they are not able to visit
their
husbands in prison.

Little 6-year-old Ivette, daughter of Olga and René, is also not able to
visit her
father, although she is a U.S.-born citizen. Adriana has not seen her
husband
Gerardo for more than six years. Olga and Ivette have not seen René for more
than four years.

The mothers, wives of the other Cuban Five brothers, and other relatives,
have also had to wait excessive periods of time to receive entry visas from
the
U.S. government.

For example, Mirta Rodríguez, mother of Antonio Guerrero, was only last able
to visit her son November 2003. It is one year since she has seen Antonio.

Rosa Aurora Freijanes, wife of Fernando González, has only been able to see
her husband three times since his imprisonment six years ago. Magali Llort,
mother of Fernando, has not been granted an entry visa from the U.S. since
she last saw him in February, despite applying for a visa months ago.

Elizabeth Palmeiro, wife of Ramón Labañino, and the children, Ailí, Lisbet
and Laura, have been able to visit him only four times in six years. Their
last
visit was February.

This treatment of the families is not an accident. It is part of the harsh
and
punitive treatment given to the five political prisoners and their families
by
Washington.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has the authority to grant entry visas
to
Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, as well as to speed up the process of
visas for the other family members. We believe it is necessary to let him
know
that thousands of people are aware of the Five's case and the denial of
family
visits.

THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN HELP.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five is asking all supporters to
immediately send letters to John Ashcroft, to call on him to grant Olga and
Adriana entry visas, and to speed up the pace of approval for family visits.
If
you can, please e-mail us to let us know you took action.

On our newly-designed Website, www.freethefive.org
you will find all the necessary material:

1. A Brochure that concisely describes the wives and families' situation. It
is
useful to read completely, to become more aware of the visits issue;
2. A sample letter that you can download and mail directly or send by fax or
e-
mail, to Ashcroft;
3. More articles on the web that go into further detail on the Family Visits
Campaign.

PLUS:

A subcommittee of the National Committee is organizing Congressional visits
to ask members of Congress to sign a Letter to Ashcroft. If you are able to
organize a small delegation to your congressperson, or other prominent
people, please call us at:

415-821-6545 or e-mail: freethefive@actionsf.org

It is important that you call us about the Congress visits, because some are
already being organized in New York City area, Illinois, Washington state,
California, Wisconsin, Oregon, and elsewhere, and it is helpful to
coordinate
to be more effective. Also, we will be glad to send you very useful
literature.

Any day now the decision could come down from the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Atlanta. We will let you know immediately as soon as the court
decides.

Let's all work together to win entry rights for the families of the five
Cuban
heroes.

Free the Cuban Five!

National Committee to Free the Cuban Five



6 de noviembre, 2004

Queridos amigos de los Cinco cubanos:

Le enviamos esta importante información sobre la campaña por el derecho
que deben tener los familiares de nuestros Cinco hermanos encarcelados
injustamente en EEUU, de que se les otorguen visas de entrada para
visitarlos.

Como ya saben, a Olga Salanueva, esposa de René González, y Adriana
Pérez, esposa de Gerardo Hernandez, el gobierno de los EEUU les ha
negado las visas de entrada varias veces. Como resultado, no han podido
visitar a sus esposos en prisión.

La pequeña Ivette, de solo 6 años, hija de Olga y René, tampoco puede
visitar a su padre, a pesar de que nació en los EEUU y es ciudadana.
Adriana no ha visto a su esposo Gerardo por más de seis años. Olga e Ivette
no han visto a René por más de cuatro años.

Las madres, y esposas de los otros Cinco hermanos, y otros familiares, han
tenido también que esperar mucho tiempo para que el gobierno de EEUU les
otorgue visas de entrada

Por ejemplo, Mirta Rodríguez, la madre de Antonio Guerrero, pudo visitar a
su hijo por última vez en noviembre del 2003. Hace un año desde que Mirta
visitó por última vez a Antonio.

Rosa Aurora Freijanes, esposa de Fernando González, sólo ha podido ver a
su esposo tres veces desde que fue apresado hace seis años. Magali Llort,
madre de Fernando, no ha recibido una visa de entrada por parte de los
EEUU desde que vio a Fernando en febrero, a pesar de solicitarla meses
atrás.

Elizabeth Palmeiro, esposa de Ramón Labañino, y sus hijas, Ailí, Lisbet y
Laura, han podido visitarlo solamente cuatro veces en seis años. Su última
visita fue en febrero.

Este tratamiento a las familias no es accidental. Es parte del castigo que
Washington le da a los cinco prisioneros y sus familiares.

El procurador general de los EEUU John Ashcroft tiene la autoridad de
otorgarles visas a Olga Salanueva y Adriana Pérez, como así también de
agilizar el proceso de visas para los otros miembros de la familia. Creemos
que es necesario hacerle saber que miles de personas están al tanto del
caso de los Cinco y sobre la negativa de visas a sus familiares.

ASI ES COMO USTED PUEDE AYUDAR

El Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos esta pidiendo a
todos sus partidarios que envíen inmediatamente cartas a John Ashcroft,
para exigirle que le otorgue visas a Olga y Adriana y que agilize el proceso
de aprobación de las visas para los demás familiares. Si puede, por favor
envíenos copia del correo que envía para que nosotros tengamos
conocimiento del hecho.

En nuestra página recientemente rediseñada, www.freethefive.org puede
encontrar todos los materiales necesarios:

1. Un panfleto que describe con precisión la situación de las esposas y los
demás familiares. Es importante que se familiarice con la información para
entender mejor el problema de las visitas. Para recibir los panfletos en el
correo, mándenos solicitud por correo y les mandaremos el material.
2. Una carta ejemplo que puede bajar de la página y enviársela directamente
a Ashcroft por correo, por fax o por correo electrónico.
3. Mas artículos en la página web que explica en mas detalle la Campaña de
Visitas Familiares.

ADEMAS:

Un subcomité del Comité Nacional está organizando visitas a los
congresistas para pedirle a miembros del Congreso que firmen una carta
dirigida a Ashcroft. Si usted puede organizar una pequeña delegación a su
congresista, o a otra persona de renombre, por favor contáctenos a :

415-821-6545 o correo electrónico: freethefive@actionsf.org

Es importante que nos llame sobre las visitas al Congreso, porque algunas
ya han sido organizadas en el área de la ciudad de New York City, el estado
de Washington, California, Wisconsin, Oregon, Illinois, y en otras partes, y
es
mejor coordinarlas para ser más efectivos. Además, les enviaremos con
gusto cualquier información que usted necesite.

El fallo de la Oncena Corte de Apelaciones de Atlanta sucederá en cualquier
momento. Le informaremos inmediatamente en cuanto conozcamos la
decisión.

Trabajemos juntos para ganar los derechos de visita de los Familiares de los
cinco héroes cubanos.

¡Libertad para los Cinco!

Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos

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7) Big Tax Plans, Big Tax Risks
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
WASHINGTON
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/politics/08fiscal.html?hp&ex=1099976400&en
=b5711c91696001b1&ei=5094&partner=homepage


WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - Hardly anybody likes the current tax system.
But as President Bush undertakes the potentially historic task of coming
up with something better, he is confronting an issue that is more
ideologically explosive, politically risky and economically complex
than he let on during the campaign.

In the days since his re-election, Mr. Bush has signaled that he is
serious about following through, highlighting the topic in both his
victory speech on Wednesday and his news conference on Thursday.

He has been vague about what he has in mind, but Republican advisers
to the administration say the White House is debating whether Mr. Bush
should back ambitious, even radical proposals like a national sales tax
or a flat tax on income. By doing so, he would blast away a philosophy
that has governed tax policy since Woodrow Wilson was in the White
House: that higher levels of income should be taxed at higher rates.

By the end of the year, Mr. Bush intends to name a bipartisan
commission to study the issue and make specific recommendations
sometime next year. He has already laid down some markers; he wants
to retain two of the most politically popular breaks in the tax code, the
deductions for mortgage interest and charitable giving, and he wants
any overhaul of the system neither to raise taxes over all nor to cut them.

Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, told "Fox News Sunday" that
Mr. Bush "believes we need to step back and look at the code in it
entirety and discuss and have a dialogue as to what is necessary to
keep this economy flexible and dynamic and growing."

Even before the election, Mr. Bush's aides were studying the issue
intently, grappling with the most elemental question: should the nation
improve the existing tax code, built around the progressive income tax,
or throw it out and start over?

There is plenty of sentiment inside the administration for going the
latter route, but even though the White House has been studying the
issue for several years, no decision appears imminent. Among those
who favor scrapping the current system - a group said to include Vice
President Dick Cheney - there is a raging debate over what should
replace it, with the basic options being some sort of national sales tax
or a single-rate flat tax on income.

The list of hurdles to any change is long. Any overhaul of the system
would ignite a battle by special interests to hold on to the tax breaks
that now clog the tax code. With the government already running a big
deficit, there would be little or no money available to grease the
legislative
wheels by providing new breaks. Democrats, even in the minority, could
make it hard to pass legislation.

"It's difficult bordering on impossible to find a broad tax reform that does
not either explode the deficit or create tens of millions of losers," said
Gene Sperling, who was director of the National Economic Council in the
Clinton administration. "If you are lowering taxes on people in the top
20 percent, then either the deficit is going up or more of the tax burden
will fall on people in the lower 80 percent. There's no way around that."

Most Democrats view a national sales tax and a flat tax as thinly veiled
efforts to cut taxes on the wealthy and shift more of the burden to those
who earn less. They argue, for example, that the burden of a sales tax
would fall hardest on low-income people who spend everything they
earn. Most flat-tax plans envision a rate of about 20 to 25 percent,
meaning that some people who are now paying tax at a 10 or 15 percent
rate would pay a higher rate, while wealthy people who are paying as
much as 35 percent on some of their income would pay at a lower rate.

Advocates of both options, though, say they could be structured
to exempt many low- and-middle-income people and would give the
economy a substantial boost by effectively eliminating taxes on savings
and investment, creating a bigger pool of capital to finance business
expansion, technological innovation and better productivity. And
Republicans say the election results favor the bold. They point to
Senator-elect Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, who won
on Tuesday despite being attacked by his opponent for his support
of a national sales tax.

On "Fox News Sunday," Mr. Rove did not directly answer when asked
whether Mr. Bush would back either a national sales tax or a flat tax.
The questions that need to be answered, Mr. Rove said, are: "How can
we encourage savings? How can we encourage ownership? How can we
encourage a dynamic, growing economy and do so in a fair way that
requires a minimum amount of paperwork and compliance costs?"

The issue leave many Democrats in a bind. They are suspicious of
the Republican approach, believing that it will amount to another
tax cut for the wealthy, but fear being seen as defenders of the
Internal Revenue Service. As a result, Democrats appear to be moving
toward a position that changing the tax system is good policy and
good politics but only if it can be done in a way that keeps the
progressive income tax system, focuses on simplification and
concentrates the benefits on the middle class.

"It strikes me that there's consensus in the country, and hopefully
in Washington, that the tax system is too complex, that it's full of
loopholes that are exploited by special interests and that we need
to simplify them," said Senator-elect Barack Obama of Illinois,
a Democrat who won easy election to an open seat.

Mr. Obama, speaking on "This Week" on ABC, said, "If we can
arrive at a tax simplification agenda that is not resulting in a shift
toward a more regressive tax system, but is instead genuinely making
it simpler for ordinary Americans to file their tax returns without
a lot of paperwork and gobbledygook, then I think that's something
we could work together on."

Should the administration choose to take a relatively simple and
bipartisan approach, it could develop a proposal that addressed
both the complexity of the tax code and a growing problem for
many middle- and-upper-income families: the alternative minimum
tax. The minimum tax was established to ensure that wealthy people
would not be able to escape income taxes through use of deductions
and shelters. But the income levels it applies to were not adjusted for
inflation, so every year it applies to more and more people, increasing
the complexity of their returns for many people and often resulting in
a higher tax bill.

The next most ambitious approach would be one modeled on the
1986 tax package worked out by President Ronald Reagan and with
bipartisan support from Congress. It reduced tax rates and eliminated
or tightened many deductions and loopholes. Such an approach could
have bipartisan appeal, but it would no doubt set off a furious fight by
all kinds of special interests intent on making sure their tax breaks are
not eliminated in the name of lower rates.

Should Mr. Bush choose to go all the way and create an entirely new way
of raising revenue for the government, he would face not just a special
interest battle but also a furious ideological fight over ending progressive
taxation.

The sales tax and the flat tax are built on the same idea, that the tax
system should encourage more savings and investment and that
taxation should therefore be largely or wholly focused on consumption.
The sales tax accomplishes that goal in a straightforward way, by only
taxing consumption. The flat tax gets to the same place less directly;
by allowing taxpayers to deduct any income that goes to savings
or investment, it would subject to tax only what is left, which by
definition would be money that people spend.

There are numerous variations and combinations of the sales and
flat taxes, including some that include a value-added tax on
businesses.

Supporters of a national sales tax and supporters of a flat tax say
the rates could be made low enough and enough transactions or
people exempted that the systems would be attractive to nearly
everyone.

Critics say the rates would inevitably have to be so high that many
people, especially middle-income people, would end up worse off,
or at least would not benefit as much as wealthier people, who
would pay lower rates on much of their income.

The House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, also appearing on "Fox
News Sunday," said there needed to be a national debate about
several types of tax systems that might replace the income tax.
"You know, when we get done looking at it, maybe we can say we
can't do it," Mr. Hastert said. "Maybe the entrenched groups that
have their pieces in the tax bill won't let that happen. But I think
we need to have a long, serious look at it.''

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

8) Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court
By NEIL A. LEWIS
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/national/08gitmo.html?hp&ex=1099976400&en=
0cda89130ffeca11&ei=5094&partner=homepage


GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba, Nov. 7 - Each day, several shackled
detainees are marched by their military guards into a double-wide
trailer behind the prison camp's fences and razor wire to argue
before three anonymous military officers that they do not belong here.

One, a 27-year-old Yemeni, spent more than an hour on Saturday
telling a panel that he was not a member of Al Qaeda or a sympathizer,
saying that he had never fought against the United States and should
never have been detained here at Guantánamo as an unlawful enemy
combatant.

The Yemeni, a scraggly-bearded man bound hand and foot, sat in
a low chair, his shackles connected to a bolt in the floor, frustrating
his efforts to gesture with his hands to make his arguments. Inside
the small, harshly lighted room, he alternated between pleading his
case and angrily criticizing the process as unfair. Although he spoke
Arabic that had to be translated by a woman sitting beside him, there
was no mistaking his contempt for the panel members, who sat on
a raised platform about 10 feet away and whose questions he ridiculed
frequently.

These briskly conducted proceedings, which have received little notice,
constitute the Bush administration's principal answer to the Supreme
Court's ruling regarding the rights of detainees who have been
imprisoned since the administration began its fight against terrorism
after the Sept. 11 attacks. The court ruled 6 to 3 in June that the
detainees
had a right to challenge their detentions in federal court, saying that even
though the base is outside the sovereign territory of the United States,
federal judges have jurisdiction to consider petitions for writs of habeas
corpus from those who argue that they are being unlawfully held.

The hearings here have come under heavy criticism because they do not
meet the traditional standards of court proceedings. For one thing, the
detainees are left to argue their cases for themselves, without assistance
from lawyers.

The hearings, formally called combatant status review tribunals, were
hurriedly devised and put into place just weeks after the Supreme Court's
ruling. The administration, which has been battling to have the military
retain as much control as possible over the detainees, told a federal
court in Washington last week that the tribunals more than satisfy the
Supreme Court ruling. The government argued that because of the
tribunals, federal judges should reject the dozens of petitions they
have received from defense lawyers asking them to intervene.

Capt. Charles Jamison of the Navy, who oversees the tribunal proceedings
here at Guantánamo, said he expected to have them completed for all
550 remaining prisoners by the end of the year. So far, some 320
detainees have appeared before the tribunals, and so far, the Pentagon
has passed final judgment on 104. Of that group, 103 were found to
have been properly deemed unlawful enemy combatants and properly
imprisoned; one detainee was released.

Those deemed unlawful enemy combatants will have a chance to argue
in a separate proceeding that they should be released because they are
no longer a threat.

Even without any legal proceedings, the United States has released more
than 150 Guantánamo detainees to their home governments, saying they
no longer posed a threat, and it is expected that many of the remaining
ones will also be released.

The Yemeni who appeared Saturday denied through his translator that he
had any affiliation with Al Qaeda. He said the United States had no proof
and "should know that a person is innocent until proven guilty, not the
other way around." Throughout the hearing, the man, whose name may
not be published under the conditions set by the military, complained,
sometimes with sarcasm, that "this is like a game."

An officer not on the panel acted as sort of a prosecutor in assembling
the charges, while yet another acted as the detainee's personal
representative to explain the proceedings but not to serve as a defense
lawyer. All the officers had their name tags covered by tape.

Critics have complained that the tribunals are fatally flawed, not only
because the detainees do not have lawyers but because they are generally
hampered in disputing any charges because they are not allowed to see
most of the evidence against them because it is classified.

Captain Jamison said the tribunals were administrative procedures and
thus did not have to meet standards of regular criminal proceedings.

One official said it was apparent from the unconvincing explanations
of many detainees as to why they had been carrying a gun or were at
a battle site that they were indeed enemy combatants.

Like detainees at all the hearings, the Yemeni was given an unclassified
summary of the charges, but the evidence to support the most serious
accusations is classified and was considered in a closed session after
he was taken back to his cell.

In the public session, an officer told the panel that the man was
"a supporter of Al Qaeda" because he had traveled to Pakistan from
his home country and had been "recruited by Jama'at al-Tabligh,"
an organization based in Pakistan that posed as an Islamic missionary
group but was really a cover for helping Qaeda terrorists with travel
arrangements.

The man asked the panel, "Where's the proof?" He said that if the
government was claiming he had a connection to Al Qaeda, "there
should be evidence that I support Al Qaeda." The Army colonel who
was the panel's president responded, "We're not here to debate these
points." She said, "This is what we're given and this is your opportunity
to give us your story."

The Yemeni was disdainful of another panel member, a Navy
commander, who asked him if he believed in jihad, answering that
he did so as all Muslims did but that that did not mean he meant
harm to America.

Another detainee, a 33-year-old Afghan who served as a municipal
police commissioner in his village, tried to convince a different military
panel on Thursday that he was an unwilling member of the Taliban
government. The man admitted that he had supervised a ritual stoning
to death of three people charged with adultery but said he had not
chosen the people or the penalty.

A Tunisian detainee on Thursday decided at the last moment to refuse
to attend his hearing. His personal representative, an Air Force lieutenant
colonel, said the Tunisian man said he had been told by Allah not to
attend. The officer, however, offered the detainee's responses to the
charges that he was a member of Al Qaeda and had a Kalashnikov assault
rifle when he was captured.

About a third of the detainees decline to attend the tribunals, officials
said, and they are then tried in absentia, as was the Tunisian prisoner.
The military has established a panel at the Pentagon to hear many of
those cases. There are four panels here at Guantánamo.

The detention of hundreds of men at Guantánamo has led to a variety
of legal proceedings, some wholly contained within the military and
others involving federal courts.

Last week, for example, a military commission heard pretrial motions
in the set of war-crimes trials being conducted on a different part of
the base. Four detainees have been charged in those proceedings.

The war-crimes trials before a military commission have faced difficulties,
including translation problems and complaints from military lawyers that
the officers on the panel are unsuitable. Although the war-crimes
proceedings are separate from reviews of the detainees' enemy
combatant status, the two collided last week. One of the three officers
on the military commission trying war crimes asked to see the information
from the combatant review tribunal for David Hicks, 29, an Australian
who is charged with terrorism and attempted murder and whose case
was being considered last week.

Joshua Dratel, a civilian lawyer from New York representing Mr. Hicks,
erupted in anger in the courtroom, saying it was outrageous for the
commission to consider information from a proceeding with lesser
guarantees of due process.

"This man is on trial for his life," Mr. Dratel said. He said that for the
military commission to consider accepting evidence from the other
proceeding - a proceeding in which the prisoner cannot confront his
accuser or see all of the evidence against him - showed that the
war-crimes trials were "not just on a different island from the rest
of the world but a different planet."

Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, the deputy chief judge of the Air Force who
is defending another detainee before the war-crimes commission,
said it was wrong for an enemy combatant review tribunal to question
a detainee who was represented by a lawyer in other proceedings.
Colonel Shaffer represents Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of
Sudan, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism.
The colonel instructed Mr. Qosi to demand that one of his lawyers
accompany him to the enemy combatant tribunal. She said they simply
tried him in absentia and declared him an enemy combatant.

Conversations with senior military officials suggest that there is an
informal expectation that after most of the detainees are found to be
enemy combatants, the military will start releasing what eventually will
be a majority of them after yet another set of proceedings. Those
proceedings, called annual review boards, are expected to start as
early as next month and are supposed to determine if the enemy
combatant remains a threat and may be released. One official said
that approach would allow the military to assert that most of the
detainees were not wrongfully imprisoned, but it would also provide
a solution for the administration's desire not to hold such a large
number for years.

The administration has asserted that the Guantánamo detainees are
not entitled to the prisoner-of-war protections of the Geneva Conventions
as they do not meet the criteria of regular soldiers. International lawyers
have criticized the United States, saying that the Geneva Conventions
require hearings to determine whether they can be deemed other than
P.O.W.'s.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates
By FOX BUTTERFIELD
November 8, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/national/08prisons.html?oref=login&oref=lo
gin

The number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 2.1 percent
last year, even as violent crime and property crime fell, according to
a study by the Justice Department released yesterday.

The continuing increase in the prison population, despite a drop or
leveling off in the crime rate in the past few years, is a result of laws
passed in the 1990's that led to more prison sentences and longer
terms, said Allen J. Beck, chief of corrections statistics for the
department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and an author of the report.

At the end of 2003, there were 1,470,045 men and women in state
and federal prisons in the United States, the report found. In addition,
counting those inmates in city and county jails and incarcerated
juvenile offenders, the total number of Americans behind bars was
2,212,475 on Dec. 31 last year, the report said.

The report estimated that 44 percent of state and federal prisoners
in 2003 were black, compared with 35 percent who were white,
19 percent who were Hispanic and 2 percent who were of other
races. The numbers have changed little in the last decade.

Statistically, the number of women in prison is growing fast, rising
3.6 percent in 2003. But at a total of 101,179, they are just 6.9 percent
of the prison population.

Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University, said one
of the most striking findings in the report was that almost 10 percent
of all American black men ages 25 to 29 were in prison.

Such a high proportion of young black men behind bars not only has
a strong impact on black families, Professor Blumstein said, but "in
many ways is self-defeating." The criminal justice system is built on
deterrence, with being sent to prison supposedly a stigma, he said.
"But it's tough to convey a sense of stigma when so many of your
friends and neighbors are similarly stigmatized."

In seeking to explain the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising
prison population, Mr. Beck pointed out that F.B.I. statistics showed
that from 1994 to 2003 there was a 16 percent drop in arrests for
violent crime, including a 36 percent decrease in arrests for murder
and a 25 percent decrease in arrests for robbery.

But the tough new sentencing laws led to a growth in inmates being
sent to prison, from 522,000 in 1995 to 615,400 in 2002, the report
said.

Similarly, the report found that the average time served by prison
inmates rose from 23 months in 1995 to 30 months in 2001.

Among the new measures were mandatory minimum sentencing laws,
which required inmates to serve a specified proportion of their time
behind bars; truth-in-sentencing laws, which required an inmate to
actually serve the time he was sentenced to; and a variety of three-
strikes laws increasing the penalties for repeat offenders.

In the three states with the biggest prison systems, California, Texas
and Florida, the number of newly admitted inmates grew last year,
but the number of those released either fell or remained stable,
Mr. Beck said.

Several states with small prison systems had particularly large
increases in new inmates, led by North Dakota, up 11.4 percent,
and Minnesota, up 10.3 percent.

New York had a 2.8 percent decrease in new inmates, reflecting
the continued sharp fall in crime in New York City, Mr. Beck said.

Over all, Mr. Beck said, the prison population is aging. Traditionally
the great majority of inmates are men in their 20's and early 30's, but
middle-aged inmates, those 40 to 54, account for about half of the
increase in the prison population since 1995, he said.

This is a result both of the aging of the general American population
and of the longer sentences, Mr. Beck said.

But the number of elderly inmates is still small, despite longer sentences
and more life sentences. Those inmates 65 and older were still only
1 percent of the prison population in 2003.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) State of the Birds USA 2004
From Audubon Magazine September-October 2004:
http://www.audubon.org/bird/stateofthebirds/
How are our nation's birds really faring? Audubon's science
team has pooled the best data available since Silent Spring
to report on their overall health. Depending on the habitat
in which they live, they could be flying high or sinking fast.

Methodology

This report sums up the status of 654 bird species native to the
continental United States according to the country's four major types
of natural habitat—grass, shrubs, trees, and water. Urban habitat, which
is increasing more rapidly than any other type, is also included; the
ability
of birds to adapt to it has become a major factor for their survival. An
additional 46 species native to the continental United States use a variety
of habitats and were not part of the analysis.

The population trends reported for each bird species and in the pie charts
of increasing and decreasing species within habitats are based on national
Breeding Bird Survey data from 1966 through 2003. Coordinated and
analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey, this annual count provides
a comprehensive picture of population change for more than half of
all non-game species. Estimates of each species' population were
calculated by the four bird-conservation initiatives for wetlands and
wood mentioned below. Audubon has also correlated many of these
trends with our own Christmas Bird Count, and that initial analysis
supports these findings. In these web pages, we include the full report
from the magazine, plus tables of WatchList species that prefer each
of the five habitat types (grass, shrubs, woods, water, and urban).
These results do not take into account loss in each of these habitat
typles prior to 1966, when most of America’s wetland loss, and much
of the loss of America’s forestland, occurred. This may appear to indicate
that loss of habitat and declines in bird species in forests and wetlands
is not severe, but this is not the case. The loss of habitat and bird
declines
in these areas was more severe in the decades before 1966. All declines
catalogued in “State of the Birds” are compounded upon earlier losses,
and wetland and forest species continue to suffer from the effects of
poor land management.

All species were assigned to one of three color-categories: green
(of no or low conservation concern), yellow (of moderate concern),
or red (of high concern). These designations were based on assessments
conducted by Partners in Flight, Waterbirds for the Americas, the U.S.
Shorebird Council, and the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Species in the green category are so widespread that their survival is not
now in question; at the same time, many of them are experiencing startlingly
rapid and precipitous declines. Birds in the red and yellow categories
comprise the Audubon WatchList of species at risk. Red species are of
the highest conservation concern, because they suffer small population
and range size, and declining population trends, and because they face
major threats. Yellow species are of high concern for the same reasons,
but their problems are not as severe. A pie chart to the right of each
habitat description (grass, shrubs, woods, water, and urban)shows
the proportion of that habitat's species classified as green, yellow,
and red.

The Big Picture

Americans love birds. There's no denying it. A third of all adults in
this country, 69 million people, take time out of their busy lives
to watch them, according to a survey co-sponsored by the U.S. Forest
Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While
most bird-watching is done from the comfort of home, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service reports that 18 million of us travel at least a mile
out of our way during the year to see them, and spend $32 billion
annually on gear, services, and trips.

Birds contribute to our economy in more subtle ways, too. They eat
up to half their weight each day in rodents, insects, weed seeds, and
other pests. They pollinate flowers and distribute beneficial plant seeds.
And when forces begin to upset the environmental balance, they serve
as important indicators that something should be done to correct it.

In the classic case, plummeting populations of Brown Pelicans, Ospreys,
and Bald Eagles sounded an alarm about the toxicity of the chemical DDT,
leading to its ban in 1972. The subsequent recovery of these species has
been one of our great environmental success stories. But today we face
a similar harbinger. Poor land use decisions, certain agricultural
practices
and overgrazing have caused the dramatic decline of grassland and
shrub-land birds described in this report. If we heed this signal and
take appropriate action, we may yet be able to celebrate another victory
for wildlife.

Thanks to several cooperative efforts—under the umbrella of the North
American Bird Conservation Initiative—we have valuable information about
current U.S. bird populations. We now know which species are most rare,
which have the smallest ranges, which have had the steepest population
declines, and which face the most serious threats. This report brings
together all of this information for the first time. The result is a
powerful
assessment of U.S. bird populations and the actions needed to help them
recover.

Threats to avian life in the United States are many, but the most serious
is the outright loss of habitat due to poor land use, the clear-cutting of
forests, the draining of wetlands, and sprawl. Even when habitat is not
totally lost, it is being degraded by poor agricultural practices, bad
forestry practices, excessive water diversion, unsustainable mining and
drilling, pollution, exploitation of resources (particularly commercial
over-fishing), and invasive non-native species (which include predators,
plants, insects, diseases, and even other birds).
Because the most formidable dangers are habitat-based, this report
summarizes the state of nearly all North American birds according to
the five environments—grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, water, and
urban—that make up the continent. But birds here face other perils as
well. Climate change, air and water pollution, pesticides, and collisions
with buildings, towers, and wind turbines also take a toll.

Many birds leave our borders to breed in Canada or winter in the West
Indies or Latin America. Since we must work collaboratively throughout
the Western Hemisphere to protect them, Audubon has become a full
partner with BirdLife International. The two organizations share
a commitment to conserve the most threatened species and Important
Bird Areas—habitat critical to their survival.

Figure 1. These are the primary habitat associations of the 700 species
that regularly occur in the continental United States: 47 in grasslands,
107 in shrublands, 232 in woodlands, 268 in water or wetlands, and
46 in multiple habitats.

Birds have always filled an important niche in our ecosystem, as well
as a special place in our hearts and imaginations. There are more than
700 species native to this country alone—each beautiful, wild, and
unique. For even one to go the way of the Passenger Pigeon is
a tragedy of epic proportions. To have 85 percent of grassland birds
declining, as they are now, is unthinkable. The State of the Birds
is something each of us has had a hand in writing; by working together,
each of us can have a hand in rewriting it, too.

What You Can Do?

Don't be intimidated by all the numbers—here are 12 ways everyone
can help to keep common birds common and reverse the decline of
globally threatened species. Start small, but think big.
PERSONAL

1. Make your yard a haven for birds by creating a pesticide-free habitat
of native plants, providing supplemental food and water, and putting
out birdhouses to encourage nesting. Also, keep cats indoors and add
decals—such as dots or bird silhouettes—to clear-glass windows. The
Audubon At Home website has more handy tips.

2. Go birdwatching and share your enthusiasm by inviting others to
join you. Wherever you go, be sure to remind the businesses you
patronize and the people you meet in the community that you're there
because they've preserved important avian habitat. For an example of
a birding "calling card," visit the Florida Birding Trail web site. Look
for other opportunities at www.audubon.org.

3. Make sure your purchases help bird populations, not hurt them.
For instance, Audubon’s shade-grown coffee creates important winter
habitat for migratory songbirds, organic produce is grown without
agricultural chemicals that kill beneficial insects and pollute the
environment, and nontoxic cleaning products keep harmful chemicals
out of watersheds.

4. Participate in citizen-science projects, like the Christmas Bird
Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count, which further our
knowledge of avian populations. Audubon chapters, nature
centers, and state offices are a valuable resource to help get
you started; contact information for them is located here.

5. Adopt a local Important Bird Area, a site designated as essential
habitat for one or more bird species. Participate in bird counts there,
help with maintenance and restoration efforts, and educate your
neighbors about its value. You can also nominate a new site to
your state IBA coordinator; contact information for your state's
coordinator can be found here.
POLITICAL

6. Protect wildlife habitat and Important Bird Areas by advocating
more funding for the Land and Water Conservation Act, which
allocates money to expand and protect national parks, forests,
and wildlife refuges, besides offering matching grants for state
and community open-space projects; the North American Wetlands
Conservation Act, which gives matching grants for projects that
benefit wetlands-associated birds in the United States, Canada,
and Mexico; and the National Wildlife Refuge System, 95 million
acres of land and water managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for habitat and recreation.

7. Help state wildlife agencies save "at-risk" bird species before
they become endangered, by asking Congress to increase funding
for the State Wildlife Grants Program. These grants enable state
agencies to implement on-the-ground conservation with public
and private landowners, avoiding the cost and controversy of last-
ditch recovery efforts. Each state is currently writing a wildlife
conservation strategy, but additional funding will be required to
carry them all out.

8. Speak out for long-distance migrants, many of which nest in
Canada in summer, and fly south to Mexico, Central and South
America, or the Caribbean for the winter. The Neotropical Migratory
Bird Conservation Act provides matching grants for projects that
conserve Neotropical species through habitat protection, education,
research, and monitoring. This important piece of legislation should
be fully funded at the $5 million level currently authorized by Congress,
and the authorized amount should be increased as well. Projects in
the United States and Latin America are now eligible for grants;
Canadian projects should also be included.

9. Fight back against invasive species, which threaten more than
one-third of the birds on the Audubon WatchList. Invasives are
the chief menace in national wildlife refuges and Important Bird
Areas, as well as in the privately owned landscapes that connect
these habitats. Two bills pending in the current Congress would
help combat them: The Species Protection and Conservation of
the Environment Act earmarks grant money to states to control
invasives where they pose a significant risk to native birds and
wildlife; and the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act prevents
and controls introductions of aquatic invasive species.

10. Defend the Endangered Species Act. If passed, recently
introduced bills would cripple the designation of "critical habitat"
required for a species' recovery and throw up roadblocks to the
listing of species. The Bush administration has also proposed
excluding wildlife experts from the process of determining if
pesticides harm endangered species.
11. The report shows that grassland and shrubland birds need to
be a higher priority for conservation. Thus, public and private lands
that support grassland and shrubland birds should receive special
attention for conservation action in agricultural conservation programs
and the Farm Bill.

12. Bird conservation is being thrown a curve through global warming
that affects the location and persistence of appropriate bird habitat.
Action to begin the long-term process of addressing climate change
must begin and The McCain-Lieberman "Climate Stewardship Act,"
is a start.
To receive alerts on these legislative issues, sign up for the Audubon
Advisory. This biweekly e-mail provides background on votes pending
in Congress and quick links for you to take action. Each voice counts,
so make sure yours is heard.

To join Audubon, click here or call 800-274-4201.

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11) Confirmation Of Concentration Camps
For Americans In America
Free Press International
10.23.2004
http://www.freepressinternational.com/army.10232004.camps.7817625340989.html

During World War II more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned
behind barbed wire concentration camps in Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming,
Arkansas, California, Indiana and Utah. President Roosevelt himself
called the facilities "concentration camps" and more than half of
these American prisoners were children.

Former Texas Congressman Henry Gonzales, who is now deceased, was
asked about the existence of civilian detention camps in America
replied, "The truth is yes -- you do have these stand by provisions,
and the plans are here...whereby you could, in the name of stopping
terrorism...evoke the military and arrest Americans and put them in
detention camps."

The week before August 14, 2002 Attorney General John Ashcroft
disclosed a little publicized plan that would allow him to order the
indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of
their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them
"enemy combatants."

According to Army Regulation 210–35, The Civilian Inmate Labor
Program, a new regulation provides Army policy and guidance for
establishing civilian inmate labor programs and "civilian prison
camps" on Army installations.

After 9/11 FEMA moved ahead with plans to create "temporary cities"
that could handle millions of Americans after mass destruction attacks
on U.S. cities. President Bush also unveiled a Homeland Security
proposal to allow soldiers to "enforce quarantines" of civilians in
the event of a chemical or biological weapons attack.

Since the attack on the World Trade Center about 5,000 people, many
who are Americans, have been arrested and "detained" by the Justice
Department with no due process. Sound familiar? Not one single person
has been successfully prosecuted and convicted by Ashcroft's Justice
Department.

The Civilian Inmate Labor Program .pdf
PBS: Children Of The Camps
Presidential Executive Order 12656
Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Bush Unveils Homeland Security Plan
The Henry B. Gonzalez Archives
FEMA's Plan for Mass Destruction Attacks
Executive Power Grab On Tap At White House?
The Case Against Bush


WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb

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